Good-Bye to DST!
In the wee small hours of this morning, Daylight Saving Time went away for the winter. Unfortunately, unless something changes during that time, it'll be back like a bad penny in March, and once again I'll spend every day scrambling to catch up.
I can remember a time when DST didn't start until the end of April and went away sometime in the middle of October (other than the crazy time in 1974 when it was supposed to go year-round because of the Arab Oil Embargo). Then sometime in the late 80's the beginning of DST moved back to the beginning of April, and in the first decade of the current century the ending was pushed back to November.
Even with a shorter DST period, the changes always caused turmoil. I hated the draggy feeling of having to get up earlier, when my body wasn't ready to fall asleep at the new bedtime. And it was embarrassing to forget the time change in the fall and arrive way too early to something.
Now that our economy has shifted such that most energy usage is no longer residential and office lighting, but industrial processes and server farms that run 24/7, DST doesn't save any economically meaningful amount of energy, certainly not enough to balance the losses from increases in accidents, heart attacks, and presenteeism by sleepy employees. Yet we can't seem to get rid of it for good, no matter how many people argue against it.
I can remember a time when DST didn't start until the end of April and went away sometime in the middle of October (other than the crazy time in 1974 when it was supposed to go year-round because of the Arab Oil Embargo). Then sometime in the late 80's the beginning of DST moved back to the beginning of April, and in the first decade of the current century the ending was pushed back to November.
Even with a shorter DST period, the changes always caused turmoil. I hated the draggy feeling of having to get up earlier, when my body wasn't ready to fall asleep at the new bedtime. And it was embarrassing to forget the time change in the fall and arrive way too early to something.
Now that our economy has shifted such that most energy usage is no longer residential and office lighting, but industrial processes and server farms that run 24/7, DST doesn't save any economically meaningful amount of energy, certainly not enough to balance the losses from increases in accidents, heart attacks, and presenteeism by sleepy employees. Yet we can't seem to get rid of it for good, no matter how many people argue against it.