Joining the hate. I like sunrise and sunset to be at least approximately symmetrical about the axis of noon, dammit.
(Of course, due to time zone issues, noon by the clock is seldom if ever exactly true local noon, but there’s no need to go deliberately shoving it an hour further off.)
I have always hated it and nothing has changed my mind. Leave it alone, I say. Heck, I think I’d vote for a president who promised only to deliver that.
Not true. I’m a morning person and I love DST. I don’t like to miss a sunrise, and this makes it so much easier. Also, I don’t have to leave my porch light on all day, or fumble in the dark with my keys.
This. In Florida, when the days are getting shorter, there’s still a tiny sliver of sunlight to enjoy at the end of the day, then BAM! Daylight saving ends and you’re plunged into sudden darkness at the workday’s end.
But this is part of the issue – the time zone lines as drawn in many countries are already kind of wonky WRT the nominal 15-degree longitude increment per hour (e.g. CST zone oughta be narrower and begin more to the East of where it does), because the people in charge cared less about if the sun is at zenith at noon than that the San Antonio office should be on the same time as the Chicago office, but for some reason the Detroit office should be on the same time as Boston. The zone lines in the US were drawn mostly for the convenience of the railroads.
Still, I do agree that the expansion of DST into mid-March and early November was a bit much. However, yeah, sorry guys, given the choice I’ll take leaving in the dark in the morning and being able to step out into light at the end of the day over the alternative. As someone raised at latitude 18N, when I first spent time up North it was NOT the days of temperature below freezing, it was the days when it was dark night at 5pm that were near run-back-home soul-crushing.
Down here we’re fortunate in that being below the Tropic of Cancer and just within the longitude lines for UTC-4, there’s no need to do the DST shuffle (it was legislated once; then came a change of administration and it was repealed before it could take effect - a rare triumph of good sense). DST for me just means I don’t have to stay up as late to catch US TV shows since the East Coast is now on OUR time.
This is all kinds of messed up, unless you happen to live somewhere nearer the equator or one of the Tropics. For those of us in more northern climes, year-round DST means a lot of really dark mornings. For me, in Iowa, you’re talking sunrise at 8:30 during the depths of winter. In northern Minnesota, they wouldn’t see the sun until after 9 am for a couple of weeks. That ain’t right!
I think the expansion of DST into March and November was ridiculous. How is that supposed to save energy, which I recall was the primary purpose? You just shift the light and heat usage from the evening to the morning. I think it’s dumb. Six months of DST is adequate.
That’s sad. Of course, we experience that in the dead of winter (Wisconsin), but to experience it for long periods of time… too bad!
That probably explains why, one day when I was visiting friends outside of London, the sun came out in the middle of the day and shops closed and everyone took a walk or went and sat in the park. It was so smart, but now I understand more of their need for sunlight.
No, we live in the habitable portion of this planet. It’s not my fault that for some reason you chose to live in the frigid northern wastes among the snarks and grumpkins.
Anyway, what do you need sunlight in the morning for? There’s this thing called an alarm clock. It wakes you up no matter how dark it is outside.
I don’t give a damn if it doesn’t get light until noon if I can have some daylight in the evening after I get home from work. I don’t even bother setting most of the clocks around the house back to standard, so today they are right again.
Well some farmers care. I had a friend who grew up on a farm, and the return to standard time allowed him to do his morning chores in the light before going to school.
I love DST. The idea of having sunrise and sunset symmetrical around noon when they are 14 to 16 hours apart is nonsensical to me. I’d much rather have light in the evening.
On the other side of that same coin, I’m a night person, and I prefer Standard Time because, hey, more night. Daylight is for doing things that suck, such as waking up and working. Darkness is for doing enjoyable things, like hanging out with friends and sleeping. More dark, more fun. QED.
As for the whole fucking-about-with-the-clocks business, I continue to favor the plan of Choosing What The Hell Time It Is And Sticking With It, which features the following benefits:
You know what the hell time it is.
Other people know what the hell time it is where you are.
You know what the hell time it is where other people are.
You know with certainty what the hell time it will be 24 hours from now.
You lose a “benefit” which roughly half the population hates, and a not-insignificant number doesn’t care about one way or the other.
If I really had my way, it’d get dark at about 3:00 PM, but nobody else seems to like that idea. Guess people must hate fun.