Halfway Insanity

Scilla siberica

You all know ProfessorRoush hates the seasonal time change even under the best circumstances, right?  But, facing the semi-annual, government-imposed, tyrannic shift of one hour in my biorhythms this weekend, just when I thought the world couldn't get any more crazy, it did indeed take one more step towards the abyss.  I was minding my own business the other day, deep in my morning pre-work routine with the local news playing in the background, when I heard something said about a proposal before Congress to make Daylight Savings time a 30 MINUTE shift instead of a full hour. Since no one could conceiveably be that cuckoo, I assumed I was hallucinating and went on about my day.   

But, NO, if you look it up, a U.S. Representative, Florida Republican Greg Steube, has introduced the "Daylight Act of 2026",  proposing to permanently set US clocks ahead by a HALF HOUR.  Now, make no mistake, I am completely down with moving to permanent Daylight Savings Time, but a full hour forward, not just 30 minutes! Of all the idiotic, backward, confusing, imbecilic, dumb (I'm now out of adverbs) ideas, this one is a prize-winner.  

Abeliophyllum  distichum ‘Roseum’

American's have enough trouble with the metric system, but now some Floridian moron wants us to remember that the time in England (Greenwich Mean Time or "GMT") is now 5.5 hours ahead of the Central Time Zone?  Or that, if I am phoning Berlin Germany, it is 6.5 instead of 7 hours ahead?  Why not just go ahead and make the shift 35 minutes ahead while we are trying to complicate life?   Or 29 minutes ahead?

Folks, we have to kill this bill and quick.  The sentiment to get the government out of our biologic clocks and stop messing with us on a semi-annual basis is spot on point, but let's keep it simple and make it an even hour, please, so that we aren't further down the rabbit hole of separation from the rest of the world.   Write your Congressman, write your Senators and voice your opposition!  Let We The People be heard!  

Abeliophyllum  distichum 'Roseum'

Sometimes, I am tempted to support a return to tarring and feathers, and  this is close to one of those times.  If that's what it takes to keep this insanity from becoming policy, then I'll supply the firewood.

Oh, yeah, regarding the photos here:  Spring is coming on strong, and I've witnessed the first Scilla siberica (top right) this week, and the Pink Forsythia (Abeliophyllum  distichum ‘Roseum’‘Roseum’) is in full bloom.  I always wish the latter had a better, less straggly form, and more prominent blooms, but this early in the season, I try to cherish whatever I can get!