RE: Draft for review: Working with Time Zones

Hi, Addison:  Sorry I missed "Russia" in the list of countries with multiple time zones.  (I read it twice but probably was too hurried both times . . . ).  
 
Thanks for your nice reply.  Most of the things you've responded to were areas where I thought some clarification woult help, perhaps an example.  But you certainly need not put in an example every time I think one is in order.


From: addison@lab126.com
To: cewcathar@hotmail.com
CC: www-international@w3.org
Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2011 19:34:15 -0500
Subject: RE: Draft for review: Working with Time Zones






I have replied to the non-editorial comments below. Editorial comments I will consider separately.
 
Addison
 
Addison Phillips
Globalization Architect (Lab126)
Chair (W3C I18N, IETF IRI WGs)
 
Internationalization is not a feature.
It is an architecture.
 
 
 
How many time zones are in Russia?  It is not on the list of countries with more than one time zone (maybe there is something I do not understand).
 
AP> It is listed in the list of countries with multiple time zones. You quote the relevant paragraph in your message and it’s listed there.
 
CEW > Sorry, my goof. I read the paragraph and somehow missed Russia.

* * * COMMENTS * * *
What About Daylight Saving (Summer) Time: UTC Offset  (2nd par 1rst bullet)
 
"In addition, some time zones fall outside a single 24-hour span. "
 
{ How do they?  I'm a bit confused.  No need to clarify this but I guessed that
you meant for example that if we went from Greenwich back to Greenwich there could be more than 24 hours traversed -- because of daylight saving time or something? I guess I would like an example. }
 
AP> Time zones run from the international date line around to the international date line. And some time zones at or near the international date line observe daylight savings time. In addition, one country has a time zone whose UTC offset is -14:00. So the span of all time zones in the world exceeds a single 24-hour span.

CEW > Thanks. I kind of understand this.  But I wish you could add "in part because of the observation of daylight saving time near the dateline" to the statement to make it clear for dummies:
 
=>
"In addition, in part because of the observance of daylight saving time near the dateline, some time zones fall outside a single 24-hour span. "

. . .
stion, but I did not understand the following: I think the day should only go to GMT-12:00?  For a twenty-four hour clock I mean. }
"That "day" can begin as early as midnight GMT-14:00 and end as late as midnight of January 2 GMT+12:00, depending on local time. This covers an incremental time range of fifty hours. "
}
 
AP> You might think that the day should only go to GMT-12:00, but as pointed about above, this isn’t the case. In fact, it is called out here on purpose because it isn’t “logical” that time zones should cover more than that. However, some time zones just west of the international date line do observe DST. And a few time zones that would normally fall east of the international date line have chosen to be west of it with an unusual offset. This helps some of the island nations of the Pacific all be on the same day at the same time, for example.
 
CEW> Thanks for the example.   I had not thought about the island nations on the dateline.
 * * *
Identifying Zone from Offset and Country, par 1

" Only twenty countries have more than one observed time zone. These countries are: 
Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, France, Greenland, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Mexico, Micronesia, Mongolia, New Zealand, Portugal, Russia, Spain, and the United States. "
 
{ COMMENT ON CONTENT:  I don't see Russia; am I mistaken and does it only have one time zone or is there an omission?
I pulled up Russian time quickly in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_in_Russia }
 
AP> Russia is listed between Portugal and Spain in the list. See your own quote above.

 CEW>  Yes I saw Portugal, Mexico, France, the United States, Canada  -- don't know how I missed Russia.   I read it twice. Sorry.  My goof.
* * *
Identifying Zone from Offset and Country, last par
 
"Within each of the countries that observe multiple time zones, knowing the current offset and current time will usually allow you to determine the time zone accurately. An exception to this is the United States: there exist some regions, such as Arizona, whose time zone cannot be determined strictly from country and offset, although an inferred time zone will always work for current time applications (not future and past times). "

{ COMMENT: regarding clarity, the comment about Arizona is confusing -- I assume you are talking about the fact that it does not go on daylight time in the summers and thus it's time is one hour behind the rest of the Mountain Time Zone in the summer; that's all I can think that you mean.  The rest of the year its time works fine. }
 
AP> That’s what is meant. And actually time works fine year around in Arizona. However, knowing the offset and current time doesn’t tell you whether you are in Arizona or in a neighboring region that *does* observe DST or not. Note that there are other examples besides Arizona. I will add additional information to the example to make this clear.
 
 CEW> I would insert "thanks to daylight saving time."  But any information you want to add is fine withy me.
 
=> "Within each of the countries that observe multiple time zones, knowing the current offset and current time will usually allow you to determine the time zone accurately. An exception to this, thanks to daylight saving time, is the United States: there exist some regions, such as Arizona, whose time zone cannot be determined strictly from country and offset, although an inferred time zone will always work for current time applications (not future and past times). "
 
Thanks for your nice reply.  I hope the editorial/proofreading comments are more helpful than my many requests for clarification.
 
Best,
 
--C. E. Whitehead
cewcathar@hotmail.com