Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2001 00:10:15 -0600 From: <jnorgard@Prodigy.Net.mx>
I decided to check it out with some searches in Internet, but didn't find anything remotely authoritative, but did find some english-speaking persons with e-mail that were apparently living in Tiraspol. I sent mails to 4 persons and got 2 replies:
Thanks for checking into this. On further investigation, the existing Europe/Tiraspol entry (which is taken from Shanks) is most likely incorrect. I'll correct this in my next proposed patch.
# Falklands... Rule Falk 1985 1995 - Sep Sun>=9 0:00 1:00 S Rule Falk 1986 max - Apr Sun>=16 0:00 0 - Rule Falk 1996 max - Sep Sun>=8 0:00 1:00 S
The rules "Sun>=9" that was later substituted with "Sun>=8", and "Sun>=16", arose my curiosity. The rule "Sun>=9" means the Sunday after the Second Saturday which is pretty awkward to say the least (but possible)
Yes. That rule was inferred from the Shanks data before 1990 and the IATA data through February 2000. For example, both IATA and Shanks give 1991-09-15, and Shanks gives 1985-09-15. Unfortunately this data lists only dates and times, so I don't know the actual rules. The Sun>=9 rule resembles the rule that we know is used in Chile, so it's not entirely implausible, but I admit that there's a lot of guesswork here.
It just so happens that 1996 was the first year in several years back where it would make a difference which rule to use. With the first rule we would get the 15.th. September, while the second rule we would get the 8.th. September.
Just to make things interestings, Shanks says that the 1996 transition occurred on 15 September, but I was going with the IATA data which gives 8 September. This is the only date between 1990 and 2000 (inclusive) for which the two sources disagree.
Similarly looking at the rule "Sun>=16" it means the Sunday after the third Saturday, which is an awkward rule and not supported by Windows.
Yes. However, Shanks gives 1990-04-22, which is a counterexample to Sun>=15. (Perhaps they didn't use Windows much in the Falklands back then. :-) Our IATA data do not go back that far. Thanks for finding out the official Falklands rule for this year. I'll update the tables and (for lack of better info) assume the switch occurred at the start of this year.