Mental Acuity:

Often we are given an eye test to evaluate how well we see. Sadly there is no quick test that will gage how well we think. Such a test is badly needed. Because the process of thinking is more complex than the process of seeing an easy and quick test may not be possible. There are some measures that might give an indication however.

When I was in the Boy Scouts decades ago I can remember how confusing a simple magnetic compass was. The major or cardinal points were of course were fairly simple. The minor points were more difficult but those too were mastered. So at this point the compass had been divided into four sectors and each of those divided in half. The end result was eight reference points. Thinking of this today I realized that approaching a compass this way was how we as humans learn just about anything. First our learning and knowledge concerns large sectors. As we learn more we focus on smaller and smaller fractions of the whole compass.

After learning about the cardinal points and sub points of a compass I learned how to use a compass to orient a map in the same direction that I was looking. Then how to locate land marks on the map and relate those map marks to things I could actually see like radio masts and mountains. More study taught me how to site towards those land marks and from those observations find where I was on the map. My mental acuity was becoming better. I could think more clearly about the process as a whole and understand how powerful this entire process was.

The point of this essay is that knowing the cardinal points of a compass does not mean that you can use a compass to the extent that an expert can. Even knowing how to read a map does not teach you about compensating for compass errors introduced by the fact magnetic north is not true north. So there is more to learn before you can trust your life to an instrument like a compass. You see the nice thing about a compass is that it will point to the north even when it is dark or foggy or both dark and foggy. If you are sailing a boat and you cannot tell which way to point the nose of your boat in order to safely return to harbor a compass can quite literally save your life, but only if you know a lot about how to use it. Surface knowledge is not enough. You must know much more about how to use this tool of guidance. Let us pray that our leaders have an accurate inner compass to guide our nation safely into the future. Let those with mental acuity lead us. Let us follow the best and the brightest not the ones who add to the fog with bigotry and hate.

The Law is Passed:

America simply must now begin to address many of the issues that have been ignored while the battle over health care was being fought. To me this is perhaps the single greatest reason to not fight wars, other than the cost in blood and treasure. When a war is fought a country or an army loses focus of everything except the war itself. This is true of America as a nation and Americans as a people. What was unprecedented about this last congressional vote was that it was along party lines to the extent that not a single republican voted for this measure.

Now that it is done I would like to remind every republican that while Abe Lincoln was the man who kept America a single nation, the way the Republican Party treated the south following the Civil war was simply atrocious. Financial rape and pillage is exactly what occurred, and does not overstate the events at all. To say that this was done over the objections of the more moderate republicans is also true. What ever happened to moderate republicans anyway? All of those who sought compromise and moderation seem to have been swept away in the rage of battle.

It is I think time for cooler heads to prevail. Far past time some would argue. So this time let us follow Mr. Lincoln’s advice and bind up the wounds of this our nation. Let us permit the angels of our better nature to again take flight. Let the America that has for so long lifted her lamp beside the door to freedom and justice once again beckon those that seek to escape the oppression of governmental intolerance and bigotry. Let us all help to shine a light into a world that is increasingly dark and where people huddle breathing the fetid air of injustice. Let us again show the way towards a brighter tomorrow, for these are the very reasons for America’s existence.

Saving Daylight:

Some phrases and terms are so astounding that they simply take my breath away. Free lunch, the goodness of mankind, and the Easter bunny are other examples of this strange way of thinking. Let’s take a closer look at daylight savings time and try to discover how we think about it and why it is disconcerting to so many.

To better understand daylight savings we need to understand what measuring time is all about and to do that involves understanding a bit of science. I am going to use some approximate numbers here so let’s not get upset if the math is not sound down to a gnat’s eyebrow. The earth is approximately 24,000 miles around at its fattest point. That imaginary line around the earth is known as the equator. Most of us have never experienced the equator or lived anywhere near it. Increasingly today world commerce is in both the northern and southern parts of the sphere that we call the earth and so in fact more people cross this line than ever before.

Most of us can understand what I have said so far. Now the interesting part starts. We all know that the day is composed of 24 time segments we call hours. By worldwide convention there is what is called local noon. At this point the sun is at its highest point above the horizon. At the equator this high point always divides days that are composed of the same number of hours of daylight and darkness. Days do not get longer in the summer and shorter in the winter at the equator. Year round the number of hours of darkness of night exactly equals the number of hours of light of the day. What is less obvious is that there are no seasons at the equator. There is no summer and winter no spring and fall. Each day of the year is the same. Each month of the year is the same. Each decade of the century is the same. It is as if time stops at the equator. Which of course is not true, what can stop is the incentive to write about days that seem to repeat endlessly.

As I said things are more complex than they appear and so it is with the seasons. The earth is tilted on its axis. What that means is the center of rotation (the imaginary line thru the center of the earth that forms an axis of rotation) is not straight up and down to the rays coming from the sun. This axis is tilted. Because it is tilted the parts above and below the equator receive different amounts of sunlight on any given day. Consider that the shortest day of the year is December 21 in the northern half of the globe. In the southern half of the globe however this is the longest day of the year. If you are thinking it would be the first day summer you are correct. The reason we change the time of the local noon in the summer is so that we more closely track the real local noon. That is we compensate for the fact that our clocks are not providing sound information.

To bring this whole discussion back to politics my question is “Why can’t we adjust our attitude towards political time keeping that also no longer reflects local noon?” Why do we cling to a way of telling time that is clearly wrong? The answer of course is that we are creatures of habit not intellect.