Good Morning Gentle Readers,
I am thankful that daylight savings time finally ends tonight. It was entirely pointless for the CONgress to stick us with another four weeks of DST back in 2005. If it's still pitch black at 6:30 in the morning, you're not saving any juice. Further, if it's pitch black at 6:30 here in the southland, does the sun ever come up in Seattle? Maybe not, but it may not be the fault of DST.
There is also the argument that Americans don't use electricity in the same way we once did. In July 1951 the family was gathered around the Philco in the living room while a fan circulated hot, sultry air providing the illusion of cooling. In July 2011 flat screens blare day and night, often competing for attention from several different rooms. The air conditioning might be set at an eco-friendly 70-something, but it still runs when it's hot outside. Incandescent bulbs, radio tubes, and electric fans are orders of magnitude less energy intensive than a/c and plasma screens. Whatever time the sun sets seems only nominally related to energy consumption.
DST is fun when you're a kid and the warm summer breezes rustle the cottonwoods. Although, come to think of it, it was very odd to be sent to bed before dark when we'd visit the cousins in St Paul. WTH? Whaddya mean it's time for bed? The sun's still up.
The clock? Roadside Americana. I have three of these, in various states of preservation. Each is at least fifty years old. All of them still work.
As Ever,
TWC
