A previous experiment with permanent Daylight savings time.

During the energy crisis of the 1970's, the U.S. congress passed a law which would keep daylight savings time uninterrupted for two years.

In December 1973, public support for the measure was at 79%.

On January 6, 1974, the law went into effect.

In February 1974, public support dropped to 42%.

By October 1974, congress had received enough complaints from constituents that they repealed the bill.

In some parts of the country, sunrise was as late as 9:30.

In 2011, Russia tried this, but they gave up in 2014.

Source: USA Today

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TinyViolins · 31-35, M

That's pretty useful information. I'm curious how its handled in countries that don't observe DST at all

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TinyViolins · 31-35, M

@DrWatson That's about what I've found out too. The US is a gigantic country and the impact will vary quite a bit. It'll be an interesting experiment to live through either way.

I live in the PNW where sunlight is hard enough to come by most of the year as is. As much as people like railing on DST, I don't know if they'll like the alternative that much better

DrWatson · 70-79, M

@TinyViolins I live north of the 45th parallel.

TinyViolins · 31-35, M

@DrWatson I don't envy your energy bill

Mamapolo2016 · F

What troubles me is at least some of them believe they're "giving the people more sunshine!"

33person · 26-30, M

@Mamapolo2016 As someone with Seasonal Affective Disorder, it's really not about that. It's about when the sunshine happens. My mood isn't affected whatsoever by the amount of sunshine I see on my way to work or while at work. When I'm at work, I'm an inhuman robot. What I care about is how much sunlight there is after I get home. So for me, this is an absolute game changer. The only other way I could achieve this difference is if I could change my shift to begin and end one hour earlier in the winter, and I don't have the freedom to do that.

ChipmunkErnie · 70-79, M

Why not split the difference, call 2:00 a.m. 1:30 one Saturday night and just go from there?

DrWatson · 70-79, M

@ChipmunkErnie Like the Newfoundland Time Zone!

ChipmunkErnie · 70-79, M

@DrWatson If you say so. I never noticed any clocks on Xena.

SW-User

The cows don't care what time the sun rises or sets, but they sure do care about being milked at a set time every day, being fed at set times, etc...
It's not the same time everywhere in the world and we all still manage.

SomeMichGuy · M

[quote]In some parts of the country, sunrise was as late as 9:30.[/quote]

This has always been true. In college, kids from Anchorage said that they did not see the Sun in Winter, with it rising ~10 AM & setting ~2 PM.

It depends upon what latitude you are.

Check out the "length of day" graphic at

[i]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunrise_equation[/i]

If you are over 50° N, this can happen, and--besides the hour of DST--one's position within the timezone (longitudinal difference from the meridian used to define the timezone) also affects when the events of local sunrise, solar noon, and sunset occur, with respect to the official zone time.

DrWatson · 70-79, M

@SomeMichGuy Of course it is true in Alaska even without time changes, but the law in 1974 exacerbated the problem in parts of the lower 48. At any rate, despite what you or I may feel about what people OUGHT to think, what DID happen was that many people who favored permanent DST back in 1974 abruptly changed their minds when reality forced them to see that they had not thought it through.

I suspect the same thing would happen again.

And as someone who lives north of the 45th parallel, I do want us to adjust the time twice a year.

sdave455 · 41-45, M

Every day the sun rises at slightly different times and they never tried to legislate that into compliance but I wouldn’t put it past a bunch of multi-millionaires who have nothing better to do.

SW-User

Just ignore it. I don't get this permanent shit.

ChipmunkErnie · 70-79, M

The answer is simple -- return to sundials.

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