From f9ae92948b948825428676753cae88735ca129d1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: jbranchaud <jbranchaud@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 2021 20:36:36 -0600
Subject: [PATCH] Add Get The Current Time as a rails til

---
 README.md                     |  3 ++-
 rails/get-the-current-time.md | 38 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 40 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
 create mode 100644 rails/get-the-current-time.md

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index bd8dd4c..6ae989a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ pairing with smart people at Hashrocket.
 
 For a steady stream of TILs, [sign up for my newsletter](https://tinyletter.com/jbranchaud).
 
-_1029 TILs and counting..._
+_1030 TILs and counting..._
 
 ---
 
@@ -641,6 +641,7 @@ _1029 TILs and counting..._
 - [Get An Array Of Values From The Database](rails/get-an-array-of-values-from-the-database.md)
 - [Get An Empty ActiveRecord Relation](rails/get-an-empty-activerecord-relation.md)
 - [Get The Column Names For A Model](rails/get-the-column-names-for-a-model.md)
+- [Get The Current Time](rails/get-the-current-time.md)
 - [Hash Slicing](rails/hash-slicing.md)
 - [Ignore Poltergeist JavaScript Errors](rails/ignore-poltergeist-javascript-errors.md)
 - [Include Devise Helpers In Your Controller Tests](rails/include-devise-helpers-in-your-controller-tests.md)
diff --git a/rails/get-the-current-time.md b/rails/get-the-current-time.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8af24d4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rails/get-the-current-time.md
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+# Get The Current Time
+
+Working with time and time zones in server development can get complicated.
+Time-sensitive code that worked locally can unexpected fail when deployed to a
+server in a different time zone. Or users can end up seeing timestamps that
+look a few hours off.
+
+To avoid this kinds of mistakes in Rails development, we should avoid using
+`Time.now` and instead use `Time.current`.
+
+> Rails saves timestamps to the database in UTC time zone. We should always use
+> Time.current for any database queries, so that Rails will translate and
+> compare the correct times.
+
+```ruby
+> Time.zone
+=> #<ActiveSupport::TimeZone:0x00007fccf6b0a548
+ @name="UTC",
+ @tzinfo=#<TZInfo::DataTimezone: Etc/UTC>,
+ @utc_offset=nil>
+> Time.now
+=> 2021-01-28 19:22:42.312577 -0600
+> Time.current
+=> Fri, 29 Jan 2021 01:22:45.926181000 UTC +00:00
+> Time.zone = 'Eastern Time (US & Canada)'
+=> "Eastern Time (US & Canada)"
+> Time.now
+=> 2021-01-28 19:23:28.255106 -0600
+> Time.current
+=> Thu, 28 Jan 2021 20:23:32.150545000 EST -05:00
+```
+
+My server's default time zone is UTC. `Time.now` gives me my computer's system
+time (Central Time). `Time.current` gives me the time in UTC. If I then change
+the server's time zone to Eastern Time, `Time.now` still offers up my system
+time whereas `Time.current` produces the current time in Easter Time.
+
+[source](https://thoughtbot.com/blog/its-about-time-zones)