#*@X&$ !! daylight savings time got me again! (1 Viewer)

[Jay Taylor]

The Daylight Savings Time switches were less troublesome when all you had to change was a couple of watches and a few clocks. But now we have clocks in so many devices that switching them all is a huge time waster.

Lets see, there are:

Answering Machines at home.
Answering Machines at work.
Programmable Thermostats at home.
Programmable Thermostats at work.
Fax machines at home.
Fax machines at work.
Burglar alarms at home.
Burglar alarms at work.
Microwave ovens at home.
Microwave ovens at work.
Clocks in your vehicles.
Cash registers at work.
Credit card processors at work.
Timer switches for lighting at work.
Home theater equipment.
Watches for everyone in the family.
Clocks in almost every room at home.
Clocks at work.
Some cell phones don't automatically adjust.
Plus other things I always forget until it bites me in the ass.

I’m so glad to save a fucking hour of daylight!

I realize that there’s a huge energy savings by using daylight savings time. If it’s that great then why don’t we just do it all year & quit changing the damn time!

 

[EricW]

once i set me VCR to tape something right after DST, and i didn't know the VCR would automatically adjust, so i set the time off by 1 hour. MISTAKE

 

[MarkHastings]

I join in your rolling eyes. I guess they don't give a damn for those of us who need that extra hour of light at night. :rolleyes

 

[MickeS]

Couldn't we just have an automatic function here at HTF that generates a "Daylight savings complaint" thread automatically in the spring and the fall on the sunday when the time changes? This way we could all sleep a little more instead of having to repeat our pro/con opinions twice a year every year.

Or you could all move to Arizona and not worry (no DST here).

 

[Citizen87645]

Or Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and most of the Eastern Time Zone portion of Indiana.

 

[RobertR]

I have to laugh at the guys who get SO pissed off at something, yet are apparently utterly oblivious to it when it happens. Really, do you pay no attention to the calendar at all? It sounds like you're the kind of guys who either do get in trouble (if married) or would get in trouble for forgetting birthdays and anniversaries. Personally, I like the longer daylight hours in the evenings when spring/summer come. And since my critical timepieces (alarm clock, watch) are synchronized to atomic clocks, technology serves me.

 

[Holadem]

My alarm clock is normally synchronized to an atomic clock as well. Except I disable that feature and set the clock 10 minutes forward. Go figure...

--
H

 

[MarkHastings]

LOL

Although, I wouldn't think they are one in the same. DST is no where NEAR as important as a brithday. Forgetting about DST is like forgetting when the next full moon phase is...when you don't give a crap about it, it's not something that's on the top of your "remember" list

 

[Armando Zamora]

I loved the time change. I was out late Saturday night, so the extra hour helped with the recovery-phase Sunday morning.

First time in a long time that it worked out in my favor...go me!!! (gives self high five)

 

[Glenn Overholt]

Malcom - the easy solution for the little devils of the breeders is to adjust the time school starts. Any city could do it, or not do it, and it wouldn't affect anyone else.

Glenn

 

[RobertR]

The avoidance of being that pissed off is what should motivate them not to forget. Remembering the change (and doing it) isn't an act of genius after all, or even much effort. It's certainly a lot easier than, say, car maintenance. Or maybe these guys all run around with dirty engine oil.

 

[MarkHastings]

Maintaining your car is a necessity...DST isn't.

Again, the anger (at least in my case) comes from a practice that is really unnecessary.

 

[Bryan X]

The origin of Daylight Savings Time really has nothing to do with 'kids going to school in the dark.'

DST was first put into practice by the German government in 1916 during WWI. The UK followed suit shortly after and the US adopted DST in 1918 for the remainder of the War, when it was repealed.

The US didn't adopt DST again until 1942, again as a means to conserve resources during wartime. DST was again dropped in 1945. From 1945 to 1966 Federal law didn't mandate DST so states and localities were able to observe it or not at their own discretion. This caused a virtual patchwork of areas that observed DST and those that did not.

In 1966 Federal law again mandated DST, while allowing States that wanted to be exempt do so by passing a law, provided the entire state was exempt. In 1972 the law was ammended to allow states straddling a time zone to exempt certain areas of the state.

DST was extended in 1974 and 1975 during the energy crisis.

The Energy Policy Act 0f 2005 is the latest change to DST. Beginning in 2007, DST will start the second Sunday of March and end on the first Sunday of November. Beginning earlier and ending later than it does now.

Again, this is part of an energy policy. So historically, DST was conceived as a way to save resources, not protect the little kiddies going to school.

DST does have a legitimate purpose.

 

[Zack Gibbs]

Why would anyone think daylight savings time is about protecting kids from going to school in the dark? DST pushes time an hour foward, so it makes sunrise come later than it normally would be, not earlier.

 

[Bryan X]

You're right, you actually loose a little daylight in the early morning when you start DST in the Spring. But it's not noticed as the days are growing longer anyway. So with DST, we're taking some 'very early morning' light and tacking it on the the evening when more people are up and about anyway. Thus, saving energy.

 

[Malcolm R]

The origin, no, but that's the main argument used to keep it going in the present day.

And as I noted before, it's going to be a huge cluster when the new DST dates take effect, but all the existing electronics are set to change on the current dates. Everyone will be manually adjusting their clocks four times a year.

 

[Bryan X]

No, that's not one of the arguments to keep observing DST. The 'school children' issue is an argument against having DST.

During 1974-1975 we had DST year around, but farmers and concerns about school children in the dark were arguments used to limit DST to just the Spring-Fall time period.

DST was enacted to save energy, not to help out school kids as it actually has the opposite affect. We would probably be on DST year around, if it weren't for the concerns of farmers and that of school kids.

So if you want to blame the 'school kid' crowd you can, but blame them for Standard Time not Daylight Savings Time.

 

[RobertR]

But unless and until you can persuade people not to observe it, it is necessary for you go along and change your clocks accordingly. Being pissed off doesn't make it "go away" or mean you can just ignore it or forget about it, any more than wishing car engines were designed differently means you can ignore maintenance requirements.

 

[ChristopherDAC]

The problem with Daylight Saving Time as an energy-saving measure is that it doesn't work. Its influence on the amount of electric light, heating oil, gasoline, whatever that people expend is minimal. This is particularly true somewhere like California, where the Air Quality Board mandates "flex-time" -- thus totally invalidating the already shaky assumption about the schedules of the majority of people DST's claimed energy savings are based on.

There's no good reason for it, and it ought to be abolished.

 

[Bryan X]

Studies done by the US Department of transportation show that DST trims the entire country's electricity useage by a small but significant amount. Yes, different areas see different amounts of energy saved, but to say it doesn't work is wrong.

In New Zealand for example, power companies have found that useage decreases about 3.5% during DST.