Daylight Savings Time change

Grosseschnauzer

Grosseschnauzer

TNPer
For reasons only the President and the Congress can ever explain, the period during which the United States observes daylight savings time changes beginning ohis weekend.

In addition, parts of Indiana, and Arizona will be observing daylight savings time for the first time.

For 2007, through at least 2012, the United States will observe Daylight Savings Time from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November; a net increase of four weeks. it takes effect this weekend at 2 a.m. local time.

As far as your computer is concerned, it may need to be adjusted manually. If you have Windows XP or Windows Vista, and use the automatic update function, then you should not need to do anything, since Microsoft released an update a few weeks ago reflecting these changes. If you update manually, you need to download the recent updates before 2 am local time Sunday (in the U.S.) You should also check your Windows time/date settings to make sure it is corectly set for your location.

Your cellphones should change automatically., but don't forget to check you TVs, DVRs, car radios, watches, and all that other good stuff. :P

And if you think this is weird, just be glad you weren't around in 1974, which the U.S. went on daylight savings year-round until the autumn of 1976. :lol:
 
Us Canucks have to go through it too it seems. Maybe we are held on the American leash like I thought? :P
 
Daylight savings is freaking awesome in Aus! since no one gets up until they have work or school then all that morning daylight (5-7 am) is wasted, with daylight savings it means you can go and be outdoors for a couple of hours after dinner. not to say that anyone does. but you could if you wanted to.
 
FYI: At 2 a.m. on March 11, groggy Americans will turn their clocks forward one hour, marking the beginning of Daylight Saving Time (DST).

The federal law that established "daylight time" in this country does not require any area to observe daylight saving time. But if a state chooses to observe DST, it must follow the starting and ending dates set by the law. From 1986 to 2006 this has been the first Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October, but starting in 2007, it will be observed from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November, adding about a month to daylight saving time. (See: New Federal Law.)

No More Sunlight in Arizona and Hawaii
Arizona (with the exception of the Navajo Nation) and Hawaii and the territories of Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa are the only places in the U.S. that do not observe DST but instead stay on "standard time" all year long. And if you've spent any time in the sweltering summer sun in those regions you can understand why residents don't need another hour of sunlight.

The Dawning of DST in Indiana
Until April 2005, when Indiana passed a law agreeing to observe daylight saving time, the Hoosier state had its own unique and complex time system. Not only is the state split between two time zones, but until recently, only some parts of the state observed daylight saving time while the majority did not.

Under the old system, 77 of the state's 92 counties were in the Eastern Time Zone but did not change to daylight time in April. Instead they remained on standard time all year. That is, except for two counties near Cincinnati, Ohio, and Louisville, Ky., which did use daylight time.

But the counties in the northwest corner of the state (near Chicago) and the southwestern tip (near Evansville), which are in the Central Time Zone, used both standard and daylight time.

The battle between the old system and DST was contentious and hard-won—bills proposing DST had failed more than two dozen times until finally squeaking through the state legislature in April 2005. As of April 2, 2006, the entire state of Indiana joined 48 other states in observing Daylight Saving Time. But it wasn't quite as simple and straightforward as all that—telling time in Indiana remains something of a bewildering experience: eighteen counties now observed Central Daylight Time and the remaining 74 counties of Indiana observe Eastern Daylight Time.

New Federal Law—Springing Forward in March, Back in November
Months after Indiana passed the law that got it in step with the rest of the country, the federal government announced a major change in Daylight Saving Time. In Aug. 2005, Congress passed an energy bill that included extending Daylight Saving Time by about a month. Beginning in 2007, DST will start the second Sunday of March and end on the first Sunday of November.

Comparisons Around the World
More than one billion people in about 70 countries around the world observe DST in some form. Here are interesting facts about some of these countries:

Most of Canada uses Daylight Saving Time. Some exceptions include the majority of Saskatchewan and parts of northeastern British Columbia. In the fall of 2005, Manitoba and Ontario announced that like the United States, they would extend daylight time starting in 2007. The attorney general of Ontario commented that "it is important to maintain Ontario's competitive advantage by coordinating time changes with our major trading partner, and harmonizing our financial, industrial, transportation, and communications links." Other provinces have indicated that they may also follow suit.
It wasn't until 1996 that our NAFTA neighbors in Mexico adopted DST. Now all three Mexican time zones are on the same schedule as the United States.
Also in 1996, members of the European Union agreed to observe a "summer-time period" from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October.
Most countries near the equator don't deviate from standard time.
In the Southern Hemisphere, where summer arrives in what we in the Northern Hemisphere consider the winter months, DST is observed from late October to late March.
Three large regions in Australia do not participate in DST. Western Australia, the Northern Territory, and Queensland stay on standard time all year. The remaining south-central and southeastern sections of the continent (which is where Sydney and Melbourne are found) make the switch. This results in both vertical and horizontal time zones Down Under during the summer months.
China, which spans five time zones, is always eight hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time and it does not observe DST.
In Japan, DST was implemented after World War II by the U.S. occupation. In 1952 it was abandoned because of strong opposition by Japanese farmers.
 
to me daylight savings only makes any sense in certain latitudes. at low latitudes (near the equator) day length stays the same year round, so you wont really get any benefit from DST. at high latitudes (nearer the poles) you have a crazy amount of sunlight in the summer regardless of whether you use DST or not. but there is an area in between the two where i think it makes a huge difference.

while i was researching in melbourne this summer i could go for a walk down to the gelati shop and 9pm and still work on my killer tan. i like that.
 
Muahahahahahahahaha! I am not American! I need not worry about such things! I am above most people here, in this, small, unimportant matter.

But please don't burst my bubble, I feel so special inside it.

:fish:

Ah, wacky fish guy...what will you think of next...
 
Lebostrana:
Muahahahahahahahaha! I am not American! I need not worry about such things! I am above most people here, in this, small, unimportant matter.

But please don't burst my bubble, I feel so special inside it.

:fish:

Ah, wacky fish guy...what will you think of next...
Click to expand...
Second that.
 
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