Daylight Savings What…….?

Will Rogers once quipped that we should be thankful we’re not getting all the government we are paying for. Never has that been more true than with the Daylight Savings Time hoax that we endure each year when the weather warms. To whom do we blame for this great deception that fools no dog or cat, much less anyone who has even a mouse’s perception of astronomy? I am glad you asked…

This charade began in Germany in 1916, when that great industrial country decided it would be fun to tamper with time. Germany was moved by the writing of a very intelligent British dunce named William Willett who, in 1907, determined the sun often shines on you while you are asleep. Smart guy, that Willett. If Mr. Willett could have moved his lazy nether regions out of bed at daylight, he could have ignored the clock. Obviously his counsel did not come from the many farmers who dot the British countryside and who could give one good damn about what a clock says. You see, they make hay while the sun shines. American politicians, apparently fresh out of our money to spend, took it upon themselves to implement our first time aberration in 1918. They noted that retail sales, particularly of BBQ supplies and golf equipment soared when they tampered with time. Major League Baseball saw the “light’ and noted they could avoid costly electricity by playing in daylight hours, thus supporting this asinine, time change proposition. As politicians often do, they suggested the farming community loved the concept when actually they could care less. When this supposition fell through, the politicians looked around and found an obscure US Department of Energy study that suggested as much as a 0.5% decrease in electricity use was noted, probably in Arizona, for reasons to be discussed later. The Presidents you should thank for this concept are LBJ in 1966 and Tricky Dick Nixon in 1973 (as if both of these clowns didn’t have enough to worry about). Nixon feared that without the change, “children might be run over while playing after dark”. Profound.

Most time savvy folks understand that you are not saving one millisecond of time when you play these games. Arizona certainly gets it when they suggest tampering with the clocks, as most of the nation does, will serve to guarantee an extra hour to enjoy the hottest part of the day, most often in triple digits, as opposed to adopting the more rural concept of getting up at sunrise before the day turns into Hell’s Kitchen on steroids. The motion picture industry hates the concept and Starbucks, savvy as always, embraces the concept as they have as many cold drinks as hot. I am with Arizona.

Today the average American has at least two time keeping devices on his or her person, many of which will make the change for you. The point here is that something that runs on electricity trumps (pardon the pun) the reality of nature. We should end this great deception and go back to nature as seen through the eyes of a bull frog. They sing at sundown and grunt and complain during the heat of the day. In Missouri, we have a law that suggests that headlights are to be displayed during hours of darkness. The hours of darkness are determined in relation to sunrise and sunset. Salute to this archaic approach to the concept of time, which coincidently works quite well. The Pols must have consulted an American Indian before writing this law.

There are far more normal folks, who are not nature adverse, than BBQ equipment and golf ball salesmen. It is time we take time back! Have a great week…..

SR