Daylight Savings Time — (DST)

Initially, this page was part of the Knowledge Base. However, it is now a standalone page

On this page... (hide)

1. What is DST?
2. When is DST?
3. How do Various Computing Systems handle DST?
1. 3.1 Unix
2. 3.2 Websites
3. 3.3 Small Electricals and Home Appliances
4. 3.4 Mobiles
4. See Also

1. What is DST?

DST or "Daylight Savings Time", (known as "Summer Time" in other countries) is an annoyance currently afflicting The United States, except for Hawaii and most of Arizona. The scheme was championed by William Willet, in 1905, to lengthen the amount of day-light in which he could play golf.

2. When is DST?

DST is currently observed in the U.S. (except exempt areas) from 2:00AM on the second Sunday in March until 2:00AM of the first Sunday of November. DST is rearranged periodically by Congress as part of its power to regulate weights and measures.

However, Hawaii observes standard time year-round. Arizona also observes standard time year-round, however, the entire Navajo reservation (which is technically sovereign) observes DST, including the portions that lie within Arizona. As yet another complication, the Hopi reservation, which is entirely surrounded by the Navajo reservation, does not observe DST.

Arizona's Time Zones. Pink areas do not observe DST.

3. How do Various Computing Systems handle DST?

3.1 Unix

The UNIX operating systems used by The Vistua Network, located in the afflicted areas, are supposed to automatically switch system time between DST and standard time. However, in some cases this is not reliable and will have to be done manually.

When congress moves the period of DST, software updates to the computers zoneinfo files are supposed to compensate for this.

3.2 Websites

The Vistua Hub and its web-servers do not observe DST but stay on Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) year-round. (Consult bottom of page.) Most other websites use UTC.

Hosted blogging services such as Wordpress.com and Blogger may or may not update automatically. Wordpress—at the time of writing—does not do so and you will have to manually adjust the UTC offset in its settings panel. If you do not do this, timestamps will be inaccurate.

3.3 Small Electricals and Home Appliances

Most small electric and electronic devices and home appliances, such as microwaves and televisions, which have clocks will not update automatically and will have to be manually changed.

3.4 Mobiles

All U.S. mobiles periodically sync time with their respective OTA networks automatically. More sophisticated mobiles such as smartphones may have internal programmed awareness of DST and change at 3 am. Regardless, any mobiles which do not set to correct time should be rebooted as this will force them to update with the network.