Wow, am I ever a bundle of rant today.
I just got an email from the very thoughtful production manager of the theater where we're doing Sound of Music. She was reminding us to set our clocks ahead for Daylight Savings Time, so that we weren't late for Sunday's performance.
It got me thinking. What is Daylight Savings Time anyway? What's it's purpose?
As a kid, I'd always heard that it had something to do with farmers having more sunlight to work. That explanation didn't set right with me though, since farmers are pretty much free to make their own hours from sun up to sun down, regardless of what the clock says.
Daylight Savings Time, ever a controversial concept intended to help reduce energy consumption, was adapted by the United States in 1918, but repealed in 1919. President Woodrow Wilson tried to repeal it... he liked to have that extra daylight time off the office clock to play golf. No joke. DST reared it's head temporarily over the next 50 years, but became standard in 1966.
Recently, a University of California study found that DST actually raises utility bills. According to sources listed in Wikipedia, it not only costs consumers more in utilities, but also creates increased revenue for many buisnesses. I guess that's why, over the years, big businesses, often backed by politicians have supported the continuance of DST, even though it's been proven to be unsuccessful in providing any kind of savings for Americans.
Yes, we'll all grudgingly "spring ahead" this Sunday while we lose an hour of sleep. But next time the question of continuing this practice comes up, let's not let the lobbyists prevail so they can sell more french fries and slurpies.
4 comments:
I'd rather keep it all year round! Boston is very east in the eastern time zone. Without it we'd have sunrise before 5am in the summer!
Besides, if I'm out bying a icecream, that probably means I'm enjoying a summer evening with my family.
I know of no farmer (having lived and worked among them for 25 years) that regarded Daylight Savings Time as anything other than a minor annoyance, much less a boon.
A tired relic of King George III. Time to sweep out the trash on this one, IMNSHO.
- Penmaster
Arizona doesn't do the DST crap. Even though I've been here for 12 years, I can't get used to it.
In the 90's our governor (can't remember who--they all pretty much sucked goats' asses) was on Larry King.
Larry King: "So, Governor Goat's Butt, tell me, why doesn't Arizona observer DST?"
Gov'ner" "Because we don't want to."
It was the snarky response herd 'round the country. I was proud to be an Arizonan.
Yesterday, when I woke, I had 1 less hour in my day. DST sucks goat's butts.
If daylight hours are really that much of a concern, why couldn't businesses choose to have summer and winter business hours? On a larger corporate scale, for business done around the globe, the clock really doesn't matter anyway.
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