CST?

March 14, 2007 3:53 AM

Time zone issue [MI]
posted by eriko to Bugs at 3:53 AM (24 comments total)

Just noticed the date tags on the front page. Example:

posted by metasonix at 5:03 AM CST - 7 comments (7 new) +

The time may be correct, but CST isn't.

And, before anyone asks...

eriko ~ -> date
Wed Mar 14 05:53:27 CDT 2007

posted by eriko at 3:55 AM on March 14, 2007

Damn, I forgot about the bonus linefeeds in the pre tag. Sorry about the ugly.

This also did let me check the timestamps. Interestingly enough, they're correct -- the above was posted at NE 5:55 AM, but CDT, not CST.

Also noted, but not important, the timestamp in the live preview says 3:55AM, but with no timezone indication. Presumably, since it is two hours behind me, it is server local time (PDT)
posted by eriko at 3:58 AM on March 14, 2007

Does anyone really know what time it is? Does anyone really care?
posted by Dave Faris at 3:59 AM on March 14, 2007

Dave Faris linked to the open post on this topic. The live preview doesn't match the post time because it was too much of a headache to make it work at the time iirc. I think this falls into the "unlikely to be fixed" category and I'll add it to the FAQ.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 4:01 AM on March 14, 2007

On my screen, it says:

Time zone issue [MI]
posted by eriko to bugs at 6:53 AM EST

So I think you must have it set to EST on your end. Try oscillating the rotator flange 3.5 grads/second for about 2.5 nanocenturies.
posted by Eideteker at 4:04 AM on March 14, 2007 [1 favorite]

definitely going to be more popular than tomcat.
posted by quonsar at 4:27 AM on March 14, 2007

Dave Faris linked to the open post on this topic.

I saw those (after I posted, I'll admit -- it is very morning right now) but I relaxed when I saw that that problem was that they were seeing the time as one hour wrong, but the timezone stamp as correct. I understand why that's happening -- the timezone code assumes that there's one true date [1] where everyone switches.

I'm seeing the opposite. The clock time is correct (it said 0555 at 0555) but the timezone stamp was incorrect (it was saying CST, not CDT.) This might be a different manifestation of the same bug, or a different bug.

The Live Preview thing isn't anywhere close to critical, but to me, the easiest way to fix it is to deliberately break it -- just display an obviously bogus time (I like 0:00 or 25:61), since it is a preview.


[1] A bad assumption, since BST has almost always started on a different date than US Daylight time.
posted by eriko at 4:28 AM on March 14, 2007

This ST v. DT time zone issue is discussed over here.
posted by Partial Law at 4:48 AM on March 14, 2007

just display an obviously bogus time

I think that's a great idea. Did MeFi ever display the daylight savings time timestamps correctly? I can't remember if this is something that used to work, or another thing that wasn't really ever designed to work in that way.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 4:49 AM on March 14, 2007

It's not a bug, it's a feature.
posted by Dave Faris at 4:56 AM on March 14, 2007

Quadruplicate MeTa threads about a feature most people totally ignore completely? Come on people, get back to the AskMe "if this is chatfilter, isn't this" posts! I'm almost getting work done at work!

Also, that's a hideous shell prompt. I'm disgusted.
posted by Plutor at 5:07 AM on March 14, 2007 [2 favorites]

MeFi should just store and display everything in UTC -- for every location, at every time, all year round, across the globe.
posted by chrismear at 5:07 AM on March 14, 2007 [1 favorite]

Forget UTC, if anything we should be on internet time! No timezones, no daylight savings. Clearly it is the way forward.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 6:25 AM on March 14, 2007

Maybe Matt is using this new time change in the US to change the nomenclature from Daylight Saving Time to Summer Time. So CST is correct. We just need to get the rest of the country to buy into this.

In the fall, he'll switch it back to Central Standard Time. Either way, it will be correct.
posted by birdherder at 6:40 AM on March 14, 2007

Switch us all to HARMONIC SIMULTANEOUS TIME all the time every time.
posted by and hosted from Uranus at 6:45 AM on March 14, 2007

Eff it. Let's switch to Swatch Time.

I love that that wikipedia page is marked as "neutrality debatable". You can't write this stuff.
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:56 AM on March 14, 2007

UTC is for wimps.

Julian dates are obvious the right way to go.
posted by eriko at 8:10 AM on March 14, 2007

You're all wrong. It's Miller time.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 9:04 AM on March 14, 2007

Pshaw! My preferred timescale is both more accurate and more obscure than yours. Terrestrial Time TT(BIPM05) for everyone!
posted by RichardP at 9:05 AM on March 14, 2007

I can't believe that nobody has written "I can't believe that nobody has written, 'Dude - we should use Stardate.'"
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 9:19 AM on March 14, 2007

Time is just, like, an illusion. Time zones doubly so.
posted by boo_radley at 10:16 AM on March 14, 2007

Like, totally, boo.
posted by deborah at 12:00 PM on March 14, 2007

eriko writes "Julian dates are obvious the right way to go."

Thanks for the COBOL flashback eriko.
posted by Mitheral at 12:04 PM on March 14, 2007

Am I the only one who looked up how long a nanocentury is?

one nanocentury is about pi seconds (3.156 sec. to be approximately exact)

Cool.
posted by quin at 1:13 PM on March 14, 2007