Of course you're right about time-zone abbreviations being non-standard, Jin! As a matter of fact, "CST" can actually refer to any one of FOUR timezones: one each in the US, Europe, China, and Australia! Now I wonder why ISO hasn't come up with standards for that yet?? >It's nice to know that we have so many different >observers with different timezones... It is indeed! :) Lew