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Posted: 10/25/2008 8:18:45 AM | Well it's here again, the official end to summertime 02.00 hours 26th Oct and so we have to put the clocks back an hour............ Dark mornings and dark nights ........roll on March 2009.....
What is the purpose of changing the clocks in March and October every year ?
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Pat78
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Joined: 8/29/2008
Msg: 2 | |
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Posted: 10/25/2008 8:23:24 AM | I believe it is todo with farmers and farming, which as farming is not and hasn't been an active profession in this Country for a long time it does seem antiquated to me. If someone can enlighten me and Angel to the importance and justification I would be interested.
Extra hour in bed! Not for me, working the Nightshift....though finnish an hour early so not all bad. | |
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Posted: 10/25/2008 8:24:29 AM | | it seems like summer ended in may up here in the grim north.....................grrrrrrrrrrrrr this rain............. | |
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Posted: 10/25/2008 8:37:37 AM | What is the purpose of changing the clocks in March and October every year ?
I havent the faintest idea, but if it means a whole extra hour in bed so I dont have to face all the wind and rain we have at the moment then its fine by me..
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Posted: 10/25/2008 8:48:09 AM | Thanks angeldelight... totally forgot... would have been very grumpy when I found out I was at work an hour to early.  | |
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Posted: 10/25/2008 9:10:55 AM |
I believe it is todo with farmers and farming, Like farmers have ever judged what needs to be done when based on the clock. They use the sun rise and sunset and the behaviour of their animals (if they keep livestock).
I believe it has to do with allowing better enjoyment of the summer evenings, because the days are so long we can go to work earlier, and then have a longer evening. And during the summer the evenings are warmer (in theory at least, if not in practise). But then we have to change the clocks back during winter or we'd be going to work in the dark. I have never really understood why we can't just stick to GMT, after all under GMT midday is typically around the middle of the day. | |
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Posted: 10/25/2008 9:24:00 AM | What is the purpose of changing the clocks in March and October every year ?
During winter the UK (and Ireland/Portugal/some African countries) are on GMT* but during Summer we move an hour foward onto BST (British summer time)
BST was introduced during World War One for a number of reasons the main one being that it was thought the extra hour of daylight in the evenings would reduce demand for electricity and hence save coal (which was what most of the electricity at the time was generated from and there being a shortage of the stuff for several reasons one being that many younger miners had joined/been drafted into the army).
After the war it was found that many people liked the extra hour of daylight in summer evenings so it was decided to stick with BST.
During WW2 the government even experimented with "double summer time" (i.e. moving the clocks foward TWO hours) but the downside of this was very dark mornings. Also sometime in the late late fifties/early sixties they tried leaving the clocks foward all year around but again the dark mornings were a problem (particularly in Ireland and Scotland) The darkness during the morning rushour caused a lot of accidents and the farmers didnt like milking their cows in total darkness.
As a result the UK (along with many other countries around the world) now has this odd arrangment with putting clocks back/foward. The inconvinence for most people is pretty minor and outweighed by the benefits although It can lead to come confusion. If I say Im going to meet you at 1.15am on Sunday morning do I mean GMT* or BST ?
(* Technically we dont actually use GMT any more. We use something called UTC but for all everyday purposes they are essentially the same thing. I could explain the difference but trust me you REALLY dont want to know.............) | |
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Posted: 10/25/2008 9:27:23 AM | | Well thank you Netgeek.........makes perfect sense now. So why does the hour have to change at 02.00 and not 0.00 ? | |
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Posted: 10/25/2008 9:35:12 AM | Not sure on that one but Im guessing they figured most people would be in bed at 02:00 so it made more sense to do it then.
Also having it at midnight might lead to confusion over what day it was ?
Which brings me nicely onto this one:
Can someone explain to me the "International date line" and how/why it works. Its something I could never get my head around (and this from someone who understands the difference between GMT and UTC) | |
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Posted: 10/25/2008 9:48:59 AM |
Can someone explain to me the "International date line" and how/why it works. Oh that's simple, travelling away from longitude 0 the GMT offsets get larger, until they reach 12 hours. So that would be 12 hours ahead, in one direction, and 12 hours behind in the other direction. Now as this would be the opposite side of the world to longitude 0, and as it is not possible to be both 12 hours ahead, and 12 hours behind the international date line is here. As you cross the international date line you lose, or gain a day, dependent on which way you cross. If you were to continually cross the international date line to lose a day, without crossing it the other way, you would gain 24 hours going around the world to get there (assuming you could travel fast enough) and so it doesn't do anything. | |
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Posted: 10/25/2008 10:02:19 AM | Yes but why is the international dateline fixed on the other side of the world ? I mean when its 11pm tonight (Saturday) in the UK it will be 1am (on Sunday) in Poland so surely the "international date line" at that point will be in Germany (where its
midnight) ?
A few hours later it will be Sunday in the UK but still Saturday in New York so wont the dateline then have moved to somewhere in the Atlantic ?
If its Saturday on one side of the "international date line" and Sunday on the other side how far around the world do I need to go before its Saturday again ?
If I had a high speed aircraft which could circle the world in less than 24 hours and could cross the "international date line" a number of times (in the same direction) would I have a time machine ? | |
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Posted: 10/25/2008 10:08:38 AM | | Ah now, time as we measure it is based on midday (believe it or not). Now when it is midday here, then the time zones either side of us are on the same day. When it is midday (or indeed any other time except the hour or so around midnight) at the international date line it is a different day either side of that line. So while for a brief period each day the neighbouring timezones are on a different time across the globe the opposite is true at the international date line, it is only for a brief period that both sides of that line are on the same day. | |
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Posted: 10/25/2008 10:14:19 AM | I always thought it was something to do with the war.
Anyway i totaly hate changing the clocks, makes me feel all jet lagged and depressed. Considering we havnt had much of a summer either its a bit poo that its all come round so quick isnt it.
As for the farmers being concerned about their livestock and daylight times hum i dont think farmers give a S!^t aobut the concerns of their animals as long as their good enough to make money out of, thats all that matters to them.
Awaits hate mail from farmers  | |
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Posted: 10/25/2008 11:01:37 AM | Well it's here again, the official end to summertime 02.00 hours 26th Oct and so we have to put the clocks back an hour
If we put the clocks back to 1am at 2am, then what do we do when it gets to 2am again...?
My apologies in advance to anyone who wonders why it's dark when they get up tomorrow, I'm going to experiment and see if I can prevent the sun coming up 
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AlmaM
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Joined: 3/20/2008
Msg: 16 | |
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Posted: 10/25/2008 11:10:24 AM | I always thought it would be much better if the time is moved backwards in winter so when people usually get back from work in not so dark.
I do not understand the logic of moving it forward as it seems then in the winter it is even more dark when people get back from work. | |
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Posted: 10/25/2008 11:29:14 AM | to OP 's question.......i dont wear aftershave in the winter ....why? i think its something to do with the fact that farmers would get confused wether to milk the cows or plant them ...in the light its easy to distinguish a cow from a potato but in the dark you try planting a cow !!  | |
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Posted: 10/25/2008 5:42:47 PM | now if this clears some thing up and i remember correctly
yes was started during the war for reasons already stated and continued to aid the farming community in its hay day (no pun intended) but was on the verge of being scrapped some 15/20 years ago but talks decided to keep it in place for the kid so as they could travel to school collage etc in day light all year round. so in a way helping protect the wee yins | |
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Posted: 10/26/2008 2:34:51 AM | Extra hour in bed! Not for me, working the Nightshift....though finnish an hour early so not all bad.
How'd you work that out? I've just finished a '12' hour nightshift and had to do 13 hours.
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fugue
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Joined: 5/7/2008
Msg: 21 | |
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Posted: 10/26/2008 4:13:56 AM | The reason behind it is ''I haven't got a bloody clue.?''
why not make it lighter in the evenings by putting the clock forward one our to european time.
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Posted: 10/26/2008 4:17:54 AM | As pointed out by SanToki, there is a problem just after 2:00am; what exactly is the time in the hour just after 2:00am? One can interprete 2:15am BST as 1:15am GMT.
What happens when a crime is commited then? Does one record it as 2:15 BST or 1:15 BST? Furthermore what happens to the night shift workers - when they clock off at 6:00am, have they done a 7 hour shift when in fact they worked for 8 hours?
I wish I was up last night listening to the BBC World Service! I would love to hear how they handled the time during the period from midnight to 3:00am GMT! | |
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Posted: 10/27/2008 10:36:17 AM | I wish I was up last night listening to the BBC World Service! I would love to hear how they handled the time during the period from midnight to 3:00am GMT!
Ummm the World service (like most/all international broadcasters) use GMT all the time. They dont put their clocks back/foward because they use winter time all year around. | |
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AlmaM
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Joined: 3/20/2008
Msg: 25 | |
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Posted: 11/3/2008 12:54:23 AM | Oh dear ..
I took my son to school one hour earlier and left him there 
I forgot to move the alarm clock forward and as it was a school holiday last week
The worst thing is I did not even realise it until one hour later  | |
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