Posted on 03/05/2018 11:01:22 AM PST by Kaslin
I'm already dreading it.
On Sunday, March 11, at 2 a.m., daylight saving time, the practice of moving our clocks forward one hour in the spring and backward one hour in the fall, will commence.
When I wake on March 11 at my regular time - which will depend on the pub I was drowning my DST sorrows at the night before - I will be short by one hour.
I will be in a stupor, for the most part, until November, when I must set my clocks back one hour - at which time I will officially resume my perpetual confusion about what the heck time it is.
Come Sunday, half the clocks in my house - those that have been off by an hour since November - will display the correct time.
The other half, which have displayed the correct time since November, will be wrong.
Thus, when I have business meetings or social engagements to attend, I'll be one hour late or one hour early, but hardly ever on time.
Daylight saving time was first implemented in Thunder Bay, Canada, in 1908. The goal was to squeeze an extra hour of daylight out of a typical day.
The United States adopted the concept in 1918, but, reports TimeandDate.com, without uniform rules across all states, it resulted in widespread chaos in commerce and transportation.
The Uniform Time Act of 1966 addressed that challenge by synchronizing the switch dates across the country.
In an effort to save energy following the 1973 oil embargo, Congress changed DST dates again - then changed them again in 1976.
From 1987 to 2006, the country observed yet another set of DST dates - which changed one more time in 2007, to our current March-and-November cycle.
Millions of Americans have been befuddled ever since.
I think a grand conspiracy is under way in which clear-headed "morning people" are attempting to use DST to swindle us "night-time people" and swipe our girlfriends while we are in a continuous state of fogginess.
I also think Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts are in collusion to fatten profits.
Starbucks coffee has always been ridiculously expensive, but et tu, Dunkin'? I got a Dunkin Donuts iced coffee recently that was just shy of Starbucks' exorbitant iced-coffee cost.
I suspect price-fixing. I suspect federal officials are being bribed to keep adjusting DST rules, so that we are forever groggy and grumpy, conditions that allow Big Coffee to fleece us.
Where is Special Counsel Robert Mueller when you need him?
In any event, an endless DST debate continues.
Proponents of DST say it gives us more daylight in spring and summer, which gets us out of the house and makes us happier.
Opponents say it makes spring and summer mornings darker, which makes us less productive at work most of the year. They also say it causes us to consume more energy.
I'm unable to participate in the conversation, however, because I haven't finished my first pot of coffee.
As I see it, if DST is going to keep us forever disoriented, why adjust our clocks forward and backward by only one hour?
Why not move them forward to 2030 so I can begin collecting Social Security - or backward to 1984, when I had a 29-inch waist and was still able to date really good-looking ladies?
Whatever the case, my mother is especially worried about my difficulty adjusting to DST changes. She jokes that I'll be late for my own funeral.
Or an hour early.
I was born and raised in Germany and my mother always decorated the tree on Christmas eve, and put the presents under the tree. We were not allowed to go into the room, until we heard a little bell ring. Before that we had to go to church at 5pm for the children's Mass. After we came home we had supper. The tree came down on Epiphany (Jan 6)
I think it’s great and I look forward to the changing of the clocks twice a year. Wish we did it more often to be honest. Wouldn’t it be good if we were to move the clocks 10 minutes each month, reversing the direction every six months? That would be awesome.
Oh brother! Drama queen central!!!!!!
It is a money thing.
Y2K twice a year.
The only thing more fun than DST, is READING ALL THE WHINERS COMPLAIN ABOUT LOSING AN HOUR!!!!
I don’t need a clock to wake up. I have a builtin clock that works.
We used to live in AZ and one of the many wonderful things about our adopted state was NO DAY LIGHT SAVINGS TIME.
Well, to be honest, I’m not really crazy about having it in Fall/Winter - I guess it’s just ‘culture’, but I grew up knowing that the Holidays were coming, when the days grew dark earlier; all the smell of dying leaves, fun of Hallowe’en, getting ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas...and ‘falling back’ on the clock just emphasized all of that.
But I really loved DST in Summer; being out as late as possible, having hours after dinner to play baseball or ‘Blind Man’s Bluff’ or ‘Hide and Seek’, in the long gloaming; and catching fireflies until the parents finally said,’enough’ - etc.
Somehow that longer light at night, in Summer, made everyone more relaxed about everything - or so it seemed.
I’m an old lady now, but I still enjoy the jumping-forward of the clock: it’s an extra marker, and means that Spring is almost here - and ‘School’ is almost out :-)
Someone should tell Tom Purcell that he doesn’t have to get up at 2 a.m. to change his clocks. He can do it the night before.
Not really. Summer lows are mid to high 70s. Humidity stays 90%
Franklin spent many years in Paris which is almost 49 degrees north (further north than almost all of the US except Alaska). He liked to go to parties and didn’t like it that it got light so early in the morning in the summer when he was still trying to sleep, which is why he suggested what became daylight saving time.
Someone should tell Tom Purcell that he doesn’t have to get up at 2 a.m. to change his clocks. He can do it the night before.
= = = = = = = = = =
I bet you also pull the tags of mattresses and pillows even though ‘do not remove under penalty of law’....is prominently displayed....<: <: <:
I used to dock people for coming to work late on the Monday following ‘the switch’ the excuse always was, I forgot etc.
I would then tell them that if they were an hour early in the fall, I would give them their hour back plus pay them for being early.
NEVER had to pay up......Hmmmmm
Old Ben. Always tinkering with something.
So do I; but on the eastern side just a bit, in Indiana.
We are now having the yet again squabble over which time zone we show REALLY be in, since two little chunks of our state are NOT in EST.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_in_Indiana
Then luxophiles would be downright orgasmic!
Does South America observe DST?
There would be a TWO hour shift between Rio de Janeiro and NYC!!
https://www.timeanddate.com/time/dst/2017.html
| Brazil | Most locations | No DST in 2017 | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Distrito Federal, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Goiás, Minas Gerais,
Santa Catarina, Mato Grosso Do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul,
much of Mato Grosso, Paraná, Espírito Santo
|
Sunday, October 15 | Sunday, February 19 | |
He notices when you go to BED; and then counts the hours you sleep.
You nailed it!!
Kinda like a credit MONITOR.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.