Saturday, 13 March, 2010

1. By LandStander. Comment posted 13-Mar-2010 @04:54pm:

   What we need is year-round double daylight saving time. Moving the clocks forward two hours PERMANENTLY would save energy, reduce crime and give us all a lot more pleasant sunlight after work and in the evenings - even in the Winter!
   
   Seriously, what kind of government mandates that during the winter, all 9-5 workers don't get off until it is dark outside? And then they give us extra sunlight AFTER the winter, when we need it least? It is already light now when I get off work without DST - so why didn't we have DST 2 months ago when it actually would have allowed the working massed to go run errands, picks up the kids, and so on with some sunlight?
   
   Will someone please get outraged with me?
2. By wally the duck. Comment posted 13-Mar-2010 @05:23pm:

   Does Dawn Boy know about this?
3. By Dar. Comment posted 13-Mar-2010 @05:55pm:

   What are the people in the "blue" parts doing?
   
   I'm with you LandStander, leave it daylight saving, double it, but definitely don't go "back to standard".
4. By banjo brad. Comment posted 13-Mar-2010 @06:21pm:

   I'd like to know more about all these "9-5 workers."
   
   My whole working life, the "standard" work hours were 8 to 5, with an hour lunch period. Of course, most of the time, I worked 7AM - 3:30PM (half-hour lunch), or 4PM - 12:30AM or 12:00AM to 7:30AM or, the best work schedule I ever had was 6:30AM to 5PM, Wednesday through Wednesday.
   
   Many's the time I left home before Sunup and got back after Sundown.
5. By NoAlias. Comment posted 13-Mar-2010 @06:37pm:

   The 'smart clocks' are a pain in the caboose for everyone now. I will set my bedroom alarm clock ahead tonight. Then, at the end of the month, it will automatically set itself ahead an hour (when DST used to start) and I will have to set it back. In the fall, I get to do the same thing except backwards.
6. By LandStander. Comment posted 13-Mar-2010 @07:07pm:

   @banjo brad
   I've only been part of the so-called 9-5 crown for a handful of years. I assumed "9-5" was what people did when paid lunches were more common, before my time. I've done 8-5 and now 8:30-5:30, though a lot of my office does 9-6.
7. By banjo brad. Comment posted 13-Mar-2010 @08:46pm:

   People in the blue parts are in California and Nevada. They're busy changing their clocks forward.
   
   The three "smart" clocks I have (computer and two Atomic clocks), all have had the switch set not to use DST.
   
   All I have to do is remember to replace the batteries in the 5 smoke detectors tomorrow.
8. By zep. Comment posted 13-Mar-2010 @09:17pm:

   don't understand replacing batteries in smoke alarms when the clocks are changed. our smoke alarm starts beeping every minute or two when the battery is low. seems like a ploy by the battery makers. does this not happen with all smoke alarms? seems like maybe a ploy by the battery makers to sell more batteries.
9. By Spokane Mary. Comment posted 13-Mar-2010 @11:07pm:

   People wake up to a beeping smoke alarm, pull the battery out and throw it away, and go back to bed. The next day they go on to work and forget all about the smoke alarm battery. Most of the time it's no big deal because the smoke alarm is never needed, but when you hear about a house that burned and the smoke alarm wasn't working, that's usually the reason. Because smoke alarms that DO work save so many lives, and because people are busy and get distracted, someone had the brilliant idea that everyone should simply change their alarm batteries twice a year when DST is changed. Yes, it probably does cause some waste, but not always; around here, I save the battery I take out of the alarm to use with other things - things that aren't likely to make a difference between life and death.
10. By Wendy!. Comment posted 14-Mar-2010 @12:19am:

    Happy Pi-Day Everybody!
11. By Schmittenhammer. Comment posted 14-Mar-2010 @04:54am:

    Wendy!,
    Thanks, but now I can't wait for mole day......
12. By Bisbonian. Comment posted 14-Mar-2010 @08:42am:

    I REALLY don't get all the fuss over DST. Who gives a flying f what number is on the clock when you get up in the morning...when the sun comes up it is light, when it goes down it gets dark. The numbers can't change that.
13. By LandStander. Comment posted 14-Mar-2010 @11:15am:

    @Bisbonian
    "Who gives a flying f what number is on the clock when you get up in the morning"
    Did your parents ever tell you to be home by dark? In the winter that is only an hour or two after school gets out. Under Double DST, it would be 3-4 hours even during the shortest days of the year.
    Not to mention that crime drops, driving (the most dangerous thing any of us do) becomes safer and energy is saved as natural light and warmth are provided during more of the evening.
14. By Don Coyote. Comment posted 14-Mar-2010 @11:41am:

    "Who gives a flying f what number is on the clock when you get up in the morning..."
    
    I do. Last week, I was getting up at 400AM for work. Now I'm getting up at the old 3AM and driving in the dark again but I get to drive home in daylight and have an hour or so in the garden at the end of the day. This also means a better view of Orion while I'm having my first coffee under the stars. It's all very confusing.
    
    Reminds me of working with a real idiot in the forest. When told about the impending time change, he was quite upset that he was going to "...lose an hour of production"--or one timber cruise plot--at the end of the day. When it was pointed out that he'd get an extra plot in the morning, you could tell he was grappling with the time/space continuum and his place in it.
15. By Bisbonian. Comment posted 14-Mar-2010 @03:06pm:

    In the winter that is only an hour or two after school gets out. Under Double DST, it would be 3-4 hours even during the shortest days of the year.
    Not to mention that crime drops, driving (the most dangerous thing any of us do) becomes safer and energy is saved as natural light and warmth are provided during more of the evening.

    
    
    So start let school out earlier in the winter (Duh!) You might have to start in the morning earlier to accomplish that. But you don't have to f with my clock to do either.
16. By banjo brad. Comment posted 14-Mar-2010 @04:46pm:

    zep-
    
    I was a volunteer FF/EMT for 13 years, fire safety is pretty ingrained in my makeup.
    
    Smoke detectors without batteries in burnt-out houses containing corpses - been there, done that, didn't enjoy it.
17. By Derek. Comment posted 15-Mar-2010 @09:15am:

    The entire world should be on GMT. So what if I get up at 15:00 and go to bed at 7:00? It's still dawn when I rise and sometime after dark when I go to sleep.
18. By jdd. Comment posted 16-Mar-2010 @11:37am:

    So Landstander wants to move the clocks ahead two hours in the winter? It would be so lovely to have a 10 a.m. sunrise. Think of all the children who'd be killed in the pre-dawn darkness on the way to school.
    
    Landstander needs to get a job working graveyard shift. Then you could work when it's dark and worship the sun all day long.

Original content © 2011, John Walkenbach