Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.04.2012, Page 4

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4 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • April 1 2012
DST an unmitigated blessing?
LögbErg-
HEImSkrINgLa
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board of directorS
PRESIDENT: Grant Stefanson
TREASURER: Dan Snidal
SECRETARY: Elva Jónasson
board memberS:
Margaret Bjarnason Amirault
Lorne Bjarnason
Claire Eckley
Dr. Lyle Hillman
vi Bjarnason Hilton
Dr. Allan Johnson
Jón Örn Jónsson
Margaret Kernested
Garry Oddleifson
Oskar Sigvaldason
Brian Tómasson
Judy Wilson
regional rePreSentatiVeS
• BC: Norma Guttormsson
• CALGARY: Linda Bjarnason
• EDMONTON: Bob Rennie
According to legend, when a First Nations Elder had daylight
saving explained to him, he
responded, “Only a white
man would believe that you
could cut a foot off the top of a
blanket and sew it to the bottom
of a blanket and have a longer
blanket.’”
If we had to adjust our daily
schedules, most of us who live
without leaping forward or
plunging backward every spring
and fall would rather use the old
Roman system than cut up and
re-sew our perfectly adequate
blankets twice a year. While
DST is supposed to allow us to
adjust our daily schedules, the
system used by the ancients had
more flexibility than modern
DST offers. They simply
divided daylight into 12 hours
regardless of the length of the
day, so that during the summer,
each daylight hour was longer.
Simple, yes?
I live in Saskatchewan. The
only DST observed here is in
some towns that border Alberta
or Manitoba, and that’s just to
keep life simpler for shopping.
Generally speaking, that
simplification is not something
that DST always achieves.
What happens when the
time changes abruptly at 2 a.m.
on some appointed Saturday
night? It’s more than a loss of
sleep. Bodies need to adjust to
new mealtimes – either an hour
earlier or an hour later. Kids
who are affected can get cranky
and get away with it. Adults
are not supposed to react –
though one study reported in
the Globe and Mail, a Toronto
daily newspaper, suggested
that employers know that in the
week or two after the switch to
DST, office production drops
considerably, with employees
spending more time scrolling
around the Internet or engaged
in other non-tasks that don’t
require concentration.
Who remembers the history
of the institution of Daylight
Savings Time? Give yourself 10
marks for every right answer.
DST was begun on April 30,
1916, by Germany during
World War I to conserve coal
which was needed to produce
electricity. England followed
suit, as did much of Europe.
Russia waited until 1917, as
did Newfoundland. Canada
and the USA followed suit in
1918. It’s worth remembering
that, in Canada, income tax was
also instituted as a temporary
wartime measure, in 1917. And,
in England during World War II,
clocks were moved forward two
hours to allow work to be done
before the nightly blackouts.
Like income tax, DST
continued after the war –
except, in Canada, in small
regions in BC, Nunavut
Territory, Quebec and Ontario
and in most of Saskatchewan.
In the United States, Hawaii,
Arizona, Midway Islands and
Wake Island stick fast to one
time all year round.
Around the world – 161
countries do not observe DST.
Only 68 countries observe DST
in all locations. For the rest of
the world, it’s a mix across the
country.
So what about that energy
saving? Sounds like the Elder
had a point. Some research
suggests that electricity
consumption has increased for
heating and cooling under DST
– in the provinces where the
population is up that hour early,
the heating bill goes up to cover
the cold and dark additional
hour of morning.
Seems that our bodies have
that figured out, too. Studies
show that people who are
already susceptible to certain
health problems, such as high
blood pressure and depression,
will feel the effects even more
when the clocks move forward.
A Swedish study published
in the New England Journal
of Medicine in 2008 points to
disturbed sleep and disruption
of biological rhythms.
Argue with research all
you want. I spent 16 years in
Montreal, Quebec as a child
care worker in an institution
for emotionally disturbed pre-
teens. Staff booked off sick at
time change. It would take at
least two weeks to get the kids
back into some sort of usual
state, and those two weeks
weren’t pretty. Of course, we
equally sleep-deprived staff
members were not in top form,
either.
Anecdotal evidence is one
matter. However, there is one
fact that cannot be disputed.
Iceland does not observe
Daylight Savings Time. What
else is there to say?
EDITORIAL
Joan Eyolfson Cadham
Editor
Arborg Ashern eriksdAle Fisher brAnch
376-2798 768-2733 739-2137 372-8411
642-6450 389-2550378-5121768-2437
gimli moosehorn riverton Winnipeg beAch
re: the language problem
Dear Editor,
Just got the L-H in the mail.
Enjoyed your comments on the
language problem people faced,
particularly in Western Canada.
Good read. Good job.
Ken Kristjanson
Winnipeg, MB
re: a bit of debate
Dear Editor,
I enjoyed this issue of L-H
(Issue 6 March 15, 2012) in
particular. Articles seemed
particularly newsy and inter-
esting. You and Bill have es-
tablished considerable bench
strength in your contributors’
list and should be commended
for it.
It’s good also to see a
bit of debate surface in your
letters to the editor section –
contributions by Nelson and
Elva are particularly helpful in
keeping the historical record
straight, and at the same time
they are respectful and as
restrained as possible under
the circumstances.
Could I suggest you ask
contributors to include their
email addresses at the end of
their contributions to allow
readers to contact the writers
to provide the writers with
related information, ask
a question of them, etc. I
notice this tag line being an
email address of the reporter/
columnist is routine in my
local (Winnipeg) daily paper.
Jim Anderson
Winnipeg, MB
inB news appreciated
Dear editor,
I have been very interested
in the “News from Iceland”
articles (from INB published
KOM PR) that have appeared
in recent issues. What a great
source of information. The
articles on Iceland’s domestic
and international politics and
economy provide news that
rarely appears in Canada’s
mainstream media. I would
like to see more coverage about
what is happening in Iceland. I
would suggest that a dedicated
page for “News from Iceland”
be published in each issue.
Robert V. Oleson
Winnipeg, MB
L-H Deadlines
Editorial SubmiSSion
dEadlinES for

April 15, issue 8
Wednesday, March 28
final Editorial dEadlinE –
brEaking nEwS only
Monday, April 2
Please advise the editor in advance if you are
sending a submission for the final deadline
advErtiSing dEadlinE
Monday, April 2
Editorial SubmiSSion
dEadlinES for

mAy 1, issue 9
Wednesday, April 11
final Editorial dEadlinE –
brEaking nEwS only
Monday, April 16
Please advise the editor in advance if you are
sending a submission for the final deadline
advErtiSing dEadlinE
Monday, April 16
Please send your letters to: editorialcommittee@lh-inc.ca
Send your photos and
articles to
joan@lh-inc.ca
Thank you.
Joan Eyolfson Cadham
How was your
Þorrablót
celebration?