April, 2005

Books — Comments Off on Spring Forward, by Michael Downing
1
Apr 05

Spring Forward, by Michael Downing

This coming Monday is my annual favorite day of the year. Why? It’s the first work day (for those of us that are actually working) of Daylight Saving Time — and generally the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship game as well. Because of the game, I usually leave work on the early side (5:30p or something) and because of that, plus Daylight Saving Time (plus the progression of the Earth around the Sun, I suppose), it’s the first day of the year that I really feel summer creeping in. Driving home with the windows open, in the daylight — it’s just one of my favorite feelings.

So I was interested to read Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time — a recounting (and clarification) of the history of the phenomenon that we all implement but mostly don’t understand. (First thing I learned is that it’s called “Daylight Saving Time,” not “Daylight Savings Time.”)

It’s an interesting, if esoteric, story — the idea really started in the UK in the early 1900s — a fellow suggested that to “save the daylight” everyone in the UK should move their clocks ahead by 80 minutes. Weird. There were tons of arguments for & against — it turns out that farmers in all countries were overwhelmingly against (not what I thought), as were energy companies (there is some not-very-well supported evidence that springing forward could save energy — but that seems to be bogus).

In the US, we adopted it during WWI as part of the conservation effort — then we dropped it a few years later, and readopted during WWII for the same reason, and dropped it again a few years later. Richard Nixon made it more or less permanent during the energy crisis of the early 1970s — but exempted states that were divided by time zones (like Indiana), and that had extenuating circumstances (like Hawaii, which is more equatorial than any other state). As a result, we’ve got a patchwork of weird time zone rules that are always tricky to understand.

When you really get down to it, though, Daylight Saving Time in the US is primarily about Americans being able to spend more time outdoors during the summertime — going to baseball games, shopping, having picnics — and it’s always been supported by the “recreation lobbies” like Major League Baseball, and always been opposed by Hollywood (nobody really wants to go to movies while it’s light outside.

I don’t think I’d really recommend this book to anyone without a ton of time on their hands :-), but encourage everyone to at least take a minute to appreciate the daylight as you spring forward this weekend.

Personal stuff / The Internets / Web/Tech — 1 Comment
1
Apr 05

Delays on the M5

Lately I’ve started listening to Virgin UK radio that broadcasts in London (but I get it over the Internet, of course). I was looking for something new to listen to a few days ago and stumbled over this station — actually ended up listening to the midnight show and really liked the mix of music (how great is it when you find a DJ that seems to play all the music you like??) He been playing some good older music — “Your Latest Trick” by Dire Straits, “Hallelujah” by Jeff Buckley, an assortment of Beatles stuff, and a lot of new stuff including the new Oasis & Hoobastank & Green Day (GD is among my favorites lately).

This morning I turned it on and suppose I’m getting the Friday drive home show — thus I happen to know exactly where the delays are on the M5. Also, apparently one of the defenders for South Hampton will be out for the match this weekend with an injured ankle. 🙂

I have to say that when I stop to think about it, it’s a really shocking technological & social development for me to be able to click a button and start listening to exactly what they’re listening to in London right now (Boston’s “More than a Feeling”). With our baby coming, it’s fun to think about what life was like 35ish years ago when Kathy & I were born, and what our kid will be doing 35 years from now.

For me, technology lately has really contributed to my quality of life — I listen to a LOT more music than I ever did, I take & view a LOT more pictures of friends & family, I talk & write to my friends & family more than I used to, and I read a ton more about current events & history on the web than I ever could have in just the newspaper.

I think we’ll all look back on this period and view it as a sort of Golden Age — a hyper-connected, very syncretic time — when everyone was figuring out what it means to know instantaneously what other people in the world are doing. Talking with my friend Mike yesterday, he likened it to the year 1968 — a time of tremendous uncertainty & fear in the world (Vietnam, MLK & RFK, Biafra), but also a time of tremendous creativity (Rolling Stones & Beatles doing their best work, the start of the women’s movement, and students taking on Soviet tanks in Czechoslovakia).

It’s so easy to focus on the news of insurrections, fighting, clashes of civilizations — makes you forget sometimes the incredible strides that we’re making in terms of making the world a smaller, more intimate, more connected place. Like I’ve said before, I’m an unbridled optimist on this stuff — I know that there’s a very long way to go and a lot to do, but when you just pause and think about the things taht we’re doing now versus what the world was doing 35 years ago, it seems to me to net out very positively.

Personal stuff — Comments Off on Grass Carpet
1
Apr 05

Grass Carpet

Well, the backyard is just about finished — they’re laying sod right now. What a peculiar invention — grass & dirt, all cut up into rectangles & portable. It’s very strange watching them roll it out this morning.

I’ll post pictures this weekend sometime — once they get this stuff done, all they’ll have left is hooking up the lighting, hooking up the sprinklers, and adding a few plants that haven’t come in yet. Pretty exciting — looking at the “before” pictures, it’s tough to believe it’s even the same yard!

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