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From the Quotation of the day mailing list, 2005-08-01:
"I don't really care how time is reckoned so long as there is some agreement about it, but I object to being told that I am saving daylight when my reason tells me that I am doing nothing of the kind. I even object to the implication that I am wasting something valuable if I stay in bed after the sun has risen. As an admirer of moonlight I resent the bossy insistence of those who want to reduce my time for enjoying it. At the back of the Daylight Saving scheme I detect the bony, blue-fingered hand of Puritanism, eager to push people into bed earlier, and get them up earlier, to make them healthy, wealthy and wise in spite of themselves." -- Robertson Davies, from The Diary of Samuel Marchbanks, 1947, XIX, Sunday.
(no subject)
People who aren't farmers or nighthawks don't get the problem. I tend to wake up when it gets light, and can only pull my pillows over me for so long before my cortisol levels rise and I grow restless. My duties are endless but neither they or my pleasures ar much constrained by daylight or nightfall. I understand the whole argument, and can take neither side wholeheartedly. Except that I don't imagine the farmers keen on their children standing around in late dawn/early rush hour, despite the discomfort to them and their livestock. But I don't know.
I don't feel I have much cause for an opinon here.
Death to DST!
Standard time still doesn't prevent a lot of kids from going to school in the dark (in the higher latitudes, they come home from school in the dark too), especially if they live (as I did) in a large rural school district with staggered school hours and long bus routes. When I was in high school, our classes started at 8:20AM, and my bus ride to school was between 35 and 45 minutes every day. Add in that the bus companies have to put on a second run for the schools that start at 9, so they need some time, and I was frequently at school by 10 to 8 in the morning, or earlier. Standing outside in the dark in mid-February at 10 after 7 in the morning isn't fun, but it's not exactly avoidable in all cases, either.
I think more jurisdictions should just tell the Arbiters of Time to Cheney themselves and pick a time and stick to it all year round. It would eliminate a lot of hassles, not really impact most people's lives negatively, and save us all from getting jet lag twice a year.
Re: Death to DST!
I don't much care what scheme we settle on, but I'd like us to just pick one and stick with that.
Re: Death to DST!
Honestly thoug, I think Ben Franklin was JOKING when he came up with this one. Everyone knows you can't "save" daylight. There's just so much to go around any given day.