[tz] permanent DST and North American time zone names
Brooks Harris
brooks at edlmax.com
Wed Mar 16 13:53:38 UTC 2022
Perhaps lobby the House of Representatives to change the Bill to simply
stop DST:
A) Its a more natural reflection of daylight and seasons. Its more in
keeping with the age old tradition of keeping time by the Sun in the
sky. Its better for the population's sleep patterns and so better for
safety, health and productivity.
B) Its a simple matter for tzdb to accommodate that rule and for client
systems to reflect it. There would be little or no technical disruption
of civil time.
I want DST to go away, but I see "permanent DST" as an unnatural
distortion and technically disruptive. Perhaps if lawmakers were made
more aware if this there might be reconsideration of the terms of the Bill.
Thanks,
-Brooks
On 2022-03-16 12:45 AM, Chris Walton via tz wrote:
> Regardless of what the legislation does or does not say, this database
> needs to quickly adopt a strategy to deal with changes that may be
> necessary for all North American Time zones.
> The supporters and maintainers of this time zone database can take an
> active role in helping to define and endorse a common standard, or
> they can sit back and watch the politicians and the general public
> fumble the job. It would be helpful if there was some collaboration
> between Microsoft and the supporters/maintainers of this database.
>
> I think it is likely that if the US government approves the Sunshine
> Protection Act, that most Canadian provinces and territories will
> follow with similar legislation.
> - British Columbia and Ontario already have the necessary legislation
> in place.
> - Saskatchewan has not changed its clocks in many years.
> - Yukon stopped changing its clocks in 2020.
> - Alberta recently voted to keep the biannual change, it could be the
> lone holdout!
> I admit I have not been following the other Canadian territories and
> provinces closely.
> Also, I have no clue what Mexico, Saint Pierre & Miquelon, or any of
> the small island nations will decide to do.
>
> For this database I can envision four options moving forward:
>
> *Option #1*: ditch the three letter time zone strings and use only
> numerical offsets from UTC.
> This is a complete cop out that says "Let's abandon our end users and
> let somebody else deal with the issue". It is my least favorite option.
> e.g. Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Vancouver:
> Thu Feb 1 00:00:00 *-07* 2024 (UTC-07)
> Thu Aug 1 00:00:00 *-07* 2024 (UTC-07)
> e.g. New York and Toronto:
> Thu Feb 1 00:00:00 *-04* 2024 (UTC-04)
> Thu Aug 1 00:00:00 *-04* 2024 (UTC-04)
>
>
> *Option #2*: allow permanent daylight saving
> This could be implemented without too many complications, but it goes
> against the philosophy that daylight saving is an alternate time
> offset that is only used for part of the year.
> This is not my favorite option even though it is probably the least
> disruptive. I do not think it will make any sense 20 years from now.
> e.g. Los Angeles, Phoenix, Vancouver, and Whitehorse would be on
> permanent *Pacific Daylight Time*
> Thu Feb 1 00:00:00 *PDT* 2024 (UTC-07)
> Thu Aug 1 00:00:00 *PDT* 2024 (UTC-07)
> e.g. New York and Toronto would be on permanent *Eastern Daylight Time*:
> Thu Feb 1 00:00:00 *EDT *2024 (UTC-04)
> Thu Aug 1 00:00:00 *EDT* 2024 (UTC-04)
>
>
> *Option #3*: move most North American entries in the TZ database one
> zone to the east:
> I know we have done this in the past for places such as
> America/Whitehorse, but I expect if we did it for all of Canada and
> the US it would not align with the public's perception of reality.
> Also, it provides no clear path to deal with any places that are
> currently using *Atlantic Daylight Time (UTC-03)*.
> e.g. Los Angeles, Phoenix, Vancouver, and Whitehorse would be on
> permanent *Mountain Standard Time*
> Thu Feb 1 00:00:00 *MST* 2024 (UTC-07)
> Thu Aug 1 00:00:00 *MST* 2024 (UTC-07)
> e.g. New York and Toronto would be on permanent *Atlantic Standard Time*:
> Thu Feb 1 00:00:00 *AST* 2024 (UTC-04)
> Thu Aug 1 00:00:00 *AST* 2024 (UTC-04)
>
>
> *Option #4*: redefine AKST, PST, MST, CST, EST, AST, and NST to all be
> one hour closer to UTC time.
> This is currently my preferred option even though it may break some
> software and it is guaranteed to conflict with the Canadian
> Interpretation Act.
> Alaska Standard Time (AKST) is redefined to UTC-08.
> Pacific Standard Time (PST) is redefined to UTC-07.
> Mountain Standard Time (MST) is redefined to UTC-06.
> Central Standard Time (CST) is redefined to UTC-05.
> Eastern Standard Time (EST) is redefined to UTC-04.
> Atlantic Standard Time (AST) is redefined to UTC-03.
> Newfoundland Standard Time (NST) is redefined to UTC-02:30 (assuming
> Newfoundland abandons the biannual time change)
> e.g. Los Angeles, Phoenix, Vancouver, and Whitehorse would be on
> *Pacific Standard Time* year-round:
> Thu Feb 1 00:00:00 *PST* 2024 (UTC-07)
> Thu Aug 1 00:00:00 *PST* 2024 (UTC-07)
> e.g. New York and Toronto would be on *Eastern Standard
> Time* year-round:
> Thu Feb 1 00:00:00 *EST* 2024 (UTC-04)
> Thu Aug 1 00:00:00 *EST* 2024 (UTC-04)
> e.g. Alberta would have to adopt new time zone names: *Pacific
> Standard Time* in winter, and *Pacific Daylight Time* in summer.
> (Alberta recently voted to keep the biannual clock change).
> Thu Feb 1 00:00:00 *PST* 2024 (UTC-07)
> Thu Aug 1 00:00:00 *PDT* 2024 (UTC-06)
> e.g. Saskatchewan would have to start referring to its time zone
> name as *Mountain Standard Time* instead of *Central Standard Time*.
> (Saskatchewan has used *UTC-06* year-round for many years)
> Thu Feb 1 00:00:00 *MST* 2024 (UTC-06)
> Thu Aug 1 00:00:00 *MST* 2024 (UTC-06)
> e.g. Puerto Rico would have to start referring to its time zone as
> *Eastern Standard Time* instead of *Atlantic Standard Time*.
> Thu Feb 1 00:00:00 *EST* 2024 (UTC-04)
> Thu Aug 1 00:00:00 *EST* 2024 (UTC-04)
> e.g. If Atlantic Canada and Bermuda were to continue changing the
> clocks twice a year, they would be on *Eastern Standard Time* in
> winter and *Eastern Daylight Time* in summer.
> Thu Feb 1 00:00:00 *EST* 2024 (UTC-04)
> Thu Aug 1 00:00:00 *EDT* 2024 (UTC-03)
> e.g. If, Atlantic Canada and Bermuda were to abandon the time
> change, then they would both end up on *Atlantic Standard Time*
> year-round.
> Thu Feb 1 00:00:00 *AST* 2024 (UTC-03)
> Thu Aug 1 00:00:00 *AST* 2024 (UTC-03)
>
> Did I miss anything?
> -chris
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