'Spring Forward': Daylight Savings Time

[cleanshaved]

No harm with that bitter pill. So what do you do with your extra hour of sunlight?

I'll pour you a glass of beer, pull up a chair.

Honestly, I find that the older I get the less I do with it. If DLS was to be taken away I would adjust but while we have it, I'll enjoy it. While I don't maximize the extra sunlight 7 days per week, there are days that having the sun till 9:30pm is great. Doing a bit in the garden after work or a late BBQ after being out enjoying the day.
There are many post work activities that others partake in. As daylight saving is not all about me and the majority of New Zealander enjoy it, I just go with the flow. We don't have brutally hot summers, so that may be a large factor in why it is enjoyed here. With that said, I don't think anyone likes losing the one hour sleep at the start but quickly get adjust and enjoy it.
Here it is mainly the farmers who dislike the change, then again they also want it to rain in summer when the townies want sun.........go figure. So I file that under you can't please everyone.

Each part of the world has a different climate, as well as the amount of sunlight hours. As a example, I don't think Iceland would need or want daylight saving (I assume they don't have it) with the longest day sunset at midnight and sun rise at 3:00am.

 

[oc_in_fw]

Wow, some guys are real sensitive to this change of an hour.

As a shift worker (currently second, used to work thirds) I always found the sensitivity of some to this time of year amusing. Suck it up, buttercup

 

[oc_in_fw]

No harm with that bitter pill. So what do you do with your extra hour of sunlight?

I can’t speak for Chris, but I drink beer.

 

[cleanshaved]

I only know that when I retire, I'm going to get up when I dang well please regardless.

My alarm clock will be retired with me but as I'm a early morning person that may make no difference.

As a shift worker (currently second, used to work thirds) I always found the sensitivity of some to this time of year amusing. Suck it up, buttercup

are you sure your not a kiwi.

I can’t speak for Chris, but I drink beer.

Mate, I'll pour you a drink as well. It's almost St Paddy's day, will a Guinness be alright with you.

 

[oc_in_fw]

are you sure your not a kiwi.



Mate, I'll pour you a drink as well. It's almost St Paddy's day, will a Guinness be alright with you.

While I may prefer Mackeson’s Triple Stout, I’d never turn down a Guinness.

 

[UncleMonkey]

The Equation of Time dictates ...

Excellent point. What is getting lost in the shuffle is the relevance of the exact sunrise/set time in today's life. Saskatchewan is just as wide as your examples. General sunset is set as sunset in the middle of the province but YMMV as to your actual location in the province. If you Google sunset you get the exact time for your exact location but I'm still not seeing where that info is urgently applicable.

 

[cleanshaved]

While I may prefer Mackeson’s Triple Stout, I’d never turn down a Guinness.

I spotted Red Breast 12 year old on sale. I'm torn between drinking....er chewing the black stuff or a few drams of a nice Irish Whiskey for St Paddy's day.........what am I saying.......I should just get both.
I'll pour you guys a glass of each but if you don't show I'll down it for you.

 

[oc_in_fw]

I spotted Red Breast 12 year old on sale. I'm torn between drinking....er chewing the black stuff or a few drams of a nice Irish Whiskey for St Paddy's day.........what am I saying.......I should just get both.
I'll pour you guys a glass of each but if you don't show I'll down it for you.

Indeed- both is a must. Like Barry Pepper’s character in The 25th Hour said “I’m Irish- I can’t get drunk”.

 

[RSC]

I would prefer to stay on standard time so that the sun is somewhat overhead at noon, but I could live with year-round DST. I just don't like changing the clocks twice a year when it seems like we could get just get up earlier in the summer.

Clock in bathroom.
Clock in living room.
Clock on microwave.
Clock on kitchen range.
Bedside clock.
Furnace thermostat clock.
Clock on cordless landline phone.
Clock on garage door opener.
Clock in first car.
Clock in second car.
Clock on irrigation timer.
Clock on second irrigation timer.
Wristwatch.

 

[Lmarkow]

Most of the clocks in my home need to be wound once a week. Changing the time twice a year when I wind them on a Sunday morning is no big deal.

 

[The Count of Merkur Cristo]

The Equation of Time dictates that even local time (when the sun is on the meridian) will be "slow" or "fast" by several minutes most of the year, up to 15 minutes. With minuscule states that don't span large swathes of latitude, it probably doesn't matter. With larger states - well, let's do the math:

The sun moves 15° in an hour. Montana is about 12° of longitude wide. 12/15 = 4/5, which means sunrise and sunset on the furthest border with Idaho is nearly an hour later than on the border with North Dakota. Texas is about 13° wide. That means sunrise and set on the furthest point west is also going to be nearly an hour after it occurs on the furthest point east. Alaska spans about 42°, so sunrise and set in the westernmost part occurs nearly three hours after it happens in the easternmost part. Of course, Alaska is high enough latitude that there's other effects like their isn't an O Dark 30 at Point Barrow during part of the summer.

Compare this with Massachusetts, which is about 3.5° wide, or New York State, which is almost 8° wide. The time difference in Massachusetts is about 15 minutes, and New York about half an hour.

Now, some may say "So what?" Well, the thing about a huge area all in one time zone is that if schools start at 8:00 am statewide, you may have students going there by dawns early light in one part, but in darkness in another. Where you are changes how someone associates daylight with the clock.

I can also go into how this affects energy use and billing, if anyone needs this as a sleep aid - assuming they haven't already nodded off.

It's really quite fascinating.

Of course, some won't care, but that's no problem. It's just like some of us prefer cartridges and some of us straight razors; personal preference vary.

Raissermesser:

...I didn't know "The Equation of Time" had any relation / affect on DST.

Now, this may be a 'stupid' question, but would the Equinoxes affect DST

In discussing this with the Mrs., what about the other way around...if there was no DST...wouldn't sunrise & sunset change in regard to either The Equation of Time or Equinox?

"We pay back the loan of an extra yawn in spring with the 'golden interest' of a lengthier snooze in the [fall]". Sir Winston Churchill

 

[Raissermesser]

Watches have replaced ties as the gift for Dads, which means I have a double handful to set. That's not counting the ones I no longer replace the batteries. My everyday watch I set daily to WWV, Fort Collins, Colorado, where the NIST sends out a time signal. Yes, I need that precision - it's a handy way to check some systems at work. My Sunday watch I set to WWV once a week Just Because.

I have two clocks that set themselves to WWV automatically, and another that just has a hefty backup battery and accurate circuitry, so it pretty well keeps the time, and automatically shifts to DST and back. I wish all our clocks were that way.

 

[UncleMonkey]

I'll pour you a glass of beer, pull up a chair.

And that is the beauty of a civil discussion. I'm a Jack and Coke man but with St Paddys knocking on the door maybe a wee nip of the Irish in your hono(u)r.

See here in June the sunsets at 9:15 but it doesn't get "dark" for another 1/2 hr. So for your summer down under and to the right we're at about the same time without changing our clocks. If we did change our clocks we'd have light until 10:45pm. If I needed that much sunlight I'd move farther north where we get 24hrs of sunlight in summer.

I raise a glass to you my good friends.

 

[redfalconf35]

Are there any sovereign time-zoners like the whole sovereign citizen movement? I'd be quite tempted to join that movement. Having grown up in Indiana before they adopted DST, it feels downright regressive living in DST states. We had a great system in Indiana to handle the extra sunlight: retail businesses had summer hours and winter hours. I haven't heard any supposed "benefit" of DST that couldn't be handled by companies implementing summer and winter hours.

In these days of globalized commerce and a blurred work-life balance, DST is even more of an annoyance and has gone from minimum value to negative value. How many hours apart am I from Bangalore? How about Beijing? How about Paris? London? I have to look it up rather than just memorizing an offset. I don't know when India, China, France and UK adjust their clocks. It's minor, but the "benefit" of adjusting the sunlight hours throughout the day is trivial in comparison.

/rant

 

[Raissermesser]

Raissermesser:
View attachment 867641 ...I didn't know "The Equation of Time" had any relation / affect on DST.

Now, this may be a 'stupid' question, but would the Equinoxes affect DST

In discussing this with the Mrs., what about the other way around...if there was no DST...wouldn't sunrise & sunset change in regard to either The Equation of Time or Equinox?

"We pay back the loan of an extra yawn in spring with the 'golden interest' of a lengthier snooze in the [fall]". Sir Winston Churchill

Yes, sunrise and sunset would change, but it's due to the tilt of the earth. That means the sun is higher in the summer and lower in the winter, and that affects when the sun rises and sets. The biggest swings are in the higher latitudes, of course, and you can get to where the sun doesn't set for days. There used to be a computer program that would show day and night on a map, like the one in a scene in The Hunt for Red October, and that's fascinating to watch.

The equation of time is interesting in of itself, because it's affected not only by our planet's tilt, but by its orbit. Even if our planet had no tilt, it would still have an equation of time because its orbit is elliptical. That with the tilt, makes for interesting things.

The US Naval Observatory website lets you calculate sunrise and sunset for an entire year for your location, and that shows some interesting things. For while the shortest day of the year occurs on December 21, it's not necessarily the earliest sunset or latest sunrise of the year. The latest sunset can occur before the Winter Solstice, and it can continue to rise later after that date. I won't swear to it, but I think this is mostly due to the equation of time.

 

[oc_in_fw]

Are there any sovereign time-zoners like the whole sovereign citizen movement? I'd be quite tempted to join that movement. Having grown up in Indiana before they adopted DST, it feels downright regressive living in DST states. We had a great system in Indiana to handle the extra sunlight: retail businesses had summer hours and winter hours. I haven't heard any supposed "benefit" of DST that couldn't be handled by companies implementing summer and winter hours.

In these days of globalized commerce and a blurred work-life balance, DST is even more of an annoyance and has gone from minimum value to negative value. How many hours apart am I from Bangalore? How about Beijing? How about Paris? London? I have to look it up rather than just memorizing an offset. I don't know when India, China, France and UK adjust their clocks. It's minor, but the "benefit" of adjusting the sunlight hours throughout the day is trivial in comparison.

/rant

Plenty of people want to get rid of DST, no need getting nutcases involved.

 

[The Count of Merkur Cristo]

Dear Members:

Don't forget to set your clocks / watches '1hr ahead' before you 'turn-in' this Saturday night, 10 Mar 24.

By Mahita Gajanan - Time Magazine - 6 Mar 17

"Get ready to 'spring forward' this weekend — Daylight Saving Time begins on Sunday. Here's everything you need to know about the time-change.

Clocks will jump forward by one hour on 11 March 24 at 2 a.m. The jump forward in time pushes sunrise and sunset by an hour from the day before and means an end to dark winter nights, as evenings will see more light. That also means you'll lose an hour of sleep Saturday night into Sunday morning.

The U.S. implemented Daylight Saving Time on March 19, 1918 , [the concept of daylight saving time was first embraced by Germany during World War I] with the official reason that setting clocks an hour ahead would save fuel and money. Researchers have found, however, that the practice may fuel the use of energy.

Not every state observes Daylight Saving. Although it is a standard practice across the U.S. and much of the world, both Arizona and Hawaii have opted out of observing Daylight Saving Time.

Several other states have debated staying on standard time throughout the year, like Illinois and Michigan, while others like Florida, Louisiana and New Mexico have considered staying on Daylight Saving throughout the year, according to the Washington Post (sure, Australia and most of Europe join us but most African and Asian nations skip daylight saving time all together...India and China doesn't enforce this anomaly, for example...[but, there are many who believe it's time to kill Daylight Saving Time]).

Springing forward can help reset your sleep schedule. Apart from making sure to set your alarms correctly, you can use Daylight Saving to reboot sleeping habits. Turn off electronic devices about an hour before bed and develop a consistent bedtime ritual, like journaling or reading".

Works Cited: Daylight Savings Time

"I don’t mind going back to daylight saving time. With inflation, the hour will be the only thing I've saved all year". Victor Borge

PS And again...'please' don't forget to put new batteries in your smoke, fire, gas and/or carbon monoxide detectors.

 

[Lockback]

Dear U.S. Congress,
I understand why Daylight Savings Time passed, back when we were primarily an agricultural society and farmers wanted more daylight to tend to their fields and crops.
And, frankly, I love DST. I'm not a morning person. In fact, aside from my shaves, I pretty much hate mornings and part of it is that my bedroom faces East and ol' Mister Sun loves to come blazing through the big half-round window I have, searing my retinas as soon as I get up. Daylight Savings helps postpone that for an hour, so I'm totally good with that.
But will you PUH-LEEEEZE make up your minds so we don't have to go through this silly twice-a-year-clock/watch fiddle thing?
Look, just make Daylight Savings the proper time. It's nice in the summer when the sun stays up until 9:30 or so. I'm good with that. And I'm retired now so I don't have to get up at the crack of dawn anymore.
So just get it done, unlike anything else you do in D.C.
Okay?
Okay.

Signed,
Dan
An American Who Loves Daylight Savings Time