So, it happened.
This past Sunday morning, early.
All the Sudden, with little fanfare, the earth reversed it’s rotation, and we all went back in time one hour.
What’s that? The earth didn’t actually reverse it’s rotation? It’s just an arbitrary executive decision that decrees we move our clocks backwards once a year, and then forward six months later?
(Or should that be …our clocks forward once a year, and then backwards six months later? Chicken, or egg?)
Seriously? What’s next, mis-matched sock day every Wednesday, for the entire free world? No meat on Fridays depending on ones’ religious affiliation?
Oh, wait. We already did the no meat thing….The only good that came of THAT was the invention of the Fish Fry.
Decided to spend two minutes researching the origin and logic of DST.
Kinda interesting, actually.
(DST) is the practice of temporarily advancing clocks during the summertime so that afternoons have more daylight and mornings have less. Typically clocks are adjusted forward one hour near the start of spring and are adjusted backward in autumn.[7] Modern DST was first proposed in 1895 by George Vernon Hudson.[8] Many countries have used it since then; details vary by location and change occasionally.
The practice has been both praised and criticized.[7] Adding daylight to afternoons benefits retailing, sports, and other activities that exploit sunlight after working hours,[9] but causes problems for farming, evening entertainment and other occupations tied to the sun.[10][
George Vernon Hudson was a shift worker in New Zealand, and liked collecting bugs after work, so figured if there was more daylight hours AFTER he got off – more bug collecting!
And in the time before electricity, you could save a lot on candles and coal if you didn’t waste any sunlight by, say, sleeping or other frivolous activity.
Anyhow, it's kind of a big deal, every year. Set those clocks forward, change that smoke alarm battery, set those clocks back, change that smoke alarm battery....
Sidenote - my smoke alarm batteries last YEARS. Just sayin'...
(Another sidenote – when they DO start to fail, it’s always at 3am. When we wake up because of some irritating beeping noise that we then have to track down, so we can remove the battery, and hope to remember to install a new one, whenever we get around to buying some…..)
I've been thinking about it the last little bit, and have to say - whatever.
As a child, it had little meaning to me. We weren't allowed to watch TV on sunday mornings, not there was anything on in the days of pre-cable anyhow. Not like we were at risk of missing our favorite show at 8am on a Sunday morning…
Springing forward meant that you noticed the folks who forgot to do so, when they walked into church 45 minutes after services began.
Nothing else really to it.
You woke up, you ate breakfast, you spent the day, you went to bed - remarkably similar to every other sunday.
Falling backward - same thing, only no parade of the embarrassed at mass.
As a teenager - really, same deal. Maybe you felt a bit more rushed on sunday morning, when we sprang forward. falling backward had no consequences.
It became a bigger deal (good or bad), or in some cases a handy excuse, at the onset of adulthood.
More on that next time, as this is very long already, and I fear I’ve already lost half of you…..
2 comments:
Guess who else it's a huge deal for? Bike commuters who have to spend significant time in car traffic. I was lucky enough to be on vacation for the first couple post-timechange days, but get my taste of the all-darkness postwork commute today--with the addition of San Diego Chargers game-time traffic.
That sounds AWESOME. Only a six more months until the days start to get longer and we spring forward.
Does THAT result in pre-work commute being in the dark?
Post a Comment