How Is This Still A Thing?

[scannon]

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Daylight Saving Time - How Is This Still A Thing

 

 

I would prefer to remain on Daylight Savings Time all year long or maybe split the difference and stay on that.

 

There used to be some time zones in the South Pacific that were 1/2 or even 1/4 hour off the rest of the world. I don't know if they are still that way

[Paul Hill]

You don't have to go that far Skip.

The farthest east Canadian province, Newfoundland and Labrador, is 30 minutes off Atlantic time.

[scannon]

Paul,

 

Do you know the reasoning behind it and do they do the daylight savings thing?

[Warren Nethercote]

To quote Wikipedia:

 

"This time zone (Newfoundland) exists because of the location of the island and the fact that it was a separate dominion when the time zones were established. The island of Newfoundland lies squarely in the eastern half of the Atlantic Time Zone, exactly three and a half hours from Greenwich. Since it was separate from Canada, it had the right to adopt its own time zone. While the entire province lies west of the standard meridian for a half-hour time zone, 52.5 degrees west longitude, this is also the near exact meridian of St. John's, the province's capital and largest city. In 1963, the Newfoundland government attempted to bring the province into conformity with the other Atlantic provinces, but withdrew in the face of stiff public opposition"

 

The 'separate dominion' in the quote relates to Newfoundland being independent in the early part of the 1900s. It went bust in the depression, and 'rejoined' England under a colonial structure until it joined Canada as the 10th province in 1949.

 

(Edit - and they do daylight saving. Saskatchewan is the only Canadian province not to do it, I think.)

Edited March 15, 2015 by Warren Nethercote
Addition

[Paul Hill]

Thanks Warren!

Been busy dealing with out of town company so had not gotten to Skip's question.

[rnr]

India is 5:30 ahead of GMT. The 30 min split was done because the country stretches across two timezones but did not want to have deal with multiple timezones. We do not have DST either.

 

As a foreigner DST was an idiotic concept when I first heard of it and now 12 years later I still feel the same way

[Croc]

Australia is all screwy when it comes to DST. Sydney on the east coast is 3 hours ahead of Perth on the west coast but both shift for summer. But then you have South Australia only 30 mins different. And then those simpletons in Queensland refuse to use DST as it fades the curtains. Then not all states migrate to DST on the same weekend...

 

It would be easier not to have it at all!