Time is relative

Today is another lovely spring-like day here in Hog Heaven: partly cloudy and mid-60s with a moderate southerly wind.  After a day of cross training yesterday, I did a one-hour maintenance run this morning.  The upcoming week includes three maintenance runs and another long run: this time 26 miles.  After checking the 7-day weather forecast, I have tentatively slated the long run for Friday.   

If you got up late for your run this morning, you can blame everyone who wants to fool with Mother Nature.  Twice a year--for no good reason, but lots of spurious ones--we interrupt our sleep patterns by dialing the clock forward or backward.  In the spring, we set our clocks one hour ahead.  We call this modified time, Daylight Savings Time (DST).  In the fall, we turn our clocks back to Standard Time.  This toying with time began back in World War I as a putative energy-saving measure.  In the U.S., DST was allowed to expire with the war only to be revived in World War II.  Allowed to expire again in 1946, DST returned in the 1960s and has been around since.  Those who love DST and claim all sorts of spurious advantages for it have managed to extend it until it takes up two-thirds of the year now.  Standard Time has to settle for the other third.  Which begs the question: Which is actually the standard time?

Those spurious claims on behalf of DST include energy conservation, improved health, and enhanced public safety.  In fact, studies regarding these claims have been contradictory at best.  So, why do it?  First, it's helpful to remember that it's a political decision.  Congress authorizes DST.  Congress is bought and paid for by special interests.  So, it might help to figure out which special interests benefit from DST.  Let's look at some examples: Golfers love it.  Fishermen do not.  Lawyers and bankers love it.  Farmers do not. You can do the math.

I don't really care one way or the other although I would prefer a single year-round time.  Delayed dawn works for me in the summer because it keeps the heat down until after my morning run.  But, I do find it disconcerting when it's still light out at 9:00 p.m. in June. Kind of takes the meaning out of the term "evening."