Daylight Saving Time

WDP — Time Is On My Side

Fandango10 Comments

Do you need time?

Interesting question. But what the hell does it mean? Is it a deeply philosophical question about whether or not human beings need time in order to function? In order to survive?

Or is the question asking me, personally, if I need time? Time for what? Time to learn all of the features and functionality of my new iPhone? Yes, I do. But usually one would ask if I need more time or less time, not just time.

So I’m not sure how to answer this daily prompt question. I suppose the answer is yes, I need time.

But having said that, I need only one time, not two times. So pick one time — I don’t care if it’s standard time or daylight saving time. Just pick one or the other and keep it year-round. I don’t need time to change twice a year, year in and year out. That’s just stupid.

Fandango’s Provocative Question #161

Fandango41 Comments
FPQ

Welcome once again to Fandango’s Provocative Question. Each week I will pose what I think is a provocative question for your consideration.

By provocative, I don’t mean a question that will cause annoyance or anger. Nor do I mean a question intended to arouse sexual desire or interest.

What I do mean is a question that is likely to get you to think, to be creative, and to provoke a response. Hopefully a positive response.

Yesterday, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed legislation to do away with the biannual springing forward and falling back that most Americans have come to despise, in favor of making Daylight Saving Time (DST) permanent. When was the last time that the U.S. Senate voted unanimously for anything?

If the legislation were to also pass in the House of Representatives and then be signed by President Biden, it would take effect in November 2023.

Hallelujah right? Some of the positives for year-round DST include projections of less crime, more daylight time for retail shopping (for those who still buy stuff at brick and mortar stores rather than online), and more light for outdoor activities in the evenings.

But the most notable downside for year-round daylight saving time would come in the dead of winter, when many areas would not see the sun rise until long after most people are out of bed and off to work or school. In fact, depending upon where you live, sunrise would be after 8 a.m. from late November until the middle of February. And the latest sunrise of the year would be around 8:30 a.m. around the winter solstice near the end of December.

An alternative approach to permanent Daylight Saving Time might be year-round Standard Time. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine supports eliminating seasonal time changes in favor of a national, fixed, year-round time. But it says current evidence “best supports the adoption of year-round Standard Time, which aligns best with human circadian rhythms.”

What I’m not going to ask for this week’s provocative question is whether or not you think we should ditch this ludicrous ritual of twice-yearly changing of the clocks. Of course you do. But I am going to ask you this:

Assuming you agree that we should have the same time year-round rather than moving up an hour each spring and back an hour each fall, do you favor going to permanent Daylight Saving Time or permanent Standard Time? Why do you feel that way?

If you choose to participate, write a post with your response to the question. Once you are done, tag your post with #FPQ and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Or you can simply include a link to your post in the comments. But remember to check to confirm that your pingback or your link shows up in the comments.

SoCS — Que Será, Será

Fandango17 Comments

It seems like 2021 just started, yet here we are at the end of the second week of the third month, on the 13th day of the new year. There are only two and a half weeks remaining in the first quarter of 2021. Can you believe that?

We change our clocks to Daylight Saving Time tonight. Well actually at 2:00 am tomorrow morning, but since I’ll be going to bed well before midnight, I’ll be moving all my clocks up by an hour before I go to sleep. I still don’t see the purpose for changing our clocks twice a year — an hour ahead in the spring and then an hour behind in the fall. Who thought that was a good idea? All it does is fuck up my sleep patterns, which are pretty fucked up to begin with.

Oh, the other thing this stupid semiannual ritual of changing the clocks fucks up is the timing for my scheduled posts. For example, my FOWC with Fandango prompt is scheduled to post at one minute past midnight Pacific Time tonight. And my response to Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday prompt is scheduled to post at 3:00 am tomorrow morning. But it seems that every year, WordPress somehow manages to screw that up. So my FOWC with Fandango prompt will like be posted either tonight at 11:01 pm tonight or tomorrow at 1:01 am. And my Song Lyric Sunday post will be published at either 2:00 am or 4:00 am tomorrow.

Well, I’m not going to lose any sleep over it, either way. Hell, maybe WordPress will get it right and the posts will actually be published at 12:01 am and 3:00 am, respectively, when I want them to be. But, whatever will be will be. Que será, será.

Written for Linda G. Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. Linda give us “day/week/month/year,” and asks us to use one, use them all, use them any way we’d like I our posts.

Time Change Heads Up

Fandango5 Comments

As you know, this coming Sunday morning at 2:00 in the U.S. we are supposed to set our clocks back an hour as we transition from Daylight Saving Time to Standard Time. My laptop, my iPhone, and my Apple Watch do this automagically, but I have to manually set most of the other clocks in my home back an hour.

Well, apparently WordPress requires some manual intervention as well.

I schedule my daily FOWC with Fandango prompts up to two weeks in advance. I have them set to post at 12:01 a.m. Pacific time each day. But this morning I was checking on my scheduled posts and discovered, much to my chagrin, that posts scheduled after 2 a.m. on November 1st were now scheduled to be posted an hour earlier. So instead of my November 2nd and thereafter FOWC with Fandango posts being published at 12:01 a.m. on the specified date, they were all scheduled to post at 11:01 p.m. the night before.

So, just a heads up for those of you who schedule your posts in advance. Check to see that they are, in fact, scheduled to post on the date and time you planned for them to be posted. Otherwise, as I had to do, you may have to manually go in and change the day and time you had originally scheduled them to post.

Truthful Tuesday — It’s About Time

Fandango5 Comments

Frank, aka PCGuy, has published another one of his Truthful Tuesday posts. This week Frank wants to know…

Do you live in an area that participates in Daylight Saving Time?

Yes.

In relation to your previous answer, are you glad to live where you do, or do you wish you lived somewhere that does the opposite in regards to DST?

I’m glad I live where I do, but I don’t see the point of having to change clocks twice a year and would just as soon have one time year round.

Assuming you live in an area that does participate in DST, if it were to be abolished, would you rather your area decide to stick with Standard Time (Autumn and Winter), or leave Daylight Saving Time (Spring and Summer) in place all year? Please explain. If you don’t live in an area that participates with DST, would you be okay if the decision was made to start participating?

Truthfully, I don’t care that much one way or the other. I’d just prefer not having to go through the hassle of dealing with a time change twice a year. That said, if forced to choose one or the other, I’d probably go with Standard Time all year long. I’m up pretty early each morning and I think I’d rather have it get lighter earlier than stay lighter later.