Trump is probably just using this issue as a distraction. For Boomers, year round DST still shares some stigma with the 55 mph national speed limit. I recall at least two fatal accidents of school children being run over in the dark before it was repealed.
Chicago winters must have been so balmy for you and Meghan Markle after years of horrific SoCal Januaries.
The right edges of your charts are cut off on my laptop.
More like annoyed, but yes. Changing the clock doesn't change the time, so on the philosophical principle of honesty I would do away with daylight savings.
Also I live near the 49th parallel, so for most of the time we have daylight savings time we don't actually need any additional daylight. It just means dawn starts at 3AM rather than 2AM on the solstice.
It’s true that changing the clocks doesn’t change the time, but “the time” really is an arbitrary social construct. We can change that social designation to make life more convenient. The problem is that different people have different preferences
I’ve lived in places which span 10 degrees of latitude (different time zones). I’ve also lived in the same time zone across six degrees of longitude.
What I’ve found is that I will happily trade off darkness in the morning for light in the evening. But that’s how it it is in the city I grew up in and eventually returned to. Certain norms in adolescence are impossible to deprogramme.
The continental 48 spans 25 degrees of latitude and changes are going to be drastic for those in some places and mild irritation for those in others.
There isn’t an obvious or intuitive solution for a country so large.
Don’t iPhones and such make the clock-changing easier? I mean, I used to have to run around the house and change clocks and my wristwatches. But with an iPhone and Fitbit, everything changes automatically.
Australian Central Standard Time, used by two states in the middle of their country/continent, uses a time zone that’s half an hour off. One of them uses Daylight Savings, while the other does not.
Daylight savings time seems designed for people who spend all day indoors and then want more daylight to helicopter their kids around after school. It's emblematic of over-scaled, technocratic society.
I like DST for one reason: being able to play 18 holes during the workweek after my sons and a grandson get off work/out of school at 3:00. It’s a weekly affair that is one of the highlights of my week.
I'd like to go back to the old system and be rid of Daylights Savings for selfish reasons. It usually takes me a half-hour to re-remember how to re-set my car clocks.
What I'd really like Trump to do is give back the old military bases their old names partly just to stick it in the eyes of the woke left. Ft. AP Hill. Ft. Bragg. Ft. Benning. Ft. Hood. Trump would probably have to do it by Executive Order.
Newfoundland has a half time zone with standard time and daylight saving.
As an Englishman I like changing the clocks because it accentuates one of the few extreme features of a tame country. Early November is a particularly eerie time. Suddenly, darkness at four, the return of Orion, the childhood fun of Halloween and fireworks, and then the poppy fuss, and then - always damp and cloudy - the two minutes' silence.
Thanks Steve for the examples. Thinking about DST makes my head hurt. I had to look up whether summer or winter was DST because it never makes sense; how are we saving daylight in either system? The examples you give show the current system makes sense.
BTW- if Trump makes a big deal out of this I guarantee the left will unite against it and they will explain in detailed and cloned social media posts how it is anti-scientific, like not wearing masks or being anti-vax or a flat earther. Global warming will likely be part of it.
Here is my computer programmer nerd alternative solution: we go by GMT and each locality sets its own standard business day, the analog of current 9-5. School would start at business minus 2 hours. Diners would close at business plus 6 hours etc. Would people squawk about the loss of universal experience? Of course. But how important is it really to watch a movie scene in central park and to know that if a clock were in the scene it would say something between 11 AM and 2 PM?
This is another case of much ado about nothing. I am 79 years old and have lived under both DST and Standard Time. I'm also a retired professional pilot and former military aircrew member and dealt with time zones on a daily basis. DST was implemented during World War II as a means of increasing production. It continued until after the Korean War. It was re-implemented in the early 70s after the Yom Kipper War and the resulting oil embargoes and has been with us ever since. It's not that big a deal. The one benefit I realized from it was when I was young and single (again) and we got another hour in the dance halls, which closed at 2 AM.
Trump is probably just using this issue as a distraction. For Boomers, year round DST still shares some stigma with the 55 mph national speed limit. I recall at least two fatal accidents of school children being run over in the dark before it was repealed.
Chicago winters must have been so balmy for you and Meghan Markle after years of horrific SoCal Januaries.
The right edges of your charts are cut off on my laptop.
"Are you offended by messing with clocks?"
More like annoyed, but yes. Changing the clock doesn't change the time, so on the philosophical principle of honesty I would do away with daylight savings.
Also I live near the 49th parallel, so for most of the time we have daylight savings time we don't actually need any additional daylight. It just means dawn starts at 3AM rather than 2AM on the solstice.
It’s true that changing the clocks doesn’t change the time, but “the time” really is an arbitrary social construct. We can change that social designation to make life more convenient. The problem is that different people have different preferences
I’ve lived in places which span 10 degrees of latitude (different time zones). I’ve also lived in the same time zone across six degrees of longitude.
What I’ve found is that I will happily trade off darkness in the morning for light in the evening. But that’s how it it is in the city I grew up in and eventually returned to. Certain norms in adolescence are impossible to deprogramme.
The continental 48 spans 25 degrees of latitude and changes are going to be drastic for those in some places and mild irritation for those in others.
There isn’t an obvious or intuitive solution for a country so large.
Don’t iPhones and such make the clock-changing easier? I mean, I used to have to run around the house and change clocks and my wristwatches. But with an iPhone and Fitbit, everything changes automatically.
The iPhone is programmed to change.
As recently as 2003 it was 3 (well actually 4) in the afternoon before I realised that the clocks had gone forward in spring.
Impossible today with connected timepieces.
In 1991 I missed a job interview because of the Spring change. Amazingly, they called the next day - "Are you coming?"
They missed it too?
Giving people two low-pressure weekend days to notice the time change would probably reduce the stress on Monday.
Australian Central Standard Time, used by two states in the middle of their country/continent, uses a time zone that’s half an hour off. One of them uses Daylight Savings, while the other does not.
I’m concerned about how quickly our curtains might fade if we adopted year round DST.
A permanent 35/52 offset (of 40m23s) would be a fun flex.
I more like the idea of Monday to Saturday all ending at 23:50 and then an hour more in bed on Sunday morning.
Trump announcing that our clocks are permanently moving forward 40 min and 23 seconds: "We call it: American Time! Get used to it world!"
Daylight savings time seems designed for people who spend all day indoors and then want more daylight to helicopter their kids around after school. It's emblematic of over-scaled, technocratic society.
I like DST for one reason: being able to play 18 holes during the workweek after my sons and a grandson get off work/out of school at 3:00. It’s a weekly affair that is one of the highlights of my week.
All the three left coast states have petitions in to stay on DST and nothing has happened.
I'd like to go back to the old system and be rid of Daylights Savings for selfish reasons. It usually takes me a half-hour to re-remember how to re-set my car clocks.
What I'd really like Trump to do is give back the old military bases their old names partly just to stick it in the eyes of the woke left. Ft. AP Hill. Ft. Bragg. Ft. Benning. Ft. Hood. Trump would probably have to do it by Executive Order.
I agree, but I believe it will require legislation, as the change was mandated in 2021.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Liberty#Name_change_to_Fort_Liberty
Just do it and fight it in the courts. Sort of like Biden and the school loans. Presidents are pretty much elected kings these days.
Regardless of what happens or if nothing happens, it should be declared by Executive Order as Trump Fantastic Time.
Surely the U.S. and Trump can get GMT shifted 30 minutes. Vivek would pursue it to help align with India.
And the Maritimes in Canada and parts of Australia…..
Newfoundland has a half time zone with standard time and daylight saving.
As an Englishman I like changing the clocks because it accentuates one of the few extreme features of a tame country. Early November is a particularly eerie time. Suddenly, darkness at four, the return of Orion, the childhood fun of Halloween and fireworks, and then the poppy fuss, and then - always damp and cloudy - the two minutes' silence.
DST abolishment is a winning issue. And I have always disliked it's affects on sleep cycles for shift workers.
Thanks Steve for the examples. Thinking about DST makes my head hurt. I had to look up whether summer or winter was DST because it never makes sense; how are we saving daylight in either system? The examples you give show the current system makes sense.
BTW- if Trump makes a big deal out of this I guarantee the left will unite against it and they will explain in detailed and cloned social media posts how it is anti-scientific, like not wearing masks or being anti-vax or a flat earther. Global warming will likely be part of it.
Here is my computer programmer nerd alternative solution: we go by GMT and each locality sets its own standard business day, the analog of current 9-5. School would start at business minus 2 hours. Diners would close at business plus 6 hours etc. Would people squawk about the loss of universal experience? Of course. But how important is it really to watch a movie scene in central park and to know that if a clock were in the scene it would say something between 11 AM and 2 PM?
This is another case of much ado about nothing. I am 79 years old and have lived under both DST and Standard Time. I'm also a retired professional pilot and former military aircrew member and dealt with time zones on a daily basis. DST was implemented during World War II as a means of increasing production. It continued until after the Korean War. It was re-implemented in the early 70s after the Yom Kipper War and the resulting oil embargoes and has been with us ever since. It's not that big a deal. The one benefit I realized from it was when I was young and single (again) and we got another hour in the dance halls, which closed at 2 AM.