August 2018 - tz - lists.iana.org

EU Public Consultation on summertime arrangements
by John Wilcock Aug. 29, 2018

Aug. 29, 2018

https://ec.europa.eu/info/consultations/2018-summertime-arrangements_en > > Objective of the consultation > > Following a number of requests from citizens, from the European > Parliament, and from certain EU Member States, the Commission has > decided to investigate the functioning of the current EU summertime > arrangements and to assess whether or not they should be changed. > > In this context, the Commission is interested in gathering the views > of European citizens, stakeholders and Member States on the current EU > summertime arrangements and on any potential change to those arrangements. >

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Fwd: TZDB Questions
by Paul Eggert Aug. 29, 2018

Aug. 29, 2018

[Forwarded with permission.] -------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: TZDB Questions Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2018 17:52:53 -0700 From: Mikey Schott <maschott(a)gmail.com> To: eggert(a)cs.ucla.edu Hello, Dr. Eggert. First let me express my thanks to you for all of the time and energy you have put into the upkeep of the time zone database. I appreciate all of the thought and detail that goes into the decisions regarding each zone. I've been working extensively with the time zone database over the past month to identify a list of currently unique time zones for use in a front-end web application. I'd be happy to share the details of my work if you are curious, but since its purpose is tangential to that of the time zone database, I'll leave them out of this email. The reason I'm writing is because after working so closely with the data, I had a few questions I was hoping you could answer for me. I have more or less completed the work I was doing, so these questions come more from curiosity than necessity. 1. Has there been any consideration to move the source data into a more structured format like csv, xml, or json? I realize I'm probably in the minority here in terms of people who would find this useful. 2. The latest zone entry for some zones that no longer use dst still point to dst rules, e.g. Asia/Tokyo and the Japan rule set even though dst is no longer used in Japan . Is there a reason why some non-dst zones use this method where they point to an outdated rule set whereas most non-dst zones use no rule set (i.e. rule = '-')? 3. I've noticed that some zones just use a shortened version of their offset for their format, whereas timeanddate.com gives them a more descriptive format (e.g. Europe/Volgograd uses MSK vs. +03). Is there a reason for the discrepancy? Does the time zone database error on the side of caution here? 4. I believe that one of the primary purposes of the Link zones is to ensure that there is a zone that covers every country. Is there a specific list or source that the time zone database uses to decide the list of countries that are covered? I noticed that Bouvet Island (BV) and Heard and McDonald Islands (HM) are not included despite having ISO-3166-2 country codes. (Although both have a population of 0, so it hardly qualifies as an oversight.) 5. Do you have a favorite time zone? I've become quite fond of Antarctica/Troll both for its name and its unique offset. Thanks again for all of your work on the database. I've signed up for the mailing list so I can keep up to date. -Mikey

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Re: [tz] TZDB Questions
by Mikey Schott Aug. 29, 2018

Aug. 29, 2018

Great. Thanks for all the answers.

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The rules of DST@Shanghai need some modifications
by Hong Xie Aug. 21, 2018

Aug. 21, 2018

The existing rules of DST@Shanghai is # Rule NAME FROM TO TYPE IN ON AT SAVE LETTER/S > Rule Shang 1940 only - Jun 3 0:00 1:00 D > Rule Shang 1940 1941 - Oct 1 0:00 0 S > Rule Shang 1941 only - Mar 16 0:00 1:00 D > Rule PRC 1986 only - May 4 0:00 1:00 D > Rule PRC 1986 1991 - Sep Sun>=11 0:00 0 S > Rule PRC 1987 1991 - Apr Sun>=10 0:00 1:00 D There are a news record about the DST in China: http://bjrb.bjd.com.cn/html/2017-08/25/content_169986.htm The accurate hour of DST@China is 02:00. For Example, In 1986, the start time of DST@China is 02:00 May 4 1986. The end time of DST@China is 02:00 Sep 14 1986. So the rule should be modified to: # Rule NAME FROM TO TYPE IN ON AT SAVE LETTER/S > Rule Shang 1940 only - Jun 3 0:00 1:00 D > Rule Shang 1940 1941 - Oct 1 0:00 0 S > Rule Shang 1941 only - Mar 16 0:00 1:00 D > Rule PRC 1986 only - May 4 2:00 1:00 D > Rule PRC 1986 1991 - Sep Sun>=11 2:00 0 S > Rule PRC 1987 1991 - Apr Sun>=10 2:00 1:00 D

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time and cost to reprogram computers for DST in Japan
by Paul Eggert Aug. 20, 2018

Aug. 20, 2018

Earlier this week Mainichi Japan published an article describing some criticism of reintroducing DST to Japan. My favorite quote was this one, abut the time and cost to reprogram computers: "The biggest hurdle in Japan to putting daylight saving time in place is the cost and workload required to adjust computer systems. Professor Tetsutaro Uehara of Ritsumeikan University, a specialist in information systems, estimates that it would take about four years and hundreds of billions of yen to do just that. "'Japan is a country with advanced information technology systems, and computers with timing functions are used everywhere. Many are programmed with Japan time based on the international standard time,' pointed out Uehara. 'Software would have to be rewritten to introduce summer time. Such work would take about four years and cost hundreds of billions of yen. It is crazy to attempt to put it in place by the 2020 Games,' said the bewildered professor." My source: Nakagawa S, Hatta K. Daylight saving time causes more trouble than benefits, say critics. The Mainichi. 2018-08-12. https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20180812/p2a/00m/0na/010000c

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Time zones in the news
by Arthur David Olson Aug. 13, 2018

Aug. 13, 2018

"Trump’s diplomatic learning curve: Time zones, ‘Nambia’ and ‘Nipple’" https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/13/trump-world-knowledge-diplomatic-… @dashdashado

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2-hour DST during 2020 Tokyo Olympics?
by Paul Eggert Aug. 8, 2018

Aug. 8, 2018

Prompted by the recent deadly heat wave in Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met yesterday with the president of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic organizing committee, and discussed whether to introduce one or two hours of daylight saving time during the 2020 Olympics to help beat that summer's heat. Although Japan's 2020 Olympics bid said that Tokyo's July/August climate has "many days of mild and sunny weather" and is "an ideal climate for athletes to perform at their best", in reality a Tokyo summer's heat and humidity can be brutal: summer temperatures regularly get to 35°C (95°F) and last week peaked at 41°C (106°F). The International Olympic Committee has agreed to allow staging the marathon at 07:00 to beat the heat. "Why not 05:00? the sun will already be up then," Tokyo residents may be thinking. Apparently the recent heat wave has caused organizers to think the same thing, as a 2-hour DST would advance the event's effective starting time to 05:00 by the sun while still keeping it nominally at 07:00. Although the 1964 Tokyo Games were held in October to avoid heat, this was before the Olympics schedule was subject to the scheduling demands of broadcasters and sponsors. The 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics ratings were down 9% from 2012 (including digital streaming) and event dates will be an important factor in the 2020 ratings. Although a 2-hour DST would presumably affect attendance and ratings only in Japan, that alone is a significant concern for the event's organizers. My sources: Tokyo weighs daylight saving time for Olympics as heat wave incinerates weather descriptions used for 2020 Games bid. Japan Times. 2018-07-28. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/07/28/national/tokyo-weighs-daylight… OLYMPICS/2020 Tokyo organizers consider daylight saving to beat heat. Asahi Shimbun. 2018-07-28. http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201807280009.html

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California may vote on permanent daylight time
by Steve Allen Aug. 5, 2018

Aug. 5, 2018

The legislators have approved a bill to allow California voters to decide whether the state should move to permanent daylight time. The governor now has less than 12 days to veto. Even if voters say yes, federal approval will be required. http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/technology/20180622/year-round-daylight-sa… -- Steve Allen <sla(a)ucolick.org> WGS-84 (GPS) UCO/Lick Observatory--ISB 260 Natural Sciences II, Room 165 Lat +36.99855 1156 High Street Voice: +1 831 459 3046 Lng -122.06015 Santa Cruz, CA 95064 http://www.ucolick.org/~sla/ Hgt +250 m

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Proposed Volgograd time zone change
by Stepan Golosunov Aug. 5, 2018

Aug. 5, 2018

There is currently a bill to change time in Volgograd oblast from Moscow time to Moscow+1. The bill is the result of a local referendum, so it will likely be passed into law. That would require changing Europe/Volgograd from UTC+3 to UTC+4. Proposed change date (2018-10-28) though looks too optimistic (publication of the law before that date while still possible is unlikely) and will likely be amended. http://sozd.parliament.gov.ru/bill/452878-7 Other news: The bill to reintroduce Julian calendar awaits its rejection for some time already: http://sozd.parliament.gov.ru/bill/194304-7 The bill to move clocks 1 hour forward ("permanent summer time") throughout Russia was recently recommended to be rejected: http://sozd.parliament.gov.ru/bill/383137-7 Russian Railways announced that they are changing time displayed on station clocks, timetables and tickets from Moscow time to local time: http://eng.rzd.ru/newse/public/en?STRUCTURE_ID=15&layer_id=4839&id=107332

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Incorrect Time Zone Data for American/Grand_Turk
by Robert MacGrogan Aug. 4, 2018

Aug. 4, 2018

Hi there. It looks to me like the time zone data for America/Grand_Turk is incorrect in 2018e version of the database. Turks and Caicos switched to supporting daylight savings time in March of 2018. So in summer the correct time for America/Ground_Turk should be GMT -4 and then back to GMT -5 again in the fall. The current database returns times for summer of 2018 as GMT -5, which is incorrect. Thank you. -- Rob MacGrogan | Director of Software Development rmacgrogan(a)flightbridge.com <rmacgrogan(a)flightbridge.com> 850-509-6158 [image: FlightBridge] <http://www.flightbridge.com/> FlightBridge, Inc. 530 Means Street, Suite 405 Atlanta, GA 30318 www.flightbridge.com

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