daylight savings time....

[gary s]

spring is in the air and now more sunlight :supercool:

 

[Travis Stevens]

75 degrees outside... feels so nice

 

[swshawaii]

We had golf ball sized hail, a tornado, and severe flooding on Friday. WTH, in Hawaii?

A lot of firsts and records set, not the good kind. Perfectly normal today with blue skies.

 

[Mark K 2]

Wisconsin in March. Highs in the 70's all week except for tomorrow.

 

[OLE442]

I wish they'd just leave time as is and if the farmers want more sun, they can just get up earlier or later and adjust the schedules of the help. JMO

 

[Bill V]

07 ST, it's not just the farmers who want more evening daylight. Lots of others have key need for that extra evening hour as well. For example, our local youth sports leagues has most of their games in the evening, on fields which, for the most part, do not have artificial light. Without that extra hour, we'd have to cancel so many games that we would probably fold.



In fact, for most farmers, daylight saving time is a non-issue. Since they set their own schedules, they rely on coordinating their clocks with others far less than most people.



I will agree with you, and say that I do wish they'd just leave it as-is--but rather than Standard Time year round, I wish they'd do Daylight Saving Time year round.



And I'll pass along what I've heard two other people telling others in the office this morning, and which I've since verified elsewhere (as I was curious if those two were in fact correct or not)--There's no "S" at the end of "Saving"--It's "Daylight Saving Time", not "Daylight Savings Time".

 

[Les]

I wish they'd do Daylight Saving Time year round.

+1

 

[Richard L]

The purpose Daylight Savings Time was to help the farmers work their fields a little later at night, and to reduce the time people spend communting back and forth to work and school during hours of darkness.



The recent extension of Daylight Savings Time was designed to save energy, but most experts will admit that it was a failure, and probably cost more than it saved. Think about all the software and firmware for automated systems got messed up by chaning the dates for the time changes.



I have an alarm clock that was smart enough to adjust for DST changes, but since they have extended DST, I have to manually set the clock, and then set it again when the clock makes it's pre-programmed change at the old DST change dates. Now I have to change the time 4 times a year rather than just two times.



That may sound rather insignificant, but as a former IT Administrator, I had to check all of our systems and modify a lot of date/time critical software.



...Rich

 

[TrainTrac]

If the purpose for DST was to allow farmers more time/daylight to work late in the day, then modern technology has rendered that idea totally obsolete. With modern farm equipment having lights, GPS, etc., farmers often work until as late as midnight during peak times of the season (spring planting/fall harvest).



Heck, their equipment is so precise with GPS, that a farmer could practically just program tractor/combine's onboard computer and then take a nap while it runs up and down the rows!

 

[Richard L]

TrainTrac,

Daylight Savings Time was originally devised by Ben Franklin. The US officially adopted DST in 1918, but some other countries implemented DST much earlier.



The reason for DST was to allow farmers to work in their fields longer since there was no GPS, and very liitle of the rural areas even had electricity or indoor plumbing.



As the world modernized, DST was kept to allow workers and kids to commute back and forth to work and school in relative daylight and perhaps to have an extra hour of daylight at night to do chores around the house.



The recent extension of DST was done by the George W. Bush administration and claimed that it would save energy. Most experts disagree that the energy savings were not anywhere near the saving claimed by the proponents.



...Rich

 

[Bill V]

The recent extension of DST was done by the George W. Bush administration and claimed that it would save energy. Most experts disagree that the energy savings were not anywhere near the saving claimed by the proponents.

I remember when it happened that it was touted as also helping with other issues. For example, the original plan was to have DST end the last weekend of October. However, apparently some kids wrote their legislators asking for it to go to the first week of November, to allow an extra hour of daylight on Halloween, so that they could get an extra hour of trick-or-treating. There were even reports (supposedly since debunked) that the candy companies were also big proponents of that, as extra trick-or-treating means extra business for them.



Worst part of it is, the logic of that (both by the kids and the candy companies) if completely backwards. Every place that I've ever lived, trick-or-treating starts at dusk and goes until around 8:00 or 8:30. So when you have an extra hour of daylight, you delay the start of trick-or-treating that long, and thus LOSE an hour of trick-or-treating!

 

[Richard L]

Bill V,

I'm sure Halloween and the Candy Lobby played a major part in the decision to extend DST until the first weekend in November...:bwahaha:



...Rich

 

[TrainTrac]

So that explains it! A conspiracy on the part of the evil, greedy, Big Halloween and Big Candy lobbies in their quest for more obscene, excess profits!!!



That does it! I'm gonna write my elected officials and call for the passage of a windfall profits tax laws on Big Candy and Big Halloween!!!



I want their @$$es in front of Congressional hearings to explain this egregious behavior!!!



:bwahaha::cheeky::rofl:

 

[Bill V]

Richard L, I'm not making it up. Here's just one of a multitude of online sources backing it up. Just search "daylight saving time Halloween"...

Recently, an extension was added to daylight saving time, prolonging the months in which DST is observed. David Prerau was a consultant to Congress on adding about a month to the previous schedule. Most people think the effects of the extension are good. Prerau says, There are always those who disagree, but the purpose is to try to make the most people happy. Congress general idea was to have as much light as possible and to avoid the darkest months of winter. The new law was passed in 2005 and took effect in 2007. Specifically, the extension established eight months of daylight saving time and four months of standard time. Three or four weeks were added to the spring; the main reason was to balance the beginning and end. In addition, one week was added to the fall. One main point when considering this was the issue of Halloween night. Under the old period, daylight saving time was never recognized on Halloween evening. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of pedestrian accidents is four times higher on Halloween evening than any other evening of the year among pedestrians aged 5 to 14 years old. The new system provides for daylight saving time to be in effect on Halloween, which allows for one extra hour of sunlight. According to Prerau, there is no data yet to confirm a reduction in accidents on Halloween night, but Congress believes the new system is a step in the right direction.

 

[Richard L]

Bill V,

I never implied that you made it up...I just don't think that played a major role in the decision. After all, even you said that extending to November was more beneficial to the kids and candy sales for Halloween. Also, consider that many communities have banned Trick-or-Treating on Halloween because of the incidents of adults handing out harmfull altered and dangerous treats. Some communities have limited Trick or Treating to single locations like churches, and community centers where the candy given out can be controlled and guaranteed safe.



On the subject of Halloween,...at my old house Trick or Treating had declined dramatically dispite having no incidents in the 25+ years I lived there. Sometimes I only got less than a dozen kids come to my door.... However in my new house, I was suprised at the difference. I was run out of candy very quickly due to the volume of Trick or Treaters circulating through the neighborhood. The first Halloween, I ran out of candy in 15 minutes, and the following year I had 5 times as much candy and ran out in less than an hour and the kids were still coming, and it was still daylight. This is getting kind of expensive...:grin:



...Rich

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Richard L,



Trick or treating is banned in many communities because of adults giving out altered treats? I've hear the stories about razor blades in apples, and straight pins in tootsie rolls, but thought this was all mostly urban legend.



TJR

 

[Richard L]

TJR,

I thought I said that with:

Also, consider that many communities have banned Trick-or-Treating on Halloween because of the incidents of adults handing out harmfull altered and dangerous treats.

...Rich

 

[Bill V]

TJR, same here--I even saw a news story last Halloween where they were answering all sorts of questions about the day, from history to laws, etc. One of them is whether there are actual documented instances of altered/tainted candy--and the report indicated that their research could find no factual reports of it happening anywhere in the country. Per that report, it was as much urban legend as the reports of people waking up in a bathtub full of ice with their kidneys stolen.



Edit--Found a link to the news story I mentioned:

 

[Bill V]

Bill V,

I never implied that you made it up...I just don't think that played a major role in the decision.

Sorry about that Rich--I interpretted your first response differently than you intended it. This clears it up. Thanks!

 

[Richard L]

Bill V,

I know some Halloween stories a fabrications, but there are some that are true....I know because an incident occurred in my neighborhood when I was livining in Indianapolis, IN back in the early 1970's. The guy poisoned one kid with cyanide crystals in those Pixie Stix (straws filled with flavored sugar). It was not a rumor because the guy was arrested and convicted and it was all over the news for weeks. Fortunately we only took our kids trick or treating to a few neighbors we knew very well.



I agree that some of the stories are setups like needles and razor blades in apples, etc and often times it's the parent who does it and tries to blame it on a neighbor or to get attention...but it does happen and it has been going on for years. Anyone who claims they could not find one factual report is not looking very hard.



...Rich