There's a New Day Ahead for Daylight Saving Time

[Sauniere]

Who knew?

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6393658

-snip-
On Sunday at 2 a.m., Daylight Saving Time ends. We move the clock back one hour to return to Standard Time, giving us a 60-minute bonus, so we really shouldn't complain. But even a one-hour shift can be discombobulating for many people, from international air travelers to cranky toddlers.

Spring Forward, Fall Back may be the only notion some of us can keep straight when it comes to the twice-annual ritual of changing the clocks. And now Congress has tinkered with WHEN to make the change.

Thanks to passage of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, Daylight Saving Time will begin one month earlier in 2007 and will continue for an extra week. It's part of a phased move designed to conserve electricity and save an estimated 300,000 barrels of oil a year.

Many proponents wanted to extend Daylight Saving Time well into November, starting next year. A compromise was forged after Congress heard testimony from farmers concerned about their livestock, saying it would disrupt the cows' milking routines. Can cows tell time? Airlines executives worry about getting out of sync with the rest of the world.

* This year, Daylight Saving Time began on April 2 and ends at 2 a.m. Oct. 29

* In 2007, Daylight Saving Time begins on March 11 and ends Nov. 4...

[dittohead not!]

I'd heard rumors that daylight savings time would end this year, and we'd just stay on standard. I guess those where just rumors.

What is all of the fuss about daylight savings time anyway? I've yet to hear an answer to a comment made many years ago by Tennessee Ernie Ford (Yes, that long ago!)

"It's like cutting one end off of a blanket and sewing it on the other end in order to make it longer."

He was right, wasn't he?

[Crosscheck]

I'd heard rumors that daylight savings time would end this year, and we'd just stay on standard. I guess those where just rumors.

What is all of the fuss about daylight savings time anyway? I've yet to hear an answer to a comment made many years ago by Tennessee Ernie Ford (Yes, that long ago!)

"It's like cutting one end off of a blanket and sewing it on the other end in order to make it longer."

He was right, wasn't he?

What a classic line from a classic guy. For those unfamiliar with Ford he served during WWII as a bombardier on a B-29 Superfortress. He had such a down to earth presence on his tv show in the late 50's. But he definitely makes a valid point with that statement about daylight savings time.

[dittohead not!]

What a classic line from a classic guy. For those unfamiliar with Ford he served during WWII as a bombardier on a B-29 Superfortress. He had such a down to earth presence on his tv show in the late 50's. But he definitely makes a valid point with that statement about daylight savings time.

Aha! Someone else who remembers Ford. He was a classic, wasn't he? Remember this song:

Some people say a man is made out of mud
A poor man's made out of muscle and blood
Muscle and blood and skin and bones
A mind that's weak and a back that's strong

You load sixteen tons what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

I can still sing most of the lyrics, just not as well as Tennesse Ernie.

[mataj]

As far as I know, daylight saving time saves nothing. It just creates a lot of problems.

[Crosscheck]

As far as I know, daylight saving time saves nothing. It just creates a lot of problems.

Well, it kind of makes the blanket look longer until you look back at the shorten side.

[Atticus]

Those of us who have clocks that make the change automatically are now S-O-L.

[patrickt]

I don't care if it's DST or ST but I hate the change twice a year. When I lived in the U.S. I had two car clocks to change, a stove clock to change, a microwave clock to change, two clock radios, my television, my dish service, two wrist watches--my wife couldn't change hers--and then I'd discovered I missed one or two or three and was late or early for an appointment. Hate it.

[Dangerrmouse]

We changed this weekend. I forgot the car! (I'll do it in a minute...) There is some uk data on reduced traffic accidents at twilight, and somone even suggested that we abandon GMT and remain on summertime, moving to double summertime next spring. This would also line us up with Europe timewise.

[burntgorilla]

It probably doesn't mean a lot for most Americans because their seasons don't vary the nighttimes so much. Live as far north as Britain and Ireland, and it makes an appreciable difference.

[bluestaterinred]

Indiana just switched to DST this year, and it really screws me up. All but two years of my life (when I lived in Nebraska) I never dealt with it. Now my sleep is all messed up. In the summer, the sun didn't set completely until after 10 PM. Now it starts setting at 4 PM.

I don't understand what it's supposed to be doing for me...? Thank God I get to set my own schedule.

[Dangerrmouse]

You get more daylight to mess with while you are awake!

http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/c.html

[bluestaterinred]

And meanwhile, my friends have to explain to their kids why they have to go to be while the sun is still shining bright. I would have gone on a rampage when I was a kid if I had to go to be while the sun was still up.

Probably would've gotten spanked, but I would have rampaged nonetheless.

And of course, the golf courses pushed back the time they start the "twilight discounts", so I got no benefit there. And thank God I don't own a drive-in theater (well, how many people do these days...)!