Here we go again. As if this whole idea of daylight-saving time (DST) wasn't bad enough, this year the US has decided to tweak the time-shift and spring forward 3 weeks in advance. I received an email from one of our vendors a few days ago regarding the change and this was a part of it:
On August 8, 2005, President George W. Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005. This Act changed the time change dates for Daylight Saving Time in the U.S. Beginning in 2007, DST will begin on the second Sunday in March and end the first Sunday in November. The Secretary of Energy will report the impact of this change to Congress. Congress retains the right to resume the 2005 Daylight Saving Time schedule once the Department of Energy study is complete.
What kind of moronic "Energy Policy" is that? Someone's ought to tell these people in charge that wasting time with a stupid idea is not a good use of our tax dollars. Those dollars can be used for better ideas than just fiddling with a bad idea.
I wrote about this 2 years ago and I grumble about it every year. Some may say, why waist time complaining, or just do as you're told like the rest of the people, herd mentality. Here we are, in a democracy, and we're expected to follow a lame idea like sheep in a herd. Only those with narrow intellectual capacities would buy the energy conservation claims. There has been no credible evidence linking energy conservation with DST. Even if there are miniscule savings, they can never outweigh the negative effects, namely the so called mini Y2K issue that many people have been busy averting. The mini Y2K refers to the problem of computers losing and gaining one hour during these time changes. A lot of time and resources have gone into making sure that critical systems are not adversely affected because of this latest change. What a waste.
In my view, the real answer behind the DST is the same answer behind just about any other question, money. I've always known that the DST had little to do with saving energy and more to do with profits. Maybe kicking people out of bed earlier and having them outside for longer hours translates into more opportunity for spending. It could also mean more hours of work for employees, many of whom will see little compensation for the additional work. Always follow the money, it'll lead to the truth.
So while you're yawning in your car driving to work on Monday with bloodshot eyes, consider that fact that you (and I) are nothing but sheep in a big herd driven by the big business and their insatiable quench for more money. And the guard dogs? Politicians, of course.
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