Posted on 10/26/2017 2:27:42 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
Six years ago, when Tom Emswiler moved from Washington, D.C., to Massachusetts, he saw something that shook him to his core: The sun went down at 4:11 p.m.
"I knew I was moving north, but I had no idea how far I was moving east, and so you can imagine my horror when in December the sun was setting" in the mid-afternoon, Emswiler told NBC News on Wednesday.
He began dreaming of a better future for the Bay State. An hour into the future, to be exact.
~snip~
The upshot: If the state joins Puerto Rico and eastern Canadian provinces in the Atlantic Time Zone, it would effectively run on an all-year daylight-saving time. In its draft report, the commission touted potential benefits of the change, from boosted consumer spending to lower rates of certain types of crime.
But there is some fine print. The report said Massachusetts should not act alone, or else it could disrupt "commerce, trade, interstate transportation and broadcasting" across the region. A majority of other states in New England would have to jump on the time-zone train, too.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
What about it, Freepers? Should Massachusetts try this?
Yes
I remember how surprised I was when it got dark in mid-afternoon. Obviously, I figured, Boston is in the wrong time zone.
4:11 is “mid-afternoon?”
It is dark in MA for soooo many more reasons than the time zone.
IBTFWWMTLTPMLAT*
It gets dark here at 3 p.m. in December. It sucks. so I would be grateful for a system that would avoid that.
*(in before the FReepers who want Massachusetts to leave the planet much less a time zone)
Either one or the other. I’m beyond tired of the twice yearly clock reset.
Rather than Atlantic Time, they should go for Newfoundland Time
Odd, I always thought they were on Moscow time...................
Daylight Saving Time should be completely abolished in the US. It is an archaic anachronism in our technological age.
Why not just jump to the Pacific time zone?
Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care?
I remember reading a short story from England, written early in the 20th century. The story opens with the lamp lighters walking down the street, “It was about that time of day, when the street lamps were being lit by the men in dark coats; as the clock neared 3 in the afternoon ...”
The UK is a bit north of Boston. So they have it even worse.
It’s the same in Chicago in midwinter. Places all over the country could tell similar stories. The days are shorter in winter. That’s just how it is, no matter how you tinker with the clock to change the time.
So then the trade off will be that the sun rises an hour later on winter mornings. Is it worth it?
Actually, I think we should put the whole country on 30 minute time zones and just scrap daylight time. Yeah, you’d have to be careful where you drew the time zone boundaries, but once you set it, you could forget it.
They should do one better and join Newfoundland Time. 1hr30min later than Eastern.
Where is the “here” where it gets dark at 3 pm?
it’s worked fine as it is all these years just live with it..no validity in any of the supposed stats that will change for the better, just guesses.
4:11 and the afternoon is just getting started here in Texas.
I lived in Boston much of my life. It was not a big deal having it be getting dark at 4PM from mid November to end of January. Just part of living in New England. On the other hand - during mid-summer - we'd have daylight from 5am to almost 9:30pm. I kind of liked it actually.
Changing the time zone so that the sun sets later will only mean that sunrise comes much later. I remember during the mid 1970s when Nixon did the "emergency Daylight Savings time" thing. Yes, we had daylight until 5PM but we were going to school and work in the dark. The sun wouldn't rise in Boston until nearly 8am!
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