[tz] tm_isdst: to be or not to be?

[Peter Krefting]

Steffen Nurpmeso via tz:

> In sofar "daylight saving" is a human engineering trick that is
> cheap but nice to have.  Whoever did it is worth a worthy Noble
> price.  (Thus not in these times, but maybe later again.)

The problem with changing clocks and living up north is that it is 
completely useless. In summer, I don't care if we get twilight between 
02 and 04 or between 01 and 03, nights are still light. And in winter 
I don't really care if it is dark from 14:30 or 15:30, days are still 
dark. The only time it actually makes a difference is around the equinox.

Russia abolished clock changing, citing the medical issues:

"President Dimitry Medvedev had made the decision to forgo daylight 
savings earlier this year, citing a report the Russian Academy of 
Medical Sciences. The report found that when the clocks are changed, 
the number of heart attacks increases by 1.5 times and the rate of 
suicides grows by 66 per cent."
<https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-clocks-daylight-saving-2011-10>

I also remember reading a report that the dark mornings you get from 
setting the clock forward causes higher rates of depression. And that 
is the one thing I *do* care about with clocks in winter: I find it a 
lot easier to wake up in the morning when we get daylight at 8:30 
compared to if we would get it at 9:30.

(My brother-in-law in Tromsø of course does not have this problem at 
all, the sun sets there next week, and will not rise again until 
mid-January).

-- 
\\// Peter - http://www.softwolves.pp.se/