Poll Daylight Savings Time

[HIjol]

Not on this planet…

From our Good Friend at AI…


Requirements for a 12-Hour Day, 365-Day Year

• • Zero Tilt: The planet must not lean on its axis.
  • 24-Hour Rotation: It must spin one time every 24 hours.
  • 365-Day Orbit: It must take 365 days to go around its star.
  • Location: You must stand right on the equator of that planet.

 

[Victoria]

A Pedant Writes:

Historically cultures have had "unequal hours". The period between daybreak and sunset was divided into the same number of periods regardless of the time of year - so summer daytime "hours" were longer than winter daytime "hours" (vice versa for the nights). There's nothing to stop us calling the time the sun comes up "8am" and the time the sun sets,"8pm" every day - people did do this.

In practice, cultures moved to "equal hours" with the mechanisation of time measurement (because it's much easier to make a clock with equal hours). The move away from industries such as agriculture (where natural rhthms remain important) towards those with artificial environments, and the development of reliable artificial lighting and heating, helped.

I think Japan was the major culture that was the last to use unequal hours. Some religious calendars still operate in this way.


<puts inner pedant back in box>

 

[HIjol]

<puts inner pedant back in box>

These days?
Keep it out!
We could probably use a little more pedantry...well...not so much use it as experience it...?

 

[camdudetenger2018]

3 more months until we turn the time back 1 hour behind

 

[Ovation]

3 more months until we turn the time back 1 hour behind

To the clock’s proper setting. Should stay there from then on (though, sadly, it won’t).

 

[Avro Arrow]

To the clock’s proper setting.

We spend two-thirds of our time on Daylight time, and only one-third on Standard time. Daylight time is the de facto "normal" time for most of us.

(And yes, I understand that Standard time is calibrated so that at noon, the sun is more or less at its highest point in the sky (with variances depending on where you are within your specific time zone). I get that. But I would surmise that for most of us, the position of the sun at noon isn't really all that relevant to our day-to-day lives.)

 

[Ovation]

We spend two-thirds of our time on Daylight time, and only one-third on Standard time. Daylight time is the de facto "normal" time for most of us.

(And yes, I understand that Standard time is calibrated so that at noon, the sun is more or less at its highest point in the sky (with variances depending on where you are within your specific time zone). I get that. But I would surmise that for most of us, the position of the sun at noon isn't really all that relevant to our day-to-day lives.)

The science is pretty clear. Our bodies and brains function better on standard time. I’ve seen nothing that would persuade me to disagree. If persuasive evidence ever emerges, I will reconsider my position.

 

[camdudetenger2018]

To the clock’s proper setting. Should stay there from then on (though, sadly, it won’t).

in other words you want to keep changing the clocks 1 hour behind when fall starts and then keep changing the clocks 1 hour ahead when spring starts

but most people do not want to do that and just wants to keep the time to stay the same as it is right now where its night fall between 7 pm and 8 pm then sun rise between 7 am and 8 am

 

[Ovation]

in other words you want to keep changing the clocks 1 hour behind when fall starts and then keep changing the clocks 1 hour ahead when spring starts

but most people do not want to do that and just wants to keep the time to stay the same as it is right now where its night fall between 7 pm and 8 pm then sun rise between 7 am and 8 am

Entirely incorrect. I want the clocks to be on standard time all year round. No need for “daylight saving time” at all.

 

[Kraig]

The science is pretty clear. Our bodies and brains function better on standard time. I’ve seen nothing that would persuade me to disagree. If persuasive evidence ever emerges, I will reconsider my position.

in other words you want to keep changing the clocks 1 hour behind when fall starts and then keep changing the clocks 1 hour ahead when spring starts

but most people do not want to do that and just wants to keep the time to stay the same as it is right now where its night fall between 7 pm and 8 pm then sun rise between 7 am and 8 am

If you don't put in other words, it sounds to me like Ovation wants to return to standard time and stay in standard time year round. I can get behind that.

 

[Avro Arrow]

The science is pretty clear. Our bodies and brains function better on standard time.

I'm familiar with that; I believe I even acknowledged it in the OP. I don't think I've ever claimed that my desire for permanent daylight time is anything other than my own preference.

What's unusual, is that for once, my opinion is actually the majority opinion, at least here in Canada:

End Daylight Saving Time

End Daylight Saving Time as most Canadians want to stop clock changes, with many preferring permanent daylight saving time.

angusreid.org

 

[MurphyCooper]

A common emotional argument I see often in places is that changing or ending Daylight Savings time will "put kids in danger" because they "have to wait outside" in the dark. If that is really what people are getting hung up on, they should be saying that schools should be starting later year round if that is what they are concerned about.

I always see these "think of the Children" arguments as a way to avoid changing the status quo.

Most people support ending Daylight Savings time. I would prefer it be lighter later in the Winters, since it would feel less depressing in the Winter when it is already getting darker earlier.

The science is pretty clear. Our bodies and brains function better on standard time. I’ve seen nothing that would persuade me to disagree. If persuasive evidence ever emerges, I will reconsider my position.

While you may correct, I am desperate enough to see it ended that I wouldn't particularly care all that much which of the two is chosen.

 

[Kraig]

A common emotional argument I see often in places is that changing or ending Daylight Savings time will "put kids in danger" because they "have to wait outside" in the dark. If that is really what people are getting hung up on, they should be saying that schools should be starting later year round if that is what they are concerned about.

I always see these "think of the Children" arguments as a way to avoid changing the status quo.

Most people support ending Daylight Savings time. I would prefer it be lighter later in the Winters, since it would feel less depressing in the Winter when it is already getting darker earlier.

While you may correct, I am desperate enough to see it ended that I wouldn't particularly care all that much which of the two is chosen.

Start school at a later time.

 

[Ovation]

Start school at a later time.

Schools start early so as not to inconvenience the parents. It has no material benefit from an educational standpoint (starting my 37th year as an educator—have taught every grade level from Jr. kindergarten to undergrads).

 

[Kraig]

Schools start early so as not to inconvenience the parents. It has no material benefit from an educational standpoint (starting my 37th year as an educator—have taught every grade level from Jr. kindergarten to undergrads).

The kids are going to be in the dark around here, at least on one leg of the trip, in the winter. The sun is above the horizon for less than 8 hours in December. Unless they shorten the school day, the kids are either going to school in the dark in the morning if they keep DST year round, or going home in the dark if they are on Standard Time in the evening.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Pieces continue to fall into place. In April, the province of Manitoba announced they were going to be ending the time changes, and just needed to decide if they were going to move to permanent daylight time or permanent standard time. Although Premier Wab Kinew personally favoured permanent standard time, he, being the rock star that he is, actually listened to the people of Manitoba... and the Manitoban government announced today that Manitoba will be adopting permanent daylight time, and will therefore not change their clocks back this November.

The government had run a survey asking for public opinion on the question, and 58% of respondents preferred to stay on permanent daylight time, versus 34% who wanted to stay on standard time.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/daylight-time-manitoba-9.7347844

This means that now all four western provinces will be on permanent daylight time. Come on, Doug Ford, it's time to update the Time Amendment Act and remove the stipulation that we need to wait for Quebec and New York in order to move to permanent daylight time ourselves. Let's just join our western provinces and do it now.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I guess joining them will put more pressure on the rest of the provinces to follow suit.

I have to admit though, that I'm still mixed on this. This seems to benefit more the closer to the equator you are, but the further north you get, the more disproportionately one gets affected. I'd hate to be Alaska stuck on DST for instance.

I guess we can always switch and see if we like it, and fall back to the old switcheroo if we don't. But I think we did that once before too, and in the end we ended up switching back.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I guess we can always switch and see if we like it, and fall back to the old switcheroo if we don't. But I think we did that once before too, and in the end we ended up switching back.

I hadn't heard of us trying it before, but I looked into it, and you are absolutely correct! During World War II, Canada adopted permanent daylight time as a wartime measure. We removed it at the end of the war, although it sounds like that was just a planned ending of the policy because it was no longer "needed", not because of any great backlash.

However, I did find this article online from 1945 that shows that by the end of the war, support for permanent daylight time had dropped 10 percentage points since 1944, and support for permanent standard time had increased by 9 percentage points over the same period. The highest support, however, was to continue to keep switching the clocks back and forth.

 

[camdudetenger2018]

oh ya next month ends or was it begins this years daylight saving time

 

[PlainSimpleJoel]

How about starting tomorrow. That is when the nonsense starts here. Thankfully most devices do the task automatically now.