Re: timezones
roby <sobrecarga@adelphia.net> writes:
> Bruno Hertz wrote:
>
> (snip)
>> Well, I thought it wasn't actually that good after reading through it
>> myself. Too verbose for my taste :) Anyway, I just recently dug through
>> that stuff, and while not directly related to this particular problem, I
>> can still recommend the wikipedia pages related to time zones, like
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coordinated_Universal_Time
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_zone
>> and all the stuff linked from there, i.e. daylight savings and such.
>>
>> Makes very interesting spare time reading and provides a good general
>> background. E.g. I learned just there that the US has a 'Mountain
>> Time Zone', which covers a pretty large area either. I always thought
>> it was just eastern, central and pacific time, so that was a nice
>> surprise. Also the difference between UTC and GMT is explained, and lots
>> of other stuff. All very interesting :)
>>
>> Regards, Bruno.
>
> Thanks for the education, Bruno!
>
> Here's a tidbit that may help you when you visit the mountain time zone:
> there's a Navaho Indian reservation in northern Arizona. The Navahos set
> their clocks ahead in the summer. The rest of Arizona stays on standard
> time all year.
>
> So, if you get lost in Arizona in the summer, you don't know where you are
> or what time it is! :)
Yeah, I read through some of the history tidbits, like that the push for
timezones or more coordinated time in the US originally came from railway
company(ies) for obvious reasons, and that only 1966 the whole matter was
dealt with by federal law
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Time_Act
which, as you said, still allows for exceptions. The one you mentioned
is noted under the above link, and here too
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_time_zones
and it seems to come out even funnier. Quote:
"The Navajo Nation observes DST throughout its entire territory, including
the portion that lies in Arizona. But the Hopi Nation, which is entirely
surrounded by the Navajo Nation, does not observe DST."
So, Arizona does not observe DST, the Navajo Nation therein however does,
while the Hopi Nation therein again doesn't. Apparantly, the Navajos prefer
identity over uniformity (or uniformity over identity, depends on how you
look at it, state wise or federal :) )
Man, that stuff is really interesting. Also that e.g. in the pacific area,
Autralia in particular, there are timezones only half an hour apart. Didn't
know that either.
And now the funny bit: since I looked at that stuff, I customized my Gnus
mail client to show me your guys offset from UTC in the summary buffer,
as specified in your Date mail header. So e.g. this thread looks like this
in my summary buffer:
michael 06.04.05:00:06 +01 timezones
Clive Menzies 06.04.05:00:18 +01 Re: timezones
michael 06.04.05:00:38 +01 Re: timezones
Bruno Hertz 06.04.05:00:50 +02 Re: timezones
Bruno Hertz 06.04.05:00:28 +02 Re: timezones
Clive Menzies 06.04.05:00:56 +01 Re: timezones
Bruno Hertz 06.04.05:01:16 +02 Re: timezones
roby 06.04.05:15:41 -04 Re: timezones
Bruno Hertz 06.04.05:00:40 +02 Re: timezones
and, as your mails arrive, without even looking into them I can see what your
timezones are and where you're likely from (see that column with +/- UTC offsets).
Michael apparently is BST, I'm CEST, and you are EST with DST. So, presumably,
Michael is from the UK, I'm anywhere from continental Europe, and you anywhere
from the US East Coast. Now, is this fun or what? :)
Regards, Bruno.
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