Fall back

When I lived in places with actual seasons, I was the rare person who liked "falling back." I love late fall and early winter in the north and midwest, and the extra hour of darkness was part of that. One fall, I actually missed the time change completely--I woke up, went on a long bike ride, then spent the day writing and watching football; it was only when "60 Minutes" did not come on as expected that I happened to glance out my window at a billboard that contained a clock and realized I had been off by an hour the entire day.

Personal stories aside, I did not realize how much controversy in law, policy, health, safety, economics, and life in general is bound up with Daylight Savings and the back-and-forth with Standard Time. Economist Allison Schrager has floated a proposal that is gaining some media attention--eliminate DST and move the continental U.S. to two time zones one hour apart, with the line on Texas's western border and running up through Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas.