DOES DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME REALLY SAVE ENERGY? _ Daylight Saving Time started Sunday when you move the clocks ahead one hour. There have been a number of conflicting reports about how much energy is saved from Daylight Saving Time. Back in the 1970s, studies showed we saved 1% of energy nationally, which was a big motivation for adopting DST. On the one hand, states like California argue the energy savings are negligible. But another report published in 2008 by the U.S. Department of Energy concluded 4 weeks extra of daylight savings time could conserve 1.3 trillion watt-hours per day, enough to power 100,000 homes for a year. A 2012 Wall Street Journal article made a good argument for leaving the clocks alone. The article cited a study that looked at Indiana, which adopted Daylight Saving Time in 2006. The study’s authors (out of Yale and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) found that Daylight Saving Time increased energy use by over 1% in Indiana during Daylight Saving Time months — adding some $9 million to energy bills annually, plus sending an additional 188,000 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Daylight Saving Time imposes the greatest costs in the fall, the researchers found, when it prompts increases in morning heating without any savings on lighting. But it also imposes high costs in July and August, when increased air-conditioning bills more than offset the savings in lighting. Another study found similar effects in Australia.
IF YOU COULD MAKE ONE THING ILLEGAL, WHAT WOULD IT BE? What the internet said…
• No president shall serve past the average retirement age. Same goes for Congress.
• Pharmaceutical commercials on TV.
• Talking on speaker phone in public.
• Lying while in office as an elected official. You lie, you lose your job and get a hefty fine.
• White LED headlights.
IS IT OK TO DO A SECOND DAY IN THE SAME UNDERWEAR _ Let me be clear: it’s never okay to do a second day in the same underwear. But if you’re 9 and you’re mom’s not checking, it happens. And if you’re 19 and in college and mom’s not around to do your underwear, it happens. It’s not okay, but it happens. And for the rest of us — how bad is it to go two days straight in the same undies? Here’s some good news. As far as health is concerned, there is no issue with wearing the same pair of underpants two days in a row (says J. Scott Kasteler, MD). That is, so long as those undies are clean to the eye. In fact, from a health standpoint, you could go several days without a fresh pair. But before you wear your Monday pair on Tuesday, there are two important exceptions: If you have any skin scratches, sores, or rashes, don’t stretch your mileage on your underwear, or you could end up with an infection. And if you’re busting a sweat, then it’s best to wear a fresh pair. For ladies, moisture build-up in the nether regions can leads to health issues men don’t have.
