Comments on: DST and Broken Hearts

By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 19 Apr 2005 15:18:31 +0000

The pressure for the change mostly came from large corporations who are involved in interstate trucking / shipping, etc, for whom Indiana being an outlier meant Indiana = pain in the ass. Mostly.

By: Petronius Arbiter

Petronius Arbiter — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 15:28:12 +0000

I was talking with an old Hoosier yesterday and he said that in the old days the struggle between DST believers and DST haters was often between the golf courses and the drive-in movie theaters. I guess the golf courses are a stronger lobby these days.

By: doghouse riley

doghouse riley — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 01:24:03 +0000

The only logical way to solve Indiana’s time problem is to ask the major breweries what they want.

By: Karl

Karl — Tue, 12 Apr 2005 22:12:39 +0000

The previous Friday, at 7 p.m., the sun had long set. Depressing.
I finally see what this is really all about — this is just a contest between people who wake up early and those other people who wake up late. Personally, I get more out of seeing the sun before 7 AM than seeing it at 7 PM, and this summer, I am going to enjoy seeing it at 5 AM more than I would have enjoyed it at 10 PM. (And I am certainly glad that, at least this year, the part of the year during which the sun shines directly into my eyes while I am driving downtown will occur only once in the spring and once in the fall, instead of twice.)

By: Doug

Doug — Tue, 12 Apr 2005 21:01:26 +0000

I wish Petronius’s lunch room had gone to the House hearings to testify! Definitely second the couch potato perspective. Growing up in Richmond, I loved summer because the Ohio stations would broadcast prime time an hour earlier. Currently, I get some Indy stations and some northern Indiana affiliates. The Northern Indiana stations are in synch with Chicago and, oddly, broadcast an hour earlier than the Indy stations.
I’ve never really understood why the Indy stations tape delay all their stuff. The Illinois stations seem to just broadcast their network feeds at the same time it’s going out over the EDT stations. So, a program played at 8:00 p.m. (EDT) in Ohio will get played at 7:00 p.m. (CDT) in Chicago and will get delayed an hour and played at 8:00 p.m. (EST) in Indianapolis. Consequently, Indianapolis programs are playing an hour later than they show in Ohio and in Illinois.

By: Petronius Arbiter

Petronius Arbiter — Tue, 12 Apr 2005 20:37:04 +0000

Many Hoosiers (including my whole lunchroom – so there’s some anecdotal proof for you debaters) don’t seem to care about daylight savings, but are fired up over which time zone we will align with. My understanding is that because the current bill does not address time zone directly, the status quo of Eastern will remain, but we will follow Ohio into Daylight instead of staying on Standard all year. Therein lies the problem for a lot of us. Growing up near Evansville, I got to see Letterman, the 4th quarter of Monday Night Football, and I experienced many other advantages of having prime time TV start an hour earlier.
The couch potato in me is much more interested in switching to Central time than going to daylight savings, and I think I speak for most of this nation’s premier couch potato state when I demand the switch to Central Time.

By: Doug

Doug — Tue, 12 Apr 2005 20:12:33 +0000

I grew up in Richmond, IN but went to college in Oxford, Ohio — just across the border. I was always in a foul mood in April when I had 8 a.m. classes. Once Eastern Daylight Time kicked in, all I could think of when I trudged to class on a cold morning was how I could be sleeping for another hour if I were in Indiana, 15 miles to the west. So, I disagree with your assertion that morale improves.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Tue, 12 Apr 2005 19:02:52 +0000

Zach,
You must not have ever lived outside of Indiana (or Arizona) because if you had, you would realize what a blessing DST is. The day after the time change a few weeks ago, a Monday, I went home with the sun shining at 7 p.m. The previous Friday, at 7 p.m., the sun had long set. Depressing.
DST saves energy, cuts down on crime and improves moral of citizens. It’s very important that Indiana get DST (I am a former resident that misses his home state).
You state that Indiana’s legislature should expend more of their “political capital” on things like new construction, but you should realize that things like new construction don’t need political capital. Everyone likes new construction (as long as taxes don’t have to be raised). It’s controversial ideas like DST that have to be debated.

By: Doug

Doug — Tue, 12 Apr 2005 17:05:55 +0000

A change to the central time zone would require approval from the U.S. Dept. of Transportation. But, you’ve got it right that Indiana’s geographic position is the reason this debate is so divisive. We’re a little too far west for Eastern Daylight Time to be a very good idea and a little too far east for Central Standard Time to be a good idea. So, in my humble opinion, Eastern Standard Time fits us pretty well year ’round.

By: Foltz

Foltz — Tue, 12 Apr 2005 16:42:01 +0000

Alas, I missed the Spankers to give a tour of IU to a friend of the family who is both a 20th Century Scholar and in the top 3% of her class.
I hope the show was good Zach, I’ll have to catch them with my girlfriend the next time they play Radio Radio.
Comments on DST? Ha, with my significant other the topic is worse than the dreaded “Does this make me look fat” question. Zach if things dont work out, I should introduce you to her.