I love DST

Not really; I actually think it's a symptom of over-powerful government feeling its oats. But I can't explain what brings it up specially this year better than the tastefully-named Gregg Easterbrook. Here we go:

Congress Is Afraid to Do Anything About Petroleum Imports, But Happy to Issue Orders to God: Enjoy your trick-or-treating in the dark tonight, because starting next Halloween, Daylight Savings Time still will be in effect on Oct. 31. The recent energy bill enacted by Congress -- which contains hundreds of pages of special-interest favors but largely does nothing about energy supply or consumption rates -- had a title lengthening the part of the year when DST remains in effect. Beginning in 2007, Standard Time will be in effect only from Nov. 4 'til March 9 -- two-thirds of the year will be non-standard, only one-third Standard. (Unless you live in Arizona or Hawaii, which do not observe Daylight Savings Time.) Though I like an extra hour outdoors in the summer too, Daylight Savings Time seems to have gotten completely out of hand. The God-given cycles of sunrise and sunset aren't good enough for us?

Proponents of DST always say that it reduces electricity use, by postponing by one hour the time when all the interior lights of structures are turned on. See Michael Downing's "Spring Forward," an entire book devoted to attacking Daylight Savings Time! Downing acknowledges DST cuts electricity use but maintains it increases petroleum demand, which is more harmful than reducing electricity use is helpful -- especially considering Congress refuses to enact a meaningful energy policy. "Spring Forward" demonstrates that the primary energy impact of the extra hour of evening daylight is to cause people to drive places to do things; and while the United States has centuries' worth of coal and uranium to make electricity, we're already too dependent on imported petroleum from Persian Gulf dictatorships. What sinister conspiracy does Downing believe is behind the extension of Daylight Savings Time? The golf industry! Spring Forward asserts the extra month of DST added that Congress mandated in 1986 "represents $400 million in added annual sales and fees" to golf-course operators because more people play in the evening.

Royal Observatory
AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski
We can tell you this is part of the Royal Observatory, but for PC reasons we cannot mention that it is in England.

The Obvious Solution Is to Rename It "Politically Correct Time": Speaking of Standard Time, since 1847 the world's time has been judged in relation to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, United Kingdom. In the days of sailing ships, Greenwich Mean Time was what British sailors set their timepieces to, in order to calculate longitude. Gradually, hours plus-or-minus GMT was accepted as the world standard for delineating time zones. Of course it's an arbitrary standard -- some place on Earth must be chosen, and whatever place is chosen would be arbitrary. In recent years a politically correct movement has demanded that Greenwich Mean Time not be spoken of, as it implies England is the center of world culture. Instead, Coordinated Universal Time is now the preferred term, since it makes no reference to the existence of English culture. But Coordinated Universal Time is still based on the time in Greenwich, England! Changing GMT to CUT changes nothing except to replace an exact physical description with a PC euphemism. And what about "Zulu time"? The clock reading in Greenwich is abbreviated Z, which is pronounced "Zulu" in radio argot (like "whiskey" for W, "November" for N and so on). This means United States military communications commonly refer to Greenwich Mean Time as "Zulu time." How long until saying "Zulu" is deemed politically incorrect?

This global time utility can be useful, though beware it is only "accurate to within 0.3 seconds." Think such tiny amounts of time can't matter? In calibrating the GPS guidance devices of the bombs dropped on Iraq in March 2003, Air Force planners took into account not only the lag between when a GPS signal was transmitted from a satellite and received by a smart bomb -- far less than a second at the speed of light -- they took into account the effects of relativity on the signals, since time passes ever-so-slightly differently when the bomb accelerates by falling.

John Kerry (same initials as just kidding)?

So, is this all a joke? Michelle covers the John Kerry thing pretty well...but I can't believe it. Especially his appology...But I saw the video and read the press release straight off the website (though at fist I though IMAO had sent me to a satire of John Kerry's website).

However, sad to say, I wasn't surprised that he thinks things like this. I went to the same boarding school that J(ust) K(idding) went to, and the in the atmosphere there, lots of people think similar things. For example, there was huge resistance against a group of my friends when they tried to organize a senior prom. The argument against them was, "we don't go to public school," as in, we're better than that.
I enjoyed my time at that school, and I learned a lot, despite being surrounded by people who felt this way. Most of them eventually grow up. JK evidently didn't...but who here is surprised about that?

Last thing: what better scandal than this to get people to give money to the Valour IT project? I mean, you don't want people to think you agree with JK, do you?

A worthy cause

Go Navy!

Click this link to give money to the Valour-IT project. They're raising money to buy laptops with voice recognition for wounded soldiers with injuries that would make typing difficult...

It's a great cause, and I'm honored to lend my support...

Luddite Rantings

I think I'm turning into a luddite with a blastphemous love-affair with the internet. Enjoying this blog post and comments is one of the symptoms. Of course, I could just be a stick-in-the-mud conservative that likes things the way they used to be. Of course, this track is full of all kinds of logical fallacies for me, because the stuff I like usually isn't how things used to be for me...because I'm too young to have experienced them. Oh, pitty the troubles of the youth!!!!

Music Videos

So, I like this song. It's got great music, and it's got great country roots. I also like what the song stands for. She beats the heck out of the Dixie Chicks for disenting musicians. (She's on the side of the diggers, the Aussie soldiers). My dilema is that I'd like to have this song widely played, but I'm not sure if it would play well in the states. She's a great singer (very strong, beautiful voice), but the subject of the song might not play well over here. I mean, she's supporting the aussie soldiers...will people transfer that to our soldiers? I think it works well. It's got a great sentiment, but I'm not sure people will make the connection. Oh well. Enjoy the video for yourselves, and pass it on to others if you feel so inclined...

I love the gaggle

Tony Snow is great, and he's doing a great job. Even the NYT says so...

Suprise gem found in MSM

This article (from the LA times no less) is a great read. It's about the hope given to iraqi's from a reality tv show that was aired during Ramadan. They didn't tell me who won, but it was good information none the less.

But being the cynic and amoral bastard that I am, I had a thought. They filmed this show in the north, the relatively safe Kurdistan. Obviously, this was for security reasons. However, my thought is, now that they're established, and people like this show (eveidently it was a major hit.) maybe it's time to try the Baghdad edition. If someone died, then there would be national outrage against the murder gangs and devisionism. If no one dies, then they get to celebrate the fact that Baghdad was slightly safer than they thought. I think there would actually be little risk, because the show's producers would obviously take every measure they could to ensure safety, even if they didn't show it on TV, and they could publicise the effort so much that even the militants would hear about it somewhere, and the smarter ones among them would realize how bad it would be if they actually killed one of the national TV stars...even in a mistake. They would probably quiet things down a bit near the show's location to make sure no mistakes happen. Of course, I could easily be totaly wrong. I am just making the argument and presenting possibilities, after all.

Bonus Note: The TV station putting this on, Al Sharqiya, has been doing a lot of national unity type shows. Which is awesome. I wish there was a way that I could think that we had something to do with their success, either by supporting them monetarily or with production and ideas assistance. However, it appears that this is an entirely iraqi led venture. Which is, in fact, even cooler...

Understatement

Concerning a case where a man tried to kill his ex-wife (who was allergic to latex) by shoving a latex glove down her throat, the investigative prosecutor said this: "Latex is an unusual murder weapon. It was definitely an eye-opener looking into the background of the case and it has broadened my horizons."

Check out the guardian for more info.

(hat tip: Althouse.)

First Thought

Will they be giving tours soon?

Question for my readers

Why isn't there an Al-Queda holding area similar to Gitmo?

inspired by this article.