Althouse: Did you survive the saving of daylight?

March 10, 2019

Did you survive the saving of daylight?

I'm fine with the coming and going of Daylight Saving Time.

I only have to survive all the commentary — every damned time DST comes or goes — about how we shouldn't do Daylight Saving Time. Boring!

77 comments:

Quaestor said...: I'm not in favor of changing the clocks twice a year. I favor randomizing the clocks every day all over the world. Air travel will be interesting again.; 3/10/19, 8:01 AM
Oso Negro said...: Pre-emptive strike against her own commentariat!; 3/10/19, 8:05 AM
Oso Negro said...: As for me, I would rather read a thousand complaints about Daylight Savings Time than one more complaint about Chuck and Inga. By the way, I think I deserve favorable mention for working them into a thread on Daylight Savings Time.; 3/10/19, 8:08 AM
Michael K said...: Arizona does not do DST. I have to set my location as California to get my laptop to keep the correct time and I am still trying to figure out how to get the iPhone corrected.; 3/10/19, 8:11 AM
Wilbur said...: As an early morning person, I much prefer the increased early morning light of standard time. Just leave the time at that.

Because I'm all about me.; 3/10/19, 8:11 AM
cronus titan said...: Is "boring" the heart of "cruel neutrality?"; 3/10/19, 8:13 AM
David Begley said...: Agree with Oso.; 3/10/19, 8:13 AM
rehajm said...: Snowing here so it is still dark.; 3/10/19, 8:15 AM
Darrell said...: I did not.; 3/10/19, 8:18 AM
dbp said...: Not only do I like DST, I have long advocated double daylight savings time. Around May, we could gain another hour. It would be great to have it get dark at 10:00 PM in the middle of the Summer!; 3/10/19, 8:19 AM
Ryan said...: I survived but my cat was puking up hairballs at 3am. Annoying.; 3/10/19, 8:24 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: It doesn't matter what "time" the clock tries to tell me it is....(you're not the boss of me!!!).

I always am up at the same "time" my internal clock says. Ditto with going to bed. Still light out side? Too bad. I'm ready to go to bed and read. Dark-thirty in the morning...where's the coffee?

Internal clock is strong!!

Of course, being retired, plus self employed and able to record or stream shows......what time it is just does not matter. Well. Unless I actually have to be some place at a certain time or get up earlier than usual. Then I guess, I'll pay attention to the clock. I haven't needed to set the alarm clock in at least a year. Meh.; 3/10/19, 8:25 AM
Curious George said...: Althouse:

Could you post later today a reminder to reset the clock in your trucks? It's the last thing I need to do to answer this post's question.; 3/10/19, 8:26 AM
dbp said...: As it was, our stupid dog got me up at the crack of dawn. She normally wakes up around 6:00 and jumps onto our bed to snuggle for an hour, but this morning she attempted to get around the box we put in front of our bedroom door. We slide a box in the door opening because otherwise she will go downstairs and ring her bell by the back door to be let out. We don't just shut the door because our 3rd floor bedroom suite is heated by a gas fireplace in a sitting room on the other side of the bedroom door, so it would get cold with the door shut. Or rather, it would fail to warm in the morning when the thermostat kicks on.

I think she was thrown-off by the absence of my wife (who is the dog's favorite Human). Wife is off in Rhode Island with youngest daughter for a dance competition.; 3/10/19, 8:26 AM
I'm Full of Soup said...: This may be your pithiest, most spot on post ever!; 3/10/19, 8:35 AM
Bob Boyd said...: I don't really like changing the time twice a year, but it's better than changing them three times a year.; 3/10/19, 8:35 AM
AllenS said...: I didn't feel a thing.; 3/10/19, 8:36 AM
rehajm said...: We slide a box in the door opening because otherwise she will go downstairs and ring her bell by the back door to be let out

Consider the alternative.; 3/10/19, 8:37 AM
Tank said...: Based upon the two clocks in my bedroom, I woke up at both 5 AM and 6 AM.

So I had an extra hour, right?; 3/10/19, 8:40 AM
Michael K said...: It would be great to have it get dark at 10:00 PM in the middle of the Summer!

England has, or had, double summer time.; 3/10/19, 8:41 AM
Ryan said...: Animals should not be in the bedroom, I say. My wife hates that I kick the cat out every night before sleep. But its lots of licking, scratching, snoring, and last night puking hairballs. Am I the asshole?; 3/10/19, 8:42 AM
rhhardin said...: I had to go around resetting the automatically set atomic clocks that didn't get the message - this consists of removing the battery for a moment and taking them outdoors where the signal is better; and used a serial connection to the radio that turns on Rush at noon but whose buttons no longer work, to change its idea of time.; 3/10/19, 8:44 AM
Bob Boyd said...: Ryan said...
"I survived but my cat was puking up hairballs at 3am."

Those hairballs were meant to arrive at 2am, but you had already moved an hour into the future by then. So they're hairballs from the past. Your cat is a time machine.; 3/10/19, 8:47 AM
Ralph L said...: I'm here to complain about Drago, who complains about Chuck and Inga.
I'm going to cough up a hairball if I see LLR again.; 3/10/19, 8:48 AM
Amexpat said...: I don't mind it. What bothers me is that western Europe does it two weeks after the US. I propose a deal; the US goes metric and the rest of the world uses the US dates for daylight savings time.; 3/10/19, 8:49 AM
rhhardin said...: The clock in my camera stays on standard time, plus however much it's drifted in 5 years. To figure the accurate time correction, take a picture of an atomic clock and compare the clock to the metadata for the pic.; 3/10/19, 8:50 AM
rhhardin said...: The question is will Scott Adams start at 10am as usual or 11am.; 3/10/19, 8:51 AM
Anne in Rockwall, TX said...: If only we could explain changing clocks to animals, it would be okay.; 3/10/19, 8:52 AM
Original Mike said...: " It would be great to have it get dark at 10:00 PM in the middle of the Summer!"

Move to Norway.; 3/10/19, 8:52 AM
rhhardin said...: There are a lot of episodes of Veep where Jonah is campaigning against daylight time, and showing up late or early for everything.; 3/10/19, 8:53 AM
rhhardin said...: Scott Adams didn't start at 9am, so that idea for a joke is out.; 3/10/19, 8:54 AM
iowan2 said...: My atomic clock did not reset. Almost missed an appointment this morning. Will have to see if DST is turned on in settings; 3/10/19, 8:55 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: If only we could explain changing clocks to animals, it would be okay

No kidding.

Most farmers with animals dislike the changing time. Dairy cows don't understand the time change they sill need to be milked. Roosters still crow when the sun comes up no matter what "time" it is. Chickens expect to be fed.

Explain the time change to your cat or dog when they are staring at you over their empty food bowl because it isn't "TIME". Dare you!!!; 3/10/19, 8:58 AM
Michael K said...: My iPhone seems have figured out that we are in MST Arizona. Mysteries abound.; 3/10/19, 9:00 AM
iowan2 said...: DST is like the weather, everyone is an expert and has an opinion. I like the idea about doubling down in May, push night back another hour. Farmers will go with it. Few do morning chores anymore, and sun time in relation to clock time affects very little.; 3/10/19, 9:01 AM
Rory said...: "I only have to survive all the commentary"

It's like the designated hitter. Any benefit or detriment is outweighed by the tedium of the argument.; 3/10/19, 9:01 AM
Fernandinande said...: As if by magick, the clock on the stove is suddenly correct.; 3/10/19, 9:02 AM
Tommy Duncan said...: "Air travel will be interesting again."

Be careful what you wish for:

NAIROBI (Reuters) - An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 passenger jet to Nairobi crashed early on Sunday, killing 149 passengers and eight crew, the airline said, the same model that crashed during a Lion Air flight in Indonesia in October.; 3/10/19, 9:02 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Ryan: Animals should not be in the bedroom, I say. My wife hates that I kick the cat out every night before sleep. But its lots of licking, scratching, snoring, and last night puking hairballs. Am I the asshole?

Well....my husband does a lot of scratching, snoring and some drooling......but has not so far puked up a hairball. I suggest you might want to see a doctor about those hairballs.; 3/10/19, 9:03 AM
Fritz said...: Being retired means you don't have to pay attention to whether it's daylight savings time or not. Except that it screws up the TV schedule.; 3/10/19, 9:03 AM
Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...: DST. Semi-annual idiocy.; 3/10/19, 9:04 AM
Mr. Majestyk said...: Do hourly wage emploeess who work overnight when we "spring forward" get paid for the lost hour?; 3/10/19, 9:11 AM
Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...: ...I have long advocated double daylight savings time. Around May, we could gain another hour.

To be fair and impartial, why not Turkish Time? Everyone set their watch to Noon every day when the sun is at zenith.; 3/10/19, 9:15 AM
Original Mike said...: Blogger Michael K said..."My iPhone seems have figured out that we are in MST Arizona. Mysteries abound."

This isn't really a mystery, is it? Of course your iPhone knows where you are (or, to be more precise, it knows where it is).

We had to buy a new TV yesterday and the one we bought (Sony) uses Androi (Google) as its OS. The setup procedure included permission request, after permission request, after permission request. One was it wanted permission to use "Let Google and third party apps use your device location.". Crikey.; 3/10/19, 9:25 AM
mockturtle said...: No annoying clock-changing here in AZ. But at least for the next six months I'll be in the same time zone as my kids.; 3/10/19, 9:34 AM
AllenS said...: Question --

Did we just go on DST, or do we go on DST in November? In other words, if we didn't have DST, what time would it be now according to CST.; 3/10/19, 9:38 AM
etbass said...: “My iPhone seems have figured out that we are in MST Arizona. Mysteries abound.“

I think the iPhone picks up its time from the cellphone network for your local area.; 3/10/19, 9:39 AM
Bob Boyd said...: @ AllenS

My calender says "Daylight Savings Time begins" on the 10th.; 3/10/19, 9:44 AM
AllenS said...: Bob, I just checked my calendar and it says the same thing.; 3/10/19, 9:48 AM
Humperdink said...: Me to my Amish friend: “Can you be here at 7?”

Amish friend: “Yes. My time or your time?”

Me: “Your time.”

(They don’t change their clocks); 3/10/19, 9:51 AM
rhhardin said...: Atomic clocks rely on getting the DST bit in the message from WWVB. If they don't get the message that night, they don't change. In particular they don't work off of a calendar like your computer does.

The time they receive is GMT and they have to figure out what to do with it for your time zone and DST setting.

It's actually fairly complicated because they have to apply the bit the later than it appears first, because GMT isn't in the same day for a few hours.; 3/10/19, 9:58 AM
Ken B said...: Insurance companies tell us there would be fewer accidents if we were on DST year round.; 3/10/19, 10:21 AM
Original Mike said...: "Atomic clocks rely on getting the DST bit in the message from WWVB. If they don't get the message that night, they don't change."

But the DST bit is set for the whole period of time we are on DST, right? I can't imagine they only set it in one broadcast at the transition time.

I've noticed my atomic clock (we call it the "radioactive clock" in our household) can be slow to change to the new time.; 3/10/19, 10:25 AM
Original Mike said...: "Insurance companies tell us there would be fewer accidents if we were on DST year round."

Probably as reliable as the claim it saves energy. It doesn't.; 3/10/19, 10:26 AM
Original Mike said...: "In other words, if we didn't have DST, what time would it be now according to CST."

God's time. 9:31 am.; 3/10/19, 10:31 AM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: My smoke detector started beeping every 30 seconds this morning to tell me that it needed new batteries.

I think it must have known that it was daylight savings time; 3/10/19, 10:33 AM
Michael K said...: I think the iPhone picks up its time from the cellphone network for your local area.

Good point,. Too bad the laptop and the Honda don't.; 3/10/19, 10:36 AM
stevew said...: Boring and silly and all over a twice a year annoyance. I would like it to be ended but the DST religionists won't allow that.

Many of my clocks now adjust themselves or have a DST on/off switch.; 3/10/19, 10:38 AM
John Ray said...: Bil Gates was ever reliable. He came to my house and changed all five of my computers to DST in the wee hours of the morn. Thanks Bill.

See Victoria, there really is a Santa!; 3/10/19, 10:52 AM
Dave in Tucson said...: We don't have DST in Arizona (well, mostly) and it works out just fine.

Aside: shouldn't the antonym of daylight savings time be daylight wasting time?; 3/10/19, 11:04 AM
Jaq said...: I like it. I like how it gives the illusion of speeding up spring as the evenings suddenly get longer. There! I said it.; 3/10/19, 11:50 AM
Clark said...: Among the pet peeves of my dear old dad, may he rest in peace, was people saying "daylight savings time" instead of "daylight saving time." I have inherited this pet peeve of his; I would be a happier man if I had not. When I hear someone say "daylight savings" I imagine that they are somewhat addled, like a Dickens character, carrying their tattered passbook savings account booklet around with them, trying to squirrel away little bits of time.

Like the "curious little old woman in a squeezed bonnet, and carrying a reticule, [who] came curtseying and smiling up on us, with an air of great ceremony. . . . 'I have the honour to attend Court regularly. With my documents. I expect a judgment. Shortly. On the Day of Judgment. I have discovered that the sixth seal mentioned in the Revelations is the Great Seal. It has been open a long time!" (Bleak House); 3/10/19, 11:57 AM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: Winter has been unusually persistent here in the PNW. February had none of the Hints O’ Spring days that are some of my favorite in the year. However, by a happy coincidence, it looks like winter will be releasing it’s icy grasp on the same day that we get to enjoy the longer evening. Doubly blessed.; 3/10/19, 12:06 PM
MadisonMan said...: My only persistent comment is that the change should happen at Noon. Why hide it away in the wee hours?; 3/10/19, 12:21 PM
Original Mike said...: "My only persistent comment is that the change should happen at Noon. Why hide it away in the wee hours?"

Because people aren't competent enough to deal with it.; 3/10/19, 12:33 PM
Ralph L said...: Insurance companies tell us there would be fewer accidents if we were on DST year round.

We tried that in the first oil crisis in 73-74, and several times children were killed waiting for the bus in the dark, so it wasn't tried again.

There might be fewer PM rush hour accidents without low sun in the eyes. Our main roads run E-W.

Imagine you're Poland or Finland and your whole calendar slowly changes when the Russians are coming, the Russians are coming.; 3/10/19, 12:47 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: Success! I have travelled one full hour into the future. The world seems
little changed, but who knows what lies beyond the walls of this house,
what pale light seeps under the bedroom door.

*Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn*

My god what have I done..; 3/10/19, 12:58 PM
Mark Leavy said...: It always irritates me when the time on the clock is significantly different from local solar time. Up to half an hour I can forgive, but more than that is just ridiculous. Now when I glance up to see what time it is, I have to adjust for the calendar as well as the longitude. Seriously folks, the sun should be due South at noon and sunrise should happen about the same amount of hours before noon as the sunset happens after noon. How hard is that?; 3/10/19, 1:08 PM
rcocean said...: For all you DST haters, this is the return to normalcy.; 3/10/19, 2:25 PM
Original Mike said...: "Seriously folks, the sun should be due South at noon and sunrise should happen about the same amount of hours before noon as the sunset happens after noon. How hard is that?"

We can do nature better! {/s}; 3/10/19, 2:47 PM
rhhardin said...: LaCrosse atomic clock fail
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUOQIeNCisc

With doberman.; 3/10/19, 2:56 PM
rhhardin said...: LaCrosse atomic clock fail, spring ahead edition
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVkhD51DmF4

With doberman.; 3/10/19, 2:59 PM
rhhardin said...: There's a red and fur coat in the upper right of the spring edition video, converted into a dog comforter. I remember wearing it in 1958 on a solo cross-country flight taking off from Glens Falls NY (Morristown NJ to Glens Falls to somewhere west to Morristown). It's tossed out now. You needed three cross-countries for a private license.

Champ 7EC. Rented for $10.50 an hour solo. Glens Falls had commercial traffic but no tower. Conventions plus see and be seen.; 3/10/19, 3:07 PM
Mark said...: the sun should be due South at noon and sunrise should happen about the same amount of hours before noon as the sunset happens after noon. How hard is that?

When a single time zone is a thousand miles across, pretty hard. And those of us on the eastern side of the zone appreciate the extra daylight in the evening that those on the west side take for granted.; 3/10/19, 3:30 PM
Maillard Reactionary said...: In my role as Judge, Jury, and Executioner, I rule that Unknown @12:58 PM has won this thread.

Separately, I survived the dreaded DST transition. All clocks that needed resetting, are reset. All is well with the world; the Sun has risen (I am told-- today His gold Complexion is dimm'd hereabouts).

Now, whether we can survive Saving the Recycling, Saving the Whales, Saving the Planet for Our Grandchildren, and Saving the Rubber Bands, is still dicey at this point.

On the other hand, I think I have saving the perfectly good chewing gum under control.; 3/10/19, 4:07 PM
Caligula said...: Yes, we should Do Daylight Savings. All year long!

Or, perhaps all year except for the week between Christmas and New Years.

Besides, if one hour ahead is good then wouldn't two hours be even better?

Daylight Savings Time can end when NASA or Musk place giant mirrors in orbit to reflect the sun down to more northern areas, providing an extra hour or two of daylight after day's natural end.; 3/11/19, 9:10 AM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: I wouldn't complain if I were retired, or a blogger. It's always nap time somewhere.; 3/11/19, 2:35 PM