That would be Daylight Saving Time.
The ‘other’ time is Standard Time, at least here in the US. You can read more about Daylight Saving Time and its history here http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/index.html. It covers the subject pretty well.
Hm…another struggle between "correct" and "popular". Actually, I was so uncertain myself that I had to research it. Of course, when I was a tot, it was still called "British Summer Time". ;D
Ha ha… as opposed to summertime in any other locale? Further proof that the Brits are backwards (as if driving on the wrong side of the road wasn’t enough)! ;D
My favorite headline: "Fog over the English Channel; Europe isolated." ;D
Since the Common Market (sorry, the EU) managed to con Britain into joining, things have changed quite a bit. No more half crowns or sixpences and it’s now 12 degrees in London. My grandparents are probably turning in their graves. ::)
My London was 50s and early 60s, before it started to "swing". Honestly, I can’t STAND to go back there now. It’s simply a whole different ballgame. ;) Perhaps not worse, but definately different.
This from that first link you posted caught my attention:
Just as sunflowers turn their heads to catch every sunbeam, so too have we discovered a simple way to get more from our sun.
We’ve learned to save energy and enjoy sunny summer evenings by switching our clocks an hour forward in the summer.
The boldfacing is mine. I think that statement is a very poor choice of words! As if changing the time affects the actual amount of solar energy!?
Farmers have almost always worked by daylight hours, no matter how the rest of the world ‘clocked’ it. I know several who would think both paragraphs exemplified some of the problems with common sense the world faces…
Well, I’ve always thought that time was one of the most interesting human constructs. Of course, you’re right about farmers. Did they care about Standard Time or any other time? Of course not. Up with the larks, down with the chickens.
But time is a certainly a remarkable subject, however much of an object we pretend it is. ;)
I hate having to get up in the dark. Dawn is best viewed after a night of staying up watching the stars!
I wish our society could be a bit less nailed to the clock. Geez, you can’t be five minutes late without someone fussing! Like the world is going to end if I don’t get there just exactly on time. Government facilities are the worst! I worked down at NASA Goddard (for a subcontractor). Talk about a n a l retentive!
It’s no wonder I want to be able to support myself by my art!
Little known, even in England is the fact that King Edward VII introduced the custom of setting clocks half an hour early on his Sandringhaam estate to allow more time for shooting. When he was there, all business was conducted in Sandrigham time. Edward VIII reset the timepieces.
[quote author=AgDrgn link=board=what;num=1047236697;start=0#12 date=03/10/03 at 19:54:46]I hate having to get up in the dark. Dawn is best viewed after a night of staying up watching the stars!
YES! Except in my case, I’d have been staring at a computer screen during that time… I love being awake at dawn, but not waking up then, so if I’m gonna see the sunrise, it has to be by staying up ‘till then.
We had an experiment in Britain, I think it was in the late 60’s, when the government trialled "summer time" the whole year round. The arguements in favour were; it saved the disruption of changing the clocks twice a year, it gave us an extra hour ( ! ) in the winter evenings, and it resulted in fewer road accidents caused by people suddenly fining that they were driving home in the dark.
All facetious reasons and the experiment was quickly dropped after complaints from Scotland and the north of England that they were scrabbling around in the dark most to the year.
We retained the acronym BST but instead of British Summer Time is was renamed British Standard Time. We all dubbed it Bl**dy Stupid Time. ;D
