Ilya Dogolazky <ilya.dogolazky@nokia.com> wrote on Mon, 5 Sep 2011 at 11:47:56 +0300 in <4E648CBC.2030809@nokia.com>:
West Bank is not a location: it's not a city name, it's not an island name. Is there any other name in the database using a territory name for LOCATION? If not, why to break this rule?
We have US/Eastern and friends, though it is via a link. The obvious answer to "why" is that it would be politically expedient and avoid a significant conflict; it would align the timezone rule with the political bodies defining them; and it would reduce overall confusion for neighboring localities. I don't know if those are sufficient reason to deviate from Theory, but I have always felt that the Theory was problematic on this point. While we may manage the history of timezones based on the times in particular places, that is not how people think of their time zone. Unless you happen to live in one of the capital/populous cities we have designated, people think of their time zone as designated by their political authority. Having to pick a city that you know is not-where-you-are is always somewhat of a humbling exercise. --jhawk@mit.edu John Hawkinson