Daylight Savings Time

[MikeL]

It's that time again.  I'm already yawning just thinking about tomorrow.

 

 

 

Edited March 9, 2014 by MikeL

[joann414]

In all seriousness, I'd forgotten until I saw this post.  Sheesh.  You're good for something Mike.

[mickey1952]

I can't wait. My natural body clock just seems to function better on DST.

[TetRefine]

Anything to make the days longer. There is nothing more depressing then it being pitch black by 4:30 in the afternoon in the dead of winter. 

[MikeL]

You're good for something Mike.

 

Thanks...I think.

[Lisa]

Daylight Savings Time is tomorrow??????????

[Slytherin]

 

It's that time again.  I'm already yawning just thinking about tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

That could be me, I am extra grumpy in the spring when "they" steal one hour of my sleeping time

[Mann Ramblings]

I'll be happy to have the daylight last longer but losing my hour of sleep over the switchover always pisses me off. LOL

[A.J.]

I hate the switch.  It makes me a royal bitch and before someone says something... Yes, worse than normal.

[Suvitar]

Most of the Europe is doing that the last weekend of March. 

[MJ85]

I hate the switch. It makes me a royal bitch and before someone says something... Yes, worse than normal.

Someone needs a new title.

[Daddydavek]

Here's an interesting article about doing away with daylight savings time as well as two time zones in the continental US.

 

http://qz.com/142199/the-us-needs-to-retire-daylight-savings-and-just-have-two-time-zones-one-hour-apart/

[Aditus]

I forgot to remind Lisa. Oh shit! I reminded her everytime in the last years but this time I forgot!

[BlueSoxSWJ]

Here's an interesting article about doing away with daylight savings time as well as two time zones in the continental US.

 

http://qz.com/142199/the-us-needs-to-retire-daylight-savings-and-just-have-two-time-zones-one-hour-apart/

 

Alas, not a well-sourced article.  The study it used to claim that Daylight Saving Time (Saving does not have an s on the end of it!) has "minimal" impact overall was actually a study showing that in one year, in California, the three-week extension of Daylight Saving Time had a small impact on energy use.  It points out that there's a jump in the heart attack rate when DST starts, but neglects to mention that there's a bigger drop in motor vehicle fatalities from the evening rush hour being pushed into daylight faster.  More broad studies of DST as a whole suggest that southern states don't really benefit (lighting use drops, but people are awake during hotter hours, so AC use rises), while northern states strongly benefit (lighting savings far outweigh AC use increase).

[Lisa]

I forgot to remind Lisa. Oh shit! I reminded her everytime in the last years but this time I forgot!

Yep, Addy! Ya left me out to dry!!!! I had to read about it in a forum thread, thank you very much!!!!

 

Lol, you know I'm just busting your chops! 

[Celethiel]

did someone mention sleep... precious sleep and the lack there of because of the switch

[hh5]

I hate it during cold season and those early appointments 

[Kitt]

I can't wait. My natural body clock just seems to function better on DST.

I'm with Mickey. My eyes pop open about the same time every morning, and it is just a more pleasant thought when that's suddenly 6:30 instead of 5:30.

[layla]

I don't like daylight savings time, if i wanted to lose sleep, i'd just stay up even longer than i already do. The time change always seemed to mess me up, only because i forget to change old clocks that don't change themselves. 

[C J]

I don't really mind the switch, but I think they should set the time and leave it alone.  I think most people who have to drive to work every morning agree.  I don't see the point of this change twice a year.  It messes with people.  It's an inconvenience that nobody really wants, and as far as I can tell nobody asked for it.  Maybe they could devise some much more useful changes in this area.

 

They could change the days of the week instead.  How about 4 days in a week instead of 7?  Sunday / Monday / Friday / Saturday.  This would make more weekends.  It would mean 91.25 weeks in a year, so every 4 years we would have leap week to make up for it.  Productivity would go up because people would be less stressed.

 

They could do it another way, and add days to the week instead.  Sunday / Monday / Friday / Saturday / Sunday / Monday / Friday / Saturday.  That would also make more weekends, and give us 45.6 weeks in a year.  They could declare that a year would actually consist of 91.25 weeks, making a year twice as long as it is now.  Then leap week would actually only happen every 8 years, and holidays, like Christmas would happen once every 2 years.  The same with tax season, which would be agreeable to most people if my guess is accurate.

 

Yes, some days are eliminated, but who cares?  When your going to change things you don't have to follow any rules, just change them.

 

I suppose there are other possibilities too, but these are at least a start. 

[BlueSoxSWJ]

... as far as I can tell nobody asked for it.  ..

 

It was first implemented in Germany to conserve energy during World War One by aligning people's active hours better with the daylight hours.  By the end of World War One, almost every country involved had implemented it, though most repealed it after the war eased rationing needs.  It was then reimplemented almost worldwide during World War Two rationing, and re-repealed again afterwards.  The modern DST practice mostly dates to the oil shocks of the 1970s, though the U.S. expanded it in 2005.  Simplifying a lot here, but urban areas usually want DST, since they're more likely to schedule their daily lives by the official time, and rural areas generally don't want it, since they usually schedule their daily lives around daylight, and the disruption of DST can be a significant hassle.  In fact, prior to the 1970s, official time was set locally, and almost every city used DST while most rural areas didn't.  The rise of AC means that DST doesn't save much energy anymore (the hours that people are awake are now hotter on average, so more AC is used even as less lighting is used), but it has one rather major impact:  by aligning our commutes with daylight better, DST reduces traffic fatalities by a significant amount, with some studies pegging the number as high as 10% for pedestrians.

 

As for breaking down other things, I've long been in favor of 10 day weeks, with 3 per month, then a 5 or 6 day fill period to complete the year.  Days 1, 6, and 10 would be "weekends," so a workweek would be 4 on, 1 off, 3 on, 2 off.  This would make 70% of days weekdays, compared to 71.4% now, not including the fill period.  Of course, the truth us, nothing is ever going to drastically change - the thorough globalization of markets means that we're pretty much stuck with the basics of what we have.  (Fun fact:  after World War One, the U.K. kept DST, so even when the U.S. repealed it in 1919, New York City alone kept it just to keep the relative trading hours between the NYSE and the London Stock Exchange constant.)

[C J]

Arizona and Hawaii don't have it, and a bunch of territories and countries around the world don't either.  I don't care for it, but it's not a huge problem since i don't have to go anywhere on a schedule.

[Graeme]

Arizona and Hawaii don't have it, and a bunch of territories and countries around the world don't either.  I don't care for it, but it's not a huge problem since i don't have to go anywhere on a schedule.

Australia normally has three timezones. During daylight savings, we have five, because some of the states/territories don't go onto daylight saving.

 

Normally:

GMT+10:00 -- East coast

GMT+9:30 -- South Australia and Northern Territory (plus Broken Hill in NSW which is on South Australian tim)

GMT+8:00 -- Western Australia

 

During Daylight Savings:

GMT+11:00 -- NSW, Victoria, ACT, Tasmania

GMT+10:30 -- South Australia

GMT+10:00 -- Queensland

GMT+9:30 -- Northern Territory

GMT+8:00 -- Western Australia

 

 

A few years ago, it was even more complicated because the states didn't coordinate when they went on/off daylight savings. The state governments eventually realised that that was stupid and have been coordinating the start.end times since. It's currently six months on, six months off, with the current six months on finishing on 6th April (it started 6th October).

[Slytherin]

I don't like daylight savings time because I work weekends and this year I have to be at work 06.45 a m AND I have worked Saturday night so I know now how tired I will be that morning..

Edited March 13, 2014 by slytherin

[MikeL]

DST is a problem for me only one day a year...the day we "spring forward".  That's because I get up and go to church every Sunday morning.  And I'm always sleepy because of the lost hour.  Why not change to some other day of the week.  I understand why not Monday...that would be a disaster for employers everywhere.  But wouldn't Saturday work?