Time Warp ... Well, One Hour's Worth

In preparation for international business teleconferences, as of today November 7, 2010, we will have to ask first; who observes this time saving and who does not? Whereas, we might have been '11 hours apart' in time yesterday; today we are 10 hours apart in 'time.'

Do we need daylight added to afternoon hours? Some Wikipedia contributors state and believe that "the practice has never been criticized."

But it has been criticized. For one, there may be a better way to add daylight to our days than the current method. Second, some complain of the inconvenience of changing clocks and getting used to a different sleep schedule.

But doesn't everyone today use only digital clocks on internet devices that automatically update as applicable? Oh, right, the watch is still a popular fashion accessory of the *GOD theorum, and we crave the good old days. The analog clock, the Cuckoo and other old-style clocks are collectors' pieces that we still actually use.

Another argument against DST: There is some evidence that auto accidents and pedestrian accidents increase while work efficiency decreases among those having a difficult time adjusting.

Do we need another hour of sleep? If we could have another hour, we could be more productive, right? Thanks to George Vernon Hudson (because of his disgust with Europeans who slept late into the day and who did not like his golf game being interrupted at dusk,) we get to experience that every autumn. Well, not all of us. A majority of Asia, Africa and Australia do not observe day light saving time. In fact, Japan, India and China, three high industrialized countries do not.

The areas near the equator that do not observe Daylight Saving Time have plenty of reason not to. Their daylight and night-time hours are almost the same, about 12 hours each. On the other hand the areas such as the country Russia and the continent of North America are nearer to a pole, the North Pole, making daylight hours longer in the summer, and the closer to the pole, the longer. But look at the southern part of Australia which is nearer to the South Pole. Even its days get much longer during the summer, it does not observe DST.

Robertson Davies wrote in 1947 in The Diary of Samuel Marchbanks, "I don't really care how time is reckoned so long as there is some agreement about it, but I object to being told that I am saving daylight when my reason tells me that I am doing nothing of the kind. I even object to the implication that I am wasting something valuable if I stay in bed after the sun has risen."

Me personally, I like waking and feeling as if I stealthily stole another hour of sleep, and on other mornings, I wake my smug-feeling self one hour earlier than others to accomplish more than ever ... I think! Forget mind-reading, mind-control, or ESP. Going back and forth in time is real ... and cool.