Idea: How about *4* time changes, rather than the current 2?

[Iamme]

Have you heard? They (I'm not sure who 'they' are) are thinking about extending daylight savings time by 2 extra months because it's proven ability to save energy. The proposed plan calls for starting DST in March, and ending it in November.

But I have a better plan. Since this whole thing is based on the sun, and the sun's relationship to time on the clock, which actually changes in relationship to each other every DAY...why not have more than 2 time switches? Wouldn't this help us better to have the time be more in tune with the sun?

Obviously, we can't be switching the time a few minutes everyday, but I can't see why doing it twice in late winter/early spring, and then twice in the fall would be that confusing? They could change it 1/2 hour each time.

 

[Kopji]

Two is plenty.



















Time was actually created by the railroad magnates so the little east running trains would not crash into the big west running trains.

 

[TragicMonkey]

I think we should have one time change, not two. Every fall we'll fall back one hour. In 24 years, we'll come full circle and lose a complete day. Then we'll throw a kickass party for that whole week, which will only be six days long. It'll be like Mardi Gras, only with more drinking and nudity.

Sure, it'll confuse the heck out of the calendar, and we'll wind up switching AM and PM at some point, but the scheme will introduce a weeklong holiday with lots of drinking and nudity, which makes it worth it.

 

[Mercutio]

On a related yet completely unrelated note, Maine is considering switching to Atlantic time from Eastern Standard Time. For half the year they will be an hour ahead of anybody else...

 

[Drooper]

I have a far superior idea. Put the clocks back an hour each Sunday night. That way we can sleep in for an extra hour every Monday.

 

[Mycroft]

I have a far superior idea. Put the clocks back an hour each Sunday night. That way we can sleep in for an extra hour every Monday.

The we can have that kick-ass party every 24 weeks instead of every 24 years?

 

[Art Vandelay]

They (I'm not sure who 'they' are) are thinking about extending daylight savings time by 2 extra months because it's proven ability to save energy. The proposed plan calls for starting DST in March, and ending it in November.

If it saves so much energy, why not have it all year long?

Kopji

Time was actually created by the railroad magnates so the little east running trains would not crash into the big west running trains.

Don't you mean "time zones"?

 

[Brahe]

Obviously, we can't be switching the time a few minutes everyday, but I can't see why doing it twice in late winter/early spring, and then twice in the fall would be that confusing? They could change it 1/2 hour each time.

Heck, why not? It should be easy enough to write a computer program that could adjust a clock by a few minutes every day such that sunrise was at *exactly* 6:00 AM. Of course, you would need to know your location on the globe, but with GPS unit handy (soon to be a mandatory part of our ankle-bracelet national IDs as mandated by Glorious Leader), even this could be automated! As an added bonus, it would ensure that no day is 24 hours long and thus screw up timing calculations to no end.

So this new system comes with high costs, adds hassles, makes life difficult for people who need precise timing, and has little to no practical benefit--just like normal daylight savings!