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daylight

Why Did America Decide To Keep Daylight Saving Time?

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This weekend, the clocks will once again fall back an hour to standard time. On the second Sunday of March, the clocks in most of the US and many other countries in the world move their clocks forward one hour to begin what is commonly known as Daylight Saving Time. 

“Daylight Saving Time has its roots in train schedules, but it was put into practice in Europe and the United States to save fuel and power during World War I,” according to the US Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

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The US also maintained Daylight Saving Time throughout a majority of World War 2, and the concept was put in place to conserve fuel and “keep things standard.” 

During the energy crisis in the 1970s, the US tried to have a permanent Daylight Saving Time, specifically in the winter of 1973 – 1974. Once again the idea was to conserve fuel. President Richard Nixon signed it into law in January 1974. 

Today, in the US states are not legally required to change the clocks during November and March. Most of Arizona, Hawaii, and some territories in the Pacific and Caribbean don’t observe Daylight Saving Time. In March of 2022, the US Senate passed legislation that would make Daylight Saving Time permanent so the clocks would no longer change twice a year, and it was passed by unanimous consent. 

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However, house lawmakers failed to vote on the bill in 2022. In 2023, a dozen senators formed a bipartisan group to reintroduce the legislation that would end the clock switching. This has been one of the longest ongoing debates among the government. 

Studies performed throughout the past two decades show that “the one-hour change disrupts body rhythms tuned to Earth’s rotation, adding fuel to the debate over whether having Daylight Saving Time in any form is a good idea,” wrote Katia Hetter and Stephen Mays, for CNN.

Some studies show that there are more car accidents when people lose an extra hour of sleep, and on the opposite end crimes like robberies decline when we gain an extra hour of sleep. 

While conserving energy and fuel was always an argument to maintain the tradition of changing clocks, current studies show it really doesn’t save that much energy in this day and age. 

The debate is likely to continue, but what current data shows is that Daylight Saving Time isn’t going away anytime soon in the US. 

Elliot Page Becomes First Trans Man To Appear On Time Magazine Cover

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Elliot Page made history this week as the first transgender man to ever appear on the cover of Time magazine. The Canadian actor also opened up in an interview about his decision to come out last year and the overwhelming responses he’s received. 

The 34-year-old’s cover is projected to be for the magazine’s forthcoming issue under the headline “I’m fully who I am,” and that’s the exact energy Elliot gave off in his interview. This also marks Page’s first ever major media interview since disclosing his gender identity on his social media last year. 

He made the announcement back in December on his Instagram and Twitter by posting the same note on both platforms. He revealed to the world that his pronouns were “he/they” and that they finally felt like they were living their true authentic life. 

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“What I was anticipating was a lot of support and love and a massive amount of hatred and transphobia. That’s essentially what happened.”

The actor has earned past Oscar nominations for their role in 2008’s Juno and is also known for his roles in Inception and X-Men. In the interview, Page claimed that he felt like a boy from a young age, and recalled a “feeling of triumph” when they were allowed to cut their hair short at the age of 9. 

Page previously came out as gay back in 2014, and discussed the process of coming out then versus now. He also described his decision to undergo top surgery, a decision he claimed “completely transformed” his life for the better. He then transitioned into breaking down the struggle that trans people face in terms of equality, specifically within the entertainment industry as well. 

Page describes Hollywood’s “crushing standards and pervasive stereotypes about masculinity and femininity” that would confuse anyone who’s unsure of their gender identity. 

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“Extremely influential people are spreading these myths and damaging rhetoric — every day you’re seeing our existence debated. Transgender people are so very real.”

Additionally, the cover was shot by transgender photographer Wynne Neill, who posted the cover shot to their Instagram this week, describing the project as a “dream assignment.” 

“I’ve been wanting this and working towards this for so many years. I’m so proud of Elliot and I’m so grateful to the trans elders who risked everything to make this moment happen.”

Page also posted the cover to Instagram with a heartfelt caption that read: “With deep respect for those who came before me, gratitude for those who have supported me and great concern for the generation of trans youth we must all protect, please join me and decry anti-trans legislation, hate and discrimination in all its forms.”

Smartphones

How to Take Advantage of Smartphones’ “Digital Wellbeing” Tools

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It’s no secret that over the past several years, smartphones have taken over nearly every aspect of most of our lives, as we use the versatile devices for everything from communicating with friends to catching up on work emails to consuming entertainment. As smartphone use is on the rise, many are concerned about the negative impact that device addiction may have on our lives, interfering with our engagement with the real world. This concern is shared even by developers of smartphone software, who have introduced tools to allow users to limit their exposure to their devices, which are categorized under the umbrella term “digital wellbeing.” Such tools are available on both Android and iOS devices, and while their presence may not be obvious, digital-wellbeing features are built into the operating systems of many popular smartphones.

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While digital wellbeing features have existed in Android for some time, their functionality has been expanded for Android 10, the latest version of Google’s operating system. While Android 10 is currently only available for Google Pixel devices, the software update should roll out to other smartphones soon, as manufacturers work to optimize the software for their individual devices. Digital Wellbeing is one of Google’s prioritizes for this version of the operating system, and a number of landmark features have been introduced. For instance, users can enable a so-called “Focus mode,” which disables certain apps deemed to be distracting, and users can also set a maximum amount of time they’re allowed to use each app per day. Additionally, Android 10 introduces a “wind down” mode, which is designed to help users fall asleep at the end of the day by switching the screen to a less-engaging grayscale mode and turns on Do Not Disturb. Android 10 users can also view the amount of time they spend using each app in the Settings menu, and see which apps are occupying the most of their time.

iPhone users, too, have access to tools that are meant to improve their relationship with technology. iOS 12 includes a mode called “Screen Time” which, like its Android counterpart, allows users to view statistics about how often and for how long they use particular apps. This mode also allows users to view the number of times they’ve picked up their phone as well as the time of day they’re most frequently active on their devices. Both operating systems allow users to create limits on how long they use their phones, but whereas Android allows users to set limits on an app-by-app basis, iOS users are only able to set limits by category. iPhones running iOS 12 also have a “Bedtime mode” feature, which dims the display of the lock screen at night to prevent your phone from waking you up when it’s on your nightstand.

Both operating systems allow users to create limits on how long they use their phones

In addition to specialized tools built into their operating systems, Google offers advice for how to ensure the way you’re using your devices is healthy and positive. The company has a page inviting users to reflect on their technology habits, encouraging them to “take the first step toward understanding your relationship with tech, and get tips and tools to help your digital well-being.” This page presents visitors with a quiz, asking them questions about their usage of technology and whether it interferes with their other obligations, whether those are related to work, family, or friends. The company recommends users take advantage of the Google Assistant, which allows people to interact with their phone using only their voice, to spend more time away from the device’s screen, and also suggests users customize the notifications they receive on a per-app basis to prevent them from becoming overwhelming.

While it may seem counterintuitive to rely on our phones to provide us with ways to limit our engagement with technology, the integration of smartphones into our daily lives is a fact of living in the modern era. As such, these tools are a welcome addition to the smartphone ecosystem, and as developers continue to compete for our attention with ever-more engaging apps, the prospect of enforcing self-imposed limits on smartphone usage may become increasingly enticing.

Train travel

Should You Consider Traveling By Train Instead of By Plane?

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If there’s one aspect of traveling that can really put a damper on the experience, it’s the stress and frustration of dealing with airports. They are often crowded, the food is usually overpriced and mediocre, and going through security is a pain. Air travel generally involves spending long hours sitting in airports, where access to electrical outlets is limited, cellular data networks are congested and sometimes fail, and free Wi-Fi is nowhere to be found. And the experience is not much better once you get in the air; seat sizes have been steadily decreasing over the years to fit more people onto planes, in-flight entertainment options are usually limited, and meals are generally limited to bags of chips and small cups of soda. Nevertheless, plane trips are widely regarded as a necessary evil when traveling to sufficiently distant destinations, and are generally more bearable than a long car trip.

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In many cases, however, there is a better way to travel, which is to take a train. There are several benefits to doing so. For instance, the drive to a train station is often much shorter than the one to an airport, and train tickets are nearly universally cheaper than plane tickets. You don’t have to go through security when boarding a train, nor do you have to deal with long waits in airports, and selections for food and beverages are often better. Also, trains happen to be a more environmentally-friendly form of transportation than planes, which have recently been found to pollute more than previously thought, and cell phone reception on trains is generally better than at airports and in the air. Of course, for sufficiently long distances, taking a plane can be your only option, but for a trip that would take one hour by plane it may be a better idea to take a five-hour long train trip when all factors are taken into consideration.

The quality of the time you spend on a train is often better than the time you spend in the air travel process, as you often have more legroom and opportunities for relaxation or work.

One such factor is the hidden additional time it takes to fly beyond the time spent in the air. Regardless of how long your trip to the airport is, you generally have to wait at least a few hours in the airport before boarding the plane, and it’s always recommended to arrive extra early as a precaution. The disembarking process also takes time, as you find your luggage while navigating an unfamiliar airport, and then you’ll often have to wait to be picked up by a taxi service or a relative. All of this time adds up, and a one-hour flight can quickly become a five-hour affair, making a train trip of similar duration more appealing. Furthermore, the quality of the time you spend on a train is often better than the time you spend in the air travel process, as you often have more legroom and opportunities for relaxation or work.

The New York Times writer Elaine Glusac compared details of traveling between various popular Americans cities by train and by plane in order to test the theory that train trips are often more desirable than plane trips. Her results, surprisingly, argued that for many trips we tend to imagine as necessitating air travel, trains were a superior form of transport. The trip from Boston to New York City, for instance, is both cheaper and faster by train than by airplane, as is the trip from New York City to Washington. The trip from Boston to Washington, however, is a better deal by plane. The trip from Seattle to Vancouver, British Columbia, was recently made easier by the signing of an agreement between the United States and Canada to allow travellers to clear customs and immigration before leaving a country, and taking a train instead of a plane allows travelers to save both time and money on this trip.

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With the advent of the Internet, it’s never been easier to do research on travel opportunities. One popular online resource is Hipmunk, which allows users to input the details of their journey to compare prices and travel times between different airlines and automatically includes details for taking a train instead. Before embarking on any trip, you should look into the various rules and restrictions of your travel method of choice, as both airlines and planes impose limitations on the size and type of luggage you can carry, among other rules. When planning a trip, make sure you take all eventualities into consideration, as a thoroughly-planned trip is much likelier to be a successful one than a spontaneous journey.