LANGUAGE SUBTAG MODIFICATION - GB

[Debbie Garside]

Erik wrote:

> We don't have to make it as descriptive as the time zone database, but
> we shouldn't throw the baby out with the bath water either, like the
> newsletter does. There should be a happy medium between these 2
> extremes, no?

Yes, and that is what I am trying to achieve by requesting this comment.  I
would like to extend the requested comment further, if permitted, to allow
for the "real" information to be recorded.

Is there a field length constraint on the comments field Doug?

Debbie 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Erik van der Poel [mailto:erikv at google.com]
> Sent: 31 March 2006 20:33
> To: Debbie Garside
> Cc: 'Doug Ewell'; ietf-languages at iana.org
> Subject: Re: LANGUAGE SUBTAG MODIFICATION - GB
> 
> > This is the problem that I am trying to address with the "tools"
> available
> > within the registry. Ideally I would like to add a comment saying "as of
> > 03/29/06 GB no longer includes the Channel Islands and Isle of Man see
> GG JE
> > IM".  This would, in my view, suffice.  But I don't think, having spoken
> to
> > Doug, that the registry is really designed to do this.  I think he is
> right
> > but I also think it is easier to have something updated or annotated
> within
> > the registry than it is to get the ISO cogs moving.
> 
> I think it would be great if we decided to add short comments that
> indicate the history. We can always come up with formal names for these
> fields in future versions of BCP 47.
> 
> We don't have to make it as descriptive as the time zone database, but
> we shouldn't throw the baby out with the bath water either, like the
> newsletter does. There should be a happy medium between these 2
> extremes, no?
> 
> ftp://elsie.nci.nih.gov/pub/tzdata2006b.tar.gz
> 
> Erik
> 
> ---------------------------
> 
> Here is an excerpt from the TZ DB, for those who don't want to download
> the above-mentioned file:
> 
> # Brazil
> 
> # From Paul Eggert (1993-11-18):
> # The mayor of Rio recently attempted to change the time zone rules
> # just in his city, in order to leave more summer time for the tourist
> trade.
> # The rule change lasted only part of the day;
> # the federal government refused to follow the city's rules, and business
> # was in a chaos, so the mayor backed down that afternoon.
> 
> # From IATA SSIM (1996-02):
> # _Only_ the following states in BR1 observe DST: Rio Grande do Sul (RS),
> # Santa Catarina (SC), Parana (PR), Sao Paulo (SP), Rio de Janeiro (RJ),
> # Espirito Santo (ES), Minas Gerais (MG), Bahia (BA), Goias (GO),
> # Distrito Federal (DF), Tocantins (TO), Sergipe [SE] and Alagoas [AL].
> # [The last three states are new to this issue of the IATA SSIM.]
> 
> # From Gwillim Law (1996-10-07):
> # Geography, history (Tocantins was part of Goias until 1989), and other
> # sources of time zone information lead me to believe that AL, SE, and
> TO were
> # always in BR1, and so the only change was whether or not they observed
> DST....
> # The earliest issue of the SSIM I have is 2/91.  Each issue from then
> until
> # 9/95 says that DST is observed only in the ten states I quoted from
> 9/95,
> # along with Mato Grosso (MT) and Mato Grosso do Sul (MS), which are in
> BR2
> # (UTC-4)....  The other two time zones given for Brazil are BR3, which is
> # UTC-5, no DST, and applies only in the state of Acre (AC); and BR4,
> which is
> # UTC-2, and applies to Fernando de Noronha (formerly FN, but I believe
> it's
> # become part of the state of Pernambuco).  The boundary between BR1 and
> BR2
> # has never been clearly stated.  They've simply been called East and
> West.
> # However, some conclusions can be drawn from another IATA manual: the
> Airline
> # Coding Directory, which lists close to 400 airports in Brazil.  For each
> # airport it gives a time zone which is coded to the SSIM.  From that
> # information, I'm led to conclude that the states of Amapa (AP), Ceara
> (CE),
> # Maranhao (MA), Paraiba (PR), Pernambuco (PE), Piaui (PI), and Rio
> Grande do
> # Norte (RN), and the eastern part of Para (PA) are all in BR1 without
> DST.
> 
> # From Marcos Tadeu (1998-09-27):
> # <a href="http://pcdsh01.on.br/verao1.html">
> # Brazilian official page
> # </a>
> 
> # From Jesper Norgaard (2000-11-03):
> # [For an official list of which regions in Brazil use which time zones,
> see:]
> # http://pcdsh01.on.br/Fusbr.htm
> # http://pcdsh01.on.br/Fusbrhv.htm
> 
> # From Celso Doria via David Madeo (2002-10-09):
> # The reason for the delay this year has to do with elections in Brazil.
> #
> # Unlike in the United States, elections in Brazil are 100% computerized
> and
> # the results are known almost immediately.  Yesterday, it was the first
> # round of the elections when 115 million Brazilians voted for President,
> # Governor, Senators, Federal Deputies, and State Deputies.  Nobody is
> # counting (or re-counting) votes anymore and we know there will be a
> second
> # round for the Presidency and also for some Governors.  The 2nd round
> will
> # take place on October 27th.
> #
> # The reason why the DST will only begin November 3rd is that the
> thousands
> # of electoral machines used cannot have their time changed, and since the
> # Constitution says the elections must begin at 8:00 AM and end at 5:00
> PM,
> # the Government decided to postpone DST, instead of changing the
> Constitution
> # (maybe, for the next elections, it will be possible to change the
> clock)...
> 
> # From Rodrigo Severo (2004-10-04):
> # It's just the biannual change made necessary by the much hyped,
> supposedly
> # modern Brazilian eletronic voting machines which, apparently, can't deal
> # with a time change between the first and the second rounds of the
> elections.