Posted on 01/11/2017 6:02:30 PM PST by SMGFan
BOSTON – Lacking authority to change the laws of physics to allow more sunlight on the darkest days of winter, a special commission is instead considering whether Massachusetts should change the laws of man and observe daylight saving time year-round. If adopted, Massachusetts residents wouldn't have to set their clocks back in November and forward in March, as most of the U.S. does. Benefits of having daylight saving time throughout the year could include energy savings and less seasonal depression, proponents suggest
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I think it’s a fantastic proposition, in fact I’d love to get rid of DST all together. The winter dark time in MA is debilitating - the clinical term for it is SAD ( seasonal affective disorder). I used to step inside a tanning booth just for a taste of sunlight before I could afford to get away to the real sun.
Unintended consequences?
Where did you hear that?
Actually, the TV networks don’t like Daylight Time because the sun sets later and people are outside or doing other things and not watching TV. They prefer only standard time.
Yea, but they’re going to tax you for that extra winter daylight.
I recall Silvio Conte (Massachusetts congressman) being one of the biggest proponents of expanding DST.
Daylight Time started in WW2. People liked it. People like it when the sun sets later in the day. People can do things after work when the sun has not set. You can mow your lawn. You can garden. You can wash your car. You can drive home in the sunlight.
Massachusetts on the other hand is at the eastern end of the Eastern time zone. By staying on Eastern Standard Time they would effectively be on Central Daylight Time, but with states far to the west, with many states in between one hour ahead.
But, maybe Massachusetts would rather be in synch with places like Illinois and Texas rather than New England and the East Coast during most of the year which should lead to some interesting scenarios!
We need to get rid of daylight savings time once and for all. It is a stupid idea. I remember a few years ago when Congress changed the time in the fall for coming off daylight savings time. They actually had a press release where they said they were going to “give us more sun.” I have news for them. They aren’t giving us anything! Who do these people think they are? God?
The whole thing is not about hours for me, it’s about light. During the “dark” months I am depressed and tend to hybernate in a huddle because it’s not only cold, it’s “dark”. I hate dark. I want light so I live for DST to arrive so I can live again and get outdoors in the “light” on those days that have more light in the evening after work. I love to walk in the sunshine. Come onnnnn spring and DST. I’m a miserable huddled lump right now, waiting for longer days of light.
Isn't that exactly what DST does?
You posit a fascinating theory.
If MA and IN are in standard time and MA goes to DST MA would then be two hours ahead of Indiana instead of one hour.
In the summer it would be one hour,as it is now.
We would never be the same time.
The government decided (intelligently, in my view) to have only one time zone, and (again intelligently) picked +8. Singapore was then part of Malaysia; when she became independent in 1965 she decided it would be too confusing to use a different time zone from the rest of Malaysia, so here we are.
The best part of living here, though, is that the length of the day never changes. So I wake up at the same sun time every day - about 0645. I then get to work typically at 0745, and so enjoy at least 2 hours of daylight after work, which I much appreciate. I also live a 12 minute walk from work, which is another blessing after my horrid commute back in Pittsburgh.
Right you are, but you also don’t want the sun any longer at certain periods of the day. You stay on your standard time and these dolts want to go always 1 hour ahead of their standard time.
Being that the density is not at all like Mass. in addition to the land area, it would contain a certain amount of confusion and scheduling of business interactions in the surrounding states. Business hates artificial and unnecessary change.
If they want more sun during the winter, just move.
What I meant to convey, whether or not I was clear, is that the sun runs about an hour behind the clocks in Singapore. It transits about 13:00 local time rather than noon, which is what happens in the US during DST. So effectively, Singapore uses “summer time” all year long.
Morning people can’t help waking up early. This would make it easier for them to stay awake later in the scheduled day.
What does the size of the geography have to do with it? Most people like to have it light later and the double whammy of losing that when the days get shorter is a bummer.
I see more and more businesses around today that adjust their hours for summer and for winter. It seems like this just reflects the patterns of their customer base, more than anything else.
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