Is Daylight Saving Time Worth Saving? 646
Daniel_Stuckey writes "In politics, health, and academia, there are plenty of detractors that say daylight saving might not be worth saving. One vocal opponent is Missouri State Representative Delus Johnson, who wants to end the watch and clock switchery altogether. In short, he says we should spring forward this one last time, without ever falling back. He wants Missouri – and other states willing to join a pact – to permanently adopt daylight saving time and call it Standard Time. He's sure that it'll increase economic development in the later part of the year; giving people a little more daylight to do their Black Friday shopping. Matthew J. Kotchen and Laura E. Grant at the National Bureau of Economic Research have argued that DST has had adverse effects on energy spending. They calculate some extra $10-16 million spent by Indiana due to time changes. Their research concluded it's probably a much bigger loss in other states. A year ago, Motherboard's Kelly Bourdet reported on a health study that concluded DST might actually kill you. Chances of heart-attack were stated to increase by 10 percent on the days following the spring change, and to decrease by 10% after gaining the hour in the fall."
There's even a We The People petition about it.
Missouri (Score:5, Interesting)
It's nice to see a mention of one of my great state's reps that, for once, doesn't involve them doing/saying something unspeakably stupid...
Yea, I'm talking about you, Todd Akin [policymic.com] and Rory Ellinger. [ky3.com]
Re:NO. (Score:5, Interesting)
UTC with NTP... that's the way to go. Goodbye local time forever!
Kill it (Score:2, Interesting)
Kill it dead, bury it in the textbooks of history and let daylight saving stand as a testament of the folly of man that he thought he might outwit mother nature. Incredible amounts of money and aggravation are wasted every year on this leftover from the age of agriculture.
In a modern world where clocks are set by the atom this archaic throwback to the days of the steam locomotive has gone from quaint to foolish expense. No one will miss it and society has long since moved on with these wonders we call light bulbs and headlights. We'll be okay, just like we are every other single night when the sun sets.
Re:Look at it historically... (Score:1, Interesting)
"preserve daylight for farming" is simply not true. Historically farmers used nature as the 'clock'. A ticking box on the wall was not used to determine when to wake up, when to milk the cows, when to sleep, etc.
Health effects (Score:5, Interesting)
So, heart attacks go up by 10% in the wake of spring-forward, but fall by 10% in the wake of fall-back? The solution is clear, then -- we need to adopt an official 25-hour day.
The twice-yearly clock shift really is a silly, silly exercise. Not so silly as a uniform, one-size-fits-all, year-around schedule for work, school, and entertainment, but silly all the same.
Re:Kill it (Score:5, Interesting)
I will miss it, as well many people in the north.
Some things you should probably consider:
1) No one is trying to trick mother natures, if you think it's about that, then you are fucking stupid and STFU
2) There is no indicator that, overall, money is wasted
3) "In a modern world where clocks are set by the atom "
This underscores how ignorant you small minded you are. It has nothing to dodo the the accuracy of a clock.
More daylight in the evening is beneficial and enjoyable.
Yo do know we live on a globe, right? and that northern states are impacted more by the shifting about of daylight? And there aren't a lot of places that get an exact amount of day and night every year? and that not everyone gets to pick there work hours? and people do more outside in the evening then in the morning? People use more electricity for lighting in the evening then they do in the morning?
Most people get up just in times to shower, eat and then go to work. Not a lot of relaxing hang around tyime. and if there where it would be colder anyways
Bunch of short sighted morons.
No need to change it... (Score:5, Interesting)
My wife looked into this, from a legal standpoint.
Daylight savings is simply a federal standard for which days of the year participating states will change their times.
Read that again.
It's really a state-by-state issue, where any state can voluntarily not participate.
Talk to your state reps if you want to make a difference.
This has been tried before (Score:5, Interesting)
In January 1974, the U.S. went to DST early to conserve energy. It did mean we went to school in the dark. It also meant school kids had an excuse to play with flashlights (entirely unnecessary, but a good enough excuse and fun for the younger kids). It was a great novelty, and it was nice to have more sunlight after school when it was actually useful. Due to fear of kids getting hit by cars (in spite of the flashlights to make them visible), we went fell back again the next fall.
Re:Morning sunlight is a waste (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:NO. (Score:4, Interesting)
I've advocated making all even months 30 days and all odd months except November 31 days with November receiving the leap year day. Simplifies things completely and never leaves people guessing, except for if it's a leapyear or not.
If we're going to change the months, we should just have 13 months of 28 days each, a nice even 4 weeks per month. That has one leftover day per year (two on leap years), which would not be part of any month or week. We'll call those "nameless days" or something and would fall between saturday of the last week of the year, and sunday of the first week of the next year. Those days would be holidays and everyone can have a big new year's party.
Re:NO. (Score:1, Interesting)
Every measurement system is essentially arbitrary. However if you think one can manipulate metric units with the same facility as traditional units (we dont use Imperial units over here and never have, thanks) in every situation you are mistaken. Traditional units are arranged around the factors of 12, while your (french) Imperial Metric system is arranged solely around 10. The factors of 10 are 1, 2, 5, 10. The factors of 12 are 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 12. That's half again the factors, so obviously there are going to be a lot of cases where Imperial units will offer a more convenient factor. Yes, you can use floating point math instead of integer, and in some cases you should, but typically in daily life that is just unnecessary complexity for someone who isnt that into math to begin with, so it's not ideal at all.
The units themselves are different too. Imperial Metrics has very abitrary units defined based on things very few could ever measure. Traditional units are based around everyday items and things from over a thousand years ago, but surprisingly few have changed very much. Consider temperature. Sure, centigrade is great for some things. I lived in Europe for years so of course I am comfortable with it. But I prefer fahrenheit. Why? Simple. One fahrenheit degree is right about the threshold minimum temperature change I am capable of noticing. And from 0-100 pretty neatly encapsulates the range from the coldest to the hottest day of the year in decent climates. Not exact things, sure, but very relevant to everyday life. Which is what most people using the system care about.
What is hurting the traditional system most is simply an astonishing failure of our schools to teach basic math. In my grandfathers day even fewer may have understood higher math than do today, but most people in his day DID have a good grasp of functional math which fewer and fewer high school graduates can seem to keep up on these days. I am talking about basic fraction arithmetic. I've talked to high school teachers that dont understand it so it's no surprise the students are finding it harder and harder to work with. This significantly impairs their ability to use traditional measurements, although fundamentally poor math skills doesnt bode any better for the other system either.
Re:Morning sunlight is a waste (Score:2, Interesting)
Cite?
Um, no. DST started in 1966.