Sunday, March 13, 2016

Changing time

 I was up this morning at the usual time. Well it isn't really the usual time as I did move the hands of the clock forward one hour. My internal biological clock is still spending daylight ! I have to tell it to start saving that stuff ! My brain doesn't seem to have adjusted well either as this is the second blog I have begun this morning. The first one was a dead end, thought wise, and I got lost. Not that it hasn't happened before, it does, all too often, but I'm blaming it on the time change. I won't see the light of day for a while yet, no pun intended. Adjustments will have to be made.
 I do question, along with a lot of others, the necessity for this time changing stuff. I have heard and read many explanations for it and none of them really satisfy me. Of course the government doesn't have any obligation to conform to my wishes. I just can't see where it serves any useful purpose. Most of Arizona and Hawaii don't even observe it. They don't have to and neither does any other state if they chose not to. So why do we keep this up ? I can think of no possible reason other than it has become a habit.
 Now if we were to stop fiddling with the clock just where would we leave it ? Does it stay on daylight saving time ? Here on the east coast that means it stays lighter longer in to the evening. When I was younger that was a great thing. Now that I have aged somewhat, something else time does that I disapprove of, that just extends the work day. The work may be chores I need to accomplish but darkness is always a good excuse to quit. I don't mind the darkness around six or so, that works best for me. I do like early morning light best. The light in the morning is warming, not hot. The light in the morning beckons you outside to face a new day. Long about five or six I'm ready to head inside. Time for dinner and the news. I love the evening shadows and the stillness that accompanies it. So, for me, leave it alone, no daylight savings time. But, as I said, I'm old.
 As the world grows smaller I can see the need for universal time. In 1972 that happened with the establishment of Coordinated Universal Time, interestingly abbreviated UTC. I know it doesn't make sense but it was a compromise between English and French. It is really what I was taught, Greenwich Mean Time, established in 1675, but now uses an atomic clock to add seconds to the day as needed. The old way relied upon the position of the sun as observed at the National Observatory in Greenwich, England. It was an aid to navigation. Every 15 degrees of longitude is equal to one hour of time. So if I know what time it is in Greenwich and compare it to the time where I am, bam, I know where I am. Sorta, but that is why we have a mean time in the first place. But because we are relying upon the sun to measure time we can't really all be at the same time , all the time. There is just no way around that obstacle. But all this fiddling with time ? Is it necessary ? I just don't think so.  

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