DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME

i was stunned to see on my calendar that DST begins this coming sunday. during my lifetime we've gone from having 5-6 months of DST per year, to 8 months. it is all simply ludicrous. i lived for twenty years in arizona, one of the handful of u.s. states that do not participate in DST, and liked it just fine. on balance, scanning the assorted arguments for and against DST, the entire concept is preposterous. if i were king of the world, it would be abolished, and we would return to the times as guided by natural and astronomical realities. but then, if i were king of the world, marijuana would be legalized, young and middle-aged women would be attracted to older men regardless of their financial means, and no one would be allowed to occupy public office if he/she actively wanted the job. but that's a topic for another entry entirely.

while googling for maps of world times zones, i came across a couple of interesting ones, including this one which is interactive, allowing you to place your cursor over selected world cities and see the current time there; as well as this one which is part of the CIA's website. yikes!! do you suppose now they're tracking my online activity? hopefully they'll find it boring, and won't notice the references to ecosabotage, sexual deviance, or other notions deemed subversive to wholesome american values. while browsing the CIA home page, i came across this rather creepy promo for their science and technology branch -- "technology so advanced, it's classified." a set of assumptions which is entirely at odds with those of the real-world scientific community, in which global sharing and peer review are the ideal. i'll take transparency over subterfuge any day.

here is a map showing those countries which observe DST, or do not, or once did but no longer do. the distribution is rather interesting. i would like to hear your comments or conjectures on why it is as it is. just click on "comments" at the bottom of this posting, and go for it.