[tz] Attempting to get speedier tz updates

[Clive D.W. Feather]

Robert Elz said:
> Attempting to contact everyone responsible, directly, would be a lot
> of work, just identifying the parties involved, so I thought it might
> be possible to take an easier route, and just ask the UN to do the
> contact work for us - that is, we write to the UN Secretary General,
> and ask that the message be redistributed to all member states - the
> message being a request that they ask whoever (whatever agency) is
> responsible for actually implementing time issues, to please inform us
> of any planned or actual changes - and perhaps, if they're able, any
> historical data they have.

I think this is a good idea, with one rider. You might find it's more
likely to work if you ask your own government to submit the request; in
other words, they're more likely to listen to a member state than a (to
them) random member of the public. I don't know how much work that will be
for you.

> Also, while I'm happy to draft (and circulate to the list before sending)
> the letter involved, it would probably be nice from the UN's viewpoint, if
> we could send in both English and French (and anything else?  I doubt we need 
> to consider attempting all 6 official languages.)

I'm pretty sure we have native Russian and Spanish speakers on the list.
I have Chinese colleagues who I can ask whether they can do a Mandarin
translation, though I make no promises. I don't know any Arabic speakers,
but some of my Israeli colleagues may.

> That I cannot do,
> so I'd need assistance with translation into French (and anything else
> suggested as a good idea) - and that assistance needs to be from a fluent
> (native) speaker I believe, not someone who learned the language in school.

Indeed.

-- 
Clive D.W. Feather          | If you lie to the compiler,
Email: clive at davros.org     | it will get its revenge.
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