Daylight Saving Time

So, it's official. It took me exactly two days to miss my mark. I blame in on Daylight Saving time. Ever since the stroke of Midnight last Saturday, I have been lagging an hour behind.(and it has nothing to do with the Beer, I recovered nicely) Move forward- Lag behind?

So, I did a little research to see how it all began and why we do it. Here is what I found from http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving.

The main purpose of Daylight Saving Time is to make better use of the daylight and it was conceived by none other than Benjamin Franklin. Oh yeah, and The official spelling is Daylight Saving Time, not Daylight SavingS Time. Who knew?

There are several rationales on why we do it:
1. People like it - they can enjoy long summer evenings
2. Energy Conservation - Less time inside = less TV
3. Fewer Traffic Accidents- accidents decrease in the am when there is more light
4. Safe trick or treaters-(I'll blog about this strange tradition later)
5. Fewer Violent Crimes - more light, less dark..makes sense
6. Increased Voter Turnout - people are more likely to go to the polls when it is light out in the evening
7. Economic Benefits- ie. people shop

Of course, there is also controversy
1. Lost productivity- people like me who can't get out of bed
2. Inconvenience- changing the clock (what- seriously, this takes one minute)
3. Energy Savings offset cooling, heating and gas- turn down your air conditioners, a little sweat is cleansing
4. Disrupted Mornings - schedules tied to sunrise- like chickens
5. Religious practices - prayer schedules etc.
6. Assault on Logic- I get it, but come on

There are also some interesting antedotes on the website as well which include strange oddities that occur, for instance (directly from the site) "In the U.S., Arizona doesn’t observe Daylight Saving Time, but the Navajo Nation (parts of which are in three states) does. However, the Hopi Reservation, which is entirely surrounded by the Navajo Nation, doesn’t observe DST. In effect, there is a donut-shaped area of Arizona that does observe DST, but the “hole” in the center does not"

So, even though it is a temporary inconvenience,I would still rather have more sunlight. So, I concede to DST and will kindly take my lost hour of sleep for an extra hour of play.

Until the fall sweet hour......