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Daylight Savings Time

March 5, 2012 by · Comments Off on Daylight Savings Time 

Daylight Savings Time, It’s nearly time to ‘Spring Forward.’ At 2 a.m. on the morning of Sunday, March 11, we’ll be springing our clocks forward-and losing an hour of the day, for Daylight Saving Time. The good news: sunset will be an hour later.

You may have noticed the annual tradition of Daylight Saving Time has crept forward a bit. We used to spring forward on the first Sunday in April and fall back on last Sunday in October. But a couple years ago, Congress changed the date-adding more Daylight Saving Time to the calendar. This year, it will run from March 11 until Nov. 4.

Unless you’re in Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands. They don’t do Daylight Saving Time.

Around the world, about 75 countries and territories have at least one location that observes Daylight Saving Time, according to TimeandDate.com. On the other hand, 164 don’t observe the time change at all.

Benjamin Franklin has been credited with the idea of Daylight Saving Time, but Britain and Germany began using the concept in World War I to conserve energy, the Washington Post observes. The U.S. used Daylight Saving Time for a brief time during the war, but it didn’t become widely accepted in the States until after the second World War.

In 1966, the Uniform Time Act outlined that clocks should be set forward on the last Sunday in April and set back the last Sunday in October.

Daylight Savings

March 2, 2012 by · Comments Off on Daylight Savings 

Daylight Savings, You might wish Spring Break would stick around longer than a week. On the bright side, all the campus clocks should be set to the correct time when you return.

Daylight Saving Time begins March 11 at 2 a.m. So the clocks on campus (and your own clock, if you don’t want to be late for class) must be set an hour ahead.

The Power Plant Division used to readjust the clocks every 24 hours using a campus-wide bell system, said Mike Thomas, the maintenance and construction superintendent, in an email. However, that system was done away with sometime in the last five to 10 years.

The PPD still sets the memorial clock outside the O’Connell Center and the automated clocks that have been installed in some buildings, but each department is now responsible for setting its own wall clocks.

In the Reitz Union, most of the clocks are automated, according to John Duncan, the operations manager.

He said, “I know there’s one battery-operated clock in the Welcome Center, and I’m usually the one to get up and spin the little dial.”

Daylight Savings Time Change

November 1, 2011 by · Comments Off on Daylight Savings Time Change 

Daylight Savings Time Change, Last week, the clocks went back in the UK, which ignited the debate on daylight saving time. The Government is considering a three-year trial of a new system, designed to provide more light at night, which would see the UK adopt Central European Time. In other words, the clocks would be located in what is now GMT in winter and “double summer time” a new introduction.

What does this mean for British cyclists? On the negative side, there would be more days in which we make our trips in the morning in the dark. But the advocates of change argue that because drivers tend to be more alert in the morning, would be a reduction of accidents.

On the positive side, the proposed change would be huge increase in the number of days that would be able to house a bike or go for a lap after working during the day. It would also increase the hours of daylight in the middle of summer, which means you could ride without lights beyond 10pm.

Brake road safety charity supports the proposals, saying it would reduce deaths and serious injuries by an estimated 450 per year. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents has a similar view, saying that 80 lives would be saved and 212 serious injuries prevented each year.

CTC National cycling organization is in favor of the bill, as it is called in to investigate the pros and cons of the issue. They are unequivocally behind the change, however – mainly because of the risk of injury related to the ice for travelers winter morning.

Political machinations

Daylight Saving Time, also known as summer time was introduced in 1916 to make the evening light for longer. Under the current system, the clocks in the UK are set to Greenwich Mean Time throughout the winter and then driven for an hour between the last Sunday in March and last Sunday of October.

In a bill private member, Rebecca Harris Conservative MP has called for a review of the potential costs of moving the clock one hour forward. Harris holds the switch on the light of day more are added at night where most people see the benefit, and not have the light of day early in the morning that “many of us waste in bed.” The measure is also likely that economic benefits.

Prime Minister David Cameron has said he would seriously consider the proposals, but that change can only be done with the support of the entire United Kingdom. Ministers have written to their counterparts in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to reach agreement on a three-year trial.

In the past, the Scottish government has vehemently opposed this change, arguing it would lead to months of dark mornings, especially in the north. With a spokesman saying there is no case for change, it seems unlikely that national support will be forthcoming in the short term. Many farmers also oppose the change.

2010 Daylight Savings Time Dates

November 1, 2010 by · Comments Off on 2010 Daylight Savings Time Dates 

2010 Daylight Savings Time Dates, Update: Some of our commenters report that alarms are also seeing an hour early in parts of North America. It is still unclear whether this is widespread or idiosyncratic, and if all 4.x devices are affected.

The IOS error that caused recurring alarm to go an hour earlier in New Zealand after its change to DST then hit some parts of Australia after its conversion to a week later. Apple promised a solution to the problem, and it is likely that the review will be included with the next update to IOS 4.2 – but that update has not arrived in time to stop the problem of strikes in Europe. With the shift to standard time in the Northern Hemisphere nations, Europe and Middle East countries that have changed are now experiencing the same problem we saw in New Zealand and Australia, but in reverse: the recurring alarms Europeans go out an hour later, after changing to standard time.

In New Zealand, the issue was finally resolved. A couple of weeks after the change of daylight saving time, recurring alarms started going off at the right time again. The theory was that the Apple programming time zone IOS protocols based on outdated DST, New Zealand is used to change the DST on the first Sunday in October, but changed the last Sunday of September in 2007. It is possible that the problem can become their own species in Europe as well, but not before a lot of Europeans who rely on their iPhones to awaken after being late for work.

In less than a week, the biggest customer base Apple, iPhone to U.S. users will probably have their recurring alarms leave an hour later, again, unless Apple can solve the problem before the November 7 . Meanwhile, for those Europeans who depend on IOS devices to wake in the morning, you have two options. Either set the recurring alarm to go an hour earlier than normal (ie, set the alarm at 6 am if you really want to wake up at 7), or completely abandon the recurring alarms and remember to set an alarm every single use night. That’s what has worked for us in the southern hemisphere.

It is surprising that Apple has not addressed this issue in a timely manner. The error has extensive coverage after the change to DST in the southern hemisphere, so Apple had plenty of warning before the change to standard time in Europe. Now, instead of mild discomfort experienced by a few million iPhone users in the Southern Hemisphere woke up an hour earlier, many more European users will have to face much greater difficulties. Waking up an hour early, when New Zealand changed to summer time a little over a month was certainly irritating, but that’s nothing compared to the multitude of Europeans who will be late to work or school because of this error.

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