Moving Off Daylight Savings, Again?

Early Sunday morning, those of us that live in states that play the Daylight Savings game got to adjust our clocks and gain an extra hour of sleep. That assumes that you didn't game the system and stay up an extra hour, which I did not. I went to sleep at my normal time. I had hoped I would wake up 8 hours later, which would mean my wake-up time would be an hour earlier. Nope, I slept for 9 hours and got an extra hour of sleep. It felt good.

Most of the clocks in my house adjust automatically but there are a few like the microwave or oven that need to be fixed manually. I also have to adjust the clock in my truck and my wife needs to adjust the clock in her car. It is not a big chore but it does take a few minutes.

The larger problem for me is that I work for Sony, which is a massive international company. Japan does not follow Daylight Savings and so all of my meetings with headquarters get screwed up. Some meetings that used to start at 6pm now start at 5pm. Meetings that are set up by colleagues in the United States adjust with the semi-annual time change and stay at the same time. For those with tightly-packed meeting schedules, it means double bookings and the need to revisit the calendar.

I saw an article in National Geographic about the history of Daylight Savings and why we continue to practice it. While it is merely a hassle for most of us in the United States, the article pointed out that it does cause conflict with other parts of the world. I can attest to that point. 

We were not supposed to go back to standard time this past Sunday as a bill made it through one half of Congress that would have kept the country on Daylight Savings permanently. Unfortunately the bill stalled in the other half of Congress and so we moved our clocks back an hour. We'll have to see if the two halves of Congress ever get on the same page and decide to agree on something. For now, I am not holding my breath.

Paper vs. Eletronic Magazines

I have a notice on my desk that I received in the mail a few days ago. It is from ARRL which is the national association for amateur or ham radio. It is time to renew my membership and I have a choice to make. In the past, membership has paid for a monthly printed magazine. Now that will be an additional cost. If I don't elect to receive the printed magazine, an electronic version is available for just my annual membership dues.

I know I am old school but I still like to read printed magazines over electronic ones. Is it worth an extra $25/year and the associated environmental cost (think trees and gas to deliver the magazine)? For me I think it is and I'll illustrate why with examples of magazines I currently receive.

I have a free subscription to an electronic version of a sailing magazine. I'm not sure how I got on the list to receive it. Perhaps because I previously subscribed to the print magazine or because I had an article published in the magazine on ham radio and sailing. I'm not sure why, but I have it. I also have a subscription to the print version of another sailing magazine. Interestingly enough, I read the print magazine cover to cover every time I receive it. I will only glance through the electronic one and never read more than a single article if I read any at all. From this experience, it seems I prefer print.

I also have a subscription to National Geographic which comes in print form but also electronically. Every day I receive an e-mail with about a dozen article teasers. If I see something that interests me, I click on the link and read the article. Sometimes the articles are from a few years ago that appeared in the print magazine with updated information. Other times the articles are from an upcoming issue. When I receive the print magazine, I am finding that I have read about 60% of the articles already. Furthermore the electronic versions of the articles contain interactive presentations or movies that greatly enhance what comes in the print magazine. This experience has me rethinking my print subscription for National Geographic and going with just an electronic one.

I honestly wish all magazines would come like National Geographic. Instead of receiving something once a month, having a daily e-mail with interesting articles to read. I know my ARRL magazine will show up like the sailing one and I am afraid I will stop reading it without the print version. So until they figure out how to send frequent updates with articles found in the magazine, I'll shell out the extra $25/year.

COVID-19 is Back

Today I awoke feeling a little under the weather. I attended a call last night with some of my colleagues in California and one mentioned how there is a huge COVID-19 surge in the state. Given this information and my recent vacation cruise I figured I would give myself an at-home test. It came back negative and so I will wait 2 days and take another one.

I am a National Geographic subscriber and so every day I get at least one e-mail from them with a number of relevant stories. Today's lead article talked about how COVID-19 is back and starting on Monday, September 25, 2023, the Federal Government will send out 4 new test kits to those that request them. If you think you have been exposed to the virus and start to feel symptoms, Please take a test.

The good news is that all the people who have been vaccinated, received boosters, had COVID-19, or any combination should be fairly safe from getting too sick. Unfortunately it is still possible as shown by the recent upswing in hospitalizations. The best course of action is to avoid exposure but that can be tough when those who are sick don't realize it and share their germs with you.

As for me, I don't have any problem breathing right now. I don't have a fever and I can still taste so I am hoping I just picked up a common cold. I will be sure to set a good example, not go anywhere, and isolate so I don't infect anyone, just to be safe. While nobody wants to get COVID-19, nobody wants to get a cold either.

Performance Improvement

One of the fundamental lessons I learned in my days as an Electrical Engineering student is the order that performance improvements should be addressed. Always work on the largest problem first. This is really counterintuitive as people will throw out minor improvements because they are easily seen and understood. Unfortunately the improvements may be so minor that they are imperceptible. Let's look at some examples.

Recently I drove a car from San Mateo, California to Salt Lake City, Utah. This is a great example of performance as you always want to minimize the amount of time spent in the car. There are a number of variables you can play with to decrease the amount of time the trip takes. First off is which route you will take. Interstate 80 is the fastest route but is sometimes closed because of snow. You also have how fast you go. You can drive the speed limit or try to go above it. That introduces a few more variables like gas mileage and the risk of getting pulled over to receive a warning or speeding citation. The faster you drive, the more you will have to stop for gas. Don't forget that you may require additional stops to use the restroom or get food.

Thinking of the driving example, most people will point out that you can save time by combining food and restroom breaks with fuel stops. During my recent trip, I stopped for an hour to sleep and that could have been avoided by leaving earlier in the day. Leaving earlier would have also helped with the gridlock traffic I encountered leaving the Bay Area. Ultimately though, that all had very little effect on the overall drive. The best performance gains on a long trip like that are going to be solved by changing the speed of the trip from 80 miles per hour, the legal speed limit for most of the trip in Nevada and Utah, to 500 miles per hour which is how fast you can make the trip in a commercial plane. That is how I got to San Mateo in the first place and if I didn't have to bring a lot of stuff they don't allow on airplanes, it is how I would have gone home.

Another example of performance improvement I saw came in the form of a National Geographic article. It described how to save water while doing dishes. In many parts of the world, water is a scarce resource. In other parts it falls from the sky in large quantities. The article encouraged everyone to avoid rinsing your dishes before placing them in the dishwasher. No offense National Geographic but if you have a dishwasher, there are significantly better ways to save water. Taking a shorter shower is a good start. Better yet is to water your lawn only when necessary. Not rinsing your dishes saves about 2 gallons of water. Taking a shorter shower will save more than the 2 gallons of water. Watering your lawn only when necessary will save hundreds of gallons of water. In other words, stop worrying about 2 gallons and worry about 100 gallons. Once everyone gets that down, you can worry about smaller amounts.

So what does this have to do with computers? A lot actually. If you find yourself looking to improve performance, look at the system as a whole. Break down the tasks and their various times to complete. If task A takes minutes and task B takes seconds, focus on task A. Don't worry about B as it doesn't really matter until you can get task A into the seconds range.