Daylight Savings Solutions - BOGFF 22

 

When it comes to the controversy that is Daylight Savings Time and the bi-annual shift between Standard and Daylight time, we are a split household.  My opinion is that we should just pick a time (Daylight or Standard) and stick to it.  Tammy's is that she sees a benefit to to each.  She likes the sun to be up well prior to her 9 AM classes in December.  So, she's got a point there.  If we were to choose Daylight Savings time for the whole year, the latest sunrise would be about 8:40 AM (with official "dawn" being about a half-hour earlier).

And, I guess there is the "issue" of dawn arriving at 4AM in June if we stick with Standard time. 

It's only because the switch between Daylight Savings Time and Standard Time seems to mess with me and my own internal time clock so much that she might be willing to agree to stick with one or the other.  And, in case you hadn't heard, the Iowa House just passed a bill to keep Iowa in the Daylight Savings Time slot.

Now, before you get all excited (whether you support this idea or not) - Iowa can pass the law and have it signed by the governor.  But, until the Federal government approves the option for states to make this move - it isn't going to happen.  So, yeah.  There isn't likely going to be a whole bunch of states going willy-nilly in all sorts of directions.  

But think of the fun we could have here!

Option 1: Give the night shift the daylight

All of those fine people who get stuck with the "graveyard shift" deserve a break.  How about we simply switch around AM and PM?  Now the night time hours would be the sunlit hours!

All of those folks who have had to deal with working without the benefit of the sun will suddenly be able to step out during break and catch a few rays.  Isn't it time the rest of us learned what it is like to work our shifts during the hours when the sun is shining on the other side of the earth?

Option 2: Ease the shock of the time change with incremental time changes

One of the reasons I struggle with the time change so much is that we make this big, one-hour shift all at once.  Let's EASE into it a little.

Starting March 1st, we should add one minute to the time each day until, after 60 days, we've reached the one hour mark.  Ha ha!  Now we're where we want to be for the longest days of the year.  Then, we subtract one minute each day for sixty days in the Fall!

I can't see any difficulties with this proposal - can you?  

Option 3: Provide an opt-out policy

Let's let everyone PICK whether they want to participate in either Daylight Savings or Standard Time.  If the time switch really bugs a person, they can sign a personal "opt-out" form.

We can then have two segments of the population that reside in the same area in two different time zones.  Think of the fun we could have with this!

That office meeting that happens every week is now going to have to have two meeting times published if you want everyone to attend.  However, this could also be a way to split things up and give everyone more opportunity!  The high school varsity baseball teams could have a game at 7pm for the DST'ers and a 7pm game for the ST'ers.  Twice as many kids get to play!!  Though I suspect there may be some issues with the use of the ball diamond.

Option 4: Go half-way

Do you have some of the complaints Tammy has regarding sticking with either Daylight Savings or Standard Time?  

The solution is obvious - let's just move it all to a spot in between the two!  The easy solution is to pick the half-way mark, moving 30 minutes forward from Standard and staying there with no further changes.

Or, we can be a bit more innovative!

Let's have everyone vote for which of the two times they like better.  Then, based on the vote we move the time.  For example, if 66% vote for Daylight Savings and 33% for Standard, we just move 40 minutes forward from Standard.

See?!? Everyone got a say in the matter AND we're able to make a numerically supported compromise! 

Option 5: Spice it up and let every state just pick a time measuring method

Hey!  Why don't we do what we seem to like to do with so much of our governing in the United States?  Let's let every state pick how they want to do things.  Surely that will make everyone happy.  I mean, doesn't this approach ALWAYS make everyone happy?

No?

Huh.

Option 6: Go back to sundials

As an introvert, I actually like the idea of sundials.  

First, if it is a really cloudy day, you have to cancel all of your scheduled meetings because NOBODY will know what time it is.  And, second, you can really mess with peoples' sense of time during the night-time hours.  Only those folks who work the night shift will know what's going on.  The rest of us - well, maybe not so much.

Option 7: Use the "Farmer Time" method

To be perfectly clear - I've learned to rely more on the arrival and existence of daylight to tell me when to do things on the farm.  Sometimes the construct that is time zones just gets in my way.

Sun's up?  Time to get up and let the animals out, give them food and water, and just start "doing stuff."  Sun's going down?  Time to put the animals away, put the equipment away, and perhaps do something that is not farm-related for a while.

If you don't want to work the same hours as a farmer, the solution is simple.  Make a calendar that tells you how many hours and minutes of daylight you have each day - then slice off chucks of it for work and for play.  You can either count from the point the sun is at its highest or you can count from dawn or dusk - you pick. 

Works great - unless you live in Alaska.  If you're waiting on sunset to tell you it is time to get to work in the winter months, you may have a problem - and you'll NEVER quit working int he summer months.  

I guess you could figure out this hibernation thing other critters do.

Option 8: Time zone trials

Are you the kind of person who really hates to buy something before you actually have tried it?  If so, you might like this idea!

Let's allow communities a chance to test drive different time zones to see which one fits best!  It could also be a great way to travel without physically leaving where you are.  Want to visit London? Just shift to Greenwich Mean Time for a while!  Or maybe you just had a REALLY GOOD day - you could switch to a time zone that's a few hours earlier and extend that day a bit!

What do you mean that wouldn't work?

Option 9: How about a lottery?

It seems to me that an inordinate number of people like to gamble on all sorts of things - why not gamble on the time zone approach that your locality will be using?

To make this even more realistic, let's first take a poll to find out what the most popular choices would be.  Then, we need to set things up so those choices are LESS likely to be selected.

The basic idea is that only a couple of REALLY lucky people will be happy with the solution.  Everyone else.... loses.

Option 10: Use the sands of time.

We can learn to appreciate or come to despise the sands of time if only we all started carrying an hourglass around instead of watches or phones.  Obviously, it has to be a big enough hourglass for each person to be able to keep track of time for the entire day.  I realize this is something like the idea of having everyone set their own time zone - but I wanted to offer up this option because I just learned....

the largest hourglass is reported to be in Budapest, Hungary.  It measures one year of time and weighs 60 tons.  Happily, an hourglass for one day would be a bit smaller than that.  In fact, you can get a 4-hour hourglass and it is "only" 18 inches tall.  I realize this would not be a perfectly linear equation, but that puts a daylong hourglass somewhere in  the range of six-feet tall.

I hope these things would come with wheels - and turning them over for the new day might be a bit of a production.  That big, Hungary hourglass takes four people hauling on cables 45 minutes to get it turned for the new year.

Option 11: Move the people with the time

Well, if most people don't like the time change, I have another idea that would NOT require that we make ANY changes to our current system of cycling between Daylight Savings and Standard Time.  Keep all of that the same.

Instead, we should make people move from time zone to time zone so they do not have to adjust their clocks - they just have to adjust to a new home and new location.  

I suppose there might be an issue when we start pushing people on either coast into the ocean, but we all have to make sacrifices if we want to solve this problem.

Solving the worlds problems, one at a time

It turns out that, according to this poll, only 28% of people in the United States actually favor this swapping back and forth between Daylight Savings and Standard Time.  On the other hand, they can't agree on which way we should go.  While 40% prefer that we stick with Standard Time, 31% would prefer to stay with Daylight Savings.

Clearly, this is a difficult situation that calls for my unique style of problem solving.  See how quickly and easily I came up with eleven, count them, ELEVEN solutions for this very knotty and clearly divisive problem.

Now that I've provided the world with this service, which problem should I tackle next?  

If you have ideas - put them in the comments, I'll get right on it!

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What's with the BOGFF 22 in the title?  I (Rob) am giving himself a bit of a blogging break at the end of the year in hopes that it will give me space for more creativity in the future.  Rather than creating a post or two linking the "best of" blogs for the year, while continuing to put out new material, I am resubmitting what I feel were some of the best posts for 2022.  Enjoy!