DST : A Stupid Idea
The government of BC is taking submissions (agwebfeedback@gov.bc.ca ) until tomorrow on the subject of aligning our temporal jackboots with the US. Regardless of what we do, I am not falling in step with an idea so stupid that Dubya thought it was a good idea.
Regarding the DST proposal, I feel that this is unnecessary. Most of the world doesn't share a time zone with another area. In North America, while we share a timezone with the US States that are west of the Rockies, we do not share a timezone with anyone else in Canada or the world. In essence, we are guaranteed to the out of sync with 23/24 of the world so making this change is moot. Indeed, not changing means that we will be synchronized to other jurisdictions at some times of the year.
In out global economy, we could work for 24 hrs a day with some group somewhere. The TV shows I get could be stored on a PVR, so their broadcast time is immaterial. The services I enjoy locally (e.g. shopping) will always be relative to my time. Just before drafting this email, I was on a phone call with people in the Eastern US and South America. Before bed, I may have to talk with people in South Africa. Changing our time in any direction will not synchronize me to these other locations.
The US are changing because they are far closer to the equator, so they do not have as wide a swing in daylight hours. We will feel the changes much more significantly (e.g. in Victoria: we have some daylight for +/-15 hrs. in the summer and +/- 10 hrs. in the Winter). Sacrificing any of that daylight to fall in step with a foreign country is not in the interest of Canadians.
I vote that come 2007, we abandon Daylight Savings and move to continuous year round time. The origins of Daylight Savings were to aid in factory productivity. We are in a post industrial era with many service workers starting later in the day than generations past. Any of the benefit that comes from Daylight Savings is lost through the social changes that have to happen twice yearly.
Thank you,
Mike DeWolfe
Regarding the DST proposal, I feel that this is unnecessary. Most of the world doesn't share a time zone with another area. In North America, while we share a timezone with the US States that are west of the Rockies, we do not share a timezone with anyone else in Canada or the world. In essence, we are guaranteed to the out of sync with 23/24 of the world so making this change is moot. Indeed, not changing means that we will be synchronized to other jurisdictions at some times of the year.
In out global economy, we could work for 24 hrs a day with some group somewhere. The TV shows I get could be stored on a PVR, so their broadcast time is immaterial. The services I enjoy locally (e.g. shopping) will always be relative to my time. Just before drafting this email, I was on a phone call with people in the Eastern US and South America. Before bed, I may have to talk with people in South Africa. Changing our time in any direction will not synchronize me to these other locations.
The US are changing because they are far closer to the equator, so they do not have as wide a swing in daylight hours. We will feel the changes much more significantly (e.g. in Victoria: we have some daylight for +/-15 hrs. in the summer and +/- 10 hrs. in the Winter). Sacrificing any of that daylight to fall in step with a foreign country is not in the interest of Canadians.
I vote that come 2007, we abandon Daylight Savings and move to continuous year round time. The origins of Daylight Savings were to aid in factory productivity. We are in a post industrial era with many service workers starting later in the day than generations past. Any of the benefit that comes from Daylight Savings is lost through the social changes that have to happen twice yearly.
Thank you,
Mike DeWolfe
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