From: Marek Hajduczenia [mailto:marek_haj@2com.pl] Sent: Saturday, December 20, 2008 3:30
I am writing to You with a small request. Is it possible to add one location to time zone data base app i.e. Howland Island (see: http://www.worldtimezone.com/time/wtzresult.php?CiID=42242). It is used heavily in IEEE ballots as the Anywhere On Earth time locator and it would be nice to have. Me and my colleagues use various plugins which in turns use this data base for reference and currently this location is not available. I do realize that this is not an inhabited island though there is some point of merit in adding it to the list. Alternatively, adding any location which has GMT-12 hrs would be of use, no matter what the name is. It would be most useful for IEEE community (I am speaking here as its member only).
Would TZ='Etc/GMT+12' solve your problem? As far as we know, Howland was using Hawaii War Time (9.5 hours behind UTC) the last time that it was inhabited, so I'm afraid it's not a good representative for the zone that is 12 hours behind UTC.