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0 pointsJdeBP9mo ago0 comments

In this case, they did communicate it, and the aforegiven Vogon reference is a mischaracterization. The naming convention is in the current IANA doco and Eggert copy.

* https://data.iana.org/time-zones/tz-link.html#tzdb

* https://web.cs.ucla.edu/~eggert/tz/tz-link.htm#tzdb

Paul Eggert explained the continent/ocean plus largest city naming convention on a WWW page almost a quarter of a century ago. The WWW page was so well publicized that you can find its URL baked into at least four of the O'Reilly animal-cover books from the early 2000s.

* https://web.archive.org/web/20011023074744/http://www.twinsu...

It was explained on Usenet and on mailing lists prior to that.

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6 comments · 1 top-level

b1129mo ago· 5 in thread

You know, the tzdata people are quite haughty. They claim to store all that change, accurately, and yet here we are.

An example of this falsehood? Well, in the 70s my father convinced most of my hometown, at least the portions between Main St and Wharf, that DST was absurd.

For almost an entire year, this was observed.

Do you think they kept record in tzdata? I tried to convince them, but no! I still have some dateplanners my father had printed up, and even a picture of the sign that was out on the road (to alert visitors!).

But no!

Do not trust the tzdata people. As you can see, they are not so accurate.

macintux9mo ago

Once upon a time I stumbled upon a small book of maps showing the time zones in Indiana each year in the mid-20th century. It was fascinating to see how various towns and cities would jump back and forth between Eastern and Central year to year, with little regard for the surrounding rural areas.

I frequently kick myself for losing track of that book.

kccqzy9mo ago

You are just not providing sufficient proof. Think Wikipedia style proof. The fact that DST is or isn't observed should be published in a real book. A random dude printing some date planners or putting up a sign to be photographed isn't enough proof.

dogecoinbase9mo ago

If you'd be willing to scan/post those I'd love to see them!

js29mo ago

It seems like they're being pragmatic, not haughty:

> "The tz database is not authoritative, and it surely has errors. [...] Errors in the tz database arise from many sources: Sometimes, different people in the same city maintain clocks that differ significantly. [...] Even if the time is specified by law, locations sometimes deliberately flout the law. [...] Any attempt to pass the tz database off as the definition of time should be unacceptable to anybody who cares about the facts."

https://data.iana.org/time-zones/theory.html#accuracy

zahlman9mo ago

I understood GP to be facetious.

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