Today I am disinclined to delve deeply into the political underworld of the moment, partly because I have a lot to do today that does not involve sitting at the computer for hours on end digging for information … we are sharing dinner tonight with our friends next door, and I already have a roast in the crock pot and will soon need to bake bread, prepare veggies for roasting, and make something for dessert.  But also because I have a few tidbits I wanted to touch on briefly.  So, no new insight and depth from the mind of Filosofa today … just … bits ‘n pieces.

Daylight Savings Time

This morning at 2:00 a.m., many of us set the clocks ahead by one hour, thus giving up an hour of our lives.  Many see it as an hour of lost sleep and will grumble for the next 3-4 weeks that they are still sleep-deprived.  Personally, I see it as an hour of lost productivity time, as lately I find sleep to be far over-rated anyway.  I don’t mind the time change, though admittedly for a week or two I always feel that I am late in doing something or another, but the value of seeing the sun shine later into the evening makes me happy enough to offset any other angst. As for the re-setting of the clocks … well, suffice it to say that the clock in my bathroom is now displaying the correct time for the first time since November!  It is a difficult clock to rehang once the time has been re-set, so this year I just left it alone, and knew to subtract an hour whenever I stepped out of the shower.  There is actually a positive spin to this, as one steps out of the shower, thinks “oh heck, it’s already 11:00”, but then realizes that, in fact, it is only 10:00 and feels as if they are actually ahead of the game.  Whatever the game is.

So why does daylight savings time exist?  No, not to torment those who like their sleep.  The idea was first advocated seriously by London builder William Willett in the pamphlet, “Waste of Daylight“ (1907), that proposed advancing clocks 20 minutes on each of four Sundays in April, and retarding them by the same amount on four Sundays in September. And you thought changing them once was a pain???  Daylight savings time has a long an fascinating history, which is far too much for me to relate, but you can read it here.  Suffice it to say that its usefulness in practical terms came about in the 1970s as a result of the energy crisis. Studies done by the U.S. Department of Transportation in 1975 showed that Daylight Saving Time trims the entire country’s electricity usage by a small but significant amount, about one percent each day, because less electricity is used for lighting and appliances.  This may not be the case for those of us who are night owls and tend to work or play well into the next day, but perhaps for the rest of the world.

Interestingly, until recently only about 16% of counties in Indiana observed daylight savings time.  The reason?  The cows … and chickens.  Indiana is an agricultural state, and the farmers found that if they changed the milking and egg-gathering times by an hour, the cows gave less milk and the chickens produced fewer eggs, so they balked and generally refused to change their clocks twice a year.  To add to the confusion, Hoosiers don’t refer to it as daylight savings time or central standard time, they refer to it as ‘slow time’ and ‘fast time’.  To this day I am not sure which is which!  And, if you are driving through the state, it might be 2:00 where you are now, then a mile down the road it’s 3:00, then a few more miles and it’s back to 2:00.  All very confusing!

Remember, if you will, that time is a man-made contrivance anyway.  Nature and the animal kingdom simply operate on instinct, weather, when the sun comes up, etc., and humans are the ONLY species that cares what the round thingy on the wall says!  Leave it to mankind to take something simple and make it complex.

Filosofa has a new phone!

I have been grumbling about needing a new phone for more than a year now, but dreaded actually getting one because of all the hassle involved with getting settings, apps, etc. set up just the way I wanted them.  PLUS … today’s technology confounds my old brain and I have no clue what half the stuff on the new-fangled phones is even supposed to do.  But yesterday I finally bit the bullet and bought a new phone.  I found the key to making the process relatively painless:  tell your grandchild what you want the phone to do, how you want it to do it, then let her pick out just the right phone for you!  Then, when you get home with it, let her set up the apps and adjust the settings!

Thus far, I am quite happy with my new phone … I can actually SEE the words and icons on it, the ringtone is loud enough for me to hear, and it is functioning quite well.  Oh yes, and it also tells me, any time I touch it, the date, time and weather!  When we arrived at the Verizon store, the salesman, who was very helpful, by the way, asked for my old phone, and when I handed it to him, he simply shook his head, rolled his eyes, and asked how long I had had this ‘relic’.  I explained to him that I am a frugal person, I drive cars until they die, I keep electronic devices until they no longer function, and I still have many of the first pots ‘n pans I ever owned.  I am of the old school that believes in keeping things as long as they work.  My one exception to that is laptops, which I do replace fairly often, because the technology changes so fast that older machines become almost dysfunctional within about two years.

At any rate … I am happy with my phone, for the first time in years (I never did quite cozy up to my old LG), and many, many thanks to Miss Natasha for her hours of research and for serving as my translator at the Verizon store yesterday!

Well, I thought there were more bits ‘n pieces floating around in my mind, but I don’t quite remember what they were, and my word count is already over 1,000, so I shall go knead some bread dough, peel some veggies, fold some laundry and leave you with just one final thought:  tomorrow is Monday!