<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 12 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Tahoma;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Times;
panose-1:2 2 6 3 5 4 5 2 3 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-reply;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Right. I use the long name exclusively.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> tz-bounces@iana.org [mailto:tz-bounces@iana.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Mark Davis ?<br><b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, December 07, 2011 2:14 PM<br><b>To:</b> Steven Abner<br><b>Cc:</b> tz@iana.org<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [tz] User time zones<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I just want to make sure that people realize that the tz abbrevations are at most useful as internal identifiers. <o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Most of them are not recognizable by end users at all, and are not appropriate for display or choice by end users.<br clear=all><o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Times","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Mark<span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Times","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><i>— Il meglio è l’inimico del bene —</i><o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div><p class=MsoNormal>[<a href="https://plus.google.com/114199149796022210033" target="_blank">https://plus.google.com/114199149796022210033</a>]<o:p></o:p></p></div></div></div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><br><br><o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>On Wed, Dec 7, 2011 at 11:03, Steven Abner <<a href="mailto:pheonix@zoomtown.com">pheonix@zoomtown.com</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Thank you for the input!<br> Maybe I should clarify the file. This is an attempt to allow users or peoples access to their times zones.<br>A date string, publication, scanned document, broadcast, etc. can contain the time zone. The tz database<br>even includes these time zones. Some functions even require them to operate.<br> Take the "conceptional problem" example. BRT/BRST are the abbreviations used for the Brazilia Time<br>zone. The ":America/Sao_Paulo" file/location is defined as using the Brazilia Time rule "Brazil". Since this<br>location follows Brazilia Time, it is given the abbreviation for that zone. It is not given a synonym for an<br>offset from UTC. An example to clarify could be the recent offset change of Moscow Time zone from an<br>offset of 3 to that of 4. MSK is the abbreviation for the regional time zone using the standard time definition of<br>that zone. The ":Europe/Moscow" file assigns the offset used for that zone. The Moscow file can now safely<br>be used to represent the "Moskva" rule that is the regional time zone, rather than creating a new zone. Since<br>it is the only location that uses that time zone, one can assign ":Europe/Moscow" file as a link.<br> The GMT example is an oddity case. GMT can stand both for a time, :Etc/GMT which I assume is the<br>observatory location, and the English Isles regional time zone. I am also guessing that that was one of<br>the reasons for UTC, so that an offset of 0 from the observatory would be taken as the offset rather the<br>the time zone the English use.<br> I also only compiled the times, as stated in the file, from 1970 to present. It is known that abbreviations<br>are not unique. However, the list of conflicting zones, see near the end of file, is really small. Especially<br>when Australia is assigned the local, state, country definitions and Indonesia.<br> I will look farther into the assignment to see if any additional zones need creation. As it is clear that a<br>present location might not actually be assigned to a time zone. I did not try to resolve conflicts, just link<br>to the base location file that defined the actual time zone for a region. I did try to make sure to avoid not<br>linking a file that didn't represent the regional time zone, but best to be safe.<br><br>Thanks again, was helpful!<br>Steve<o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div></body></html>