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wdlove said:
The time change is a waste of time and money.
No, it really does save time and money... the whole point of DST is to make it so that we're awake, out and about, etc. more when the sun is up than when it's dark outside. The savings might not be much, but factored over 300 million people in the US alone, they add up to some subtantial amounts.
 
clayj said:
No, it really does save time and money... the whole point of DST is to make it so that we're awake, out and about, etc. more when the sun is up than when it's dark outside. The savings might not be much, but factored over 300 million people in the US alone, they add up to some subtantial amounts.
I agree.
What started DST? I've heard it was because of farmers, and another thing I've heard was to keep the economy going better (people would have more time to shop, etc.)
 
EricNau said:
I agree.
What started DST? I've heard it was because of farmers, and another thing I've heard was to keep the economy going better (people would have more time to shop, etc.)
Benjamin Franklin first proposed the idea. The problem with "normal" time is that if you follow it absolutely, you often end up with the sun coming up WAY too early (in the summer) and therefore going DOWN too early (also, in the summer). So, DST allows us to shift the clock so that the sun comes up at a more reasonable hour and goes down later... thereby allowing us to save candles (or energy costs) by having more sunlight while we're actually AWAKE.
 
Deepdale said:
Well, at least the question of seasonal preference has now been definitively put to rest.

With love to all dissenters,
NYC "weirdo"


I like a good winter too :)

...assuming we get one. The past few years have been this not-all-that-cold, can't-be-bothered sorta winters. It annoys me when the weather doesn't put any effort into its weathering.

Gimme frosty dark winters.... anything but grey!

I can see why we have DST. The fact is the lengths of daylight hours do change. The rest of nature, which never had to learn what the Big Hand and the Little Hand mean just adapt gradually as the days shorten then lengthen.

But with our rigid measurement of time, we've gotta slap an hour on & off every now and then so that clocks reflect what nature's actually up to... and it's best we do it as a whole hour twice a year than be constantly shifting minutes about every week!

A bit like leap-days I guess!
 
you know--i've been thinking(this isnt really relevant :eek:)--that it's really weird to have time divided up the way we do. wouldnt it make more sense to have each day divided into 10 hours, each of which has 100 minutes of 100 seconds each? i mean, sure we'd have to change how much a second is but that's just an arbitrary measure isnt it? we could still have 365 days in a year because we have to but it could be divided into 5 36 day months and 5 37 day months...
or maybe im crazy?
 
clayj said:
Benjamin Franklin first proposed the idea. The problem with "normal" time is that if you follow it absolutely, you often end up with the sun coming up WAY too early (in the summer) and therefore going DOWN too early (also, in the summer). So, DST allows us to shift the clock so that the sun comes up at a more reasonable hour and goes down later... thereby allowing us to save candles (or energy costs) by having more sunlight while we're actually AWAKE.
Origin

It is sometimes asserted that DST was first proposed by Benjamin Franklin in a letter to the editors of the Journal of Paris [1]. However, the article was humorous; Franklin was not proposing DST, but rather that people should get up and go to bed earlier.
It was first seriously proposed by William Willett in the "Waste of Daylight" [2], published in 1907, but he was unable to get the British government to adopt it, despite considerable lobbying.
The idea of daylight saving time was first put into practice by the German government during the First World War between April 30 and October 1, 1916. Shortly afterward, the United Kingdom followed suit, first adopting DST between May 21 and October 1, 1916. Then on March 19, 1918, the U.S. Congress established several time zones (which were already in use by railroads and most cities since 1883) and made daylight saving time official (which went into effect on March 31) for the remainder of World War I. It was observed for seven months in 1918 and 1919. The law, however, proved so unpopular (mostly because people rose and went to bed earlier than in modern times) that the law was later repealed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving
 
displaced said:
I like a good winter too :) ... assuming we get one. The past few years have been this not-all-that-cold, can't-be-bothered sorta winters. It annoys me when the weather doesn't put any effort into its weathering. Gimme frosty dark winters.... !

So nice to have some extra company. Here's hoping you get your wish for a good old fashioned frost-fest. :)
 
displaced said:
Gimme frosty dark winters.... anything but grey!

Well, OK. Grey isn't very nice either. I can agree with that.

I've just had enough of snow and coldness. I'm definitively living in the wrong place...
 
homerjward said:
you know--i've been thinking(this isnt really relevant :eek:)--that it's really weird to have time divided up the way we do. wouldnt it make more sense to have each day divided into 10 hours, each of which has 100 minutes of 100 seconds each? i mean, sure we'd have to change how much a second is but that's just an arbitrary measure isnt it? we could still have 365 days in a year because we have to but it could be divided into 5 36 day months and 5 37 day months...
or maybe im crazy?
You're crazy. Changing the standard measure of time would affect nearly EVERYTHING we do in this world.
 
Deepdale said:
So nice to have some extra company. Here's hoping you get your wish for a good old fashioned frost-fest. :)

Thanks! People used to to be able to skate on the River Thames, back in the thirties or so... IMHO, it ain't a proper winter until a major body of water's skate-able upon! (err...'skate upon-able?' what a language?!!)

I'm saving my pennies for a holiday to Canada hopefully this time (ish) next year. Toronto? Vancouver? Saskatchewan? (I just like typing that... sorry). I've got my stack of TravelCanada.ca catalogues... now there's some proper winters! But they have the beer to combat that with, so it all works out fine.
 
clayj said:
You're crazy. Changing the standard measure of time would affect nearly EVERYTHING we do in this world.

exactly
and the US can't even switch over to the Metric system! ;)
 
displaced said:
I'm saving my pennies for a holiday to Canada hopefully this time (ish) next year. ... now there's some proper winters! But they have the beer to combat that with, so it all works out fine.

Coping mechanisms to life's various challenges come in many forms, beer being among the more prominent ones relied upon for weather related adversities. Have a memorable trip to Canada next year. Happy skating, Chris.
 
clayj said:
I must, MUST see a picture of Katie as a "slutty shark".

<-- Think I'll need to see that too. ;)


I'm also looking forward to the "cooler" temperatures of winter. (Here in Phoenix, that means 60-70 degree high temps.)
 
Deepdale said:
Coping mechanisms to life's various challenges come in many forms, beer being among the more prominent ones relied upon for weather related adversities. Have a memorable trip to Canada next year. Happy skating, Chris.

Thanks! I've been promising myself a holiday for too long now... but something... (Apple, I'm looking at you...) keeps taking my money :D
 
Oh so confusing. I really needed that lost hour of sleep last night. :(
 

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mad jew said:
Oh so confusing. I really needed that lost hour of sleep last night. :(

WHOA! how the heck did that happen?

did you maybe start posting before them? but finished typing it after they had already posted?

<--- so confused
 
mad jew said:
I don't know but I'm scared. :eek:

I think it might have something to do with the fact I didn't get a 2:00AM.


hmmm its just freaky!!!

<--- scared of time change now tonight! lol ;)
 
mad jew said:
Ahh, freaky. I forgot it hasn't happened for you guys yet. :eek:

There there, I'll be here for you. :D

Time is freaky, me no likey.

haha, yeah its only almost 9pm here!

good to know mad jew will be there, but i have my beer too!

(i don't drink often, so when it happens, its a big deal)
 
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