Yobo's Commentary
April 1st, 2000
"Daylight Savings?"
Daylight "savings" time?
If you are like me you were late to everything today, the first Sunday in April. Thats when we rolled the clocks ahead an hour to get an extra hour of daylight. This "craziness" has been going on for years. There has been some sort of "time play" since the British observed "Summer Time" during WWI.
The U.S. adopted it during the years of WWII, and then again with the energy crunch during the '70s. Thats the same reason we use it for today, to save energy, which is why I can't understand why we would take an hour away on the traditional day of rest- Sunday. Here we are trying to get some rest, and we lose an hour. it doesn't make sense. I'm trying to get some rest and I end up losing an hour, and wake up an hour later besides.
On top of that the entire day is out of sync with my schedule. I mean I associate, almost in a biological way, everything during my day with the position of the sun. Now the 11am sunshine won't indicate it's just before lunch,...it now WILL be lunch. At the end of the day as I leave work with the sun setting in the west, ....no wait, it won't be setting.. It will still be up there, shining on me, through my window, as I sit down to dinner. When the alarm goes off in the morning, the sun will be one hour higher than before, I'll be acused of temporary insanity as I run around the house like an idiot shouting "I'm late, I'm late!!!", before I realize, yes, I have forgotten it's "Day Light Savings!"
But that's not all. Remember when your wife only got on you to mow the yard on on the weekend? Well, forget that now bud, you can do it right after dinner, DURING THE WEEK! After all there is plenty of light left. No more slumping to the couch after dinner, its up and at 'em now, move em out, get that weed eater, lift that tree trimmer, push that lawnmower, grab that paint can! All this in the name of "saving energy".
If time is such a constant, then why do we manipulate it? Why do we mess with it. Why not just shorten the work day. You know, go in at 10 am, and come home at 2 pm, you know, like a banker, yet get paid for eight hours. There are all kinds of ways to save energy, but I don't see Day Light Savings as the answer. After working eight hours and then another three in the yard, I haven't saved a lick of energy and by the time I get up, shorted by an hour of sleep, I won't exactly be recharged either.
What do you think, post your comments here on YoboSayo's Delphi forum.
Past commentaries
March 13, 2000 - Is the political process out of our hands?
March 20, 2000 -CyberWatch
March 27, 2000 - Melting Pot?
April 17, 2000 - The Child of
the Father