Let's Do the Time Warp Again!!
March 12th 2007 23:31
Once upon a time, Congress was in session. They evidently had a lot of time on their hands back then, too, because they came up with this insane idea that everyone should reset all their clocks twice a year. Ironically, they got the idea from Ben Franklin, arguably the most intelligent person ever associated with the Federal Government.
Okay, so there was a sort of logic to it: A century ago a largish fraction of the population worked on farms, and the shift was supposed to let people work in the daylight- though farmers ploughing their fields and watching the back ends of their pack animals probably didn't appreciate the clearer view they got in the morning Sun.
These days only a very small fraction of Americans still live or work on farms; and "saving" daylight on one side of the clock merely means we'll be burning the lights on the other side. Trouble is, while Congress is always eager to pass more and more laws (I think they think that legislation somehow validates their existence), they don't seem to have any effective mechanism for removing outdated laws that no longer (if ever) served any useful purpose.
Of course, simply changing the clocks wasn't inconvenient enough, so now that every VCR and computer and toothbrush and toaster are automatically programmed to reprogram their clocks, Clowngress has decided to change the day we change time. Having just reset all my clocks, in a few weeks I'll have to reset a lot of machines again. On the plus side, all across the country now school kids are waiting in the darkness to catch the bus, so Darwinian attrition is making the average kiddie that much more agile.
Too many temporal shifts too soon- hang on, there's a blue Police Box in my backyard that wasn't there a minute ago...
Okay, so there was a sort of logic to it: A century ago a largish fraction of the population worked on farms, and the shift was supposed to let people work in the daylight- though farmers ploughing their fields and watching the back ends of their pack animals probably didn't appreciate the clearer view they got in the morning Sun.
These days only a very small fraction of Americans still live or work on farms; and "saving" daylight on one side of the clock merely means we'll be burning the lights on the other side. Trouble is, while Congress is always eager to pass more and more laws (I think they think that legislation somehow validates their existence), they don't seem to have any effective mechanism for removing outdated laws that no longer (if ever) served any useful purpose.
Of course, simply changing the clocks wasn't inconvenient enough, so now that every VCR and computer and toothbrush and toaster are automatically programmed to reprogram their clocks, Clowngress has decided to change the day we change time. Having just reset all my clocks, in a few weeks I'll have to reset a lot of machines again. On the plus side, all across the country now school kids are waiting in the darkness to catch the bus, so Darwinian attrition is making the average kiddie that much more agile.
Too many temporal shifts too soon- hang on, there's a blue Police Box in my backyard that wasn't there a minute ago...
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I think I'll have to compose a post out of that one if I ever get the assignment I'm actually supposed to be doing right now, finished!