What the Fuck Is Daylight Saving Time?
Why would they change time? Time is time!
I was having an online video call with my college friends the other day. One of them is currently in Spain (shoutout to you Mia) and the topic of Daylight Saving Time (DST) came up. I told them I never got the concept of DST - maybe because it wasn't relevant as I've been in my non-DST-using home country 99% of the time.
I was actually about to say that I've never set foot on a land where DST is applied but upon verifying as I was writing this piece, I realized I actually "experienced" it being in use. I just wasn't aware of it given that I wasn't in the said land during the transition period (from Standard Time to DST). It's funny how I didn't expect to be reminded of the fact that we really have to define things first before we question the truth about something, similar to the topics of God and Existence - but I digress.
Moving on, as any curious nutcase would do, I googled it.
It turns out that Daylight Saving Time is, at least in the Northern part of the world like the USA, when the clock is moved forward by an hour during the spring and moved backward during the fall a.k.a. "Spring Forward, Fall Back". How catchy is that???
Now it begs the question, why? We deserve an explanation. We deserve an acceptable reason. Why would anyone do anything that brings about a 23 hour and a 25 hour day?
Apparently, during summer which is the phase of Earth between spring (around march) and fall (around september), the northern part of this spherical (SPHERICAL!) planet is tilted towards the sun which entails more sun time for the people of the north (shoutout to the Starks and the Raptors). Given this, the sky still ought to be bright around 8 in the evening where people are still outside. To save energy from artificial lighting and heating, the DST inventors proposed that the clock be moved forward so that people's operations are more synchronized with the presence of the sun. To reiterate, they wanted to strike while the iron is hot so that they won't have to make the extra effort of heating the iron themselves.
The same goes for the southern countries like Australia but given that they're on the opposite side of the planet, they advance their clocks during fall and pull it back during spring. It's like a long distance relationship where they say good morning when you say good night. *cries*
Side note - perihelion, the point in Earth's orbit closest to the sun has nothing to do with summer. I used to think that "it's nearer ergo it's hotter"; however, perihelion occurs around January and it's the angle and exposure time of the sun's heat that has a greater effect on the meteorological state of the world.
Time is such a valuable yet complicated phenomenon. As a programmer spending a lot of time on servers and databases, this is a headache. Additionally, I know that Jesus was probably not born on December 25 and what's important is that we're celebrating Christmas, but in the event that the Gregorian calendar is retroactive and there are naysayers saying that the primary reason Jesus wasn't born during December 25 was because it's winter and it's 1) too cold for a baby to be born in a manger and 2) sheep and shepherds were in the fields, I'd actually argue that the probability of Jesus being born on December 25 is higher than expected given my doubts on how we measure time and the rate (or speed) of the Earth's rotation and revolution. I mean, what proof do we have that every 365 and 1/4 days we're in the exact same spot relative to the sun? Days are made up of seconds and how did we even come up with and measure a second?
All this talk about time is making me tired and thirsty. It's in times like these that I love to grab myself some Cinnanina Strawberry Milk - a healthy, delicious, and refreshing beverage you can drink anytime of the day, making your heart and soul feel like you're in the heart of Seoul. Feel free to visit the Instagram page to order.
Going back, what are your thoughts about it? Would you agree? Do you think we should just adjust our schedules instead of our clocks? Are you getting my pop culture references? Feel free to let me know by clicking on the email link down below.
