Indiana and DST

[RWIndiana]

I know no one who doesn't live in Indiana probably doesn't care, but it sounds like we may be switching to Daylight Savings Time (again). Well I liked it just the way it was and I don't think it will help business a bit. That's one thing Indiana was ahead of it's time on, the time. lol. I mean, changing the clocks is just a pain, and most of the world doesn't even do it. Why can't the rest of the country follow Indiana's example? Does anyone even like DST or benefit from it? Why chop off one side of the covers and sew it to the other? What really is the point?

I think it's a conspiricy.

 

[Mercutio]

I live in the part of Indiana that's on Central time. I greatly prefer to have hours of light later in the day. Being on Central Standard time in the winter means that, in December, it can be fully dark at 4:30 in the afternoon, which means that a lot of people end up with zero chance to see daylight on the way to and from work.

If the rest of Indiana can't get off its backwards ass to change clocks like everyone else in the Western Hemisphere, I have to think that's Indiana's problem.

There is something wrong with this state. I swear. I hate it here.

 

[iGary]

...like everyone else in the Western Hemisphere, I have to think that's Indiana's problem...

I believe the whole of Arizona also does not observe Daylight Saving Time (note that I said Saving, not Savings).

And, to make things a LOT more complicated than they ever needed to be, I believe Panama and a few island nations out in the Pacific Ocean bump their official local times by + or - 30 minutes from the rest of the globe.

 

[Fushigi]

Here's a list of 64 time zones in use around the world and if they use DST or not and when it occurs. Lots of variation and the list is not complete; there are something like 96 or 100 time zones/variations in use on earth. Check out Newfoundland and Chatham Islands.

The list may take a minute to load as the site uses a Java navigator so it'll have to load Java & init the app.


RW, which do you want to do? Change your schedule around because everything that's scheduled outside of Indiana changes (i.e. TV, etc.) or change your clocks?

I grew up in central Indiana and now live in Illinois so I've dealt with both ways of doing it and I'm still not really sure which is worse. To me, nothing should change and people should just realize that the sunrise/sunset varies from day to day and season to season.

Actually, thinking about it DST is a little bit worse. Mostly because during winter I wind up driving to both work and home in the dark. Unless I go out for lunch I don't get any sunlight.

 

[Bartender]

Actually, thinking about it DST is a little bit worse. Mostly because during winter I wind up driving to both work and home in the dark. Unless I go out for lunch I don't get any sunlight.

During the winter we use Standard Time. So, if we stuck to Daylight Time, you might have a better chance of seeing the sun in the morning.

 

[sechs]

Isn't DST about saving energy and not convenience?

 

[Pradeep]

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-day22.html

WASHINGTON -- When people go through the ritual of moving their clocks forward each spring ushering in daylight-saving time, they're also saving energy -- the equivalent of thousands of barrels of oil, in fact.

Congress says a good thing can be made better.

The House, in approving a massive energy bill, would extend daylight saving to the first Sunday in March and to the last Sunday in November. It now starts in early April and ends in late October.

 

[Fushigi]

How about that breakdown of the 'energy bill' listed in the article?

- Harm the environment in Alaska in favor of oil company profits. This does not benefit the US population. It harms wildlife, nature, and otherwise serves to add to corporate profits.
- Give tax breaks to oil, gas, etc. companies. Again no benefit to the US population; just to big business.
- Protect MTBE manufacturers from lawsuits. Hugely anti-consumer.
- Require some use of corn-based ethanol over the next 8 years. I might call this OK but I don't know what the current requirement is. If it's like the "Clean Air Act" it could be worse than what was already mandated.
- Provide a tax credit for people who make their homes slightly more efficient to heat/cool. Still a huge benefit for US energy companies. Really, if the gov't wanted us to make our homes more efficient, a tax credit would be provided for installing energy efficient appliances & HVAC systems. Replacing a 1970s furnace with a modern unit would reduce energy consumption far more than replacing a few windows.

This is yet another piece of evidence that the current US administration does not act on the behalf of the US population.

Oh yeah, the article also said the resulting decrease in consumption could be 100K barrels a day ''And that's using consumption figures from the 1970s. The actual savings should be even higher.''

Uh, numbers from the 70s have no bearing on energy consumption today. Numbers from the 70s don't include the hundreds of millions of PCs in homes and businesses. They don't factor in increased efficiencies in motors, HVAC systems, appliances, & lighting systems. Look at the energy a new refridgerator draws vs. one from that era. My fridge draws less power than the average light bulb.

The numbers wouldn't factor in anything with an Energy Star label, which is darn near everything that draws a substantial amount of electricity nowadays. They wouldn't include cel phone/PDA/MP3 player/battery chargers, microwave ovens (and their displacement of regular stove/oven use), VCRsDVDs, big-screen TVs, anything related to video games, cars that get more than 12 MPG, etc.

OK, enough venting. How exactly does changing your clock reduce energy consumption? The article doesn't say.

 

[RWIndiana]

The House, in approving a massive energy bill, would extend daylight saving to the first Sunday in March and to the last Sunday in November. It now starts in early April and ends in late October.

That is very strange. That means it would only be three months that we would be on Standard time. In other words, why not just move the whole country--permenantly--one hour ahead?? If this passes, hopefully we will be put on Central time so not much changes here.

By the way, I can understand arguments FOR Daylight Savingsssssssss (oops, S got stuck. Haha) Time, but they all hinge on the fact that "everybody else does it." Take that away, and there is absolutely no reason to observe such a silly ritual. It's oppression.

And Merc, I'm shocked that you would seem to agree with the Republicans on this one. But I would get annoyed too if it got dark at 4:30. Of course, your county will probably opt out of Eastern time anyway, since that option is going to be made available.

 

[Mercutio]

This argument probably seems silly to JoJo and bahngeist. IIRC they are both far enough north to get months-long day and night.

And RW, from time to time I will say that republicans have a good idea. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day, after all. Er, unless it's a 24 hour clock. In which case it's just once a day. And now that I think about it, republicans are more like that 24-hour clock, but really a 24 hour clock with seconds and tenths, hundredths and thousandths of seconds. They aren't right very often, and when they are, it isn't for very long.

 

[GIANT]

Isn't DST about saving energy and not convenience?

This was the reason Presidents Nixon, then Carter (all back in the '70s) decided to extended Daylight Saving Time to a year-round event. Boy, did that sukc!

Otherwise, DST has been around for over a hundred years.

...Even a stopped clock is right twice a day,...

And to make things worse, a stuck sundial continues to be correct all the time.

 

[sechs]

I, for one, have wondered why California wasn't on Mountain time. That would make sense to me pretty much all year round.

 

[GIANT]

I, for one, have wondered why California wasn't on Mountain time. That would make sense to me pretty much all year round.

About 30 or so years ago, the whole state of Maine was in the Atlantic Time Zone along with New Brunswick, Laborador, Nova Scotia, and PEI.

 

[sechs]

I figure that they did that just to piss off the people in Massachusetts.