squidpants

so it's that time of year again - my bi-annual "Spring Forward-Fall Back Is Stupid" post. And guess what - it's stupid.

I really don't see the point for it - it gets dark around 5 pm, meaning every office in the country has to turn on their lights earlier. It also means it gets colder, so everybody runs their heating more. It means fewer people go out shopping or to get exercise. At least the government decided to delay it a little longer this year, but they really should delay it indefinitely. It just seems like a relic of the past.

Wikipedia says "Adding daylight to afternoons generally benefits retailing, sports, and other activities that exploit sunlight after working hours,[1] but it can cause problems for farmers and others whose hours depend on the sun.[2] Extra afternoon daylight appears to cut traffic fatalities;[3] its effect on health and crime is less clear. An early goal was to reduce evening usage of incandescent lighting, formerly a primary use of electricity;[4] nowadays, though, DST sometimes increases overall electricity costs and peak demand." They also mention lower crime and more when it stays light later.

So there are tons of benefits to keeping it lighter later, and apparently the only benefit is to farmers. Hey farmers: eat it. Grow up and set your alarms early to get up an hour earlier. They always say the farmers' day starts when the chickens (or is it cows) wake up, so who cares what time it is? If it's dark out and a rooster is crowing, does it matter if it's 5 am or 6 am or 7 am? No. Farmers can get bent and deal with it.