We’ve gone back to God’s time thank Him. The silliest thing I know of is daylight saving time. Why don’t they get up with me?
Harry Truman, October 2, 1947, letter to Bess Truman
As you “gain” an hour of sleep tomorrow on Sunday, please recall the history of this bad idea. Daylight Savings Time in the US was ushered in by Congress on March 19, 1918 with the Standard Time Act of 1918 as a temporary war measure, and, son of a gun, Daylight Savings Time was repealed by Congress in 1919, over the veto of President Wilson. Daylight Savings Time came back with World War II. From 1945-1966 local communities were left to determine whether to observe Daylight Savings Time which normally ran from April to September. Congress in 1966 made Daylight Savings Time national with the Uniform Time Act, with Daylight Savings Time running from the last Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October. In response to the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973, Congress started Daylight Savings Time in 1974 on January 6 and in 1975 on February 23. Parents were real thrilled with their kids walking to school in the dark (that is when my 17 year old self realized that a great number of Congress Critters were idiots) and the start and stop dates for Daylight Savings Time went back to April and September in 1976. Congress in 2005 tinkered with Daylight Savings Time again, setting it from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November. The Senate voted to make Daylight Savings Time permanent in 2022, but the proposal stalled in the House. A proposal to make daylight savings time permanent was just stalled in the Senate this year, 2025.
It is arguable that Daylight Savings Time has never made sense, but it certainly does not today in a global economy and e-commerce 24-7. Time to do away with this annoying anachronism.
Won’t happen. The Eastern Time Zone, especially the Northern part of it, does not want a late spring or summertime (May through August) sundown at 7 or 7:30 and a sunrise at 4AM. Not. Gonna. Happen.
Penguins Fan is sadly correct. Sidenote: the northeast to which he alludes is Democrat. I rest my case.
How to be unaffected by the subjective time references of +/- DST:
Go to bed early, don’t set an alarm, keep the room cool, sleep with an eye mask, say a prayer for a good night’s sleep.. and you will wake up early, naturally and know you had a good night’s sleep. (I usually wake up about 7-7.5 hours later.)
Practice I.F. Don’t eat Break-fast until it is late & you are very hungry, black coffee is your friend. Lunch in the middle. An early Supper and fast. (For me I usually begin the fast with a workout while having a beer (don’t judge), and the fast usually lasts 16 hours.)
The Cold & Darkness?
There is no such thing as bad weather only bad clothing.
Get outside and wear a headlamp, you’ll be surprised on how it makes things “brighter” 🙂
I wonder if we could convince all the East part of the eastern time zone to go without the switch if they shifted to Atlantic Time (an hour earlier) ?
Maybe if we sold it as a special time zone *of their very own* it would sell. It would have the added advantage of separating them from all those backward sections of their states that are only holding them back anyway.
Perhaps, just for fun, we could name it the Atlantic Standard Section. Acronyms can be fun 😏
The I F is helping me to fight the “snack” attack.
The open window for me is 3pm to 9pm. I hope that the offerings during the day are efficacious.
Only God knows and thats a good thing…pride kills. I wish that I could say that my motivation was strictly to do mortification for souls, but it wasn’t. My hope to have the spirit subdue the flesh is a struggle when it comes to snacking, but my Hope is grounded in Christ. I F is helping.
Actually, here in the Buckeye state, the local press outlets and not a few people appear to want to keep Daylight Savings Time as the permanent time. Those who worry about kids being in the dark for the first part of the day have been told that kids have always gone to school in the dark for the first couple hours. Not sure about that. But that’s where the main push seems to be in these parts.
LQC….not all of where I refer to is Democrat. See David’s post about Ohio. Indiana, outside of Chicagoland and Evansville, adopted DST. DST has a greater chance of being made year round as it is 8 months of the year as it is.
My mom has lived in Northeast Ohio for over 60 years. Lived there over 20 years myself. Sunrise at 5 AM and sunset after 9 PM from late May to early-mid July is disliked there by…nobody.
Not.
Gonna.
Change.
Philip, for I.F. settle in on a schedule, say: 10 AM break-fast, 5 PM supper, with lunch somewhere in between, all stop at 6PM. Personally I find ending with a beer by 6PM satisfying. It’s important for each meal (3) to make a plate… focus on that plate (3). Your mind will adapt. Black coffee is our friend, caf or decaf. Selzer too.
For snacks between 10 and 6, if you must.. there such things as carrots or maybe apples.
(I.F. is just eating as our ancestors did for 1000’s & 1000’s of years. They didn’t turn on the lights reach into the refrigerator early in morning, nor late at night. And there was work! to do in the morning before break-fast. )
Thank You David WS.
My mom was from Minnesota. She used to say that the dairy farmers did not like DST. I find if I take 3mg of meltonin I sleep very well. My doctor recommends intermittent fasting.
Cam wrote, “I find if I take 3mg of meltonin I sleep very well.”
I have found that strenuous exercise is better than melatonin. Last night’s workout is attached. First time to break 40 minutes for 8 kilometers (a little under 5 miles) on the rowing machine in literally decades. After Evening Prayer I slept great. 🙂
I usually fall asleep in three minutes after my head touches my pillow. My Bride envies my ability. On the rare night when I need help, I take Bufferin PM.
Even California voted to do away with the stupid idea of DST, it got a 60% yes vote.That makes clear just how dumb this idea is!
The day, November 2, 2025 has 25 hours.
Standard Time….that which is observed from early November to early March….one third of the year….is a pain in my neck. Darkness at 5 gives me no daylight to clean mountains of leaves from maple, oak and elm trees. Humbug.
Generally, I suppose morning people prefer standard time. This notion, recently proposed by Marco Rubio, (and previously suggested by others) to make DST permanent annoys me. Growing up in Michigan, it was dark until 2nd period! Keep DST going all year and the sun wouldn’t rise until after 9:00 on Christmas morning!
I’m looking forward to filling the bird feeders before work tomorrow without a flashlight. 🙂
Oops, I forgot to include this meme 😀