Archive for category Argentina
OS X: Fix Argentina DST October 2009
Well, at almost the last minute, DST was cancelled in Argentina this year. And this broke things, mostly computers. (Not for the first time either, the same thing happened two years ago here).
The debian folk came out with a fix at the last minute: so that fixed the linux machines, but OS X is a slower beast to move, so it’ll be a while before any change works its way through. In the meantime, Mac users in Argentina are left with broken clocks.
Argentina_DST_Update.pkg – for 10.6.x only!
I am no Mac expert, and this isn’t entirely tested, so be warned.
Anywho, this is how to update the tz data (aka zoneinfo), which should, in theory, fix the problem:
mkdir tzfix
cd tzfix/
curl ftp://elsie.nci.nih.gov/pub/tzdata2009n.tar.gz | tar -zxvf -
vi +219 southamerica
Change the two lines:
Rule Arg 2008 max - Mar Sun>=15 0:00 0 -
Rule Arg 2008 max - Oct Sun>=15 0:00 1:00 S
to the following
Rule Arg 2008 2009 - Mar Sun>=15 0:00 0 -
Rule Arg 2008 only - Oct Sun>=15 0:00 1:00 S
(i.e. just two words to change). If it makes you feel better, here’s a diff.
Ok, save & close, and then compile it as follows:
sudo zic southamerica
sudo cp /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/Argentina/Buenos_Aires /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/Buenos_Aires
The sudo is necessary because you’re changing /usr/share/zoneinfo.
And that’s mostly it. Verify that it worked as follows:
zdump America/Argentina/Buenos_Aires
America/Argentina/Buenos_Aires Sun Oct 18 20:43:42 2009 ART
(note that the timezone is now ART, not ARST as previously).
So that fixes things for most of the command-line stuff. But you’ll notice that the clock on your desktop, iCal, and others, are still incorrect. We need to fix the ICU database also. Thankfully the latest sources are available for this from apple itself:
curl -O http://www.opensource.apple.com/tarballs/ICU/ICU-400.37.tar.gz
tar -zxf ICU-400.37.tar.gz
cd ICU-400.37/icuSources
ICU doesn’t come with the tzdata, but the readme in tzcode helpfully notes that if we place the tzdata*.tar.gz file in tools/tzcode/ it will be compiled automatically. You can pack up your own tzdata2009n.tar.gz that we used earlier if you wish, or use the one I prepared here:
cd tools/tzcode/
curl -o tzdata2009o.tar.gz http://brickybox.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/tzdata2009otar.gz
cd ../../
./runConfigureICU MacOSX --with-data-packaging=archive
gnumake
sudo install -o root -g wheel -m 0644 -Sp data/out/icudt40l.dat /usr/share/icu/icudt40l.dat
And that’s it. We have a new ICU database. Reboot to see the changes.
Update (21st October):
This technique works on the iPhone too. The iPhone already has zic (well, at least my one has), so you can simply copy your modified southamerica file onto the phone somewhere, and run (as root):
zic southamerica
cp /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/Argentina/Buenos_Aires /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/Buenos_Aires
And you can simply copy the data/out/icudt40l.dat you created for OS X into /usr/share/icu/icudt40l.dat on the iPhone. It causes Springboard to crash, but after a reboot everything works perfectly.
Update (10th November): I can’t believe it, today 10.6.2 update broke the damn icu stuff again.
mkdir 10_6_2_fix
cd 10_6_2_fix/
curl -O http://www.opensource.apple.com/tarballs/ICU/ICU-400.37.tar.gz
tar -zxf ICU-400.37.tar.gz
cd ICU-400.37/icuSources/tools/tzcode/
curl -O ftp://elsie.nci.nih.gov/pub/tzdata2009r.tar.gz
cd ../../
gnumake
sudo install -o root -g wheel -m 0644 -Sp data/out/icudt40l.dat /usr/share/icu/icudt40l.dat
Thanks to Jonathan Tapicer for pointing out that the tzdata file name has been updated (now at version R).
Update (5th February): I’ve had several requests to package this up in an installer, so here goes:
Argentina_DST_Update.pkg – for 10.6.x only!
(I don’t have a 10.5.8 any longer, so I can’t compile for it, sorry)
Popularity: 16% [?]
United Buddy Bears, Plaza San Martín, Buenos Aires
A rather novel idea: bear statues, each decorated independently by an artist on the theme of a country. Called the United Buddy Bears, they are touring the world and spending a few weeks in Plaza San Martín in Buenos Aires.
Popularity: 11% [?]
Floralís Genérica, Buenos Aires
This is simply a gigantic metal flower which opens and closes in response to the sunshine.
Designed by Eduardo Catalano, and built with the help of Daimler, it was gifted to the city in 2002.
Popularity: 9% [?]
Tigre Delta
Armed with her new camera, we decided to take a trip to El Tigre Delta, a little upriver from Buenos Aires yesterday. It’s a beautiful place, a long way from our daily lifestyles. Hope was expressed that we could spend our summer holidays there this year.
The google map thingy below shows where it is.
Popularity: 11% [?]
Using Acupressure to alleviate Jetlag
Sounds insane doesn’t it? So insane in fact that had I not heard of its effectiveness from a reliable source (a co-worker), I would never have considered trying it. But try it I did (on my most recent Ireland-Argentina flight), and most effective did I find it. Extremely so in fact: thus far, I have experienced no jetlag from the journey (where I would normally spend several days recovering).
So what is this miracle cure? It involves massaging (or applying pressure to) certain parts of your body, at certain times during the flight. It’s a little complicated, so I think it best to leave the full explanation to the experts: Jetlag Treatment from NaturoDoc.
Many thanks to Stéphane for bringing it to my attention.
Popularity: 9% [?]
O2 Ireland Roaming in Argentina does not work
Just a brief grumble here:
For the last year or so I’ve been entertained by a humorous work of fiction from O2 Ireland: their supposed roaming agreements with various Argentinian Mobile Phone operators. Said document proclaims that various services (such as the ability to make a phonecall, or use GPRS) are available to Irish O2 customers travelling in Argentina. This is quite simply not true.
I just spent 40 mins on hold to the O2 customer support in Ireland. They proclaim that I can make calls, and that there is an issue with my mobile phone – despite being able to hear a spanish voice (from the mobile operator) telling me that I am not permitted to make calls. Obviously this means that my phone has learnt to speak spanish and is playing a little trick on me.
Interestingly enough, I can receive calls and (usually) send/receive texts – it’s just making calls that my phone has decided to refuse.
Also rather interestingly: no one else has complained. When I suggested that the reason no one else has complained was because they were unable to make calls, my suggestion was rejected as ludicrous.
So I’m stuck with an online grumble. I never thought the day would come, but I believe the time has come for me to switch back to vodafone. At least their roaming claims are not works of fiction.
(For the googlers: O2, Movistar, Personal, Ireland, Argentina, Roaming).
Popularity: 13% [?]
How not to run a gsm provider
Living as I now do in Buenos Aires, I decided it was time for me to get an argentinian mobile. Off down to the shop with me to buy the cheapest prepay mobile they have (costing me a whopping €40), from what I believe is the largest mobile phone operator in the country: Personal Telecom Argentina. In fact this happened many months ago, and since then I’ve been marvelling at just how pathetic a mobile phone operator can be.
- You can’t send text outside the country. This is not a limitation with my phone package or anything of that sort. It appears that other (read “Irish”) operators simply ignore any sms from Personal. Possibly because of their complete disregard of any gsm standard?
- If you send a text to a Personal phone from another provider, you will get a successful delivery report immediately, regardless of whether the text was delivered or not.
- If you send a text from a Personal phone, you will never get a delivery report. I’ve never seen an exception.
- They seem to have no concept of a time zone. Their gsm servers believe they are in GMT, so any communication with the outside world is off by 3 hours. In short this means that
- Texts from the outside world appear to have been sent three hours previous
- Texts to the outside world, if such a thing were possible, would appear to be from three hours in the future
- If you have a phone that is aware of timezones (most modern phones are), then every time you wander into a Personal coverage area, your time will be set wrong by 3 hours.
There’s lots of other interesting stuff too, some of it bordering on hilarity. For example, my girlfriend and I recently travelled to Ireland (for my sister’s wedding), and, while there, my girlfriend received some texts from home (her phone is also a Personal offering). Each text arrived 100 or so times! We had to turn off the phone at night coz it was so annoying (we could disable any sounds, but we couldn’t stop it’s lights flashing).
Anyway, that’s it. It seems that the argentinians don’t know or care that this is pathetic. There are other mobile phone operators in this country (who, from my limited experience, do a far better job), so I expect market forces will eventually resolve these issues.
In the meantime I should of course complain, but my meagre few words of Spanish would hardly handle the assault … so I blog it 
Popularity: 33% [?]
Graffiti In Buenos Aires
Had occasion to wander around the city with a camera. I think the pictures speak for themselves.
Popularity: 21% [?]