[LEAPSECS] h2g2

[Tony Finch]

On 3 Sep 2010, at 21:02, Nero Imhard <nimh at pipe.nl> wrote:

> 

> But indeed DST has its own costly problems. The burden of moving all clocks twice a year, made worse because every microwave and refrigerator comes with its own clock these days (none of which are self-setting of course), falls on the shoulders of the entire population, a significant part of which is becoming quite fed up with the practice.


But it is also extremely popular. People would be more comfortable counting time from sunrise rather than noon, but to do so would be even more inconvenient than dealing with east-west differences in mean solar time. So instead DST gives us a very rough and arbitrary approximation to the ideal. (What is ideal for astronomers is not for everyday usage.)

Tony.
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