If you are from Montana, or as I’ve been since I was in my mid 20’s, one comes to relish the changes of the season, or at least I do. We’re in the peak of fall and the colors are in full glory. Crisp cool mornings, the occasional frost, but balmy days in the upper 60’s, are a match made for me.
But the days are getting shorter and there’s a slight sense of urgency with the lack of sunlight hours. And there is much to be done. I think we all feel it. Just for perspective that is specific to the length of a day in Bozeman, Montana, I thought I’d offer up a short delve on the web to find the facts. And the one site that gave me the most succinct and easy to use was this: https://www.timeanddate.com/ There’s a wealth of information to be garnished from this site. Welcome to another internet rabbit hole! Bozeman - Summer Solstice - Hours of daylight = 15.42. Hours of dark = 8.58 Bozeman Winter Solstice - Hours of daylight = 8.41. Hours of dark = 15.59 This never crossed my mind, but I just accepted it. But now seeing it in an actual numerical form, it cinched it for me. We are, here in Bozeman, about one hour shy of having a nearly equal number of hours of daylight at the summer solstice as we do darkness at the winter solstice, but I guess that would make sense. So part of this entry, long overdue as usual, is tied directly to the graphic image on the aforementioned site where I gathered these numbers. What I saw first hand are two grand shifts of one hour, in the year long tracking of the daylight hours of Bozeman. We and the rest of the country, except for the fortunate few, are due for a “Spring Ahead, Fall Behind”. Being in the industry, I’ve thought about the “why” of DST. I’ve researched the reasons for it. Some reasonable, maybe most due to timing and technology … indoor lighting! But I think we’re beyond what it was created for, maintained for or simply ignored because it was just too much to deal with. I’ve delved into the reasons why some states have opted out of switching their timepiece back and forth. Here’s one: Why does Arizona not recognize DST? AI answer according to google: “because of the state's hot desert climate and the additional energy consumption that would result from the longer days.” Longer days? On a colloquial level, there was a quote that resonated with me many years ago with regards to DST. No evidence supporting this was actually verified, but it appears to me to be appropriate. A Native American chief is said to have remarked about daylight saving time, "Only the government would believe you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket, sew it to the bottom, and have a longer blanket". I’d like to meet that chief. As I sit at my bench, I can follow the times of the day that the morning sun blazes through my window. Most of the time, my eyes would be nearly vertical to the bench, but when I lift my head up, there’s the sun, screaming through the window, later and later as the autumn months pass. Personally, I would prefer the government not tell me when to set my clocks or watches ahead or behind. So for those wanting to delve into the understanding, history and effects of DST, please have a peek, here, another rabbit hole - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time= In the meantime, be well. Dave Comments are closed.
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