Daylight Savings Time?! (Bah! Humbug! Humbug, I say!!)

[capri0mni]

ROSALIND

I pray you, what is't o'clock?

ORLANDO

You should ask me what time o' day: there's no clock
in the forest.

(As You Like It Act 3, Scene 2)

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I hate Daylight Savings! Especially in recent years, here in America, since Dubya Bush pushed for it to start before April 1st, and end after November 1st. Fer Crying Out loud.*

At the equinoxes, the sun should rise due east at six, be directly overhead at noon, and set due west at six. The Vernal Equinox especially. It somehow feels like bad luck for the sun and Earth, and Humankind to be out of sync on the equinoxes.

You know?

*I remember when it started the last Sunday in May. And ended the last weekend in October. That's the way it should be. Closer to Beltaine and Samhain -- traditional fire festivals (speaking of which: check the batteries in your smoke alarms: Though Daylight Savings is so out of balance with real time, it might serve you better just to pick two dates that are actually six months apart *grumble*)

Comments

[spiralsheep]

At the equinoxes, the sun should rise due east at six, be directly overhead at noon, and set due west at six.

If you lived at an appropriate latitudinal point on a precisely spherical Earth. ;-P

[capri0mni]

alto2 pointed out that I'd also have to be at the center of each time zone. So, yeah. But I'd also point out that the sun is not exactly a single point, either -- it's got its own diameter.

So everything's fuzzy. I think what annoys me most is that we're arrogant enough to think that by shifting some dials around we're actually adding hours to the day. When all we're doing is shifting some dials around.

I was thinking about As You Like It as I woke this morning, and I realized that through the entire play, Shakespeare is making all sorts of comparisons between how time is measured by a clock, and how time is experienced emotionally (the exchange I quote above is the opening of one of his more famous explanations on the point). And I wondered if that was a conscious theme choice on his part, or if it was just an idea that was circling 'round his brain at the time, and it just sort of "leaked out" into the script.

[spiralsheep]

I wondered if that was a conscious theme choice on his part, or if it was just an idea that was circling 'round his brain at the time, and it just sort of "leaked out" into the script.

I'd assume "both". :-)

[capri0mni]

Probably. Wouldn't be surprised if someone noticed it in rehearsals (maybe even himself), and he went back and polished stuff up.