romani:
I used to hang with a Mich grad and she said that it was awful waiting for the bus in the dark. Think about the little kids going to school during that time if we stay on DT…
Ann Arbor is a special case since MI and most of Indiana are on the western end of the Eastern Time Zone. Thus, the sun comes up much later there than it does in say, Boston.
When I went to school in Eugene, I’d often go to school or work in the dark and return in the dark, DST or not. It made for a very long winter. I’m sure others experience this and know that in places like Alaska, they have VERY long days and VERY long nights, depending on the time of year.
Yes dark when I go to the office and dark when I come home from mid-dec to late in January. Miserable time of year for sun lovers.
DST doesn’t help any industries at all. The day does not actually get longer. Whatever they do with DST they can do by shifting hours. And vice versa, in the off season.
One consequence of them shifting the shift back to November is that it gets dark an hour later on Halloween. For some kids, that means starting trick or treating later and staying up later.
Arizona doesn’t do DST but the Navaho nation does. They are a huge corner of the state. Entirely within the Navaho nation is the Hopi nation. They DON’T do DST. Arghghghghgh.
@momof3boys Can’t they just shift hours? Same working hours. I still don’t get it.
I am old enough to remember the energy crisis in the 70s and IIRC, because of that we stayed on DST for one year. The biggest problem was kids waiting at bus stops or walking to school in the dark.
I have mixed feelings about the issue. I hate changing back and forth, but I do love that extra hour when it shifts back to standard time! 
I remember that energy crisis in the 70s. I hated walking to my 8:00 am class in the dark. I have enough difficulty waking up in the morning without introducing pitch black skies.
I think I read somewhere that people align their day with TV shows, so that shifting the hours of work without switching times is problematic. So I guess if I typically left home after the first 15 minutes of The Today Show, I would need to leave home at 6:15 when the shift to work hours occurred during what would typically be daylight hours. Then I’d have to go to bed at the start of the 10:00 shows instead of watching them until 11:00. It would be interesting to try that, but I think three would be just as many complaints.
This debate always comes up near the two times we switch. But interestingly, I never heard anyone complain about the daylight hours extending until 9:00 or later at the peak of the summer. Everyone seemed to be enjoying their outdoor activities. But when it started to get dark at 8:00, people complained about losing those late night light summer evenings already.
At one job I had, I had branches in all time zones. It was okay for me because I was in Central and could reach most people during my regular working hours. One day I was calling a branch in AZ and the phone just kept ringing and ringing. I was about to report the branch manager to the regional manager when I realized it was 6 am at the branch. No DST. Okay, I forgave them.
Upper Michigan has counties that do not observe DST, so you can be driving east and it is 10 am, then 11 am, then 10 again. Indiana too.
California will be voting on Proposition 7 in November, which would make daylight saving time permanent year round (except it needs Congressional approval to enact). Can’t wait to see what the people say.
In NE, when we switch off DST it messes up all the sports practices and games. When you get out of school at 3 and the sun has disappeared by 4:30 it’s almost impossible to get in an away game unless you have kids leave school early. Not that the world should be run to accommodate middle school and high school athletes, but it’s always been one reason I hate the fall time switch.
I always hate the fall switch as I want to go to bed so darn early!
By itself, passing Proposition 7 would do nothing. It merely allows the state legislature to change daylight time within the state if national law allows it.
Exactly. That’s why I said it would need congressional approval to enact it. Florida already voted to go ahead with year round DST, but it has not been introduced in Congress yet.
If Proposition 7 passes, changing daylight time in California needs both the change at the national level and a change at the state level through the state legislature.
The background is that, in 1949, California implemented daylight time by initiative which disallowed the state legislature from changing it. Proposition 7 would allow the state legislature to change daylight time if allowed at the national level, but does not by itself change it.
http://voterguide.sos.ca.gov/propositions/7/analysis.htm
In other words, if Proposition 7 passes, and the national level laws change to allow year-round daylight time, but the state legislature does nothing, then the existing daylight time (spring forward, fall back) will continue.
Or, think of it this way: three things need to happen for California to go to year-round daylight time:
Any one or two of the above would not change California to year-round daylight time.
Note: existing national law allows states to choose daylight time during the specified part of the year (spring forward, fall back), or year-round standard time, but not year-round daylight time.
re post #1. People in Michigan are at the western edge of their time zone while those in Wisconsin are at the eastern edge of theirs at the same latitudes. It makes a huge difference in sunset times on the clock. Cross that lake and see the difference. Further south it isn’t as important. It becomes a matter of going to school/work in the dark or returning home in the dark for many. Hmm- I can see being in NW Washington state summers and south Florida winters just to get more daylight hours (plus the weather).
I’ve lived most of my life on the East Coast where prime time starts at 8pm and ends at 11pm with local news. I have always been a night owl so that worked out well for me. However, in my 20s, I lived in Hawaii briefly when dh was a naval officer and stationed there. It was an adjustment to have prime time shows start an hour earlier but eventually I decided I liked that so much better. Dh got up super early to get to work so he wanted to be in bed early and I used that extra hour to read. When my kids were young, I couldn’t wait for 9pm to come…kids in bed, kitchen cleaned up and I could finally relax with some tv/reading undisturbed! I hardly watch tv these days but I do typically watch the 11pm news before I go to bed. I probably would go to bed a little earlier if the news was on at 10 instead of 11pm. Now that my kids aren’t so dependent on me, I don’t need that downtime at the end of the day like I used to (i have much more downtime now that they are older, in school, not clingy toddlers stuck to me all day like they were then).
I did like the central time zone 7pm start to evening shows and 10 o’clock news. Retired in Florida it doesn’t matter. But- all those live events that either come way too early or are tape delayed further west… Then there are the squirrely state corners where it is better to be in synch with the metropolitan area rather than your state. It was a relief when Indiana finally embraced DST so timing with relatives didn’t change with the seasons. There is no perfect way to do things. Extra early sunrises don’t enhance my day while later sunsets sure are nicer.
For football, mountain time zone is the best. Sundays are at 11 and 2, Monday night used to be at 7. My sister used to go to a few games with clients in Pittsburgh, and Monday night football was from 9 to 1 am! She couldn’t believe it (and was always exhausted).
When I lived in California, Sunday football started too early. Pregame shows were on at like 8 am, so no Meet the Press. People were still in church. My daughter had hockey. Very chaotic.
Why do you have to remember which places are on or off DST? Most phones change automatically to local time, and you can always google in advance.