Poll: Daylight Savings Time

[timo2]

I don't care that much but it confuses my dog.

When I lived in South Dakota, we had a rancher that claimed his animals knew when the time changed and adjusted their eating expectations accordingly! We just assumed he was goofy and the animals adjusted to whenever he happened to show up!

 

[Steeler75]

Live in Hawaii for three years and loved not switching the clocks. My vote would be leave the time on daylight savings year round.

 

[sengsational]

I think UTC might work. I'd support that over 1 time zone per country. What would be the downsides? Would starting times for work and school have to be adjusted to sync with daylight, the way DST does now? Would that carry costs? I tried thinking about it in terms of my house. I might have to adjust the heating and cooling, which works pretty automatically right now partly because DST does that for me.

One down side of UTC (no time zones) is we use the hour as a test of reasonableness.


I expect a diner to be open for breakfast at 6, not at 3 (unless it's a 24 hour joint). I expect the lunch buffet to be from 12 to 2 or so. If you're local, it wouldn't matter, you'd get used to Zulu, but if you were driving across the country or otherwise visiting, you would have no clue; you could easily be several hour off, and have to pay the higher dinner buffet price

 

[JoeWras]

I suggest all of N. America go on Central +30 min permanently.

It will make business with India much easier.

 

[MikeD]

I am against DST as the extra hour of sunlight will burn the crops.

 

[braumeister]

Depends on whom you ask.

Thank you!
I was hoping someone would catch that. My intention was to show that there is widespread disagreement.

 

[street]

Live in Hawaii for three years and loved not switching the clocks. My vote would be leave the time on daylight savings year round.

Yes this would be my choice. Not so dark in the evening winter months.

 

[REWahoo]

I am against DST as the extra hour of sunlight will burn the crops.

+1

Another example of the ongoing conspiracy by the solar energy elite to destroy the American farmer.

 

[Marita40]

I'm indifferent. It seems to take my body just about 1-2 days to get used to it. Since I often have an exercise class at 6:00 a.m., it is nice that it is now light coming out of it versus pitch dark. Of course, I don't particularly like that it is dark at 4-5 now, but that's the trade off.
My clocks are all digital now and very easy to reset. Takes me all of 3 minutes to run around the house doing it.

 

[Pellice]

A few points:

(1) The Eastern US time zone has widened (i.e. expanded to the west) over the years after it was first established in the 1930s. Therefore, the time difference between its eastern and western edges is more than hour, actually closer to 80 minutes. In Downing's book I mentioned in an earlier post, Michigan, for example, was in Central but wanted to be in Eastern so Detroit could be with New York in the same time zone.

(2) Could you post another table in your chart which shows the sunrise and sunset times in late March and late October, the fringe weeks of DST where the late sunrises are far more noticeable?

Here is the table with the addition you requested.

COMPARISON OF APPROXIMATE SUNRISE/SUNSET TIMES IN EASTERN ZONE, DST AND EST
EASTERN AND WESTERN EDGES, APPROXIMATELY NYC LATITUDE
	SUMMER SOLSTICE			WINTER SOLSTICE
	Sunrise	Sunset		Sunrise	Sunset
	DST			EST
Eastern edge	5:30 AM	9:00 PM		7:15 AM	4:30 PM
Western edge	6:30 AM	10:00 PM		8:15 AM	5:30 PM
Standard time only	EST			EST
Eastern edge	4:30 AM	8:00 PM		7:15 AM	4:30 PM
Western edge	5:30 AM	9:00 PM		8:15 AM	5:30 PM
Shoulder Season	DST	Mid-March		DST	Late October
Eastern edge	7:15 AM	7:00 PM		7:20 AM	6:00 PM
Western edge	8:15 AM	8:00 PM		8:20 AM	7:00 PM

 

[Alan]

I suggest all of N. America go on Central +30 min permanently.

It will make business with India much easier.

And also with Adelaide in Australia

 

[RunningBum]

One down side of UTC (no time zones) is we use the hour as a test of reasonableness.


I expect a diner to be open for breakfast at 6, not at 3 (unless it's a 24 hour joint). I expect the lunch buffet to be from 12 to 2 or so. If you're local, it wouldn't matter, you'd get used to Zulu, but if you were driving across the country or otherwise visiting, you would have no clue; you could easily be several hour off, and have to pay the higher dinner buffet price

You would have a clue. Breakfast would be around sun up, no matter where you are, just like today. Lunch buffet would be when the sun is highest in the sky. It would just be a matter of adjusting how to think by a little bit.

Also, you don't really need to guess hours anymore, you have internet available almost everywhere and can check business hours from your phone, so it's not as big of a deal as it would've been 30 years ago.

 

[Pellice]

You would have a clue. Breakfast would be around sun up, no matter where you are, just like today. Lunch buffet would be when the sun is highest in the sky. It would just be a matter of adjusting how to think by a little bit.

In other words, the rest of the world would shift to retiree time?

 

[cbo111]

Sorry moderators, I just couldn't resist.

 

[cathy63]

OMG, reading this thread is giving me PTSD from the years I worked in the U.S. office of a company headquartered in Israel and all the many problems we had due to DST. Until about 5 years ago, Israel used to change the clocks on a different day that was chosen by the government every year.

This caused so much havoc for international businesses because Windows couldn't have an automatic time adjustment in Israel, and if you just change the clock on your computer without also changing the timezone offset, then all meeting invitations sent or received with that computer will have the wrong time on them. We spent so many hours waiting for meetings to start or catching people up on meetings that were missed or trying to figure out what time people wanted to meet ... it was the absolute worst thing about that whole job!

 

[MichaelB]

That dog caption is legit. My DD has an infant at home and he doesn’t buy into this time change either.

Maybe we should hire Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos to change the rotation of the sun so it is constant, 12 on / 12 off for everyone everywhere. Let those losers on Mars and other planets deal with daylight savings.

 

[Telly]

And also with Adelaide in Australia

And with Fifi in France, too?

 

[Richard4444]

My thought too. For many having more light in the evening is more useful than having it in the morning. Of course, now that I'm retired it doesn't matter but for those who like to do things outside after work it makes more sense.

This

+ 1 more

Rich

 

[JoeWras]

I think the other driver to preference for late mornings is culture. These Kids Today tend to stay up later and get up later. The days of getting to work at 7AM and hitting it hard are long gone... at least at my previous Megacorp and Kilocorp.

Even schools are starting later. It used to be that the high schools started earlier. Now, some studies have shown that the teenagers benefit from later starts for their body rhythm. So, our school system is getting the high school kids in later. The cynic in me says it is all about watching late nite comedy and late night texting or instagramming.

So, if we go to permanent DST, I do hope no schools start before 8:30, and many should be shifted later, maybe as late at 10am. Kids running around in the dark and waiting at bus stops is a real problem in those late pitch black mornings.

 

[hausfrau]

I love it. I live in a northern state, so it's great in the summer when it's warm enough to be outside in the sunlight until 9:00 or 9:30. I also love the shift in the fall when it starts getting dark around 4:30. It seems to coincide with the weather getting much colder too. To me it's a symbol to settle in for the next couple of months and get cozy. I like going to bed earlier and seem to get more sleep.

 

[AnneG]

I'm all for leaving the time alone but I could live with either year round DST or Standard time. The change itself is annoying. I don't sleep well as it is and then to throw the time change in just makes it harder since I tend to wake up at the same time regardless of when I go to bed.

 

[sengsational]

You would have a clue. Breakfast would be around sun up, no matter where you are, just like today. Lunch buffet would be when the sun is highest in the sky. It would just be a matter of adjusting how to think by a little bit.

Also, you don't really need to guess hours anymore, you have internet available almost everywhere and can check business hours from your phone, so it's not as big of a deal as it would've been 30 years ago.

I'll give you the win on the basis of everyone has a phone to lookup operating hours, but not on breakfast at sunup. Maybe around sunup near the equinox, or closer to the equator, but in mid winter, northern latitudes, it will be packed with breakfast eaters when it's pitch black outside. And in the middle of the summer, the manager will unlock the door in solid daylight.