Do the clocks go back tonight where you are?

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   IzzyMposted 12 years ago

   Here in Europe clocks go back at 2am on the last Saturday night/Sunday morning in October. Is this worldwide?

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      paradigmsearchposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Most of North America is Sunday, November 6, 2011: 2:00 AM back to 1:00 AM

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         paradigmsearchposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Except for Cuba. Figures...

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      Gordon Hamiltonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Think America is usually a week behind us...

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         IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Do you remember the year they experimented with not changing the clocks and we went to school in the dark?

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            Gordon Hamiltonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            I do - and I remember they also talked about double changes!

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               IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Did they try a year of double changes? My memory is failing. Was it a double change year in the early 70s, or was that a 'no change' experiment.
               
               I just remember it was dark, like night, and our school had huge modern picture windows, and it was weird.

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   paradigmsearchposted 12 years ago

   This is interesting...
   
   Half of Mexico does it one week. The other half a week later.

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      IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Any idea why? I'm sure I understood once why the clocks need to change at all, but I've forgotten.

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         paradigmsearchposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I think people prefer to go to work in the dark rather than come home in the dark. Or is it the other way around...? Also, I think energy conservation issues are tangled up somewhere in there as well.

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            IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            If I remember correctly, the reason they discontinued the experiment of NOT changing the clocks was before the child mortality rate went up. Children travelling, or walking to school in the dark were getting hit by sleepy/dozy drivers.
            
            That was in Scotland. It might seem like just a tiny dot on the world-wide map, but kids in Scotland were more at risk that kids in London where it gets light an hour earlier.
            
            Or it might have been because the rest of Europe didn't carry out the same experiment at the same time, and British business lost out on trading because their European partners were there earlier.
            
            Then again, most of Europe is at least an hour behind the UK anyway so I fail to see how that worked!
            
            This whole daylight time is weird to me. Here in Spain, being so far south, there are actually less daylight hours in summer than in the UK.
            
            Mariners know better than me. Something to do with being nearer the equator.

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               Aficionadaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               
               We had something similar happen here, but in reverse.  That is, when the time change took place, so that suddenly the morning hours went from dim sunrise to pitch black, kids were being hit by cars.  We're on the western edge of the zone, so it gets light here a full hour later than it does on the eastern edge.
               
               I have read about another study that showed that in the week after the time change (mainly the one in spring, when we lost an hour of sleep), there are more traffic accidents and heart attacks than at other times of the year.  Except among retirees, who can set their own hours.

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   Rafiniposted 12 years ago

   From what I remember, Indiana doesn't change their clocks, they change time zones.  Wonder if anywhere else does that...?

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      Aficionadaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      It used to be so (in Indiana) - no more. 
      
      Hawaii and Arizona do not change to Daylight Saving time.  I wish everyone else would take a cue from them.
      
      IzzyM, I understand that one of the American founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, proposed this kind of change back in the day.  He thought it would save fuel.  We have been duped ever since.
      
      (I meant to start this post with, Don't let me get started....   )
      
      When Indiana (my state) transitioned recently from not observing DST to observing it, it provided a perfect opportunity for researchers to see whether old Ben was right.  As it turned out, the change just causes a change in which kind of fuel is used more at the various times of day.
      
      One thing people often forget (politicians, I mean) is that there is a major difference in what time the day becomes light or dark, depending on whether you are located on the eastern or western edge of the time zone.  Or in the middle.
      
      Some people have forgotten that it is possible for businesses, and schools, etc., to have "winter hours" and "summer hours" and not have to change the clocks at all!

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         IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         This is it! Why does every thing have to be 9 to 5? OK I can understand businesses working that way, but why schools and colleges, or even shops come to that?
         
         They could make their own hours to suit depending on available daylight.

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            Rafiniposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Well, life had to be standardized to the majority.  But I fail to see why, in today's world, more businesses don't operate 24/7 or close to it.  Especially in big cities where the change could reduce rush hour traffic, ya know? 

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               IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               I used to drive taxis for a living, and rush hour weekdays was 4 - 5, maybe 4 - 6. But on a Friday rush hour started at 2pm.
               
               Why do so many businesses let their workers away early for the weekend? No wonder the economy is so bad if no-one wants to work any more than a 4 and half day week.

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                  Rafiniposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  lol, I've heard of that.  it was called summer hours, but I never had a job that let me off early one day per week, every week.  did have a job once where I could leave early, but it was because I had packages to deliver for a grievance committee.

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                  SiddSinghposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  I am no economist, but I remember reading somewhere there is an economic rationale for this. High productivity workers (especially when aided by advanced machinery - as in most of the Western Hemisphere) will over-produce if they work for 5 days or 6 days in a week. That will result into a glut.
                  
                  Probably that also explains more work days per week in developing economies - at least in India.

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4. 95

   leahleflerposted 12 years ago

   Arizona doesn't observe daylight savings time, either - they simply don't do it. Very confusing when you are flying through the airport in Phoenix and think you might have missed a flight, lol!

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      wildernessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Where I am they observe it, but on a different schedule.  Which means all my clocks will automatically set forward a couple of weeks early.  And then do it again next spring.
      
      A pain in the a**.

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   Bard of Elyposted 12 years ago

   In Tenerife where I am, yes, they did!

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   SiddSinghposted 12 years ago

   Lots of round-the-year sunshine here anyway, so no need to save daylight time!

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