11 March 2016

Spring Back, Fall Foward

Spring back, Fall forward
Time change.  I bitch about this twice a year.  Well, it is that time again to set the clocks ahead one hour...just so we can set it back one hour in about six months.  Fall back, Spring forward.  Or is it Spring back, Fall forward?  What if I am walking down a path and I trip?  I fall forward.  What happens when you compress a spring, then let go?  It springs back.  Just that stupid saying along is damn confusing.

Why do we still do this?
During most of the week on the news on television and radio, we are being reminded to set our clocks ahead one hour on Sunday morning, from 2AM to 3AM.

As I listen to these broadcasts, I learned that Arizona and Hawaii are the only states that do not observe Daylight Savings Times.  California is considering the change.  This would be awesome news, as it can lead other states and eventually the entire world to rid ourselves of this useless act.

Pink areas like to waste time.
I find out that most of the world, at least by population do not observe the DST.  Last night, I was watching a show...it does not matter which show, as I am sure it will get cancelled soon...where the US and Russia worked on a program to launch a rocket to save the world.  It was not until ninety minutes until launch time that they realized that the Russians do not use DST, there fore the timing of the rockets would be off by one hour.  They US team needed to rewrite the code to adjust for this time change.  One stupid thing like this time change would have prevented the rocket from saving the world.  The rocket launched, not sure if it will save the world.   I will have to tune in next week to find out...if the show does not get cancelled.

One of the thing stats they threw out this morning regarding the issues time changes cause was a 24% hike in heart attacks, and an increase in traffic accidents.    I am not going to verify these stats, because they work in my favour.

We lose and hour this weekend.  But really, we lose two hours, as it will take about an hour to set all the clocks and watches the average person has in their house and car.  Yeah, do not forget about the clocks in your car.

Bi-annual dance we do
Since time is set to Greenwich, I realize that we need to convince the UK to abandon the Daylight Savings Time system in order for the rest of the world to adapt.

Again, here is my genius idea to end this crap.  Instead of setting the clocks ahead one hour, then back one hour every six months...we meet half way.  All we do is get Greenwich to set the clocks half an hour off and leave it.  Then, everyone will just need to worry about Time Zones  Those are usually based on longitude and borders, which only effects those who travel.

Oh wait,  I thought I was done.  I may have mentioned this before...but not everyone who observes DST changes their clocks at the same time.  What?!?  I will try to keep this short since we are losing an hour and you need to be setting your clocks.  Anyway...

I traveled to London in October.  When I got there I obviously had to set my watch to local time.  Well, the next day, I had to set it back one hour because it was the end of DST.   A week later, I am back in the states...setting my watch back to DST...then the next day fall back an hour because it was the end for DST in North America.  This is what drove Doc Brown crazy.

Time change!
UPDATE - 14 March 2016

As heard on the news this Monday morning.  Traffic accidents increase by 5% as EVERYONE is essentially 'jet lagged' from losing that hour.  In California, there was over 5000 traffic accidents on the Monday following the time change, last year.  It takes about 3-4 days for the average person to adjust to time change.

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