What the hell is the deal with the time zones on the boards

For years, I have been endlessly confused by this.

Whatever time I select in the board preferences is NOT the actual time in the world in that time zone. It's 8:55 in California right now. If I select PST, the board says it is 7:55. If I select EST, which is always 3 hours ahead of us, it should say 11:55. But it says 10:55. Does everyone just "pretend" that they are one zone east of where they actually are, or is there something wrong with the coding?

"Does anybody really know what time it is?"

Not certain how helpful or accurate this is but if the correct time zone is selected and the DST is selected (or not depending on location and time of year) it seems to provide correct information for me. Not certain if the DST button needs to be changed twice a year and what happens if you or other users do not change it when DST goes into or out of effect.