Question Of The Week, 4/2/06
I started trying to decide what this weeks question would be after I got off work last night. One thing kept coming to me. Hurry up, your losing an hour tonight! So just for fun this weeks Question Of The Week is. Is there really a good reason for changing the time twice a year or is it just one of those pains that we all have to put up with? I'll post my answer in the Comment Section Monday night.
God Bless America, God Save The Republic.
God Bless America, God Save The Republic.
posted by David Schantz | 4:56 AM
7 Comments:
Considering that weights and measures is a hobby of mine, you'd expect me to be better informed on the wherefores of Daylight Savings time. But I'm not, I just have an opinion.
Next to tax day, the daylight savings adjustments are my least favorite days of the year. In fall at least we "gain" an hour -- but it still messes me up.
In spring, it's annoying because I actually like the sun coming up "earlier" and it's unfair of the government to take away my early morning light just because they want to. Yesterday, I could get up at 6:30 and be greeted by sunlight... a useful thing when you are trying to wake up. It's quite nice, and I'd been waiting for months for the sun to start coming up that early again (or it felt like months). And just when it gets nice and light early in the morning, the government pushes everything ahead. So now, it's really 5:30, and the sun isn't up yet when I have to get up.
In the fall, the time change has the effect of stealing an extra hour of light at the end of the day.
This caused trouble last year. I expected to have at least another hour of light after I got off work, and I planned an activity around this, only to be shocked that it was dark when I left for the day.
It's annoying and there is no good reason for it as far as I can see. It's like taxes. It's something the government does to you every year at the same time that causes inconvenience. And the government should not be allowed to do such things to the People it supposedly serves. I think that the government has no business requiring a detail of all of my ecnomic activities for the last year -- especially not when they could get even more tax revenue than they currently do from the FairTax, which does not involve the IRS prying into your affairs (which really are none of their business).
It just seems like if the governmnet can find a way to inconvenience us, it does. And Daylight Savings time is just another example. But maybe I'm overreacting.
As one who still has a lot of farmers living in the surrounding area, I don't believe it's a waste of time to change the time to better suit the day light. It's annoying, yes, and there's probably a better way to do things, but I don't think it's really that big of a sacrifice to make to accomadate those who feed us.
I hate the change--every year I find it harder to adjust, particularly those first few days of DST in April. But I like having the "extra" hour in the evening.
One year, during the oil shortage of the 1970s, this area (all of the U.S., too?) was on DST for the entire year. The idea was that energy would be saved. Didn't quite work out because schools were beginning their day in the pitch dark; classes were watching the sun rise every morning. Something disconcerting about that, plus the danger of students having to wait in the dark at the bus stops.
I overslept this morning. My body said that it was 6:00 a.m., but the clock said an hour later. I'll have to set my alarm clock for at least a week. My body will have adjusted by then.
Just a funny here...Our four cats get particularly confused when we "change time." They don't mind the change in April, of course, but in the fall they go wacko for weeks as they perceive their feeding time is late. So in the fall, they serve as our alarm clock. LOL.
My work schedule is strange enough as it is. Wednesday and Thursday I go in at 11:PM and get off at 7:AM. Friday I'm off. Saturday, Sunday and Monday I go in at 3:PM and get off at 11:PM. I'm off on Tuesday. Move the clock ahead or back an hour and it takes me about a week to get a clue. I can't see how anyone really gains a thing by officially changing the clock. I don't think the time change effects our cats. They run for the food and water any time they see someone move no matter what time it is. Our dog had been starting her morning barking and howling at 9:AM. Now it starts at 8:00.
God Bless America, God Save The Republic.
Wow...I have to admit that this is news to me. Even while in college, I never heard of this term. Guess I was hanging out with the wrong crowd.
ok, this will be the student's response:
daylight "savings" time means i lose an hour of sleep every day. I already wake up at 5:50, and usually go to bed between 11-12, or after (just don't feel sleepy at otehr times.
farmers are about 3% of the population, and here's something, has anyone considered the effect of losing an hour of sleep on productivity for other people? Also, simply fiddling with the time would probably damage productivity.
i have proof, this was the second time or so this year i went into a 75% sleep, somehow i managed to still remember what the teacher was saying...
Way cool! Some very valid points! I appreciate you writing this.
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