Hooray For Standard Time

For most of us, our clocks changed this weekend. We went from daylight saving time to standard time. The sun rises and sets an hour earlier. Almost everyone agrees we should stop changing clocks twice a year, but did you know there is a simple change your state could implement now and never have to change your clock again?

Many of you probably spent at least a portion of time this weekend changing clocks. I came downstairs Sunday morning to discover the oven clock changed itself because the oven is connected to the internet (just in case I need to turn the oven on or off from miles away, something I’ve never needed to do and can’t imagine why it’s important). The microwave, however, is not “smart” and needed attention.

We have a grandfather clock. As I do every year, I stopped the pendulum for an hour rather than changing the time forward 11 hours (you can’t adjust a grandfather clock backward). Three hours later, I remembered, started the pendulum, and moved the clock forward two hours. I can never seem to remember to time the hour-long wait.

I’ve also tried desperately hard to reset my dogs’ internal clocks. No success so far. They are convinced I am late with their meals, walks, and everything else.

But at least, some people claim, we all got an extra hour of sleep thanks to the time change.

Not me.

As I’ve mentioned before, I suffer from chronic maintenance insomnia. That means I have no problem going to sleep at night, but I tend to wake up very early and can’t go back to sleep. In Sunday morning’s case, that was at 1:30 a.m. It would have been 2:30 under daylight saving time. I didn’t get an extra hour of sleep. I had an extra hour to wonder why I can’t sleep like everyone else. At least I had plenty of time to change clocks around the house. And I did read a book to pass the quiet time.

With all of this hassle, we almost all—over 70% of us—agree we should stop the madness of changing time twice a year. My own—quite unscientific—reader survey back in the spring found 90% wanted to stop.

In fact, nineteen states have passed laws mandating year-round daylight saving time. Unfortunately, the state laws are useless unless Congress acts. The federal Uniform Time Act of 1966 establishes a start date and end date for daylight saving time. The act was amended in 2005 to start daylight saving time earlier and end it later. States are required to use the federal start and end date if they choose to implement daylight saving time.

Now go back to that last sentence because it’s important. States are required to follow the federal calendar if they choose to implement daylight saving time. So they can’t pick different start and stop dates. And they can’t choose year-round daylight saving time.

They can, however, choose to remain on standard time year round. Arizona and Hawaii already do so. So do the U.S. territories. Any state, including those nineteen that have passed laws to go to daylight saving time, could pass a law right now to remain on standard time. No more changing of clocks and no act of Congress needed.

Interestingly, most surveys show we are evenly split between wanting year-round standard time or year-round daylight time. In my own reader survey, 48% wanted standard and 41% wanted daylight (the remaining 11% like changing clocks). Most surveys show a similar split. Those wanting standard time slightly outweigh the daylight time and, yet, we only talk about that option.

I understand the people who prefer year-round daylight saving time. They don’t like it getting dark so early in the evening. For those who work first shift, they would like that extra hour at the end of the day.

For those of us who are morning people, however, or work night shifts or lie awake for hours trying to go to sleep, the standard time means it gets light earlier in the morning. I walk the dogs at sunrise and then settle in to my desk to write. I would love to start an hour earlier.

But here’s the thing. I bet if you surveyed the daylight saving people and asked if they would be okay with year-round standard time and vice-versa, most people would say pick one—either one—and stop changing the clocks.

So I keep waiting for some state to be the first. To pass a law to remain on standard time. To stop the madness. My bet is other states would rapidly follow.

Somebody needs to join Arizona and Hawaii. Who will it be?

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Interesting Link

This isn’t going to be a specific link as much as general suggestion—your local library.

I was trying to figure out how to do something advanced with a piece of software, but couldn’t remember exactly how to get it done. I had learned it long ago from an online training course from Lynda.com. They always had some of the best instructors with terrific courses. Best of all, their table of contents for each course made it easy to go to exactly the lesson within a course to figure out whatever had me stumped. When Lynda was bought by LinkedIn, though, I dropped my subscription.

Alternatives exist, of course. Udemy has good courses. YouTube has everything if you can find it, not always an easy task. But I really liked Lynda, so I Googled to find out how much it cost to resubscribe.

Just below my answer in a Google search was a link to an article about the Los Angeles library offering free access to Lynda courses. If only my library offered the same, I thought.

And then I checked.

Yes they do. And lots of other things as well. Not just in the library but through an online portal. With my library card number, I logged in to Lynda (now LinkedIn Learning) from my house and quickly found my answer.

So my interesting link of the day is the simple suggestion to go to your library’s website and see what tools they offer. You might be surprised.

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Gratuitous Dog Picture

How many times a day does this occur? Landon asks to go inside. I open door. Landon can’t decide if he really wants to go in or just wants to see if the door will open. Or maybe he wants to see if I can come out and play. No one denies the fluffy tail. Outdoor games were played and then we went inside.

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Background title image is courtesy Jon Tyson