Can anyone explain why we need Daylight Saving Time?
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Roll_Bones
Master Chef
I always look for 'who benefits' when something is passed into law. Many laws make sense (stop signs for just one instance). But this one???? No.
Don't tell me I have to search back in the archives of .gov to see who lobbied for this! The domain .gov is SO cumbersome that it might take me years.
Don't bother as its not that important. Just stop with knowing its stupid and backwards.
I am serious about backwards. So serious, I would approve of daylight savings time in the winter when we actually could use a another hour or two of sunlight in the evening.
Seems someone had a good idea, but someone else that was not to bright did the scheduling.
I can see one HUGE advantage. My friends in CA would not have to get up at 9 am on Sunday morning to watch a NFL football game on TV. The first NFL game each Sunday starts at 10 am on the west coast.
And the first college game would come on at 9:30 on Saturdays.
Mad Cook
Master Chef
DST during the Great War meant a longer working day for agricultural and other outdoor workers and, in theory, less use of gas and electricity for lighting homes and shops and office premises. It was introduced in the UK in 1916 with the Summer Time Act.Historical reasons?
Why was it started?
Why do we continue with it IF there was a real reason for it?
I've read the history of it on the Internet but am still confused as to exactly WHY we still need it and still confused as why it was even started.
There are tales about DST being implemented in far history----- I'm talking about the DST that was started during our lifetime (or was already a fact of life for those who weren't born then.)
Here is one reason given:
"DST was first adopted to replace artificial lighting so they could save fuel for the war effort in Germany during World War I"
But---- but--- but----- wouldn't that just change the times when the home front used fuel, not reduce it? IOW----- use fuel in the A.M. vs the P.M. What am I missing?
Mother Nature still demanded the same amount of daylight for each latitude and could NOT be persuaded to change that.
O.K. please feel free to Fisk my post.
Fisking - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
British Summer Time continued after the war until the second world war, when in 1940 it was decided to keep British Summer Time (one hour in advance of Greenwich Mean Time) in the winter and "Double Summertime" (ie two hours in front of GMT) for the duration of the war.
There was an attempt to re-instate this between 1968-71 but it wasn't popular and Parliament decided by a huge majority to abandon it. Greenwich Meantime +1 in the northern parts of Britain and Ireland meant that, for a substantial part of the winter, sunrise was as late as 10am and sunset was also very early. We lived in the north of England and our days were very short during the '68-'71 experiment and my father was told, off the record, by a local policeman that the dark mornings and dark afternoons had coincided with an increase in non-domestic child molestation offences.
One of the excuses currently used to support a return to GMT+1 is that the number of road accident fatalities fell during the 1968-71 experiment. However, the figures were skewed as the change to GMT+1 coincided with the introduction of more stringent drinking and driving legislation.
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Mad Cook
Master Chef
How odd. You'd think it would be cheaper in winter when fewer people have BBQs.
Sorry, I can't not bother.
"I have to understand the world, you see."
~ Richard Feynman
Although I don't even have a scintilla of his brain power, I still have to try. That's both my curse and my raison d'etre.
But---- but----but----- that just shifted daylight to the evening. Still 24 hours in a day, I believe.
Andy M.
Certified Pretend Chef
But---- but----but----- that just shifted daylight to the evening. Still 24 hours in a day, I believe.
Still 24 hours in a day and there is no change in the number of daylight hours in a day. However, with DST, when you get home from a long day of work in support of the war effort, there was daylight for you to do your housework so you didn't have to burn fuel that was in short supply.
roadfix
Chef Extraordinaire
Many retailers will reduce prices in the fall just to get rid of their charcoal inventory.
Sir_Loin_of_Beef
Chef Extraordinaire
If you don't want DST, move to Arizona. Just remember that you not only get the same time all year long, you also get the unholy trinity of Joe Arpaio, Jan Brewer, and John McCain!
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CarolPa
Executive Chef
Roll_Bones
Master Chef
Sorry, I can't not bother.
"I have to understand the world, you see."
~ Richard Feynman
Although I don't even have a scintilla of his brain power, I still have to try. That's both my curse and my raison d'etre.
Same here. I have the "must know" gene I guess.
Andy nailed it in post #3
in summer the days are longer - the sun comes up earlier, sets later.
but, "sooner daylight" is of no benefit when humans are still sleeping.
if you get up at 05:30 everyday of the year, you'll likely notice that it's still dark when you get up in the winter, but it's light when you get up at the "same time" in the summer.
daylight savings time simply "time shifts" the clock measured period of human activity to "earlier in the sunlight / solar day" so there is a longer period of more light "after working hours" - with plenty of fudging for "second shift war-time workers" still having light when they came to work, etc. etc.
as such: if one "assumes" the human is destined to "start work" one hour after the sun comes up:
in the winter the human would start work at roughly 0800.
in the summer the sun rises a lot earlier, now the human needs to start work 0700, because the set rises 'sooner'
so, if one "magically" makes 0700 = 0800 via daylight savings time,
nobody needs to change the sign on the door that says Open at:
otherwise put, one has extra daylight time for after work activities - working in the victory garden, butchering a rabbit, etc, that other wise would have to be done by "artificial light"
the day is roughly 9.5 hours long in winter, 15 hours long in summer (latitude dependent....)
do you want one, two, three hours of "light left" after work?
has little to do with farmers; they get up at dawn and work until the light go out, anyway.
in WW2, had a lot to do with "at home" electric consumption "after hours" - did not affect "factories" all that much because factories were running 24x7. the manufacturing floor had to be lit x hours/day regardless of whether it was first/second/graveyard shift working.
in summer the days are longer - the sun comes up earlier, sets later.
but, "sooner daylight" is of no benefit when humans are still sleeping.
if you get up at 05:30 everyday of the year, you'll likely notice that it's still dark when you get up in the winter, but it's light when you get up at the "same time" in the summer.
daylight savings time simply "time shifts" the clock measured period of human activity to "earlier in the sunlight / solar day" so there is a longer period of more light "after working hours" - with plenty of fudging for "second shift war-time workers" still having light when they came to work, etc. etc.
as such: if one "assumes" the human is destined to "start work" one hour after the sun comes up:
in the winter the human would start work at roughly 0800.
in the summer the sun rises a lot earlier, now the human needs to start work 0700, because the set rises 'sooner'
so, if one "magically" makes 0700 = 0800 via daylight savings time,
nobody needs to change the sign on the door that says Open at:
otherwise put, one has extra daylight time for after work activities - working in the victory garden, butchering a rabbit, etc, that other wise would have to be done by "artificial light"
the day is roughly 9.5 hours long in winter, 15 hours long in summer (latitude dependent....)
do you want one, two, three hours of "light left" after work?
has little to do with farmers; they get up at dawn and work until the light go out, anyway.
in WW2, had a lot to do with "at home" electric consumption "after hours" - did not affect "factories" all that much because factories were running 24x7. the manufacturing floor had to be lit x hours/day regardless of whether it was first/second/graveyard shift working.
roadfix
Chef Extraordinaire
But I physically feel lagged for a few days following every 'spring forward' time change. I know it's all mental...
Andy M.
Certified Pretend Chef
O.K.--- then why not have it all year round?
With less daylight in the winter months, mornings would be dark much later. For one thing, children would be waiting at school bus stops in the dark.
So, then, it's mostly for the children's sake? That makes sense.
Andy M.
Certified Pretend Chef
That's part of it. It's a reason I hear regularly.
