Daylight Saving Time – DST

Daylight Saving Time – often referred to as "Summer Time", "DST" or "Daylight Savings Time" – is a way of making better use of the daylight in the evenings by setting the clocks forward one hour during the longer days of summer, and back again in the fall.

Many countries in the northern hemisphere observe DST, but not all. Daylight saving time begins in the northern hemisphere between March–April and ends between September–November. Standard time begins in the northern hemisphere between September–November and ends between March–April.

Daylight saving time begins in the southern hemisphere between September–November and ends between March–April. Standard time begins in the southern hemisphere between March–April and ends between September–November. Many countries in the southern hemisphere may observe DST.

Why observe DST?

Many countries observe DST, and many do not. Many countries use DST to make better use of the daylight in the evenings. Many people believe that DST could be linked to fewer road accidents and injuries. The extra hour of daylight in the evening is said to give children more social time and can boost the tourism industry because it increases the amount of outdoor activities.

DST is also used to save energy and reduce artificial light needed during the evening hours — clocks are set one hour ahead during the spring, and one hour back to standard time in the autumn. However, many studies disagreeabout DST's energy savings and while some studies show a positive outcome, others do not.

It is difficult to predict what will happen with Daylight Saving Time in the future. The daylight saving date in many countries may change from time to time due to special events or conditions.The United States, Canada and some other countries extended DST in 2007. The new start date is the second Sunday in March (previously the first Sunday in April) through to the first Sunday in November (previously the last Sunday in October).

Brief history of DST

Benjamin Franklin first suggested Daylight Saving Time in 1784, but modern DST was not proposed until 1895 when an entomologist from New Zealand, George Vernon Hudson, presented a proposal for a two-hour daylight saving shift to the Wellington Philosophical Society.

The conception of DST was mainly credited to an English builder, William Willett in 1905, when he presented the idea to advance the clock during the summer months. His proposal was published two years later and introduced to the House of Commons in February 1908. The first Daylight Saving Bill was examined by a select committee but was never made into a law. It was not until World War I, in 1916, that DST was adopted and implemented by several countries in Europe who initially rejected the idea.

US, Canada start DST on Sun, March 10

Daylight Saving Time(DST) will begin in most parts of the US and Canada on Sunday, March 10, 2013. At 2 am local time on March 10, most people in these countries and in some of Mexico’s northern border cities, will move their clocks one hour ahead to 3 am.

Europe starts DST on Sun, March 31, 2013

On Sunday, March 31, 2013, many Europeans will move their clocks forward one hour as DST begins. Not all European countries will observe DST, and the time of the switch will differ from country to country.

You’ve probably seen this painting periodically throughout your life called American Gothic by the artist Grant Wood. It shows an older man and woman, farmers presumably, standing stoically in front of a farmhouse, the man holding a pitchfork.

Art is subjective—what you see may not be what someone else sees—but even the casual viewer of this painting will see two people devoid of any emotion that would make the viewer stoked about the idea of ‘hard work.’

The painting, so the myth goes at least, points toward the idea that hard work is a rewarding virtue in itself. It’s implied as if the reward of hard work is something that just naturally happens as a result of our having ‘paid dues.’

Please understand I’m not ragging on farming or anything that requires hard, physical labor. I am, however, ragging on the idea that hard work is a ‘virtue’ that we should be carrying into our retirement years.

Unfortunately, these myths we grow up with impact our psychology more than we sometimes give credit. So many people judge success on superficial factors—like the prideful vanity of using a line like “I work hard” to bludgeon other people with—but also on the wrong metrics of measuring success to begin with. The number of hours worked and tasks completed may produce more money per paycheck, but it’ll also mean you’ll end up with those long, tight faces like in American Gothic.

Do years of hard work and little enjoyment of life, yet having a ‘comfortable’ retirement, equate to success? Maybe, but you could just as easily look at it as poor time management and a waste of personal strengths and skills—doing stuff that (often) makes us miserable for a little bit more money and for vanity’s sake—“I’m a hard worker.”

If we’re honest with ourselves, the only realistic goal of playing the money game while being truly happy and fulfilled is to play for eventual freedom from work—way sooner than retirement. Don’t misunderstand me here: the most valuable things in life aren’t going to come easy and they’re often not going to come without some pain and effort.

If you’re going to work hard, you might as well be working hard at working less.

The real measure of success is how free you are—financially, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually—to live life the way you want to live it.

Harv Eker

Joke:

Working With The FBI

The phone rings at FBI headquarters.
"Hello?"
"Hello, is this the FBI?"
"Yes. What do you want?"
"I'm calling to report my neighbor Adrian Thibodeaux! He is hiding marijuana inside his firewood."
"Thank you very much for the call, sir."

The next day, the FBI agents descend on Thibodeaux's house. They search the shed where the firewood is kept. Using axes, they bust open every piece of wood, but find no marijuana. They swear at Thibodeaux and leave.

The phone rings at Thibodeaux's house.
"Hey, Adrian! Did the FBI come?"
"Yeah!"
"Did they chop your firewood?"
"Yep"
"Great, now it's your turn to call. I need my garden plowed."

Vocabulary:

headquarters - штаб-квартира;
firewood - дрова;
descend on - обрушиваться, врываться;
shed - навес, сарай;
to plow - вскапыавть, пахать;

Thomas Moore

Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms

Believe me, if all those endearing young charms,
Which I gaze on so fondly today,
Were to change by tomorrow, and fleet in my arms,
Like fairy-gifts fading away,
Thou wouldst still be adored, as this moment thou art,
Let thy loveliness fade as it will,
And around the dear ruin each wish of my heart
Would entwine itself verdantly still.

It is not while beauty and youth are thine own,
And thy cheeks unprofaned by a tear
That the fervor and faith of a soul can be known,
To which time will but make thee more dear;
No, the heart that has truly loved never forgets,
But as truly loves on to the close,
As the sunflower turns on her god, when he sets,
The same look which she turned when he rose.