[The Godfather]

Reconfigure your analog and non-computerized digital clocks.

I was looking at the time zone map, and all other countries of our same longitude are doing fine with a constant UTC. Can somebody remind me why the US stays on this? Do we have compelling reasons to keep it at the standard time?

The only positive thing about PDT is that Apple is one hour ahead making hardware and software

[subego]

It's latitude.

You don't need it in Florida, but it helps here in Illinois.

[Dork.]

The real problem is the fact that DST dates are totally arbitrary, and politicians like tweaking them. It changed in the US a few years ago, but you'd be surprised how often it changes in other places.

I would be all for moving the clocks forward 1 hour from standard time year-round, but I do live pretty far North.

[subego]

Also, in regards to latitude, note Canada does DST too.

[ghporter]

Somehow I don't think that many farmers ever worried about what time the clocks said. They milked the cows when the cows needed it (cows get pushy when they need milking), plowed and harvested at the appropriate solar time (that's what determines how hot the fields are), and generally ignored those clocks. I also doubt the suggestions of Congressmen that somehow we'll save energy by going to daylight saving time-except for people who don't get up until sunup, I'm somehow missing that point too.

Currently the US has DST from mid-March to early November-well over 6 months of the year. So where's the savings? Where's the safer streets? It all sounds like a big racket to me, though I haven't figured out just who it is that profits from it. Unless it's digital clock makers-one of mine was made before the most recent tweak to start/stop dates, so I have to manually change it.

[AKcrab]

Alaska used to be FOUR time zones. That's what we "should" be, so our times are jacked up compared to the actual sun already. Then we go ahead and pretty much arbitrarily change all four time zones (which is now one giant time zone) by an hour twice a year.

The whole thing is ridiculously stupid in Alaska. We're gaining 5m 44s of daylight a day, so any "change" we just made is gone in eleven days. It's just as ridiculous in the fall, when we're losing 5m+ of daylight per day.

So even with all this "fake" time in Alaska, our only choice is to not go on DST which would put Alaska two hours behind the west coast for half of the year, and one hour behind for half of the year.

For some reason, we're not allowed to "choose" which fake time we want. I would like to see us stay on DST permanently which would put us the SAME as the west coast half the year and and hour behind half the year.

[imitchellg5]

I was the only one tall enough at work to reach our clocks around the kitchen...

[mduell]

And Apple screws up daylight savings on iOS again.

Daylight savings helps to normalize sunrise time; it results in about 2 hours of variation instead of 3 at ~45 degrees latitude.

[ghporter]

I have far less problem with switching to DST in late April and back in late October than I do with the current dates. Having this "mid March" start doesn't seem to track with sunrise/sunset times.

On the other hand, let's look at a map of the US and see who's living north of 45ºN:

The northern part of Maine, a small bit of New Hampshire and Vermont, the tip of Lower Michigan and all of Upper Michigan, and basically the "northern tier" states-which have a combined population of 4 milliion people less than Texas alone*. The point here is that, if we're really just "normalizing" sunrise/sunset times for people at higher latitudes, where's the payoff for those of us at lower latitudes?

* Per Census Bureau data from 2009, found here.
ND 646,844
MT 974,989
ID 1,545,801
MN 5,266,214
WS 5,654,774
WA 6,664,195
Total 20,752,817
TX 24,782,302

[subego]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

where's the payoff for those of us at lower latitudes?

It's in the middle of winter when your weather doesn't suck.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by subego 

It's in the middle of winter when your weather doesn't suck.

It snowed here on February 4, and the WHOLE REGION shut down. We had at least 1/2" of snow in our yard. From overnight until about 10AM when it all melted. And the whole region was fubared for the whole day from this tiny amount of snow. My winter weather sucks plenty, though not necessarily in terms of frozen precipitation. Go a bit farther north, say the Dallas area, and they get plenty of "sucky" weather in the winter every year. And they get sundown at 9PM in July too. It's not really a good trade off.

[subego]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

Go a bit farther north, say the Dallas area, and they get plenty of "sucky" weather in the winter every year.

You're kidding, right?

[mduell]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

I have far less problem with switching to DST in late April and back in late October than I do with the current dates. Having this "mid March" start doesn't seem to track with sunrise/sunset times.

On the other hand, let's look at a map of the US and see who's living north of 45ºN:

The northern part of Maine, a small bit of New Hampshire and Vermont, the tip of Lower Michigan and all of Upper Michigan, and basically the "northern tier" states-which have a combined population of 4 milliion people less than Texas alone*. The point here is that, if we're really just "normalizing" sunrise/sunset times for people at higher latitudes, where's the payoff for those of us at lower latitudes?

It has the same sunset normalization effect for people at lower latitudes, they just experienced less swing to begin with. At 35 degrees latitude the swing with DST is about an hour instead of two.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by subego 

You're kidding, right?

Well maybe not the Dallas Metroplex proper, but west of there they get plenty of snow and crappy weather. Abilene, Lubbock, etc. get nasty weather every year. The Metroplex gets some crappy weather, just not as much as farther west. But the suggestion that "winter weather is just peachy in Texas is inaccurate by a long shot. On the other hand, during those "extra hours of daylight" in the summer months, much of Texas is hotter and more uncomfortable than many other spots. There's no "free lunch" in terms of weather here.

[subego]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

Abilene, Lubbock, etc. get nasty weather every year.

So, like this?

[Dork.]

Where did you get that picture of my driveway?



For the record, I'm at 43-ish Deg. N, and we definitely get some use out of DST. I just wish it wouldn't start so darn early in March.
Personally, I add that to the list of things that Bush fscked up.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by subego 

So, like this?

Nobody gets that kind of weather every year. In general the Midwest gets a lot less snow than that, spread out over the whole season. Which, by the way, helps people deal with the hazards of driving on such surfaces through practice. Places like San Antonio, where snow is practically mythical, don't get enough exposure to get that sort of practice.

But as I indicated earlier, suggesting that my winters make up for the extra daylight I put up with in the summer just isn't a valid trade.

[iM@k]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

I have far less problem with switching to DST in late April and back in late October than I do with the current dates. Having this "mid March" start doesn't seem to track with sunrise/sunset times.

On the other hand, let's look at a map of the US and see who's living north of 45ºN:

The northern part of Maine, a small bit of New Hampshire and Vermont, the tip of Lower Michigan and all of Upper Michigan, and basically the "northern tier" states-which have a combined population of 4 milliion people less than Texas alone*. The point here is that, if we're really just "normalizing" sunrise/sunset times for people at higher latitudes, where's the payoff for those of us at lower latitudes?

* Per Census Bureau data from 2009, found here.
ND 646,844
MT 974,989
ID 1,545,801
MN 5,266,214
WS 5,654,774
WA 6,664,195
Total 20,752,817
TX 24,782,302

The entire part of NH that's north of the 45th Parallel is the town of Pittsburgh. Add it's population in and it'll dramatically change your figures.