Tag Archives: Daylight Saving Time

environmental news, State news

Yes on DST!

My man cave wall calendar caught my eye this morning as I was getting my day started.

It told me that on March 10 we return to Daylight Saving Time. My first reaction? Why can’t we just make it a permanent feature of our calendar? No need to switch to Standard Time in the fall and then back to DST in the spring.

We go through this drill every year. We switch back and forth and every … single … year we hear the same gripes from those who bitch about their body clocks needing adjustment. How they cannot get used to the extra hour of daylight in the evening or having to “fall back” in the autumn.

Personally, I never have had a problem with switching to Daylight Time and then back to Standard Time. However, if we’re going to keep bitching about doing it, my own preference would be to keep the Daylight Saving Time as a permanent fixture.

I like the extended daylight in the late spring and summer months. As for the fall and winter months, well … I wouldn’t care. It gets darker earlier in that time of the year.

The Texas Legislature a couple of sessions ago toyed with the idea of asking Texans what they preferred. The proposed resolution would have placed three issues on the ballot: Keep it as it is; permanent DST; or permanent Standard Time. I was prepared to vote for permanent Daylight Saving Time … but then the Legislature couldn’t get its crap together in time to put the issue on the ballot.

Maybe the 2025 Legislature can get organized early enough when it convenes in January to enable us to decide what we want to do. I know that’s a big ask, given the nature of our Legislature and the idiocy that seems to govern the legislative flow at times.

I’ll hope for the best. Meantime, I am going to enjoy Daylight Saving Time when it arrives in a couple of weeks.

local news

Permanent Daylight Time?

Well, kids … we sprang forward overnight, an event that produced the usual ration of griping — some of it good-natured — about the loss of an hours’ sleep and showing up late for some appointment this morning.

To be honest, I’ll stipulate that the time change — from Standard Time to Daylight Saving Time — doesn’t bother me. I’m manic about setting clocks the night before. So, when the alarm goes off on Day One of Daylight Time, I usually am ready to get the day started.

All that said, I am wondering if the Texas Legislature ever will finish the job it tried to finish in its 2019 session when it ran out of time before referring a time-change measure to Texans that fall.

You might recall that the Legislature was pondering a three-choice option for voters. We were supposed to get a chance to state whether we wanted to shift to permanent Daylight Saving Time, permanent Standard Time or keep it the way it is, with a twice-annual time switch.

I stated then that if given a choice, I would prefer to go to a permanent Daylight Saving Time. I like the extended daylight at the end of the day. A permanent Standard Time setup would put the sun down too early in the evening for my taste.

But … as I noted, switching back and forth is not a big deal for me.

There might be a congressional push to make it a federal law, simply taking this entire matter out of the states’ hands. A few states already have forsaken Daylight Saving Time, preferring to not monkey around with switching clocks.

This whole concept has been around for a while. Switching to Daylight Saving Time was intended to save energy, allowing Americans to avoid turning on their lights in the late afternoon. I’m fine with that, too. So, why not make it permanent?

Eschewing the time-switch would be a nod to those who dislike the government mandating such behavior. Switching to a permanent time system would satisfy conservatives; hey, we seem to agree on something! How about that?

This debate is likely to flare yet again in Congress. I say “flare” because that’s what always seems to happen in that sharply divided body. Maybe they can put their partisan differences aside — finally! — and agree on this simple idea.

Or, they can simply let the states decide. Well, Texas legislators? Will you do it?

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

Yes, on permanent DST!

Great day in this glorious North Texas morning! The United States Senate has voted unanimously — via voice vote — to enact a law making Daylight Saving Time a permanent policy.

No more switching back and forth, springing forward in the spring and falling back in the fall.

Let me stipulate, though, that I never have had a strenuous objection to this twice-per-year time change. I learned long ago to let my body adjust to the time change.

However, if given the choice between having permanent Standard Time or permanent Daylight Saving Time, I much prefer the latter. I like the extended daylight in the afternoon.

The Texas Legislature tried a couple of sessions ago to enact a statewide policy change. It sought to put the matter to a vote: either keep the back/forth or switch to one time schedule or the other. Had I been given the chance to vote on it, I would have opted to keep the plan as is. It didn’t get out of the Legislature, which ran out of time; lawmakers were too busy dawdling around with other foolishness to finish work on the legislation in time.

The U.S. House of Representatives now must decide. It ought to follow the clear and distinct lead set by their Senate colleagues and go along with the change to permanent DST, which would be effective in 2023.

It’s remarkable that the Senate — given its deep divisions on damn near everything — would be so united on this matter.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

State news, Uncategorized

Welcome back, DST

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The grumbling has begun.

About what? Oh, the annual switch from Standard Time to Daylight Saving Time. We’re going to make the change on Sunday, “springing forward” to DST just as we do every year. We “fall back” to Standard Time in the autumn of the year.

If only the complaining would stop.

I might be the only American around who has no particular problem with this time-change deal. It doesn’t bother me.

Folks gripe about it every year, right? They bitch about losing that hour of sleep at night. Then they moan that their bodies cannot adjust to the time change. Please, man.

If the Texas Legislature can get through its more important matters, such as finding solutions to our state’s power grid problem, perhaps it will try once again to decide how to repair this time-change thing … as if it needs repair.

The 2019 Legislature came within a whisker of putting a time-change issue on the ballot. It ran out of time. The thought was to let Texas voters decide (a) whether to go to Standard Time all year long, (b) go to Daylight Saving Time all year or (c) keep it as it is.

My choice, if I had been given the chance to vote, would be to switch to a year-long DST regimen. Why? I like the extended daylight in the evening. I cannot explain precisely why that is the case. It just is … you know?

Absent that choice, I generally do not complain out loud about the time change. I won’t do it this spring. I don’t plan on doing so when we switch back again in the fall to Standard Time.

local news

Daylight Saving Time? No big deal … really!

Oh, how I have to chuckle at all the hand-wringing over what’s about to occur this weekend.

We’re going to bed Saturday night and will awaken the next morning with the sky staying dark an hour longer than it did the previous day. The good news, as I see it, is that the sun will stay in the sky an hour later than it did at the end of the day.

Yep, Daylight Saving Time will be upon us once again. We’ll have it until November.

Why the worry among many of us ? I guess some folks just don’t like changing their schedule. They dislike losing an hour of sleep, which they wouldn’t really lose if they simply went to sleep an hour earlier than normal. You know?

The 2019 Texas Legislature flirted with the idea of scrapping DST. Legislators prepared a bill that would have produced a statewide referendum asking us three questions. We could vote to (a) change to permanent Standard Time (b) change to permanent Daylight Saving Time or (c) keep the status quo, meaning we would change times twice a year.

I never — ever! — have had a problem with switching back and forth. It doesn’t bother me in the least. However, were I given the choice I would vote to switch to permanent Daylight Saving Time. I like having the sun in the sky a little longer at the end of the day.

I realize the sun still sets earlier in the winter months than it does in the summer, given Earth’s rotation and how it tilts away from the sun in the Northern Hemisphere during the winter. However, I also appreciate the reason for establishing DST in the first place, which was to preserve energy by allowing us to keep the lights off a little longer in the late afternoon and early evening.

The Legislature ended up choking on the referendum. It never managed to put the issue to a vote. As I recall, legislators ran out of time. So the issue died a quiet death.

The 2021 Legislature might bring it up again. Fine. Go for it, ladies and gents. I’ll still vote for permanent DST if I get the chance.

Meantime, I welcome the return of Daylight Saving Time, even if it means we have to switch back to Standard Time in a few months.

It’s not a big deal, folks. Honest!

local news

Time-change bill dies … but is it really dead?

Blogger’s Note: This item was published originally on KETR-FM’s website. High Plains Blogger wanted to share it here. Enjoy.

This isn’t the biggest bill ever to die a quiet death in the Texas Legislature, but it might be one of the more talked-about once lawmakers decide to pack it in for this session and head home to their respective districts.

It’s the bill that would have allowed Texans to vote later this year on whether to ditch the twice-yearly time change – from Standard Time to Daylight Saving Time … and back again.

The Texas Senate, apparently because of “inaction” by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, has allowed the bill to wither away and die. Texans won’t be voting on this measure in the fall.

Too bad? Well, that depends, I suppose, on your point of view.

For me, it makes no never mind.

Every year – first in the spring and then in the autumn – we gripe and moan about the time change. We holler in the spring when we move the clocks ahead and lose that hour of sleep; some of us are late for worship services that Sunday (because the time change occurs officially at 2 a.m. those days). Then we yap in the fall when we set the clocks back an hour, regaining that hour of sleep we lost in the spring; I don’t know this with any certainty, but perhaps some of us even get to our house of worship an hour early.

None of this ever has bothered me.

I understand the reason for enacting Daylight Saving Time. It was done initially to conserve energy. We get more daylight later in the day and don’t have to turn on the lights quite so early. Thus, we conserve valuable electricity, which is powered by, oh, the finite supply of fossil fuel. Oh, sure, we rely more in Texas these days on wind power, the sun and maybe some bio-fuels produced from corn and other crops.

But the clamor to switch to the same time all year long is a bit overheated to suit my taste.

The bill’s author, state Rep. Lyle Larson, R-San Antonio, said Texans supposedly have passionate views on the issue. I presume he means “all Texans.” Count me out, Rep. Larson. I ain’t one of ‘em.

For the record, if I had the chance to vote on which time to use, I’d stick with Daylight Saving Time. Why? I like the extra sunshine in the evening. Yes, it also saves energy.

But it’s all for naught, right?

Maybe not. There might be a special session in our immediate future this summer if Rep. Larson and his House allies feel strongly enough about it and can persuade Gov. Greg Abbott to call one and then put the time-change issue on the agenda.

But I hope not.

State news

Daylight saving or standard time? Let’s decide

Texas lawmakers appear to be on the verge of giving Texans a fascinating election choice later this year.

It will be whether to scrap the twice-a-year switch between standard time and daylight saving time and keep our clocks fixed on the same time all year long.

I like the idea of giving us a chance to vote on this matter, even though I tend to think we vote on too many issues already in Texas.

For the record, I’ll state once again that switching back and forth is no big deal to me. I don’t mind the time change, even in the spring when we supposedly “lose” an hour of sleep because we push our clocks ahead an hour at the start of daylight saving time.

But since the Legislature is going to ask us to state a preference, I guess I should weigh in.

I would like to see us stay on daylight saving time. I prefer the extra hour at the end of the day, which is what a year-long daylight saving time setting would bring us.

But . . . that’s just me.

The Texas Tribune reports that the Legislature is preparing a two-part referendum. The first part asks whether a referendum on daylight saving time can occur; the Texas Constitution doesn’t allow for it now, so approving the first part of the ballot measure would legitimize the second part. That would be whether to follow a standard time or daylight saving time all year long.

I suppose you could presume that rejecting the first part of the ballot measure would be to reject the idea of tossing out the back/forth time change. State Rep. John Smithee, R-Amarillo, my former state legislator, sought to add a third element to the measure — keeping the time-change switch — but the amendment lost on a narrow 72-70 vote.

I do endorse the notion of putting this idea to a vote.

So, let’s settle it once and for all.

Then we cease the bitching about springing forward and falling back twice each year.

environmental news, State news

Just not caring about Daylight/Standard time

I guess I should care about this. Except that I don’t. Really, I don’t.

Some members of the Texas Legislature want the state to stop switching back and forth each year between Daylight Saving Time and Standard Time. They say the “spring forward” and “fall back” routine causes too much sleep deprivation at the front end, when we push our clocks forward an hour. We’re going to do it again Saturday night; we’ll awaken Sunday morning with one less hour of shut-eye to get our day started.

And, of course, many of us will bitch about it!

I just don’t see the significance of it all. I continue to recognize the motive behind enacting Daylight Saving Time in the first place. It was intended to help conserve energy by allowing us to not turn on our lights and, thus, burn electrical energy when we don’t need to do it.

As for the sleep deprivation, I learned long ago that however tired we might be on the first day of switching to Daylight time, we get over it quickly. We adjust. We human beings are adaptable creatures.

If we’re going to end the back-and-forth, though, I propose we stay on permanent Daylight Saving Time. I like having the sun in the sky a little longer at the end of the day.

Now . . . I am going to get back to the things that really matter, at least they do to me.

national news

Here’s a thought: Let’s keep DST

Do not count me as one of those twice-a-year crybabies who gripes and moans about the changes from Daylight Saving Time back to Standard Time, then back to DST … and on and on it goes.

We’ve “fallen back” one more time. The sun will rise an hour earlier on the clocks we’ve all (or many of us) have turned back before we turned in for the night. It’s going to get dark an hour earlier at the end of the day, too.

I don’t object to the back-and-forth like some folks do.

However, I am beginning to wonder whether we ought to just keep it on DST as a hedge against the reason it was made a more-or-less permanent fixture in our lives back in the 1970s.

Do you remember the Arab oil embargo of 1973? We had those long lines at the gasoline service stations. Gas dealers were running out of fuel. The price of fuel spiked to a buck a gallon and we all went apoplectic at the thought.

The government imposed Daylight Saving Time to ensure a way to keep from turning on the lights in our homes. We wanted to save energy that at the time we thought was in short supply. If the sun was shining later in the day, the thought went, we could conserve electricity that in many parts of the country is produced by fossil fuels; that’s the case in the Texas Panhandle, for instance.

Where are we now? The energy crisis has abated more or less. We have plenty of fuel. You know what? It’s not an endless supply. Oil is still a finite resource. I get that the “crisis” as we once knew it has passed. But why not maintain at least a semblance of alertness to the need to conserve what we ought to know won’t last forever?

Given that I have environmentalist tendencies at heart, that is what I would like to see. I won’t bitch about switching back and forth, not even in the spring when we lose that hour’s sleep by turning the clocks ahead for DST.

Finally, we can stop the silly media chatter about whether it’s called “Daylight Savings Time” or “Daylight Saving Time.” Now that annoys — and the pun is fully intended — the daylight out of me.

environmental news

DST? Wait for the gripes

I slept in this morning.

My biological clock said it was a little before 7 a.m. when I rolled out; the clock next to the bed flashed a little before 8 a.m.

No sweat! My day began and will proceed just as it always does, Daylight Saving Time notwithstanding.

Actually, I am a big supporter of the principle behind DST. It’s not as new a policy as many of us have been led to believe. It’s been around in some form for many, many years. DST became all the vogue in the 1970s with the Arab oil embargo and the fear that we were burning too much fossil fuel when we turned on our lights in the evening.

So the federal government implemented DST to push the clocks forward an hour, allowing us more daylight as spring arrived and summer approached. We burned our lights a little less, saving valuable energy that at the time was coming from too many “hostile” sources in the Middle East. Some states don’t adhere to DST mandates, keeping their clocks set on standard time. That’s their call.

In the past four-plus decades or so we’ve done a good job preserving energy. DST has helped toward that effort.

Ranchers tell us all the time that their livestock doesn’t know the difference between Daylight Saving Time and Standard Time. Cattle and horses still need to be fed at the same time no matter what.

So, they rely on a form of Bovine or Equine Standard Time to go about pursuing their livelihoods on the ranch.

I get that.

The rest of us city slickers have different concerns. Those who work for a living have to be somewhere at certain times each day.

Are you worried about being late once you have to push the clock forward an hour? No worries. Go to bed an hour earlier.

Be sure you turn off the lights — and keep saving that still-priceless energy.

Have a great day, y’all.