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on australian time zone names and abbreviations
by Andrew Shebanow Aug. 17, 2001

Aug. 17, 2001

OK, I got dragged, bleeding and screaming, into the tar pit of time zone names by one of PlaceWare's Australian customers, who didn't like the fact that Java (1.3.1, at least) formats the time zone for 'Australia/Syndey' as "Eastern Standard Time (New South Wales)", or "EAT" for short. So I did a little research using google, the java sources, and the tz database. Here's what I found that may be relevant, but the bad news is it completely contradicts much of the info in your 'australasia' file. The link http://www.dstc.qut.edu.au/DST/marg/daylight-other.html lists the following as the standard names and abbreviations of time zones in Australia, quoting a source at Australia's National Standards Commission: ------------------------------------- AEST Australian Eastern Standard Time (+10 UTC) AEDT Australian Eastern Daylight Time (+11 UTC) ACST Australian Central Standard Time (+9.5 UTC) ACDT Australian Central Daylight Time (+10.5 UTC) AWST Australian Western Standard Time (+8 UTC) Note: AWDT Australian Western Daylight Time (+9 UTC) is a standard abbreviation, but as there is no daylight saving in the Australian western time zone, it is not used. Are the above abbreviations correct? Here is what the Australian National Standards Commission has said: From: Richard Brittain Sent: Tuesday, 19 December 2000 2:46 PM To: Margaret Turner Subject: RE: Australian Time Zone Abbreviations Margaret - The abbreviations that you propose to use are correct and in fact originated from the Post Master Generals Department (PMGs) some decades ago - the 1960s I believe. There is an AWDT even though it has not been in use for some years so it should appear in any list that claims to be comprehensive. Dr Richard Brittain Executive Officer, Legal Metrology National Standards Commission North Ryde, Sydney. Ph: +61 2 98883922. -------------------------------------- Note that the web page in question is linked to directly by one of the first reference pages listed in your notes section, http://www.dstc.qut.edu.au/DST/marg/daylight.html, under the topic "What are the abbreviations for Australian Time Zones?". Note also the use of "daylight time", not "summer time", contradicting John Mackin's note of 1991-03-06. Now, I'm in no position to judge what the correct official names are, but I thought I'd share my confusion over what is and is not correct... Any enlightment you could share would be much appreciated... Andrew Shebanow PlaceWare

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Re: Tonga DST
by alex＠agsm.edu.au Aug. 16, 2001

Aug. 16, 2001

I wouldn't put the slightest bit of faith in those statements, especially as they claim that Japan is 4 hours ahead of UTC (really 9), and that Tonga is the first country in the world to see each new day (not true since eastern Kiribati switched sides of the date line in 1995). Not only that, but also, if the statement about Tonga being 13 hours ahead of UTC were correct, Tonga is 1 hour ahead of New Zealand only when New Zealand is off daylight saving (otherwise it is true only when either both countries are on or both countries are off daylight saving). Do you think Tonga's beaurocracy is any more coordinated than any other country's? :Alex Garrett Wollman <wollman(a)khavrinen.lc To: Jesper Nørgaard <jnorgard(a)Prodigy.Net.mx> s.mit.edu> cc: "'TZ mailing list'" <tz(a)elsie.nci.nih.gov> Subject: Tonga DST 2001-08-17 01:46 <<On Wed, 15 Aug 2001 20:31:56 -0500, =?iso-8859-1?Q?Jesper_N=F8rgaard? = <jnorgard(a)Prodigy.Net.mx> said: > Are there any confirmations at the moment about whether Tonga will > in fact stop using DST? The official Tonga tourist board Web site at <http://www.vacations.tvb.gov.to/facts.htm> says: STANDARD TIME Tonga is 13 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time or UTC.. Nothing mentioned about DST here. -GAWollman

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re: Tonga dst
by Rives McDow Aug. 16, 2001

Aug. 16, 2001

Dear All, I received information on 7/16/01 that Tonga will implement dst again this year. Here are the dates: KINGDOM OF TONGA WILL MOVE TO DST AT 0200LT SUN 25NOV01 AND REVERT BACK TO STD TIME AT 0300LT SUN THE 03MAR02. I am confirming this with a second source in the Tonga government by mail. I should receive a reply back shortly, as it usually takes about a month to get the reply. Sincerely, Rives McDow

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Tonga DST
by Jesper Nørgaard Aug. 16, 2001

Aug. 16, 2001

Tonga has been entering DST during 1999 to 2001 presumably to be the "first Island into the Millennium(s)". The assumption is that Tonga will not continue to apply DST now that both Millenniums have past. This is the information about Tonga we have in the tz database: # Rule NAME FROM TO TYPE IN ON AT SAVE LETTER/S Rule Tonga 1999 only - Oct 7 2:00s 1:00 S Rule Tonga 2000 only - Mar 19 2:00s 0 - Rule Tonga 2000 only - Nov 4 2:00s 1:00 S Rule Tonga 2001 only - Jan 27 2:00s 0 - # Zone NAME GMTOFF RULES FORMAT [UNTIL] Zone Pacific/Tongatapu 12:19:20 - LMT 1901 12:20 - TOT 1941 # Tonga Time 13:00 - TOT 1999 13:00 Tonga TO%sT Are there any confirmations at the moment about whether Tonga will in fact stop using DST? The above information represents the change in DST January 27, 2001 and states as a fact that DST will not be applied in the end of year 2001. But I have not seen neither confirmations nor rejections in the internet of if Tonga will apply DST again in the end of 2001. Any information will be appreciated. Atentamente, Jesper Nørgaard Welen Email: jnorgard(a)Prodigy.Net.mx Project Leader (Líder de Proyecto) Software 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://www20.Brinkster.com/timezone50/index.htm

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Re: Tonga DST
by Oscar van Vlijmen Aug. 16, 2001

Aug. 16, 2001

The Tonga government still has no more recent news since November 2000 regarding DST: http://pmo.gov.to/GPR1nov.html Could mean that the 'millennium' rules are still valid. Oscar van Vlijmen 2001-08-16

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Australian Eastern times - AEST
by Daniel Stone July 28, 2001

July 28, 2001

Hi guys, I've *always* seen the Australian Eastern (Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania, Queensland) states' timezones referred to as AEST - Australian Eastern Standard Time. The TZ package, however, refers to it as EST, which not only confuses everyone, but also confuses things like date[1] command. I believe AEST is the official name, and it makes life easier. Ben - the patch for Debian is attached. Timezone guys - ignore all the script stuff before the actual diff, and please apply the diff itself for the next upstream release. Thanks :) d [1]: Just try telling date "EST" in a format, when meaning the Australian one. -- Daniel Stone <daniel(a)sfarc.net> <Nuke> "can NE1 help me aim nuclear weaponz????? /MSG ME!!"

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FW: History of Time Zones
by Olson, Arthur David (NCI) July 25, 2001

July 25, 2001

Joanne Kneafsey is not on the time zone mailing list; direct replies appropriately. --ado -----Original Message----- From: Joanne Kneafsey [mailto:jo@oftv.co.uk] Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2001 4:54 AM To: tz(a)elsie.nci.nih.gov Subject: Re: History of Time Zones To Whom This May Concern, We are currently producing a documentary for Channel 4 about Rasputin. The director has a theory that he would like to put in the film. On June 27th 1914 Frans Ferdinand was shot in Sarajevo, which ultimately started the First World War. On that same day Rasputin was stabbed in Tyumen in Russia. His theory is that these two events happened around the same time across different time zones. The shooting in Sarajevo happened at 12 noon. Please can you tell me what time it would have been in Tyumen, Russia? If you have any further queries then please contact me. Kind Regards, Joanne Kneafsey Joanne Kneafsey Oxford Film & Television 6 Erskine Road London NW3 3AJ t: 020 7483 3637 f: 020 7483 3567 email: jo(a)oftv.co.uk <mailto:jo@oftv.co.uk> Mob: 07787 190238

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Re: History of Time Zones
by Joanne Kneafsey July 25, 2001

July 25, 2001

To Whom This May Concern, We are currently producing a documentary for Channel 4 about Rasputin. The director has a theory that he would like to put in the film. On June 27th 1914 Frans Ferdinand was shot in Sarajevo, which ultimately started the First World War. On that same day Rasputin was stabbed in Tyumen in Russia. His theory is that these two events happened around the same time across different time zones. The shooting in Sarajevo happened at 12 noon. Please can you tell me what time it would have been in Tyumen, Russia? If you have any further queries then please contact me. Kind Regards, Joanne Kneafsey Joanne Kneafsey Oxford Film & Television 6 Erskine Road London NW3 3AJ t: 020 7483 3637 f: 020 7483 3567 email: jo(a)oftv.co.uk Mob: 07787 190238

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Question about historical timezones
by Robert Prins July 20, 2001

July 20, 2001

Hi, I don't know if this is the right place to ask, I cannot download the files mentioned on <http://www.twinsun.com/tz/tz-link.htm> through the corporate firewall, but I'm dying to get information about what Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have been doing with their timezones since 1999, if possible with dates of change. Regards, Robert -- Robert AH Prins - AIB (Contractor) robert.a.prins(a)aib.ie prino(a)bigfoot.com ********************************************************************** This document is strictly confidential and is intended for use by the addressee unless otherwise indicated. Allied Irish Banks **********************************************************************

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various time related problems
by Nathanael Noblet July 17, 2001

July 17, 2001

Hello, I hope that those on this list can help me with a problem I've been trying to solve for the last week or so. I found a link to this list in a newsgroup post. I don't know if anyone here deals with programming or if this is simply to do with date/time standards or what. If I am in the wrong news group just let me know. The Problem: In a project I'm taking part in we're building a custom date/time class for inclusion in a library. Everything works except a few things we'd like to implement. The date class will be used mainly for conversions and such and to timestamp certificates for encryption purposes. We're using the standard C/C++ library functions for most everything. What I'd like to be able to do is give this class a date as a string (similar to an email date) and have it convert to a tm struct. The only problem is that I need to take into account what timezone the date is in. For instance if I receive an email from someone in Japan (I am in Calgary, Canada). The date/time would look like this in the headers. Thu, 05 Jul 2001 HH:MM:SS JST. Is there anyway I can get a list of 3 letter abreviations so to get the JST and convert to an UTC offset? This way I can convert between times and such. The regular c/c++ functions do not support this coming from a string. Only outputting the timezone info from a tm struct to a string. Any help / ideas with this would be appreciated. Sincerely, Nathanael Noblet ===================== Primality Inc. 208 - 908 17th Ave SW Calgary, AB (403) 262-5616 ext226

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