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Why turning our clocks back Sunday makes no sense
washingtonpost.com ^ | October 31 at 2:30 PM | Chris Mooney

Posted on 11/01/2014 11:14:07 AM PDT by BenLurkin

Back in 1784, hanging out in Paris and heady with Enlightenment, Benjamin Franklin had an idea. Struck by the fact that Parisians were sleeping during sunlight hours and then staying up late at night by candlelight, he calculated the number of candles that were being wasted -- and came up with a very impressive number, 64 million pounds worth of them. Franklin therefore jokingly proposed a massive schedule change, noting that a fortune could be saved through "the economy of using sunshine instead of candles," and even suggested at one point that perhaps cannons be fired at sunrise to get everybody out of bed.

...

The paper, published in 2011 in The Review of Economics and Statistics by Matthew Kotchen of Yale and Laura Grant of the University of California-Santa Barbara, took advantage of what the researchers dubbed a "natural experiment" with the effect of daylight saving time in the state of Indiana --

...

So what caused daylight saving to apparently backfire (rather than backlight)? "In the spring, you are basically making people wake up in the early morning, the coldest time of day, when they might turn up their heat," explains Yale's Kotchen. "And in the summer, if you take an hour of sunlight and you move it from the morning and put it in the evening, people are more likely to be running their air conditioner harder in the evening." That's because heat from the sun builds up over the course of the day, making that particular hour of sunlight hotter than it would have been if it occurred in the morning rather than the evening. So the "Benjamin Franklin effect" -- people using less artificial lighting -- turns out to be overwhelmed by heating and cooling choices.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Conspiracy; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: daylightsavingstime; daylighttime; standardtime; time
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To: Perdogg

I agree!
It is an antiquated practice in the Twenty First Century.


41 posted on 11/01/2014 11:53:25 AM PDT by Jonah Vark (Any 5th grader knows that the Constitution declares the separation of powers.)
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To: BenLurkin

It would obviously be possible for people and businesses and schools... to adjust their own schedules for the seasons without state intervention. Oh, but wait, that would require independent thinking and taking personal responsibility.


42 posted on 11/01/2014 11:54:18 AM PDT by Stingray51
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To: Stingray51

I’d prefer if there were no time zones.


43 posted on 11/01/2014 11:54:26 AM PDT by Lazamataz (First we beat the Soviet Union. Then we became them. We have no 'news media', only a Soviet Pravda.)
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To: Verginius Rufus
>"Probably the Koch brothers are behind it. "

Or Mr Burns and his sun blocking device!

44 posted on 11/01/2014 11:57:12 AM PDT by rawcatslyentist (Jeremiah 50:32 "The arrogant one will stumble and fall ; / ?)
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To: GeronL

Change the school day, then.

Better yet, let us get rid of these inefficient, backward government indoctrination centers that we call the public schools.

Just give parent vouchers and let them pick their own school or method.


45 posted on 11/01/2014 11:57:30 AM PDT by marktwain (The old media must die for the Republic to live. Long live the new media!)
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To: BenLurkin

Old Indian Joe often remarked that the”White man is crazy if he thinks he can cut one foot off the end of a blanket and sew it on the other end and have more blanket”.


46 posted on 11/01/2014 12:01:45 PM PDT by Don Corleone ("Oil the gun..eat the cannoli. Take it to the Mattress.")
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To: BenLurkin

I am not going to post how I save on high summertime gasoline prices buy buying in the winter and storing it in sparkletts bottles in my garage Because i never and am not doing it


47 posted on 11/01/2014 12:01:49 PM PDT by al baby (Hi MomÂ…)
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To: BenLurkin

I like to set mine back a few hours early just to be a rebel. Just set them back. Standard time feels good.


48 posted on 11/01/2014 12:03:00 PM PDT by Genoa (Starve the beast.)
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To: MUDDOG

They did that crap back in the late 60’s early 70’s my folks hated it they would come later than the lil kids on the block they just shut the place down after that


49 posted on 11/01/2014 12:06:51 PM PDT by al baby (Hi MomÂ…)
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To: God luvs America

Before Daylight Savings Time existed I’m guessing schools just opened an hour after sunrise no matter what time it was. Imagine that. LOL.


50 posted on 11/01/2014 12:08:21 PM PDT by Alberta's Child ("The ship be sinking.")
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To: MUDDOG

Yep...every pay check is “trick” for me, “treat” for them. F-em!! I wonder why the liberals haven’t tried to make the candy “free” yet!!


51 posted on 11/01/2014 12:09:48 PM PDT by gr8eman (Bill Carson...meet Arch Stanton!)
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To: BenLurkin
I remember asking my dad once what he thought God thinks of our whole Daylight Savings idea. He just shrugged and said, "well...God probably says, 'hey...I give you guys 24 hours in a day...if you want to call THREE o'clock FOUR o'clock, I don't care'"

:)

52 posted on 11/01/2014 12:15:04 PM PDT by ZinGirl (kids in college....can't afford a tagline right now)
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To: gr8eman
Well said!

I feel the same when I hear appeals for food donations. I think, food stamps not enough for you? It's always, "Gimme gimme gimme." Never enough.

53 posted on 11/01/2014 12:15:18 PM PDT by MUDDOG
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To: kjam22

Soon as win the lottery...


54 posted on 11/01/2014 12:17:56 PM PDT by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously-you won't live through it anyway-Enjoy Yourself ala Louis Prima)
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To: Alberta's Child

Who’s GDP per person is highest?

The author and I can’t cover all the compelling reasons for daylight savings.


55 posted on 11/01/2014 12:19:41 PM PDT by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously-you won't live through it anyway-Enjoy Yourself ala Louis Prima)
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To: BenLurkin

Before electric lighting, I can see the possible logic in DST, but afterwards there is no logic.


56 posted on 11/01/2014 12:24:31 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Any energy source that requires a subsidy is, by definition, "unsustainable.")
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To: MUDDOG
This was my last Halloween. I'm tired of feeding them candy as well as food stamps.

Be careful what you wish for!

I was talking with a friend yesterday who lives in St. Clair Shores (suburb of Detroit) and he complained how vans from Detroit would park at the end of his block and unload their kids. They don't do that anymore because they've moved into his neighborhood..........LOL!

57 posted on 11/01/2014 12:27:30 PM PDT by Hot Tabasco (Don't harsh my buzz homie......)
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To: BenLurkin

I’d like to turn it back to about 1980.


58 posted on 11/01/2014 12:34:00 PM PDT by cripplecreek (You can't half ass conservatism.)
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To: Alberta's Child

considering it was first used in this nation in 1918 your “guess” may be right on- by why use facts? LMFAO...


59 posted on 11/01/2014 12:35:06 PM PDT by God luvs America (63.5 million pay no income tax and vote for DemoKrats...)
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To: Hot Tabasco

I know what you mean. Maybe the best we can get is, “Apres moi, le deluge.”


60 posted on 11/01/2014 12:40:00 PM PDT by MUDDOG
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