\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0During a pre-teen growth spurt, I told my mother that my blanket no longer covered my toes. She asked, “What about your shoulders and neck?” “No problem there, Mom.”
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0So she set out to correct the problem by saying she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d cut a foot off the top of the blanket and sew it to the bottom.<\/p>\n
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0That solution is like Daylight Saving Time, which changes things without changing them.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Things generally don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t return to normal at the Trujillo household until roughly the middle of January and the middle of July. Why? Those periods are about as far away as you can get from one time change without bumping into the other.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve weathered the return to Standard Time, in effect since just before Halloween, but my wife Bonnie still badgers me about the time. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re blessed with several clocks throughout the house (we counted 43 actual timepieces if you include cars, watches, computers, cell phones and PDAs).
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0So yesterday, more than two weeks into the back-again time change, she asked me, “What time is it?” I replied, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 4:07, my delight.” Her response: “I can see the clock from here. I want to know what time it is \u00e2\u20ac\u201d really.”
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0What “really” really means, “What time would it have been if we were still on the other time? What time would it be if Ben Franklin had never been born?”
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0“Other time” refers to both Standard and Daylight Saving \u00e2\u20ac\u201d it just depends on the time of year it gets asked. And it does get asked.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0From the outset, let me say I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a supporter of Daylight Saving Time as long as it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in effect. Via an act of congress, time zones got organized, but various states have opted out, notably Arizona, where no matter the season, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s always dark at 7 p.m., just when people want to fire up their barbecue grills.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve always struggled with the terms the media use to remind us of a time change. We hear, “Be sure to set your clock back an hour at 2 a.m. Sunday.”
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think of clocks in terms of back and forward, much like I have to think about the which is which when I hear about someone driving his convertible with his top up (or down). Open or closed?
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Being literal minded, I can understand when someone says, “At 2 a.m., set your clock to 3 a.m. (or 1 a.m.).”
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Daylight Saving Time, first broached by Franklin as “a way to help the farmers,” causes much consternation for an event that really doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t “give us an extra hour of daylight.” The change, in theory is to allow farmers to take advantage of an extra hour of daylight during the summer. So, if it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really 7, and time to plow the fields, DST makes it 6, dark enough for you to stumble around.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0For events that really don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t change a thing, time changes require lots of effort twice a year. In the olden days, when everyone owned an electric clock or wind-up watch, making the change was a snap.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0A teacher once asked, “How do we teach the concept of clockwise and counter-clockwise to school children who own digital watches?” Good point.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0In April, all we need to do is advance the time one hour (many times, depending on the number of timepieces). But turning a digital timepiece 23 hours back is agony. Not too long ago, I needed to reserve almost a whole day to reset clocks in my parents\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 house. That task negated any hours I had gained courtesy of Ben Franklin and his Daylight Saving pals. Once Mom even wanted to tip me for almost figuring out the blasted clock-changing mechanism in her Chevy Nova.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Disconnecting the battery cable was easier.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t digital car clocks used to have two tiny recesses, reached with a pen point, one for minutes, one for hours?
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Last November, when I bought a car at Enchantment Motors, salesman Bob Abreu dutifully showed me the bells and whistles, including programming stations on the radio and setting the time.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Setting the time was, shall we say, time-consuming. Abreu turned on the radio, held a button down, waited for some flashing lights and told me to pay attention. “Now, Art, if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll turn to page 6,432 of your owner\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s manual . . .” I think sitting through a college lecture would have been less stressful \u00e2\u20ac\u201d my fault, not Bob\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s. If one doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t act quickly during the winking and blinking of clock lights, the procedure cancels itself. I may need to have Bob set my clock again and leave me out of it.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Along with the time changes come various beliefs, some based on truth, some whimsical:
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Cats howl an hour longer at night when there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an extra hour of darkness.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Depending on the season, VCRs, which always blink “12:00,” start blinking “11:00, 11:00” or “1:00, 1:00.”
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 When standard time returns, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re 8.33 percent more likely to meet a vampire.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 People who show up late for work and blame it on the lost hour never show up an hour early at the other end of the calendar.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 The second hand of an analog watch breaks when you try to turn the watch backwards, guaranteeing seven years of bad luck. Where do you replace the second hand? At the second-hand store, naturally.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 When it comes time to set back your clock, you shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do the same to your bathroom scale.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Only a man who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s visited a proctologist knows the true meaning of the term “spring forward.”
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0For a short time in the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dc60s, parts of Illinois were being considered as distinct quarter-hour time zones within the Central Time Zone.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0At the time, a friend, a practicing Catholic with a latitude, invited me to join him on a short drive to an earlier time zone. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d planned on receiving the sacraments the following day and knew that Catholics in that diocese were not allowed to consume any food after midnight.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0So my friend ordered a burger in the earlier zone and consumed it before the witching hour. But as we drove the few miles back to the later zone, he unthinkingly popped a french fry into his mouth.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0I suggested driving back. “Will anyone ever know?” I asked.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0But as a man of principle, my friend skipped communion in the morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0During a pre-teen growth spurt, I told my mother that my blanket no longer covered my toes. She asked, “What about your shoulders and neck?” “No problem there, Mom.” \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0So she set out to correct the problem by saying she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d cut a foot off the top of the blanket and sew it to the bottom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}