Posted on 08/08/2005 4:18:35 PM PDT by kingattax
WASHINGTON - The clock is ticking on a new Y2K-style techno scare in 2007 - thanks to Congress.
That's because legislators slipped a measure into the energy bill that President Bush is set to sign today extending daylight-saving time by four weeks - a change-up that machines already programmed for the annual hour jump may not be prepared to cope with.
Daylight-saving time would start three weeks earlier in the spring and last one week longer in the fall.
"Missiles won't be launching, but it's still going to cause a lot of hassle," said technology expert Lauren Weinstein, warning that the big risks will be to the technologically challenged who have come to rely on computers and electronic date books to help meet their appointments.
"Things advance to the point where you expect things to happen automatically and you expect it to be correct," he said.
The idea behind the bill is to save energy by giving people that extra hour of summer sun for another month.
But machines that work on the old system - falling back one hour on the last Sunday of October and leaping ahead on the first Sunday of April - cannot be reprogrammed as easily as politicians can rewrite a law. Congress last changed the system in 1987.
The biggest threat for most people is probably those missed appointments.
"It wouldn't be a society-wide catastrophe, but there would be a problem if nothing's done about it or we try to move too quickly," said Dave Thewlis, head of a group that promotes standards for calendar software.
And people who want their auto-programmed VCRs to record the right shows may have to pull out the instruction manual.
"It is unfortunately going to add a little bit of complexity to consumers," said Reid Sullivan at Panasonic Consumer Electronics Co
I have a feeling this will be done away with when the smoke clears.
Ive got to honest, this was sort a boneheaded move. Those of us who get up early will still be using that power in the morning as the winter months get closer...
Are these people trying to obsolete a whole bunch of electronic equipment which is supposed to handle daylight saving time automatically? Why can't they leave well enough alone?
Daylight-savings time is a stupid idea. I don't know what energy they think this will save, but it is an empty gesture that will cause more headaches than anything else.
Sure, let's save a little energy, but send our children to school in the dark.
DST needs to be stopped.
The atomic clocks that are sold in department stores will key on a bit transmitted by WWVB that indicates when DST is active. Again, no big deal.
Not if it causes tomatoes to ripen sooner.
How did you find that photo of me??!! LOL. One extra month of getting up, dressed and out in the dark.
I HATE DST and this new messing around with the clock has me ROYALLY PISSED!!!!
"Why can't they leave well enough alone?"
They're born to legislate, they can't help it.
DST ping
Get rid of DST altogether. Have employers change their own schedules to fit the seasons, which they do anyway in many cases.
LOL
No kidding. My 11 year old will be going to a new school this year. He will be waiting for a bus at 6:45. This just ticks me off.
I couldn't agree more. I HATE IT!! They need to leave it time alone and let the days naturally get longer on their own. I'm not a morning person at all, and when the DST change comes I'm late for work almost every day that first week lol.
Uh-oh. Well, maybe the roomful of dried food that Jethro Tull had ready for Y2K will finally come in handy.
*Individual Daylight Savings Account
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