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| Time Change |
 Title text: All discussions of daylight saving time policy are doomed by a mix of contradictory, inconsistent, and impossible preferences, which is why I think the only thing we can really hope to do is to make it worse. |
Explanation
In the United States, there have been multiple proposals to eliminate or change how daylight saving time (DST, or daylight savings time) is observed. The most recent attempt at the time of this comic was passed by the US House of Representatives on July 14, 2026, and would eliminate the use of "Standard Time" and make DST permanent for most states. However, this bill is considered to be unlikely to pass the US Senate, due to lobbying by various groups. Concerns include "dangerous, dark morning commutes" and agriculture concerns.
Much research has been done on whether there are health issues caused by the yearly changing of the clocks, to "spring forward" (advance clock time by an hour) in the springtime and "fall back" (set clock time back by an hour) in the fall. Many people enjoy "falling back" more than "springing forward" because turning the clocks back by an hour extends the time between normal bedtime and waking time, 'gaining' them an 'extra' hour to sleep. On the other hand, shifting the hour forward makes people 'lose' an hour of their day which could have been spent resting.
This comic invents a "new" way to deal with this issue, by not moving the clocks forward in the springtime and instead just moving clocks back in the fall. As others observe, this would be a ludicrous proposal because it would end up with clocks wildly out of sync with the daily solar cycle. Cueball is unbothered by this, and shortsightedly claims that people will be better prepared to deal with the consequences of clock changes because they will be getting an extra hour of rest each year. This rather ignores that one hour a year is likely to provide only short-term benefit, whereas his scheme changes what are relatively short-term temporary issues for much longer-term ones. In practice, people probably would find ways to cope, by shifting their waking and working patterns with respect to the clock, but at the cost of greater potential for confusion and burden on those who have to handle time data, planning, etc..
The title text asserts Randall's opinion that DST discussions are irresolvable, because no option exists that does not run afoul of somebody's firm opposition, whether that opposition is based on logic or emotion, and therefore no option exists that will, or can, improve on the status quo ante. Hence Randall claims that as it is already a mess, Cueball is right to change it further on his shallow ground, which may not be the best of ideas [citation needed]
Transcript
- [Cueball standing behind a lectern.]
- Cueball: We all hate springing forward,
- Cueball: but we love falling back.
- [Zoomed out view. Cueball is on a raised podium behind a lectern, and Hairy, another Cueball, and Hairbun are standing in front of Cueball (to the panel's left), looking at him.]
- Cueball: Therefore, we are abolishing the spring time change only.
- Cueball: We'll gain an hour every year, but never lose one.
- [Zoomed back in on Cueball behind the lectern, who has his fist raised]
- Off-screen voice: Won't that cause the clocks to spiral out of sync with the sun?
- Cueball: Then we will meet the chaos clear-eyed and well-rested!
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