04-04-2007, 02:00 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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Daylight Savings Time Change Had No Measurable Effect
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070403-the-daylight-savings-change-no-savings-no-point.html
"The US government's plan to boost energy savings by moving Daylight Saving Time forward by three weeks was apparently a waste of time and effort, as the technological foibles Americans experienced failed to give way to any measurable energy savings. While the change caused no major infrastructure problems in the country, plenty of electronics and computer systems that were designed with the original DST switchover date (first Sunday in April) failed to update. The inconvenience was minor, and the potential savings were great. Or so we were told by the politicians behind the move."
There is a shocker. :roll: I am so glad I spent all of that time manually adjusting some Windows 2000 boxes with the TZEDIT tool, applying fixes to 3 PCs at home, 6 Windows Mobile devices, 3 TiVos and manually adjusting 2 HP 17BII Calculators. Your tax dollars at work. :bangin:
I propose in 2008 we change to a 22 hour day, eliminating 2 hours of darkness so there will be less electricity usage and late night bathroom runs. Or, better yet, eliminate the 7am-8am and 5pm-6pm rush-hours. Just think of all of the gasoline that will be saved, not to mention the reduced CO2 emissions. :?
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04-04-2007, 02:30 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 323
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Quote:
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Critics pointed out a basic fact: the gains in the morning will be offset by the losses at night, and vice-versa, at both ends of the switch. That appears to be exactly what happened.
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This points out the fallacy of DST, that we get an "extra hour" of daylight by adjusting our clocks. This idea was inspired by the guy who made a rope longer by cutting off a few feet from one end and splicing it onto the other.
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04-04-2007, 02:58 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 481
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Calm down, Ed.
I think it's a good idea and should have been done long ago and should have been implemented without a 2 year delay.
And I don't think it's the politicians that should be bashed (this time). It's the system designers that made systems that were "smart enough" to adjust for DST but didn't make it easy to change the time of that adjustment. Ever since my Windows OS would pop up its notice that it had changed the time I had wondered what it would do if the DST change times changes. I reasoned, certainly it was merely a registry value that coded the start and end date, and it would only require a new value in that spot. I can't figure out why a "patch" was needed in something as new as Windows XP. And you should have been able to do it manually with a registry editor even on Windows Mobile (and all the old Pocket PC/Windows CE versions).
I do acknowledge it will be inconvenient changing something that isn't "patched" four times a year, instead of only the two times a year required if the designer had never included the "convenience" of automatic adjustment.
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04-04-2007, 03:09 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 46
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I still don't see why we even need time zones anymore. Why can't we all just use GMT/UCT? Its just a number.
Does it really matter if you are getting up at 7 or 11 or 18? Does it matter if your workday starts at 8 or 9 or 17 or 24?
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04-04-2007, 03:20 PM
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Contributing Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,389
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It has been along time since something made me as mad as this stupid, and now proven pointless, change. I have a lot of appointments and tasks that are still messed up. Even some holidays were off by one day!
I had to fix my phone, my wife's, mother's, brother's, friends, people at work... AAARRRggghhhHH!
My boss missed several meetings with very important people...
I think DST should go away all together!
:evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:
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04-04-2007, 03:37 PM
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Banned
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 38
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Oh you rich republicans are just not willing to make the sacrafices to save the planet from global warming. I would expand on this, but I have to hop on to my private jet and go see Al Gore about a movie deal.
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04-04-2007, 04:01 PM
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Sage
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 676
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I for one have always loved the extra light after 5pm of DST and welcome the extra weeks of it this year regardless of any energy savings or lack thereof.
__________________
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Early 2011 MacBook Pro 13" (dual boot with Windows 7), Early 2009 Mac Mini
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04-04-2007, 04:16 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 21
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Universal time
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Originally Posted by rhelwig
I still don't see why we even need time zones anymore. Why can't we all just use GMT/UCT? Its just a number.
Does it really matter if you are getting up at 7 or 11 or 18? Does it matter if your workday starts at 8 or 9 or 17 or 24?
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This is a fantastic idea. I will vote for this any day.
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04-04-2007, 04:31 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 66
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Re: Universal time
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Originally Posted by Mattitude
Quote:
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Originally Posted by rhelwig
I still don't see why we even need time zones anymore. Why can't we all just use GMT/UCT? Its just a number.
Does it really matter if you are getting up at 7 or 11 or 18? Does it matter if your workday starts at 8 or 9 or 17 or 24?
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This is a fantastic idea. I will vote for this any day. |
I agree - all we have to do is get 4 billion other people to agree to living on GMT... anyone remember the dark ages of the Empire? :devilboy:
__________________
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Current PDA: HTC Touch Diamond
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04-04-2007, 05:01 PM
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Sage
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 779
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Dyvim
I for one have always loved the extra light after 5pm of DST and welcome the extra weeks of it this year regardless of any energy savings or lack thereof.
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I agree. I'm always in a semi-coma in the morning anyway, and much prefer the extra daylight in the evening.
And I also agree that it should not have been so difficult to implement on our PCs and mobile devices. I thought the actual dates were always intended to be subject to change.
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Linear Mode
