Daylight Saving Time: a Really Stupid Idea

Day/Night as of 5:00 pm DST Today

The old feeder is just getting over the unpleasant effects of changing the damned clocks. Daylight Saving Time is just about the stupidest thing in the world. If people want to get up an hour earlier, they should simply do it. If they want to start work earlier and go home earlier, ask their boss. Just don't make me change all my clocks to suit. Sure, having everyone get up an hour earlier in Summer saves energy. I'll accept the stats that seem to support this claim. But why change the clock?

I hate to admit that I have known such ignoramuses, but there are supposedly educated adults who harbor a belief that implementing Daylight Saving Time actually provides more hours of daylight. Or that DST somehow allows us to "get more from our sun." If only the laws of men had such power! We would all live like kings in peace and harmony. Actually adding an hour of daylight would be a terrific disaster. The resulting Day/Night distribution for today would look more like this:

Improved DST

If DST actually made for more sunshine, the most immediate result would be global warming of an alarming magnitude. Unless the added hour in the summer were compensated, either by reducing daylight during some other season or by diluting the intensity of solar radiation during the increased hours. This would have to be done with very carefully crafted legislation to avert catastrophe. How much do you trust the legislature?

I happen to think that the Creator of days and nights did it right. In the Summer, when the sun rises earlier, so do I. You might want to get up early to enjoy the naturally long days of Summer yourself. Why change the clock?