Editing 2846: Daylight Saving Choice

{{comic
| number    = 2846
| date      = October 25, 2023
| title     = Daylight Saving Choice
| image     = daylight_saving_choice_2x.png
| imagesize = 231x386px
| noexpand  = true
| titletext = I average out the spring and fall changes and just set my clocks 39 minutes ahead year-round.
}}

==Explanation==

{{w|Daylight saving time}} (DST) is a practice best known for changing the clock one hour ahead (though two hours offset have also being used, using a combination of a all-year DST and a seasonal DST ) for approximately half the year, typically from spring to autumn. Countries nearer the equator do not see significant changes in daylength between winter and summer and so have rarely had a reason to follow this practice. A {{w|Daylight saving time by country#Proposals to abolish seasonal changes|number of countries}} which used to follow this practice no longer do, and a few now follow year-round DST – however summer-only DST is {{w|File:DST Countries Map.png|still used}} in North America, Europe, and parts of South America, Oceania, Africa and Asia.

Within countries that still follow this practice, there are frequent arguments (mostly during the 2-3 days surrounding the clock change) over the pros and cons of it. [[Black Hat]] is suggesting that everyone should observe or ignore daylight saving time based on their personal opinion. While it might put an end to the arguments (although this itself is debatable) it would clearly cause disharmonious time. This would eventually break the population into at least three categories: those who do not follow daylight saving changes and choose to remain on "daylight" time year round; those who do not follow and choose to stay with "non-daylight" time year round; and those who readily switch to daylight saving time during the prescribed period (and might also include those who follow the suggestion provided in the title text). There would probably also be a further 'group' who choose to change their clocks on an arbitrary date and time that suits them. So, some people might think it's 8:00 while others think it's 9:00, or vice-versa, but the relative number of people who believe it is each time would shift throughout the year. This would lead to many scheduling errors, delays, and other mistakes, resulting in widespread inconvenience and harm.

The joke here is that, while most options in life can be left to individual choice, clock time is only fully useful if everyone involved agrees on what it means, which is also the reason countries began standardizing the time by regions, instead of people using the local time of their town. There may also be a humourous reference to the confusion already often caused around this time when countries do not all begin or end DST on the same date, for example in scheduling calls or online meetings between Europe and North America in the week after publication of this comic.

There are known incidents in which an actual application of Black Hat's proposal
[https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/opinion/the-conversation/sdut-daylight-saving-time-sunday-2015mar07-htmlstory.html rendered a terrorist plot void].  One of them is a [https://darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin1999-38.html 1999 Darwin Award Winner]

This comic was posted 4 days before the end of 2023’s daylight saving time in most European countries, and 11 days before the end of 2023's daylight saving time in most of North America. If the proposal is actually instituted at this time, those in the Northern Hemisphere who do not like the fuss of changing their clocks would ''remain'' on DST (as {{w|Sunshine Protection Act|has been actually proposed}}), yet those who are happy with it will fall back to non-DST over the winter months. Presumably, unless anyone changes their minds over the 'winter' period, everyone would actually be back in sync for future 'summer's.

However, the rule (as spoken by Black Hat) does not restrict people to merely choosing whether the daylight offset is personally used during DST periods. It instead seems to ''impel'' them to undertake (or not) the statutary changes according to personal convictions, perhaps contrary to what their convictions actually desire. It is left open-ended ("From now on...") if people from ''both'' mindsets can arbitrarily change their minds in the future. If they can, and act accordingly, this time next year there could be people on three different 'summertime' offsets: zero (change now, but not change later), +1 (steadfast change/no change) and +2 (don't change now, but shift forward in spring). Beyond next year's "fall back" date, there could be people on -1 (fall back, don't spring on, fall back ''further'') and each full year beyond may add additionally positive/negative extremes of offset by those who periodically change their inclinations to only obey ''one'' of the relative imperatives, and a potential {{w|Galton board|standard distribution}} of everyone else between.<!-- Yes, the people who are always/never changing will disproportionately dominate, but this paragraph is getting too long to mention this, let's just assume complete randomness of which path to follow, as each clock-change happens, Ok? --> All this could just be a badly worded explanation of the policy, or even in the wording of the legislation behind it, but the presence of Black Hat at the lectern probably indicates that he fully expects and ''intends'' such a boding and expanding chaos. 

The title text suggests splitting the difference by using a constant offset which is the average of the daylight saving offset across days of the year. This will create additional problems, primarily because offsets of 39 minutes are unusual (most offsets are by hours and even the least common ones are offset by the multiples of a quarter of an hour), as well as being of not much use, as only a fraction of the daylight will be saved in this way. We also do not know if in this system Randall would change his clock for the leap year to account for the additional day.

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat is speaking at a lectern, flanked by Ponytail and Hairy.]
:Black Hat: From now on, everyone who likes daylight saving time should change their clocks, and everyone who doesn't, shouldn't.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:The government finally decides to put an end to all the arguments.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Daylight saving time]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Compromise]]