Posted on 04/23/2005 2:59:18 PM PDT by La Enchiladita
Saturday, April 23, 2005 - Cranky schoolchildren, electronic chaos and increased sales of double espressos -- those are just some of the effects that would ripple through Americans' lives under a plan moving through Congress to extend daylight-saving time by two months a year.
Under the plan that was approved by the House of Representatives and sent to the Senate, California and other states would "spring forward" in March rather than April and "fall back" in November rather than October.
"It's gonna be chaos, man," said Viken Fermanian, owner of Salco Services, an electronics repair shop in Granada Hills, predicting there would be no easy fix to the daylight-saving time change hard-wired into everything from wristwatches to VCRs.
While computer software can be reprogrammed to accommodate different dates, hardware presents a trickier problem.
"The worst thing that'll happen is (the device will) change the time for you, but it'll be the wrong time. If Congress changes the date, you'll get every electronics manufacturer scrambling to change their processors," he said.
But supporters of the plan -- tucked into a sweeping federal energy bill approved by the House this week -- note that any drawbacks would be outweighed by the energy savings provided by maximizing daylight hours.
"It's the most painless way to save any energy at all, and it has some other advantages: It reduces crime and traffic accidents," said Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks.
Sherman and other supporters cite Department of Transportation studies from the mid-1970s that found such a move could save the equivalent of 100,000 barrels of oil each day that daylight-saving time is extended.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailynews.com ...
It's just crazy having the sun set at different times each day. Instead of going crazy twice a year moving the clock forward or backward an entire hour and STILL having sunset all screwed up, why not just adjust the clocks each day with the sun?
For instance, the Farmer's almanac has sunset at 5:13 one day, 5:14 the next day and then 5:16 the day after that. Well why not just adjust the clocks each day so that sunset is the same exact time every day?
So we could then say that we want sunset to occur at 7:00 every day. So then we adjust our clocks to that and then move them backward or forward a minute or two each day in order to accomplish that. Microprocessors could be programmed to make the change for us in digital appliances. Even in analog watches and clocks, mechanisms could be installed on them that would make the change for us automatically so that sunset occurs at the same exact time each and every day.
The Romans had 12 hours every day...the hour was one-twelfth of the time between sunrise and sunset. Maybe we could adopt that system, but it might cause some inconvenience since the U.S. is not located on the equator.
24 hours of sun in the summer, approximately 4 months.
24 hours of no sun in the winter, approximately 4 months.
The two months in between both were the changing periods.
Excerpt from this web page:
"The sun doesn't rule up there. Thule is located far north of the polar circle and therefore part of the year goes by in almost total darkness. From around mid November till mid February the sun isn't anywhere to be seen. On the other hand the sun never sets in the 4 months around summer time. In July the average temperature reaches 5 degrees Celcius (40 degrees Fahrenheit)."
Been there: 11/1952 to 11/1953...Buddy B
My body clock is screwy as it is---I like the 1/2 hour idea---
I don't care about all that.
Up here in Washington State, once Daylight savings Time goes away, you drive to work in the dark and then drive home in the dark.
But at least you get to see the sun after work.
It is rumored that good old Brad Sherman from Sherman Oaks originally proposed that sunrise always occur at 6AM and sunset would always occur at 9PM throughout the country. The daytime seconds and minutes would just have to be a little longer during the summertime and shorter in the winter. Nighttime minutes would be the opposite. Clockmakers would just have to modify their devices to keep proper time to accomodate the variable second and minute throughout the year.
Wow, just think of the savings with that plan!!!!
I think that this 'extended DST plan' might have been his plan B!!!!!
The deal with saving energy is this--you don't have to turn on the lights for another hour. That's all.
Also, folks, they don't "make" it stay light another hour--so the crops and chickens will be okay. In fact, the crops and chickens don't know what time it is. Except for those really talented singing and tap-dancing chickens, because they're really smart.
Like Y2K?
Y2K only affected computers that weren't programmed to deal with it but had to. This could be worse because many more devices now deal with DST than really cared about years (and didn't know how to deal with them) before Y2K. Furthermore, DST is already in effect for more than half the year and mornings in April are already absurd enough as it is.
It's one of the dumbest ideas Congress ever got ahold of.
Is AC the only thing that consumes energy?
In Texas... yes.
Get rid of the whole shebang. Leave it the same all year round. Everyone I know hates it when the clock changes, either backward or forward.
It's stupid and screws everyone up.
I agree with you, especially since I just acquired a 73" HD projection TV. Once it gets really dark out I can turn off the lights and really enjoy movies, just like being i my own private theater. Any more DST will just foul up my viewing.
I would like to propose "Weekend Savings Time". Move the clocks back one hour every Friday night (or Saturday 2AM)and move the clocks ahead one hour every Monday morning at 9 AM.
Back then I worked with a guy named Stanley and Stan always arrived at 7:00 am, worked till 4:00 pm and was out the door in a flash. Well the Monday of that year he gets up and leaves - at 3:00 pm. His boss, Dennis, says "hey Stan where you going?" Stan says, "home, its 4:00 o'clock." Dennis says, "No, its 3:00 o'clock". Well Stan was really confused and asked a couple of us what time it was, he then realized that he AND his wife BOTH moved the clocks in their house an hour ahead!We laughed our butts off, however Stanley was not amused as Stan did NOT have a sense of humor.
Me? I hate "springing forward" - its hard enough to get the kids out of bed without making it an hour earlier. Luckily that's my wife's job! ;-)
Me too. Since I'm retired, I sleep later, so it's not an issue with if it's still dark at 6am.
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