April 2001 - tz - lists.iana.org

RE: Reuters on Mexican DST
by Jesper Nørgaard April 11, 2001

April 11, 2001

Note that there is another link about the decision to nullify Andrés Miguel López Obrador decree to abandon DST in Distrito Federal: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010407/wl/clock_confusion_1.html Regards, Jesper Nørgaard Welen Email: jnorgard(a)Prodigy.Net.mx Programador/Analista CIMMYT - Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz y Trigo Dirección: CIMMYT Int. c/o Jesper Nørgaard Km. 45, Carretera México-Veracruz El Batán Texcoco, Edo. de México CP 56130 MEXICO Tel.: +52 (5) 58-04-20-04 ext. 1374 Fax: +52 (5) 58-04-75-58 Tel. Casa: 53-10-05-95 ó 53-10-97-78 CIMMYT home page: http://cimmyt.cgiar.org Check out my free program World Time Explorer: http://timezone50.homepage.com ---------- From: Olson, Arthur David (NCI)[SMTP:olsona@dc37a.nci.nih.gov] Sent: Martes 10 de Abril de 2001 12:00 To: tz (E-mail) Cc: 'mikebw(a)colossus.bilow.com' Subject: Reuters on Mexican DST Mike Bilow (mikebw(a)colossus.bilow.com) sent along word of a Reuters item on Mexican DST; see http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010410/od/mexico_timechange_dc_1.html for details (and note the copyright notice at the end, which is why I don't simply include it here). --ado

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Reuters on Mexican DST
by Olson, Arthur David (NCI) April 10, 2001

April 10, 2001

Mike Bilow (mikebw(a)colossus.bilow.com) sent along word of a Reuters item on Mexican DST; see http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010410/od/mexico_timechange_dc_1.html for details (and note the copyright notice at the end, which is why I don't simply include it here). --ado

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Mexico's Tempest in a Time Change
by Mike Bilow April 10, 2001

April 10, 2001

Yahoo! News Home - Yahoo! - My Yahoo! - News Alerts - Help _________________________________________________________________ Reuters New Media Yahoo! Online Account Access NextCard Internet Visa - Apply Now Home | Top Stories | Business | Tech | Politics | World | Local | Ente rtainment | Sports | Science | Health Oddly Enough Headlines Reuters Tuesday April 10 10:21 AM ET Mexico's Tempest in a Time Change MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - If leftist Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador gets his way, the capital could operate in a different time zone from the rest of the country, out of line even with its own suburbs. With the federal government and mayor's office reportedly locking horns this week in legal maneuvers, many Mexicans fear that if Lopez Obrador prevails there would be chaos for airlines, television broadcasts, school schedules and lunch appointments. Lopez Obrador, who took office late last year, in February decreed clocks would stay put in the capital on May 5 when the rest of the country is scheduled to adopt daylight savings time, moving clocks ahead one hour. The capital of some 9 million people, is part of a greater urban area of some 19 million. So the core of the metropolis would be one hour behind all of its suburbs. Lopez Obrador's government has filed a constitutional challenge to daylight savings in general, before the nation's Supreme Court, arguing that the president does not have power under Mexico's constitution to impose the time change. According to local press reports, this week the government of conservative President Vicente Fox counter-sued, asking the nation's top court to knock down Lopez Obrador's February decree. Mexico adopted the time change in 1996, to put the country in tune with its northern neighbor and biggest trading partner, the United States. But daylight savings has never been popular here. Many argue that it is dangerous for children to walk to school in the dark. And last year in congressional debates, at least one legislator argued that darkness inhibited morning sex. The Supreme Court has promised to issue a resolution on the suit and the counter-suit by May 1, just days before Fox has decreed that the country will move clocks ahead. Email this story - View most popular | Formatted version _________________________________________________________________ _________________________ Search Advanced Search: (_) Stories (_) Photos (_) Full Coverage Home | Top Stories | Business | Tech | Politics | World | Local | Ente rtainment | Sports | Science | Health _________________________________________________________________ Questions or Comments Copyright © 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.

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RE: New date and time draft
by Jesper Nørgaard April 10, 2001

April 10, 2001

This work appeals to me a great deal, so this is not really a constructive criticism. I applaud the completely irrefutable arguments to why four-digit dates are a must in internet communication. I just have one question: Does 03-Apr-01 mean third of April 2001 or does it mean first of April 2003 (that would really be an April's Fool with a vengeance). In a few years I might wonder even more ... May you all have a nice day ... Jesper Nørgaard Welen Email: jnorgard(a)Prodigy.Net.mx Programador/Analista CIMMYT - Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz y Trigo Dirección: CIMMYT Int. c/o Jesper Nørgaard Km. 45, Carretera México-Veracruz El Batán Texcoco, Edo. de México CP 56130 MEXICO Tel.: +52 (5) 58-04-20-04 ext. 1374 Fax: +52 (5) 58-04-75-58 Tel. Casa: 53-10-05-95 ó 53-10-97-78 CIMMYT home page: http://cimmyt.cgiar.org Check out my free program World Time Explorer: http://timezone50.homepage.com ---------- From: Olson, Arthur David (NCI)[SMTP:olsona@dc37a.nci.nih.gov] Sent: Lunes 9 de Abril de 2001 7:13 To: tz (E-mail) Subject: FW: New date and time draft Graham Klyne is not on the time zone mailing list; direct replies appropriately. --ado -----Original Message----- From: Graham Klyne [mailto:GK@NineByNine.org] Sent: Friday, April 06, 2001 5:11 AM To: discuss(a)apps.ietf.org; tz(a)elsie.nci.nih.gov Subject: New date and time draft FYI, I've submitted a revision of the date and time draft Chris Newman wrote some time ago. One of the goals for the current revision is to create a separate specification that answers a clear and present requirement from other parts concerning which there is less clear consensus. Specifically, this draft aims to move forward the timestamp elements of Chris' original work, while allowing the trickier "schedule events" elements to be picked up and developed by a group with more specific relevant expertise and goals, if required. #g -- A New Internet-Draft is available from the on-line Internet-Drafts directories. This draft is a work item of the Instant Messaging and Presence Protocol Working Group of the IETF. Title : Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps Author(s) : C. Newman, G. Klyne Filename : draft-ietf-impp-datetime-00.txt Pages : 16 Date : 03-Apr-01 This document defines a date and time format for use in Internet protocols that is a profile of the ISO 8601 [ISO8601] standard for representation of dates and times using the Gregorian calendar. A URL for this Internet-Draft is: http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-impp-datetime-00.txt ------------ Graham Klyne (GK(a)ACM.ORG)

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FW: New date and time draft
by Olson, Arthur David (NCI) April 10, 2001

April 10, 2001

Graham Klyne is not on the time zone mailing list; direct replies appropriately. --ado -----Original Message----- From: Graham Klyne [mailto:GK@NineByNine.org] Sent: Friday, April 06, 2001 5:11 AM To: discuss(a)apps.ietf.org; tz(a)elsie.nci.nih.gov Subject: New date and time draft FYI, I've submitted a revision of the date and time draft Chris Newman wrote some time ago. One of the goals for the current revision is to create a separate specification that answers a clear and present requirement from other parts concerning which there is less clear consensus. Specifically, this draft aims to move forward the timestamp elements of Chris' original work, while allowing the trickier "schedule events" elements to be picked up and developed by a group with more specific relevant expertise and goals, if required. #g -- A New Internet-Draft is available from the on-line Internet-Drafts directories. This draft is a work item of the Instant Messaging and Presence Protocol Working Group of the IETF. Title : Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps Author(s) : C. Newman, G. Klyne Filename : draft-ietf-impp-datetime-00.txt Pages : 16 Date : 03-Apr-01 This document defines a date and time format for use in Internet protocols that is a profile of the ISO 8601 [ISO8601] standard for representation of dates and times using the Gregorian calendar. A URL for this Internet-Draft is: http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-impp-datetime-00.txt ------------ Graham Klyne (GK(a)ACM.ORG)

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Re: New date and time draft
by Chris Newman April 9, 2001

April 9, 2001

Given that my office already purchased ISO 8601:1988 a few years ago, I certainly couldn't justify the cost of purchasing a revision in current tight economic times. If there's a public list of errata (or a free revision available to people who purchased the previous version), I'd be glad to vet the spec against that. Or perhaps if Graham feels like purchasing a copy and vetting the ABNF he could. Otherwise I believe we should keep the reference to the older version since that's what this spec is based on. - Chris --On Monday, April 9, 2001 18:22 +0100 Markus Kuhn <Markus.Kuhn(a)cl.cam.ac.uk> wrote: > But this document still references the old first edition! The one that > counted accidentally minutes from 01 to 60 and similar nonsense, along > with lots of ambiguities: > > [ISO8601] "Data elements and interchange formats -- Information > interchange -- Representation of dates and times", ISO > 8601:1988(E), International Organization for > Standardization, June, 1988. > > The new second edition with lots of bug fixes, ISO 8601:2000, has been > available since December and can be ordered online from > > http://www.iso.ch/cate/d26780.html

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Interested in knowing about the mailing list.
by Gautam, Alok April 9, 2001

April 9, 2001

Dear Administrator, Got this id from the net. I am interested to get the mailing list of the folks who maintain the Timezone Database and the various access routines. Do favour me. Best regards, Alöok Gautam **************************************************************************** The content of this e-mail is intended only for the confidential use of the person addressed. If you have received this message in error, please notify us immediately by electronic mail at the above address (or if known by telephone or by fax). E-mail communications are not secure and therefore we do not accept any responsibility for the confidentiality or altered contents of this message. Please be aware that our company cannot accept any orders or other legally binding correspondence with a participant as part of an e-mail. The views expressed above are not necessarily those held by our company and not binding for our company. ****************************************************************************

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Mexico City decree suspended
by Jesper Nørgaard April 8, 2001

April 8, 2001

There has been some new decisions and news about the summer time in Mexico, I send you some links and some resuming quotations. The interspersed english sentences are translations of the previous sentence in spanish: Da Corte revés a AMLO en horario (The Court gives a reverse to AMLO about the daylight saving rule) http://www.reforma.com/ciudad_de_mexico/articulo/085728/ Opinan magistrados que si no se otorgaba la suspensión se afectaría o alteraría la vida de los habitantes del Distrito Federal, poniendo en peligro la seguridad y economía de la sociedad. (Magistrates say that if the suspension (of the AMLO decree) was not issued, it would affect or alterate the lifes of the inhabitants of the Federal District, putting in danger the security and economy of the society) (Jesper's note: I had a good laugh about the above "opinion of the magistrates", but I guess that is just me ... :) How any daylight saving rule could affect security and economy, I guess you have to be a magistrate to grasp :) Ve AMLO 'cortina de humo' en Horario (AMLO sees a 'curtain of smoke' in the daylight saving rule) http://www.reforma.com/ciudad_de_mexico/articulo/085774/ El Jefe de Gobierno dijo que se trata sólo de una suspensión temporal del decreto y que se deberá esperar a la resolución final (The Chief of Government said that it is only a temporary suspension of the decree and that we must wait for the final judgement of the case) Avala PAN determinación de SCJN (political party PAN endorses the determination of the Court) http://www.reforma.com/ciudad_de_mexico/articulo/085775/ José Luis Luege, presidente del PAN en el DF aprobó la determinación de la Corte de Justicia del DF que suspendió el decreto de que el DF no se integre al Horario de Verano. (José Luis Luege, president of the PAN in Federal District, approved the determination of the Supreme Court of DF that suspends the decree which says that DF will not participate in the daylight saving). Pide PRI terminar confrontación AMLO-Fox (PRI party asks for the termination of the confrontation AMLO-Fox) http://www.reforma.com/ciudad_de_mexico/articulo/085777/ Jorge Schiaffino dirigente priísta en la Ciudad de México llamó al Jefe de Gobierno a dejar la confrontación con el Presidente Fox. (Jorge Schiaffino the leader of PRI in Mexico City, urged the Chief of Government to leave the confrontation with President Fox) We are still awaiting the final decision of the Supreme Court, which should probably be emitted within 15 days according to one of the articles. Regards, Jesper Nørgaard Welen Email: jnorgard(a)Prodigy.Net.mx Programador/Analista CIMMYT - Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz y Trigo Dirección: CIMMYT Int. c/o Jesper Nørgaard Km. 45, Carretera México-Veracruz El Batán Texcoco, Edo. de México CP 56130 MEXICO Tel.: +52 (5) 58-04-20-04 ext. 1374 Fax: +52 (5) 58-04-75-58 Tel. Casa: 53-10-05-95 ó 53-10-97-78 CIMMYT home page: http://cimmyt.cgiar.org Check out my free program World Time Explorer: http://timezone50.homepage.com

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Re: Updated Australian time zone names/strings
by Russ Allbery April 7, 2001

April 7, 2001

Greg Black <gjb(a)gbch.net> writes: > The broken software consists of real mail clients out there that people > are still using. Some of that software outputs email with dates in this > form: > Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2000 09:34:42 EST When used in e-mail, that Date header is not in the slightest bit ambiguous. RFC 822 requires as a matter of protocol that that time zone be interpreted as -0500. Section 5.1: zone = "UT" / "GMT" ; Universal Time ; North American : UT / "EST" / "EDT" ; Eastern: - 5/ - 4 / "CST" / "CDT" ; Central: - 6/ - 5 / "MST" / "MDT" ; Mountain: - 7/ - 6 / "PST" / "PDT" ; Pacific: - 8/ - 7 / 1ALPHA ; Military: Z = UT; ; A:-1; (J not used) ; M:-12; N:+1; Y:+12 / ( ("+" / "-") 4DIGIT ) ; Local differential ; hours+min. (HHMM) Section 5.2: The other remaining two forms are taken from ANSI standard X3.51-1975. One allows explicit indication of the amount of offset from UT; the other uses common 3-character strings for indicating time zones in North America. RFC 822 further requires as a matter of protocol that only those 9 three-character abbreviations, the two-character abbreviation UT, and the single-character abbreviations A-Z (excluding J) be used as time zone abbreviations, and that all other time zones use an explicit time differential. Any software in Australian time zones that is generating e-mail Date headers with non-numeric time zones is broken and generating Date headers with no valid interpretation under a mail standard that is 19 (!) years old. I think it's about time that those mail clients get fixed, hmm? Furthermore, RFC 1123 states: There is a strong trend towards the use of numeric timezone indicators, and implementations SHOULD use numeric timezones instead of timezone names. However, all implementations MUST accept either notation. If timezone names are used, they MUST be exactly as defined in RFC-822. The military time zones are specified incorrectly in RFC-822: they count the wrong way from UT (the signs are reversed). As a result, military time zones in RFC-822 headers carry no information. so any software that is generating non-numeric time zones is violating a SHOULD in a mail standard that is now eleven and a half years old. > I can't force people who write to me (who are often people I don't know) > to replace their mail software just because I don't like the dates it > generates. However, if the TZ data gave the Australian users > unambiguous abbreviations for those zones, it would make life easier at > little or no cost to anyone. Except that per RFC 822, the "AEST" bit in a Date header like: Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2000 09:34:42 AEST has no actual meaning and can't be relied on to be anything at all. Given stuff like IST, if I were writing an e-mail client, I would interpret anything with a non-822 time zone as being in UTC and warn the user. Anything else just isn't worth it. Putting explicit tables into software to deal with e-mail clients written by people who haven't read *eleven-year-old* standards would just bug me far too much. -- Russ Allbery (rra(a)stanford.edu) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>

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Re: Updated Australian time zone names/strings
by Paul Eggert April 7, 2001

April 7, 2001

> Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2001 23:59:40 +1000 (EST) > From: David J N Begley <d.begley(a)uws.edu.au> > > since my last question everything has gone quiet: There has been some activity recently. Let me try to summarize my understanding of the discussion. I'm not Australian, so everything I write should be taken as comments by an interested outsider who does not entirely understand the situation there. I see the following points of dispute: * How important are unique time zone abbreviations? Here I tend to agree with the point (most recently made by Chris Newman) that unique abbreviations should not be essential for proper operation of software. We have other instances of ambiguity (e.g. "IST" denoting both "Israel Standard Time" and "Indian Standard Time"), and they are not likely to go away any time soon. In the old days, some software mistakenly relied on unique abbreviations, but this is becoming less true with time, and I don't think it's that important to cater to such software these days. On the other hand, there is another motivation for unambiguous abbreviations: it cuts down on human confusion. This is particularly true for Australia, where "EST" can mean one thing for time T and a different thing for time T plus 1 second. * Does the relevant legislation indicate which abbreviations should be used? Here I tend to think that things are a mess, just as they are in many other countries. We Americans are currently disagreeing about which abbreviation to use for the newly legislated Chamorro Standard Time, for example. Personally, I would prefer to use common practice; I would like to refer to legislation only for examples of common practice, or as a tiebreaker. * Do Australians more often use "Eastern Daylight Time" or "Eastern Summer Time"? Do they typically prefix the time zone names with the word "Australian"? My own impression is that both "Daylight Time" and "Summer Time" are common and are widely understood, but that "Summer Time" is more popular; and that the leading "A" is also common but is omitted more often than not. I just used AltaVista advanced search and got the following count of page hits: 1,103 "Eastern Summer Time" AND domain:au 971 "Australian Eastern Summer Time" AND domain:au 613 "Eastern Daylight Time" AND domain:au 127 "Australian Eastern Daylight Time" AND domain:au Here "Summer" seems quite a bit more popular than "Daylight", particularly when we know the time zone is Australian and not US, say. The "Australian" prefix seems to be popular for Eastern Summer Time, but unpopular for Eastern Daylight Time. For abbreviations, tools like AltaVista are less useful because of ambiguity. Many hits are not really time zones, unfortunately, and many hits denote US time zones and not Australian ones. But here are the hit counts anyway: 161,304 "EST" and domain:au 25,156 "EDT" and domain:au 18,263 "AEST" and domain:au 10,416 "AEDT" and domain:au 14,538 "CST" and domain:au 5,728 "CDT" and domain:au 176 "ACST" and domain:au 29 "ACDT" and domain:au 7,539 "WST" and domain:au 68 "AWST" and domain:au This data suggest that Australians tend to omit the "A" prefix in practice. The situation for "ST" versus "DT" is less clear, given the ambiguities involved. * How do Australians feel about the abbreviations in the tz database? If you just count Australians on this list, I count 2 in favor and 3 against. One of the "against" votes (David Keegel) counseled delay, saying that both AEST/AEDT and EST/EST are widely used and understood in Australia. > So, what happens now? The final decision is Arthur David Olson's, since he's maintaining the database. My own mild preference for now (given what's been said so far) would be to leave it alone.

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