Confusion with Daylight Saving Time
Please think about this issue with Daylight Saving Time (DST).
Imagine twins born exactly twenty minutes apart. The first child is born at exactly 1:50AM in the morning. Again, the second child is born twenty minutes later; however at 2AM, all clocks are set back one hour for Daylight Saving Time. Therefore, the second child is NOT born at 2:10AM, but instead, the second child is born at 1:10AM.
As a result, the birth certificates imply that the children were born 40 minutes apart. Also, the birth certificates imply that the first child was born second and the second child was born first. It would be even more confusing if the two children were born exactly one hour apart yet at the same clock time (i.e. 1:30AM and 1:30AM).
Granted that this issue with Daylight Saving Time is minor, but this proves that DST can cause more confusion than most people realize.
by Phil for Humanity
on 11/08/2009