Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!dali.cs.montana.edu!caen!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!casbah.acns.nwu.edu!casbah.acns.nwu.edu!hpa From: hpa@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (H. Peter Anvin) Newsgroups: comp.std.internat Subject: Re: What time is it? [Was: Data compression standard] Message-ID: <1991Jun27.231312.5316@casbah.acns.nwu.edu> Date: 27 Jun 91 23:13:12 GMT References: <859@spam.ua.oz> <3761@sirius.ucs.adelaide.edu.au> <1991Jun25.001607.28886@redsox.bsw.com> <11329@castle.ed.ac.uk> Sender: news@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Mr. News) Reply-To: hpa@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (H. Peter Anvin) Organization: Northwestern University Lines: 15 Nntp-Posting-Host: casbah.acns.nwu.edu In article <11329@castle.ed.ac.uk>, yfcw14@castle.ed.ac.uk (K P Donnelly) writes: |> If I received a message with a time stamp of |> 1991-06-25 15:51:27 +02:00 |> I would assume, if I didn't know better, that it had been sent at |> 17:51 Universal Time, since 15+2=17. The sign convention is NOT unfortunate, it is only the way it has been made to look on USENET. "+02:00" is more properly written as "GMT+02:00" or "UTC+2". The problem is the juxtaposition of a time with its time zone code, the latter stripped of "GMT" or "UTC". /Peter -- INTERNET: hpa@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (hpa@nwu.edu after this summer) BITNET: HPA@NUACC HAM RADIO: N9ITP, SM4TKN FIDONET: 1:115/989.4 "finger" the Internet address above for more information.