Fall Back

Yesterday on the Audio Journal, the newspaper readers who are on air before I am did a little "bit" about the time change.  She says, "John, where will you be at 3am tomorrow morning," and he says, "Well, I have to stay home to turn my clocks back."  She says, "You know you don't have to wake up to change the clocks; you can do it before you go to bed."  (honka honka)

Here's the radical thing I do: turn them back when I get up.  Or.. I don't do it at all and let anarchy reign.

I never heard the full story on why Bush thought we should drag Daylight Saving out past the World Series.  This caused me to look up the Energy Policy Act of 2005, and be grateful I had an extra hour to plow through it.   Of course I didn't really read it; you aren't going to either, so let's get to the most interesting thing Wikipedia has to say about it:

Lobbyists for this provision included the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association, the National Association of Convenience Stores, and the National Retinitis Pigmentosa Foundation Fighting Blindness.

Lobbyists against this provision included the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the National Parent-Teacher Association, the Calendaring and Scheduling Consortium, the Edison Electric Institute, and the Air Transport Association.

Under ordinary circumstances, I would dive right into this, but I have a few "obstacles," as we say in the project biz.

You'll recall that the modem is fried,  (they are sending a replacement) and I never know how long I have the connection.  And even govtrack says this bill is too long to deal with. 

The other thing that you need to know is that this post is barely making today's deadline.  It is 8:15 now.  or 7:15.  or 9:15 - this is one of the clocks I think I haven't reset, and I still have to make sense of the work email before The Boss comes back.  (see point #1 about connectivity.  Or... as I have been told I pronounce it, Cone Activity).

So let's do what we do best and just speculate.  Like pundits.
Keep in mind that the groups named above are not debating Daylight Saving Itself -- I think we've all agreed as a society it is a silly idea, but like the telephone tax, we keep putting up with it.  What these lobbies are arguing is changing the time frame of Daylight Saving.  And for the life of me, I can't figure out how to have an opinion about that.

The thing I feel strongest about on this topic is the hackneyed conversation about the extra hour of sleep.  It is not an extra hour of sleep.  If you sleep 7 hours, you still slept 7 hours.  It is waking up at a different time of day.  If you elect to sleep another hour because you woke up at 5am on a Sunday, that is your prerogative.  But Daylight Saving did not create that hour.  You took it.  And why not get up, you lazy sack, and get an extra hour Awake that you are always complaining you are short of.

You learn more every day about why I live alone, don't you?

Ok, let's play Family Feud.
On this side, in favor of extending the length of daylight saving
Sporting Goods Manufacturers - "The additional thirty days of daylight will extend the outdoor season and are expected to boost demand for recreational equipment and apparel."  Jock, please.

National Association of Convenience Stores - one blogger suggests pressure from the candy industry, presumably in deference to Halloween, which no one wants in the dark anymore.  The NACS official position is not on their fact sheet.  My guess is that people do not dash into Mini-Mart in the dark.
Foundation Fighting Blindness - what Gordon Gund likes, the Foundation likes, and he has been chasing this dream for 25 years.  just why ... is where we are at the mercy of my stuttering modem.

Resolved: if you like DST, you want as much of it as possible.  At some point, this becomes self-defeating, as 12 months of DST just means... this is the time that it is.

And in this corner... people who say Enough is Enough!

the conservative clergy:  on this the Bishops and Rabbis agree - I worked for a few minutes on a "saving power" joke, but this needs to get posted today.   From the Compact of Jewish Commitment: "According to Jewish law, certain prayers.....cannot be recited before sunrise."
  The Bishops may simply be showing support.  I really couldn't prove otherwise.

The PTA  - more whining about Trick or Treat?  Only partly.  Mostly bus-stops and crosswalks.
the Calendaring and Scheduling Consortium - if you think there is a future blog explaining this... you are damn straight.
Edison Electric - Boo-frickin-hoo Edison.  You already have enough money.
The Air Transport Association -   In 2005, ATA warned of "..."significant disruption to both domestic and international airline schedules and will give European and Asian carriers a competitive advantage over U.S. airlines."


Oh, is that your excuse, then?






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http://www.lifewithaparasite.com/