Daylight stupidity time
Here in Alaska, as many people know, we have an overload of daylight hours in the summer. We’re talking 19.14 hours of daylight at the peak where the Omega Family lives, and more up north.
That’s a lot of daylight.
Our kids don’t need to work on the crops quickly after school to get them in before the sun goes down.
So why do we have Daylight Savings Time here?
I mean, really…why bother? In the summer, our "noon" ends up being at 2 p.m. or thereabouts, an artifact of when Alaska managed to get itself all in one time zone (except for the further reaches of the Aleutian Islands) so that the state managers in Juneau could talk to various state folk in Anchorage and other places without having to worry about time zones. Previously, we were in four time zones.
So why didn’t they just get rid of DST at the same time? I don’t know, but apparently there’s a move afoot to get it on a ballot this year, though some folks grumble that Alaska will then be up to five hours off the eastern part of the U.S. during the summer.
This morning, upon waking, I stumbled through the house re-setting clocks. OmegaDad and I are going to hang drapes today; it’s necessary because now the dotter will be going to bed while it’s still somewhat light outside. Soon the same will be happening for OmegaDad and me–we’re gaining almost six minutes of light per day. I can sleep in any environment, but OmegaDad can’t get to sleep if it’s light in the bedroom…
Mainly, DST is a big bother for us and the other 670,000 people who live here.
posted in Alaska, Issues, Pop Culture | 9 Comments
