# Does today's unanimous Senate approval of a permanent DST bill mean it's a fait accompli? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 15, 2022, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-todays-unanimous-senate-approval-of-a-permanent-dst-bill-mean-its-a-fait-accompli/961145 "2022-03-15T23:52:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-todays-unanimous-senate-approval-of-a-permanent-dst-bill-mean-its-a-fait-accompli/961145/61 "2022-03-16T18:25:43Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Not really, no. I remember growing up in Saskatchewan and having to shovel piles of dead schoolchildren and car crash victims out of the way when I was going to school in the dark. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-todays-unanimous-senate-approval-of-a-permanent-dst-bill-mean-its-a-fait-accompli/961145/62 "2022-03-16T18:29:20Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > > [@saje](#): > > > > If they go permanent-no-time-change, would there be any reason not to bump the time forward (or back) by 30 min instead of 60? You’d get a little bit of benefit on both ends of the day that way. > > There are time zones like that in India, Nepal, and Australia. The problem with doing it in the US is that our zones won’t line up with those in the rest of the Western Hemisphere. You would be entering a new time zone every time you crossed the Canadian or Mexican border. Except if you were crossing into Newfoundland. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-todays-unanimous-senate-approval-of-a-permanent-dst-bill-mean-its-a-fait-accompli/961145/63 "2022-03-16T18:30:03Z")
And think of all the people who have heart attacks just shoveling snow! Shoveling corpses (even little ones) has to be twice as strenuous. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-todays-unanimous-senate-approval-of-a-permanent-dst-bill-mean-its-a-fait-accompli/961145/64 "2022-03-16T18:40:37Z")
Would it not have been easier to use a pitchfork? ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-todays-unanimous-senate-approval-of-a-permanent-dst-bill-mean-its-a-fait-accompli/961145/65 "2022-03-16T19:35:23Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > Every well meaning action has unintended consequences. I can change my clocks a couple times each year. Indeed. Those suggestions for coping with year-round DST—schools starting later in the winter, businesses adjusting their hours—sound, to me, more disruptive and inconvenient than simply resetting clocks twice a year. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-todays-unanimous-senate-approval-of-a-permanent-dst-bill-mean-its-a-fait-accompli/961145/66 "2022-03-16T19:53:19Z")
If you travel 800 miles in any direction you will find people living normal lives an hour off from where you came from. They are not dead. ETA: Changed 500 to 800 after looking at Boise to Pierre SD ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-todays-unanimous-senate-approval-of-a-permanent-dst-bill-mean-its-a-fait-accompli/961145/67 "2022-03-16T20:01:48Z")
Yes, I can’t imagine how human beings manage to live without changing their clocks twice a year. All those people in Japan or Korea or Iceland must be continually in dire straits. And those poor people in China, all on a single time zone, not able to figure out how to make personal adjustments to an arbitrary system of measurement. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-todays-unanimous-senate-approval-of-a-permanent-dst-bill-mean-its-a-fait-accompli/961145/68 "2022-03-16T20:53:38Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > I stepped on an armadillo on my way to the bus on my first day of American high school in 1996. > > Did you apologize? And @ekedolphin wins the thread! It is thus an honor to have been the OP. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-todays-unanimous-senate-approval-of-a-permanent-dst-bill-mean-its-a-fait-accompli/961145/69 "2022-03-16T21:07:23Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > Morning rush hour in the dark for two months out of the year is a different beast entirely. On December 21st there’s less than 9 hours of sunlight a day in New Hampshire. I work 8.5 hours, and during normal work in the office days I drive 45 minutes each way. Why would driving in dark during the morning be _more_ of a hardship than driving home during the afternoon in the dark typically is, in your opinion? ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-todays-unanimous-senate-approval-of-a-permanent-dst-bill-mean-its-a-fait-accompli/961145/70 "2022-03-16T21:25:08Z")
But but then they have to push a _button_! Can you imagine how horribly difficult it is for people to remember to push a button _two_ times each year?! What utter madness. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-todays-unanimous-senate-approval-of-a-permanent-dst-bill-mean-its-a-fait-accompli/961145/71 "2022-03-16T21:29:32Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > > > I suspect that a surprisingly large number of people don’t really understand DST, and think that it really gives them an extra hour of daylight. > > It kinda DOES give me an extra hour of daylight, in that i have an extra hour of light during a time I actually care about (after work) at the cost of an hour of darkness while I’m at work under artificial light anyways. yeah, it absolutely gives me an extra hour of useful daylight. I have an extra hour in the evening, at the benefit of not being awakened too early in morning. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-todays-unanimous-senate-approval-of-a-permanent-dst-bill-mean-its-a-fait-accompli/961145/72 "2022-03-16T21:35:07Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > And those poor people in China, all on a single time zone, not able to figure out how to make personal adjustments to an arbitrary system of measurement. I’d actually prefer that. All of the US should be a single time zone. People in the east and west would start work, school, dinner, sports, etc. at times that made sense locally (which could take into account the latitude as well as the longitude) and we’d all know what time that meeting with the folks in CA is. It would de-standardize “clock time”. No more “9-5” defaults. And it could free us of the tyranny of clock time. Maybe schools would start after kids wake up, jobs would start after parents get their kids off to school, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-todays-unanimous-senate-approval-of-a-permanent-dst-bill-mean-its-a-fait-accompli/961145/73 "2022-03-16T22:26:57Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > > [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > > > There are time zones like that in India, Nepal, and Australia. The problem with doing it in the US is that our zones won’t line up with those in the rest of the Western Hemisphere. You would be entering a new time zone every time you crossed the Canadian or Mexican border. > > Except if you were crossing into Newfoundland. Or Saskatchewan. We’re on CST year round. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-todays-unanimous-senate-approval-of-a-permanent-dst-bill-mean-its-a-fait-accompli/961145/74 "2022-03-16T22:39:06Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > I didn’t think it was possible for the Senate to unanimously vote for anything. Probably half of the bills passed by the Senate are unanimous. In fact if nobody objects they won’t bother to take a vote. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-todays-unanimous-senate-approval-of-a-permanent-dst-bill-mean-its-a-fait-accompli/961145/75 "2022-03-16T22:49:08Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Why would driving in dark during the morning be _more_ of a hardship than driving home during the afternoon in the dark typically is, in your opinion? I don’t really think it’s the _driving_ in the dark, it’s the getting up in the dark. It is a lot easier to wake up when you wake with the light, and harder to sleep when it’s light out. Having most people spend an extra few months getting up an extra hour before it’s light (than they used to) is not going to be a good change. And we don’t have to speculate about this! We tried it 50 years ago and despite people thinking it was a good idea everyone hated it and we got rid of it. Some things have changed since the1970s, but I think it’s incumbent on anyone arguing that this is a good idea to explain what they think has changed that will make this a better or more popular idea now. It seems to me that if you ask people “would you rather not have to change the clocks twice a year”, they will of course answer yes, because changing the clocks is annoying, and we all have experience with doing it often and not liking it, while _relatively few people_ have personal experience with getting up way before the sun rises for months on end. But if you actually make this change, then _everyone_ will get that experience good and fast and—just like in the 70s—will be howling to change it back after the first month of waking up two hours before sunrise. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-todays-unanimous-senate-approval-of-a-permanent-dst-bill-mean-its-a-fait-accompli/961145/76 "2022-03-16T22:52:41Z")
My hope is the same as what happened in the 70s happens again and people start bitching and complaining about getting up at 7 to pitch black darkness and cry to change the timing back and shut up for about another twenty years. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-todays-unanimous-senate-approval-of-a-permanent-dst-bill-mean-its-a-fait-accompli/961145/77 "2022-03-16T22:55:08Z")
Seems likely. The real victims here are all the software developers who are going to have to change all the software that automatically adjusts time, then re-change it again when we get rid of this dumb idea. I bet when we get rid of it again, we change the switching dates a little, just for rub-ins. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-todays-unanimous-senate-approval-of-a-permanent-dst-bill-mean-its-a-fait-accompli/961145/78 "2022-03-16T23:27:58Z")
I’m confused. Some of you LIKE Daylight Savings Time? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-todays-unanimous-senate-approval-of-a-permanent-dst-bill-mean-its-a-fait-accompli/961145/79 "2022-03-16T23:33:03Z")
Apparently all of the Senate does. According to this YouGov poll at least, most Americans want to stay on one time (63%) vs keeping the clock switching (16%). And of those that want to eliminate clock-switching, 48% prefer DST to 29% standard time. > **[Daylight Saving Time: Americans want to stay permanently ‘sprung forward’ and...](https://today.yougov.com/topics/politics/articles-reports/2021/11/04/daylight-saving-time-americans-want-stay-permanent)** > > The latest Economist/YouGov Poll finds that nearly four times as many Americans would end the practice of setting clocks ahead in the spring and back again in the fall. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-todays-unanimous-senate-approval-of-a-permanent-dst-bill-mean-its-a-fait-accompli/961145/80 "2022-03-16T23:39:46Z")
> [@Max\_S](#): > > Probably half of the bills passed by the Senate are unanimous. In fact if nobody objects they won’t bother to take a vote. Correct. And it’s usually stuff like declaring the first week in June to be National Apricot Week. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-todays-unanimous-senate-approval-of-a-permanent-dst-bill-mean-its-a-fait-accompli/961145.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-todays-unanimous-senate-approval-of-a-permanent-dst-bill-mean-its-a-fait-accompli/961145.md?page=5)