9 replies to this topic

[Blofeld's Cat]

Has curtain fading time (Daylight Saving) started?

Some time zones seemed to have changed since the weekend compared to mine.

[Mister Asterix]

oh... oh, sorry

Let's try that again



DAMN YOU. WILLIAM WILLET.

[Blue Eyes]

Typical Australian newspaper. Gotta blame it on the poms. Next they'll say it's all Q's fault. He made some gadget that sent the sun funny

[Blofeld's Cat]

[Blofeld's Cat]

Mister Asterix (31 Oct, 2001 04:31 p.m.):
DAMN YOU, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.

Actually, you should blame WILLIAM WILLET.

Who!

A friend just e-mailed me this article taken out of last weekend's broadsheet newspaper, The Sydney Morning Herald.

IT'S FADED CURTAINS TIME: IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, BLAME WILLIAM WILLET

If your're feeling irritable tomorrow, blame William Willet. The obscure English builder came up with one big idea which still affects millions of lives.

Like Newton and Pythagoras before him, Willet's concept came through the commonplace. In 1907 he was taking an early morning ride through Petts Wood, near London, when he realised blinds were closed even though the sun was shining.

Daylight saving was born. Willet was ridiculed during his lifetime, possibly because his proposal was so complicated He wanted to move the clock forward by 80 minutes, in four instalments of 20 minutes each, between spring and summer.

But a year sifter his death in 1915, the British Parliament introduced daylight saving in a wartime bid to save coal. Even so, there was fierce debate. Bizarrely, Lord Balfour reasoned that if a woman gave birth to one twin a minute before the clocks changed, and the second twin a minute afterwards, "the time of birth would be reversed....and might conceivably affect the property and titles in that House:.

It then later goes on to say:

Critics trot out the familiar arguments. It interferes with children's sleeping patterns. It makes the working day in the bush (aussie for rural areas) too long. It turns dairy cows mad and poultry peaky. And, of course, it plays havoc with the curtains.

Supporters counter. It saves electricity. It reduces road casualties. It allows people more recreation time in the evenings. And it boosts the sale of tennis racquets and cricket bats.

It goes on about how opera and cinema attendances are not affected, but that of all sports, golf is the most affected. Then finally...

However, one leisure industry does do well out of daylight saving. According to....Calton and United Breweries..."Changing the clock is a signal for summer. Beer sales ramp up from now through Christmas, It's a psychological thing. People come home, it's still light, they decide to have a barbecue, invite a few friends round, drink beer and enjoy the true Australian tradition."

Whether that's what William Willet had in mind is another matter.

Ain't daylight saving great down under!!!

[Mister Asterix]

Well, actually Daylight Savings Time has just ended here in the states. And I curse the name of Benjamin Franklin every time I have to change my clocks. Everyone tells me, 'Oh, you get an extra hour of sleep in the fall.' But that never works for me. I just wake up an hour earlier and am dead tired by the end of the day. Leave the damn clocks alone. Now I have to do new calculations to figure out what time it is in the rest of the world (and Arizona and a quarter of Indiana.)

DAMN YOU, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.

(do you get the idea I don't like Daylight Savings time?)

[scaramanga]

Blue Eyes (01 Nov, 2001 07:25 a.m.):
Gotta blame it on the poms.

Thats a bit below the belt!

[zencat]

America needs to dump this whole Daylight Savings Time nonsense. Sure, it made sense 200 years ago when everyone was a farmer, but come on! It's dark at 5:00! We want our light at the end of the day, not the beginning. I don't even think farmers give a hoot about this wacko idea anymore.

[Blofeld's Cat]

[Blue Eyes]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who hates it. I mean why do we need dark nights? It's all right in somewhere like England where it can be dark by four o'clock naturally but they say they change it because of Winter?

How does that apply to somewhere like where I live? We've had more rain in the past week than we have had all Winter and Winter is long gone!

Scrap Daylight savings and leave the clocks forward as in summertime!