EU To Stop Changing the Clocks in October 2019 (dw.com)
European Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc last week announced that the EU will stop the twice-yearly changing of clocks across the continent in October 2019. From a report: The practice, which was used as a means to conserve energy during the World Wars as well as the oil crises of the 1970s, became law across the bloc in 1996. All EU countries are required to move forward by an hour on the last Sunday of March and back by an hour on the final Sunday in October. Bulc said EU member states would have until April 2019 to decide whether they would permanently remain on summer or winter time. [...] "In order to maintain a harmonised approach we are encouraging consultations at national levels to ensure a coordinated approach of all member states," Bulc said.
The decision to tackle the issue was prompted after the Commission launched an online survey. Some 4.6 million Europeans answered the survey -- three million of those respondents were from Germany -- with 80 percent of them voting to scrap the practice .
Let's go for Double-Dutch Daylight Savings - permanently!!
(RIP Tommy)
#DeleteChrome
DST is a waste of time. Now it is time for the U.S. to do the same.
October 2018 (obviously impossible) would have enshrined this into the UK transitional period too. Haven't heard anything about what the UK will do - am really hoping we stop changing as well.
I responded to the survey voting for 'stop changing', so I'm happy with this.
How hard is it to use the phrase "daylight saving"?
- Chuq
If I read the OP correctly, countries can decide which time zone they're in but not change twice a year. Am I wrong?
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. George Orwell
I consider myself a "purist" and wish that we'd just stop using DST completely and just go with "winter" time year-round.
The more south you go, the less "saving" daylight is needed since there's less daylight variance between the seasons.
The more north you go the more "extreme" sunrises would get if you use "summer" time (DST) in the winter. Once you get into longitude 40N range (NYC, Detroit, Toronto), if you use 'summer time' in the winter you get sunrise at 8:30. Sunsets will be at 5:30 instead of 4:30, and that's hardly worth much IMHO.
We have electrical lights now: is it that big of a deal that it gets dark "sooner"? The last time it was really dark in an urban area was giant 2003 blackout. I'd rather have earlier sunrises, as otherwise people's circadian rhythms are going to all sorts of fucked up (especially dangerous while driving).
I hate people saying "I prefer day light savings time because <reasons>."
Why?
Because the clock already have a definition which make sense.
12 is the middle of the day. Sun as near zenith as it can be.
00 is the complete opposite. Sun as far away as possible.
As soon as the clock pass 00:00:00 you're moving towards the brighter part instead of the darker part.
It's symmetrical and make logical sense.
I totally understand if some people wish they had more light hours after work or if current schedules are setup so that they are more awake in the evening than in the morning for whatever reason and as such prefer it that way. But that's all changeable without messing with the clock and how that the earths rotation around the sun. Let 00 be when you are turned away from the sun and 12 be when you are turned against it still. As for all that other crap change that if you want too. If you want to maximize sun hours why aren't people going to bed at 20 and up at 04 instead for instance? Totally achievable. You don't have to screw up the clock for that!
"But it's so much work! It's easier to just change the clock!" ... but change the times/schedules/opening hours/.. not the definitions for how a freaking clock work.
I guess that could be argued vs the current setup where we move the clock twice per year. It's likely less work to change those things once and then stop doing those changes than doing those changes all the time but not changing opening hours and what not.
But yeah. It would be a bit of work. But definitely not something which can be done. And yeah, if we stuck with winter time all the time it likely would make sense to change things around one hour because as is summer time run for a longer time than winter time so that's the more common hours for things, so what we are used to and it's fine keeping it like those in the winter too.
And if you are going to change the clock anyway then change it to 1000 hours, 1000 minutes and 1000 seconds ir 10 of each while at it because that would make more sense than especially the analog clock which do two rotations in one day and the am and pm crap you people got in some societies.
You might want to (a) realise that not everyone gets to choose their work hours and (b) 1200 is not solar maximum in any timezone for the entire year for any location. Do try harder.
Although the name implies it, daylight saving time does not actually make the day longer.
Hah! Well I guess somebody better tell Mr Sun he can get back to his normal orbit* speed around our Earth during the winter time!
*High Blood Pressure Warning: This comment may cause sudden spikes in blood pressure. If experiencing any chest pains or numbness, please consult a doctor immediately.
I tend to rant.
In Scotland they'll be set to Scotch Time and in NI they'll be set to Whiskey Time, of course.
Why would you set your time to 'All the time'?
You are right, it is not an issue in other languages, because the time between spring and autumn/fall is just called "summer", an not "summertime".
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
Set the clocks where ever it makes people happy, just stop changing them. The idea that there's some objective reason to have 12 be at some particular time of day is nonsense.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Nobody is stupid enough to actually strangle the classes that create wealth by not giving them a foot out of the tax door, so to speak.
Nitpick - they don't create wealth, they're merely major redistributors of wealth. They're the pumps, not the sources.
It's really not, the choice of 'permanent summer/winter time' is really functionally identical to choosing a different time zone. So the forced choice meaning there is no "default" inertia is simply opportunity for Spain, France, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg tio return to their 'natural' time zone (by longitude) 1 hr west of Germany/Italy/etc, which was only altered due to Nazi occupation. On the other side, if Poland wants to be 1 hour east of Germany in same zone as Baltics, that is plausible policy too. The thing is, every country has ALWAYS been able to designate it's time zone, that was never controlled by EU, and even before EU/EC countries tend to either be in same zone as neighbor, or 1 hr offset from immediate east/west. If you approach this as subjective preference re: summer/winter you might imagine patchwork of variation, but functionally it is no different than choosing a time zone, which countries have always approached pragmatically in relation to their neighbors. The borders of time zones may change somewhat, but they've done so before (in fact, creating the un-natural time situation for Spain as well as FR/BE/NE/LUX) and that isn't really anything to worry about.
Look, it took only a decade of pressure and a public petition with a majority reminiscent of old soviet style elections to strong-arm our politicians into doing one simple thing right.
There may still be hope for this planet. At this speed, somewhere around 2350 they will decide that climate change is actually a bad thing and they ought to do something about it.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org