Daylight Saving Time Change On Sunday For N. America

An anonymous reader writes Just a reminder that DST starts this weekend for most of North America. The majority of people feel that DST is a bad idea and want it to stop. If that was done, the main question would then probably be whether to go to Standard time year-round, or "summer" time year-round (more). For the latter, there is some evidence that it helps reduce crime (at least initially); for the former, more northern locations would have sunrise occur 08:30 or later, which would make the morning commute difficult. Some even argue that the U.S. should go to only two timezones. The DST change occurs at the end of March in the EU, so there will be a second round of confusion for trans-Atlantic conference calls then.

Comments

Re:The majority?

[houstonbofh]

> The majority of people feel that DST is a bad idea....

Do you have a source for this?

Listening to perople bitch about it this time of year is a good one. But this also works... http://www.timeanddate.com/tim... See "Losing U.S. popularity - According to a Rasmussen Report from 2013, only 37 % of Americans see the purpose of DST compared to 45 % the year before."

Exception to the exception to the exception

[jabberw0k]

Except the Navajo Nation within Arizona, which goes observes Daylight Time, except the Hopi Nation within the Navajo Reservation which doesn't.

Re:Oh really?

[houstonbofh]

http://www.timeanddate.com/tim...
"Losing U.S. popularity - According to a Rasmussen Report from 2013, only 37 % of Americans see the purpose of DST compared to 45 % the year before."

No time zones, no DST, centons

[duckintheface]

The easiest solution is to have one time worldwide. Essentially, use the military Zulu time (Greenwich Mean Time) for everything. Then there is no confusion about what time it is and international (and coast to coast) communication would be simplified.

And while we are at it, let's eliminate the 24 hr day and 60 minute hour which are based on Sumerian arithmetic. Let's use digital (base 10) time. The primary unit would be the Centon (1/100th of a planetary rotation) which would mean there would be 100 Centons in a day and each would be equal to about 15 of your puny Earthling minutes. Millons would then be equivalent to 1.5 minutes and the new second (.001 Centons) would be about the same as the existing second. Easy to deal with.

The issue of daylight would be dealt with locally. Shops and offices would open at whatever time they choose (just like they do now) but it would probably be the equivalent of the old 8AM or 9AM.

There. I've solved it for you, so no further discussion is necessary. :)

Re:No time zones, no DST, centons

[zenaida_valdez]

Sounds good. Where do I sign up?

Set your Wayback Machine for the French Revolution, Paris, France, 5 October 1793. The French National Convention issued the proclamation: XI. Le jour, de minuit à minuit, est divisé en dix parties, chaque partie en dix autres, ainsi de suite jusqu’à la plus petite portion commensurable de la durée.

There are clocks in French museums with 10 hours in a day, 100 minutes in an hour and 100 seconds in a minute.

Re:No time zones, no DST, centons

[Anonymous Coward]

Growing up farming, we didn't care about the time on the clock, the cows had to be dealt with at the same time, the fields were dealt with when they were ready regardless of the time the clock showed. Plowing (prior to the no-till stuff), planting once it was light enough and the conditions right it didn't matter what time the clock said. Hay started about 2-3 hours after sunrise to let the dew dry off for cutting - bailing happened in the afternoons or whenever it was dry (you don't want wet or even damp hay), again the clock didn't matter it was all conditions. If the hay was dry and you could see it was bailing time regardless of the clock.

The only thing the clock mattered on is what time the stores opened or closed in case something was needed from there.

Personally I'd vote to keep DST year around.