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Never Time for Daylight Saving
Townhall.com ^ | March 5, 2018 | Tom Purcell

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.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: daylightsaving; daylightsavingstime; daylightsavingtime
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To: JohnT416

I agree with you. (My husband thinks I’m nuts.)


41 posted on 03/05/2018 11:47:08 AM PST by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: ctdonath2

My Commodore 64 computer in the 80’s could change to DST & back with no problem, so I highly doubt today’s modern computers are having that much trouble that they require “Stupid amounts of money” to fix every year.

Actually it’s Businesses that are making “Stupid amounts of money” with that extra hour of daylight in the evening which is why they will never get rid of it.


42 posted on 03/05/2018 11:48:44 AM PST by qam1 (There's been a huge party. All plates and the bottles are empty, all that's left is the bill to pay)
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To: qam1

Can you tell my dogs that they should adjust quickly? I takes at least a month for them to get back on track.


43 posted on 03/05/2018 11:53:06 AM PST by lone star annie
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To: Kaslin

It’s my cat’s favorite day of the year. He gets to eat early.


44 posted on 03/05/2018 11:53:59 AM PST by EdnaMode
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To: Craigon

There is only one reason I like DST. Without it — if out here in California we didn’t move the clock ahead one hour — at the end of May dawn would begin to brighten the sky at around 3:20 a.m., with sunrise at about 4:30 a.m. ... a bit early even for this early-riser!


45 posted on 03/05/2018 11:56:06 AM PST by glennaro
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To: Alberta's Child
That doesn't seem obvious from this map

Look how much Atlantic ocean is in the Eastern Zone. Check the horizontal mileage differences in the zone widths compared to the Eastern width.

46 posted on 03/05/2018 11:56:17 AM PST by ROCKLOBSTER (The Obama is about to hit the fan.)
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To: Kaslin

I guess the writer would not do well travelling to a different time zone - or China...


47 posted on 03/05/2018 11:57:12 AM PST by Quality_Not_Quantity (Capitalists sign their checks on the front. Socialists sign theirs on the back.)
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To: Kaslin

I love DST. I love getting home from work and having some time to spend in my backyard and take a walk and enjoy a piece of the day.

Make it year round, but in the Summer move it two hours forward. Let the sun set at 10pm. Nothing could be better!


48 posted on 03/05/2018 12:00:06 PM PST by P-Marlowe (Freep mail me if you want to be on my Fingerstyle Acoustic Guitar Ping list.)
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To: Kaslin

Thank Ben Franklin for this. I think old Ben liked thinking he was the smartest guy in the room.


49 posted on 03/05/2018 12:01:19 PM PST by jmacusa ("Made it Ma, top of the world!'')
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To: sorrisi

Want some cheese with that whine?


50 posted on 03/05/2018 12:01:23 PM PST by P-Marlowe (Freep mail me if you want to be on my Fingerstyle Acoustic Guitar Ping list.)
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To: Kaslin

It’s all about golf, so DST is ok by me.


51 posted on 03/05/2018 12:03:06 PM PST by stylin19a (Best.Election.of.All-Times.Ever.In.The.History.Of.Ever)
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To: Kaslin

Thunder Bay? In 1908, there was no Thunder Bay. There was Fort William and Port Arthur, which one was it?

DST is VERY silly. This day, when I leave the yard for my first student pick up, the sky is starting to lighten and it is light when I pick up this child, though I am driving into the sun. One week from now, it will still be pitch black and I will have to go through AGAIN, driving into the sun. DST means that I have to repeat this TWICE in the Spring and TWICE in the Fall! Not good.

Besides, Stampede fireworks at 10:30PM is not good for kids, it is too late. W/O DST, everything would be over by 10:00PM, plenty late for little ones to be up.


52 posted on 03/05/2018 12:09:40 PM PST by A Formerly Proud Canadian (I once was blind but now I see...)
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To: ctdonath2

I live very close to the 90º W line. So standard time noon is very close—to real noon. I like being able to tell what time it is by looking at the sun’s position in the sky. Have to do some adjusting to do that with daylight time.


53 posted on 03/05/2018 12:11:44 PM PST by hanamizu
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To: jmacusa

Well, all things considered, he probably was.


54 posted on 03/05/2018 12:12:12 PM PST by AFreeBird
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I vote for permanent DST. I love having more daylight hours after dinner.


55 posted on 03/05/2018 12:13:00 PM PST by Kipp
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daylight_savings_time_starts_this_sunday_dont_forget_to_set_your_bombs_ahead_one_hour
56 posted on 03/05/2018 12:17:01 PM PST by Ronald_Magnus
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To: A Formerly Proud Canadian
This day, when I leave the yard for my first student pick up, the sky is starting to lighten and it is light when I pick up this child, though I am driving into the sun. One week from now, it will still be pitch black

Their basing DST on school issues is a strawman argument. All they need to do anywhere is change the school hours to suit the season....problem solved.

Otherwise, I'll always take the extra sunlight at the end of the day.

57 posted on 03/05/2018 12:21:49 PM PST by ROCKLOBSTER (The Obama is about to hit the fan.)
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To: Behind the Blue Wall
"Everyone should just set their clocks to GMT and leave it permanently."

Best and only logical proposal so far.

58 posted on 03/05/2018 12:24:40 PM PST by gnarledmaw (Hive minded liberals worship leaders, sovereign conservatives elect servants.)
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To: lone star annie
Can you tell my dogs that they should adjust quickly? I takes at least a month for them to get back on track.

For some months last year my dog had gotten into the habit of jumping on the bed weekend mornings at around 8:25 and licking our faces in an effort to get us up. When the clocks changed in the Fall I told my wife that since we had gone back an hour he'd be there at 7:25. Much to our surprise, he showed up punctually at 8:25 the day after the change, leaving us mystified as to how he knew what was going on.

59 posted on 03/05/2018 12:26:18 PM PST by Mr Ramsbotham (Laws against sodomy are honored in the breech.)
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To: \/\/ayne
We don't hold with such things in Arizona.

Actually the Navajo up on the Big Res practice daylight savings time. I've always thought of it as some kind of primitive superstition.

The good thing about DST is that I get home in time to watch all of Tucker Carlson.

60 posted on 03/05/2018 12:30:55 PM PST by InABunkerUnderSF (Time to BLOAT again.)
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