NationStates Jolt Archive

The clocks have gone forward for the summer time. I don't know if they've gone forward in other places, but there are calls in the UK for them to stay on British Summer Time (BST) all through the winter and then go to BST+1 over the summer months; essentially, go onto European time. This would mean lighter evenings, when most road accidents occur, so it would arguably be safer.

There are those who complain that this is unfair on those in Scotland. Only by going back to GMT in the winter do they avoid darkness that could extend until lunchtime with these proposals. Should we stick with GMT for the Scots, ignore them for the majority, or, perhaps most controversially, have a seperate time zone for those north of the border?

Ack, same here. Worst: I didn't even notice losing one hour when it happened. See kids, this is what being logged onto NS General will do to you!
Plus I only accidentally heard about it, after the fact, in a thread here.

Can you say pathetic?

Keep GMT. In fact, abolish BST. Have GMT all year round. Block up the Channel Tunnel, create a naval blockade around Europe, leave the EU. Have nothing to do with Europe whatsoever.

Keep GMT. In fact, abolish BST. Have GMT all year round. Block up the Channel Tunnel, create a naval blockade around Europe, leave the EU. Have nothing to do with Europe whatsoever.


Isn't that mild over compensation? ;)

Isn't that mild over compensation? ;)
Erm...no? Before I posted that, I deleted about half the stuff I'd put in there. :p

If it makes you feel any better, you get the hour back later in the year…

Erm...no? Before I posted that, I deleted about half the stuff I'd put in there. :p

Wow, and all because we switch hours every now and again...

That said, I still want our 11 days from 1752 back with interest. As paid holiday... :D

Wow, and all because we switch hours every now and again...

That said, I still want our 11 days from 1752 back with interest. As paid holiday... :D
Paid holiday wouldn't do much for me. I don't have a job, so I wouldn't be getting paid...:(

Paid holiday wouldn't do much for me. I don't have a job, so I wouldn't be getting paid...:(

Meh, extra 11 days to do my dissertation would be nice...

Could you be slightly clearer with your question please?

How do I vote that "yes, you should move the clock one hour forward" for example?

How would I vote "no! we hate hitler time!" ?

Could you be slightly clearer with your question please?

How do I vote that "yes, you should move the clock one hour forward" for example?
Choose one of the 'yes' options.

How would I vote "no! we hate hitler time!" ?
Choose one of the 'no' options.

We put our clocks back an hour ago last weekend. Daylight savings does kinda suck. Useless really.

We put our clocks back an hour ago last weekend. Daylight savings does kinda suck. Useless really.
It is meant to save power somehow...

Dudekeep it for scotlads sake.

Anyways what about the Irish?

Dudekeep it for scotlads sake.
I know it's just typos, but I'm seriously thinking about sigging this. :D

Meh, extra 11 days to do my dissertation would be nice...
So true. Obviously it wouldn't be so useful if we got the days back in September...

Hoot.

I hate British Summer Time. The clocks should correspond to the position of the Sun in the sky.

WHAT TIME IS IT?

Governments can't control what time it really is. Don't be fooled by them!

One of the truths that is obvious is that a GOVERNMENT does not actually have any power over FACT in nature. It's no good a government legislating that 2+2=5 because it wouldn't make it any more true, and it would make the government look silly as it would have no credibility.

TIME is such a fact, controlled by the laws of physics.

The time that it actually IS, is a matter of astronomy and the workings of such things as caesium clocks. There is a time which it is by the ticking of high-precision clocks, and there's also the more obvious natural time which says that midnight, (mid-night) is the point in the middle of the night when it's the same number of hours and minutes to dawn as it is from dusk.

In Britain, there is the place called Greenwich where the world-famous measuring line called the Greenwich Meridian goes through. At that place, the time astronomers use, called "Universal Time" is the time it is, and so for convenience, the entire United Kingdom has a thing called Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), which is a good approximation to the time the sun in the sky says it is just about anywhere in Britain within a few minutes.

However, halfway through the last century there was a terrible war and it was necessary to make people work harder, so someone had the bright idea of having a new kind of pretend time, in which everyone had their clocks moved forward an hour. Government decreed that the time would now be this new time, which of course didn't make any difference to the time it was, but it made people get up an hour earlier, go to work an hour earlier, go to bed an hour earlier. In times of war, such measures are a necessary hardship to endure.

But it's still on, just as surely as railings are not on places.

B.S.T., British Summer Time, or British Silly Time, is one of these things that people have fallen for, believing that's the time it really is. People who think they've got a nine-to-five job actually have to get up and go to work at eight o'clock in the morning.

In peacetime, if a government passed a law compelling everyone to get up an hour early and go to bed an hour early, civil rights campaigners would be outraged, and would call for a huge campaign of civil disobedience and the overthrow of such a dictatorial regime.

Admittedly it could be worse, for example the government could have made it law to keep BRITISH SUMMER TEMPERATURE, (BST) which compelled people to adjust their thermometers and thermostats and pretend it's five degrees warmer in winter and five degrees cooler in summer, so as to save fuel expenses. They could also meddle with the official size of a gallon/litre so that cars are made to look more economical and petrol not so expensive.

I propose not only getting rid of British Silly Time, but also watching out for any other devious things which governments may attempt to enact to the detriment of reality.

The clocks have gone forward for the summer time. I don't know if they've gone forward in other places, but there are calls in the UK for them to stay on British Summer Time (BST) all through the winter and then go to BST+1 over the summer months; essentially, go onto European time. This would mean lighter evenings, when most road accidents occur, so it would arguably be safer.
That argument is ridiculous - the evenings only appear lighter because the clocks changing tricks everybody into doing things an hour earlier.

That argument is ridiculous - the evenings only appear lighter because the clocks changing tricks everybody into doing things an hour earlier.
It's not ridiculous! The time when most accidents happen is moved back an hour so it is lighter when it happens, it is the same effect!


If we don't move the clocks back it's bright at a time really early in the morning when most people are asleep. There is no real downside to DST because while you're doing things an hour earlier so is everyone else and your day is the same just an hour earlier!

It's not ridiculous! The time when most accidents happen is moved back an hour so it is lighter when it happens, it is the same effect!

If we don't move the clocks back it's bright at a time really early in the morning when most people are asleep. There is no real downside to DST because while you're doing things an hour earlier so is everyone else and your day is the same just an hour earlier!
So if it's so good, why do we need to change the clocks to trick people into doing everything an hour early? Either people don't think it's worth it, or they're too stupid to understand that changing the clocks doesn't actually change time.

So if it's so good, why do we need to change the clocks to trick people into doing everything an hour early? Either people don't think it's worth it, or they're too stupid to understand that changing the clocks doesn't actually change time.
You can't change time, simply the numbers we assign to any given point in the day. Seeing as these numbers are fairly arbitrary anyway, where is the 'tricking?'

You can't change time, simply the numbers we assign to any given point in the day. Seeing as these numbers are fairly arbitrary anyway, where is the 'tricking?'
Because rather than saying 'we think you should do everything an hour early, for the following reasons...', the Government declares that we're in a different timezone for half of the year and any contracts refering to specific times (for example, saying you work from 9am to 5pm) are automatically changed. If the law said that any time in a contract would automatically shifted by an hour for half the year, people would say it's a ridiculous example of Government interference, but because instead the Government tells us we're changing timezone, few people notice.

Edit: Also, although the division of time into 24 hours is arbitrary, noon and midnight are meant to refer to specific features of reality: the position of the sun in the sky.

i hate it when the hour goes foward, it really just caps it for what i think about the summer, bright light, sun, outdoors etc.

You're not in a different time-zone. You think you you've just gone CET instead of GMT, but CET went an hour forward too.

SInce the clocks go forward on a sunday at midnight (or saturday at midnight, depending on which way you want to look at it) I dont really think it matters as most people dont work on a sunday anyway(my sympathies to those who do) and so sleep in anyway.

Also, since my bedside clock has the date in anyway it does the correction thing by itself. Pity my watch doesnt but it takes all of what? five seconds to change that?


Now, people are whingeing about doing things an hour early, but you get to bed an hour early as well, so it doesnt frigging matter. Also, it means "the sun comes up earlier" so summer is lighter and happier! HURRAH!


When all is said and done, the system works, why bother nonceing about with it?

So if it's so good, why do we need to change the clocks to trick people into doing everything an hour early? Either people don't think it's worth it, or they're too stupid to understand that changing the clocks doesn't actually change time.
No one ever said it changes time! It changes the time at which we do things!

Look:
In June(in London):
Sun Rise: 4:42am
Sun Set: 9:17pm
That's with DST!

Would you rather it be:
Sun Rise: 3:42am
Sun Set: 8:17pm
So most people sleep through 4 hours of daylight!? And only get 3 hours of Sunlight from when they leave their 9 to 5 job?

(From: http://www.sunrisesunset.com/calendar.asp)

Abolish DST. It messes up differences beetween the time in different parts of our world.

Because rather than saying 'we think you should do everything an hour early, for the following reasons...', the Government declares that we're in a different timezone for half of the year and any contracts refering to specific times (for example, saying you work from 9am to 5pm) are automatically changed. If the law said that any time in a contract would automatically shifted by an hour for half the year, people would say it's a ridiculous example of Government interference, but because instead the Government tells us we're changing timezone, few people notice.
I genuinely don't understand what the problem is. You're still working an eight hour day...

You're not in a different time-zone. You think you you've just gone CET instead of GMT, but CET went an hour forward too.
A timezone is the difference between solar time and clock time. BST/DST is the same as moving to a different timezone.

"I've lost an hour of my life!"

Not really. They just tacked it on at the other end. You'll have an additional hour before you die. :)

Now, people are whingeing about doing things an hour early, but you get to bed an hour early as well, so it doesnt frigging matter. Also, it means "the sun comes up earlier" so summer is lighter and happier! HURRAH!
Er... wrong. The clocks go forward an hour, so if the sun would have risen at 6am, under BST/DST it rises at 7am.

You're not in a different time-zone. You think you you've just gone CET instead of GMT, but CET went an hour forward too.
These proposals call for BST in the winter and BST+1 in the summer, so we would always stay with European time.

Here's a link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4834108.stm

No one ever said it changes time! It changes the time at which we do things!

Look:
In June(in London):
Sun Rise: 4:42am
Sun Set: 9:17pm
That's with DST!

Would you rather it be:
Sun Rise: 3:42am
Sun Set: 8:17pm
So most people sleep through 4 hours of daylight!? And only get 3 hours of Sunlight from when they leave their 9 to 5 job?
If everybody wants their jobs to finish an hour earlier during summer, they can ask their employers to change to a different work day during the summer. Why should the clocks be changed?

"I've lost an hour of my life!"

Not really. They just tacked it on at the other end. You'll have an additional hour before you die. :)
I was thinking about this last night. If you were sleeping as the clocks go forward, you lose an hour. You'd assume you'd get it back again when the clocks return to the original time, but...

What if you're working nights that night? Then you'd have to do 0100-0200, then 0100-0200 again. You'd lose another hour! :eek:

I was thinking about this last night. If you were sleeping as the clocks go forward, you lose an hour. You'd assume you'd get it back again when the clocks return to the original time, but...

What if you're working nights that night? Then you'd have to do 0100-0200, then 0100-0200 again. You'd lose another hour! :eek:
There's something wrong with that reasoning, but I can't be arsed to figure it out just now. :p

I genuinely don't understand what the problem is. You're still working an eight hour day...
An eight-hour day which suddenly jumps forward an hour at an arbitrary date near the end of March. I object to everyone insisting I suddenly do everything an hour early for half the year.

I was thinking about this last night. If you were sleeping as the clocks go forward, you lose an hour. You'd assume you'd get it back again when the clocks return to the original time, but...

What if you're working nights that night? Then you'd have to do 0100-0200, then 0100-0200 again. You'd lose another hour! :eek:
That's one of the tyranny of BST/DST - your employers can get an extra hour's work from you, and yet the clocks tell you that you've worked for usual length of time. (Seriously though, what do nightworkers do when the clocks change?)

I was thinking about this last night. If you were sleeping as the clocks go forward, you lose an hour. You'd assume you'd get it back again when the clocks return to the original time, but...

What if you're working nights that night? Then you'd have to do 0100-0200, then 0100-0200 again. You'd lose another hour! :eek:
No you'd be screwing your boss over. He has to pay you for 8 hours, when in fact you've only worked 7.

Have you tried looking in the medicine cabinet?

That's where most things end up when I've lost them.

Sadly.

No you'd be screwing your boss over. He has to pay you for 8 hours, when in fact you've only worked 7.
You would have done nine though, not eight.

Say a 2200-0600 shift.

2200-0200 = four hours.
Clocks go back an hour at 0200. So now it's 0100 again.
0100-0600 = five hours.

I think that's right...

You would have done nine though, not eight.

Say a 2200-0600 shift.

2200-0200 = four hours.
Clocks go back an hour at 0200. So now it's 0100 again.
0100-0600 = five hours.

I think that's right...
I think Thriceaddict thought you were taling about the Spring change rather than the Autumn change.

You would have done nine though, not eight.

Say a 2200-0600 shift.

2200-0200 = four hours.
Clocks go back an hour at 0200. So now it's 0100 again.
0100-0600 = five hours.

I think that's right...
Yeah, that happens in October. In March you'd work 7 not 8 hours. Admittedly your employer would have to be bloody stupid not to realise he's paying you for an hour you haven't worked.

Personally, I think clocks should be put forward an hour at 9am every Monday, then put back again at 6pm every Friday. :D

I think Thriceaddict thought you were taling about the Spring change rather than the Autumn change.
Ah, you would work seven in the forward change, but we were trying to work out if you ever got the forward 'lost' hour back.

You get it back in october, when the clocks turn back an hour.

You get it back in october, when the clocks turn back an hour.
lol. :p

Hence the above scenario, where you might not...

Er... wrong. The clocks go forward an hour, so if the sun would have risen at 6am, under BST/DST it rises at 7am.

Alright, WINTER is lighter and happier then :P

Alright, WINTER is lighter and happier then :P
If we stuck to GMT winter would be the same as it is now.

The only thing I remember about this is:

Spring forward, fall back.

The only thing I remember about this is:

Spring forward, fall back.
That doesn't work so well in Britain, though - it's Autumn, damnit!

That doesn't work so well in Britain, though - it's Autumn, damnit!
Well, then remember that you have to autumn back :D

Well, then remember that you have to autumn back :D
But Autumn Back is a medical condition Brits get when the clouds finally part some time in September and we expose our ghostly-white skin to the sun.

There's something wrong with that reasoning, but I can't be arsed to figure it out just now. :p

if I didn't have a sig I need to keep for now, this would be my sig...

Have you tried looking in the medicine cabinet?

That's where most things end up when I've lost them.

Sadly.


... I find most of my lost stuff in the back of my station wagon.

No. We should abolish this summertime thing though, and maybe just start work / school later. It would be much easier. We aren't in WWI anymore.

Is that like Daylight Savings Time?

Is that like Daylight Savings Time?
Yeah. It's just that we don't pretend it saves daylight.

I know it's just typos, but I'm seriously thinking about sigging this. :D
:p
Feel free, i won't charge you.

America does something similar. Daylight savings time. We "fall" back an hour in the fall(hence the pun...) And we "Spring" forward an hour in spring(again with the pun) Works for us. There are a few places that don't do it but they're just weird...;) :p

I can't wait for metric time. Down with this twenty-four hour madness!

"I've lost an hour of my life!"

Just be happy you've not lost your life for an hour. It can be a real bitch getting it back! :D