What can we do to get rid of Daylight Saving Time?

[immoderate]

It came up last night at dinner with friends. Everyone had a different idea of how it came about.
"It's to help farmers who get up with the sun"
"It's to prevent children from getting run over on the way to school."
"It was proposed by Benjamin Franklin, to conserve whale oil."
"It's the capitalists."

Nevertheless, we were all pretty much against it, although one considered it a "thing to do."

I can't determine any benefits from it, and find it an inconvenience at best. I say chuck it! Are you all with me? Fuck whale oil!

--imm

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. I like it.

[maxsolomon]

6. me too. it conserves the light for when I can use it

if you live in the south of the US, it probably doesn't do much. but up here on the Canadian border, it means the sun doesn't come up at 5 in the morning, and it goes down at 9:30.

works for me.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

15. Yes, here in Minnesota it makes a big difference.

I like summer days where the sun doesn't start to set until after 9:00.

[cyberswede]

30. Me too - I like how late the sun is up in the summer.

[snacker]

52. I agree...

I love late sunsets in summer.

[CrispyQ]

53. Me too!

I always look forward to 'spring ahead!'

[Skittles]

82. I do too

I wish it was like this all year

[Proud Liberal Dem]

2. I hate DST

throws my body off big time and I just don't understand the need/reason for it.

[Igel]

84. It's bad for a few days.

It's good for a couple hundred.

We pay more attention to negative things.

[Warpy]

3. What can we do to get rid of STANDARD time? IT SUCKS

It especially SUCKED in Boston when I'd go to work in the dark and come home in the dark. With DST year round, I'd have seen the sun on the way home, at least.

Standard time is arbitrary, set by a bunch of colonialist mariners to aid navigation so they could find more brown people to pillage. It makes no sense. It eats warthog balls. It's DEPRESSING.

DST year round! It's the only way!

Screw the DST haters, they don't know what they're talking about.

[Ninga]

9. Why do I love you? Maybe because you are awesome?

Yes!

[immoderate]

10. My issue is with RESETTING clocks twice a year.

I'm fine with whatever standard or substandard time setting you will stick to.

--imm

[Warpy]

13. Yeah, it stinks, throws too many people off

and was especially hard in the fall, when my 12 hour night shift was 13 hours long.

Still, DST year around makes the most sense. It doesn't throw farmers off, the stock wakes them up every morning at the same time, anyway, no matter what the clock says. If suburbanites yowl that their kiddies have to go to school in the dark, then have the schools start an hour later year round. BFD.

"Standard" time is totally arbitrary and there is no earthly reason to "return" to it for a depressing 4 1/2 months out of the year.

Kill it dead.

[LakeArenal]

32. Buy an atomic clock they reset themselves..

DST is great in Wisconsin. Evening at 9 is beautiful. You should try it.

[immoderate]

36. Understand that DST does not increase the number of daylight hours!

Even in Wisconsin.

--imm

[LakeArenal]

49. Did I say that?

Evening is at 9 is Wisconsin in the summer. It's enjoyable. Who said anything about number of hours of daylight? What's with "even in Wisconsin", Snidely Whiplash?

[rickford66]

66. The tides go in, the tides go out.

You can't explain that.

[kysrsoze]

14. I completely agree. I find it depressing in the fall/winter

There are no kids going to school at 6am, so that safety argument is nil. Even with DST switching back, it's dark when I start driving to work. But it just sucks when it's pitch black and work isn't even over.

[Freddie]

17. Agreed but

I seem to recall back in the 70s when I was in HS that Nixon or Ford had 1 year of all-year DST to save energy. The result was kids waiting for the school bus in the pitch black at 8 AM here in the eastern states. (No scientist could have predicted that?) That's why all-year DST won't happen.
Personally I love DST with the long summer evenings. Who needs the blazing sun at 5:00 am other than cows?

[Warpy]

22. Cows aren't impressed, either, and will call for milking

when they need it, no matter what a clock says. Farmers aren't the point.

Schools can start an hour later. Teenagers especially would love that.

There is no reason for "standard" time. We are no longer navigating by sextant. It's time to go to something that works.

[Drahthaardogs]

78. I work early. I like not driving in the pitch dark.

I also go to bed early. I don't need it light out at 9:30

[Warpy]

80. This time of year, it would be twilight at 6:30 PM

Unless you're a commercial baker, you don't go to sleep that early and you'd drive to work in the dark, anyway.

[Drahthaardogs]

81. Really? I don't remember a passenger in my car this morning

When I drove to work in the light.

[Ex Lurker]

4. I like it. I wish we had it year round

I hate it getting dark early in the winter.

[immoderate]

21. Works for me. Whatever people will stick to.

--imm

[hlthe2b]

5. Either stay on DST year round or regular time... one or the other...

I am SOOOOO sensitive that I wake up at 3 AM and fall asleep at 8 PM for weeks after the time change... (I am always an early riser, but that's nuts)

[stone space]

7. Compromise solution. Let's all move our clocks ahead 30 minutes and leave it there.

[immoderate]

12. That would work. Even acknowledging we'll NEVER get that time back!

--imm

[RedCloud]

8. Pull another star closer...

Should just about fix everything.

[snooper2]

11. nothing, it is here forever, if people haven't gotten used to it by now

there is no help for them LOL

[immoderate]

16. "Getting used to it," somehow does not compute.

Biorhythms, and such.

--imm

[snooper2]

25. does your body freak out when you fly from Chicago to Boston?

[immoderate]

29. Not if I take a plane.

I don't like having to reset my watch, but this is a case where it's warranted.

--imm

[Siwsan]

18. I'm not a fan of DST

When I was working, I had very early start hours and once DST started, it was dark when I left for work and it was still light when I went to bed. And because it was still light, I got all of the ambient noise from the neighborhood kids.

Now that I'm done with the corporate world, I'm not living by the clock, as much, but still hate having to scurry around the house changing the clocks, twice a year.

I seriously doubt it will ever go away.

[MBS]

20. I think it's the stupidest thing we do as a "civilized" society.

It saves NO energy at all, and adds unneeded stress and confusion to an already stressed and confused world.
I used to live in Arizona, and it was so wonderful to be free of this semi-annual nonsense.

FYI, from what I've read, daylight "saving" (not) time seems to have originated, at least most recently, as a WWI measure, in Europe, supposedly to save energy. It didn't save energy then, either.

Oh, and farmers HATE daylight saving time. The cows don't pay attention to pointless clock-fiddling, and neither should we.

Also, at least half the world does NOT engage in this nonsense. See this map!

[immoderate]

23. I lived in AZ. Hard to believe, but they know something we don't.

--imm

[MBS]

24. Yes, indeed!

[CanSocDem]

56. I live in that red zone in Canada.

We 'don't change' but every few years a group of people, like on this thread, get all excited and try to initiate a referendum to reverse this policy. It never works...

.

[LisaM]

26. I like it. I have to go home at night in the dark enough as it is.

If nothing else, just keep it all year long (I don't mind the time change myself). But I'm in Seattle and this time of year I'll be going home in the pitch black for the next few months. I've been assaulted here at night and I don't like it. Luckily I've moved, but where I previously lived, I had to walk across an unlighted footbridge at night to get home and it wasn't safe.

I'm sure that you don't intend that women should feel less safe at night, so please factor it in.

[jberryhill]

28. It's easy to get rid of. Just turn your clock back

[Sanity Claws]

33. I have lived in far north states and think we need it.

People who live in the south may not understand the need for it but after living in Washington State for many years, I see the need for it.

By summer, the sun rises awfully early. Even with Daylight savings time, it rises a little after 5 AM. Without DST, it would rise at 4 AM. Think about that. Wouldn't you want to start regular business hours shortly after you woke up instead of wasting a couple of hours of sunlight?
Just MHO.

[struggle4progress]

34. My proposal: Set the clocks BACK an hour each fall and then AGAIN each spring

Setting the clock BACK is never a problem: the problem is always setting the clock FORWARD

So let's just set the clocks BACK every time

[The2ndWheel]

35. We need to get to the root of the problem

We fiddle around with when to move it, how to move it, if we should move it. Just get rid of the damn clocks period. Who wants to hear their life ticking away by the second? Or watch as digital clocks go quietly and relentlessly forward? At least with wall clocks, you get the whole nature is a cycle type thing. Just get rid of the clock as a thing. It's not like 2pm actually exists. It's completely made up from the depths of the human imagination. Problem frikkin' solved.

[immoderate]

42. The original purpose of clocks was to point to the position of the sun in the sky.

Now their purpose is to "fool mother nature."

--imm

[HassleCat]

37. I don't get it.

I like DST because I do things outdoors, but it really makes little difference how the clock is set. It's mainly for families with work and school, so they have more daylight in the evening. I am always surprised by those who hate it so passionately. For working people, it's a pretty good thing, so we should probably keep it. The arguments against it seem to all boil down to, "I hate it!"

[hunter]

38. What can we do to get rid of clocks?

For most of human history we didn't need them.

What the fuck changed?

When did we decide to enslave ourselves to these machines?

[Orrex]

40. I feel the same way about clothing and medicine.

[Hokie]

43. And how the hell do you handle DST with a water clock?

I guess you suck water out in the spring and put back in the fall. LOL

[The2ndWheel]

44. When we started to coordinate society

[immoderate]

47. Railroads is the culprit.

--imm

[Throckmorton]

64. Damn standardized time,

Next thing you know, the railroad monster will eat both your beef and your babies.

[Orrex]

41. I love it, because I like the twice-yearly poutrage that accompanies it

[moose65]

58. You win the internet today!!

I can't understand the poutrage, either. What's the big deal? We really don't lose (or gain) time at all - time itself is arbitrary. I don't understand people who whine constantly about changing the clocks - they're probably the same people whose VCRs have been blinking at 12:00 for the past 25 years!

That being said, I like the longer days in the summer.

[Awsi Dooger]

45. I hate standard time

Ruins everything. I can only play golf in the afternoon and during standard time there's simply not enough daylight for a full round.

[immoderate]

46. DST does NOT change the amount of daylight.

--imm

[Sanity Claws]

48. Of course it doesn't

Last edited Mon Nov 7, 2016, 05:54 PM - Edit history (1)

but it does switch things so that you have daylight during hours in which you are expected to function.

DST may not be meaningful to people in states in lower latitudes but it is very meaningful for folks in northern states. In summer time, the sun rises around 5 AM during DST. Without DST, it would rise at 4 AM. Most jobs don't require us to be at work until 8 or 9 so there is a lot of sunlight wasted in the morning before we even get up. Having the sunlight hours at the end of the work day gives people working standard business hours more time to enjoy the sunlight at the end of the day.

edited to add that I used to live in Washington State. There the sun rose around 5 AM in mid-summer. It was so hard to stay asleep when sun was shining through my windows. It would haven been absolutely intolerable to see sunlight streaming into my bedroom at 4 AM.

[Awsi Dooger]

69. Thank you

That describes my situation. The morning daylight does me no good due to my schedule. But lack of daylight after I'm finished shortens valuable time to play golf or cut the grass or clean the cars, etc.

[struggle4progress]

70. Really? I actually have a whole closet full of daylight I've saved over the years, thanks to DST

[panader0]

50. Move to Arizona

Our clocks never change. I could never understand it myself. DST does
not add or subtract daylight. Face it, the days are shorter in the winter and longer in the summer.

[chillfactor]

55. Hell no!

I wish we had Daylight Savings Time year-round!

[rurallib]

57. The current iteration is due in large part to bribes to congress critters

This BS of carrying it clear to near winter and then starting it up again in winter is insane.
The dates are set now to sell Halloween candy in the fall and barbecue crap in the spring.

If we must have it let's go back to Memorial day to Labor Day.

As for me, frankly I say leave it one way or the other. My preference is standard time, but I am flexible.

[moose65]

59. Just curious....

Why do you think standard time is better?

[rurallib]

63. I am one of these oddball people that prefers dark over light, cool over heat.

Often in the summer I am going to bed while it is light out.

But I don't really care - my preference would be to leave the damned clock alone.

[stamp the rooster]

61. Split the difference

Spring forward a half hour next year and leave it alone. It is crazy here in northern Kansas. It is dark well before I get off work in the winter and it is light until 9:30 pm in the summer.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

62. I don't like changing all those clocks, so ...

... let's get rid of Standard Time. Why not stay on Daylight Saving Time all year?

[Ellen Forradalom]

67. It's a colossal nuisance to people who work in IT

Results of those batch jobs that run in the middle of the night can be "undefined" twice a year.

[Separation]

68. I absolutely HATE IT!!

I am just a few miles west of the Eastern/Central time zone. It will now get dark here before 4pm. I lived in Alaska for many years. If I wanted to stay in the dark all winter I would have stayed there (actually had I not been injured and briefly paralyzed, I would have stayed there .

[Warren DeMontague]

72. I like it, too.

But I know it makes some people absolutely bonkers.

[JanMichael]

73. Don't accept it. Same with "days". Fuck that Gregorian BS.

Show up when you say it is 8am and Monday not some fuckfaced calendar salesperson who says it is 9am and Tuesday or RAday...

[cwydro]

75. I just wish they'd pick one time and stick to it.

Don't care which one, though I prefer standard simply because my sleep cycle goes on the Circadian rhythm.

I've never needed an alarm clock. I wake with the dawn.

When night falls, I'm ready for bed.

[dbackjon]

79. Move to Arizona

[pansypoo53219]

83. this DST is BS from KAISER WILHELM, tho a NIXONIAN addition i understand.

TWO reasons, it kills, reason 3, the cows don't care. as a NIGHT OWL, i hate it and the delay means we went from light to dark IMMEDIATELy. NO WANT. just leave it now or 1 hour later. just KILL IT!

didn't you people watch john oliver on this? WHY IS THIS STILL A THING?