
Clocks Change Tomorrow [1918] [pdf] - hgennaro
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/mobile/daylight-savings-1918.pdf
======
ceautery
There's a long history of railroad involvement in time changes, e.g., the "Day
of two Noons". Adjustments for railroads are why we have time zones, and why
Date.toLocaleString has weird minute and second offsets for pre-1800 dates:

[http://curtisautery.appspot.com/5779342353235968](http://curtisautery.appspot.com/5779342353235968)

~~~
userbinator
The alternative would be for everyone to use something like UTC, which means
that while their relationship to the sun changes depending on location, the
actual value is the same everywhere. I find this especially useful when
scheduling online meetings with participants from many countries.

~~~
speakeron
Yes, that's a cool way to do it and somewhat natural if you're a server
person; but perhaps mentally challenging for a lot of people.

Remember Swatch Internet Time[1]?

[1]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swatch_Internet_Time](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swatch_Internet_Time)

~~~
nebulus
I wish this would catch on again. Swatch Internet Time was a pre-Twitter
invention, and the live global connection to one another was weaker than it is
now. I'd love to see it supported as a timestamp in forum software, Twitter
clients, etc.

------
hollerith
The Director General McAdoo mentioned in the OP was the head of a US
governmental agency that had taken control and ownership of the US railroad
network. According to the Wikipedia article [1] "it was possibly the largest
American experiment with nationalization," and it was reversed after WW I.

1:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Railroad_Adminis...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Railroad_Administration)

~~~
transfire
Passenger rail was never reversed.

~~~
zeckalpha
Uh, Amtrak wasn't founded until 1970. It was reversed, and then reversed
again.

------
fphilipe
So basically time stood still for an hour instead of, as nowadays, repeating
the third hour of the day. I wonder if this was really the case or if it was
just an "easier" way to explain it to the average Joe.

~~~
kzrdude
An old pendulum clock can be easily set forward, but you must not push the
arms counter clockwise. The method I've used requires waiting for the ding-
dongs at each hour and half hour when you turn it forwards, so just stopping
the clock for 1 hour is certainly easier than setting it forward 23 hours.

------
wyclif
Benjamin Franklin's Essay on Daylight Saving Time:

 _Every morning, as soon as the sun rises, let all the bells in every church
be set ringing; and if that is not sufficient?, let cannon be fired in every
street, to wake the sluggards effectually, and make them open their eyes to
see their true interest._

[http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/franklin3.html](http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/franklin3.html)

~~~
ta0o0o0
Just to be clear, that essay is not about daylight savings time. It's a
humorous essay about people sleeping late.

~~~
wyclif
I know it wasn't. That's called "editorial license" and you see it every
single day on HN when users creatively edit headlines.

------
ck2
What blows my mind is the collective amount of "news" articles we get twice a
year, every year for DST

The American public (and world public for that matter) is obviously 100%
apathetic.

If you really want this to change then you have to goad politicians and tell
them how the USA is stuck in the 20th century and going backwards. But good
luck with them caring about that either.

~~~
ryanhuff
I prefer that we keep "DST" all year long. Its more pleasant leaving work
while its still daylight. And I suspect that many US citizens think the same.

~~~
riffic
How about we keep standard time all year long, and you just leave work an hour
earlier?

~~~
lmm
If you can write a law that will enforce that my boss lets me do that, sure.

(The real issue is that the legally-regulated opening hours for e.g. banks are
too late in the day)

------
transfire
Please, just split the difference and be done with it.

