Did we just reach the tipping point?
Is the point at which Daylight Saving Time has reached its conclusion now all but inevitable?
I’d like to think so.
And how will we know what tipped it? Is that sort of thing knowable?
I mean, can we just call up Malcolm Gladwell and ask?
Hey, Malcolm, I know you figured out how Hush Puppies were not cool, and then at some point became cool, but did you know it at the time that the shoes past the Tipping Point? Are we there yet with getting rid of the clock changing twice a year?
It is something I’ve been thinking about a lot of late. Of course, we just passed one week since the change in the U.S., and my inbox was packed with lots of great news. (More on that below.)
I was in Berlin on business for the second half of the week, so had to experience some of that joy vicariously, but I did get to take a small jaunt out to find out about yet another problem with the clock changing.
If it is not clear, the part with the numbers rotates in the middle of the part that shows the 24 time zones. The time in Berlin was correct, but the time in New York, etc., showed 11:30 a.m., when it was actually 12:30 p.m. Because that center ring has just one hour for every time zone, there’s no way they could fix it.
Not the most important reason to fix Daylight Saving Time, (as it is called in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and a few others) and Summertime (in Europe), but it’s on the list, something that does not go unnoticed.
It really is a nightmare for all concerned https://t.co/wlqBPdHmUX
— Stuart Myles (@smyles) March 11, 2019
The good news is that there is lots of progress to report:
- After my letter to the Michigan legislature, the committee there passed that bill out of committee, which is more than what happened when I went there in person! (Maybe they didn’t like my tie? More likely is that we have passed the Tipping Point, and Michigan doesn’t want to be left behind.)
- New York had been looking at creating a study committee, following in the footsteps of Massachusetts that made a study last year. Well, now they have a bill that would skip the study and just put New York in Standard Time year-round, right now. Most people and most businesses say that they’d like to stay in Daylight Time year-round, but I’ve heard rumblings that the broadcast networks don’t like that. They want it to be dark out so everyone will go inside and sit on the couch and turn on the TV. The guy who is sponsoring the bill lives about as far away from New York City as a guy can live, in Niagara Falls, so who knows?
- In Oregon, the governor said not just “yes” but “Hell, Yes” to the idea of year-round Daylight Saving Time.
- Also from Oregon, the state’s senior senator, Ron Wyden, said publicly that he will support Marco Rubio’s bill to allow states to go to year-round DST right now. That’s big. Wyden is a Democrat, and we need bipartisan support for this thing to move forward.
- A bunch of other states, including Utah where I’ve been working with legislators for years, got bills further through the process than they’ve ever gone before.
I don’t know what a tipping point smells like, but this sure smells like we are getting close to the end for changing the clocks!
#LockTheClock!
By the way, I haven’t sent out an email yet using my new tool. I won’t send one out for every post, maybe every handful of posts. If you would like to get on that list, you can do that here.