Daylight Savings Time 2007

I guess I notice this because I've been dealing with it every other call at work (Windows Mobile PDAs and Blackberrys got hit hard.. and the calls are still pouring in a week after the fact!)

I noticed that all the timestamps on the posts are an hour off. I don't recall ever seeing them off before. Did I just never notice in previous years during the summer, or is something not patched and the servers/software didn't know it was supposed to change early this year?

I'm pretty sure I installed all the patches for my PC.

Test

Edit: Ditto

*** Edited 3/17/2007 4:30:11 AM UTC by Neuski***

in late 2005, congress decided to push daylight savings time forward by a few weeks staring in 2007, no one really realised this until early 2007. microsoft release a patch in feburary, and apple released theirs a week before hand. If automatic updates wern't enabled, you would have been stuck with the old date, which is my guess what happened here. IF the clock was synched to a time server then most likely you wouldn't have noticed a problem either.

I did actually notice that Cingular didn't update the time until about 1pm CST. Daylight savings time 2007 actually caused more visable annoyances than y2k, just because it was one of those things we all took for granted.

It should be noted that this only applies to the USA. The DST rules are different elsewhere in the world.

^ It also applies to Canada. Atleast here in Ontario, we just set the clocks a few days back or so meaning around the Toronto areas has the exact same time Buffalo, NY, Detroit, MI, or any major cities in the EST time zone.

Yes, CoasterBuzz does not adjust for the new rule, no, it won't be fixed in this version. So if you live in the US and have your profile set as such, you'll have to add an hour for the next two weeks or so.

Here in Florida Parents are whining about their kids going to school before the sun rises. In 1974 (While I was still living in Michigan) The State "Experimented" with having Daylight Saving time last all year (As a way to save Energy, of course) Just as before parents began to complain, then after a couple of children were struck by cars in the early morning, an outcry broke out and the "Experiment" was called off and we returned to Standard Time. I wonder, will this "Experiment" will have a simular fate?

If I were a school kid, I'd rather have the dark at night, when I'm not waiting for a bus, than in the morning, when I am. After school, I'd think the kids go right home (or elsewhere) after getting off the bus, unlike the morning, when they're standing around waiting for it. And I don't quite understand how anyone's saving any energy, either.

And as a night owl, I don't care if it's dark before 8am. It's all relative to when your active hours are...

Danimal, the automatic updates thing isn't a simple fix like microsoft wants you to believe. Here's why:

• The Operating System (Windows) needs to be patched. This is helped with automatic update, but it's not the be-all, end-all of patches.
• Outlook needs a separate patch. I have all automatic updates enabled, and I still had to download and install this one manually.
• Most mobile devices (all blackberries, palm OS, and all windows mobile devices except the T-Mobile Dash) need a 3rd different patch. Link for reference
• If you have any other date-based software (such as server and/or forum software) it most likely will need it's own patch.

Even something where the "clock is synced to a time server" doesn't apply in every instance. Regular cell phones are ok because they don't have a time reference. They just download the time from the network and display it (known as "NITZ" or "Network Identity Time Zone"). The data devices such as blackberry and WM have a time reference. They download the NITZ information, and then adjust it back to the old DST rules to what the time *should* be according to the pre-programmed rules. The reason it does this is because those devices are designed to travel without changing the time reference. In other words, if you fly from New York to California, blackberries are designed to "correct" the network time to still show eastern time (until you go into your time settings and change the time zone to pacific). Windows Mobile handhelds (such as the dash) will update the time displayed to the other time zone, but will adjust your calendar appointments for the time change since your calendar is set in one time zone, but your device in another. An appointment set for 6pm while you're in PA will show up as 6pm. Travel to CA and that same appointment will show up as 9pm (because 6pm CA time is 9pm NY time).

^^ it's easy to say you'd rather have it dark earlier as an adult because you're thinking about it logically as a parent (or at least parent-aged person ;) ) Think of it like a kid: I'm waiting for a bus, not playing. Who cares if the sun is up or not? On the other hand, when it's 8:30pm and I'm playing out in the yard, I don't want mommy to call me in because it's getting dark. I want to keep playing.

As for how it's saving energy? Greg touched upon it when it said it's relative to when your active hours are. let's take this as an example:

Prior to the daylight savings switch, in my area it would get light around 6am, and get dark around 6pm. Take a peek into Joe Average's 9-5 daily grind. He start's at 9. Figure in a 1/2 hour commute so he leaves by 8:30. Figure about an hour to wake up, shower, and breakfast, and he wakes up at 7:30am. It's daylight, so he doesn't really turn on lights to see what he's doing. He works until 5, 1/2 hour commute puts him home at 5:30. Since it's dark by 6, it's starting to get dark around 5:30, so a couple lights go on in his house. They stay on until he goes to sleep around 10:30 - that's 5 hours worth of energy used by his lights.

Now let's flip DST an hour ahead. Now it gets light at 7, dark at 7. He wakes up at 7:30, so it's still light out when he wakes up. He still doesn't turn the lights on. When he gets home at 5:30, it's still light out. Doesn't start to dim until 6:30. So he only turns the lights on around 6:30. He still goes to sleep at 10:30. Do the math, now it's only 4 hours worth of energy. That's only with one person. As the summer progresses and it stays light longer, the benefits increase. In the height of the summer it doesn't get dark until close to 9pm - Joe Average in my example is now only using 1.5 hours of energy (instead of 2.5).

See how it helps save energy?

With the problems regarding power outages in 2003, 2004 and 2005, it's no wonder that congress passed the legislation to try and increase energy savings.

Edit: Added link to data device patches for reference. *** Edited 3/18/2007 7:35:56 PM UTC by dannerman***