Lookee, lookee, seems like the Europeans have figured out how crazy DST is and are likely to drop it soon (by the standards of these things, so maybe in a couple years). Keep pushing for DST abolishment, everyone — progress is being made.

Today most of the United States switches from Standard Time to Daylight Savings Time. But it looks like in the fall Florida won’t be switching back to Standard Time like the rest of us. And good on them! As I’ve said before, staying with this tradition of changing our clocks twice a year is ridiculous in this age.

Today the sun rose at 06:55. I rose at 07:15, being one of those morning persons who madden the folks who go to bed at 03:00, by which time I’ve been conked out fo[u]r hours. Yep, even being one of “those people”, I still missed the sunrise (and that’s normal for me).

Yet, today’s sunset… it’s at 16:53! The “day” closes before the banks do! Now, this crazy skewing of things isn’t because western California is geographically displaced from the reference meridian: high (“solar”) noon here is 11:54. If we’re only 6 minutes displaced from solar time, how come there’s so much more daylight in the morning than the evening? It’s because our standard “business hours” are shifted away from the center. Starting a working day at 09:00 and ending it at 17:00 has three hours before noon but five hours after it. If we shifted our clocks so that solar noon was ∼13:00 (which is what we do for the majority of the year which has DST in effect) then things would be more sensible: about four working hours before solar noon (09:00 – 13:00) and about four after it (13:00 – 17:00). The sun would have risen today at 07:55 and set at 17:53, and wouldn’t everyone be happier with that? Why don’t we just have “daylight savings time” in effect year-round? And then we’d also get the bonus of not having to move our clocks an hour twice a year. And of not having motorists on the roads with an hour less sleep than they’re used to on that one day in spring where DST starts and traffic accidents spike — which, come to think of it, is a far more important reason to quit doing a semiannual time change.

Centuries ago, we lived in ignorance, our vision dim, not even knowing what we didn’t know. Now and then some people struck sparks as we stumbled in the darkness, and saw something others had missed.
But, on this day, a man was born who was to kindle a torch and connect heaven and earth.
Though his work and teachings, he changed our worldview forever. He revealed truths and laws that mankind had had no conception of before. He turned our old notions upside-down with a new understanding of the heavenly realm, and of the world on which we live. His teachings have stood the test of time, still being taught, analyzed, and widely used in practice to this very day. The great thinkers of later ages have taken what he revealed, and built magnificently upon it, each generation using the work of the previous to go further.

Happy birthday, Isaac Newton!

It’s the twenty-first century. Where are the flying cars? The videophones? What about the robot barbers and tailor engines? I’m kind of glad we didn’t get radium fireplaces though.

More images of the year 2000 from 1910 at the National Library of France.

A friend of mine called this time of year the “hectic holidays”, and it’s absolutely correct.

I love the getting together with my family, the Christmas feast, the time off… But the gifting is very stressful. It’s hard to pick out gifts for people, it’s hard to ask for gifts, and shopping is a huge pain: Even when you know what you want to buy, going to retail stores right now is an exercise in frustration. And then the effort is wasted because they’re out of stock!

How many people can we get together under the idea that Christmas is better off without the gifts, so we can focus on nobler ideals. Can we make Christmas a holiday that’s not about commerce, but a celebration of our brotherhood with our fellow man?