Tag Archives: time change

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

local news

Time change? What’s the big deal?

I am not willing to declare it, but I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that I am the only living American who does not object to the back-and-forth of switching from standard time to daylight saving time and back to standard time.

Americans had to “fall back” overnight to standard time.

What does it mean? It means the sun rises an hour earlier than it had for several months and sets an hour earlier at the end of the day. This is what we call “standard time.”

Daylight saving time makes us “spring forward” one hour. It gives us more daylight at the end of the day.

To be honest, this back and forth doesn’t bug me nearly as much as it does most, if not all, of my friends. It might bother my family members, too. No one has ever expressed any distaste to me openly; maybe they will if they read this blog post.

Were I to have a preference for a permanent arrangement, it would be to keep daylight saving time in place year round. It has been seen as an energy conservation initiative, requiring fewer hours daily of electricity — in the form of lights needed to brighten our surroundings. I never have understood why folks object to the daylight saving time, given the noble reasons for establishing it in the first place.

But … they do. To them I say, “Phooey!”

As for this switching back to standard time, hey, it’s no big deal, man! Just go with the flow.

State news

Texas to keep Daylight Savings Time

We’ll all need to catch up on our sleep over the winter after all.

Texas legislators have defeated a bill to toss out Daylight Savings Time in Texas. The House of Representatives rejected a bill by Rep. Dan Flynn to revert solely to standard time in Texas, joining Arizona in staying away from having to spring forward and fall back every year.

http://www.texasmonthly.com/burka-blog/house-votes-keep-daylight-savings-time

I’m one who never quite has understood the problems people have with the time change. It’s been around off and on for many decades. It was brought back in force in the 1970s as a way to conserve energy. Longer daylight hours in the summer months meant using less electricity. What’s so terrible about that?

It’s interesting to me that Amarillo’s House delegation split their votes on this deal. John Smithee, who represents Randall County, voted “yes” on Flynn’s bill; Four Price, who represents Potter County, voted “no.” I don’t know why that’s important. I just thought I’d mention it to illustrate that occasionally the two Republican lawmakers do not vote in tandem.

I’ve gotten used to the time change since I was in my 20s. It’s no big deal to me.

Then again, I’m not a farmer or a rancher.

As Flynn told his House colleagues: “The only one who knows if it is sun up or sun down is the rooster.”

Whatever. It makes no difference to me.