Here comes the sun (do-do-do-do)
As of yesterday, we're back on Daylight Savings Time. (Spring Forward/Fall Back... hmm, that old mnemonic device makes just as much sense as the opposite Fall Forward/Spring Back, so I get screwed up anyway). The spring time change is always hard for me, since I live for sleep, and this messes-up my already messed-up biological clock. Conversely, the time change in the fall is very nice.
However, I must say that I love going back to Daylight Savings Time. It's never made any sense for me that it should be dark so early in the afternoon and bright early in the morning when you can't enjoy it. I suffer from seasonal affective disorder a bit. Having the sun rise at 8 and setting at 4 makes no sense - 90% of the population is working during that time and doesn't get to see the sun at all during winter. So this change to go to DST earlier is great for me - 3 weeks on either side of summer that are a little brighter and happier.
This will probably go down as the only good thing Bush ever did during his presidency.
My question is: why do we have DST at all? I've heard some damn arguments about farmers or little kids walking to school, but come on. These are horrible reasons. Kids walk around in the dark all the damn time these days and farmers can just follow the sun regardless what time it officially is. Morning people? Screw 'em.
In my book, it would make more sense if we used DST as our baseline and if we did Fall Forward and Spring Back, so that in winter, the sun would come up at 10 and set at 6, so that we could at least see a little sun on the way home*.
I wouldn't be surprised if we even realized some healthcare savings from the reduction is SAD cases and some increases in productivity to boot.
*then again, this may mean driving with the sun in your eyes
Decreed by King Aardvark @ 4:28 p.m.
5 Comments
5 Comments:
As I understand it, DST had something to do with rail transportation and the picking up of milk from farms in a more timely manner originally. Around these parts (central Pencil Tuckey) these things didn't matter as much for the working man. There are still some old guys around who worked in the mines who never saw the sun for months on end. They'd go down the hole before dawn and not come up until well after dark.
Wow, that's not much of a reason anymore. I hadn't looked into the DST stuff enough to see that explanation, but I'm not surprised.
We live in a more nighttime oriented society - most things happen after work - so it only makes sense to give us some light.
And forget miners, what about me? I don't see the sun. My cubicle is in the middle of the building away from any windows. If I wasn't late for work so much, I wouldn't see the sun in winter either.
Sorry, your majesty, I hadn't thought about that, but you're quite correct. There are people who have that modern equivelant today. Instead of a below ground mine with a cramped coal seam, now we have a high rise with cubicles. The one seems almost an iversion of the other, come to think of it. As a musician I can't help thinking about a song which talks about doing "the time warp again".
Well, I agree with you on the minimizing SAD (The lack of 1 hour of sleep last weekend is still affecting me today). I suggest you never move out to Vancouver... The beautiful, warm weather doesn't make up for several months of CONTINUOUS RAIN. I loved the city, but man were the Winters ever tough...
Yeah, those thick grey horizon to horizon clouds bother me just as much as perpetual darkness. When we went to Vancouver last month, it was pretty cloudy and rainy the entire time, too. Not nice on the psyche.
Maybe I should move to Arizona. No good hockey teams there, but I did briefly go to highschool with Phoenix's top PK centre. Then again, I'm in Whitby, and the Leafs aren't any good either.
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