Path: csiph.com!usenet.pasdenom.info!news.albasani.net!news.stack.nl!newsfeed.xs4all.nl!newsfeed2.news.xs4all.nl!xs4all!post.news.xs4all.nl!not-for-mail Return-Path: X-Original-To: python-list@python.org Delivered-To: python-list@mail.python.org X-Spam-Status: OK 0.002 X-Spam-Evidence: '*H*': 1.00; '*S*': 0.00; 'static': 0.04; 'subject:Python': 0.06; 'advocate': 0.07; 'elegant': 0.07; 'dst': 0.09; 'received:80.91': 0.09; 'received:80.91.229': 0.09; 'received:gmane.org': 0.09; 'received:list': 0.09; 'shifting': 0.09; 'jan': 0.12; 'clocks': 0.16; 'encodings,': 0.16; 'finney': 0.16; 'received:80.91.229.3': 0.16; 'received:plane.gmane.org': 0.16; 'written.': 0.16; ':-)': 0.16; 'all.': 0.16; 'wrote:': 0.18; 'thu,': 0.19; 'header:User-Agent:1': 0.23; '(for': 0.26; 'header:X -Complaints-To:1': 0.27; 'chris': 0.29; 'strongly': 0.30; "i'm": 0.30; 'writes:': 0.31; 'yes.': 0.31; 'text': 0.33; 'position.': 0.33; 'subject:the': 0.34; 'subject: (': 0.35; 'but': 0.35; 'there': 0.35; 'ben': 0.38; 'to:addr:python-list': 0.38; 'pm,': 0.38; 'explain': 0.39; 'does': 0.39; 'to:addr:python.org': 0.39; 'received:org': 0.40; 'simple,': 0.60; 'skip:\xe2 10': 0.65; 'talking': 0.65; 'world': 0.66; 'overall': 0.69; 'led': 0.72; 'goal': 0.75; 'researched': 0.84; 'technically': 0.84; 'twelve': 0.84 X-Injected-Via-Gmane: http://gmane.org/ To: python-list@python.org From: Ben Finney Subject: Time zones and why they change so damned often (was: the Gravity of Python 2) Date: Thu, 09 Jan 2014 14:54:48 +1100 References: <78d91$52cbf8e9$541826b9$29485@cache1.tilbu1.nb.home.nl> <4b702$52cc262e$541826b9$22985@cache80.multikabel.net> <4cbf$52cc2e82$541826b9$11761@cache70.multikabel.net> <686$52cd4640$541826b9$21896@cache1.tilbu1.nb.home.nl> <7wvbxteskh.fsf@benfinney.id.au> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Gmane-NNTP-Posting-Host: rasputin.madmonks.org X-Public-Key-ID: 0xAC128405 X-Public-Key-Fingerprint: 517C F14B B2F3 98B0 CB35 4855 B8B2 4C06 AC12 8405 X-Public-Key-URL: http://www.benfinney.id.au/contact/bfinney-gpg.asc X-Post-From: Ben Finney User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/23.4 (gnu/linux) Cancel-Lock: sha1:70WY3kP7FJhf8/dHDb93im4FCQU= X-BeenThere: python-list@python.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.15 Precedence: list List-Id: General discussion list for the Python programming language List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Newsgroups: comp.lang.python Message-ID: Lines: 31 NNTP-Posting-Host: 2001:888:2000:d::a6 X-Trace: 1389239704 news.xs4all.nl 2829 [2001:888:2000:d::a6]:37264 X-Complaints-To: abuse@xs4all.nl Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.python:63563 Chris Angelico writes: > On Thu, Jan 9, 2014 at 2:34 PM, Ben Finney wrote: > > With time zones, as with text encodings, there is a single > > technically elegant solution (for text: Unicode; for time zones: > > twelve simple, static zones that never change) > > Twelve or twenty-four? Twenty-four time zones, yes. My mistake. I'm currently reading David Prerau's _Saving the Daylight: Why We Put The Clocks Forward_. It's got an acknowledged bias, that DST is overall a good thing; I disagree strongly with that position. But it's also very well researched and engagingly written. Not only does it explain the motivations and history of the present system of Daylight Shifting Time (or, as the world misleadingly calls it, Daylight “Saving” Time), it goes into the history that pre-dates that system and led to the system of time zones at all. I'm approaching it with the goal of knowing better what I'm talking about when I advocate scrapping the whole DST system :-) -- \ “Only the educated are free.” —Epictetus, _Discourses_ | `\ | _o__) | Ben Finney