tinkering with clocks

[cellio]

It seems ironic that we are back on "standard" time -- ironic because we spend more of the year now on the other sort, and it will get worse next year. What'll it be then, close to eight months of daylight savings time and four of standard time?

I understand the motivation to re-align the window of daylight to fit one's preferences, but that's doomed because we don't all have the same preferences (so the strongest lobby wins) and it's not as if clock-tinkering can actually extend the amount of light in the day. It might be wiser to just admit that noon comes at noon and sometimes that means dark mornings or dark evenings, and suck it up. Do we really need sunsets at close to 10PM in June? Does that get you anything that you can't get enough of with a 9PM sunset? And what's the harm of a 5:30 sunset in late October instead of a 6:30 one? If you work normal hours that extra hour of light probably doesn't let you do anything enjoyable (you're on your way home or eating dinner, most likely), and kids have been out of school for a couple hours by then so they've had plenty of running-around-outside time.

On Thursday I drove to morning services in pitch dark, and I had to consciously dawdle in leading the service so that the sun would rise before the first prayer that must be said in "the morning" hit. I don't know what this group will do next year, when DST continues through November. The minyan is when it is so people can get to work on time.

Comments

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

I think there's noticeable energy savings overall in doing it that way, but I'd have to go look for proof.

As for "morning" is that defined as "after dawn" for the purposes of the service? If so, I can see that would be a problem.

[sanpaku.livejournal.com]

Personally I just think it should always be daylight time. The clocks switch just when it's already getting dark early, and the Mrs. actually gets depressed by sunset at 4 or 4:30. It also makes it impossible for our little one to do anything after her nap. Everything is personal. (The sun never sets close to 10 around here -- indeed 9 is latest Shabbat ever ends in my recollection, meaning sunset isn't much past 8:15.)

As for sunrise and the service, there are complicated gradations for what can be said when, and there are leniencies that are used in the orthodox world routinely. People have to do what they can do.

[chaos-wrangler.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what people around here are planning to do re morning prayer timing then. Having shabbat start later for longer into the fall/winter will help me a bit ('cause I won't have to leave work as early on Fridays), but I don't see it as worth that much 'cause either way by mid-winter I'll be racing home (leave 3:00, shabbat starts as early as 4:10).

The 2 groups who I remember being on the news saying that extending DST was a bad idea were firefighters and advocates for children's safety, the first because they had built a public awareness campaign around the (roughly) 6-months-apart changes between standard and DST as when to check/change fire alarm batteries, and the second because they were worried about kids in rural areas being vulnerable standing around in the dark in the morning waiting for their school buses.

Btw, do you know if anything has been done about the fact that all the automatic time-changers in software will have to be adjusted? And (as far as I've heard) the fact that Canada isn't going along with this?

[sekhmets-song.livejournal.com]

Your post reminded me of a story my sister told me after moving to Arizona. Arizona, like parts of Indiana, do not observe daylight savings time.
Arizona tried to institute the plan shortly after my sister moved to the state. During the summer, the newspapers were filled with letters of people complaining about daylight savings and how it upset their schedules and summer rituals. One older woman wrote into the paper to complain that "all that extra daylight was killing her roses."
No, really.
Due to popular revolt, Arizona decided to stick to standard time.

[gregbo.livejournal.com]

I've always preferred DST; it just makes it seem more like summer. I suppose one could make an argument for ending it earlier in October and starting it later in April.

Some interesting tidbits about clock change here

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_052.html