OT: Daylight or Standard Time

[AtlHusky]

Reality is that we are already on DST most of the year (8 months vs 4 months of standard). It was mentioned above that the impact of messing with the current practice has a much different impact depending on whether you live on the east or west side of the time zone, and also (but to a lesser degree) whether you are the north or south.

Personally, I think it should stay the same. I think it would suck if I was in Boston and the sun rose at 4AM in June, or if I was in Michigan and it didn't come up in December until after 9AM. And sure it sucks that the sun sets at 4:15PM in Boston, but does 5:15 really make much of a difference?

 

[HCCForever]

Reality is that we are already on DST most of the year (8 months vs 4 months of standard). It was mentioned above that the impact of messing with the current practice has a much different impact depending on whether you live on the east or west side of the time zone, and also (but to a lesser degree) whether you are the north or south.

Personally, I think it should stay the same. I think it would suck if I was in Boston and the sun rose at 4AM in June, or if I was in Michigan and it didn't come up in December until after 9AM. And sure it sucks that the sun sets at 4:15PM in Boston, but does 5:15 really make much of a difference?

Good points. I remember being in Atlanta the first time and noticed that the sun rose much later than CT. In Seatle one 4th of July, we had to wait until after 10PM until is was dark enough for fireworks. Now that I live in FL I am treated to later sunrises and sunsets than CT most of the year. Fortunately, I now have a sunset at 5:39 rather than the 4:30 you would experience in CT this time of year but we both get a sunrise around 7:15. That is just a long-winded way of saying that you can't please everyone. The good thing for all is that daylight is increasing for everyone in the US until the end of June.

 

[NJHusky]

I'd much rather it be light out in the summer until 9pm than it be sunny at 4am and dark at 8pm.

Summer isn’t the issue IMO. It’s winter. Getting dark @5 in Ny sucks, but if u work having it be dark at 8:30 am is worse.

Living on gulf coast most of the year, I look forward to the spring change so it’s light when I wake up.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Yeah, obviously. I see some "experts" pushing standard time all year as the best for us health wise. They scoff at concerns about 4:00 AM sunrises and say, you'll just get up at 4:00 AM and work a 5:00-2:00 workday. Sure Jan.

Time didn't mean anything in our agrarian past. Fine. But our norms are now pretty well set and we need to pick the time that fits our norms the best. The current switching probably does that. Not everyone is aware that we moved from the six months to now just 4 months of standard time and 8 months of daylight time.

School days aligning with work days is the other modern issue. Regardless of which way you want permanent time, you have to accept school kids will be bussed and walking to/from bus stops in the dark either in the morning or afternoon.

 

[NJHusky]

School days aligning with work days is the other modern issue. Regardless of which way you want permanent time, you have to accept school kids will be bussed and walking to/from bus stops in the dark either in the morning or afternoon.

agree..I just don't see the difference if it's dark at 4:30 or 5:30...either way you aren't doing anything outside

 

[SubbaBub]

Reality is that we are already on DST most of the year (8 months vs 4 months of standard). It was mentioned above that the impact of messing with the current practice has a much different impact depending on whether you live on the east or west side of the time zone, and also (but to a lesser degree) whether you are the north or south.

Personally, I think it should stay the same. I think it would suck if I was in Boston and the sun rose at 4AM in June, or if I was in Michigan and it didn't come up in December until after 9AM. And sure it sucks that the sun sets at 4:15PM in Boston, but does 5:15 really make much of a difference?

I was hoping someone would explain it so I wouldn't have to. I will add this.

On Dec 21 2024, shortest day
Sunrise 7:17am EST
Sunset 4:32pm EST

On June 21, 2024, longest day
Sunrise 5:25am EDT
Sunset 8:31pm EDT

Keeping EDT as the benchmark means dark winter mornings until after 8am and sunsets after 5pm.

Keeping EST as the benchmark means summer morning sunrises before 5am and sunsets after 7pm.

But that's just in CT, as you go east/west (and to a lesser extent north/south) you get variance. I believe Ohio is about 20 minutes later of everything that we are.

Like the CFB playoffs there is no pleasing everyone but if asked, the majority would prefer staying on standard time which would cost you some afternoon sun in exchange for not commuting in the dark, which some of us do regularly now.

 

[Husky25]

Daylight Savings has been 8 months since 2005. I think it should stay the way it is or set Daylight Savings hours as Standard time.

Getting rid of current daylight savings would adversely harm a lot youth sports leagues in a lot of communities that do not have lit playing fields.

Sunset in early April is 7:20 EDT. Most leagues do not start weekday games until 5:45 or later. That is only about an hour & a half and good for about 4 1/2 innings and fitting in the last half inning (to fit in 5) before last light. Same goes for Fallball, when umpires try to pull 1st pitch earlier and earlier as well, but if the "official" start is pulled much earlier than 5:30, it interferes with parents' work schedules. I, for one, had to leave work at 3:30 on a number of gamedays to prep the field, and that is still at the end of May/beginning of June. Luckily, my boss is really cool and understanding, but not all are like him. My 9 year old's soccer team was practicing the last half hour in near total darkness the week leading up to Halloween, and we are still in DST.

Just putting up lights? My town's Little League looked into it last season and approved lighting plans run in the area of $1/2Million, which does not include non-monetary costs of NIMBY neighbors. The town owns the land, but board members and volunteers maintain the fields. The town most likely would not raise funds through taxes for lights if it means losing a teacher or senior center activity, and that kind of money would bankrupt leagues that already have dwindling numbers as they compete with soccer, lacrosse, and AAU.

 

[Husky25]

I was hoping someone would explain it so I wouldn't have to. I will add this.

On Dec 21 2024, shortest day
Sunrise 7:17am EST
Sunset 4:32pm EST

On June 21, 2024, longest day
Sunrise 5:25am EDT
Sunset 8:31pm EDT

Keeping EDT as the benchmark means dark winter mornings until after 8am and sunsets after 5pm.

Keeping EST as the benchmark means summer morning sunrises before 5am and sunsets after 7pm.

But that's just in CT, as you go east/west (and to a lesser extent north/south) you get variance. I believe Ohio is about 20 minutes later of everything that we are.

Like the CFB playoffs there is no pleasing everyone but if asked, the majority would prefer staying on standard time which would cost you some afternoon sun in exchange for not commuting in the dark, which some of us do regularly now.

First/last light precedes/follows sunrise/set by about a 1/2 hour.

 

[HooperScooper]

First/last light precedes/follows sunrise/set by about a 1/2 hour.

Correct. It's not like a light switch in your house that it turns light right at sunrise.

My preference is light as late as possible. I don't care if it's dark at 7:00 in the morning. I'm still in bed or my house at that time.

 

[boba]

Here is a link to that time reversal back during Ford's presidency. As the article mentioned, they reversed it due to safety issues for kids going to school. IMO, we should keep the current DST and ST change.

Time Change in the 70s

Ahem, that was Nixon's abomination, not Gerry's. I remember it because there was a Pat Oliphant editorial cartoon showing Nixon cutting one end of a blanket off, only to sew it on the other end with the claim that it solves the crisis.
What should change is not the universal time, but business hours. Just have winter and summer hours, where businesses open and close at different times depending on season.

 

[SECONN]

Why not quadrants for the EDT we keep it north of the mason dixon line (or some other line).....south stays EST year round so that makes people in Arizona happy and i don't waste daylight sleeping in the morning

So Northern Eastern Daylight Time, Southern Eastern Standard Time, for each zone......let's make it complicated!

 

[TheShot1990]

I am a fan of springing forward this spring and then not falling back again in the fall. Not sure which one that is but it has my vote

This is a good idea except eventually we'd run out of time... and light.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I was hoping someone would explain it so I wouldn't have to. I will add this.

On Dec 21 2024, shortest day
Sunrise 7:17am EST
Sunset 4:32pm EST

On June 21, 2024, longest day
Sunrise 5:25am EDT
Sunset 8:31pm EDT

Keeping EDT as the benchmark means dark winter mornings until after 8am and sunsets after 5pm.

Keeping EST as the benchmark means summer morning sunrises before 5am and sunsets after 7pm.

But that's just in CT, as you go east/west (and to a lesser extent north/south) you get variance. I believe Ohio is about 20 minutes later of everything that we are.

Like the CFB playoffs there is no pleasing everyone but if asked, the majority would prefer staying on standard time which would cost you some afternoon sun in exchange for not commuting in the dark, which some of us do regularly now.

Disagree. If you live in the north you commute in the dark either morning or afternoon (or probably both) no matter what. There isn't enough daylight during our shorter days. Yet 4:25 sunrise means about 2 hours of absolutely useless wasted daylight. Most would prefer DST. But we shift for a reason, despite the complaints, it really does produce a better outcome.

 

[SubbaBub]

Correct. It's not like a light switch in your house that it turns light right at sunrise.

My preference is light as late as possible. I don't care if it's dark at 7:00 in the morning. I'm still in bed or my house at that time.

But there are kids at bus stops and walking to schools. That's always been an argument against ending DST.

 

[boba]

But there are kids at bus stops and walking to schools. That's always been an argument against ending DST.

Which is easily resolved by... changing the hours of the affected schools. This application of a general solution to specific problems is what this time change illogical.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Here are the hours of daylight (I'm missing days 24-31) for Hartford. In December and January you've got a little more than 9 hours of daylight. So it's dark during either morning or afternoon commute no matter what. As for School, they go too early. But the huge increase in afterschool sports has driven resistance to changing it. We know that teens in particular should not be getting up so early. Yet HS starts before elementary, which makes no sense.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Here it is for Savannah, GA, about an hour longer days in winter and shorter days in summer.

 

[HooperScooper]

Here are the hours of daylight (I'm missing days 24-31) for Hartford. In December and January you've got a little more than 9 hours of daylight. So it's dark during either morning or afternoon commute no matter what. As for School, they go too early. But the huge increase in afterschool sports has driven resistance to changing it. We know that teens in particular should not be getting up so early. Yet HS starts before elementary, which makes no sense.
View attachment 105945

The issue I have with that chart is just because sunrise was at 7:17 am this morning doesn't mean it was pitch black at 7:16 am and automatically light at 7:17 am. If kids are going to school it's probably light enough to see around 6:50 or so. And just because sunset is at 4:29 pm doesn't mean it turns pitch black at 4:30 pm. It's probably light enough to see for another 20 minutes or more. So add another 50 minutes or so to the day and it's light out for 10 hours. What's the problem?

My son was abroad for a semester in Stockholm, Sweden. Today the sunrise was at 8:43 am and sunset at 3:02 pm. Dark going to work and coming home pretty much whatever you do with the clocks. I wonder how they feel about this? I'm sure they just deal with it.

 

[jleves]

As long as we are proposing changes, I would like January and August to be 30 days and add the two days to February so there isn't a stupid short month. Leap year can add a day to January or February; I don't care about which one.

 

[tzznandrew]

We know that teens in particular should not be getting up so early. Yet HS starts before elementary, which makes no sense.

I mean, it makes perfect sense when you understand that it has to do with working families. Elementary school kids go to school later and...stay later. Because they can't get home or be home unsupervised in the way HS kids can. Unless we change our work culture, you can't change the school hours without significantly impacting families.

 

[UC95-Duke00]

I’m sorry but life is always going to be hard for those that can’t understand daylight savings time.

I can't understand it ... and also have issue with this thread - i.e. with all the other threads about supposed dumb greedy athletes not interested in education, NIL & Transfer Portal nonsense, not one person has posted that it's Daylight Saving Time ... not savings, that's for banks, lol

 

[jleves]

I can't understand it ... and also have issue with this thread - i.e. with all the other threads about supposed dumb greedy athletes not interested in education, NIL & Transfer Portal nonsense, not one person has posted that it's Daylight Saving Time ... not savings, that's for banks, lol

You may have missed my post - #20 in the thread.

 

[UC95-Duke00]

You may have missed my post - #20 in the thread.

I did lol, thank you!

 

[tzznandrew]

not one person has posted that it's Daylight Saving Time ... not savings, that's for banks, lol

Probably because most people have more meaningful ways to feel good about themselves than nitpicking the spelling of a word everyone understood on an informal anonymous basketball board.

 

[Chin Diesel]

The issue I have with that chart is just because sunrise was at 7:17 am this morning doesn't mean it was pitch black at 7:16 am and automatically light at 7:17 am. If kids are going to school it's probably light enough to see around 6:50 or so. And just because sunset is at 4:29 pm doesn't mean it turns pitch black at 4:30 pm. It's probably light enough to see for another 20 minutes or more. So add another 50 minutes or so to the day and it's light out for 10 hours. What's the problem?

My son was abroad for a semester in Stockholm, Sweden. Today the sunrise was at 8:43 am and sunset at 3:02 pm. Dark going to work and coming home pretty much whatever you do with the clocks. I wonder how they feel about this? I'm sure they just deal with it.

I was over in Norway in Dec 2023 near Trondheim.
There was about 4-5 hours of "sunlight" and the sun never fully rose above the horizon. Really odd.

I have also been up in Fairbanks, Alaska for the full month of March. Gained almost 20 minutes of sunlight every day duringbthat month.