Gabe

"A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the elderly and disabled to conveniently carry and operate a concealed weapon shall not be infringed." - Ken Sheppardson

"Class I devices present minimal potential for harm to the user" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M... - Gabe

Ohhh boy. Hoping they don't mistake this for a remote control. - Shawn Farner

How would bankruptcy cost more? With bankruptcy they can eliminate or restructure their obligations, which seems pretty important considering how fast they are losing money. - Paul Buchheit

Almost all of the airlines have gone into chapter 11 at some point in the last 30 years, and many have come out of it relatively ok. - Robert Felty

Well the "bailout" would really just be a big loan, which they would hopefully pay back, right? The cost of bankruptcy proceedings would be a sunk cost that us taxpayers would not be able to recover. So why not give them a $50B loan to save a $500B loss? - Gabe

@Gabe because chapter-11 doesn't mean a complete loss of the business, just a re-structuring of their existing debt in a way that allows them to continue business. They would still be able to sell cars and pay employees, but would have to sell some assets (Hummer, Buick) in order to have today's debts forgiven by their creditors. They only way they could loose $500B is if they did nothing. - Bill Strathearn

What makes you think bankruptcy proceedings would cost $500B Gabe? - Paul Buchheit

Bill: the $500B loss isn't for the auto makers, it's for the taxpayers who have to pay for the proceedings. Some "expert" on CNN said the average bankruptcy proceeding goes 3 years and it was estimated that for the Big 3 it could cost $150B (or maybe it was $175B) per year. - Gabe

do you expects that gm & crysler can build cars that sell in the near future? last thing i herd was that that crysler wasnt capable of developing cars on their own anymore (without mercedes) - Chris Hofmann

I noticed that my friend Danny commented on the article, saying that DST is good, because people don't wake up earlier in the summer. What he means is: he is doesn't wake up earlier. I know many people who do wake up earlier. - Robert Felty

It's about business hours. Even if you wake up earlier and use that pre-workday daylight, it's not as useful as having the extra daylight in a contiguous block after work. - Daniel Reeves

@Daniel - one of our neighbors in Indiana is a morning person, and she likes to spend her best hours of the day doing stuff she enjoys - gardening, canning, etc. She could get in a good 3 hours or so in the summer before going to work (and before it gets too hot). Daylight saving time cuts into that. She is not a fan. - Robert Felty

I don't think there are any actual valid arguments in favor of DST. - Gabe

Rob sums up the strong argument for DST perfectly: it takes an hour of daylight from before the workday starts where no one on earth except Rob's old neighbor has use for it and adds it to the evening where everyone else has use for it. I don't think there are any actual valid arguments *against* DST that don't involve an alternate universe where business hours shift with the seasons. - Daniel Reeves

OK, so the one perfectly valid argument for DST is that it gives an extra hour to those hundreds of millions who work a regular business hours shift, don't get any flex-time, and like to do things outdoors only after work? - Gabe

Yes. Heck, even if you do get flex-time, you often have to sync up with people who don't. - Piaw Na

I like DST. It's the non-DST that we should get ride of. It gets dark too early now. - Paul Buchheit

Thanks Piaw! Exactly. It's all about coordination. Syncing up on a seasonally shifting work schedule is just too hard. Yet that's what DST accomplishes. It's a pretty clever hack! And it's clearly what you want. Starting the work day shortly after dawn maximizes the post-work daylight. I mean, Gabe, please, have you ever heard of, say, a softball team that practices in the 3 hours between dawn and work? - Daniel Reeves

I actually think it's hilarious how complicated you fancy pants intellectuals (disclaimer: I am a fancy pants intellectual) make this. DST gives us an extra hour of daylight in the evening (borrowed from the insanely early morning). It's a no-brainer! And personally, as Rob surmised, I'm with Paul: let's start the official work day at what we now call 5am year round and who cares if it's not dawn till lunch time in the winter. I don't wake up till then anyway. - Daniel Reeves

Great, Daniel. I have to reorganize my life so you can schedule softball practice? Just get a job that lets you come in an hour earlier and don't screw up my clocks, OK? If this "extra hour of daylight" is such a necessity, everybody will decide to come in an hour earlier and you won't have any "synchronization" problems. - Gabe

It doesn't seem so much that Danny and Gabe are at odds here. Gabe objects to changing the time back and forth a couple times a year and Danny objects to how time corresponds to daylight hours and when they occur relative to work. - Clare Dibble

I have trouble getting out of bed before the sun rises, which makes it very hard to get up in October and April with DST. And the shifting really ticks off Clare, which makes her grumpy. And that is no fun for me. - Robert Felty

Gabe, the reason it's a coordination problem is that although most people agree we should shift our schedules to match the sun, we only want to do it if everyone else is. Also, changing schedules is simply harder than changing the clocks. To reiterate the point of DST: we want the work day to start around dawn and have as much daylight as possible in a contiguous block after work. It's a simple fact that most people prefer that. So we're terribly sorry for the inconvenience but it's for the greater good! :) - Daniel Reeves

Daniel: If most people actually prefered to go to work an hour earlier half the year, they would not need stupid clock changes to trick them into doing so. I honestly don't see what's wrong with changing schedules. There are many businesses near me that have different summer hours, so it can't be that hard. Surely it must be easier than resetting my alarm clocks, cameras, oven, microwave, toaster, VCR, TV, wall clocks, thermostat, answering machine, watch, and cars twice (or 4 times for the clever ones) each year. - Gabe

I think it's that 9am-5pm is just so canonical and schedules are so interdependent. For most people, a summer schedule shift is just not realistic unless everyone does it en masse. So an hour of daylight at like 5am is close to worthless. The calculus is: spend less than 1 hour of clock fussing, get more than 100 additional hours of usable daylight. It's like, for weekday bike rides you have to pick a time most people can make. So there's a chicken/egg problem between work & play schedules. See what I mean? - Daniel Reeves

Are you going to taste it Gabe? - Robert Felty

I tasted it. It was pretty good as beers go. - Gabe

It should be ready to drink around Thanksgiving. - Gabe

"Meg Stapleton added that the Alaskan governor was coming under unfair attack from a 'firing squad' of anonymous John McCain staffers in a frenzy of finger-pointing. 'It’s a circling firing squad,' said Ms Stapleton." - Paul Buchheit

Is it wise for a firing squad to circle? - Paul Buchheit

@Paul - Ha! i think it is called killing n birds with one stone. - DeWitt Clinton

Nope. Not wise at all. - ♫ Rahsheen ™ ★

Well, it seems pretty smart from outside this particular circle. ;) - abacab

They should put it all on Ebay. - Jeremy Hylton

وای وای، سارای متبرج - Farbod

Jeremy, I heard they were going to auction it all, but I can't find anything to back that up. - Gabe