Damn Daylight Savings Time Anyway!!

[twobits]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

And the next expert will say otherwise ...

Same topic, but a question to those of us who dread dark mornings....

Can anyone recommend, by their experience, any of the dawn/alarm simulators. There seem many products on the market, but with widely differing reviews ....

I used to use one of these. Also started to use an SAD light about the same time I did. A couple of years later I was dating someone who hated they wake up light, and stopped using it. I kept using the SAD light. Never did go back to the wake up light, as the SAD light seemed to do the trick better and never really thought to set the wake up light back up.

Originally Posted by HarryT

How can DST "fade the curtains"?

Same way it saves daylight I guess? Reminds me of that I had heard the USSR had decieded that if daylight savings time was good , they would outdo the West and do double daylight savings time. Can't seem to find anything to confirm that though, so it is probably an urban legend like the pencil/pen of the space programs.

Originally Posted by wodin

Don't like DST? Move to Hawaii, or Queensland, or Arizona. We still retain a modicum of sanity. And in Hawaii, there is still time to get nine holes of golf in between "pau hanna" and "too dark to see your balls".

I move to Arizona then to Indiana after high school, and some friends of mine joked that I did that because I was allergic to daylight savings time (till recently most of Indiana had not yet joined the madness of DST)

[twobits]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Interesting - thanks for that. Can you connect it to your sprinkler system for added realism for those rainy winter dawns?

Mine had some sound effect options you could use. Chirping birds, rain, white noise etc... it also had a twilight mode for going to sleep.

[Seanette]

Originally Posted by twobits

Same way it saves daylight I guess? Reminds me of that I had heard the USSR had decided that if daylight savings time was good , they would outdo the West and do double daylight savings time. Can't seem to find anything to confirm that though, so it is probably an urban legend like the pencil/pen of the space programs.

Per Wikipedia, for most of the USSR's existence as such, they didn't use DST at all.

Yeah, I'm calling UL on this one. (And yes, I know Wikipedia is not 100% reliable. They do pretty well, though.)

A few countries have tried it, but as far as I can find, the USSR was not one of them.

[twobits]

Originally Posted by Seanette

Per Wikipedia, for most of the USSR's existence as such, they didn't use DST at all.

Yeah, I'm calling UL on this one. (And yes, I know Wikipedia is not 100% reliable. They do pretty well, though.)

A few countries have tried it, but as far as I can find, the USSR was not one of them.

Yep, that was one of the sources I checked before posting to double check my memory and say it seemed UL. Still shows the funny stories that can spread about things I think.

[GraceKrispy]

Originally Posted by wodin

Don't like DST? Move to Hawaii, or Queensland, or Arizona. We still retain a modicum of sanity. And in Hawaii, there is still time to get nine holes of golf in between "pau hana" and "too dark to see your balls".

fixed it for ya.

But if you move to Arizona, don't move to the reservation, they do observe daylight savings time. My husband was once very late for a wedding he was supposed to videotape. We lived in Arizona, his niece (the bride) lived in New Mexico. The time had changed that night before, and he had forgotten about it. He thought he was half an hour early. Needless to say, he was half an hour late.

Time changes are evil. I'm proud to have spent almost a quarter of my life in places that don't do that silly thing. Better yet, I have only had kids whilst living in non-time-changing places, so no worries about trying to get them to bed while it's still light!

In fact, now that I think about it, nothing changes here, not really.... It's like groundhog day! Same weather, same hours for light and dark, year-round!

[Donnageddon]

All I can say is that they had better not scrap DST until after November 8th. I lost an hour of sleep in the spring, and I damn well want it back!

[kennyc]

Sheesh....I lose that much every night.....

Wait....what?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Seanette

Cue my semi-annual "standard, daylight, split the difference, pick something else altogether, I really don't care what pseudo-time zone it is, just pick something and STICK WITH IT" rant.

I hate the transitions.

Quite right. DST (or BST here) should be abolished. Noon, mid-day, 12:00 should be the time when the sun is highest in the sky. Fiddling around with that is just pointless.

One proof that it's a bad idea: It's not implemented symmetrically. It ought to either come in earlier or go out sooner.

If having lighter evenings is really an advantage, why not decide to have the working day symmetrically around noon instead of around 1pm? Instead of 9 to 5 work 8 to 4

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Not Putting the Clocks Back This Weekend Would Improve Health, Says Expert

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...1029075801.htm

If they don't put the clock back where it belongs, it'd be light at around 9:30. No thank you.

I'd say: get rid of that stupid summer time anyway, and just keep the same time all year round.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Quite right. DST (or BST here) should be abolished. Noon, mid-day, 12:00 should be the time when the sun is highest in the sky. Fiddling around with that is just pointless.

Which it never is here. In winter we're around 30 minutes ahead of the sun, in summer it's 90 minutes...

[Donnageddon]

I remember in the mid 70's here in the US they kept DST all year... I walked to school in the dark... In the snow... Uphill...

[bjones6416]

I haven't used an alarm clock with sound for years. I've got one of those sunrise alarm clocks that gradually increases the light until I just wake up. I think I mentioned in an earlier post somewhere that I've had issues with sensitivity to noise in the past 10 or 12 years, and that jarring alarm every morning just got me off on the wrong foot. The sunrise clock, for me, is a MUCH more tranquil way to awaken.

[phenomshel]

And I'm going to be the lone dissenter here. I love DST, and hate to see it end. But, you have to keep in mind that I've been on a second shift schedule for over ten years now, and when it gets dark so early, it sometimes feels like I LIVE in the dark! For those who aren't familiar with the term, "second shift" means working hours basically from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. - which means you get up a LOT later than a "normal" schedule.

[Seanette]

Originally Posted by phenomshel

And I'm going to be the lone dissenter here. I love DST, and hate to see it end. But, you have to keep in mind that I've been on a second shift schedule for over ten years now, and when it gets dark so early, it sometimes feels like I LIVE in the dark! For those who aren't familiar with the term, "second shift" means working hours basically from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. - which means you get up a LOT later than a "normal" schedule.

Believe me, I know about that (DH works from 2pm to 10:30pm, with a half-hour lunch).

I don't have a problem with DST per se, I just get really annoyed by the switching around twice a year.

[Donnageddon]

Originally Posted by phenomshel

And I'm going to be the lone dissenter here. I love DST, and hate to see it end. But, you have to keep in mind that I've been on a second shift schedule for over ten years now, and when it gets dark so early, it sometimes feels like I LIVE in the dark! For those who aren't familiar with the term, "second shift" means working hours basically from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. - which means you get up a LOT later than a "normal" schedule.

Straight out of college I worked the second shift, and I LOVED it! I wish I could work second shift again. I am no fan of sunlight, and with second shift you have far fewer clueless "managers" to deal with.

And I am a natural born night owl.