Of what possible use is DST in the 21st century? How do we go about getting Congress or W or whoever to get rid of it?
Okay that answers the first part. Now how do we start an abolition petition?
Wow, Cecil must have been angry when he wrote that.
(I heard the exact same complaint as that from the farmers once, from somebody who worked at the London Stock Exchange, complaining that it forced them to work hours that were out-of-sync with the rest of Europe. Idiotic farmers is one thing, idiotic stockbrokers another…)
I imagine you would have to do this on a state-by-state basis (some states such as Arizona do not adjust their time when DST rolls around). Depending what state you live in will determine how you can go about changing it. If you can get a ballot initiative on go for it. Or you might just try lobbying your state reps.
If you want, you can attempt to Pit DST here.
Just make sure you’re pitting DST and not ST nor the shortening of daylight as the solstice approaches.
Peace.
No factual question here. Off to IMHO.
DrMatrix - GQ Moderator
You know, Ben Franklin was a man ahead of his time as he suggested the need for Daylight Savings putting it this way (paraprasing): It is a waste to burn both daylight while we sleep, and candles in the evening. In other words, even he quickly recognized how ridiculous it was for the sun to rise so dag-gone early in the summer hours while we slumber when a shift of +1 hrs on our clocks would, in effect, shift that hour of daylight to the evening. Or, in today’s techo-jargon: stick it where the sun don’t shine! 
Getting rid of DST is a lose-lose proposition because a) it won’t make the winter any less gloomier, and (b) it will make the summertime less cheerier. 
x2
Surely, you love the long summer evenings?
- Jinx
I love DST and think we should have it all year long. I believe Russia does, but they also have “double summer time” in the summer (i.e. 2 hours ahead). We certainly don’t need to be changing the clocks all the time. All the people in the more polar latitudes that drive home in pitch black darkness in the winter using standard time would appreciate a little more sunshine. Accidents are more likely when driving home, tired, in the darkness.
Yeah, and this is one of the times he spoke without thinking.
I cannot buy the argument that Daylight saving time generally saves energy anymore. All public spaces are lit artificially whether it is daylight outside or not. Even in most private homes I would wager that the number of lights used in daytime is within 100 watts of the amount of light used at night. Buildings are heate whether it is daytime or nighttime and usually whether there are peopel in it or not.
DST = Dinosaur Saving Time. Each state does it because we have always done it, and because everyone else does it.
Every time this comes up I can never understand why there is so much (or any) animousity towards DST. Do all you people drive to work at 5 in the morning? DST makes such perfect sense, it just seems crazy to me to want to get rid of it!
Forget March 21[sup]st[/sup], for me the start of Spring is always the first Sunday in April!
If Commies took over the US and dictated “We Commies like more daylight after work instead of before work. Every US citizen will get out of bed one hour earlier during the summer.” why, the subjugated people of the US would rise up in arms!
But tell them the change the clocks and they go along like sheep. I like my daylight early in the day. And yes, some people do drive to work at 5am.
Most of Indiana stays on Eastern Standard Time all year long, which means we’re on “New York time” in the winter and “Chicago time” in the summer. If Governor-elect Mitch Daniels has his way, we Hoosiers will join the overwhelming bulk of the nation by “springing forward” and “falling back”, and a neat little tradition will die.
Because some of the eastern counties are in the Cincinnati (Ohio) or Louisville (Kentucky) sphere of economic influence, the people in the blue areas on this page’s map switch to Eastern Daylight Time in the spring. The counties in yellow are in the Central time zone, and also fall back in October before springing forward in April.
Before work?! Who the heck does anything before work other than get up & go to it. I’ve done that whether I worked day, swing or graveyard…
Pretty simple equation:
Daytime is better than Night.
After work is better than before.
Ever had a garden and wanted to work in in before it got too hot?
Enjoyed a jog in the quiet morning?
Just because YOU prefer something does not make it right.
Anthony Trollope.
–Cliffy
That’s correct. It’s only right if I prefer it.
Obviously you weren’t around when DST was instituted. Back then the big cry was about all the school children that would be killed while waiting for the school bus in the dark.
How about all those halogen street lights. We had them at our plant. Also we had skylights, so that there was much less need for lighting. I think you are using an argument that would easily be proved wrong.
Sorry that is entirely untrue. Not everyone does it and most places started doing it in the 70’s. Before that it was mostly the east coast (NY) that was on DST. Personally, I hate it in the spring and love it in the fall, but in general it makes sense to save energy and to have more daylight in the evening during summer.
I’m with Hail Ants. I’ve never understood the problem with DST (or BST, as we quaint Brits call it). Strangely, the people that claim to want it abolished. when you question them further, often in fact want to keep it all year round and abandon standard time! I’d be opposed to that too, as there’s something nice about being in the “correct” time zone for at least some of the year.
Face it, most people are up and about for far more hours after noon than before noon, so it makes sense to have more daylight in the evening.
Oh, and get up to date, BoringDad. Commies are such a 20th-century bogeyman. These days you should be scaring people with Islamic fundamentalists bent on converting America to a sunrise-to-sunset time system 
So they used a bogus argument against it in your area years ago, and that makes it right?
So you think that street lights are only on at certain times of the night? How does DST affect street light usage?
Go into an office or a plant during the day. Tell me if they have their lights on or off. All arguments could easily be proven wrong, if they are based on statements that are not true. It is far harder to prove them wrong when they are based on statements that are true. Such as mine.
More later on the bogus facts and flawed studies used to promote it in the past.