We are getting ready to switch back to standard time,I loathe DST and the problems it creates(I have never talked to a Farmer that liked it).My question is,can we do a reasonable comprimise( like bumping the time a half an hour from standard time and leaving it be through the year)?-Kevin
Quit trying to be logical. It was a silly idea from the start, but we are now stuck with it.
I have one clock that changes time automatically, however it was made before the current dates so it changes a week or two early.
All of the farmers I have known operate based on the sun cycle. The arbitrary definition of ‘time of day’ has no relevance to them.
I heard some moron say DST confuses the animals. !!! Yeah, especially the cows because with those hooves, it’s hard to work the little buttons on their watches…
Like JEM said, no real logic to it, it’s a ‘feel good’ thing for politicians - ‘Look we’re doing something!’ The studies I’ve seen say it does no good, may actually cost energy, not save it. Should drop the whole thing.
I can say one practical thing in its favor, though it is completely removed from the stated purposes. I am in VA - my daughter gets on the bus at just after 7am and right now she is standing on the side of a rural roadway in the dark. Next week she won’t be.
Other than that it is mostly a PITA.
“I heard some moron say DST confuses the animals.”
It can confuse indoor pets.
Like changing walking and feeding times for the family dog because the owner still has to be at work at 8AM when the clock shifts.
New Mexico changes, Arizona doesn’t.
What fun doing business on the state line !
Took a vacation in that area a few years back. In addition, the reservations are different, too, so it’s not just by state.
Tell me about it. 
We are in Gallup NM.
We have New Mexico time, Arizona time, and rez time.
We have to deal with business’ opening and closing time differences, shipping deadlines ( both to get it here to us AND to ship it out to them ), Wrecker service call meeting times ( “I’ll meet you there at ten”…on whose clock ? ), and conference/sales call time co-ordination.
Yikes! We were on vacation, minor inconvenience compared to what you’re dealing with!
I inherited a spring driven eight day striking pendulum clock from my grandmother who was born in 1868. She did not believe in Daily Savings Time and believed Central Standard Time to be “God’s Time”. What is interesting is that in the summer months when my region goes to DST, the striker will often fall an hour behind during the week, so that when the hands read eight o’clock, the striker will only ring seven times. If I leave the striker an hour off, it doesn’t fall behind, but if I readjust the clock, the striker will fall behind an hour. When we go back to regular time, the striker stays in perfect synchronization with the hands. Could this be the ghost of Seth Thomas (maker of the clock)?
I remember on a road trip once when I drove into AZ at the Navajo Reservation and there was a huge sign that said “What time is it?” and had the rather complicated instructions for figuring out whether you were on daylight savings or not.
The one thing that has been consistently shown is that it helps stores because people are a lot more likely to stop and shop if it’s light out on their commute home.
Do you ever turn the hands backwards?
Generally a no-no with those kind of movements.
No, I don’t turn the hands backward. When we go off daylight time, I just stop the pendulum for an hour, then restart the clock. When we go on daylight time, I advance the hands an hour.
My grandmother lived with us when I was growing up and died when I was in third grade. I was always fascinated by the clock. She promised it to me when she was gone. The clock was in my parents’ house after that, but disappeared about two months before Christmas some thirty years ago. My Dad had taken the clock to a clockmaker who removed the clockworks and overhauled it. My Dad refinished the case and then the clockmaker reassembled the clockworks and the case and it was a Christmas present to me from my parents who are also now gone. It keeps very good time, except for deciding that it likes standard time better than daylight time.
I remember some automobile clocks back in the late 1960’s that if the clock was set forward, the regulator would make the clock run faster, while if the hands were set back, the regulator would slow the clock down. The idea was that with a few adjustments to the time, the clock would regulate itself and keep perfect time. Unfortunately, when setting the clock up or back an hour to change to and from DST, the clock would take weeks to be accurate again.
And then there’s those 27 watches to re-set.
And how is all this automotive related ?
We have that many customers who refuse to read their owner’s manual and come rolling through my Ford dealer service write-up for no other reason except…
"can you set my clock right ? "
Yep, I see your point. The comment I cited was in reference to farm animals. I grew up in a rural area surrounded by farms. Many of my friends had/worked on farms. They got up an hour before sunrise and finished about 1-2 hours after sunset 24/7/365. Tough life.
Drowsy drivers in the spring?-Kevin
And an hour late to work ( at this Gallup NM Ford dealer ) one season then sitting outside waiting for an hour the next.