Talk about doing it for the kids (Congress mucking with DST)

[jefnvk]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/07/22/congress.daylighttime.ap/index.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An agreement was reached Thursday to extend daylight-saving time in an effort to conserve energy, but not to the extent the House approved in April.

House and Senate negotiators on an energy bill agreed to begin daylight-saving time three weeks earlier, on the second Sunday in March, and extend it by one week to the first Sunday in November. The House bill would have added a month in the spring and another in the fall.

According to some senators, farmers complained that a two-month extension could adversely affect livestock, and airline officials said it would have complicated scheduling of international flights.

"We ought to take a hard look at this before we jump into it," said Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, who questioned how much oil savings the extension would produce.

Reps. Edward Markey, D-Massachusetts, and Fred Upton, R-Michigan, agreed to scale back their original proposal, and Senate negotiators accepted the new version, along with a call for a study on how much daylight-saving time actually affects oil consumption.

"The beauty of daylight-saving time is that it just makes everyone feel sunnier," said Markey.

Upton noted that the extension means daylight-saving time will continue through Halloween, adding to safety. "Kids across the nation will soon rejoice," said Upton, because they'll have another hour of daylight trick-or-treating.

Lawmakers said they hoped to complete the energy legislation next week.

[Azrael256]

in an effort to conserve energy

Somebody care to explain that one to me?

[Ben]

Somebody care to explain that one to me?

Some people, apparently with a public education background, believe that you actually "gain" daylight by moving artificial time measurements around.

My guess is that it's mostly yuppies from NYC who don't have to go to work until 11AM. When we're talking the start or tail ends of DST, extending doesn't get most people any energy savings. If you don't have to turn on lights right when you get home from work, it's because you had them on in the morning, when you were getting ready for work.

I realize most people like DST in the summertime, but call me crazy,  my personal preference would be that we'd just stay on Standard time all year.

[saxman357]

I realize most people like DST in the summertime, but call me crazy,  my personal preference would be that we'd just stay on Standard time all year.

Same here.  If they go ahead with this I personally plan on doing just that.  No more DST for me!

"The beauty of daylight-saving time is that it just makes everyone feel sunnier," said Markey.

BS - as is right now, it means an extre 3 months a year I have to go to work in the dark.

Upton noted that the extension means daylight-saving time will continue through Halloween, adding to safety. "Kids across the nation will soon rejoice," said Upton, because they'll have another hour of daylight trick-or-treating.

Kids will rejoice because they can go trick-or-treating in the daytime?  Isn't that something that's traditionally supposed to be done Halloween NIGHT?

[Werewolf]

DST...
ROFLMAO...

Please see stupid people thread and apply all references to the gunnies to politicians instead.

[brimic]

I hope they do extend it to the beginning of november, it gives me an extra hour of bowhunting in the evening.

[jefnvk]

I hope they do extend it to the beginning of november, it gives me an extra hour of bowhunting in the evening

And keeps me from having to get up an hour earlier to go duck hunting (if I have this figured out)

But, those probably aren't good enough reasons.

[Sindawe]

The fun part of all this may come about when the computers that have infested our civilization can't deal with this change, and so keep resetting their clocks to account for the "old" DST settings.  For Windows boxen, it is 'prolly stored in the registry somewhere, but it is too early in the morning for me to locate.

[atek3]

I realize most people like DST in the summertime, but call me crazy,  my personal preference would be that we'd just stay on Standard time all year.

Ditto...  All the "light conservation" in the world are meaningless the first time you forget to reset your clock and miss a plane flight/ business meeting/ etc.

atek3

[cordex]

HA!

Not just the backwards Hoosierites that are opposed to change.

Leaving the clock alone is the way to go.

[Antibubba]

Talk about being out of touch with reality; what kid over the age of four wants to trick-or-treat when the sun is shining?

[tyme]

Talk about being out of touch with reality; what kid over the age of four wants to trick-or-treat when the sun is shining?

Every member of Congress who voted for the thing.  They're evidently afraid of the dark.

History, considerations, etc:
http://en.wikipedia.com/Daylight_saving_time

Congress doesn't seem to comprehend that if they really want to save energy, they should give each major metropolitan area its own timezone, which would generally be some odd offset like GMT-5:37.  If they did, they'd also understand that there are more important considerations than 1% energy savings.

The most reasonable thing to do is redo the timezones so they each save the most energy for people in them... without the use of DST.  Without rearranging timezone lines, it could be done right now by abolishing DST and moving all timezones forward by 30 minutes.