[HPFGU-OTChatter] Re: live web feed on June 26

[GulPlum]

At 18:40 05/06/03 , Phyllis wrote:
>I just received an e-mail from Bloomsbury about this event, and it
>states that it is starting at "16.00 BST".  I assume BST means
>British Standard Time, so this would translate to 4:00 British
>Standard Time (which is also the time noted on the web site).  As to
>what time that translates to in the US, I haven't a clue!

Err... BST stands for British Summer Time (i.e. Daylight Saving Time), 
which runs from March to October. Otherwise, Britain runs on GMT (Greenwich 
Mean Time a.k.a. UST or Universal Standard Time, because it's taken as the 
"source" for calculating all time zones on earth, and indeed all clocks on 
space flights).

The American relationship to GMT is from -8hrs on the West Coast to -5hrs 
on the East. As far as I'm aware (I'm prepared to be corrected on this), 
the US also applies daylight saving hours, on the same dates as the UK, and 
thus despite the change to BST, the US time zones differential remains the 
same. In other words, the webcast's start time of 16.00H (or 4pm) UK time 
means 11am in New York, or 8am in Los Angeles.

I suspect that the differences in the reports quoted previously comes from 
a lack of appreciation for daylight saving hours. Whoever wrote the article 
saw 4pm BST (which is GMT+1), and thus added (or took away, depending on 
your point of view) one hour to the US equivalents.

This message is being written at approx. 21.30 BST, so assuming it gets 
through pretty much immediately, those getting this message by email will 
be able to work out where they are in relation to British time.

--
GulPlum AKA Richard, supplying more information than strictly required, as 
usual. :-)