March 2012 - tz - lists.iana.org

TZ from lat/lon?
by H J March 20, 2012

March 20, 2012

Hello all, Not sure if this is the best place to ask this (and if not, I would be very thankful for any suggestions), but does anyone know of a decent open source lat/lon-to-timezone package that runs _standalone_ (as opposed to querying a server somewhere)? I am aware of a few networked solutions (e.g. earthtools) and at least one commercial package (askgeo). The former won't work standalone, while the site license for the latter is too steep for my noncommercial, one-off project. Thanks very much in advance, HJ

4 6

TZ Coordinator candidate
by Zefram March 17, 2012

March 17, 2012

With ado's retirement now almost upon us, I'd like to volunteer for the role of TZ Coordinator. Although I've only been directly involved, on the mailing list, for half a year, I've been peripherally involved for much longer. I'm very comfortable working in this space, and I believe I have the right personal qualities for the job. Firstly, I have a strong and unshakeable inclination to attend to detail, a determination to be thorough, and a decisive concern for correctness. (The former, at least, is an autistic trait, one of several that turn out to be useful to engineers.) I believe these qualities have been apparent in my contributions to the mailing list in recent months. For further substantiation, see my published code and contributions to other mailing lists (links below). I have a calm temperament, which kre rightly identified (on 2009-09-04) as a vital quality for this role. This can be seen in action on the various other mailing lists that I have inhabited in recent years. Particularly see the leap seconds mailing list, where in the past couple of years many discussions have regrettably become much more heated than befits the calibre of participant, and perl5-porters, where I've occasionally dealt with a prickly CPAN author. I'm at the right point in my career to take on this sort of role, potentially for as long as ado has served. I'm mature enough to take on a long-term commitment, while still young enough to have a long term. I was born in 1977, and so am some thirty years away from pensionable age. I can't promise to actually serve for that long, but there isn't anything standing in the way of me doing so. I have, and use, network access nearly every day, so I can respond promptly to urgent issues. I read email, as it comes in, during most of my waking hours, and I'm similarly available on IRC. I tend to spend my weekends and holidays (from paid work) programming. I don't make a habit of travelling, though I presently attend an annual conference that occupies me for five consecutive days. (I haven't so far attempted to access the net while at a conference, but it is available at these conferences, and I ought to get with the times.) Although it's not strictly necessary in a TZ Coordinator, I'm technically well qualified to look after the timezone code. C was my main programming language for about ten years, 1988 to 1998. Since then my main language has been Perl, but I still regularly work in C. About half of the Perl modules that I've published are largely implemented in C, for one reason or another, and I'm a contributor to the Perl core, which is written in C. The quality of my code can be discerned by perusal of my published Perl modules. I have a deep and abiding interest in horology, and particularly in computer implementation of it. I've been on the leap seconds mailing list for some years, actively involved in many discussions there. In the Perl world much of my published code is concerned with time, and last year I gave a well-received talk about time (but not timezones) at two Perl conferences (video link below). Looking more specifically at timezones, some of my Perl code is about timezones, much of that specifically about using the TZ database. I've become intimately familiar with the database through my work on this code. As a bonus, I have some plans for how the database should develop from where it is now. Chief among them, I'd like to see it become more historically comprehensive, but there are obvious problems for users that would come from multiplying up the number of timezones on the present infrastructure. I've got some clear ideas about how to solve these problems, principally some concepts for a new tzfile format that would let zones share representation. I'm confident of the feasibility, and I'd like to develop in this direction with a view to supplanting the present implementation, applying all due caution for stability issues. It's not necessary for me to be the TZ Coordinator in order to proceed with such a project, and I hope to do so anyway, but there's some level of convenience in the roles being colocated. In the spirit of openness, I'll now also list potential downsides of me as TZ Coordinator. Most obviously, I haven't been on the TZ mailing list very long. I tend to pick things up quickly, but this is a defect in the experience I'd bring to the role. Secondly, I have a bit of a concern that my existing role as a consumer of the TZ database (via authorship of relevant Perl modules) might compromise objectivity in developing the API (loosely speaking) that the database provides to the world. (On the other hand, it certainly provides a useful perspective.) Thirdly, I'm of the firm opinion that timezones ought to be abolished, in favour of universal use of Universal Time. Here are links to relevant resources. Other mailing lists that I'm on: http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/leapsecs/ (leap seconds) http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.datetime/ (time data in Perl) http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/ (Perl core) Published Perl modules: https://metacpan.org/author/ZEFRAM Video of talk about time: http://www.presentingperl.org/lpw2011/why-time-is-difficult/ Miscellaneous other bits on my web page: http://www.fysh.org/~zefram/ -zefram

4 4

Encoding of workweek/weekend available?
by Andrew Paprocki March 16, 2012

March 16, 2012

Is there any public database similar to tzdata encoding workweek/weekend transitions over time? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workweek_and_weekend I am asking the folks on this list because the transitions sound eerily like DST transitions: "The coalition government formed on December 2011 issued a decree changing the weekend in Yemen. As of February 2012 the weekend in Yemen will be Friday–Saturday [instead of Thursday–Friday]." -Andrew

2 1

Eternal DST rules for Morocco from 2012 at last
by OvV_HN March 16, 2012

March 16, 2012

From: Dan Abitbol dabitbol at streamwide.com Thu Mar 15 10:21:07 UTC 2012 Hello Sorry to disturb again but as you know Morocco have new DST rules and first change is scheduled on 25 March 15, 2012-03-15 Do you plan to release 2012c that takes into account these new rules for Morocco soon ? .............. Reply: This is not going to be easy. If I understand the rules correctly, then the clocks will be put back during the month of Ramadan. Since the Islamic calendar wanders through the Gregorian calendar, in some years the full month of Ramadan falls in the summertime period, in some years Ramadan falls in the wintertime period and in other years the month of Ramadan partially overlaps with the DST period. I made a table for a couple of forthcoming years. Please note that this table is useless! The beginning of an Islamic month starts as soon as a religious authority declares that the crescent of the moon, immediately after an astronomical new moon, has been observed. This can't be predicted, but it can be approximated by some algorithm. For the table I have used the algorithm for the arithmetical Islamic calendar from Reingold in Calendrical Calculations 2. Note that an Islamic day actually starts at sunset of the day before the day mentioned. Table. (Best viewed with a monospace font). Column 1: Islamic year count. Column 2: the last Sunday of March in the Gregorian calendar. Column 3: the last Sunday of September in the Gregorian calendar. Column 4: the first day of the islamic month Ramadan in the Gregorian calendar. Column 5: the last day of the islamic month Ramadan in the Gregorian calendar. Islamic last Sun. last Sun. first of last of year March Sept. Ramadan Ramadan Gregorian Gregorian 1433 2012-3-25 2012-9-30 2012-7-20 2012-8-18 1434 2013-3-31 2013-9-29 2013-7-9 2013-8-7 1435 2014-3-30 2014-9-28 2014-6-29 2014-7-28 1436 2015-3-29 2015-9-27 2015-6-18 2015-7-17 1437 2016-3-27 2016-9-25 2016-6-7 2016-7-6 1438 2017-3-26 2017-9-24 2017-5-27 2017-6-25 1439 2018-3-25 2018-9-30 2018-5-16 2018-6-14 1440 2019-3-31 2019-9-29 2019-5-6 2019-6-4 1441 2020-3-29 2020-9-27 2020-4-24 2020-5-23 1442 2021-3-28 2021-9-26 2021-4-13 2021-5-12 1443 2022-3-27 2022-9-25 2022-4-3 2022-5-2 1444 2023-3-26 2023-9-24 2023-3-23 2023-4-21 1445 2024-3-31 2024-9-29 2024-3-11 2024-4-9 1446 2025-3-30 2025-9-28 2025-3-1 2025-3-30 1447 2026-3-29 2026-9-27 2026-2-18 2026-3-19 1448 2027-3-28 2027-9-26 2027-2-8 2027-3-9 1449 2028-3-26 2028-9-24 2028-1-28 2028-2-26 1450 2029-3-25 2029-9-30 2029-1-16 2029-2-14 1451 2030-3-31 2030-9-29 2030-1-6 2030-2-4 1452 2031-3-30 2031-9-28 2030-12-26 2031-1-24 1453 2032-3-28 2032-9-26 2031-12-15 2032-1-13 >From the table you can see that, for instance, in the Gregorian year 2012 the month Ramadan completely falls in the summertime period. In the Gregorian year 2026 the full month Ramadan falls outside the summertime period. In the Gregorian year 2023 Moroccan summertime starts effectively April 21 plus one (this is 1 Shawwal) (give or take 2 days; see above why), since Ramadan started just before the last Sunday of March. That's my interpretation, which can differ from the official one! Oscar van Vlijmen

1 0

Haiti on DST now
by Osko, Galatea March 15, 2012

March 15, 2012

Dear team, I'd like to subscribe to your DST changes notifications like the attached one. Thank you Galatea Osko Morgan Stanley | Enterprise Data Group Lechner Odon fasor 8 | Floor 06 Budapest, 1095 Phone: +36 1 881-3866 Galatea.Osko(a)morganstanley.com<mailto:Galatea.Osko@morganstanley.com> -------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTICE: Morgan Stanley is not acting as a municipal advisor and the opinions or views contained herein are not intended to be, and do not constitute, advice within the meaning of Section 975 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. If you have received this communication in error, please destroy all electronic and paper copies and notify the sender immediately. Mistransmission is not intended to waive confidentiality or privilege. Morgan Stanley reserves the right, to the extent permitted under applicable law, to monitor electronic communications. This message is subject to terms available at the following link: http://www.morganstanley.com/disclaimers. If you cannot access these links, please notify us by reply message and we will send the contents to you. By messaging with Morgan Stanley you consent to the foregoing.

1 0

Turkey may go on DST permanently
by Steffen Thorsen March 14, 2012

March 14, 2012

According to Turkish news media, there is a draft law, which will cancel the switch back from DST in October, effectively putting Turkey on UTC+3 all year. No final decision has been made yet. Some sources (in Turkish): http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/20112729.asp http://www.sabah.com.tr/Yasam/2012/03/14/surekli-yaz-saati-1-yil-sonra-basl… Our coverage: http://www.timeanddate.com/news/time/turkey-dst-2012.html Best regards, Steffen Thorsen - timeanddate.com

1 0

Re: [tz] TZ Coordinator candidate
by Doug Ewell March 12, 2012

March 12, 2012

Zefram <zefram at fysh dot org> wrote: > With ado's retirement now almost upon us, I'd like to volunteer for > the role of TZ Coordinator... I'm pretty sure I've never seen anything like this sort of self-campaigning, on any mailing list. Perhaps others who have been involved in more IETF lists have a different experience. Normally, a worthy candidate is nominated by others, and accepts the nomination with considerable humility. -- Doug Ewell | Thornton, Colorado, USA http://www.ewellic.org | @DougEwell

1 0

Haiti on DST now
by Steffen Thorsen March 11, 2012

March 11, 2012

According to several news sources, Haiti will observe DST this year, apparently using the same start and end date as USA/Canada. So this means they have already changed their time. (Sources in French): http://www.alterpresse.org/spip.php?article12510 http://radiovision2000haiti.net/home/?p=13253 Our coverage: http://www.timeanddate.com/news/time/haiti-dst-2012.html Best regards, Steffen Thorsen - timeanddate.com

2 1

Morocco will start DST on March 25, 2012
by Alexander Krivenyshev March 10, 2012

March 10, 2012

According to Infomédiaire web site from Morocco (infomediaire.ma), on March 9, 2012, (in French) Heure légale : Le Maroc adopte officiellement l'heure d'été http://www.infomediaire.ma/news/maroc/heure-l%C3%A9gale-le-maroc-adopte- officiellement-lheure-d%C3%A9t%C3%A9 Governing Council adopted draft decree, that Morocco DST starts on the last Sunday of March (March 25, 2012) and ends on last Sunday of September (September 30, 2012) except the month of Ramadan. or (brief) http://www.worldtimezone.com/dst_news/dst_news_morocco06.html Alexander Krivenyshev- WorldTimeZone.com http://www.worldtimezone.com

4 9

Cambios de Hora de Chile
by Glenn Eychaner March 6, 2012

March 6, 2012

From http://www.horaoficial.cl/cambio.html: > Inicio del horario de Invierno 2012: > De acuerdo al Decreto Supremo N° 225, del 27 de febrero de 2012 del Ministerio del Interior : > a.- En el continente y Antártica Chilena. > A las 24:00 horas del día Sábado 28 de Abril de 2012, se atrasa una hora pasando a ser las 23:00 del mismo día. > (Quedando como GMT/UTC - 04). > b.- En Isla de Pascua e Isla Salas y Gómez. > A las 22:00 horas del día Sábado 28 de Abril de 2012, se atrasa una hora pasando a ser las 21:00 del mismo día. > (Quedando como GMT/UTC - 06). > El horario de Invierno se mantendrá hasta el sábado primero de Septiembre de 2012. Start of Winter Time 2012: In accordance with Supreme Decree 225, 27 Feb 2012, from the Interior Ministry: a.- On the continent and in the Chilean Antarctic: At 24:00 on Saturday 28 April 2012, the hour will go back to 23:00 of the same day, moving to UTC-04. b.- On Easter Island and Isla Salas y Gómez: At 22:00 on Saturday 28 April 2012, the hour will go back to 21:00 of the same day, moving to UTC-06. Winter Time will remain until the first Saturday of September. -G. -- Glenn Eychaner (geychaner(a)lco.cl) Telescope Systems Programmer, Las Campanas Observatory

2 2