Siliconchef by Brian Richardson

DST = Dumb Senate Time?

What is the point of daylight saving time anyway? Saving power? Helping farmers?

No, I think this addresses a deeper philosophical point … trying to control the world around us.

Congress says DST saves energy, but everybody knows that is a load of bunk. It sure hasn’t saved any money for the computer industry (heck, it cost millions to change all of that software). Crops and cows don’t care what time the sun comes up, so farmers don’t really give a damn. Some people even think it’s really designed to help the retail market.

I think it’s the side-effect of a human condition that is responsible for our evolution (gasp, he used “E word”) and movement up the food chain … the feeling that we have to shape the world around us to fit our expectations.

We like the sun coming up within a specific window of time. We want to have time to play outside in the evening without the need for flashlights. The rotation of the Earth and this pesky business of “celestial mechanics” will not stand in the way of the consistency we expect from nature.

You can’t legislate time. Just admit it and get some real work done in Congress. The tax code didn’t get less complicated because you tried to move the Sun.

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2 responses to “DST = Dumb Senate Time?”

  1. Scotty Avatar
    Scotty

    Asian countries have done just fine without DST for millenia; like you I wonder why we can’t accept time as it is. In fact, it gets hot enough in Georgia afternoons without having to drag that heat out another hour, running up the AC bill. After al, Arizona avoids DST for that very reason.

    Politicians have too much time on their hands, if you’ll pardon the pun. I guess these sorts of actions are meant to give us the impression they’re doing something without having to take on the real issues of this country.

  2. Kat Avatar
    Kat

    I have to admit that I greatly enjoy not dealing with DST in Arizona.

    Talking to one of my coworkers, though, who grew up in Nebraska on a farm, he will strongly support DST for the sole reason of farmers having to deal with banking hours. Apparently, moving an hour out, allows farmers during the summer time the time needed to get farming done (during daylight) and still time to deal with banks.

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