March 1997 - tz - lists.iana.org

A Timezone Gazetteer (and Map Maybe)
by Dave Skinner March 19, 1997

March 19, 1997

Any help in obtaining either or both of the following Internal Political Boundary Maps as Digital Line Graphs (DLGs) instead of Bitmaps and Surveyor Type Legal Descriptions of the Internal Timezone Boundaries for the countries that are currently composed of multiple different timezones would be appreciated. Note that in the United States, this resolution has to go down to the county level, not just the state level, and possibly only a surveyor type legal description will do in cases like America/Indiana/Marengo where the current description in the timezone database is "part of Crawford County". I believe that I can easily get the county maps for all 50 states in this form, but I still need a surveyor type legal description of situations like this, and complete lists of counties by timezone in states that have more than one timezone. At the international level, I already located a copy of the 132 MB CIA Digital Line Graph database of the world that was released around 1990 under the Freedom of Information Act. It is composed only of line strokes, and my ultimate goal is polygons. So, the complete set of polygons that describe the current international boundary of each country and any internal regional timezones therein still have to be generated. Nevertheless, it does have international political boundaries as well as the boundaries of the states of the United States and the provinces of Canada. Other internal political boundaries within the various countries are missing, however, and the database also suffers from being out-of-date. It is circa 1989. Back on the good news front, in case it should prove useful, the database does have all significant rivers and other bodies of water down to a fairly fine level of detail. So, unless I find a better source of data, I need to bring this database up-to-date. To that end, I also need the current international political boundaries, probably in surveyor type legal descriptions, that correct all that has happened, especially in Europe and Asia, since the reunification of Germany and the breakup of the Soviet Union. At the internal political boundary level, I analyzed the timezone database and extracted a complete list of all countries (21 in all) that have multiple different current timezones, where "different" is defined as either a different current GMT offset and/or a different current daylight savings time rule. This list is summarized in the table that appears below. Within this table are 6 timezones 9.* australasia/New_Zealand 11.* europe:Norway 12.* europe:Portugal 14.* europe:Spain 20.* southamerica:Chile 21.* southamerica:Ecuador that were edited to have an asterisk ("*") appended to their number to indicate that it seems obvious where to draw a boundary between their constituent timezones. It seems obvious because the two distinct timezones involved in each case are distinguished from each other by one being on the mainland and the other being on an offshore island. This leaves the following 15 countries 1. africa:Zaire 2. asia:Indonesia 3. asia:Japan 4. asia:Kazakhstan 5. australasia:Australia 6. australasia:French_Polynesia 7. australasia:Kiribati 8. australasia:Micronesia 10. europe:Denmark 13. europe:Russia 15. europe:Ukraine 16. northamerica:Canada 17. northamerica:Mexico 18. northamerica:United_States 19. southamerica:Brazil where the exact boundary lines between their internal regional timezones must still be identified. File:Country GMT DST Timezones Offset Rule 1. africa:Zaire Africa/Kinshasa 1:00 None Africa/Lubumbashi 2:00 None 2. asia:Indonesia Asia/Jakarta 7:00 None Asia/Ujung_Pandang 8:00 None Asia/Jayapura 9:00 None 3. asia:Japan Asia/Ishigaki 8:00 None Asia/Tokyo 9:00 None 4. asia:Kazakhstan Asia/Aqtau 4:00 E-Eur Asia/Aqtobe 5:00 E-Eur Asia/Alma-Ata 6:00 E-Eur 5. australasia:Australia Indian/Christmas 7:00 None Australia, Western 8:00 Australia/Perth 8:00 None Australia, Central 9:30 Australia/Adelaide 9:30 AS Australia/Darwin 9:30 Aus Australia, Eastern 10:00 Australia/Brisbane 10:00 AQ Australia/Sydney 10:00 AN Australia/Lord_Howe 10:30 LH 6. australasia:French_Polynesia Pacific/Tahiti -10:00 None Pacific/Marquesas -9:30 None Pacific/Gambier -9:00 None 7. australasia:Kiribati Pacific/Tarawa 12:00 None Pacific/Enderbury 13:00 None Pacific/Kiritimati 14:00 None 8. australasia:Micronesia Pacific/Yap 10:00 None Pacific/Ponape (Pohnpei) 11:00 None Pacific/Kosrae 12:00 None 9.* australasia/New_Zealand Pacific/Auckland 12:00 NZ Pacific/Chatham 12:45 Chatham 10. europe:Denmark America/Thule -4:00 Thule America/Godthab (Nuuk) -3:00 EU America/Scoresbysund (Ittoqqortoormiit) -1:00 EU Atlantic/Faeroe (Faroe Islands) 0:00 EU Europe/Copenhagen 1:00 EU 11.* europe:Norway Atlantic/Jan_Mayen -1:00 None Europe/Oslo 1:00 EU 12.* europe:Portugal Atlantic/Azores -1:00 EU Europe/Lisbon 0:00 EU 13. europe:Russia Europe/Kaliningrad 2:00 Russia Europe/Moscow 3:00 Russia Europe/Samara 4:00 Russia Europe/Yekaterinburg 5:00 Russia Asia/Novosibirsk 6:00 Russia Asia/Krasnoyarsk 7:00 Russia Asia/Irkutsk 8:00 Russia Asia/Yakutsk 9:00 Russia Asia/Vladivostok 10:00 Russia Asia/Magadan 11:00 Russia Asia/Kamchatka 12:00 Russia Asia/Anadyr 13:00 Russia 14.* europe:Spain Atlantic/Canary 0:00 EU Europe/Madrid 1:00 EU 15. europe:Ukraine Europe/Kiev 2:00 EU Europe/Simferopol 3:00 Crimea 16. northamerica:Canada Canada, Pacific -8:00 America/Vancouver -8:00 Vanc Canada, Mountain -7:00 America/Dawson_Creek -7:00 None America/Edmonton -7:00 Edm Canada, Central -6:00 America/Regina -6:00 None America/Winnipeg -6:00 Winn Canada, Eastern -5:00 America/Montreal -5:00 Mont Canada, Atlantic -4:00 America/Halifax -4:00 Halifax Canada, Newfoundland -3:30 America/St_Johns -3:30 StJohns 17. northamerica:Mexico Mexico, Pacific -8:00 America/Tijuana -8:00 Mexico Mexico, Mountain -7:00 America/Mazatlan -7:00 Mexico Mexico, Central -6:00 America/Mexico_City -6:00 Mexico 18. northamerica:United_States United_States, Samoa -11:00 Pacific/Midway -11:00 None United_States, Hawaii-Aleutian -10:00 America/Adak -10:00 US Pacific/Honolulu -10:00 None United_States, Alaska -9:00 America/Anchorage -9:00 US United_States, Pacific -8:00 America/Los_Angeles -8:00 US United_States, Mountain -7:00 America/Denver -7:00 US America/Phoenix -7:00 None United_States, Central -6:00 America/Chicago -6:00 US United_States, Eastern -5:00 America/Indianapolis -5:00 None America/New_York -5:00 US 19. southamerica:Brazil America/Porto_Acre -5:00 None Brazil, Western -4:00 America/Cuiaba -4:00 Brazil America/Manaus -4:00 None Brazil, Eastern -3:00 America/Fortaleza -3:00 None America/Sao_Paulo -3:00 Brazil America/Noronha -2:00 None 20.* southamerica:Chile Pacific/Easter -6:00 Chile America/Santiago -4:00 Chile 21.* southamerica:Ecuador Pacific/Galapagos -6:00 None America/Guayaquil -5:00 None The following list of timezone database entries that are currently operational duplicates of table entries above is provided for completeness. This list was generated by Paul Eggert. Africa/Ceuta (duplicate of Europe/Madrid) America/Boise (duplicate of America/Denver) America/Dawson, America/Whitehorse \ (duplicates of America/Vancouver) America/Detroit, America/Louisville \ (duplicates of America/New_York) America/Glace_Bay, America/Goose_Bay, America/Pangnirtung \ (duplicates of America/Halifax) America/Ensenada (duplicate of America/Tijuana) America/Indiana/Knox, America/Indiana/Marengo, \ America/Indiana/Vevay (duplicates of America/Indianapolis) America/Inuvik, America/Yellowknife \ (duplicates of America/Edmonton) America/Iqaluit, America/Nipigon, America/Thunder_Bay \ (duplicates of America/Montreal) America/Juneau, America/Nome, America/Yakutat \ (duplicates of America/Anchorage) America/Maceio (duplicate of America/Sao_Paulo) America/Menominee (duplicate of America/Chicago) America/Rainy_River, America/Rankin_Inlet \ (duplicates of America/Winnipeg) America/Swift_Current (duplicate of America/Regina) Asia/Omsk (duplicate of Asia/Novosibirsk) Atlantic/Madeira (duplicate of Europe/Lisbon) Australia/Broken_Hill (duplicate of Australia/Adelaide) Australia/Hobart, Australia/Melbourne \ (duplicates of Australia/Sydney) Australia/Lindeman (duplicate of Australia/Brisbane) Pacific/Truk (duplicate of Pacific/Yap) Anyhow, thanks in advance for any help that you end up providing. Dave Skinner dave(a)kirdu.jpl.nasa.gov P.S. I also wanted to thank both Paul Eggert and Eric Ulevik for replying to my original email (to tz(a)elsie.nci.nih.gov) and I especially wanted to thank Paul Eggert for reviewing my original version of this email as well.

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Paul Eggert's IDT patch makes sense
by Chris Carrier March 17, 1997

March 17, 1997

Some thoughts on Paul Eggert's proposed Israel DST rules for =>1999. The proposed rules of the third Friday in March to the third Sunday in September are very reasonable. It seems that the dates of the change are always set to avoid Jewish holy days/periods and the Jewish Sabbath, sunset Friday to sunset Saturday, and Paul's proposed rules do that. Passover, Nisan 15 in the Jewish calendar, is the first full moon after March 27 in the Gregorian calendar in this century. A third-Friday in March beginning prevents the beginning of DST from running into Passover. (Back when the Jewish calendar was determined on the basis of observation, Passover was supposed to be the first full moon after the vernal equinox (which survives in Christian Easter rules). I was informed that a group of rabbis met in Jerusalem to discuss reform of the Jewish calendar, but were unable to come to a conclusion (although the person who told me this suggested the rabbis' real reason for doing nothing was to avoid a schism such as the one that happened in Christendom in 1582 when the Gregorian calendar was implemented and the Catholics adopted it and the Protestants and Greek/Russian Orthodox did not.)) Although the Jewish New Year currently can fall during the date range 15-21 September, it can never be on a Sunday. Neither can Yom Kippur (which can occur prior to September 21) be a Sunday, so a third Sunday in September rule avoids that as well. (Tishri 1 can never fall on Sunday, Wednesday, or Friday because Yom Kippur must avoid Friday or Sunday and Succoth (Tishri 21) must avoid Saturday). However, New Years is celebrated for two days -- Tishri 1 and 2 -- and if Tishri 1 falls on Saturday, the clock change might be moved from Sunday to the preceding Friday. Also, the third Friday in March to third Sunday in September satisfies the current Israeli legal requirement of =>150 days of DST per year. Side note: there are always 154 days between the third Friday in March and the third Sunday in September and they are always the same dates in their respective months (the 15th in 1996, the 21st in 1997). I know that this is a bit of a digression, but I do think that Paul's patch does have some sound reasoning behind it. Chris Carrier

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Chatham Islands time
by Chris Carrier March 17, 1997

March 17, 1997

Some thoughts on the Chatham Islands time of time change. The legal standard time of the Chathams is GMT+12:45, and they observed DST on the same dates as New Zealand, which they are legally tied to. When NZ was making its time changes at 2:00 NZ time, the Chathams changed at 2:45 Chatham time, which was the same time (14:00 GMT of the previous day in both places). Since NZ just changed at 1:00, I would presume the change in the Chathams was at 1:45. Chris Carrier

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proposed tz patch for New Zealand, Israel
by Paul Eggert March 16, 1997

March 16, 1997

Here are proposed patches to the tz database for the recent minor change to the New Zealand rules reported by Jeffrey Connell. I'm also taking the liberty of proposing to regularize the formatting of the recent changes for Israel, along with one substantive change for Israel: a simpler and hopefully more accurate (though still undoubtedly incorrect) prediction for Israeli DST rules from 1999 on. (The existing prediction here seems to be based on the old late-1980s Israeli rules, and it stops after 2009.) =================================================================== RCS file: RCS/australasia,v retrieving revision 1997.1 retrieving revision 1997.1.1.1 diff -c -r1997.1 -r1997.1.1.1 *** australasia 1997/01/21 14:11:10 1997.1 --- australasia 1997/03/16 07:24:58 1997.1.1.1 *************** *** 305,313 **** Rule NZ 1990 max - Oct Sun>=1 2:00s 1:00 D Rule NZ 1975 only - Feb 23 2:00s 0 S Rule NZ 1976 1989 - Mar Sun>=1 2:00s 0 S ! Rule NZ 1990 max - Mar Sun>=15 2:00s 0 S Rule Chatham 1990 max - Oct Sun>=1 2:45s 1:00 D ! Rule Chatham 1991 max - Mar Sun>=15 2:45s 0 S # Zone NAME GMTOFF RULES FORMAT [UNTIL] Zone Pacific/Auckland 11:39:04 - LMT 1868 11:30 NZ NZ%sT 1940 Sep 29 2:00 --- 305,315 ---- Rule NZ 1990 max - Oct Sun>=1 2:00s 1:00 D Rule NZ 1975 only - Feb 23 2:00s 0 S Rule NZ 1976 1989 - Mar Sun>=1 2:00s 0 S ! Rule NZ 1990 1996 - Mar Sun>=15 2:00s 0 S ! Rule NZ 1997 max - Mar Sun>=15 2:00 0 S Rule Chatham 1990 max - Oct Sun>=1 2:45s 1:00 D ! Rule Chatham 1991 1996 - Mar Sun>=15 2:45s 0 S ! Rule Chatham 1997 max - Mar Sun>=15 2:45 0 S # Zone NAME GMTOFF RULES FORMAT [UNTIL] Zone Pacific/Auckland 11:39:04 - LMT 1868 11:30 NZ NZ%sT 1940 Sep 29 2:00 *************** *** 832,837 **** --- 834,850 ---- # gives the NZ rules but with transitions at 2:45 local standard time. # Guess that they adopted DST in 1990. + # From "J. Sean Connell" <ankh(a)canuck.gen.nz> (1997-03-16): + # As I sit here and change all my other clocks, I would like to let y'all know + # that New Zealand changed its DST rules this year; instead of NZDT 02:59:59 + # becoming NZST 02:00:00, NZDT 01:59:59 now -> NZST 01:00:00. I'm afraid that + # I can't point you to any confirmatory articles, but apparently it was only + # decided a few weeks ago. + # + # From Paul Eggert (1997-03-15): + # We'll assume Chatham followed suit. + + ############################################################################### # Fiji =================================================================== RCS file: RCS/asia,v retrieving revision 1997.3 retrieving revision 1997.3.1.1 diff -c -r1997.3 -r1997.3.1.1 *** asia 1997/03/04 14:58:18 1997.3 --- asia 1997/03/16 07:24:58 1997.3.1.1 *************** *** 508,515 **** # From Ephraim Silverberg (ephraim(a)cs.huji.ac.il) 1997-03-04: - # Zone Information Compiler (ZIC) File for the State of Israel (1989-2009) - # According to the Office of the Secretary General of the Ministry of # Interior, there is NO set rule for Daylight-Savings/Standard time changes. # Each year they decide anew what havoc to wreak on the country. However, --- 508,513 ---- *************** *** 525,551 **** # change back to standard time took place on Sunday night instead of Saturday # night to avoid conflicts with the Jewish New Year. ! # Rule NAME FROM TO TYPE IN ON AT SAVE LETTER/S ! Rule Zion 1989 only - Apr 30 0:00 1:00 D ! Rule Zion 1989 only - Sep 3 0:00 0:00 S ! Rule Zion 1990 only - Mar 25 0:00 1:00 D ! Rule Zion 1990 only - Aug 26 0:00 0:00 S ! Rule Zion 1991 only - Mar 24 0:00 1:00 D ! Rule Zion 1991 only - Sep 1 0:00 0:00 S ! Rule Zion 1992 only - Mar 29 0:00 1:00 D ! Rule Zion 1992 only - Sep 6 0:00 0:00 S ! Rule Zion 1993 only - Apr 2 0:00 1:00 D ! Rule Zion 1993 only - Sep 5 0:00 0:00 S # The dates for 1994-1995 were obtained from Office of the Spokeswoman for the # Ministry of Interior, Jerusalem, Israel. The spokeswoman can be reached by # calling the office directly at 972-2-6701447 or 972-2-6701448. # Rule NAME FROM TO TYPE IN ON AT SAVE LETTER/S ! Rule Zion 1994 only - Apr 1 0:00 1:00 D ! Rule Zion 1994 only - Aug 28 0:00 0:00 S ! Rule Zion 1995 only - Mar 31 0:00 1:00 D ! Rule Zion 1995 only - Sep 3 0:00 0:00 S # The dates for 1996 were determined by the Minister of Interior of the # time, Haim Ramon. The official announcement regarding 1996-1998 --- 523,549 ---- # change back to standard time took place on Sunday night instead of Saturday # night to avoid conflicts with the Jewish New Year. ! # Rule NAME FROM TO TYPE IN ON AT SAVE LETTER/S ! Rule Zion 1989 only - Apr 30 0:00 1:00 D ! Rule Zion 1989 only - Sep 3 0:00 0 S ! Rule Zion 1990 only - Mar 25 0:00 1:00 D ! Rule Zion 1990 only - Aug 26 0:00 0 S ! Rule Zion 1991 only - Mar 24 0:00 1:00 D ! Rule Zion 1991 only - Sep 1 0:00 0 S ! Rule Zion 1992 only - Mar 29 0:00 1:00 D ! Rule Zion 1992 only - Sep 6 0:00 0 S ! Rule Zion 1993 only - Apr 2 0:00 1:00 D ! Rule Zion 1993 only - Sep 5 0:00 0 S # The dates for 1994-1995 were obtained from Office of the Spokeswoman for the # Ministry of Interior, Jerusalem, Israel. The spokeswoman can be reached by # calling the office directly at 972-2-6701447 or 972-2-6701448. # Rule NAME FROM TO TYPE IN ON AT SAVE LETTER/S ! Rule Zion 1994 only - Apr 1 0:00 1:00 D ! Rule Zion 1994 only - Aug 28 0:00 0 S ! Rule Zion 1995 only - Mar 31 0:00 1:00 D ! Rule Zion 1995 only - Sep 3 0:00 0 S # The dates for 1996 were determined by the Minister of Interior of the # time, Haim Ramon. The official announcement regarding 1996-1998 *************** *** 560,599 **** # # ftp://ftp.huji.ac.il/pub/tz/announcements/1997.ps.gz # Rule NAME FROM TO TYPE IN ON AT SAVE LETTER/S ! Rule Zion 1996 only - Mar 15 0:00 1:00 D ! Rule Zion 1996 only - Sep 16 0:00 0:00 S ! Rule Zion 1997 only - Mar 21 0:00 1:00 D ! Rule Zion 1997 only - Sep 14 0:00 0:00 S ! Rule Zion 1998 only - Mar 20 0:00 1:00 D ! Rule Zion 1998 only - Oct 18 0:00 0:00 S ! ! # These rules are probably wrong, but they are close approximations (usually ! # within a few weeks): ! ! # Rule NAME FROM TO TYPE IN ON AT SAVE LETTER/S ! Rule Zion 1999 only - Apr 11 0:00 1:00 D ! Rule Zion 1999 only - Sep 5 0:00 0:00 S ! Rule Zion 2000 only - Apr 30 0:00 1:00 D ! Rule Zion 2000 only - Sep 24 0:00 0:00 S ! Rule Zion 2001 only - Apr 15 0:00 1:00 D ! Rule Zion 2001 only - Sep 9 0:00 0:00 S ! Rule Zion 2002 only - Apr 7 0:00 1:00 D ! Rule Zion 2002 only - Sep 1 0:00 0:00 S ! Rule Zion 2003 only - Apr 27 0:00 1:00 D ! Rule Zion 2003 only - Sep 21 0:00 0:00 S ! Rule Zion 2004 only - Apr 18 0:00 1:00 D ! Rule Zion 2004 only - Sep 12 0:00 0:00 S ! Rule Zion 2005 only - May 1 0:00 1:00 D ! Rule Zion 2005 only - Sep 25 0:00 0:00 S ! Rule Zion 2006 only - Apr 23 0:00 1:00 D ! Rule Zion 2006 only - Sep 17 0:00 0:00 S ! Rule Zion 2007 only - Apr 15 0:00 1:00 D ! Rule Zion 2007 only - Sep 9 0:00 0:00 S ! Rule Zion 2008 only - Apr 27 0:00 1:00 D ! Rule Zion 2008 only - Sep 21 0:00 0:00 S ! Rule Zion 2009 only - Apr 19 0:00 1:00 D ! Rule Zion 2009 only - Sep 13 0:00 0:00 S # Zone NAME GMTOFF RULES FORMAT [UNTIL] Zone Asia/Jerusalem 2:20:56 - LMT 1880 --- 558,577 ---- # # ftp://ftp.huji.ac.il/pub/tz/announcements/1997.ps.gz + # Rule NAME FROM TO TYPE IN ON AT SAVE LETTER/S + Rule Zion 1996 only - Mar 15 0:00 1:00 D + Rule Zion 1996 only - Sep 16 0:00 0 S + Rule Zion 1997 only - Mar 21 0:00 1:00 D + Rule Zion 1997 only - Sep 14 0:00 0 S + Rule Zion 1998 only - Mar 20 0:00 1:00 D + Rule Zion 1998 only - Oct 18 0:00 0 S + + # From Paul Eggert (1997-03-15): + # Here are guesses for rules after 1998. + # They are probably wrong, but they are more likely than no DST at all. # Rule NAME FROM TO TYPE IN ON AT SAVE LETTER/S ! Rule Zion 1999 max - Mar Fri>=15 0:00 1:00 D ! Rule Zion 1999 max - Sep Sun>=15 0:00 0 S # Zone NAME GMTOFF RULES FORMAT [UNTIL] Zone Asia/Jerusalem 2:20:56 - LMT 1880

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Daylight savings time in New Zealand
by J. Sean Connell March 15, 1997

March 15, 1997

As I sit here and change all my other clocks, I would like to let y'all know that New Zealand changed its DST rules this year; instead of NZDT 02:59:59 becoming NZST 02:00:00, NZDT 01:59:59 now -> NZST 01:00:00. I'm afraid that I can't point you to any confirmatory articles, but apparently it was only decided a few weeks ago... -- Jeffrey Connell | Systems Adminstrator, ICONZ ankh(a)canuck.gen.nz | Any opinions stated above are not my employers', ankh(a)iconz.co.nz | not my boyfriend's, my priest's, my God's, my #include <stddisc.h> | my friends', and probably not even my own. ---------------------------+-------------------------------------------------- Fingerprint: 1024/2B8B116D | Key at http://www.canuck.gen.nz/~ankh/pgpkey.html

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tzcode1997c.tar.gz and tzdata1997d.tar.gz
by ado March 7, 1997

March 7, 1997

The files ftp://elsie.nci.nih.gov/pub/tzcode1997c.tar.gz and ftp://elsie.nci.nih.gov/pub/tzdata1997d.tar.gz are now available. Included are changes to "zic.c" to correct performance of the "-s" option, and a new file "usno1997". --ado

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Re: Israel Daylight Time
by Dave Skinner March 6, 1997

March 6, 1997

Regarding time settings in the state of Indiana, I do not know about the stories in the email to which I am now responding. Nevertheless, I grew up in Indianapolis, and I do remember that the first week or so of first grade was spent with the schools on one time-of-day and everyone's homes on a time-o-day that differed by an hour. This would have been in approximately September of 1959 (if I have redetermined the year of my 1st grade tour of duty correctly). Dave Skinner dave(a)jpl.nasa.gov

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Israel Daylight Time
by Chris Carrier March 5, 1997

March 5, 1997

Ephraim Silverberg > INTERNET:ephraim@cs.huji.ac.il wrote: >Yesterday, the Knesset (Israeli parliament) passed a law changing the >daylight savings changeover times for 1997 (a mere ten days from when the >old times were to take effect). >An article from the English-language Jerusalem Post of late January explains >the rational for the change and can be found in: > ftp://ftp.huji.ac.il/users/ephraim/tz/timezone97.ps.gz >Please note that the starting time mentioned in the English-language article >is NOT the time that was finally decided upon by the Knesset. Could you please post the article here? Not all of us have Web access, sadly. >According to the Office of the Secretary General of the Ministry of >Interior, there is NO set rule for Daylight-Savings/Standard time changes. >Each year they decide anew what havoc to wreak on the country. However, >there is a "supposed" set of rules which is subject to change depending >on the party the Minister of Interior, the size of the coalition >government, the phase of the moon and the direction of the wind... Sounds like Indiana in the good old days before the Uniform Time Act where each county had its own time, each city within that county could secede from that, and where a 35-mile stretch of road had seven different sets of rules. I heard an apocrphyal story from Indiana at that time that a city council met on a Saturday evening and decided to cancel DST which was to go into effect at 2 a.m. that night (Sunday morning). The police and fire departments went around all over town late that evening and early next morning broadcasting the change on their bullhorns. Although the 1999-2009 dates do bounce around the Gregorian calendar quite a bit, in the Jewish calendar they are quite consistent: DST begins on the fourth Sunday in Nisan and ends on the first Sunday after Elul 20. (Ran the dates through a program of mine that takes Civil dates and translates them into a number of other calendars, including the Jewish).

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tzdata1997c.tar.gz
by ado March 4, 1997

March 4, 1997

The file http://elsie.nci.nih.gov/pub/tzdata1997c.tar.gz is now available; it incorporates the recently circulated changes in Israel. I'm at work on the "zic -s" challenge. The cleanest way to deal with it seems to be to ignore the "-s" flag when running through the rules and zones, then eliminating "early" transition times when writing out the zone file; doing this provides a way of figuring out what time type should be in effect at the earliest instant to be represented in the file. Substantial regression work will be needed, so stay tuned. --ado

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Changes in Israel's 1997 Daylight Savings Rules (CORRECTION!)
by Ephraim Silverberg March 4, 1997

March 4, 1997

> An article from the English-language Jerusalem Post of late January explains > the rational for the change and can be found in: > > ftp://ftp.huji.ac.il/users/ephraim/tz/timezone97.ps.gz > > Please note that the starting time mentioned in the English-language article > is NOT the time that was finally decided upon by the Knesset. The ZIC file I included in my previous message contained the proposed times (and comments) NOT the real times. Attached is the true ZIC file. 10**6 apologies. ___________________________________________________________________________ Ephraim Silverberg, CS System Group, Phone number: 972-2-6585521 Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel. Fax number: 972-2-6585439 WWW: http://www.cs.huji.ac.il/~ephraim E-mail: ephraim(a)cs.huji.ac.il --------------------------------------------------------------------------- # Zone Information Compiler (ZIC) File for the State of Israel (1989-2009) # According to the Office of the Secretary General of the Ministry of # Interior, there is NO set rule for Daylight-Savings/Standard time changes. # Each year they decide anew what havoc to wreak on the country. However, # there is a "supposed" set of rules which is subject to change depending # on the party the Minister of Interior, the size of the coalition # government, the phase of the moon and the direction of the wind. Hence, # changes may need to be made on a semi-annual basis. One thing is entrenched # in law, however: that there must be at least 150 days of daylight savings # time annually. Ever since 1993, the change to daylight savings time is # on a Thursday night from midnight IST to 1 a.m IDT. The change back to # standard time is on a Saturday night from midnight daylight savings time # to 11 p.m. standard time. 1996 is an exception to this rule where the # change back to standard time took place on Sunday night instead of Saturday # night to avoid conflicts with the Jewish New Year. # Rule NAME FROM TO TYPE IN ON AT SAVE LETTER/S Rule Zion 1989 only - Apr 30 0:00 1:00 D Rule Zion 1989 only - Sep 3 0:00 0:00 S Rule Zion 1990 only - Mar 25 0:00 1:00 D Rule Zion 1990 only - Aug 26 0:00 0:00 S Rule Zion 1991 only - Mar 24 0:00 1:00 D Rule Zion 1991 only - Sep 1 0:00 0:00 S Rule Zion 1992 only - Mar 29 0:00 1:00 D Rule Zion 1992 only - Sep 6 0:00 0:00 S Rule Zion 1993 only - Apr 2 0:00 1:00 D Rule Zion 1993 only - Sep 5 0:00 0:00 S # The dates for 1994-1995 were obtained from Office of the Spokeswoman for the # Ministry of Interior, Jerusalem, Israel. The spokeswoman can be reached by # calling her office directly at 972-2-6701447 or 972-2-6701448. # Rule NAME FROM TO TYPE IN ON AT SAVE LETTER/S Rule Zion 1994 only - Apr 1 0:00 1:00 D Rule Zion 1994 only - Aug 28 0:00 0:00 S Rule Zion 1995 only - Mar 31 0:00 1:00 D Rule Zion 1995 only - Sep 3 0:00 0:00 S # The dates for 1996 were determined by the Minister of Interior of the # time, Mr. Haim Ramon. The official announcement regarding 1996-1998 # (with the dates for 1997 no longer being relevant) can be viewed at: # # ftp://ftp.huji.ac.il/pub/tz/announcements/1996-1998.ramon.ps.gz # # The dates for 1997 were altered by his successor, Rabbi Eli Suissa. # No changes have been made regarding 1998 as of yet. # # The official announcement for the year 1997 can be viewed at: # # ftp://ftp.huji.ac.il/pub/tz/announcements/1997.ps.gz # Rule NAME FROM TO TYPE IN ON AT SAVE LETTER/S Rule Zion 1996 only - Mar 15 0:00 1:00 D Rule Zion 1996 only - Sep 16 0:00 0:00 S Rule Zion 1997 only - Mar 21 0:00 1:00 D Rule Zion 1997 only - Sep 14 0:00 0:00 S Rule Zion 1998 only - Mar 20 0:00 1:00 D Rule Zion 1998 only - Oct 18 0:00 0:00 S # These rules are probably wrong, but they are close approximations (usually # within a few weeks): # Rule NAME FROM TO TYPE IN ON AT SAVE LETTER/S Rule Zion 1999 only - Apr 11 0:00 1:00 D Rule Zion 1999 only - Sep 5 0:00 0:00 S Rule Zion 2000 only - Apr 30 0:00 1:00 D Rule Zion 2000 only - Sep 24 0:00 0:00 S Rule Zion 2001 only - Apr 15 0:00 1:00 D Rule Zion 2001 only - Sep 9 0:00 0:00 S Rule Zion 2002 only - Apr 7 0:00 1:00 D Rule Zion 2002 only - Sep 1 0:00 0:00 S Rule Zion 2003 only - Apr 27 0:00 1:00 D Rule Zion 2003 only - Sep 21 0:00 0:00 S Rule Zion 2004 only - Apr 18 0:00 1:00 D Rule Zion 2004 only - Sep 12 0:00 0:00 S Rule Zion 2005 only - May 1 0:00 1:00 D Rule Zion 2005 only - Sep 25 0:00 0:00 S Rule Zion 2006 only - Apr 23 0:00 1:00 D Rule Zion 2006 only - Sep 17 0:00 0:00 S Rule Zion 2007 only - Apr 15 0:00 1:00 D Rule Zion 2007 only - Sep 9 0:00 0:00 S Rule Zion 2008 only - Apr 27 0:00 1:00 D Rule Zion 2008 only - Sep 21 0:00 0:00 S Rule Zion 2009 only - Apr 19 0:00 1:00 D Rule Zion 2009 only - Sep 13 0:00 0:00 S # Zone NAME GMTOFF RULES FORMAT [UNTIL] Zone Israel 2:00 Zion I%sT

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