Time change chaos

[RobinHood]

Someone in the government decided that today is the time to change our clocks by one hour. I always find this time of year to be total chaos. For one thing, they set the clocks the wrong way. Instead of having more light in the evening, they give us less. Apparently this is another governmental fuckup that cost taxpayers several billion dollars for some politician to do it all wrong.

However, we must follow their directions, right or wrong. I have always wondered what would happen if I simply refused to change my clocks, but I really hate going to court and dealing with lawyers. so I guess I better conform.

Then came the actual clock changing. Yep, as always, I could not figure out what to do. To solve the problem, I did this. I took THREE clocks. I set one of them ONE HOUR AHEAD I set the second clock ONE HOUR BACK I left the third clock THE WAY IT WAS.

This way I know that one of the clocks is correct (give or take ten minutes or so).

My three clocks currently read

1. 3:10pm
2. 1:17pm
3. 2:26pm

Just pick one of them and know that you have conformed to your stupid politicians demands. One of them is ALMOST correct.... Good enough for me, and at least I know I can not be arrested for not changing my clock.

Best yet, I solved all the chaos and feel much better now.

Robin

[Shirley Thebaglady]

How we remember- FALL back SPRING ahead, as to which way we turn our clocks. We always change ours the night before we go to bed.

If you do not change them at all you will be late for work or any appointments that you have.

shirley

[Carpenter]

You're right Shirley, but don't fall for these shameless trolls...

[Beachcomber]

First of all, its not the government that is the cause of the Phenomenon. It is basic physics and the laws of the universe. Specifically, God or Mother Nature (if you prefer) messed up a bit when they tilted the axis of rotation of the earth 23.5 degrees relative to the plane of the earth's orbit around the sun.

Before we had Daylight Savings Time, there was year-round Standard Time, an invention (by man) to keep the countries railroad schedules in sync. The four time zones in the continental US were roughly divided along the lines of the 15 degree meridians that extend from pole to pole and start at the prime Meridian in Greenwich, England as the 0 degree reference point.

At the time, France fought bitterly to have the prime meridian begin in Paris, but the English prevailed and Greenwich is where it stayed.

To get the Meridians in synch, local noon was defined as the time a point equidistant between the 15 degree meridians experienced sun transit (the time when the sun crossed the meridian). If you lived near the eastern edge of the time zone boundary, the sun would rise (and set) a few minutes early relative to your zone. Conversely, if you lived near the western edge of your time zone boundary, the sun would rise (and set) a few minutes later. The continental US had 4 major time zones spaced 5, 6, 7, and 8 hours ahead of Greenwich time (Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific time respectively).

Some countries, Iran for example, say "to hell with standard time" and are 30 minutes offset from the world's time zones.

This worked great for years and kept the railroads and telegraph operators happy. (Western Union kept the whole thing in sync). Farmers still awoke with the sun and the rooster though, and didn't pay much attention to man's invention of applied standards.

Our society became more complex and Daylight Savings Time (now called Daylight Time) was invented originally to save coal for the war effort. (More light in the evening = less electricity needed = less coal consumption).

Historically, Congress has sometimes tinkered with the start and stop dates for DT. Sometimes this messes up a lot of electronic equipment like VCR's and computers whose designers assumed the dates were "carved in stone,

Those that advocate year round DST are trying to bend the laws of nature in a way that doesn't fit with the activities of man. It will never fit the activities of man because that extra hour of daylight in the evening will always be "stolen" from those schoolchildren waiting for the buses in the morning.

You can't have it both ways as there is simply less daylight in the northern hemisphere during the winter months. Hence it becomes a political debate as to whose ox is gored.

Beachcomber

[Al Moran]

IIRC the Congress passed a law this year the goes into effect next year or the year after that say we will change the clocks back in the end of November.

[Al Moran]

CRAWFORD, Texas ? One element in the new energy bill signed into law by President Bush on Monday will affect nearly every American: less daylight in the mornings and more in the evenings.

Click in the box near to the right to watch a report by FOX News' Brian Wilson.

The new national energy policy sets into motion a plan to extend daylight-saving time by four weeks. Starting in 2007, spring will jump forward by one hour on the second Sunday in March rather than on the first Sunday in April. Fall won't fall back an hour until after Halloween whereas the old daylight saving time ended on the last Sunday in October.

The ideal was pushed through Congress by Rep. Fred Upton (search), R-Mich., who said he believes it will save energy.

A U.S. government study done several decades ago suggested that the United States would save 100,000 barrels of oil a day for every day that daylight-saving time was extended. At the time, 50 million fewer people populated the country.

But while some say 100,000 barrels per day sounds like a lot of savings, it is really just a drop in a very big barrel. At roughly $60 per barrel, the savings add up to $6 million per day or about 1 percent in overall costs saved. A California study puts the savings at about half that. ADVERTISEMENTS

In addition, not everyone is pleased with the idea. Education groups say they fear school children will be waiting for buses in the dark. They point to problems that arose when the nation experimented with year-round daylight-saving time in the 1970s.

"Instead of doing it for 15 months, they were only able to do it for

10 and in those 10 months they did realize that there was a significant increase in fatalities in school children during that time," said Amy Sechler, director of legislative affairs at the National Association of Independent Schools.

Airlines with overseas routes also are not pleased. They say the shift in time creates scheduling problems.

"It's going to put us one hour off from virtually the rest of the world ? Europe, South America, even North America and certainly the Far East," said Jim May, president and CEO of the Air Transportation Association.

But Upton said he believes more positive effects will come from longer daylight-saving time to more than offset the negatives.

"Isn't it nicer to go home with the sun from work, with the sun still out a little bit instead of facing the dark way out all the way home? So yeah, I think we're better off," he said.

The new law could also create a problem for older computers that are programmed to adjust automatically to the old daylight-saving time. Manufacturers say they could reprogram chips so that the next generation of computers will adjust to the change. Computer makers, however, may be reluctant to do so for a while, just to make sure the new schedule works.

Between now and March 2007, the Department of Energy (search) will be studying whether daylight-saving time really saves energy and money. If the savings are not there, Congress could decide to turn around and leave things the way they are now.

[Bill Reynolds]

The continental US had 4 major time zones spaced 5, 6, 7, and 8 hours ahead of Greenwich time (Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific time respectively).

I believe that should be behind Greenwich time...

[Dr. Hardcrab]

"Shirley Thebaglady" wrote

Not trying to do a stand-up routin here, but that saying has always confused me. Think about it:

Picture a spring. Pull on a spring. When you let go, it springs BACK. Not forward! When a spring is BEING a spring, it springs back.

When you are walking, if you were to fall, 99 times out of 100, you fall FORWARD. Whether walking down the street or off a cliff. You don't fall backwards, do you???

[larry]

at least the other 99% get it ;-)

stock hint- sell jackhammer futures dallas is getting rain today! (last was 1" aug 15, and 1" sep 15)

-larry

[Larry Bud]

Not all springs are created equal. Some are designed for COMPRESSION, you don't pull on those springs, but you push on them.

[Jim Yanik]

"Larry Bud" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Like the springs on one's car.

[mm]

I can see why you feel this way. There is something I can't remember now that always seems backwards from the way it should be.

Pretend the spring is part of a pogo stick and you're springing ahead.

Pretend you're losing the battle and your commanding officer tells you to fall back.

Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let me know if you have posted also.

[h]

We need standard time during the summer and DST during the winter. This would narrow the gap between nightfall in all seasons (while widening it in the morning). So instead of sundown occuring at 8:30 PM in summer and at 4:30 PM in winter (a difference of 4 hours) it would occur at about 7:30 PM in summer and 5:30 PM in winter (2 hour difference). On some summer nights it is still light out till almost 9 PM. Who needs this ? As a consequence people are at work during all daylight hours in winter. I think that this contributes to seasonal affective disorder.

[anoldfart2]

Lets just complicate this more....... :)