Daylight savings time

[rubysmama]

I'm an "information junkie", so I had to Google: The History of Daylight Saving Time

Couple excerpts:

While Germany and Austria were the first countries to use DST in 1916, it is a little-known fact that a few hundred Canadians beat the German Empire by eight years. On July 1, 1908, the residents of Port Arthur, Ontario, today's Thunder Bay, turned their clocks forward by one hour to start the world's first DST period. ​

However, the idea did not catch on globally until Germany introduced DST in 1916. Clocks in the German Empire, and its ally Austria, were turned ahead by one hour on April 30, 1916—2 years into World War I. The rationale was to minimize the use of artificial lighting to save fuel for the war effort. ​

 

[Foundkitty]

I hate DST. The only thing that changes is the clock.

 

[Margret]

I'm not consistent enough with feeding times for any of my pets to notice an hour either way.

Nor am I. Jasmine and Bright Eyes always tell me I'm late feeding them.

Yeah the farther North you go, the more sense it makes.

When we lived in Bend, Oregon (4-5° farther north than Denver), in the winter I had to go to work before the sun came up, went home after it set, and spent the day sitting in front of a computer (old fashioned monochrome CRT display) and a window that looked out on a white wall a few feet away. I ended up with a major case of Seasonal Affective Disorder, and I'm convinced that it wasn't just the lack of light; it was the lack of color. It was just after we left Bend that I first discovered temari balls, and for over a year after we got back to Denver I embroidered them compulsively, because I needed the colors so badly.

The thing is, though, DST was totally useless for this. With or without DST, the work day was longer than the actual daylight day. Bend was a beautiful place to live in the summer - long days and gorgeous sunsets, beautiful flowers, trees and a river and all kinds of water birds. But in the winter it was dreary as all get out, at least for me.

Margret

 

[Willowy]

I hate DST. The only thing that changes is the clock.

Well, yes. But we are all slaves to the clock.

it wasn't just the lack of light; it was the lack of color.

That's definitely a Thing! The grayscale gets awfully dreary after a while.

 

[Margret]

I ended up with a major case of Seasonal Affective Disorder, and I'm convinced that it wasn't just the lack of light; it was the lack of color.

That's definitely a Thing! The grayscale gets awfully dreary after a while.

Ever since then I've thought that a lot of people who seem to be addicted to shopping, especially in the winter, are actually self-medicating for SAD; they just don't know it. Think about how shopping malls look in the winter. By the end of October they have brightly colored Christmas lights and decorations up. Lots of color, lots of light. And when Christmas is over the Easter decorations go up.

I remember one year when we visited my parents, on the Oregon coast, for Christmas. It was a very dreary December in Oregon that year, weeks of nothing but gray skies and drizzle. One day my mother and I drove into Eugene to go shopping, in spite of the fact that it was really too cold and wet (no indoor shopping malls in Eugene), and as we were walking down the street there was a jewelry store with light pouring out of it. We went in, specifically for the light. This jeweler had put a lamp on every surface that would hold a lamp, all aimed at beautiful jewelry, which was thus displayed extremely well. And we weren't the only people who came in for the light; the store was quite crowded, and at least some of those people ended up buying something expensive as a result. The jeweler had an excellent marketing strategy.

Margret