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United States

Many US States Consider Abandoning Daylight Savings Time (newsweek.com) 366

An anonymous reader writes: A special Massachusetts commission recommends the state stop observing Daylight Savings TIme "if a majority of other northeast states, also possibly including New York, also do so." After a 9-to-1 vote, the head of the commission reported their conclusion after months of study: "There's no good reason why we're changing these clocks twice a year"... According to local reports, "The commission studied the pros and cons of the move and found, for example, retailers liked the idea of more daylight late in the day for shoppers... They also said there would be less crime, fewer traffic accidents and we would actually save energy."

A Maine state representative argues that it's actually harmful to observe Daylight Savings Time. "Some of those harms include an increased risk of stroke, more heart attacks, miscarriages for in vitro fertilization patients, among many other undesirable complications," reports Newsweek. Maine's legislature has already passed a bill approving an end to daylight savings time -- if Massachusetts and New Hampshire also end the practice, and if voters approve the change in a referendum.

At least six states are considering changing the time zones, according to Newsweek, and when it comes to Daylight Savings Time, the Maine representative told a reporter she had just one question.

"Why do we keep doing this to ourselves?"
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Many US States Consider Abandoning Daylight Savings Time

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  • You left off (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    ... and these states consider this TWICE a year, EVERY year!

  • by Spy Handler ( 822350 ) on Sunday November 05, 2017 @03:05AM (#55492157) Homepage Journal

    singular, not plural.

    Also you don't need to capitalize each word. This is English, not German.

    Think of it like this: during a melee you pick up a +5 magic sword and say, "It's ass kicking time!". Not "It's Ass Kickings Time!"

    • Obligatory. [youtu.be]

    • by PolygamousRanchKid ( 1290638 ) on Sunday November 05, 2017 @03:30AM (#55492197)

      This is English, not German.

      Noch nicht, aber wir arbeiten daran.

      If you ask a linguistic, they will you that English is a butt ugly bastard mix of French and German anyway.

      But English is amazingly effective in that everyone seems capable of using it. I sat in a company cafeteria in scenic Austin, Texas, and listened to how a colleague from China talked to a colleague from India . . . in an English that would have turned my 8th grade English teacher into a rampage. But hey, they could effectively communicate with each other. The wonders of English!

      Capitalizing words in English seems to be a bit of a fad these days . . . we can't blame it on the "hipsters" any more since they are now history.

      What are the current counter culture folks called . . . ?

      • This is English, not German.

        Noch nicht, aber wir arbeiten daran.

        Gesundheit.

      • by Kjella ( 173770 ) on Sunday November 05, 2017 @06:49AM (#55492633) Homepage

        If you ask a linguistic, they will you that English is a butt ugly bastard mix of French and German anyway. But English is amazingly effective in that everyone seems capable of using it.

        Everyone is capable of using it just like they could butcher any language, but English is a PITA to learn properly because they've generally not only adopted the vocabulary but also other bits and pieces. For example say the following words: beak peak weak leak steak... whoops, the last one is completely different for no discernible reason because it's a loaner from old Norse. You were knighted but not fighted, you were fought. And you're ugly-uglier-ugliest but beautiful-more beautiful-most beautiful not beautiful(l?)er. It's no wonder that basic users end up with "me love you long time" English, a lot of it is simply rote memorization that this is the way things are. Same with vocabulary, a driver does driving and a plumber does plumbing but a person cooking food is a chef rather than a cook(er?). It's not that any pattern is more or less valid, but English got all of them mashed together.

        • It is not true that a person who does cooking is not a cook. Have You really never heard the phrase "too many cooks spoil the broth"? A Chef is a master cook.
          • They aren't a cooker, though, which is the point he was trying to make. In British English at least that's an appliance.

        • The verbs are very simple; only two conjugated tenses, everything else is done with auxiliaries, as is the subjunctive. No silly gender nonsense either. That's a lot simpler than French or Italian.

          The downside is that the spelling is an absolute bastard, and some learners screw up phrasal verbs - but they can all bugger off.

    • Also you don't need to capitalize each word. This is English, not German.

      In English, you capitalize most words in a title. See for example [yourdictionary.com].

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Hmm, if I just picked up a +5 magic sword I'd probably say "It's ass stabbing time", but I take your point.

  • by phantomfive ( 622387 ) on Sunday November 05, 2017 @03:08AM (#55492163) Journal
    The reason it doesn't happen is because people will be upset when they find out they have to be on 'winter' time all year round.
    • This is incorrect (Score:5, Informative)

      by maroberts ( 15852 ) on Sunday November 05, 2017 @03:26AM (#55492189) Homepage Journal

      What they're suggesting is actually remaining on "Summer" time all year round.

      • by MrL0G1C ( 867445 )

        UK here, winter time is stupid, it gets light before I even wake up and then it gets dark before I'm even on my way home from work. We just changed from BritishSummerTime which made a lot more sense.

        So Winter Time is stupid and rubbish, I'd much prefer to have some day time left in the evening than have it completely wasted whilst I'm sleeping.

      • by mark-t ( 151149 ) <markt AT nerdflat DOT com> on Sunday November 05, 2017 @10:10AM (#55493333) Journal

        That doesn't work well in higher latitudes, because then you end up with schoolchildren walking to school in the morning while it is still almost pitch black outside through most of December and January. The hour right before sunrise is often both the darkest and coldest period of the night.

        Unless you propose that children start and finish school an hour later than they currently do, which could would be an even bigger clusterfuck than DST as tens of millions of adults, via a ripple effect, end up having to adjust their schedules to compensate, forcing them to work later as well, and negating the extra hour of daylight that they might otherwise have had in the evening.

        "Standard" time year around makes the most sense. Noon, logically, is when the sun *should* be at its highest in the sky, but on DST, the sun is at that position at 1PM through the summer months.

  • Not quite (Score:5, Informative)

    by sjames ( 1099 ) on Sunday November 05, 2017 @03:37AM (#55492199) Homepage Journal

    Several northern states are considering going from Eastern to Atlantic time, effectively springing ahead and never falling back.

  • Compromise (Score:5, Insightful)

    by rossdee ( 243626 ) on Sunday November 05, 2017 @04:03AM (#55492251)

    Advance the clocks half an hour next spring and then leave them there

  • Sigh (Score:5, Insightful)

    by DNS-and-BIND ( 461968 ) on Sunday November 05, 2017 @04:21AM (#55492283) Homepage
    The whole point of DST in the first place is otherwise in winter the sun sets at 4:30pm. In the summer, it rises at 4:30am. This is fine for farmers, but for an urban population it's no good. I've lived in a region with no DST and it's silly, in summer the sun sets at 7:30pm. Totally wastes useful daylight. If you want to go back to this system so be it, but it's like there is no awareness of why it was adopted in the first place.
    • I live in Japan, we don't do the whole change the clock thing, and you know what I absolutely love it. None of this changing the clock bullshit. A lot of people seem to think that it shouldn't bother people, but some of us do not work on the same schedule as the people during the day, and that change really messes up the schedules of those who have to work those hours. The end of changing the clocks is needed. The hour less daytime in the evening is not that hard to get use too, and honestly in the wint

      • Again...sigh. Less daylight means more carbon from wasted lighting and heating energy. Oh, and by the way, it's hour *fewer*, English teacher.
    • Re:Sigh (Score:4, Informative)

      by belg4mit ( 152620 ) on Sunday November 05, 2017 @08:20AM (#55492887) Homepage

      They buried the lead in the summary. They're not just considering an end to DST, but a simultaneous shift from Eastern to Atlantic time zone.

    • This what you're saying actually is a matter of your time zone not being properly chosen.

      • by mark-t ( 151149 )
        Actually, what he is saying is that it is actually a matter of living north of about the 45th parallel.
      • The tme zone is chosen pretty well for New England and Eastern Standard Time. All of New England is within the "natural" border of EST, except for a tiny bump on Maine. Ie, they're not more than half an hour off of true solar time during EST. The western EST border strays too far west, but that's a problem for Michigan and the like.

    • Maybe I'm a little slow. But can't farmers and the related parts of the entire system just change what time they get up, and stay open?? I don't see anything gained in the fall.
      • by caseih ( 160668 )

        Sure, but even farmers have to interact with people in the rest of society who are not getting up early and are staying up late. Anyway, DST has nothing to do with farmers. It's all about summer-time recreation honestly.

        Personally I'd rather stay on DST all year long (which is actually what these states are proposing if you read it... they want to change to Atlantic standard time, which is the same as EDT). I think people would rather have a bit of daylight at the end of the day on a short winter day, th

    • If you go an look into the reasons we still have the time change it is not farmers. They were actually the only people who have organized against it because it messes up the time schedule of animals and they want the sunlight at the end of the day during the fall months.
  • by rally2xs ( 1093023 ) on Sunday November 05, 2017 @04:23AM (#55492285)

    ...of not changing would be making drive-in movie theaters viable in the western part of each time zone. Otherwise, you get off work at maybe 5, drive an hour home or maybe more if you're in this screwed-up area of impossible traffic that is the DC area, and when NOT being exactly on the summer solstice, having just a few minutes to get the lawn mowed (hour and a quarter for the 1 acre here, or 45 minutes for the zero-turn mower I have now), and that's it. Not getting anything else done outside. Walk the dog? Do it in the dark. Have a cook-out? Dark. Rake the leaves? Dark.

    Dark, dark, dark, dark, dark...

    Pee on that. Keep DST, and make the day for something besides sitting in the office and writing code while wasting all the best part of the day for doing stuff outside, then getting home and going broke feeding batteries to the flashlight(s). We can tolerate non-DST in the winter 'cuz its too nippy to enjoy stuff outside anyway, but lets apply roundup to the weeds, spray for mosquitoes, work on our big radio antennas (K8DH here), and everything else outside in the daylight by keeping DST!!!

    • by EvilSS ( 557649 ) on Sunday November 05, 2017 @04:37AM (#55492317)
      Some of the proposals are to stay forever on DST (essentially shift one time zone east) to maintain that daylight year round. Yes it means some dark mornings but it would also mean an end to driving home in the dark at 4:30pm in December for many northern states.
    • Dark, dark, dark, dark, dark...

      Pee on that. Keep DST, and make the day for something besides sitting in the office and writing code while wasting all the best part of the day for doing stuff outside, then getting home and going broke feeding batteries to the flashlight(s). We can tolerate non-DST in the winter 'cuz its too nippy to enjoy stuff outside anyway, but lets apply roundup to the weeds, spray for mosquitoes, work on our big radio antennas (K8DH here), and everything else outside in the daylight by keeping DST!!!

      Exactly. I suppose that people who go to work, come home and never step outside except for going to some other inside place don't care, but people who do actually do things can really make use of those extra hours of daylight. Plus the neighbors won't like it if you get up and mow the lawn at 0430.

  • Now the economical LED lamps make electricity savings by the DST ridiculously small if any for the whole hoopla.
  • This whole daylight savings time thing is really a joke. It's time for it to go. The ending of daylight savings time is not so bad but the beginning of it is known to cause more health problems, including heart attack. I don't even know why we ever did it. Some claim that it was to give the farmers more light in the morning. Some claim it is so that school-aged children don't have to wait in the dark for the bus. Let's just get rid of this!
    • by GuB-42 ( 2483988 )

      The idea is that we should wake up with the sun. There are biological and economic reason for this.
      The problem is that in modern society, we live by the clock, not by the sun. DST is a way to approximate this behavior.

      • Then I guess in October we should turn our clocks back not only by one but actually 2 hours. Sunrise around here is no sooner than 7am. 8am in December.

  • I don't switch my clocks, I just switch my work hours. I'll keep my afternoon sunshine thanks.

    • I don't switch my clocks, I just switch my work hours. I'll keep my afternoon sunshine thanks.

      There's actually something to that. I travel to the west coast fairly often. If its a short stay, like a week, I simply "stay" on East coast time. For longer stays, my body will force adaptation, but for short trips it avoids jetlag.

  • The classic OZ housewife's opposition to Summer Time: "It faids me curtins."

  • Without daylight time the sun would kick my ass out of bed at ~3:00 AM during summer months. Most days it would start to get light before I ever bothered going to sleep.

  • by pgn674 ( 995941 ) on Sunday November 05, 2017 @10:21AM (#55493391) Homepage
    I have found one logical reason that people may like DST. It normalizes sunrise time through the year, at the expense of extremifying sunset time. Here's a chart showing this. [imgur.com]
  • instead of setting the clocks back an hour in the fall, we just set them back 30 minutes and then next spring dont change them, and abandon the daylight savings time thing
  • We could turn back the clock 6 hours instead of one. That way we go to work when it's still dark and it remains dark for most of the time we're at work, and then when we get out it's about (real) noon and even in Winter we have at least 3-4 hours of daylight left. And in Summer even a whooping 10!

    If the holy grail is to have daylight when you get out of work, why don't you put your time change where your mouth is?

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