
Proof daylight saving time is dumb, dangerous, and costly - d0ugie
https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2017/03/10/proof-daylight-saving-time-dumb-dangerous-and-costly/kOqQs7T33rYHMEnCraQSJO/story.html
======
byoung2
_As Hawaii and Arizona show, the US government gives states a choice as to
whether to adopt daylight saving time. But states aren’t currently allowed to
switch to daylight saving time year-round._

I didn't know that states couldn't choose permanent daylight savings time.
That might explain the hesitation to get rid of time changes...if it means
being stuck with dark evenings all year round, I wouldn't want to change
either. I want daylight savings all year round.

~~~
x1798DE
> A bill signed by Governor Charlie Baker in August included a provision
> establishing a task force to study if Massachusetts should leave Eastern
> Standard Time behind. The commission would analyze putting the state on
> Atlantic Standard Time throughout the year, rather than springing forward
> every March and falling back every November.

I don't understand how the statement you quoted works with the statement I
quoted. Is the task force to analyze the impact of doing something that the
state isn't even allowed to do?

~~~
madcaptenor
What I don't get about this idea is that it would put Massachusetts in a very
strange place - if you left the state in any direction in the winter you'd
drop back an hour. Is the idea that Massachusetts is powerful enough in New
England that the rest of the New England states would go along? (Just under
half the population of New England lives in Massachusetts, so this isn't
entirely far-fetched.)

I can't imagine all of Connecticut would go along, though. It wouldn't
surprise me if eastern CT went with Boston time while western CT went with New
York time, following roughly the Red Sox - Yankees border.

~~~
dragonwriter
I've seen reports of other states on the Eastern Seaboard considering the same
thing (I remember Maine specifically, but I think there were more.)

~~~
madcaptenor
This article reports on a New Hampshire proposal:
w[http://www.concordmonitor.com/time-zone-Atlantic-
bill-754516...](http://www.concordmonitor.com/time-zone-Atlantic-bill-7545169)

And this one on a Rhode Island proposal:
[https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/03/11/will-new-
englan...](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/03/11/will-new-england-
secede-from-eastern-standard-time/4T9tNuLYXX3rz3SKWMpkZI/story.html)

Both explicitly require Massachusetts to go first.

Maine has been considering it for longer (which makes sense, as it's further
east), since 2005, according to this story:
[https://bangordailynews.com/2017/01/19/politics/state-
house/...](https://bangordailynews.com/2017/01/19/politics/state-house/maine-
lawmakers-take-another-stab-at-changing-states-time-
zone/?ref=topStories3Thumb) . The proposals there don't seem to be contingent
on Massachusetts making the first move.

I couldn't find any references to proposals in Vermont or Connecticut.

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perilunar
Those people in the comments that want permanent daylight saving: it's easy -
leave you clocks on standard time and just get up an hour earlier every day!

(One day I'm going to move to the country and set my clocks to local mean
time, and rise at dawn, go to bed soon after sunset, and adopt a biphasic
sleep pattern where I get up in the middle of the night to watch the stars.)

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chmaynard
Sheesh! This is nothing more than a rant. Does the Boston Globe always present
opinion pieces like this as news?

