Day Light Savings Time

Since we just changed our clocks over the weekend there have been a pile of articles on the net about Day Light Savings Time (DST).

Most notable is the fact that in the United States and for that matter most every where else DST is has been in effect for around 100 years. Yes, for most if not all of the 1800's there was not DST. Though according to one article it appears Thomas Jefferson originally proposed the change way back when. It was not until World War I that any real traction since everyone was looking to save energy to support the war effort.


It is very logical what the benefits should be by move the clock around and have an extra hour of light etc. Per one article Thomas Jefferson mentions saving in the neighborhood of 100,000 candles by implementing it in France. So yes, you do have the ability to cut down on the number of lights that need to be one etc. I've even seen things that mention it helps the farm worker to have more day light hours and thus is beneficial to them as well. However, it is mentioned that the cows, goats or other milk providing animals do not run by some clock on the wall. The milking is set more by a biological clock that resides inside each animal. So any farm benefit might be negated in the long haul.

Most of the comments I've seen wonder why we even bother anymore, etc. Here in California we went from having sun in our eyes driving in the work during the 6 o'clock hour to now having it be completely dark. Big contrast. Can't say which is better. I guess the difference might be even bigger in place like New York city or Berlin or other northern cities. Since due to the latitude of these cities they have really long summer days and depending on the location very, very short winter days. So will moving the clock around for a mere hour actually make that much of a difference. It certainly would not do much of anything for those that are nearer to the equator. The days are about the same length all year round. Minor changes if that. In fact in Fortaleza Brazil (one of the cities hosting 2014 world cup action) they don't even bother. They keep the same time all years round in states like Arizona and Hawaii. Makes sense in Hawaii as it likely does not change much during the year.  Arizona I'm not sure their reasoning much all the more power to them. 

At times I wonder if it would be best to just stick the time at 30 minutes between the 2 times and call it a day.  That way you can get a bit of the advantages of both without needing to change things every 6 months.  Imagine the labor involved in trying to get things switched over on a regular basis.

It appears the federal government set a standard as to when DST goes into effect etc but, leaves it up to each state to decide if it wants to implement the change or not.  Thus the small patch work situation we live with.

So once again man has gone off and tinkered with nature at least given us the illusion that we have tinkered with nature.   For better or for worse in as much as many of us want to get rid of DST we are stuck with it.  So if you really want to get rid of it move to Arizona or how about relocating to Fabulous Fortaleza, Brazil where some of the best beaches in the world are located.

Buaidh - NO - Bas