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Old 03-16-2022, 08:26 PM   #30
SailinAway
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This question seems more important for people who have a very short day in the winter---New Hampshire, for example. Regardless of the time on the clock, the fact is (in my opinion) that the daylight hours are just too short in the winter for mental and physical health and getting things done. I find it hard to schedule outdoor exercise in the winter when the sun sets at 4:00. (I quit my gym, a.k.a. the Flu Factory, so my only exercise is outdoors.) Of course, millions of people north of us have it far worse.

The choices are to have the sun rise at 8:00 a.m. (actually 8:17 would be the latest sunrise in New Hampshire!) or set at 4:00 p.m. I can't stand the 4:00 sunset, but I would also hate an 8:17 sunrise. You wouldn't even be fully awake until 9:00.

However, psychologically, I think it's easier to get up at, say, 6:00 a.m. knowing that it's getting lighter and lighter even if the sun doesn't rise until 8:00 than it is to get to 3:00 p.m. and realize there's only one hour left in the day. So I vote for year-round daylight savings time because I find that extra hour at the end of the day more useful, though as a Northerner I find both choices onerous.

In Miami the shortest day is 10 hours 34 minutes. In New Hampshire it's 9 hours. Boy, that extra hour and a half would make a big difference psychologically and practically. The best solution would be to get the earth straight on its axis and flatten it down like a pancake so there would be no latitudinal differences in the length of the day or seasons. (People at the center of the disk could be cold, though.)
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