4 ms·

Group of bipartisan senators pushes for permanent Daylight Saving Time

36 points by mancerayder 6y ago

h2odragon 6y ago
I definitely approve of "quit messing with the clocks"; but why take the positive action of legislatively mandating them incorrect; when "step back and cease this foolishness" seems so much more sensible?
- justinlink 6y ago
  What makes them incorrect? Because they do not match solar time? If you wanted to make them correct, you'd need to do away with time zones entirely and go back to each local area having their own time. Sunrise today in Knoxville TN was at 6:53. 180 miles to the west, in Nashville, TN it was at 6:03. We can make time whatever we want it to be, let's make it where it has the most benefit to the population, and the research has shown that is daylight savings time.
  - lainga 6y ago
    Well, for one, I think a lot of existing systems have the assumption that "this place is UTC-8 except for in this special case" and not the other way around. Also, the UTC-5 zone in North America (for instance) aligns geographically with the band of the Earth you'd get if you split it into 24 equal zones and went 5 back from Greenwich. If you went to permanent DST the bounds would all be shifted by 15 degrees of longitude.
    - kadoban 6y ago
      Do they really? I can never even remember which one is the "normal" time and which is offset. They're just two arbitrary adjacent offsets from UTC for me. (or really only one these days, I now live a place that skips the switch). I'd think any technical systems also work pretty arbitrarily between the two.
  - ppf 6y ago
    >Because they do not match solar time? Precisely that. If we want to re-define things to make the most of the daylight, when why don't we just start everything one hour earlier? It would achieve exactly the same outcome, and twelve noon would line up with solar noon (give or take, but you can't have everything).
    - benchaney 6y ago
      > why don't we just start everything one hour earlier? Because that is an impossible coordination problem, while moving to permanent DST could be done easily. I don’t see why being close to solar time matters, when it is such a moving target. Time systems are tools. They aren’t propositions about the natural world. It is only important for them to be accurate representations of some underlying natural phenomena when that makes them more useful as tools. I don’t see how nearness to Solar time does that on the scale we are talking about.
  - N1H1L 6y ago
    Weird to see Knoxville suddenly pop up all of a sudden
fargle 6y ago
Only daylight savings time would be far better than the current system in the US. No more clock turning twice a year. It takes me 5 1/2 months to get my sleep cycle back in sync each time. Gah! I used to live in AZ, and they have it Right! But better yet would be stay on Standard time always. Why should solar noon be approximately 1PM? It also means you wake up in the dark every day. Stop goofing with the measurements. If you want to legislate something, mess with school hours or something. It's like fixing our fleet fuel consumption by changing the definition of the mile and the gallon. Oooh look my 2022 Royota Titantica four row SUV gets 187 miles* to the gallon* (new miles, new gallon).

36 points by mancerayder 6y ago

I definitely approve of "quit messing with the clocks"; but why take the positive action of legislatively mandating them incorrect; when "step back and cease this foolishness" seems so much more sensible?

justinlink 6y ago
What makes them incorrect? Because they do not match solar time? If you wanted to make them correct, you'd need to do away with time zones entirely and go back to each local area having their own time. Sunrise today in Knoxville TN was at 6:53. 180 miles to the west, in Nashville, TN it was at 6:03. We can make time whatever we want it to be, let's make it where it has the most benefit to the population, and the research has shown that is daylight savings time.
- lainga 6y ago
  Well, for one, I think a lot of existing systems have the assumption that "this place is UTC-8 except for in this special case" and not the other way around. Also, the UTC-5 zone in North America (for instance) aligns geographically with the band of the Earth you'd get if you split it into 24 equal zones and went 5 back from Greenwich. If you went to permanent DST the bounds would all be shifted by 15 degrees of longitude.
  - kadoban 6y ago
    Do they really? I can never even remember which one is the "normal" time and which is offset. They're just two arbitrary adjacent offsets from UTC for me. (or really only one these days, I now live a place that skips the switch). I'd think any technical systems also work pretty arbitrarily between the two.
- ppf 6y ago
  >Because they do not match solar time? Precisely that. If we want to re-define things to make the most of the daylight, when why don't we just start everything one hour earlier? It would achieve exactly the same outcome, and twelve noon would line up with solar noon (give or take, but you can't have everything).
  - benchaney 6y ago
    > why don't we just start everything one hour earlier? Because that is an impossible coordination problem, while moving to permanent DST could be done easily. I don’t see why being close to solar time matters, when it is such a moving target. Time systems are tools. They aren’t propositions about the natural world. It is only important for them to be accurate representations of some underlying natural phenomena when that makes them more useful as tools. I don’t see how nearness to Solar time does that on the scale we are talking about.
- N1H1L 6y ago
  Weird to see Knoxville suddenly pop up all of a sudden

fargle 6y ago

Only daylight savings time would be far better than the current system in the US. No more clock turning twice a year. It takes me 5 1/2 months to get my sleep cycle back in sync each time. Gah! I used to live in AZ, and they have it Right! But better yet would be stay on Standard time always. Why should solar noon be approximately 1PM? It also means you wake up in the dark every day. Stop goofing with the measurements. If you want to legislate something, mess with school hours or something. It's like fixing our fleet fuel consumption by changing the definition of the mile and the gallon. Oooh look my 2022 Royota Titantica four row SUV gets 187 miles* to the gallon* (new miles, new gallon).