In message <[email protected]>, Tony F inch writes:
>> DST is a trivial gimmick layered on standard time. Standard time is a >> global system layered on the mean solar day. > >I don't think DST is trivial, nor is it a gimmick. Seconded. In addition to what it was designed to, DST changes have taken on an unanticipated role of high-level low frequency public scheduling. Emperical evidence shows that fewer people miss their trains right after a DST change, even accounting for those who get it wrong by one hour. This indicates that DST changes actually make people adjust their clocks. At least in Denmark, the public safety administration is actively advocating using the DST change to test the residual current protection relay (RCCB), "since you have to set all the clocks anyway". We know from electricians purchases of new RCCBs that this advice is widely taken. I would keep DST, even if it confers no other benefits, simply because from a societal point of view, it is beneficial to have the populations almost undivided attention twice a year. Poul-Henning -- Poul-Henning Kamp | UNIX since Zilog Zeus 3.20 [email protected] | TCP/IP since RFC 956 FreeBSD committer | BSD since 4.3-tahoe Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by incompetence. _______________________________________________ LEAPSECS mailing list [email protected] http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/leapsecs
