Friday, March 9, 2007

I'm Going to Be an Hour Late to the End of the World

Guy looking at clocks

Hi all -- depending on when you read this, we either survived the new, earlier Daylight Saving Time switchover on Sunday, or we're on the raggedy edge of utter chaos and a new Dark Age. (There is an outside chance that you are a digital archaeologist from a future, possibly alien, civilization: If that's the case, greetings from 2007!)

In case you forgot, Daylight Saving Time (in the U.S., natch) was changed by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, so we start earlier and end later.

(As I heard on NPR today, if Standard Time is about 4 months, and Daylight Saving Time is 8 months, what's so standard about Standard Time?)

Okay, so what's the big deal, other than the fact that golf course operators and candy companies stand to make a bundle?
(More daylight means more tee times and more Halloween candy.)

Remember that little Y2K thingy a few years ago? Well, it's kind of back. Computers are kind of simple-minded, so if you start changing how the calendar works without letting them know about it -- well, they don't really like that.

(Wikipedia lists it as the Y2K7 problem, though I don't know anyone who actually calls it that -- it didn't take off like the "Y2K" bug.)

Anyway, after the doomsday scenarios failed to appear in the 2000 switchover, people seem to be a bit a little calmer this time around. Not to say that software folks around the world haven't been busy. But the worst-case scenarios seems to revolve around missed appointments, instead of nuclear reactors melting down and airliners falling out of the sky.

This whole big dealio could have been avoided if we'd just left well enough alone, of course. I mean, I like an hour of extra daylight as much as the next guy. But it seems kind of ahassle for something of somewhat dubious utility (the jury is still out as to what kind of energy savings, if any, we'll see out of this).

Also, I can't shake the feeling that all this could have been avoided. There's that whole "Y2K, all over again"-deja vu feeling.

As someone once said:
"There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."
Anyway, I'm going to check out Doug Ritter's Equipped.org blog to make sure my disaster preparedness supplies are in order, but otherwise, I'm going to try to enjoy the weekend and hope for the best.

How do you feel about the Daylight Saving Time switchover? Are you from a state that doesn't even participate in such foolishness? Do you insist of calling it "Daylight Savings Time" (like me) instead of "Daylight Saving Time?" Leave a comment below.

Thanks -- Joe

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hate it I have to readjust my body for a week to the new time as to when to get up when to sleep. Its all so rediculous. its four thirty now it will be fivethirty this time tomrrow. So lets adjust it one way or the other and leave it. onlything i can say is candy makers arae going to be making money and golf courses BUT CHILDREN are out at the bus stop in the dark now !!!!!!!!!! it was just getting to where it was light at bus stop time. SO no I dont like changing. I can be happy if its left one way or another.

Anonymous said...

Still NO journal posting alerts for any journaller,  still NO comment alerts for my journal, still NO add entry button, still NO edit journal button.  I have kept notifying you, I have notified Stephanie, I have not had an acknowledgement from either of you or any news as to whether this is ever going to be fixed.  I got TOS'd by AOL for sending out a journal entry alert email to my other journaller friends.  This whole situation stinks to high heaven.  Remember, Joe, we are  PAYING for this service.  I pay AOL £33 per month for platinum which is around 60 dollars of thereabouts in your money.  It is a farce.
Will you please advise us if the journals problems are ever going to be fixed and when, if ever, alerts will be coming back.

http://journals.aol.co.uk/jeanno43/JeannettesJottings/

Anonymous said...

ohhhh, I love your heading! I think it should be my motto, I am late (and a dollar short) to everything...

Candy

Anonymous said...

I don't work or anything, so I rely on a sort of internal clock.

I wake with the sun, go to sleep with the werewolves, and generally just walk around kicking ass. The concept of time is for Victims...ie, "What time did the attack occur?"

Funk that. You'll notice that all 4 dead hippies at Kent State were wearing wristwatches. The doomed 9-11 flights were most likely rigidly timed. Time is one of those false concepts of security that only gets in the way when you're trying to run/kill/steal.

I rely on gut instinct. I would have been in off-campus housing at Kent the minute my friends started hurling rocks at the 200 guys with the assault rifles. I can also say that either myself or that sweating-out-of-context Syrian looking guy would have been off Flight 666, or whatever the f*** flight it was.

The average American doesn't live 79.6 years... the average American lives until their heart stops beating.

Anonymous said...

Now stop all this clowning around, and answer my Getting Booted question from the previous entry.

Anonymous said...

http://journals.aol.com/monponsett/HighAboveCourtside/entries/2007/03/10/pimp-thyself/1728

Anonymous said...

Adding to my resume... I think I'm the first person to break Tags. In this case, I'm pretty sure the problem was "trying to make them white."

Anonymous said...

To start with, the whole time zone thing is pretty outdated. Does the US really need what 4-5 time zones? I may not be a rocket scientist, but think it would simplify things if we had two at most.

The time shift thing is also for the birds. Really it started with the agrarian economy of the centuries ago. Oh, sure, its nice to get the kiddies off to the bus in daylight, but not if they walk home in the dark after tiddly-wink practice or whatever after school activity they might have. And four weeks change? Three earlier now, and one later in the fall? Yawn.

Really this is all about simpletons that couldn't program their VCR (remember VCRs?) to stop blinking 12:00. That still can't program their home phone so they could check messages from afar, that have a great light cell phone and have like eight numbers saved, because if you don't call them on it, they don't know how to get you in their address book. And text messaging? Forgetaboutit.

If my laptop time doesn't adjust tomorrow, I'll fix it manually. Same goes for my phone, TV, microwave, VCR (yeah, I still use it), and who knows what else. Its no big deal. Yet a fine subject to blog about. Just not to panic about.

g.

Anonymous said...

h

Anonymous said...

LOL, I'm just glad someone brought me up to speed. I'd have been 3 weeks late for everything.

Never heard of y2k7 :)

Anonymous said...

Speaking as a software guy... I really wish Congress had an IT Troll who could veto this kind of silliness.  I guess the end of the world will start three hours earlier for you than for us on the Left Coast though.  So, not all bad.

Anonymous said...

testing the time

Anonymous said...

You might care to read my latest entry

http://journals.aol.co.uk/jeanno43/JeannettesJottings/

Anonymous said...

I personally wish they would keep it one way or the other. I just manually changed the time on my pc...it didn't cough or spew at me so I guess all is good. :-D
http://journals.aol.com/bootifulohio/bootiful-ohio/

Anonymous said...

I work in a kitchen, got to work  actually 15 minutes early. Unfortunatly the Head chef and one waitress were the only ones to make it. A prep cook and a dishwasher both called in with a bad back. One other kitchen emloyee made it an hour late then the owner of the restraunt wandered in even later at which time the head chef decided it was time to chew out the owner and quit...out the back door he went. That put the owner of the restraunt on the line cooking. He ofcourse was calmly flipping out. Since he was late I filled him in on the two that called in. He asked me where the other line cook was who by now was an hour and a half late. I told the owner that e hadn't called in he was simply late. Eventally, about an hour after he left, the head chef thought better of his decision and came back to work. Our restraunt is on a county park pier, on a beautiful beach filled with sunshine, on a sunday after a week of rain. If not for the fact that we would be slammed The chef would have been fired. ....My opinion just leave the damb clocks alone please.