<?php

if (date_default_timezone_get()) {
    echo  'date_default_timezone:  ' . date_default_timezone_get()."\n";
}

echo strtotime('2012-10-09')."\n"; # default timezone
echo strtotime('2012-10-09 UTC')."\n";
date_default_timezone_set('UTC');
echo strtotime('2012-10-09')."\n";
?>