-> G'morning David again, 
 
-> You'll be interested to note that NZ this day has gone one hour  
-> ahead,  instead of on its traditional 7th October date, to save  
-> more sunlight... 
 
-> Furthermore,  instead of reverting to NZST on or about the 18th  
-> March next,  the new regulation adds another week to get the  
-> change to the end of March in 2008. 
 
-> As the old dates coincided with noticeable changes in  
-> sunrise/sunset times,  I suspect this alteration will bring in  
-> dramatic consequences ... we will find out this very day. 
 
-> Miles. 
  
Here's two little QBasic programs I wrote a while ago: 
  
------------------------------------------------ 
  
' DSTDATE.BAS 
' Calculates start and end dates of Daylight Saving Time 
' David Williams, 2002 
' This version March 2007. 
' Note: North America currently follows different rule 
' david.williams{at}ablelink.org 
  
DEFINT A-Z 
CLS 
INPUT "Year"; Y 
Q = Y + Y \ 4 - Y \ 100 + Y \ 400 
F = 7 - (Q + 5) MOD 7 
B = 31 - (Q + 2) MOD 7 
PRINT "In the year"; STR$(Y); ", clocks are set ahead on" 
PRINT "April"; STR$(F); ", and back on October";
STR$(B); "." 
PRINT "Both dates are Sundays." 
END 
  
---------------------------------------------------- 
  
' DSTDATE.BAS 
' Calculates start and end dates of Daylight Saving Time 
' David Williams, 2002 
' Modified for new DST rules, 2006 
' david.williams{at}ablelink.org 
  
DEFINT A-Z 
CLS 
INPUT "Year"; Y 
IF Y < 2007 THEN BEEP: PRINT "Not valid before 2007": END 
B = 7 - (2 + Y + Y \ 4 - Y \ 100 + Y \ 400) MOD 7 
PRINT "In most of North America, in the year"; STR$(Y); 
PRINT ", clocks are set ahead on March"; STR$(7 + B); "," 
PRINT "and back on November"; STR$(B); 
PRINT ". Both dates are Sundays." 
END 
  
----------------------------------------------------------- 
  
The first program uses our "usual" rule for DST, that the clocks go 
ahead on the first Sunday in April and back on the last Sunday in 
October. But now we are in an experimental period, when the rule has 
been "temporarily" changed to the second Sunday in March and the furst 
Sunday in November. The second program follows that rule. Our clocks 
went ahead in March this year, and will go back in November for the 
first time. People are going to look at statistics for energy use, 
road-traffic accidents, and so on, to see if the experiment is 
successful. If not, we'll go back to the old rule in a couple of years. 
  
The two "new" dates are ones on which the sun rises at roughly the same 
time as seen from Latitude 35 deg. North, which is roughly the 
population average for North America. The problem with DST is that 
drivers in the morning rush-hour, when they're still bleary-eyed, tend 
to have accidents if it's still dark. (Apparently, in the evening, 
people are wider awake, and fewer accidents occur.) So the dates for 
the start and end of DST are chosen so the morning rush-hour will 
happen just after daylight starts, even when DST is in effect. 
  
Good luck! 
  
                            dow 
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