def discardTimeZoneFromDate(the_date):
    """Input: NSDate object
    Output: NSDate object with same date and time as the UTC.
    In Los Angeles (PDT), '2011-06-20T12:00:00Z' becomes 
    '2011-06-20 12:00:00 -0700'.
    In New York (EDT), it becomes '2011-06-20 12:00:00 -0400'.
    """
    # get local offset
    offset = the_date.descriptionWithCalendarFormat_timeZone_locale_(
        '%z', None, None)
    hour_offset = int(offset[0:3])
    minute_offset = int(offset[0] + offset[3:])
    seconds_offset = 60 * 60 * hour_offset + 60 * minute_offset
    # return new NSDate minus local_offset
    return the_date.dateByAddingTimeInterval_(-seconds_offset)