Good Morning Gentle Readers,

We're only a couple of weeks from the Spring Equinox and the short days of winter are on the wane. Dawn broke this morning just before six and fifteen minutes later Old Mr Sol had made his appearance, promising a glorious sunny morning here in So Cal. But tonight, Gentle Readers, things get sinister. While you slumber in peace the bastages are going to steal your morning light from you.

A couple of years ago the Los Angeles Times wondered out loud if daylight saving time is a big fat waste of time.

That DST is absolutely a big fat waste of time ought to be self-evident. Americans do not use electricity in the same way they did sixty years ago. Flat screen TV's have replaced low energy AM radios, and televisions never rest, blaring day and night, often competing for our attention from several different rooms in the house.

In 1950, windows were kept open, or closed, as a hedge against the oppressive summer heat and humidity. Today, air conditioning use is connected to temperature and controlled by thermostat, and it doesn't shut off because it's still daylight at 8:00 at night. 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 on modern America is only nominally related to energy consumption.

In DC, problem resolution takes a back seat to the the illusion of doing something. Appearances and pretense. Lookit us! We're solving the energy crisis! And so it is that we are stuck with a dinosaur, the albatross of DST, which outlived its usefulness many decades ago, yet it affects a greater portion of our lives than it ever has.

Bonus:

 

As Ever,