Daylight Savings Time

[cucharabill]

Originally Posted by DallasRain

I never liked it!

but at least it will stay daylight longer...lol

That's the WHOLE POINT of Daylight Savings Time!!

[tia travels]

It only messes up your rhythm for one day. And in October...it's a blessing to have that extra hour of sleep.....and if you're a drunkard--that extra hour at the bar!

[cucharabill]

Originally Posted by Fast Gunn

At the very least it should be put up for a vote on our next election.

. . . Would you vote for it or against it?

The use of Daylight Savings Time (DST) in the U.S. goes back to the first World War. Initially, it was called "War Time" and the point was the same as it is today; make it stay light later during the day in order to save energy. The thinking was (and still is) "Have more daylight in the evening BEFORE having to turn on lights which uses electricity (energy)."

At the conclusion of World War One, DST was abandoned until the second World War in the 1940's at which time it was put back in place for the same reason. Also during this time, England employed it too with a slight twist. Instead of moving the clocks forward one hour, they moved it two hours. They also called it "War Time". And in England, one very important aspect of this was that, because the clocks were ahead by two hours, people were going to bed and turning off their lights shortly after dark in order to possibly make it more difficult for the German bombing raids on London. If the city wasn't lit up so much, they couldn't see exactly where to drop their bombs. Whether this actually worked or not would be a topic for debate. The end of World War Two also brought the end of DST until the 1960's.

In 1965, DST was used again for the purpose of saving energy and for the enjoyment of late summer evenings. One segment of the population that strongly opposed the idea was the farmers of the U.S. During that year, Congress passed legislation that would put DST in effect on a permanent basis beginning in 1966 starting the last Sunday in April and ending the last Sunday in October (a full six months). Also, at this time, the Federal government gave the states the chance to 'opt-out' of the program provided they stick with their option.
Arizona, Hawaii, and the counties of Indiana that are part of the Eastern Time Zone took that 'opt-out' which is why they don't change their clocks with the rest of the U.S. One exception is the northeastern portion of Arizona which is a very large Indian reservation that DOES observe the change in time in the Spring and Fall.

During the first couple of years, a lot of people (like now) didn't understand the "how's and why's" of all the clock changing. Some of these included members of Congress who began to wonder if this was not such a good idea and were catching flak from the farmers in their constituency. Others wondered if it might be worthwhile to just use DST year-round.
So, in late 1967, it was decided to start DST in February 1968 (about two months early) on a trial basis to see how that would work. I can personally tell you: IT DID NOT!! As one of many kids standing next to streets waiting for the school bus early in the morning in the dark, that went over like the proverbial "ton of bricks". Parents were not happy about the idea of having their kids standing next to, and crossing busy streets in the dark during morning rush hour. So that quickly(!) ended the concept of year-round DST.

In 1987, the start time of DST changed under President Reagan's Energy Bill. This moved the start time from the last Sunday in April to the first Sunday in April (this added three weeks to DST). This time it was the religous community got bent out of shape due to the always changing date of Easter. Their claim was that the change of time would screw up their Easter Sunrise Services if people forgot to set their clocks before going to bed Saturday night (Easter dates are always sometime between March 23 and April 25).

In 2005, the start, and now, end time would again change under President Bush's Energy Bill. Beginning in 2007, DST would start the second Sunday in March and end the first Sunday in November (this added a full month; three weeks in the Spring and one week in the Fall for a total of 34 weeks on and 18 weeks off).

One note here: If we didn't use DST, there would be an hour of daylight in the morning that would be wasted.

Example:

Let's suppose the earliest sunrise in your location during the month of June occurs at 6am. You may be getting out of bed at that time, getting ready for work/school/whatever that occupies your day. If we didn't use DST, that sunrise time would be 5am instead of 6am. Probably still in bed at that time, right? Wasted daylight.

In the evening, suppose sunset is around 8:30pm. Plenty of light after dinner to enjoy being outside before dark playing golf, walking the dog, doing yardwork, relaxing, or whatever else you enjoy doing outside. Without DST, that sunset time would be 7:30pm, and you'd be going for the lights in the house earlier and using them longer before going to bed.

I hope this sheds some light (no pun intended) on the subject of Daylight Savings Time.

[Fast Gunn]

Maybe you just haven't been keeping up with the news, buddy.

http://24timezones.com/dst_blog/2011...t-saving-time/

[cucharabill]

Ahh, a new development. Okay, I stand corrected on that point.

[TexTushHog]

It's no big deal to me one way or the other. But when I was younger, I very much enjoyed the extra daylight hours in the summer. Now, I don't often get off work early enough to enjoy them. But back then, I could leave work at 5:30 or son, and drive to my place on the lake and fish or ski for an hour or so before dark two or three times a week.

[Fast Gunn]

I suppose a man could become acclimated to just about anything if it was logical and necessary, but personally, I find the entire idea of daylight savings time unnecessary and repugnant because it is imposed and messes with my natural rhythm.

Just about the time you are getting used to the new time, the damn clock change again and you have to start the process all over again!

It's a never-ending bitch of a process and arbitrary and unnatural and totally unnecessary.

I think what galls me the most is that some arrogant group of suits in Washington decided that this was best for the country without even bothering to asking us about it first.

Why couldn't they ask if we even liked their goofy idea?

I'm glad that Russia had the balls to do away with the whole dumb-ass idea and I hope that other countries soon follow too!

[Fast Gunn]

Committee hears support for changing daylight saving time

Posted on 31.01.2011 by admin
Many, many people have weighed in with senators in the past two weeks on whether the Legislature should address the issue of doing away with daylight saving time in Nebraska.


Only a few people, however, came to a hearing on the bill (LB101) in front of the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee to give their views in person. And they all favored the bill that would do away with the time change in spring, summer and fall.


Nebraska already has two time zones. The Central time zone runs from the eastern border of the state to between Sutherland and Paxton, as the interstate runs. Mountain time takes over from there.
People living on either side of that time zone dividing line have to adapt. But there are no high population centers in the area, so the time zone borders area is limited to a small number of people and a bunch of cattle and corn.


Only two states — Arizona and Hawaii — have opted out of daylight saving time.


Sen. Ken Schilz of Ogallala, who introduced the bill, brought it for constituents in western Nebraska who think getting rid of daylight saving time would make it easier for people living in the Panhandle.
But the three people at the hearing who favored the bill were all from Lincoln.


LaVonne Dilla said she’s never found a farmer who loved daylight saving time — quite the opposite. And people who work in hospitals and nursing homes say it creates havoc with people’s medicine and sleep schedules, taxing people’s bodies.


It also puts children off balance, those testifying said.
Only people who work 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. like it because they can have an extra hour at night for outdoor recreation, Dilla said.


“The rest of us really don’t like it,” she said. “You’re preparing your evening meal in the hottest part of the day. My house faces the west and I get sun all afternoon. … And if you want to do yard work, you have to wait an extra hour or more in the morning for the dew to get off of the grass so you can mow it.”


Margaret McGurk-Kramer, a former computer analyst, said changing the time causes families extra work. Some have told her they have to change the time on 40 to 50 devices in their homes — microwaves, DVD players, clocks.


It causes a loss of productivity on mainframe computers. Because of the way they log tasks, most have to stop processing for a time, she said.
McGurk-Kramer said most people can adjust to the time change in a couple of weeks. It takes her six to eight weeks.


“And there are a lot of people like me out there,” she said.
Her family considered moving to Indiana at one time because a certain area of that state on the dividing line between two time zones didn’t switch to daylight saving time. The town considered itself in the Eastern time zone half of the year and in the Central time zone the other half.


The committee did not make a decision Thursday on whether the bill would advance to the full Legislature for debate.




Hey, my hearty thanks, Sen. Ken Schilz of Ogallala!

[larry696]

caught me off guard this year

[cucharabill]

The bottom line here is whether or not a person likes, or doesn't like, having more daylight in the evening because that's what the clock changing is all about.

Like having it stay light later in the evening during the summer? Fine, you got to change the clocks.

Want it to get dark earlier? Fine, don't change the clocks.

It doesn't get any simpler than that.

And I don't buy any of that namby-pamby stuff about rhythms, because what happens to "rhythms" when traveling and crossing time zones? Even just one zone? What about crossing more than that, say going from west coast to east coast? People complain about moving their clocks ahead just one hour for DST, but going from west coast to east coast, it's moved ahead three hours. And when traveling by air, it doesn't take long to cover that three hour time difference.

[safire_sweet]

Really????

Safire Sweet

[Fast Gunn]

You sound like an argumentative sort of guy and your thinking is clearly muddled on the issue.

Nevertheless, perhaps you are teachable and I will break the argument down for you this time.

• First of all, there is a world of difference between time zones and Daylight Savings Time and if you argue for one based on the other then your conclusions will be fallacious and corrupt.

Time zones are needed to provide some uniformity throughout the world. You want it to feel like 8 am anywhere you are in the world and so you need to divide the world into 24 time zones to accomplish basic global time uniformity. This requirement is logical and and beneficial for the world to operate smoothly.

• Daylight Savings Time, on the other hand, is a totally arbitrary concept and the bullshit "benefit" is outweighed by the real costs.

Time flows smoothly in nature and we flow along with it and develop a natural rhythm, but when someone in Washington decides to suddenly change the time, it disrupts that natural flow. There is nothing "namby-pamby" about having natural rhythm. A jungle cat has natural rhythm and we admire how he moves because of it, but foolish men can with their buffoon policies mess that rhythm up and hurt the cat and his instincts.

Already, Russia and even two states in our own union have finally seen the light of this argument and did away with the accursed Daylight Savings Time and I believe that the rest of the world will come to see what a mistake DST is and do away with it.

. . . Hell, who knows, maybe you will too!

[TexTushHog]

So you're telling me if you fly to NYC for business, or San Francisco, it's a huge disruption in your schedule to get up an hour earlier or two hours later? I'm with Cucharabill. I don't see it. I may notice it the first day if I'm flying east, but it's nt a big deal.

[Fast Gunn]

Jet lag is an unavoidable penalty of international travel hog.

There is not much that can be done about it if you need to travel, given our current stage of evolution.

Once mankind has developed travel at light speed, as it will, but probably not in our life time then it will not be a problem.

However, Daylight Savings Time is an arbitrary concoction that some dodos in Washington came up on the pretext that it would save energy.

. . . That is my beef and I totally oppose it.

If the issue had been put up for a vote and I had been outvoted, then it would be easier to accept.

However, DST was not voted into law, but rammed down our throats and that is what galls me!

[Mokoa]

Originally Posted by Fast Gunn

You sound like an argumentative sort of guy and your thinking is clearly muddled on the issue.

Nevertheless, perhaps you are teachable and I will break the argument down for you this time.

Your condescending remarks are quite irritating.

As usual you show your true caliber, just as you did here...

http://www.eccie.net/showthread.php?t=16447

Originally Posted by Fast Gunn

Time flows smoothly in nature and we flow along with it and develop a natural rhythm, but when someone in Washington decides to suddenly change the time, it disrupts that natural flow. There is nothing "namby-pamby" about having natural rhythm. A jungle cat has natural rhythm and we admire how he moves because of it, but foolish men can with their buffoon policies mess that rhythm up and hurt the cat and his instincts.

That is ridiculous since animals know nothing of DST. Their natural rhythm, as you call it, had already been established millennia ago.

All this stuff about how difficult it is to adjust to DST twice a year is making a mountain out of a molehill. DST has been around for a long time now. If you have not acclimated to it by now, then perhaps DST is not the problem.