mysql unix_timestamp timezone wrong time
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having a problem with UNIX_TIMESTAMP function in mysql.

**The setup:**
I am doing a wordpress site on my local windows machine and upload my updates to an ubuntu server(page.ly) periodically. There is a piece of code that retrieves a datetime column from a mysql db. The problem is the time retrieved is right on my local windows machine, but wrong on the ubuntu server.

**What i know so far**
I ran several queries on both places to try to reproduce the problem.

    $wpdb->get_row("SELECT UNIX_TIMESTAMP('2012-07-27 22:15:00') 
    FROM {$wpdb->posts}"))

this produces the right time my local machine(**1343427300**), but wrong on ubuntu(**1343445300** 5 hours ahead. my local timezone America/New_York.).

    $wpdb->get_row("SELECT UNIX_TIMESTAMP('2012-07-27 22:15:00')"))
this produces the right time on both machines. it's like as soon as i associate my select with a table, any table in the database, the time gets the timezone offset + daylight savings offset. i checked the timezone offset on both machines. both of them are 0. im kinda stuck here. appreciate any help.