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Is it time to dump Daylight Saving Time?
American Thinker ^ | 03/09/2013 | Rick Moran

Posted on 03/09/2013 1:23:59 PM PST by SeekAndFind

Daylight Saving Time starts at 2:00 AM tomorrow morning and there are increasing calls to end the practice. Part of the reason are the health effects, which are serious. And then there's the extra energy usage that we can't afford in this day and age.

From LA Times:

Once again, the oft-dreaded daylight saving time change is upon us. The day that the clocks "spring" forward also inevitably takes a spring out of our step.

Sure, the birds seem to chirp a little later, the sunlight shines a little less as we drag ourselves through the morning routine. But as study after study has shown, that seems to be about the only highlight in those first days after the change.

According to the Better Sleep Council, a nonprofit organization supported by mattress manufacturers, 61% of U.S. adults say daylight saving time affects their work the Monday after the changeover.

In a survey of 1,038 adults, the immediate effects of losing an hour of shuteye affected everything from people's moods to eating and driving habits.

About 29% of those surveyed said it takes a week to adjust to the change, with adults between 18 and 34 needing the most time to get with the new program. (But let's face it: those at the younger end of that range may struggle to get out of bed regardless.)

But don't just take the mattress industry's word for it. A number of studies over the last 13 years have highlighted the range of health consequences of people ill-prepared to start their morning routine just 60 minutes earlier.

According to a 2008 Swedish study, there's a 6% to 10% increase in heart attacks in the first three workdays after the start of daylight saving time.

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


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: americanthinker; daylightsavingtime
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To: John W

I’m surprised that this whiny article made it past the editors at AT.


61 posted on 03/09/2013 2:15:27 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (Drag Me From Hell!)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

ME too. I want DST all year. I LOve it and look forward to this every year. LOVE< LOVE LOVE the time I have when I get home to be outside. Not dark till 9:00 pm. Not dark in the morning either. I hate the winter months. Dark at 5:00 pm.


62 posted on 03/09/2013 2:15:57 PM PST by therut
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To: SeekAndFind

We should keep it year round.


63 posted on 03/09/2013 2:17:30 PM PST by Lee'sGhost (Johnny Rico picked the wrong girl!)
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To: Texas Fossil

“The sun comes up and goes down at the same time.”

Not sure what planet you live on. The one I live on, the sunrise and sunset time change most every day.


64 posted on 03/09/2013 2:19:14 PM PST by listenhillary (Courts, law enforcement, roads and national defense should be the extent of government)
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To: therut

“I want DST all year”

Me too! For all the reasons you have already stated.


65 posted on 03/09/2013 2:22:52 PM PST by berdie
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To: eyedigress
If you live near a time-line it is hell.

You mean the trailing edge of a TZ.

66 posted on 03/09/2013 2:23:28 PM PST by Calvin Locke
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To: rellimpank

Yeah, cats are cats. They act like they own the place!


67 posted on 03/09/2013 2:24:56 PM PST by rdb3 (We're all going to get what only some of us deserve...)
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To: SeekAndFind

The annual dump DST post.


68 posted on 03/09/2013 2:28:13 PM PST by Venturer
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To: Lurkina.n.Learnin

“How does that work on computers and cellphones and the like? Does it change automatically and then you have to manually change it back? The cellphones get their info from the towers, does it change back and forth when you drive over the border?”

I don’t have a cellphone. My computer is a desktop.

When I leave the state I observe the time zones in the other states, as do their computers.


69 posted on 03/09/2013 2:32:38 PM PST by Beowulf9
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To: SeekAndFind

I’d say keep it at DST all year round.

There’s no point in switching the clock twice a year. It messes with our circadian rhythms. There’s really no need for it.

We’d get better rest and have an enhanced quality of life.


70 posted on 03/09/2013 2:53:36 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: Bryan

All that and smaller cars...Who can do it in a Yaris?

Love the extra light in the evening and yes it messes with my metabolism.

Wait: would the ultimate solution be to let everyone decide for themselves and stop trying to shove their chronology down my throat? Thats what freedom is all about...No clock runnin MY life, man...

No standard,,,no DST...FREE time...

Somebody call a dumblecrat and lets get a bill goin....


71 posted on 03/09/2013 3:00:20 PM PST by Adder (No, Mr. Franklin, we could NOT keep it.)
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To: txrefugee

I don’t know where this “children shouldn’t walk to school in the morning dark” nonsense comes from.

That premise is so weak I could eat a bowl of alphabet soup and poop a better argument.

Every kid in Alaska and Canada that walks to school, walks to school in the dark in the winter.

That said, daylight saving time is a lousy idea whose time is long past. Leave the stupid clock alone.


72 posted on 03/09/2013 3:03:10 PM PST by Don W (There is no gun problem, there is a lack of humanity problem!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Today, sunrise was 7:03 AM and sunset will be 6:23 PM. Not a big fan of DST. On the summer solstice, sunrise will be 5:21 AM ans sunset will be 9:55 PM. It is light enough that during the Calgary Stampede, the fireworks do not start until 10:30 PM. Edmonton has an additional 29 minutes of sunlight on June 21... (sunrise 5:04 AM and sunset 10:07 PM) Makes for great, but short summers.

The winters suck, however. In Edmonchuck, on Dec 21, sunrise is 8:48 AM and sunset is 4:16 PM (daylight: 7h 27m 38s) Calgary is only marginally better with sunrise at 8:37 AM and sunset at 4:32 PM yelding 7h 54m 17s of sunlight.

Not as variable as Alaska, but it makes for bleak winters. Prudhoe Bay, Alaska has sunset at 12:59 PM on November 24 and sunrise at 12:56 on January 17! An acquaintance served at CFS Alert where sunset was October 13 at 12:01 PM and the sun did not rise again until February 27 at 9:29 AM.


73 posted on 03/09/2013 3:06:03 PM PST by A Formerly Proud Canadian (I once was lost but now I'm found; blind but now I see.)
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To: Calvin Locke

Correct. I lived within 100mi of the tz and it sucked.


74 posted on 03/09/2013 3:08:40 PM PST by eyedigress ((zOld storm chaser from the west)/ ?)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; ...

Thanks SeekAndFind.


75 posted on 03/09/2013 3:14:38 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Romney would have been worse, if you're a dumb ass.)
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To: BillT

If people that live in populated areas get out of work and the sun is still shining and it’s nice weather, they’re much more likely to stop on the way home from work and eat out, shop, stop for a beer. It’s nice out and people enjoy being both off work and out of the house.

Also, people usually have the lights, TV, computer off when they’re not home. If they get home after being out after work, it’s maybe 9 or 10 until all that stuff gets turned on. And they still don’t stay up much later.

If they have A/C, most of the time they are aware of the cost of the electricity it uses, and they a) turn their window unit on when they get home, or b) set the control on their built-in A/C system if they have one so that during the day when no one is home it keeps the house at maybe 72, just so it’s not roasting, then goes to 68 or so around the time they get home.

If when they get home the sun is 1 hour lower in the sky, this will save on A/C for one daytime “hard working A/C” hour.

Personally, it’s not fun getting out of work 5 or 6 - and seeing it dark out; it makes me definitely not want to stop on the way home, so all the “stuff” gets switched on earlier.

As far as leaving in the morning, those hours being dark don’t really don’t impact many people any more one way or t’other.

IMHO...


76 posted on 03/09/2013 3:17:07 PM PST by PieterCasparzen (We have to fix things ourselves)
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To: no one in particular; jimrob
I'm still flabbergasted by FR's S P E E D !



sorry, nothing to do with DST .. just needed sayin'

77 posted on 03/09/2013 3:17:35 PM PST by tomkat
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To: King_Corey
Moving the clocks does nothing.

I does something for me. It means it doesn't get dark a couple hours after work/dinner. There's actually time to do something outdoors before it gets dark.

I loved it as a kid and I love it now! They can make it permanent. I hate getting out of work in the winter and it's pitch black.

78 posted on 03/09/2013 3:18:01 PM PST by Right Wing Assault (Dick Obama is more inexperienced now than he was before he was elected.)
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To: SeekAndFind

I dont mind losing the hour in the spring. It’s that extra hour in the fall that I hate. It takes a couple of days to adjust.


79 posted on 03/09/2013 3:19:14 PM PST by Protect the Bill of Rights
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To: tomkat

yes, FR is running very fast right now. Actually it is running amazingly fast. The thing reloaded a page before I clicked the reload button. :p


80 posted on 03/09/2013 3:19:59 PM PST by GeronL (http://asspos.blogspot.com)
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