Give Me Standard Time!

[aelfgyfu_mead]

I'm so glad to be back on Standard Time! And not just because I got an extra hour's sleep! I would gladly give up getting the hour back if I never had to give it up in the first place.

I know a lot of people love DST, including my mother, a night owl. But even my mother hates the idea of year-round DST, because she remembers when they tried it. It was such a disaster that they pulled the plug before the two year trial period was up: "The US Tried Permanent Daylight Saving Time in the ’70s. People Hated It".

DST is bad for the body, as The Washington Post shows in a great story with a set of infographics: "Why Daylight Saving Time Is Worse for Your Body than Standard Time".

Both of Florida's senators, Voldemort (Rick Scott) and Marco Bible-Thumper Rubio,* support year-round DST, because of course they do.


* Rubio quotes the Bible on Twitter a lot. He frequently does not understand the verses he quotes the same way I do.

Comments

[nialla]

I'm generally in the "just leave it one way or another" camp, but would prefer to stay on Standard. I've always said I sleep better during that part of the year, even though I hate that the sun sets about the time I leave work. But it's the natural rhythm, so why fight it.

I always get a laugh out of the folks who say DST was originally to benefit farmers so they have more daylight hours. Like a cow can tell time. Or that it matters what the clock says when the sun is shining on a field. It's really about business. It allows people to have more daylight hours after work in order to go shopping or whatever.

From what I've read, it's not really helping to save energy. Instead of being at work during the heat of a summer's day, people are heading home and having to turn on their AC. So a whole bunch of buildings have to be cooled instead of one office building.

[aelfgyfu_mead]

I always get a laugh out of the folks who say DST was originally to benefit farmers
Supposedly the reason why most of Indiana, for many years, didn't go on DST at all was opposition from the farmers, who didn't want to have to deal with the time change because, as you say, the cows can't tell time!

When DST started, I think it may have saved more energy because AC was so rare, but I understand now it's really a wash.

[astrogirl]

Permanent standard time would, IMO, be much better than permanent DST, but anything would be preferable to changing the damn clocks like this twice a year. Says the person currently desperately trying to switch onto night shifts, while dealing with a house guest and a bunch of other tiring things, who DOES NOT NEED THE GODDAMN CLOCK FIGHTING MY EFFORTS ON TOP OF EVERYTHING ELSE.

As someone who has to screw with her circadian rhythms for a living, the fact that the rest of the world does it twice a year when they don't have to is insane to me. Utterly insane. And the fact that they make my life even more difficult in the process is something I will never cease resenting. Well, hey, at least this time I don't get a 12-hour night shift turned into a 13-hour night shift. (And does anybody ever think about the people who end up in that sort of position when debating this topic? NOPE.)

Ahem. Sorry. I am sleep deprived and unhappy right now, can you tell?

[aelfgyfu_mead]

Well, hey, at least this time I don't get a 12-hour night shift turned into a 13-hour night shift. (And does anybody ever think about the people who end up in that sort of position when debating this topic? NOPE.)
My gosh! I must confess I somehow never thought of it, even though I know you and doubtless others in that same situation!

It's just a terrible idea and time to get rid of it altogether!

[astrogirl]

My gosh! I must confess I somehow never thought of it, even though I know you and doubtless others in that same situation!

No one ever does! Including the people who make the policy decisions.

It's just a terrible idea and time to get rid of it altogether!

Hear, hear!