My apologies to all Southern Hemispherians for that headline, as for y'all--a different kind of Southern accent than those y'sll Down Under hear--it's the Autumnal Equinox instead, ending of Summer 2022-3, of course.

But first times first: Daylight Saving Time (in all but a few opting-out places) begins next week, on Sunday morning, March 12th. At 2am it by convention instantly becomes 3am, our collective springing-forward thusly obliterating an hour that we shan't regain until the wee (and expanded!) hours of Sunday, November 5, 2023.

But the other, an astronomical circumstance, is the Vernal Equinox on Monday afternoon, March 20th, barely a week after our time-machine springboarding. That's the moment the leading edge of the apparent sun crosses the equator, which will happen instantaneously sometime during the minute of 5:24 pm Eastern. (And that's ONLY instantaneously--as equinoxes*, like full moons, are instant events, rather than ones which last the entire day, as wall calendars so misleading suggest.)

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida
_______________________
* An interesting quirk of the language is that (at least) two variant pronunciations of equinox [ECK-kwa-nox and EEK-kwa-nox] are considered standard English equally...yet one CANNOT properly pronounce my final word there "ECK-wally".

Just a reminder that the Northern Hemisphere's ongoing Winter 2022-2023 now has less than 100 hours remaining, as our Vernal Equinox (or Autumnal Equinox for everyone south of the equator) hits (but just instantaneously) during the minute of 5:24 pm EDT on Monday afternoon, March 20th.

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida

We've managed to survive yet another winter, as the 2022-3 one is OVER !

May we all enjoy a healthy Spring 2023!

STYBLE/Florida

Personally, changing back and forth doesn't bother me. (Who needs daylight before 5 a.m.? Not to mention the thrill one gets from an extra hour of sleep in the fall.)

I say that despite what some doctors say to the media about how the change is, in fact, disruptive to people's health.

But the same neurologist (here in MA) said that if we're going to do anything drastic, we should abolish, not Standard Time, but DST.

Why? Because among other things, it's clearly dangerous for little schoolkids to have to go out in the dark for the bus - even good drivers might accidentally hit them.

Specifically:

"...if daylight saving time were made permanent, the sun wouldn't rise in Massachusetts until after 8 a.m. for two months in the winter."

In article <8c0757a5-7e7e-434c-9d8d-a5bf0e16c01en@googlegroups.com>,
Lenona <lenona321@yahoo.com> wrote:
>Personally, changing back and forth doesn't bother me. (Who needs daylight
>before 5 a.m.? Not to mention the thrill one gets from an extra hour of
>sleep in the fall.)

I get what you are saying, but yours is definitely a minority view. I
think most people agree that changing twice a year is stupid. Where they
disagree is on which side ("standard" or "savings") we should stick to.

Effectively, switching twice a year is a compromise - and like all
compromises, neither side likes it, but both can tolerate it.

>I say that despite what some doctors say to the media about how the change
>is, in fact, disruptive to people's health.
>
>But the same neurologist (here in MA) said that if we're going to do
>anything drastic, we should abolish, not Standard Time, but DST.
>
>Why? Because among other things, it's clearly dangerous for little
>schoolkids to have to go out in the dark for the bus - even good drivers
>might accidentally hit them.
>
>Specifically:
>
>"...if daylight saving time were made permanent, the sun wouldn't rise in
>Massachusetts until after 8 a.m. for two months in the winter."

We should, clearly, abolish "savings" time, but a lot of (not well
informed) people think we should keep it (and make it permanent). Making
"savings" time permanent is the second best solution to the problem.

BTW, as I'm sure you are aware, making "savings" time permanent is really
just moving the timezones one unit east. I.e., the east coast is now on
Atlantic time, Chicago is on Eastern time, and so on. Doesn't really do
anything...

Finally, I have long argued that what we should do is go to permanent
standard time and then adjust our world to run from 8 to 4 instead of from
9 to 5. 8 to 4 is clearly right and clearly natural, but somehow we ended
up on 9 to 5. 9 to 5 is clearly wrong, and whatever human behavior
patterns it is that caused us to to move to it, were clearly missteps. But
we may be stuck with it. Which leads me to my final observation: It may
actually be easier to monkey with the clocks than to re-tool society. It's
a pity, but it is probably true.

--
He must be a Muslim. He's got three wives and he doesn't drink.

Lenona <lenona321@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Personally, changing back and forth doesn't bother me. (Who needs
>daylight before 5 a.m.? Not to mention the thrill one gets from an extra
>hour of sleep in the fall.)

I need my daylight in the morning.

>. . .

On Mon, 20 Mar 2023 23:20:14 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"
<ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

>Lenona <lenona321@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> Personally, changing back and forth doesn't bother me. (Who needs
>>daylight before 5 a.m.? Not to mention the thrill one gets from an extra
>>hour of sleep in the fall.)
>
>I need my daylight in the morning.
>
>>. . .

Having grown up in Florida I lived in teh Boston area for about 10
years, mostly in my 30s. In teh summertime I remeber seeing the sky
with a hint of getting lighter 3:30-4:00 am. That always felt
unnatural to me. Worse elsewhere, I know.

On Monday, March 20, 2023 at 7:20:18 PM UTC-4, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

> I need my daylight in the morning.

But most people also need to drive - sometimes, at least - between 7 and 8 in the evening.

(Right now, that's just after sunset, so one gets the benefit of twilight for a while, without the glare. Of course, streetlights exist too, but every bit of light counts when it comes to preventing deadly traffic accidents. After all, if you're going to die prematurely, it's highly likely that THAT will be the cause.)

Lenona <lenona321@yahoo.com> wrote:
>On Monday, March 20, 2023 at 7:20:18 PM UTC-4, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

>>I need my daylight in the morning.

>But most people also need to drive - sometimes, at least - between 7 and
>8 in the evening.

I'm fascinated that you can arrange your driving so that you never drive
eastward into the sunrise and westward into the sunset.

>(Right now, that's just after sunset, so one gets the benefit of
>twilight for a while, without the glare. Of course, streetlights exist
>too, but every bit of light counts when it comes to preventing deadly
>traffic accidents. After all, if you're going to die prematurely, it's
>highly likely that THAT will be the cause.)

Nah. No streetlight forces morons to look out their front windshield.