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History of the IDL
by R.H. van Gent March 29, 2001

March 29, 2001

Hi all, I am new to this group and I would like to enlist your aid in correcting and augmenting my web site under construction on the history of the International Date Line at: http://www.phys.uu.nl/~vgent/idl/idl.htm I am still adding new material and illustrations to my web site and any comments or suggestions for improvement will be very much appreciated. List members who can read Dutch may also be interested in my web site on the history of legal time in the Netherlands at: http://www.phys.uu.nl/~vgent/wettijd/wettijd.htm which includes an overview of all relevant sources that I have been able to trace with tables for the Daylight Saving period from 1916 to the present (and even further). Regards, ======================================================== * Robert H. van Gent * Tel/Fax: 00-31-30-2720269 * * Zaagmolenkade 50 * * * 3515 AE Utrecht * E-mail: r.h.vangent(a)astro.uu.nl * * The Netherlands * * ******************************************************** * Home page: http://www.phys.uu.nl/~vgent/homepage.htm * ========================================================

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Regional Time Zone:Daylight Savings Time/set clocks ahead 1 hour 3/30/02
by mellowf84＠aol.com March 29, 2001

March 29, 2001

Dear Sirs: I have a new computer which used to be in a different time zone area, I am in upstate NY and am concerned about re-setting my computer properly. I have a Compaq/Windows 98 and cannot figure it out. My time is incorrect. Any advise you could give me would be greatly appreciated. thanks, my e-mail is OldSkool606 @ aol.com thanks again.

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Solaris patched to avoid "ROC" time zone name for political reasons
by Paul Eggert March 29, 2001

March 29, 2001

On Tuesday, Sun released patch 111099-01 for Solaris 8 (x86) entitled "ROC timezone should be avoided for political reasons". This patch creates the zone Asia/Taipei (which is normally not installed in Solaris) and then creates ROC as a link. The patch does not include the source code (in this case, the 'asia' file) so unfortunately I can't report Sun's comments (if any) about the situation. (If Sun were selling to North Korea, I guess "ROK" would be next to go. :-)

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daylight savings time
by YKCA＠aol.com March 29, 2001

March 29, 2001

i live in new york city. on what day,on what date and time does daylight savings time go into effect??? thankyou murray n ackerman

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hi
by WildFlower12257＠aol.com March 27, 2001

March 27, 2001

what time is it in florida

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IERS Message No. 7
by central_bureau＠iers.org March 26, 2001

March 26, 2001

*************************************************************************** IERS Message No. 7 March 27, 2001 *************************************************************************** ITRF Report 4 on local ties Report on local tie problems in colocation sites as result from ITRF2000 Analysis Zuheir Altamimi IERS ITRS Product Center Institut Geographique National, France Date: March 22, 2001 The importance of local ties in space geodetic colocation sites is no longer to be demonstrated. Their impact on the ITRF solutions is very critical since they represent the key element of ITRF combination. Based on ITRF2000 residual analysis, the current situation of local ties is summarized in the following two tables: Table 1: Missing Local Ties: Sites where local ties between some or all points are missing (information is not available at IERS ITRS Product Center). Table 2: Dubious local ties: Sites where local tie estimates differ from Space Geodesy estimates. The current local ties collected by the ITRS-PC since more than 10 years come from heterogeneous sources and do not always contain quality (precision) information, necessary for rigorous ITRF combination. These local ties are used in ITRF combinations as observations with proper variances. In case where these variances are not available, they are computed using a geodetic formula given in ITRF publications. Note that a dubious local tie is declared as such if its ITRF2000 post fit residuaul is larger than or equal to 1 cm. This threshold of 1 cm is the minimum requirement for a global frame aimed to be good to at least 1 ppb level (6 mm over the Earth's surface). Therefore the ITRF2000 residual analysis is a tool to assess their quality or their level of agreement with Space Geodesy estimates. Dubious local ties are due to at least one of the following reasons: - They are imprecise - They are in error - Space Geodesy estimate is imprecise - Space Geodesy estimate is in error Each one of these two tables is sorted in two categories, according to their importance for ITRF: ***: Highly Important Sites, given their geographic location and/or quality of their geodetic instruments. These critical sites are mostly those where local ties between points observed by at least two different techniques are not available (Table 1), respectively dubious (Table 2). This is the case for example of: - Wuhan (China) where the local tie between the SLR and GPS points is not available. - Fairbanks (ALASKA) where the local tie between the VLBI and GPS points is dubious. * : Very Important Sites, given the quality of their geodetic instruments. These sites are those where SOME local ties are not available (resp. dubious). This is the case for example of: - Tromso (Norway) where the new GPS point is not connected to VLBI, SLR, DORIS or the old GPS points. - Wettzell (Germany) where the local tie connecting the SLR point 8834 (S018) is dubious. In order to remedy this situation, it is recommended to initiate efforts starting with Highly important sites. A useful information (per-site residual summary and plots) highlighting the quality of local ties in ITRF2000 colocation sites is available on the web at: http://lareg.ensg.ign.fr/ITRF/ITRF2000/valsit.html Table 1: Missing Local Ties Sites where local ties between some or all points are missing Missing tie per DOMES Site Name Country Imp Technique (Point) ----- ---------------- -------- --- -------------------------------- Highly Important Sites 10317 NY-ALESUND NORWAY *** VLBI(S003 7331) 12309 MENDELEEVO RUSSIA *** SLR(S001 1870), GPS(M002 MDVO) 12329 YUZHNO-SAKHALINS RUSSIA *** GPS(M003 YSSK), DORIS(S001 SAKA) 12337 SIMEIS UKRAINE *** SLR(M001 7561), SLR(S003 1873) SLR(S006 1893), VLBI(S008 7332) 21602 WUHAN CHINA *** SLR(S003 7236), GPS(M001 WUHN) 21605 SHANGHAI CHINA *** GPS(M002 SHAO), VLBI(S008 7226) 21609 KUNMING CHINA *** GPS(M001 KUNM), SLR(S002 7820) 21612 URUMQI CHINA *** GPS(M001 URUM), VLBI(S001 7330) 21701 KASHIMA JAPAN *** SLR(M002 7335), VLBI(S001 1856) VLBI(S004 1857), VLBI(S006 7334) 21704 KOGANEI JAPAN *** SLR(M001 7328), SLR(S002 7308) S002(S004 7327) 21729 USUDA JAPAN *** VLBI(S001 7246), GPS(S007 USUD) 23903 SUWN-SHI S. KOREA *** GPS(M001 SUWN), VLBI(S001 7353) 21733 MINAMI TORI SIMA JAPAN *** SLR(S001 7300), VLBI(S002 7310) 21739 MIURA JAPAN *** SLR(M001 7337), VLBI(S001 7336) 21740 TATEYAMA JAPAN *** SLR(M001 7339), VLBI(S001 7338) 30302 HARTEBEESTHOEK S.AFRICA *** SLR(M003 7501) 40403 PALOS VERDES USA *** VLBI(M001 7268), GPS(M002 PVEP) 40419 KODIAK USA *** VLBI(M001 7278), GPS(S001 KOD1) 42501 BERMUDA USA *** SLR(M001 7067), VLBI(M002 7294) GPS(S004 BRMU) Very Important Sites 10302 TROMSO NORWAY * GPS(M006 TRO1) 12302 RIGA LATVIA * SLR(S006 1885) 12725 CAGLIARI ITALY * SLR(S013 7548) 13402 SAN FERNANDO SPAIN * SLR(S007 7824) 14201 WETTZELL GERMANY * SLR(M200 7594), VLBI(S100 7593) 21730 TSUKUBA JAPAN * VLBI(S007 7345) 21732 CHICHIJIMA JAPAN * VLBI(S004 7347) 40405 GOLDSTONE USA * GPS(S031 GOLD, current IGS point, Post-Landers) 40437 MAMMOTH LAKES USA * (M001 7259), (M002 CASA) Mobile VLBI - GPS ~4km 40439 OWENS VALLEY USA * VLBA(S006 7616) 40451 WASHINGTON USA * GPS(S003 USNO) 40492 VERNAL USA * SLR(M001 7892), VLBI(M002 7290) (Destroyed) 40499 RICHMOND USA * VLBI(S019 7201), GPS(S020 RCM6) Table 2: Dubious Local Ties --------------------------- DOMES Site Name Country Imp Techniques/points Delta (cm) ----- -------------- -------- --- ---------------------------------- ----- Highly Important Sites 10204 HOFN ICELAND *** VLBI(M001 7635)/GPS(M002 HOFN) 10 12717 NOTO ITALY *** VLBI(7547 S001)/GPS(M003 NOTO) 1 12734 MATERA ITALY *** VLBI(7234 S005)/GPS(M008 MATE) 1 13402 SAN FERNANDO SPAIN *** SLR(S004 7824)/GPS(M004 SFER) 5 13407 MADRID SPAIN *** GPS(MADR S012)/VLBI(1565 S010) 1 20805 ANKARA TURKEY *** SLR(M001 7589)/GPS(M002 ANKR) 30 21601 BEIJING CHINA *** GPS(M001 BJFS)/SLR(S004 7249) 5 21605 SHANGHAI CHINA *** SLR(S001 7837)/VLBI(S009 7227) 5 21732 CHICHIJIMA JAPAN *** VLBI(S001 7316)/SLR(S002 7844) 50 30302 HARTEBEESTHOEK S.AFRICA *** GPS(HART M002, HARK M007, HRAO M004) 1 DORIS(HBLA S005, HBKA S202) 1 40104 ALGONQUIN CANADA *** VLBI(7282 S001)/GPS(ALGO M002) 1 40408 FAIRBANKS USA *** GPS(FAIR M001)/VLBI(7225 S002) 2 GPS/DORIS(FAIA S004, FAIB S005) 1 40440 WESTFORD USA *** VLBI(S003 7209)/GPS(S020 WES2) 2 40451 GREENBELT USA *** GPS(GODE M123)/Other site points 1 50501 GUAM USA *** GPS(GUAM M002)/DORIS(GUAB S001) 3 66006 SYOWA ANTARTICA *** VLBI(7342 S004)/GPS + DORIS 5 66007 ROTHERA ANTARTICA *** GPS(ROT1 M001)/DORIS(ROTA S001) 7 66008 O'HIGGINS ANTARTICA *** VLBI(S001 7245)/GPS(M001 OHIG) 3 91501 PETRELS Is. TERRE ADELIE *** GPS(DUM1 M001)/DORIS(ADEA S001) 3 97301 KOUROU FRENCH GUIANA *** GPS(KOUR M210)/DORIS(KRUB S004) 5 Very Important Sites 10317 NY-ALESUND NORWAY * GPS(NYA1 M003) 2 14201 WETTZELL GERMANY * SLR(8834 S018)/Other site points 1 40405 GOLDSTONE USA * SLR(7085 M001, 7115 M002, 7265 M006) VLBI(1514 S001, 7222 S009, 1513 S014, 1515 S019), DORIS(GOMA S005) 1-5 40439 OWENS VALLEY USA * VLBI(7207 S002)/Other site points 2 40499 RICHMOND USA * VLBI(7219 S001)/GPS(RCM5 S018) 1 ___________________________________________________________________________ R: VLBI, L: SLR, P: GPS, D: DORIS Delta : Difference between local tie and Space Geodesy estimate ***************************************************************************

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Question about US TZ rules (Possible error in the data)
by Zane Appel March 25, 2001

March 25, 2001

Hello, Please see the data below from your latest data release (2001a): # From Arthur David Olson (2000-09-25): # Last night I heard part of a rebroadcast of a 1945 Arch Oboler radio drama. # In the introduction, Oboler spoke of "Eastern Peace Time." # An AltaVista search turned up # <a href="http://rowayton.org/rhs/hstaug45.html">: # "When the time is announced over the radio now, it is 'Eastern Peace # Time' instead of the old familiar 'Eastern War Time.' Peace is wonderful." # </a> (August 1945) by way of confirmation. # Rule NAME FROM TO TYPE IN ON AT SAVE LETTER/S Rule US 1918 1919 - Mar lastSun 2:00 1:00 D Rule US 1918 1919 - Oct lastSun 2:00 0 S *Rule US 1942 only - Feb 9 2:00 1:00 W # War Rule US 1945 only - Aug 14 23:00u 1:00 P # Peace I am confused about the rule for 1942 above (with asterisk.) Since the paragraph above says that they started calling it 'Eastern Peace Time' in 1945 doesn't that imply that the 1942 rule was in effect from 1942 to 1945 and not 1942 only? Thanks in Advance, Zane Appel

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(no subject)
by Mosb40＠aol.com March 24, 2001

March 24, 2001

when does ohio switch to savings time

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dst reference in "Animal Crackers"
by Will Fitzgerald March 23, 2001

March 23, 2001

Groucho Marx, as Captain Spaulding: "We're been using the five-cent nickle in this country since 1492. Now that's pretty near 100 years, daylight savings."

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Updated Australian time zone names/strings
by David J N Begley March 22, 2001

March 22, 2001

To whom it may concern... Summary: I'd like to request the "EST/EST" time zone strings for Australian eastern standard and summer/daylight-savings time be changed to "AEST/AEDT", given that "EST/EST": - clashes with an existing U.S. time zone; - gives no indication of the difference between standard/d'light savings; - is unnecessarily confusing; - is incorrectly quoted from the time zone database as authoritative; and, - does not necessarily gel with "common practice" in Australia. Whilst it is arguable exactly what string/abbreviation should be used in the absence of formal standards, I present "common usage" examples below and argue that at the very least, the abbreviations for standard and daylight savings time should be *different*. Detail: Checking the tzdata2001a archive (and various UNIX systems), Australian eastern time zones (particularly "Australia/Sydney") use the time zone string "EST" for both standard and summer/daylight-savings time. Notionally, this is just a visual issue that doesn't really bring the IT industry to its knees if it's wrong since most decent systems work directly on the UTC offset instead. However, some systems use the time zone database as an "expert reference" from which to extrapolate incorrect information - it is this that triggered my submission to you. For example, the time zone database includes the following comment: # From John Mackin (1991-03-06): # We in Australia have _never_ referred to DST as `daylight' time. # It is called `summer' time. Now by a happy coincidence, `summer' # and `standard' happen to start with the same letter; hence, the # abbreviation does _not_ change... I can't speak for Mr Mackin's direct experience, but I can most certainly contest the assertion that, "We in Australia have _never_ referred to DST as `daylight' time" - certainly everyone I know (and myself, of course) have always used the term "daylight savings" rather than "summer time". I've used UNIX systems for years so to a certain degree I'm used to this "error" in the time zone database; however, now that people are using the database as an authoritative resource (despite the comments in the file to the contrary), I thought it only fair to request a correction (in the hope that those relying on the database will in turn correct their information). Mr Mackin continues: # The legislation does not actually define abbreviations, at least # in this State, but the abbreviation is just commonly taken to be the # initials of the phrase, and the legislation here uniformly uses # the phrase `summer time' and does not use the phrase `daylight # time'. Unfortunately Mr Mackin does not indicate to what State he refers, but in *this* State (New South Wales - NSW), the relevant legislation clearly uses both terms (summer time and daylight savings) interchangeably; for reference, see the Standard Time Act 1987 (NSW), which *predates* Mr Mackin's comment: "New South Wales Consolidated Acts - STANDARD TIME ACT 1987" http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/sta1987137/ Whilst the Act clearly defines "standard time" and "summer time", it also makes specific mention of "daylight saving": - the long title of the legislation is: "An Act relating to standard time and daylight saving in New South Wales." - part 3 of the Act, talking about summer time, is in fact entitled: "PART 3 - DAYLIGHT SAVING" For further evidence of the use of the term "daylight saving", see: "Time in New South Wales" (NSW Attorney General's Department) http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/crd.nsf/pages/time1 "Daylight Saving in New South Wales" (NSW Department of Public Works and Services) http://dir.gis.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/genobject/document/other/daylightsaving/t… "When does daylight savings start in Australia?" (National Standards Commission) http://www.nsc.gov.au/PAGES/Info/info_faq.html#Daylight Savings "Daylight Saving" (National Standards Commission) http://www.nsc.gov.au/PDF_WORD/Info/IL27.pdf Clearly, the assertion that Australia always uses the term "summer time" instead of "daylight time" or "daylight savings" (and therefore, the time zone abbreviations must be the same) is *incorrect*. The confusion arises because in Australia it is the States (not the Federal/national government) that legislate time changes during the summer months; whilst technically it is a federal responsibility under the constitution (as a measure related to commerce), the parliament has never really been able to pass legislation on the matter due to the fear that the States would see this as removing some of their legislative powers (see Hansard, Commonwealth House of Representatives, 1991). Subsequently, there is no standard name for time zones or summer clock shifts just "common use" (for various definitions of "common") that sometimes vary from State to State. In the media you will experience all manner of phrases used such as "Eastern Time", "Summer Time", "Sydney Time" and numerous other variants; for example, C&W Optus (a large telco) uses abbreviations such as "AEDST" when referring to Australian eastern daylight savings time. I suspect, apart from Mr Mackin's comments above, that the local use of the phrase "Eastern Standard Time" (which is clearly local in context) is what has led to the use of the ambiguous "EST" in the time zone database. More recently, however, the media is recognising the global context (rather than local) and starting to prefix time zone references with "Australian" (more on this below). As noted above, this confusing lack of standards, local phrases and personal experiences have found their way into the time zone database, into nearly every UNIX system (well...) and has now created even more confusion, especially as some people start to quote the time zone database as authoritative. For example: "Australian time zones and their naming variants account for fully one quarter of all time zones in the Postgres time zone lookup table." http://www.postgresql.org/users-lounge/docs/7.0/user/datetime-appendix.htm (Caused by wierd variants - many of which I must admit to never having seen in use - to the ambiguous "EST". Also note that they recognise "AEST".) More of a concern, is this: "4.5. The timezone string for Sydney/Australia is wrong since even when daylight saving time is in effect the timezone string is EST. "{UD} The problem for some timezones is that the local authorities decided to use the term 'summer time' instead of 'daylight saving time'. In this case the abbreviation character `S' is the same as the standard one. So, for Sydney we have Eastern Standard Time = EST Eastern Summer Time = EST Great! To get this bug fixed convince the authorities to change the laws and regulations of the country this effects. glibc behaves correctly." http://www.gnu.org/software/libc/FAQ.html This is clearly based on Mr Mackin's comment in the time zone database, and as I have demonstrated is wrong (in terms of the legislation and government use). Unfortunately, despite the evidence, the glibc authors simply point to the time zone database as authoritative and allow this error to continue. glibc is *not* behaving correctly, nor is the time zone database (but to correct glibc I need to get the time zone database updated). So.. by this time I hope I've demonstrated that it *is* legitimate (and correct) to use a different abbreviation for daylight savings/summer time; all that remains is to demonstrate why I've chosen "AEST" and "AEDT" to replace "EST" for standard and daylight savings time respectively. Well, ignoring my own use of these abbreviations, some "common use" includes: - Australian Broadcasting Corporation <http://www.abc.net.au/news/> - Browse the ABC News site and see the instances of "AEST" and "AEDT" (even "ACST" and "AWST" for central and western standard time) in reference to eastern standard or eastern summer time depending on whether that particular State observes daylight savings or not. - In particular, see the "Posted" timestamps at: <http://www.abc.net.au/news/state/nsw/default.htm> - The home page currently has a timestamp (towards page top-right) of: "This Bulletin: Thu, Mar 22 2001 4:15 PM AEDT". - Even at the bottom of the first news page is the explanation of "AEDT" (which may disappear this weekend when DST ends in NSW): "AEDT = Australian Eastern Daylight Time which is 11 hours ahead of UTC (Greenwich Mean Time)" - These pages also appear in a search of the Commonwealth Government's <http://www.fed.gov.au/> Web site. - Australian Department of Defence <http://www.defence.gov.au/> - See various media releases, for example, referring to times in either "AEST" or "AEDT", including: <http://www.defence.gov.au/media/1997/05797.html> <http://www.defence.gov.au/media/1997/01197.html> - National Library of Australia <http://www.nla.gov.au/> - Search their Web site for "AEST", references to contacting them give times in this time zone: <http://www.nla.gov.au/dss/libraries_os.html#express> - Australian Taxation Office (ATO) - http://www.ato.gov.au/content.asp?doc=/content/tax_reform/nat3402.htm - Australian Football League (AFL) - Fixture times: <http://www.afl.com.au/matches/season_111.htm> - Australian Cricket Board (ACB) - Live game coverage: <http://www-aus.cricket.org/link_to_database/NATIONAL/AUS/MATCHES/> - "The Australian" (and other Murdoch/News-owned newspapers) - Example: <http://australianit.news.com.au/common/storyPage/0,3811,902553%255E2184,00.…> - You have to "view source" to see the "Updated...AEST" - Visible at the very bottom, "All times AEDT" - Other (small sample) - NineMSN's News service <http://www.news.ninemsn.com.au/> (notice current time given in AEDT) - "...each fortnightly Sunday morning at 8am AEST/AEDT" http://news.ninemsn.com.au/smallbusiness/help/help9.asp - AAP IS/News, as viewed through <http://au.dailynews.yahoo.com/> (pick AAP-sourced articles and notice times in "AEDT" and "AEST") The examples go on and on. As you can see, it is not just government sites using the time zones "AEST" and "AEDT" in this manner. An argument could probably be mounted to have all the Australian time zones altered accordingly (probably along the lines used by the ABC and The Australian), but it's mainly the Australia/Sydney time zone that interests me at present. I hope this is sufficient information/examples for consideration, but would be happy to provide further info/examples if necessary. Thanks for your consideration (and sorry for this being so long); hope to hear your comments soon. Cheers.. dave

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