[tz] permanent DST and North American time zone names

[Brooks Harris]

Sleep experts say Senate has it wrong: Standard time, not daylight 
saving, should be permanent
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2022/03/16/daylight-saving-bill-health-effects/

-Brooks

On 2022-03-16 9:53 AM, Brooks Harris via tz wrote:
> 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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