Showing posts with label Calendars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Calendars. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 9, 2021

Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps

 https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3339


Status of this Memo

   This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
   Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
   improvements.  Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
   Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
   and status of this protocol.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2002).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

   This document defines a date and time format for use in Internet
   protocols that is a profile of the ISO 8601 standard for
   representation of dates and times using the Gregorian calendar.

Table of Contents

   1. Introduction ............................................ 2
   2. Definitions ............................................. 3
   3. Two Digit Years ......................................... 4
   4. Local Time .............................................. 4
   4.1. Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) ...................... 4
   4.2. Local Offsets ......................................... 5
   4.3. Unknown Local Offset Convention ....................... 5
   4.4. Unqualified Local Time ................................ 5
   5. Date and Time format .................................... 6
   5.1. Ordering .............................................. 6
   5.2. Human Readability ..................................... 6
   5.3. Rarely Used Options ................................... 7
   5.4. Redundant Information ................................. 7
   5.5. Simplicity ............................................ 7
   5.6. Internet Date/Time Format ............................. 8
   5.7. Restrictions .......................................... 9
   5.8. Examples ............................................. 10
   6. References ............................................. 10
   7. Security Considerations ................................ 11



Klyne, et. al.              Standards Track                     [Page 1]


RFC 3339       Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps       July 2002


   Appendix A. ISO 8601 Collected ABNF ....................... 12
   Appendix B. Day of the Week ............................... 14
   Appendix C. Leap Years .................................... 14
   Appendix D. Leap Seconds ..............................,... 15
   Acknowledgements .......................................... 17
   Authors' Addresses ........................................ 17
   Full Copyright Statement .................................. 18

1. Introduction

Date and time formats cause a lot of confusion and interoperability problems on the Internet. This document addresses many of the problems encountered and makes recommendations to improve consistency and interoperability when representing and using date and time in Internet protocols. This document includes an Internet profile of the ISO 8601 [ISO8601] standard for representation of dates and times using the Gregorian calendar. There are many ways in which date and time values might appear in Internet protocols: this document focuses on just one common usage, viz. timestamps for Internet protocol events. This limited consideration has the following consequences: o All dates and times are assumed to be in the "current era", somewhere between 0000AD and 9999AD. o All times expressed have a stated relationship (offset) to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). (This is distinct from some usage in scheduling applications where a local time and location may be known, but the actual relationship to UTC may be dependent on the unknown or unknowable actions of politicians or administrators. The UTC time corresponding to 17:00 on 23rd March 2005 in New York may depend on administrative decisions about daylight savings time. This specification steers well clear of such considerations.) o Timestamps can express times that occurred before the introduction of UTC. Such timestamps are expressed relative to universal time, using the best available practice at the stated time. o Date and time expressions indicate an instant in time. Description of time periods, or intervals, is not covered here. Klyne, et. al. Standards Track [Page 2]


RFC 3339       Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps       July 2002


2. Definitions

The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [RFC2119]. UTC Coordinated Universal Time as maintained by the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM). second A basic unit of measurement of time in the International System of Units. It is defined as the duration of 9,192,631,770 cycles of microwave light absorbed or emitted by the hyperfine transition of cesium-133 atoms in their ground state undisturbed by external fields. minute A period of time of 60 seconds. However, see also the restrictions in section 5.7 and Appendix D for how leap seconds are denoted within minutes. hour A period of time of 60 minutes. day A period of time of 24 hours. leap year In the Gregorian calendar, a year which has 366 days. A leap year is a year whose number is divisible by four an integral number of times, except that if it is a centennial year (i.e. divisible by one hundred) it shall also be divisible by four hundred an integral number of times. ABNF Augmented Backus-Naur Form, a format used to represent permissible strings in a protocol or language, as defined in [ABNF]. Email Date/Time Format The date/time format used by Internet Mail as defined by RFC 2822 [IMAIL-UPDATE]. Internet Date/Time Format The date format defined in section 5 of this document. Timestamp This term is used in this document to refer to an unambiguous representation of some instant in time. Z A suffix which, when applied to a time, denotes a UTC offset of 00:00; often spoken "Zulu" from the ICAO phonetic alphabet representation of the letter "Z". Klyne, et. al. Standards Track [Page 3]


RFC 3339       Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps       July 2002


      For more information about time scales, see Appendix E of [NTP],
      Section 3 of [ISO8601], and the appropriate ITU documents [ITU-R-
      TF].

3. Two Digit Years

The following requirements are to address the problems of ambiguity of 2-digit years: o Internet Protocols MUST generate four digit years in dates. o The use of 2-digit years is deprecated. If a 2-digit year is received, it should be accepted ONLY if an incorrect interpretation will not cause a protocol or processing failure (e.g. if used only for logging or tracing purposes). o It is possible that a program using two digit years will represent years after 1999 as three digits. This occurs if the program simply subtracts 1900 from the year and doesn't check the number of digits. Programs wishing to robustly deal with dates generated by such broken software may add 1900 to three digit years. o It is possible that a program using two digit years will represent years after 1999 as ":0", ":1", ... ":9", ";0", ... This occurs if the program simply subtracts 1900 from the year and adds the decade to the US-ASCII character zero. Programs wishing to robustly deal with dates generated by such broken software should detect non-numeric decades and interpret appropriately. The problems with two digit years amply demonstrate why all dates and times used in Internet protocols MUST be fully qualified.

4. Local Time

4.1. Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)

Because the daylight saving rules for local time zones are so convoluted and can change based on local law at unpredictable times, true interoperability is best achieved by using Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). This specification does not cater to local time zone rules. Klyne, et. al. Standards Track [Page 4]


RFC 3339       Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps       July 2002


4.2. Local Offsets

The offset between local time and UTC is often useful information. For example, in electronic mail (RFC2822, [IMAIL-UPDATE]) the local offset provides a useful heuristic to determine the probability of a prompt response. Attempts to label local offsets with alphabetic strings have resulted in poor interoperability in the past [IMAIL], [HOST-REQ]. As a result, RFC2822 [IMAIL-UPDATE] has made numeric offsets mandatory. Numeric offsets are calculated as "local time minus UTC". So the equivalent time in UTC can be determined by subtracting the offset from the local time. For example, 18:50:00-04:00 is the same time as 22:50:00Z. (This example shows negative offsets handled by adding the absolute value of the offset.) NOTE: Following ISO 8601, numeric offsets represent only time zones that differ from UTC by an integral number of minutes. However, many historical time zones differ from UTC by a non- integral number of minutes. To represent such historical time stamps exactly, applications must convert them to a representable time zone.

4.3. Unknown Local Offset Convention

If the time in UTC is known, but the offset to local time is unknown, this can be represented with an offset of "-00:00". This differs semantically from an offset of "Z" or "+00:00", which imply that UTC is the preferred reference point for the specified time. RFC2822 [IMAIL-UPDATE] describes a similar convention for email.

4.4. Unqualified Local Time

A number of devices currently connected to the Internet run their internal clocks in local time and are unaware of UTC. While the Internet does have a tradition of accepting reality when creating specifications, this should not be done at the expense of interoperability. Since interpretation of an unqualified local time zone will fail in approximately 23/24 of the globe, the interoperability problems of unqualified local time are deemed unacceptable for the Internet. Systems that are configured with a local time, are unaware of the corresponding UTC offset, and depend on time synchronization with other Internet systems, MUST use a mechanism that ensures correct synchronization with UTC. Some suitable mechanisms are: o Use Network Time Protocol [NTP] to obtain the time in UTC. Klyne, et. al. Standards Track [Page 5]


RFC 3339       Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps       July 2002


   o  Use another host in the same local time zone as a gateway to the
      Internet.  This host MUST correct unqualified local times that are
      transmitted to other hosts.

   o  Prompt the user for the local time zone and daylight saving rule
      settings.

5. Date and Time format

This section discusses desirable qualities of date and time formats and defines a profile of ISO 8601 for use in Internet protocols.

5.1. Ordering

If date and time components are ordered from least precise to most precise, then a useful property is achieved. Assuming that the time zones of the dates and times are the same (e.g., all in UTC), expressed using the same string (e.g., all "Z" or all "+00:00"), and all times have the same number of fractional second digits, then the date and time strings may be sorted as strings (e.g., using the strcmp() function in C) and a time-ordered sequence will result. The presence of optional punctuation would violate this characteristic.

5.2. Human Readability

Human readability has proved to be a valuable feature of Internet protocols. Human readable protocols greatly reduce the costs of debugging since telnet often suffices as a test client and network analyzers need not be modified with knowledge of the protocol. On the other hand, human readability sometimes results in interoperability problems. For example, the date format "10/11/1996" is completely unsuitable for global interchange because it is interpreted differently in different countries. In addition, the date format in [IMAIL] has resulted in interoperability problems when people assumed any text string was permitted and translated the three letter abbreviations to other languages or substituted date formats which were easier to generate (e.g. the format used by the C function ctime). For this reason, a balance must be struck between human readability and interoperability. Because no date and time format is readable according to the conventions of all countries, Internet clients SHOULD be prepared to transform dates into a display format suitable for the locality. This may include translating UTC to local time. Klyne, et. al. Standards Track [Page 6]


RFC 3339       Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps       July 2002


5.3. Rarely Used Options

A format which includes rarely used options is likely to cause interoperability problems. This is because rarely used options are less likely to be used in alpha or beta testing, so bugs in parsing are less likely to be discovered. Rarely used options should be made mandatory or omitted for the sake of interoperability whenever possible. The format defined below includes only one rarely used option: fractions of a second. It is expected that this will be used only by applications which require strict ordering of date/time stamps or which have an unusual precision requirement.

5.4. Redundant Information

If a date/time format includes redundant information, that introduces the possibility that the redundant information will not correlate. For example, including the day of the week in a date/time format introduces the possibility that the day of week is incorrect but the date is correct, or vice versa. Since it is not difficult to compute the day of week from a date (see Appendix B), the day of week should not be included in a date/time format.

5.5. Simplicity

The complete set of date and time formats specified in ISO 8601 [ISO8601] is quite complex in an attempt to provide multiple representations and partial representations. Appendix A contains an attempt to translate the complete syntax of ISO 8601 into ABNF. Internet protocols have somewhat different requirements and simplicity has proved to be an important characteristic. In addition, Internet protocols usually need complete specification of data in order to achieve true interoperability. Therefore, the complete grammar for ISO 8601 is deemed too complex for most Internet protocols. The following section defines a profile of ISO 8601 for use on the Internet. It is a conformant subset of the ISO 8601 extended format. Simplicity is achieved by making most fields and punctuation mandatory. Klyne, et. al. Standards Track [Page 7]


RFC 3339       Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps       July 2002


5.6. Internet Date/Time Format

The following profile of ISO 8601 [ISO8601] dates SHOULD be used in new protocols on the Internet. This is specified using the syntax description notation defined in [ABNF]. date-fullyear = 4DIGIT date-month = 2DIGIT ; 01-12 date-mday = 2DIGIT ; 01-28, 01-29, 01-30, 01-31 based on ; month/year time-hour = 2DIGIT ; 00-23 time-minute = 2DIGIT ; 00-59 time-second = 2DIGIT ; 00-58, 00-59, 00-60 based on leap second ; rules time-secfrac = "." 1*DIGIT time-numoffset = ("+" / "-") time-hour ":" time-minute time-offset = "Z" / time-numoffset partial-time = time-hour ":" time-minute ":" time-second [time-secfrac] full-date = date-fullyear "-" date-month "-" date-mday full-time = partial-time time-offset date-time = full-date "T" full-time NOTE: Per [ABNF] and ISO8601, the "T" and "Z" characters in this syntax may alternatively be lower case "t" or "z" respectively. This date/time format may be used in some environments or contexts that distinguish between the upper- and lower-case letters 'A'-'Z' and 'a'-'z' (e.g. XML). Specifications that use this format in such environments MAY further limit the date/time syntax so that the letters 'T' and 'Z' used in the date/time syntax must always be upper case. Applications that generate this format SHOULD use upper case letters. NOTE: ISO 8601 defines date and time separated by "T". Applications using this syntax may choose, for the sake of readability, to specify a full-date and full-time separated by (say) a space character. Klyne, et. al. Standards Track [Page 8]


RFC 3339       Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps       July 2002


5.7. Restrictions

The grammar element date-mday represents the day number within the current month. The maximum value varies based on the month and year as follows: Month Number Month/Year Maximum value of date-mday ------------ ---------- -------------------------- 01 January 31 02 February, normal 28 02 February, leap year 29 03 March 31 04 April 30 05 May 31 06 June 30 07 July 31 08 August 31 09 September 30 10 October 31 11 November 30 12 December 31 Appendix C contains sample C code to determine if a year is a leap year. The grammar element time-second may have the value "60" at the end of months in which a leap second occurs -- to date: June (XXXX-06- 30T23:59:60Z) or December (XXXX-12-31T23:59:60Z); see Appendix D for a table of leap seconds. It is also possible for a leap second to be subtracted, at which times the maximum value of time-second is "58". At all other times the maximum value of time-second is "59". Further, in time zones other than "Z", the leap second point is shifted by the zone offset (so it happens at the same instant around the globe). Leap seconds cannot be predicted far into the future. The International Earth Rotation Service publishes bulletins [IERS] that announce leap seconds with a few weeks' warning. Applications should not generate timestamps involving inserted leap seconds until after the leap seconds are announced. Although ISO 8601 permits the hour to be "24", this profile of ISO 8601 only allows values between "00" and "23" for the hour in order to reduce confusion. Klyne, et. al. Standards Track [Page 9]


RFC 3339       Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps       July 2002


5.8. Examples

Here are some examples of Internet date/time format. 1985-04-12T23:20:50.52Z This represents 20 minutes and 50.52 seconds after the 23rd hour of April 12th, 1985 in UTC. 1996-12-19T16:39:57-08:00 This represents 39 minutes and 57 seconds after the 16th hour of December 19th, 1996 with an offset of -08:00 from UTC (Pacific Standard Time). Note that this is equivalent to 1996-12-20T00:39:57Z in UTC. 1990-12-31T23:59:60Z This represents the leap second inserted at the end of 1990. 1990-12-31T15:59:60-08:00 This represents the same leap second in Pacific Standard Time, 8 hours behind UTC. 1937-01-01T12:00:27.87+00:20 This represents the same instant of time as noon, January 1, 1937, Netherlands time. Standard time in the Netherlands was exactly 19 minutes and 32.13 seconds ahead of UTC by law from 1909-05-01 through 1937-06-30. This time zone cannot be represented exactly using the HH:MM format, and this timestamp uses the closest representable UTC offset.

6. References

[ZELLER] Zeller, C., "Kalender-Formeln", Acta Mathematica, Vol. 9, Nov 1886. [IMAIL] Crocker, D., "Standard for the Format of Arpa Internet Text Messages", STD 11, RFC 822, August 1982. [IMAIL-UPDATE] Resnick, P., "Internet Message Format", RFC 2822, April 2001. [ABNF] Crocker, D. and P. Overell, "Augmented BNF for Syntax Specifications: ABNF", RFC 2234, November 1997. Klyne, et. al. Standards Track [Page 10]


RFC 3339       Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps       July 2002


   [ISO8601]      "Data elements and interchange formats -- Information
                  interchange -- Representation of dates and times", ISO
                  8601:1988(E), International Organization for
                  Standardization, June, 1988.

   [ISO8601:2000] "Data elements and interchange formats -- Information
                  interchange -- Representation of dates and times", ISO
                  8601:2000, International Organization for
                  Standardization, December, 2000.

   [HOST-REQ]     Braden, R., "Requirements for Internet Hosts --
                  Application and Support", STD 3, RFC 1123, October
                  1989.

   [IERS]         International Earth Rotation Service Bulletins,
                  <http://hpiers.obspm.fr/eop-
                  pc/products/bulletins.html>.

   [NTP]          Mills, D, "Network Time Protocol (Version 3)
                  Specification, Implementation and Analysis", RFC 1305,
                  March 1992.

   [ITU-R-TF]     International Telecommunication Union Recommendations
                  for Time Signals and Frequency Standards Emissions.
                  <http://www.itu.ch/publications/itu-r/iturtf.htm>

   [RFC2119]      Bradner, S, "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
                  Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

7. Security Considerations

Since the local time zone of a site may be useful for determining a time when systems are less likely to be monitored and might be more susceptible to a security probe, some sites may wish to emit times in UTC only. Others might consider this to be loss of useful functionality at the hands of paranoia. Klyne, et. al. Standards Track [Page 11]


RFC 3339       Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps       July 2002


Appendix A. ISO 8601 Collected ABNF

This information is based on the 1988 version of ISO 8601. There may be some changes in the 2000 revision. ISO 8601 does not specify a formal grammar for the date and time formats it defines. The following is an attempt to create a formal grammar from ISO 8601. This is informational only and may contain errors. ISO 8601 remains the authoritative reference. Note that due to ambiguities in ISO 8601, some interpretations had to be made. First, ISO 8601 is not clear if mixtures of basic and extended format are permissible. This grammar permits mixtures. ISO 8601 is not clear on whether an hour of 24 is permissible only if minutes and seconds are 0. This assumes that an hour of 24 is permissible in any context. Restrictions on date-mday in section 5.7 apply. ISO 8601 states that the "T" may be omitted under some circumstances. This grammar requires the "T" to avoid ambiguity. ISO 8601 also requires (in section 5.3.1.3) that a decimal fraction be proceeded by a "0" if less than unity. Annex B.2 of ISO 8601 gives examples where the decimal fractions are not preceded by a "0". This grammar assumes section 5.3.1.3 is correct and that Annex B.2 is in error. date-century = 2DIGIT ; 00-99 date-decade = DIGIT ; 0-9 date-subdecade = DIGIT ; 0-9 date-year = date-decade date-subdecade date-fullyear = date-century date-year date-month = 2DIGIT ; 01-12 date-wday = DIGIT ; 1-7 ; 1 is Monday, 7 is Sunday date-mday = 2DIGIT ; 01-28, 01-29, 01-30, 01-31 based on ; month/year date-yday = 3DIGIT ; 001-365, 001-366 based on year date-week = 2DIGIT ; 01-52, 01-53 based on year datepart-fullyear = [date-century] date-year ["-"] datepart-ptyear = "-" [date-subdecade ["-"]] datepart-wkyear = datepart-ptyear / datepart-fullyear dateopt-century = "-" / date-century dateopt-fullyear = "-" / datepart-fullyear dateopt-year = "-" / (date-year ["-"]) dateopt-month = "-" / (date-month ["-"]) dateopt-week = "-" / (date-week ["-"]) Klyne, et. al. Standards Track [Page 12]


RFC 3339       Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps       July 2002


   datespec-full     = datepart-fullyear date-month ["-"] date-mday
   datespec-year     = date-century / dateopt-century date-year
   datespec-month    = "-" dateopt-year date-month [["-"] date-mday]
   datespec-mday     = "--" dateopt-month date-mday
   datespec-week     = datepart-wkyear "W"
                       (date-week / dateopt-week date-wday)
   datespec-wday     = "---" date-wday
   datespec-yday     = dateopt-fullyear date-yday

   date              = datespec-full / datespec-year
                       / datespec-month /
   datespec-mday / datespec-week / datespec-wday / datespec-yday

Time:

   time-hour         = 2DIGIT ; 00-24
   time-minute       = 2DIGIT ; 00-59
   time-second       = 2DIGIT ; 00-58, 00-59, 00-60 based on
                              ; leap-second rules
   time-fraction     = ("," / ".") 1*DIGIT
   time-numoffset    = ("+" / "-") time-hour [[":"] time-minute]
   time-zone         = "Z" / time-numoffset

   timeopt-hour      = "-" / (time-hour [":"])
   timeopt-minute    = "-" / (time-minute [":"])

   timespec-hour     = time-hour [[":"] time-minute [[":"] time-second]]
   timespec-minute   = timeopt-hour time-minute [[":"] time-second]
   timespec-second   = "-" timeopt-minute time-second
   timespec-base     = timespec-hour / timespec-minute / timespec-second

   time              = timespec-base [time-fraction] [time-zone]

   iso-date-time     = date "T" time

Durations:

   dur-second        = 1*DIGIT "S"
   dur-minute        = 1*DIGIT "M" [dur-second]
   dur-hour          = 1*DIGIT "H" [dur-minute]
   dur-time          = "T" (dur-hour / dur-minute / dur-second)
   dur-day           = 1*DIGIT "D"
   dur-week          = 1*DIGIT "W"
   dur-month         = 1*DIGIT "M" [dur-day]
   dur-year          = 1*DIGIT "Y" [dur-month]
   dur-date          = (dur-day / dur-month / dur-year) [dur-time]

   duration          = "P" (dur-date / dur-time / dur-week)



Klyne, et. al.              Standards Track                    [Page 13]


RFC 3339       Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps       July 2002


Periods:

   period-explicit   = iso-date-time "/" iso-date-time
   period-start      = iso-date-time "/" duration
   period-end        = duration "/" iso-date-time

   period            = period-explicit / period-start / period-end

Appendix B. Day of the Week

The following is a sample C subroutine loosely based on Zeller's Congruence [Zeller] which may be used to obtain the day of the week for dates on or after 0000-03-01: char *day_of_week(int day, int month, int year) { int cent; char *dayofweek[] = { "Sunday", "Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Thursday", "Friday", "Saturday" }; /* adjust months so February is the last one */ month -= 2; if (month < 1) { month += 12; --year; } /* split by century */ cent = year / 100; year %= 100; return (dayofweek[((26 * month - 2) / 10 + day + year + year / 4 + cent / 4 + 5 * cent) % 7]); }

Appendix C. Leap Years

Here is a sample C subroutine to calculate if a year is a leap year: /* This returns non-zero if year is a leap year. Must use 4 digit year. */ int leap_year(int year) { return (year % 4 == 0 && (year % 100 != 0 || year % 400 == 0)); } Klyne, et. al. Standards Track [Page 14]


RFC 3339       Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps       July 2002


Appendix D. Leap Seconds

Information about leap seconds can be found at: <http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/leapsec.html>. In particular, it notes that: The decision to introduce a leap second in UTC is the responsibility of the International Earth Rotation Service (IERS). According to the CCIR Recommendation, first preference is given to the opportunities at the end of December and June, and second preference to those at the end of March and September. When required, insertion of a leap second occurs as an extra second at the end of a day in UTC, represented by a timestamp of the form YYYY-MM-DDT23:59:60Z. A leap second occurs simultaneously in all time zones, so that time zone relationships are not affected. See section 5.8 for some examples of leap second times. The following table is an excerpt from the table maintained by the United States Naval Observatory. The source data is located at: <ftp://maia.usno.navy.mil/ser7/tai-utc.dat> Klyne, et. al. Standards Track [Page 15]


RFC 3339       Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps       July 2002


   This table shows the date of the leap second, and the difference
   between the time standard TAI (which isn't adjusted by leap seconds)
   and UTC after that leap second.

   UTC Date  TAI - UTC After Leap Second
   --------  ---------------------------
   1972-06-30     11
   1972-12-31     12
   1973-12-31     13
   1974-12-31     14
   1975-12-31     15
   1976-12-31     16
   1977-12-31     17
   1978-12-31     18
   1979-12-31     19
   1981-06-30     20
   1982-06-30     21
   1983-06-30     22
   1985-06-30     23
   1987-12-31     24
   1989-12-31     25
   1990-12-31     26
   1992-06-30     27
   1993-06-30     28
   1994-06-30     29
   1995-12-31     30
   1997-06-30     31
   1998-12-31     32























Klyne, et. al.              Standards Track                    [Page 16]


RFC 3339       Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps       July 2002


Acknowledgements

   The following people provided helpful advice for an earlier
   incarnation of this document:  Ned Freed, Neal McBurnett, David
   Keegel, Markus Kuhn, Paul Eggert and Robert Elz.  Thanks are also due
   to participants of the IETF Calendaring/Scheduling working group
   mailing list, and participants of the time zone mailing list.

   The following reviewers contributed helpful suggestions for the
   present revision: Tom Harsch, Markus Kuhn, Pete Resnick, Dan Kohn.
   Paul Eggert provided many careful observations regarding the
   subtleties of leap seconds and time zone offsets.  The following
   people noted corrections and improvements to earlier drafts: Dr John
   Stockton, Jutta Degener, Joe Abley, and Dan Wing.

Authors' Addresses

   Chris Newman
   Sun Microsystems
   1050 Lakes Drive, Suite 250
   West Covina, CA 91790 USA

   EMail: chris.newman@sun.com


   Graham Klyne (editor, this revision)
   Clearswift Corporation
   1310 Waterside
   Arlington Business Park
   Theale, Reading  RG7 4SA
   UK

   Phone: +44 11 8903 8903
   Fax:   +44 11 8903 9000
   EMail: GK@ACM.ORG
















Klyne, et. al.              Standards Track                    [Page 17]


RFC 3339       Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps       July 2002


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Tuesday, December 24, 2019

The Rites of Zhou 周禮

The Rites of Zhou 周禮 (2nd c BCE): “On the winter solstice, we honor the gods in the heavens and the ghosts among us.” 「以冬日至,致天神人鬼。」 Dongzhi 冬至, rather than the new year, traditionally marked the starting point of the year’s microseasons with 9x9 days of winter.


Thursday, October 31, 2019

6 seasons



One sort of optional thing you might do is to realize that there are six seasons instead of four. The poetry of four seasons is all wrong for this part of the planet, and this may explain why we are so depressed so much of the time. I mean, spring doesn’t feel like spring a lot of the time, and November is all wrong for autumn, and so on.

Here is the truth about the seasons: Spring is May and June. What could be springier than May and June? Summer is July and August. Really hot, right? Autumn is September and October. See the pumpkins? Smell those burning leaves? Next comes the season called Locking. November and December aren’t winter. They’re Locking. Next comes winter, January and February. Boy! Are they ever cold!

What comes next? Not spring. ‘Unlocking’ comes next. What else could cruel March and only slightly less cruel April be? March and April are not spring. They’re Unlocking.

Thursday, September 5, 2019

No century begins with a Tuesday, Thursday, or Sunday

Proof: In 400 years there are 97 leap and 303 non-leap: 400x365+97=146097 days, which is divisible by 7 - everything repeats after 400 years (G.C.)! 
Since: 

1/1/2000-Saturday 
1/1/2100-Friday 
1/1/2200-Wednesday 
1/1/2300-Monday

No century begins with a Tuesday, Thursday, or Sunday.

Saturday, August 31, 2019

Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Japan’s 72 Microseasons



The traditional Japanese calendar marks the passing of the seasons and changes in the natural world through the names given to different times of year. There are 24 major divisions, or sekki, from Risshun (Beginning of spring) in early February until Daikan(Greater cold). Originally taken from Chinese sources, these are still well-known around East Asia.

The 24 divisions are each split again into three for a total of 72 kō that last around five days each. The names were also originally taken from China, but they did not always match up well with the local climate. In Japan, they were eventually rewritten in 1685 by the court astronomer Shibukawa Shunkai. In their present form, they offer a poetic journey through the Japanese year in which the land awakens and blooms with life and activity before returning to slumber.

The dates in the following table are approximate and may vary by one day depending on the year. There are no standard readings in Japanese for the kanji names of the 72 kō, so other sources may give different readings.
立春 Risshun (Beginning of spring)
February 4–8東風解凍 Harukaze kōri o tokuEast wind melts the ice
February 9–13黄鶯睍睆 Kōō kenkan suBush warblers start singing in the mountains
February 14–18魚上氷 Uo kōri o izuruFish emerge from the ice
雨水 Usui (Rainwater)
February 19–23土脉潤起 Tsuchi no shō uruoi okoruRain moistens the soil
February 24–28霞始靆 Kasumi hajimete tanabikuMist starts to linger
March 1–5草木萌動 Sōmoku mebae izuruGrass sprouts, trees bud
啓蟄 Keichitsu (Insects awaken)
March 6–10蟄虫啓戸 Sugomori mushito o hirakuHibernating insects surface
March 11–15桃始笑 Momo hajimete sakuFirst peach blossoms
March 16–20菜虫化蝶 Namushi chō to naruCaterpillars become butterflies
春分 Shunbun (Spring equinox)
March 21–25雀始巣 Suzume hajimete sukūSparrows start to nest
March 26–30櫻始開 Sakura hajimete sakuFirst cherry blossoms
March 31–April 4雷乃発声 Kaminari sunawachi koe o hassuDistant thunder
清明 Seimei (Pure and clear)
April 5–9玄鳥至 Tsubame kitaruSwallows return
April 10–14鴻雁北 Kōgan kaeruWild geese fly north
April 15–19虹始見 Niji hajimete arawaruFirst rainbows
穀雨 Kokuu (Grain rains)
April 20–24葭始生 Ashi hajimete shōzuFirst reeds sprout
April 25–29霜止出苗 Shimo yamite nae izuruLast frost, rice seedlings grow
April 30–May 4牡丹華 Botan hana sakuPeonies bloom
立夏 Rikka (Beginning of summer)
May 5–9蛙始鳴 Kawazu hajimete nakuFrogs start singing
May 10–14蚯蚓出 Mimizu izuruWorms surface
May 15–20竹笋生 Takenoko shōzuBamboo shoots sprout
小満 Shōman (Lesser ripening)
May 21–25蚕起食桑 Kaiko okite kuwa o hamuSilkworms start feasting on mulberry leaves
May 26–30紅花栄 Benibana sakauSafflowers bloom
May 31–June 5麦秋至 Mugi no toki itaruWheat ripens and is harvested
芒種 Bōshu (Grain beards and seeds)
June 6–10蟷螂生 Kamakiri shōzuPraying mantises hatch
June 11–15腐草為螢 Kusaretaru kusa hotaru to naruRotten grass becomes fireflies
June 16–20梅子黄 Ume no mi kibamuPlums turn yellow
夏至 Geshi (Summer solstice)
June 21–26乃東枯 Natsukarekusa karuruSelf-heal withers
June 27–July 1菖蒲華 Ayame hana sakuIrises bloom
July 2–6半夏生 Hange shōzuCrow-dipper sprouts
小暑 Shōsho (Lesser heat)
July 7–11温風至 Atsukaze itaruWarm winds blow
July 12–16蓮始開 Hasu hajimete hirakuFirst lotus blossoms
July 17–22鷹乃学習 Taka sunawachi waza o narauHawks learn to fly
大暑 Taisho (Greater heat)
July 23–28桐始結花 Kiri hajimete hana o musubuPaulownia trees produce seeds
July 29–August 2土潤溽暑 Tsuchi uruōte mushi atsushiEarth is damp, air is humid
August 3–7大雨時行 Taiu tokidoki furuGreat rains sometimes fall
立秋 Risshū (Beginning of autumn)
August 8–12涼風至 Suzukaze itaruCool winds blow
August 13–17寒蝉鳴 Higurashi nakuEvening cicadas sing
August 18–22蒙霧升降 Fukaki kiri matōThick fog descends
処暑 Shosho (Manageable heat)
August 23–27綿柎開 Wata no hana shibe hirakuCotton flowers bloom
August 28–September 1天地始粛 Tenchi hajimete samushiHeat starts to die down
September 2–7禾乃登 Kokumono sunawachi minoruRice ripens
白露 Hakuro (White dew)
September 8–12草露白 Kusa no tsuyu shiroshiDew glistens white on grass
September 13–17鶺鴒鳴 Sekirei nakuWagtails sing
September 18–22玄鳥去 Tsubame saruSwallows leave
秋分 Shūbun (Autumn equinox)
September 23–27雷乃収声 Kaminari sunawachi koe o osamuThunder ceases
September 28–October 2蟄虫坏戸 Mushi kakurete to o fusaguInsects hole up underground
October 3–7水始涸 Mizu hajimete karuruFarmers drain fields
寒露 Kanro (Cold dew)
October 8–12鴻雁来 Kōgan kitaruWild geese return
October 13–17菊花開 Kiku no hana hirakuChrysanthemums bloom
October 18–22蟋蟀在戸 Kirigirisu to ni ariCrickets chirp around the door
霜降 Sōkō (Frost falls)
October 23–27霜始降 Shimo hajimete furuFirst frost
October 28–November 1霎時施 Kosame tokidoki furuLight rains sometimes fall
November 2–6楓蔦黄 Momiji tsuta kibamuMaple leaves and ivy turn yellow
立冬 Rittō (Beginning of winter)
November 7–11山茶始開 Tsubaki hajimete hirakuCamellias bloom
November 12–16地始凍 Chi hajimete kōruLand starts to freeze
November 17–21金盞香 Kinsenka sakuDaffodils bloom
小雪 Shōsetsu (Lesser snow)
November 22–26虹蔵不見 Niji kakurete miezuRainbows hide
November 27–December 1朔風払葉 Kitakaze konoha o harauNorth wind blows the leaves from the trees
December 2–6橘始黄 Tachibana hajimete kibamuTachibana citrus tree leaves start to turn yellow
大雪 Taisetsu (Greater snow)
December 7–11閉塞成冬 Sora samuku fuyu to naruCold sets in, winter begins
December 12–16熊蟄穴 Kuma ana ni komoruBears start hibernating in their dens
December 17–21鱖魚群 Sake no uo muragaruSalmons gather and swim upstream
冬至 Tōji (Winter solstice)
December 22–26乃東生 Natsukarekusa shōzuSelf-heal sprouts
December 27–31麋角解 Sawashika no tsuno otsuruDeer shed antlers
January 1–4雪下出麦 Yuki watarite mugi nobiruWheat sprouts under snow
小寒 Shōkan (Lesser cold)
January 5–9芹乃栄 Seri sunawachi sakauParsley flourishes
January 10–14水泉動 Shimizu atataka o fukumuSprings thaw
January 15–19雉始雊 Kiji hajimete nakuPheasants start to call
大寒 Daikan (Greater cold)
January 20–24款冬華 Fuki no hana sakuButterburs bud
January 25–29水沢腹堅 Kiwamizu kōri tsumeruIce thickens on streams
January 30–February 3鶏始乳 Niwatori hajimete toya ni tsukuHens start laying eggs
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