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posted by martyb on Sunday November 03 2019, @09:07AM   Printer-friendly
from the Not-Worth-It dept.

[Ed note: In Europe the clocks changed last weekend 26/27 Oct. And, as an aside, the EU is proposing scrapping the entire idea of changing clocks forwards/backwards which is receiving a lot of support.]

Daylight Saving Time - innocently conceived by the notorious early riser Benjamin Franklin, was not instituted in the United States until 1918 (because the Germans did it two years earlier and were already up taking advantage of the extra hour of daylight, so the hyper-competitive USA just had to do it also), has a variety of downsides (more prevalent in the Spring) including - Disrupted Sleep, Car Crashes, Stress, Heart Problems, Disrupted internal Clocks, and a variety of negative effects related to these (Obesity, depression, reduced performance, reduced alertness, increased blood pressure, inflammation, harsher sentencing, etc. etc.)

It is Fall however, and this Sunday is the better half of the DST coin where we gain an extra hour of sleep, and on Monday potentially smile briefly at our co-workers before staggering eerily towards the break room muttering cooofffeeeeeeee.

This Sunday, people across the United States can rest easy, literally, as they'll get an extra hour of sleep because daylight saving time comes to an end.

The change happens at 2 a.m. local daylight time on Nov. 3. While most wireless devices will "fall back" on their own, it's up to you to switch manual clocks — including those on microwaves, ovens and wristwatches — one hour back.

This means that as soon as the clock ticks to 2 a.m. on Sunday, it can be turned back to 1 a.m.

Daylight saving (not savings, as it's sometimes called) time won't start again until March 8, 2020, when the United States will, once again, "spring forward" an hour. [Daylight Saving Time 2019: A Guide to the When, Why, What and How]

So enjoy it for now, but unless our government suddenly decides to randomly do something that would be hugely popular across constituencies, inexpensive, relatively non controversial, and generally beneficial for the populace, know that you'll pay again for this brief respite in a few short months.

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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Sunday November 03 2019, @10:15AM (4 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Sunday November 03 2019, @10:15AM (#915275) Journal

    and a variety of negative effects related to these (Obesity, depression, reduced performance, reduced alertness, increased blood pressure, inflammation, harsher sentencing, etc. etc.)

    Yes, I see the "etc., etc.", but I don't know if you realize the more serious consequences of DST that "et cætera" covers:
    - skyrocketing out-of-pocket heath costs
    - spiraling values of student loans
    - increased homelessness in California
    - Trump's election - plot his election date against DST change date and you'll have a high a correlation. Coincidence? I don't think so
    - the rise of both alt-right and the aristarchus' submission frequency and relevance.

    (large grin)

    point: one can blame DST for all and any bad things in this world, it's cheap, no citation needed. So how about when we get rid of DST and all the things blamed on it continue to be present, what other scape-goat will we find?

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  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday November 03 2019, @11:43AM (3 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday November 03 2019, @11:43AM (#915293) Journal

    DST has a direct correlation to the annual increase in deer populations, resulting in more automobile and deer collisions.

    • (Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Sunday November 03 2019, @11:47AM (2 children)

      by maxwell demon (1608) on Sunday November 03 2019, @11:47AM (#915296) Journal

      But you cannot deny that DST works: During daylight saving time, on average the day lasts longer than during normal time.

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 03 2019, @07:02PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 03 2019, @07:02PM (#915403)
        Not a fact. Yesterday sunrise was around 7:30 am, when I wake up. Today it was at 6:30 am, when I was asleep. The darkness will come today around 5pm, when most people are active, moving around, returning home. I see no advantage.
        • (Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Monday November 04 2019, @06:36AM

          by maxwell demon (1608) on Monday November 04 2019, @06:36AM (#915636) Journal

          Err ... you obviously neither understand what Daylight Saving Time is (hint: without DST, the previous day at sunrise it would have been 6:30, too), nor did you understand my post — you don't really deny that the days in summer are longer than those in winter, do you? And yes, that would be the case even without DST —Whoosh!

          --
          The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.