Philippines considering DST starting June; DST under Aquino? in space?

Paul Eggert eggert at CS.UCLA.EDU
Wed Apr 26 04:57:35 UTC 2006


Tomorrow's _Manila Standard_ reports that the Philippines Department of
Trade and Industry is considering adopting DST this June when the
rainy season begins.  See
<http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=politics02_april26_2006>.

That article also reports that DST was in effect "for a month during
the tenure of then President Corazon Aquino to conserve energy. Under
the scheme, the official work-time in government and private sector is
adjusted an hour or two earlier to fully take advantage of daylight
and reduce energy use."  We have no record of this, but from the
article's wording it's not clear whether official time was moved, or
whether state and private employers were simply asked to change work
schedules.

-----

The Kyodo news service reported today that Islamic scholars and
scientists are wrestling with the problem of what time zone to use in
outer space.  Malaysia is preparing for its first astronaut next year
(part of a scientific mission on the International Space Station), and
3 of 4 candidates are Muslims.  Muslims must pray five times daily.

   But as Zainal Abidin Abdul Rashid of Malaysia National University
   pointed out at the seminar, the space station circles the Earth 16
   times in 24 hours, with a sunrise and sunset occurring about every
   90 minutes.

   "Does this mean we have to perform 80 prayers a day," he said in
   his seminar paper.

   He proposed that Earth time, especially the time zone in Mecca, be
   used as the reference point to determine the prayer schedule.

   <http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/-malaysia-mulls-prayer-guidelines-muslim-astronauts-/2006/04/25/1604554.htm>

It looks like their computers will use TZ='Asia/Riyadh' while in space,
unless they get tricky and want to use the more-traditional solar time.



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