Why Daylight Saving Time Drives Your Dog Crazy

In this episode titled "Why Daylight Saving Time Drives Your Dog Crazy," host Mike Dell begins by introducing the topic of Daylight Saving Time (DST), explaining that it affects most states in the U.S., and noting that clocks typically change in early November. He highlights his personal experience of living on the western side of the eastern time zone, where the daylight shifts significantly during the summer months, staying light until late evening. Mike shares how the transition to standard time can confuse pets, particularly his dog, who expects to eat at the usual time but finds it altered after the time change. He mentions that this time change doesn't genuinely affect the length of the day, but instead just changes the clock. The discussion moves to the origins and implications of DST, mentioning a common myth that it was implemented for farmers, which he disputes, saying that farmers prefer to follow the sun rather than the clock. Mike also elaborates on how the time change complicates work schedules, especially for their employees in different time zones, including those in the Philippines, who are significantly affected by the changes. He recalls historical attempts at permanent daylight saving time, referencing legislation from World War times and the 1974 attempt by President Nixon, which was later repealed due to public discontent about children commuting in the dark. Mike reflects on his experience living in Iceland, where daylight and darkness take on extreme forms, emphasizing that the clock's position doesn’t change natural light patterns. Towards the end, he proposes a radical idea of adopting a universal time system, which would simplify scheduling across different regions. He humorously reflects on the mundane task of changing various clocks in his life after the time change and closes with a note of appreciation for listeners, encouraging them to stay subscribed as he continues his podcasting journey.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Mike tells world number four one four for
11/08/2025.

(00:42):
And, yes, I'm going to rant about
the, yearly time change.
Of course, here in The United States, at
least 48 of The United States,
we observe a thing called daylight saving time,
sometimes also known as daylight savings
time. But, actually, I think it's more accurate

(01:04):
daylight saving time.
Currently, we're on standard time. We changed a
couple weeks ago or last week, something like
that.
First weekend in November is usually when it
happens on Saturday late Saturday night, early Sunday
morning.
And, yeah,
you know, every year, twice a year, we

(01:25):
all get to complain
about the time change.
And,
you know, it affects more
of the people that are in the Western
side of a time zone. Now I'm, you
know, way on the West side of the
Eastern time zone. Technically, we should be in
central here, but, that's just not how it

(01:45):
goes.
We're on the same time zone as East
Coast, and, you know, we're several 100 miles
inland from the from the East Coast.
So, you know, when it's on daylight saving
time in the summer,
it doesn't get dark till, like, 10:30 at
night in June.
And, conversely,

(02:06):
as soon as the time flips,
not quite four, like, that little song.
I thought that was kinda funny.
But,
you know, it's like 05:30
right now is,
you know, I don't know if that's official
sundown. I guess I could look that up,
but, I'm not going to.
But, you know, December

(02:28):
21,
which is usually around the shortest day of
the year,
it can
be dark by the time I leave work
at five in the afternoon or five in
the evening.
And, you know, it's quite the the difference
from summer. Now the days don't get any
longer or any shorter.

(02:49):
It's just, you know, what the clock says.
And,
you know, the the rumor was that this
all started because of the farmers.
Well, the farmers hate it.
Think about this. All the animals
are tuned to the clock. I mean, you
know,
we do this fallback thing in in November,

(03:10):
and my dog is ready to eat at
four
because,
to him, it's
supper time,
which is normally five. And so it takes
him a little while to get used to
that and same thing in the morning.
You know? He's like, what are you giving
me food for already? Jeez, hun. I'm not
even out of bed.

(03:31):
So, you know, the farmers, they hate it,
because they don't really care about the what
the the clock says.
It's all about the sun.
You know, same thing with,
you know, working fields. You got the morning
dew. You got you know, you can only
start at a certain time.
So it really makes no difference,

(03:53):
you know, unless you're trying to interface with
the rest
of, you know, the rest of the world.
But,
yeah, we we have kind of a unique
thing. We have,
employees in
all the different time zones in The US,
and we also have,
some employees over in The Philippines. The Philippines

(04:13):
does not change their clock. So
for daylight savings time, daylight savings time, whatever,
our Filipino employees
are twelve hours off from us. And then
when we fall back an hour, they're thirteen
hours.
And, you know,
of course, doesn't matter to them. They work

(04:34):
East Coast
hours, but, you know, it is a bit
of a change,
and it really doesn't make a whole lot
of sense.
There was this old
Indian thing I I saw a meme about
yeah. Okay. I get my stuff from the
Internet. But,
anyway, was, you know, you cut, off of
a blanket

(04:55):
on the top and you sew it onto
the bottom. The blanket's the same length.
You know? So our daylight
is the same length. We're not
saving any daylight.
We're not
wasting any daylight.
You know? The the the day is as
long as the day is,
by the sun.

(05:17):
So, you know, I don't know. It just,
something to complain about every year. In 2022,
the senate in The US passed
the an act that said that it would
be permanently
daylight saving time, which
that's that'd be fine. You know? I'm I'm
happy with that. Like I said, I just
don't want the change.

(05:40):
What's interesting during World War one, World War
two, and then
after that for a while,
they did go on what's called wartime
where they had daylight savings time the whole
year.
That was in The US. And,
also,

(06:03):
what year was that?
I
forget what year, but
president Nixon
yeah. There we go. In January
1974,
Nixon,
signed a bill to make
saving daylight saving time permanent.

(06:24):
And then,
later that year in October,
Gerald Ford signed a law repealing that because
there was a lot of people
complaining about kids going to school in the
dark and
people commuting in the dark
and all that. But, you know, up here
up north, you know, we have a little

(06:44):
bit more
variation in the day, you know, the sunlight
length. You know, up here in the wintertime,
regardless whether we're on daylight saving time or
not, the mornings would be dark and the
evenings are gonna be dark.
It's just the way it is the further
north you go. I lived in Iceland for

(07:05):
a year and,
you know, for
a few months out of the year, the
sun really didn't go down completely. It wasn't
quite above the Arctic Circle, but really close.
And so the sun would go all the
way down just
below
the horizon,
so it was kinda like a twilight.
And then you'd see it move sideways for

(07:28):
a couple hours, and then it would pop
back up.
So it was totally light out
twenty four hours.
And,
you know, conversely, in the wintertime,
the sun would come up about 10:30.
It would get just above the horizon,
go sideways for an hour or two, and
then drop down, and it'd be dark again.

(07:50):
Both of those were
you know, there's nothing you could do about
it. Whatever the clock said didn't matter.
You know? Come out of the bar at
two in the morning, and you had to
put your sunglasses on. And, conversely, you can
go to lunch and, hey, that's the only
time you have, sun.
So I don't know. Yeah. Just my my

(08:10):
little rant for today.
I do have a,
proposal.
I I would say,
why don't we just worldwide
go ahead and
make it so that
the whole world is on one time.
Doesn't matter what time it is. Okay? So

(08:32):
here in Michigan,
our wake up time would be,
you know, I don't know. I guess it'd
be four in the morning, three I don't
know. If you use Greenwich Mead time,
it would,
you know, we would be five or six
hours different than everywhere else.
So, yeah, that'd probably be confusing, but at

(08:52):
least we'd know what time everything was. You
know? Like like I said, when we
you know, at work, we have employees in
all the different time zones. In fact, we
have one in Arizona. Arizona is one of
the states that doesn't do the time change.
So his time changes
on him,
you know, but, everybody at the company works

(09:13):
East Coast hours with the exception of the
guy in California,
which, he's
he works nights and weekends. So it's,
that's that's a whole different thing.
But, anyway, that's,
that's all I really gotta say about it.
I did get all my stuff changed.
Ironically, my new truck or new to me

(09:35):
truck,
changed itself.
And my wife's car, I have to change,
and the old Corolla, I gotta change.
And we got a couple of alarm clocks
in the house that we use for various
things. Had to change those
and of course the microwave and the stove,
now I would have thought those would be
no new enough to auto

(09:55):
auto change, but, nope. They're not connected to
the Internet, so I guess that's good.
Why would you want your microwave connected to
the Internet anyway? That's a whole another story.
Anyway, glad you, dropped by. Stay subscribed.
Napod Pomo is still going.
We're eight days in, and
I look forward

(10:17):
to you guys, hanging out with me for
the rest of the month.
Catch me later.