Seen on the street in Kyiv.

Words of Advice:

"If Something Seems To Be Too Good To Be True, It's Best To Shoot It, Just In Case." -- Fiona Glenanne

“The Mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” -- The TOFF *

"Foreign Relations Boil Down to Two Things: Talking With People or Killing Them." -- Unknown

“Speed is a poor substitute for accuracy.” -- Real, no-shit, fortune from a fortune cookie

"If you believe that you are talking to G-d, you can justify anything.” — my Dad

"Colt .45s; putting bad guys in the ground since 1873." -- Unknown

"Stay Strapped or Get Clapped." -- probably not Mr. Rogers

"The Dildo of Karma rarely comes lubed." -- Unknown

"Eck!" -- George the Cat

* "TOFF" = Treasonous Orange Fat Fuck, A/K/A Dolt-45,
A/K/A Commandante (or Cadet) Bone Spurs,
A/K/A El Caudillo de Mar-a-Lago, A/K/A the Asset., A/K/A P01135809

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Daylight Savings Time

The way the change to and from Daylight Savings Time makes no sense to me.

We changed from DST to Standard Time last November 1st and changed back to DST early today) March 14th.

The Winter Solstice, the day of the shortest daylight in the northern temperate areas, was December 21st.

Which means that we changed from DST 50 days before the Winter Solstice and back to DST 83 days after the Winter Solstice.

Does this make a degree of sense to anyone? Should we not have changed to DST about February 9th (or to Standard Time near September 29th? As I understand it, the whole idea behind keeping Standard Time at all is so the little curtain climbers aren't waiting for their buses in the dark (since it seems that damn few kids walk to school anymore). So why isn't it evened out on either side of the Winter Solstice?

10 comments:

Marc said...

Saving energy was the reason I was always given. By setting the clock further ahead (I was told), we use less electricity at night -- but this should be offset by getting up earlier in the morning, as I would figure it.

Distributorcap said...

nothing ever makes sense...... i just know it is dark in the morning

SkinnyDennis said...

I recall reading studies that show DST increases energy use.

Go figure...

More info than you'd ever need (or want) to know at wikipedia.

Including the correct usage of the term "Daylight Saving Time".

polizeros said...

FYI: the shortest days is usually about Dec. 7. The earliest sunset is on the solstice. So, from the 7th to the solstice the days get longer but the sunset is earlier.

No one believes this at first, including me. Until they look at a sunrise / sunset calender. :)

Anonymous said...

Who makes money from this being how it is now? It was a Bush administration thing, as I recall.
SOMEBODY is making money.
Who?

DaProf said...

polizeros: According to the US Naval Observatory tables for my city the shortest amount of daylight in 2010 will be on 12/22, 9+26. There will be 9+33 of daylight on 12/7. The earliest sunset occurs around the 7th.
FWIT, I think the new, expanded DST is not worth the trouble.

Comrade Misfit said...

If the latest sunrise of the year is on 12/7, that makes my comment about the imbalance of the before and after periods even stronger.

Anonymous said...

Giving multiple millions of people jet lag twice a year is not a good thing. The time changes suck.

dbliss said...

I'm guessing it's because the rugrats aren't in school before Septemberish.

DST is fucking, fucking stupid. I hate it and I want it to die.

Marc said...

JEG43 & DBLISS:

Move to Arizona or Hawaii, and you don't have to deal with it - except when talking to folks from some other states.