Daylight Saving Time..Forever..or Not & ECLIPSE!!

 It's November 7th and it's 80 degrees

That will change by tomorrow, but still

Here's what I just sent to the editor..well, not eclipse part..

THERE IS A TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE EARLY THIS MORNING - Begins a little after 4am for partial, total by 5:16am ends about 6:42am..which is now sunrise around here..You'll need a good view of SW sky and an alarm clock:)

The Day Light Saving Dilemma 

Time: On & Off Earth; Addendum

Hey, can I get a minute of your time..? Sorry, haven’t got the time. If you would just take your time.. What time is it, anyway? If I just had a little more time. Ohhh… I’m going to be late…

Even with an extra hour of sleep, the annual end to Daylight Saving Time is a shock to the system. And, even as it ends, the conversations are beginning about next year, when, by congressional decree, we move into Daylight time; forever. Forever is rather long and the basis for all our time measurements, the Sun, Earth and Moon, may have a say in the matter.

All of the lifeforms of Earth are subject to the subtle daily and seasonal changes our tilted planet throws our way. Our ancestors, well back into pre-history, noticed, marked and measured those changes. From sundials, to water clocks to today’s atomic clocks every step improved our ability to track time. Because, as it turns out, time is money.

That, it appears, is what got us to Daylight Saving Time. The suggested shifting of “time” goes back a couple of hundred years but wasn’t tried until the early 1900’s. Both World Wars saw an adjustment to “save energy” but it didn’t become an annual move until 1966. The start was moved from April to mid-March, the end to early November in 2007 (the end point move after the sugar/candy industry lobbied for an extra hour of Halloween daylight).

The reasons/arguments vary for Daylight Saving: energy savings (Ben Franklin thought it would save on candles), disrupting natural sleep cycles, extra hours for golf and trick or treating but my concern is October. It is far too dark in the morning far too late into the Fall. A year-round extension will have New Year’s Day sunrise at almost 8:30am (after 9am a little to our north).

As it is now, school children are standing in the dark, or near dark, waiting for their school busses.. in October. With next year’s plan, it will feel more like midnight by December..and into January. Distracted driving, already an issue day or night, will not be improved pushing morning commutes deeper into the darkness. Are we really concerned about safety? If so, golfers will adjust and I really don’t see Americans eating less candy (this American will continue to golf and I see little hope for any change in my chocolate consumption).

I am all for Daylight Saving Time and agree that it needs to be adjusted. Let’s adjust it to better use the light, and dark, the planet gives us. The change in the Spring is right where it should be, the week before the Equinox. The less shocking, and safer, shift should happen in the Fall; the Sunday after the Fall Equinox in late September. That is when the sun is over the equator and both day and night are about 12 hours. Plenty of time to adjust to the limited daylight of Fall and Winter. Think about it, give it some time. We have a year.

Such a handsome dog..and a rascal!!