> Yeah. And if you think you've heard it all, sign up for the > tzdata-announce mailing list and wait for the next phenomenon. I think > Egypt (Africa/Cairo) is currently in the lead for weirdest timezone > change, for (with short notice) announcing that they'd have DST during > summer but not during Ramadan. Since "summer" is defined by a solar > calendar and "Ramadan" is defined by a lunar calendar, that means the > DST exclusion might happen entirely in winter (no effect), at one end > or other of summer (shortens DST, just changes the dates), or in the > middle of summer (DST on, DST off, DST on, DST off, in a single year). > But they will, at some point, be eclipsed by an even more bizarre > timezone change. I don't dare try to predict what will happen, because > I know that the reality will be even worse....
Similar to the situation where a few US cities maintain a different time-zone to the rest of the(ir) state, our refinery (in the Middle East) maintained just such a Ramadan-clock. I think such might be quite a common practice (which I'll describe, below). When considered, and motivation aside, it's not so very different from schemes enabling employees to choose their personal start-time (usually within a range, eg "glide time"), ideas to reduce 'rush hour' grid-locks by spreading commuter start/finish times, etc. At the refinery (computer center), we started one (or was it two) hours earlier that usual - as close to dawn as possible, ie the beginning of the daily fast. "Western employees" could take regular breaks, and usually 'disappeared' for 'midday meal', somewhere around 1030~1130. Muslim employees had no breaks. In lieu, they went home early - to be able to sleep. Later came sunset-prayers, and thereafter breaking-the-fast. Typically, there would be activities, and more meals, during the night. Meantime, the non-Muslims maintained a short 'afternoon shift', going home commensurately early. Others in the community were totally confused: "Why didn't you answer your phone yesterday afternoon?", "a meeting at 0700 - you must be joking!", etc. The pattern and predictability were broken! I thought it was a fabulous idea, actually leaving the office on-time (for a change), and heading straight down to the beach for some wind-surfing... That said, it really messed with your head. People staggered-in and managed little output first-thing. (need I say more?) At a more amusing level: my door was literally always-open, and because my office was at the end of a corridor, colleagues required only a glance to see if I was 'available'. The door only closed for personal/confidential discussions or when I was 'out' - except during Ramadan when I didn't want to insult anyone by drinking tea, effectively in-public. So, when the door was closed for long periods, this confused my staff. Indeed, I would often be asked "where have you been?" when I'd been working-away at my desk all-along, but simply hadn't got up to open the door once 'the coast was clear'. Life's rich tapestry... In my case, I blame "Ramadan-hours" for 'flipping the switch' (in my head) and turning a late-night owl, and stereotypical techie/hacker; into an 'early bird'. Ironically such serves me well today - dealing with clients and colleagues on the other side of the planet, who much prefer me to wake-early, so that they don't have to interrupt their evenings at home... -- Regards, =dn -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
