Bush F*cked Up Again! Daylight- Saving Switch May Cause Tech Woes

[matcom]

<snip>

When daylight-saving time starts earlier than usual in the United States come 2007, your VCR or DVD recorder could start recording shows an hour late.


Cell phone companies could give you an extra hour of free weekend calls, and people who depend on online calendars may find themselves late for appointments.


An energy bill President Bush is to sign Monday would start daylight time three weeks earlier and end it a week later as an energy-saving measure.


And that has technologists worried about software and gadgets that now compensate for daylight time based on a schedule unchanged since 1987.


"It is unfortunately going to add a little bit of complexity to consumers," said Reid Sullivan, vice president of the entertainment group at Panasonic Consumer Electronics Co. "In some cases, depending on the product, they may have to manually increase or decrease the time."


The upcoming transition evokes memories of Y2K, the Year 2000 rollover that forced programmers to adjust software and other systems that, relying on two digits for the year, never took the 21st century into account.


"It wouldn't be a society-wide catastrophe, but there would be a problem if nothing's done about it or we try to move too quickly," said Dave Thewlis, executive director of a group that promotes standards for calendar software.

----more----

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/08/07/national/a134156D73.DTL&type=science

[LynneSin]

1. Well Y2K was a flop so let's create new ways to fuck up our country

:D

[havocmom]

2. And it does NADA to make more sunlight! Why can't they wrap their tiny

brains around the fact that it won't make more daylight?

My tinfoil bonnet tells me it is just an appeasment to multi-national corporations who would like everybody on the planet awake and at work at the same time so they can do more wheeling-dealing. A month here, an hour there, pretty soon Wall Street and Bank of America employees will be getting outta bed the same time as workers in Hong Cong.

Just a theory...

[Taverner]

3. Is another fundie attempt to bring about the rapture?

Create mass confusion in the streets so Jeebus can come back?

[Moochy]

4. This is a dumb idea

This is going to be the source of so much wasted money.

How about the schools adjust during the dark months, instead of EVERYTHING ELSE. I've heard the extra daylight is a safety measure.

[MrScorpio]

5. Dave Thewlis is EVERYWHERE!!!