9th March 2008

Daylight stupidity time

posted in Alaska, Issues, Pop Culture |

Here in Alaska, as many people know, we have an overload of daylight hours in the summer.  We’re talking 19.14 hours of daylight at the peak where the Omega Family lives, and more up north.

That’s a lot of daylight.

Our kids don’t need to work on the crops quickly after school to get them in before the sun goes down.

So why do we have Daylight Savings Time here?

I mean, really…why bother?  In the summer, our "noon" ends up being at 2 p.m. or thereabouts, an artifact of when Alaska managed to get itself all in one time zone (except for the further reaches of the Aleutian Islands) so that the state managers in Juneau could talk to various state folk in Anchorage and other places without having to worry about time zones.  Previously, we were in four time zones. 

So why didn’t they just get rid of DST at the same time?  I don’t know, but apparently there’s a move afoot to get it on a ballot this year, though some folks grumble that Alaska will then be up to five hours off the eastern part of the U.S. during the summer.

This morning, upon waking, I stumbled through the house re-setting clocks.  OmegaDad and I are going to hang drapes today; it’s necessary because now the dotter will be going to bed while it’s still somewhat light outside.  Soon the same will be happening for OmegaDad and me–we’re gaining almost six minutes of light per day.  I can sleep in any environment, but OmegaDad can’t get to sleep if it’s light in the bedroom…

Mainly, DST is a big bother for us and the other 670,000 people who live here.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 9th, 2008 at 10:56 am and is filed under Alaska, Issues, Pop Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

There are currently 9 responses to “Daylight stupidity time”

  1. 1 On March 9th, 2008, GrannyJ said:

    I have to go to bed and see
    The birds still hopping on the tree,
    Or hear the grown-up people’s feet
    Still going past me in the street.

  2. 2 On March 9th, 2008, Dina said:

    I think DST is a pain everywhere. Did you hear about the prof who found that rather than saving money, it costs MORE to use DST? The URL is ugly, but if you Google “Daylight Saving Wastes Energy” it’ll be the first hit. Interesting study.

    You remember what a pain DST is here in AZ, what with half of the state doing it, and the other half not.

  3. 3 On March 9th, 2008, lizard said:

    DST is a pain. Everywhere.

    I thought it was an oddity but whatever before I had a kid. Now, with a small child, it is an unmitigated nuisance. I hate it. Bedtime is a pain all summer, the actual time change is a majorly annoying week, it just sucks. We all hate it. You have the right to hate it even more than the rest of us, however. No question.

  4. 4 On March 9th, 2008, preTzel said:

    DST sucks. I’m sitting up knowing I need to go to bed because I’ll be up at 5:30 (which was 4:30 a week ago) and my tired arse will be begging for mercy. Not even my migraine meds are making me tired. It will be about another hour before I’m passed out. Urgh. I hate it and think it’s so stupid.

  5. 5 On March 10th, 2008, Blog Antatonist said:

    DO leaves for school at 7 am. It’s usually dark out, which I hate. Recently, it’s been light out when he leaves for school, and it’s been so nice. Now, again, it’s dark. I hate him standing out there waiting for the bus in the dark. It’s just accross the street, but still.

    Why can’t they just leave it alone?

  6. 6 On March 10th, 2008, Vinegar Martinis said:

    I heard a report on the radio this morning that at least around here, people run the air conditioning more during this time so any energy savings from not needing the lights on is offset by the use of the air conditioner.

    I just hate losing my hour - I was grumpy all day yesterday!

  7. 7 On March 10th, 2008, noreen said:

    I guess I’m the only one who likes DST. Here in Western New York, at this time of the year it’s great to have daylight after I get home from work. I know in Alaska, and points West, it’s a different story, but trust me folks I feel so much more energy with the extended daylight. As for the dark mornings, well, I go to work and don’t pay much attention to outside until I leave at the end of the day. And, remember I don’t have little kids to go to school. GrannyJ, I do love RLS quote. That’s a great kid’s poem.

  8. 8 On March 10th, 2008, susan said:

    I have to agree with noreen, I live in Louisiana and love to arrive home in the evening in daylight. My air conditioning bill is 24/7 and is always high but I empathize with moms with young ones who find it impossible to sleep in daylight. My young one is at LSU and I really don’t have to worry about his sleeping habits. BTW, I like your blog and have put it in my favorites. We’re all under the same sky.

  9. 9 On March 11th, 2008, Omega Unk said:

    We suffer from DST here also. There’ve been three referenda over the years and DST alway was defeated; hoewver, the current Labor government decided we needed it–rubbish. We have the equivalent sunshine hours as southern Calif and don’t need no more.

    The actual reason is that the eastern states go for DST, ergo! we must do it too–rubbish again.

Leave a Reply