Sunday, November 19, 2006

Daylight saving (2)

As noted in my previous post there was a lot of discussion of daylight saving in Queensland a few weeks ago. Daylight saving has also been on the agenda in Perth, where the West Australian chased comments from the state’s leaders last week. Here are some of their deeper thoughts (sourced from Crickey):

Bruce Donaldson: Liberal MLC

Who will cook the tea? While everyone is prancing around the beach or running around a park kicking a football, what will happen? I have a feeling our major takeaway outlets will love daylight saving because Mum will say to Dad: 'We've had a great time in the park but I didn't put the chops or potatoes on'.

Ray Halligan: Liberal MLC:

If this legislation is passed and we have daylight saving, it will mean either that some alterations will have to be made or that people will have to accept that their wedding photographs may not be taken at sunset.

Barry House: Liberal MLC:

A lot of blokes do not turn up to work if the surf is up. They do not arrive until 11 o'clock in the morning. If we agree to daylight saving 11 o'clock will turn into 12 noon. By then it will be lunchtime, so they will take two hours off for lunch and think: 'To hell with it, it's not worth going to work at all'.

Robyn McSweeney: Liberal MLC:

The effect daylight saving will have on our circadian rhythms, which is the 24-hour cycle in the physiological process of living beings. When our circadian rhythm is upset, it puts us out of sorts. I do not want my circadian rhythm upset because I do not like being out of sorts.

The most thoughtful response, however, came from the Nationals MP for Avon, Max Trenorden – a very deep thinker indeed:

In physics there is no such thing as time. The Earth goes around the Sun and rotates on its axis, and that is pretty wobbly too. We need atomic clocks to adjust time every now and then because it is not perfect. It might be worthwhile for people to remember that.

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