Ace of Spades HQ

March 12, 2011

Reminder: Um, DST Starts Tonight
— Gabriel Malor

That stupid-ass time change is upon us again.

This tinkering with clocks is our inheritance from a people obsessed with time. Clocks spread rapidly in early America. They were expensive imports, but popular among the Puritans, who despised idleness. Massachusetts passed a law in 1663 making the wasting of time a crime: Â“No person, householder or other shall spend his time idly or unprofitably, under pain of such punishment as the court shall think meet to inflict.Â” A century later, the Boston-born Benjamin Franklin (Â“time is moneyÂ”) proposed a version of daylight saving time as a joke to stop slothful Parisians from sleeping in. But it was an English Puritan, Ralph Thoresby, who invented an early alarm clock.
By the mid-19th century, Americans were producing their own clocks. Workshops in Connecticut produced cheap models with wooden gears. Peddlers sold them from coast to frontier. The Â“Yankee clock peddlersÂ” managed to Â“stick up a clock in every cabin in the western country,Â” reported George William Featherstonhaugh, an English geographer who visited the States. Â“Wherever we have been, in Kentucky, in Indiana, in Illinois, in Missouri, and here in every dell of Arkansas, and in cabins where there was not a chair to sit on, there was sure to be a Connecticut clock.Â”

There's a fairly interesting recounting of the phenomena of setting our clocks this way. But it boils down to one simple fact: Congress is made up of a bunch of meddlers.

Set your clocks one hour ahead. (So you lose an hour of sleep...or an hour of drinking while sobbing over your pathetic existence, as the case may be.)

I'll be all messed up for a week because of the change. As far as my body is concerned, the sun is in the wrong place in the sky. I might as well be on another planet.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 06:18 PM | Comments (48)
Post contains 317 words, total size 2 kb.

1 So, the ONT should have showed up an hour ago, then.

Posted by: Papa Editor at March 12, 2011 06:19 PM (YX6i/)

2 Everyone switch to EDT!!!

Posted by: Mitch Daniels at March 12, 2011 06:19 PM (pW2o8)

3 Everyone switch to EDT!!!

Posted by: Mitch Daniels at March 12, 2011 06:20 PM (pW2o8)

4 Echo... echo.

I hate DST. Very jarring.

Posted by: Y-not at March 12, 2011 06:21 PM (pW2o8)

5 But it boils down to one simple fact: Congress is made up of a bunch of meddlers.

Is there anything Congress can't screw up with their meddling?

Posted by: Kratos (Ghost of Sparta) at March 12, 2011 06:21 PM (wz1qx)

6 So, how's it like having to worry about DST? I wouldn't know. Shows come on an hour earlier, life is great! Not so much living in Arizona part, but this is moderately redeeming.

Posted by: SnowSoul at March 12, 2011 06:21 PM (7kgOh)

7 I'm actually pretty fond of DST, and my wife absolutely loves it. It's not the disruption, of course. It's getting one more hour of daylight. Who cares if it's dark when you're having your caffeine? But a longer day, that's really nice.

How about a compromise: make the DST hours apply year-round.

Posted by: Splunge at March 12, 2011 06:23 PM (2IW5Q)

8 *kicks Mitch Daniels' ass*

I'll be driving to work in the dark on Monday morning.

Posted by: HeatherRadish at March 12, 2011 06:23 PM (0vDuM)

9 I don't adjust clocks. They do it themselves every six months. God-Damned Communists.

Posted by: eman: Japanese Babe Rescue Team at March 12, 2011 06:23 PM (azrS2)

10 "Massachusetts passed a law in 1663 making the wasting of time a crime" If it was a federal one, then every congress since 1820 would have been in direct violation.

Posted by: CAC at March 12, 2011 06:23 PM (lV4Fs)

George William Featherstonhaugh, an English geographer

That has sockpuppet written all over it.

Posted by: ErikW at March 12, 2011 06:24 PM (ZlsYD)

12 But a longer day, that's really nice.

Unless you need to sleep at night, so you can go to work in the mornings.

Posted by: HeatherRadish at March 12, 2011 06:24 PM (0vDuM)

13 damn, i just got around to resetting the clock in my car from that last time.

Posted by: robtr at March 12, 2011 06:24 PM (MtwBb)

14 not here it doesn't....we don't believe in that crap

Posted by: phoenixgirl at March 12, 2011 06:24 PM (eOXTH)

15 It's time to get _small

Posted by: melvin at March 12, 2011 06:24 PM (3OCZw)

16 "But it boils down to one simple fact: Congress is made up of a bunch of meddlers."

People don't like to be meddled with. We tell them what to do, what to think, don't run, don't walk. We're in their homes and in their heads and we haven't the right. We're meddlesome.

Posted by: Keith Arnold at March 12, 2011 06:25 PM (L7aZP)

17 So, why isn't anyone talking about repealing DST?

The amount of money saved by doing so would far outweigh savings, if there are any, gained due to it.

And more importantly, it would be one less area the government could boos us around in.

Posted by: 18-1 at March 12, 2011 06:25 PM (bgcml)

18 I set my alarm clock ahead at sundown. If I go to bed mentally adjusted, I seem to wake up OK with the new time.

Posted by: Awww, I'm so helpful at March 12, 2011 06:25 PM (0LZTz)

19 Congress is made up of a bunch of meddlers.

Yeah. We told them to stuff it. Best thing about my state - no changing the clocks. Unfortunately, this means our tv shows switch times again.

Posted by: soulpile is... expendable at March 12, 2011 06:25 PM (afWhQ)

The day we spring forward, gaining an hour, is my favorite day of the year. Extra hour of sleep, better than Christmas. So I'm not so happy the day we lose an hour.

Posted by: Mayday at March 12, 2011 06:26 PM (TRgli)

21 But a longer day, that's really nice.

The day is not longer because of DST, of course.

I like to wake up organically with the sun. Just as it starts to be light in the mornings when husband (and I, formerly) are getting ready for work, DST rips that away. I hate it.

Posted by: Y-not at March 12, 2011 06:27 PM (pW2o8)

22 Remember, this is all for the benefit of farmers...who don't care what damned time it is! Sunrise is sunrise.

Posted by: t-bird at March 12, 2011 06:27 PM (2EEmX)

23 Massachusetts passed a law in 1663 making the wasting of time a crime: Â“No person, householder or other shall spend his time idly or unprofitably, under pain of such punishment as the court shall think meet to inflict.Â” The Puritans were obviously unfamiliar with the internet.

Posted by: rickl at March 12, 2011 06:29 PM (hZFhS)

24 21 The day is not longer because of DST, of course.

Well, of course not. But if you have a 8-9 to whenever job, you don't have the luxury of choosing the start of your day. What you do have is a perception of what light is left when your workday ends at 5-6. As far as I'm concerned, the more, the better.

I admit I don't care whether it's dark or light when I wake up. I'm not even truly conscious until I've had my caffeine, so what does it matter? But whether it's dark or light when my work is done, and how much light I have to work with at that point, that I care about a lot.

Posted by: Splunge at March 12, 2011 06:31 PM (2IW5Q)

25 Why not adjust 30 minutes once and be done with it? On the average, we would still be in the same place, diurnally, without the bother of the time adjustment.

Posted by: Hrothgar at March 12, 2011 06:33 PM (DCpHZ)

26 I forgot, the SEIU adjusts the clocks for the democrats, so it means more union jobs.

Posted by: Hrothgar at March 12, 2011 06:34 PM (DCpHZ)

The day we spring forward, gaining an hour, is my favorite day of the year. Extra hour of sleep, better than Christmas. So I'm not so happy the day we lose an hour.

Dude. When we "spring forward" (in the Spring, like right now) we lose an hour of sleep. It's in the fall that we get that extra hour ("fall back").

Posted by: Jahiliyya at March 12, 2011 06:35 PM (LO3jz)

28 I like to wake up organically with the sun. Just as it starts to be light in the mornings when husband (and I, formerly) are getting ready for work, DST rips that away. I hate it.

Exactly. I'm a morning person. My brain wakes up when the sun does. My bosses are gonna wonder why I'm suddenly dragging ass and the answer is that it's fucking dark out when I have to wake up now.

Posted by: Jahiliyya at March 12, 2011 06:37 PM (LO3jz)

The day we spring forward, gaining an hour, is my favorite day of the year. Extra hour of sleep, better than Christmas. So I'm not so happy the day we lose an hour

You don't gain the hour in the Spring, you lose it. Uh.. right??

Posted by: jewells45 at March 12, 2011 06:37 PM (Z71Vg)

30 When I was working, _{seems so long ago now}, I worked third shift so I always liked the Autumn change because I received an extra hour of overtime. They left us alone in the spring so I only had to work 7 hours that night.

Posted by: Samuel Adams at March 12, 2011 06:40 PM (Jx0x6)

You don't gain the hour in the Spring, you lose it. Uh.. right??

Posted by: jewells45 at March 12, 2011 10:37 PM (Z71Vg)

No, you spring forward which means, um, you add an hour which means you get an hour of sleep, I think.

I don't know. I think I'm wrong.

Posted by: ErikW at March 12, 2011 06:44 PM (ZlsYD)

32 you are wrong erik

Posted by: phoenixgirl at March 12, 2011 06:45 PM (eOXTH)

33 but set your clock that way anyway and let us know how it works out!!!

Posted by: phoenixgirl at March 12, 2011 06:45 PM (eOXTH)

34 I think the guy in the article made a mistake. He said "biannually" when he meant "semiannually".

Posted by: Mikeyboss at March 12, 2011 06:46 PM (IgpkI)

Dude. When we "spring forward" (in the Spring, like right now) we lose an hour of sleep. It's in the fall that we get that extra hour ("fall back").

My bad, just said it wrong (spring forward on the brain). Favorite day is Fall Back day, when you get an extra hour.

^{Also, I'm a dudette : )}

Posted by: Mayday at March 12, 2011 06:49 PM (TRgli)

36 you are wrong erik

Posted by: phoenixgirl at March 12, 2011 10:45 PM (eOXTH)

Fuck it anyway, the Amish lifestyle is looking pretty appealing.

Posted by: ErikW at March 12, 2011 06:50 PM (ZlsYD)

37 So, why isn't anyone talking about repealing DST?

The amount of money saved by doing so would far outweigh savings, if there are any, gained due to it.

And more importantly, it would be one less area the government could boos us around in.

Posted by: 18-1 at March 12, 2011 10:25 PM (bgcml)

I would support any fucking pol if he promised to abolish this abomination. Future historians will look back on this ill-conceived wanking as equally retarded as global warming.

Posted by: Captain Hate at March 12, 2011 07:02 PM (kKA7V)

38 As I was walking down the street one day, a pretty lady looked at me and said her diamond watch had stopped cold dead. And I saaaaaaiiiiid, "Hey baby, let's do lunch!"

She declined

Posted by: Kevin at March 12, 2011 08:23 PM (ENL+r)

39 Captain Hate, I would gladly vote for any pol who promised to do just two things, abolish this ridiculous custom and brutally punish those who drive slow in the left lane. Only politicians are possessed with enough unearned arrogance to think they can somehow "save daylight"

Posted by: nightwitch at March 12, 2011 08:46 PM (SbaLN)

40 Nightwitch, I'll have to apply for a waiver for my mother. If granted, I will also vote for that pol.

Off to set about ten more clocks forward.

Posted by: not the droid you seek at March 12, 2011 09:06 PM (h35AH)

I hate DST, always have. I grew up in AZ. They tried it there for a couple of years, then ditched it.

Look, nature is nature. Don't re-set clocks to fool yourselves. Days are naturally longer in the summer and shorter in the winter. No problem. Effing .gov trying to mess with that is just plain idiotic.

Which reminds me. Wasn't there supposed to be a study to find out if indeed DST saved money on energy?

Whatever happened to that?

Posted by: HH at March 12, 2011 09:52 PM (6oDXl)

42 Nightwitch, I'm with you on both of those although sometimes some left lane slow-pokes are there because of having to make an upcoming left turn (including interstates that were designed by dumbasses with exits from the left). That doesn't mean that I'm not wishing unspeakable tortures on them if I'm behind them.

Posted by: Captain Hate at March 13, 2011 03:48 AM (kKA7V)

43 If the American people actually knew how much workof highly talented software engineers is wasted on this nonsense ...

Posted by: Chuckit at March 13, 2011 05:03 AM (THuh6)

44 Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care?

Posted by: Chicago at March 13, 2011 05:41 AM (hlNxi)

45 (So you lose an hour of sleep...or an hour of drinking while sobbing over your pathetic existence, as the case may be.) Less time to kill hobos and hide the bodies. Or eat them. Whichever.

Posted by: NukemHill at March 13, 2011 05:41 AM (dCc4J)

46 Which reminds me. Wasn't there supposed to be a study to find out if indeed DST saved money on energy? Whatever happened to that? Yes, there was. No, it doesn't.

Posted by: NukemHill at March 13, 2011 05:42 AM (dCc4J)

47 "I'll be all messed up for a week because of the change. As far as my body is concerned, the sun is in the wrong place in the sky. I might as well be on another planet."

Dude - it's ONE HOUR! You didn't just jet in from Istanbul. I am continually amused by those who make this out to be some sort of massive hardship of disorientation.

Posted by: Minister for Silly Walks at March 13, 2011 11:31 AM (3tv4X)

48 Fashionmonkey.org Coach Outlet Store Online Coach Outlet Store Coach Outlet Stores

Posted by: fashionmonkey at March 14, 2011 06:25 PM (ygKy4)

Hide Comments | Add Comment | Refresh | Top

Comments are disabled. Post is locked.

88kb generated in CPU 0.0603, elapsed 0.292 seconds.
64 queries taking 0.26 seconds, 176 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.