Daylight Saving Time Again!

[street]

This lies solely at the feet of Congress, as others have said. Somewhere between 28-34 states have applied to Congress for permission to remain on DST year round, but Congress has failed to act on their requests as of today.

Why is there resistance in Congress? Inquiring minds.

Good question!
Staying DST would be so beneficial for people in the north. A much more in savings and convenances in life.

As far as kids go home in daylight after school that isn't even an agreement here. At 3:30 it is dark and is really unproductive time for most outside work unless lights are used.

 

[MichaelB]

Media reports the US Senate just passed the Sunshine Protection Act (here) Now it needs to pass the House of Representatives.

CNET reports https://www.cnet.com/culture/senate-unanimously-passes-bill-to-make-daylight-saving-time-permanent/

The US Senate has unanimously passed a bill to make Daylight Saving Time permanent across the nation. The Sunshine Protection Act still has to face a vote in the House, but if eventually passed would mean an end to changing the clocks twice a year -- and a potential end to depressing early afternoon darkness during winter.

If it passes the house and is signed into law, the current time will be fixed and there will be no more changes to the clock.

I wonder if all those clocks that automatically reset will continue to do so.

 

[gromit]

Even if the bill gets passed and signed there's one more round of fall back and spring forward:


"The bill delays the implementation of permanent DST until November 2023 to give time to airlines and railways to adjust their schedules."

 

[GenXguy]

It probably won't pass, and if so, Nov 2023 is getting so late that I could be retired by then and not really care anymore.

 

[Andre1969]

To this I chuckle a bit. I work on old houses where a 3/8" sheet of plywood is 3/8". Today, it is 5/16". Same for 5/8", which is 9/16". Sometimes, you even get 32nds.

I think my old house was built before plywood was even invented. Or at least, building framing with the concept of anything measuring 4x8 being nailed to it!

And the 2x4's really WERE 2x4, which made it fun whenever you tried to move a door or window or alter a wall too much, and had to buy new "2x4"s. Trying to hammer nails into those old 2x4's was fun, too. I think they used Oak, or something extra hard, and cured it back in those days first, which would make it last longer, I guess, but a B**** to nail into. Definitely NOT like the lumber of today, which I guess is usually Pine.

I guess 90+ years of aging helped make the wood framing harder, as well.

 

[Koolau]

To this I chuckle a bit. I work on old houses where a 3/8" sheet of plywood is 3/8". Today, it is 5/16". Same for 5/8", which is 9/16". Sometimes, you even get 32nds.

Many years back, we updated the old homestead. The original house was built shortly after the Civil war and the shed addition we dated to about 1900. Sure enough, as we got into the guts of the house, 2 X 4s were, indeed 2 X 4. I'd never seen that before. An odd result of this fact was that the shed roof was built using 2 x 4s instead of 2 x 6s which is standard today. Some of the rafters had cracked due to 3 layers of roofing being added, but, otherwise the heavy wood had withstood the test of time. Now returning you....

 

[jim584672]

Passes the Senate 100-0, I think this passes. Yeah!! Hope the time shifts end.

 

[Dtail]

Passes the Senate 100-0, I think this passes. Yeah!! Hope the time shifts end.

Wow they agreed on one thing.....

 

[Koolau]

Wow they agreed on one thing.....

Yeah, mark THIS date in history!

 

[rk911]

Deja Vue All Over Again

Passes the Senate 100-0, I think this passes. Yeah!! Hope the time shifts end.

i forgot that the USA tried the year-round DST in the 70's. it didn't work out so well.

https://www.washingtonian.com/2022/03/15/the-us-tried-permanent-daylight-saving-time-in-the-70s-people-hated-it/

 

[ERD50]

Wow they agreed on one thing.....

Yeah, mark THIS date in history!

I bet it happens more than we think. But the media isn't going to blast out that there was agreement on something, they'll focus on the divisions.

OK, I found this - a little old, but after politifact scrutinized another claim (which also included "no debate" as a criteria), they came to the conclusion that ~

https://www.politifact.com/factchec...-says-94-percent-bills-are-passed-unanimousl/

We now have a couple ways to crunch the numbers. One is to say that 81 percent of non-trivial, binding bills (206 out of 254) were passed by unanimous consent. Alternately, you could separate out the 64 binding resolutions that CRS said were passed by unanimous consent but which received some debate. Doing this would mean that 56 percent of non-trivial, binding bills, received absolutely no debate. (DeMint's office argues that the "debate" on these bills cited by CRS was cursory and thus shouldn't be counted as debate.)

Politifact screened out the unanimous votes on things like renaming a post office, etc. So I think they are saying that 81% of bills with some substance are passed unanimously.

-ERD50

 

[GalaxyBoy]

i forgot that the USA tried the year-round DST in the 70's. it didn't work out so well.

I remember that well. We lived in the country and it was a 3/4 mile walk on our private dirt road to catch the school bus, then I rode the bus on a circuitous route in the opposite direction from my high school to catch a second bus at the elementary school, which eventually took me to my destination. I think it was about an hour trip overall. I can still picture what it was like in the dead of winter, pitch dark (I mean as dark as midnight) and freezing cold. A full moon was welcome when it appeared.

I think some people might want to be careful what they wish for.

Then again, that would be grounds to have my parents arrested these days!

 

[ERD50]

i forgot that the USA tried the year-round DST in the 70's. it didn't work out so well.

https://www.washingtonian.com/2022/03/15/the-us-tried-permanent-daylight-saving-time-in-the-70s-people-hated-it/

Yeah, but the complaints are the usual anecdote (a child got hit by a car because it was still dark), that ignores all the other problems with the change.

And if we really need to address kids walking to school or the bus stop, how about the local municipality decide to start school an hour later? It makes more sense to adjust where required, than to throw everyone's common measurement off in a "one size fits all" fashion.

It would be like saying - we want our temperature measurements to be more near the center of the scale, these negative readings confuse people, , so in the winter months, add 40 degrees F to all the readings. That also ignores that temps don't change as much in the south, just as sunrise-sunset times don't change as mush as you get nearer the equator.

-ERD50

 

[street]

WOW! 100% what the dickens!!

 

[Amethyst]

ERD50, your "problem" rolleyes is that you expect everyone to be rational.

Nevertheless, the House of Representatives gets to decide the matter.

Perhaps it's just me, but I see a conflict here

Yeah, but the complaints are the usual anecdote (a child got hit by a car because it was still dark), that ignores all the other problems with the change.

And if we really need to address kids walking to school or the bus stop, how about the local municipality decide to start school an hour later? It makes more sense to adjust where required, than to throw everyone's common measurement off in a "one size fits all" fashion.

It would be like saying - we want our temperature measurements to be more near the center of the scale, these negative readings confuse people, , so in the winter months, add 40 degrees F to all the readings. That also ignores that temps don't change as much in the south, just as sunrise-sunset times don't change as mush as you get nearer the equator.

-ERD50

 

[target2019]

Wow they agreed on one thing.....

I think that is their only point. "Look at us, we decided something."

 

[scrabbler1]

Also remember that in 1974 DST began at the end of April and ended at the end of October, so it was a bigger leap to change it from ~6 months to year-round. In 1987 DST's start was moved to early April and in 2007 it was moved to its current early March, with the end date extended a week into early November. DST today is now about 8 months long, so extending it to 12 months doesn't seem like so big a leap.

If this change goes through, I assume Arizona would basically join the Pacific Time Zone because that is what it effectively does in the summer months. And what about Hawaii, which is near the western edge of its time "zone" and doesn't observe DST? I suppose it would simply move one zone to the west and observe DST so it would break even.

 

[JoeWras]

Once again, nobody thinks about the blue collar workers.

Despite the plea that "you can just change your work times...", it doesn't always work that way because the rest of society is tied to a long held schedule.

People doing construction will be impacted by such a change.

I've been leading a volunteer construction project leader this winter and the cold has been a factor in start times. Add darkness to it, and it goes to another level.

 

[ElizabethT]

Once again, nobody thinks about the blue collar workers.

Despite the plea that "you can just change your work times...", it doesn't always work that way because the rest of society is tied to a long held schedule.

People doing construction will be impacted by such a change.

I've been leading a volunteer construction project leader this winter and the cold has been a factor in start times. Add darkness to it, and it goes to another level.

This reminds me of the expression, 'Don't let perfect be the enemy of the good.' And also why there will never be world peace.

 

[travelover]

Go metric?

No way! I don’t want to go to 100 minutes per hour.

 

[street]

Go metric?

No way! I don’t want to go to 100 minutes per hour.

Me neither!

 

[Amethyst]

A decimal time system and ten-day week were instituted in France after the Revolution. Lasted a few years, until Napoleon abolished it.

Go metric?

No way! I don’t want to go to 100 minutes per hour.

 

[MichaelB]

Now that we’re making changes, how about fixing that pesky “months with different number of days” and leap year. It confuses everyone and people have to dedicate valuable brain space to remembering how many days in each month and then when to adjust for that leap year thing.

My solution is 12 months of 30 days each, and a variable period of 5-6 days not included in any month. It could be free days for everyone!

 

[Music Lover]

Now that we’re making changes, how about fixing that pesky “months with different number of days” and leap year. It confuses everyone and people have to dedicate valuable brain space to remembering how many days in each month and then when to adjust for that leap year thing.

My solution is 12 months of 30 days each, and a variable period of 5-6 days not included in any month. It could be free days for everyone!

You stole my idea!! I'd put the 5/6 day break at the end of the year.

 

[Chuckanut]

And if we really need to address kids walking to school or the bus stop, how about the local municipality decide to start school an hour later? It makes more sense to adjust where required, than to throw everyone's common measurement off in a "one size fits all" fashion.

But, that would probably throw off things for working parents. School starting times have to take into account such things. That is why older kids get our earlier than younger ones, so the 15 year old can supervise the 9 year old in the afternoon before mom and/or dad gets home. Starting and stopping times are far more divisive than people think. Don't get me started on year around school. That discussion can bet nasty very fast.

Sorry. I have no time to explain this more. I am busy today sewing. I cut 6 inches off the top of my blanket and will sow it onto the bottom today so as to make the blanket long enough to completely cover me at night.