New Daylight Savings Dates - Thank Christ or WTF?

[innerSpaceman]

Now that March has arrived with 90-degree weather and scant rain has hit the ground in 2007 ... I was sure the rush to summer with a new Daylight Savings Time initiation date of March 11 was pure folly.

Yet right now, as darkness falls, and I once again feel inertia rushing through my veins and watch my enthusiam ebb for all worthy endeavors ... I'm thinking perhaps March 11 will come none too soon.



Big changes to the Daylight Savings scheme this year. Heheh, your computer may freak out about it. But Savings Time starts about six weeks earlier, and will end one week later on the other side.

I'll certainly miss how it suddenly got dark early on Halloween. And it seems absurd on its face to start the summertime time shift in early March.

But as one who has come to hate the pervasive darkness of winter ... I think earlier and earlier Daylight Savings Time is the next best thing to abolishing adherence to Greenwich time altogether.


What are your thoughts on the new rules? Messing with Mother Nature Too Much? Can't Mess with Mother Nature Any More than the Scheme Already Did? Balance All Askew Between Winter and Summer? Or Shall We Shift Time on a Daily Basis to Serve our Varied Needs?

[Ghoulish Delight]

Any move towards shifting to permanent daylight savings time is a good one in my book. I say screw the shifting back and forth, standardize on being on daylight savings time and be done with it. I really couldn't care less if there isn't light until noon as I barely open my eyes until noon anyway, I'd much rather have light in the evening hours.

[BarTopDancer]

that reminds me, I need to update my computer.

[Ghoulish Delight]

that reminds me, I need to update my computer.
If you're running Windows, the automatic update should do it for you (I usually set mine to automatically download the updated but prompt me before installing).

[Not Afraid]

Who cares about nature.....what about MY bodies internal clock????

[BarTopDancer]

If you're running Windows, the automatic update should do it for you (I usually set mine to automatically download the updated but prompt me before installing).

It should but I turned them off.

[€uroMeinke]

I think earlier and earlier Daylight Savings Time is the next best thing to abolishing adherence to Greenwich time altogether.


Here's to the Beat (http://www.swatch.com/internettime/home.php)!

But honestly, I'm looking forward to experienceing GMT on the Prime Meridian itself - which will move to "Summer Time" later in the year, after we return home in the Spring.

[Ghoulish Delight]

It should but I turned them off.
Generally a bad idea. If you're worried about things getting installed without your notice, you can set it like I said, where it downloads it, bugs you, but waits until you actually give it the go ahead to install. That gives you the chance to vet the updates, or hold off for a day or two to see if there are any, "The latest update blew up my computer" reports. But you should be staying on top of the updates.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Here's to the Beat (http://www.swatch.com/internettime/home.php)!Something tells me Swatch is giving up on this experiment. Namely the fact that they haven't bothered to update their conversion tools to allow you to select 2007.

[Alex]

That's what I've done but I'm very good at ignoring the nagging. I think I last installed updates in the Reagan administration.

[BarTopDancer]

Generally a bad idea. If you're worried about things getting installed without your notice, you can set it like I said, where it downloads it, bugs you, but waits until you actually give it the go ahead to install. That gives you the chance to vet the updates, or hold off for a day or two to see if there are any, "The latest update blew up my computer" reports. But you should be staying on top of the updates.

I have my reasons, but thanks for the advice :)

[Matterhorn Fan]

Why would my (or anyone's) computer "freak out"? I understand why it'd be off by an hour for a few weeks, but that's no big deal--I can fix it or ignore it.

Which reminds me, I still haven't changed the clock in my kitchen to regular time. I really ought to get to that...

[blueerica]

Like I mentioned to a classmate the other day, a shift to push the time forward is a benefit for me. For some reason, lately, the sunlight has been waking me up, even if I'd gone to sleep only three hours prior to it. I'd much rather wake up at 8 as opposed to 7, even if it's just a number on the clock.

So, bring the Daylight Savings! This woman's ready for it!

[Kevy Baby]

Who cares about nature.....what about MY bodies internal clock????Hit the snooze button.

[SzczerbiakManiac]

I hate Hate HATE HAAAAATE Daylight Saving (no trailing "s") Time!!
It is the bane of my existence both as a person of Scandinavian descent and as an IT professional. If I could go back in time I would repeatedly kick William Willett in the nuts until he abandoned this cockamamie idea!

[Alex]

Why would my (or anyone's) computer "freak out"? I understand why it'd be off by an hour for a few weeks, but that's no big deal--I can fix it or ignore it.

For most people it probably won't be a big deal (unless you do something where it is important that two systems agree on what time it is and they don't), but it has non-trivial repercussions.

They installed a patch for this at work over the last weekend. You can tell who didn't reboot their computers like they were supposed to since they've been showing up at meetings an hour early.

We also have some systems where cutoff times for certain activities aren't going to be correct for a few weeks (the patch didn't get done in time for a thorough enough review for us to roll it into production). Not so big of a deal in the spring since this helps the customers but if it isn't fixed by fall it would be bad since it will prevent them from doing things they otherwise should be able to do (for an hour).

It also will create a small (almost completely insignificant but not zero) risk of fraud where datestamps are important (since technically it would be March 26 while for an hour the system still thinks it is March 25).

But yeah, mini-Y2K. Mini amount of development work anyway, the actual impacts couldn't get much minier.

[€uroMeinke]

Well, I'm officially annoyed - seems this has caused a glitch at my credit union that prevents me from doing any online banking at the moment. I so son't want to have to write a lot of checks.

Seems the local MacDonald's ATM also isn't connecting, which make me wonder if other financial institutions are affected. Hoping to use my ATM in London.

[Capt Jack]

Im definitely of the 'pick one and stick with it.' set. I sat and heard whats and whys explained at length the other day on CNN or some such....and I still dont agree with the reasoning. it doesnt kill the folks at the planetary extremes to deal with 6 months of night/day oddball cycles, I think we can all deal just fine given the chance.

[Not Afraid]

OK, this financial institutions issue is concerning me.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Washington Mutual's online banking site seems to be working fine.

[BarTopDancer]

OCTFCU online banking is working

[mousepod]

This morning I realized that I had set every clock in the house except my internal one. When the alarm went off at 5:30, I tried to stare it into submission, with no luck whatsoever.

[Isaac]

I hate switching to Daylight Savings Time. Subconsciously I feel rushed and can never sleep as well as when we're on Standard Time. I agree that we should just pick one or the either and stop adjusting our clocks.

[innerSpaceman]

I agree we should pick one ... but not if it's standard time. We are no longer an agricultural society that needs light early. We are an energy-wasting society that needs light later, to avoid higher energy consumption.

Let's get rid of so-called standard time altogether, and stick with a time set that works for modern life and helps a little bit to curb power waste.

[lindyhop]

I had to get to work earlier than usual today to cover for someone who was on vacation. Daylight Saving Time made it that much more special.:mad:

[Motorboat Cruiser]

My internal clock is all scewed up. After a weekend of partying and gigs and a couple of oddly-placed naps to recuperate, my body seems to have absolutely no idea what time it is.

Not liking at all.

[Alex]

Am I alone in not really having any problem in adjusting to it? I went to sleep at roughly my normal time last night (12:30am) and got up at roughly my normal time (6:30am) and am fine.

The only hassle caused is that I had to wait 5 minutes while the hotel front desk confirmed that the wake up call machine had in fact been updated with the new time and then being stuck all day in a conference room with an unadjusted clock that kept confusing me.

All in all no big deal either way. However, it was a big deal when I lived in Hawaii since it meant half of the time when people forgot about the time difference they'd call me at 6:00 a.m. and half of the time at 7:00 a.m. (the former being before I generally get up and the latter being after).

[innerSpaceman]

I'd imagine being in a corner of Arizona that's between an Indian Reservation and another State would be most confusing of all.




(AZ doens't observe DST, while many Reservations within its borders do.)

[Mousey Girl]

No real biggy for me. The only problem is our phone system at work. No calls until 9:30 (before that they are routed to the answering system). The phone then won't stop ringing at 5:30 (since the system thinks it is 4:30).

[JWBear]

I hate the start of DST. It takes about a week for my internal clock to readjust. Until then, groggy, grouchy, depressed, and generally unpleasant.

I just want the world to f*ck off and leave me alone for a few days....

[Ghoulish Delight]

It seems whatever systems control the lights and door locks (certain interior doors require swiping our security badges before and after work hours) at work haven't adjusted. I keep coming in to a dark computer lab with a locked door. It has informed me that I'm apparently usually the first person to get into the lab in the morning. It's a big lab and where I sit is right near the door, so I always assumed there were other people further along in the lab. But every day this week I've had to turn the lights on myself, so I must be the first.