On Friday 06 May 2005 9:15 am, James Knott wrote:
Jerry Feldman wrote:
The only place where this does not work is in Indiana because they can't figure out what timezone they want to be in. (Parts of Indiana are in Eastern and do not adjust for DST, other parts are in Eastern and do adjust for DST, and parts are in Central and those do adjust. recently the Indiana legislature voted to use DST for the whole state, but part of the state will still; be Central while the rest will be Eastern.
It's amazing how a country as technologically advanced as the U.S. can be so backward in so many things.
Incidentally, at one time many farmers were against DST, as they claimed the "extra hour" of sunlight would burn crops. It appears that sort of thinking still exists.
Some religious groups express similar backward ideas. There are many urban legends. Other than Indiana, Arizona and Hawaii do not use Daylight time. Good history here. Some of the complaints are included below. "The idea of daylight saving was first conceived by Benjamin Franklin (portrait at right) during his sojourn as an American delegate in Paris in 1784" http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/ Another complaint is sometimes put forth by people who wake at dawn, or whose schedules are otherwise tied to sunrise, such as farmers. Farmers often dislike the clocks changing mid year. Canadian poultry producer Marty Notenbomer notes, "The chickens do not adapt to the changed clock until several weeks have gone by so the first week of April and the last week of October are very frustrating for us."
In Israel, ultra-Orthodox Sephardic Jews have campaigned against daylight
saving time because they recite Slikhot penitential prayers in the early
morning hours during the Jewish month of Elul.
A writer in 1947 wrote, "I don't really care how time is reckoned so long as
there is some agreement about it, but I object to being told that I am
saving daylight when my reason tells me that I am doing nothing of the
kind. I even object to the implication that I am wasting something valuable
if I stay in bed after the sun has risen. As an admirer of moonlight I
resent the bossy insistence of those who want to reduce my time for
enjoying it. At the back of the Daylight Saving scheme I detect the bony,
blue-fingered hand of Puritanism, eager to push people into bed earlier,
and get them up earlier, to make them healthy, wealthy and wise in spite of
themselves." (Robertson Davies, The Diary of Samuel Marchbanks, 1947, XIX,
Sunday.)
--
Jerry Feldman