Gasoline use up 2.8% since early time change

In a bid to save energy, Congress moved up daylight-saving time by three weeks this year. But so far, the change appears to have backfired after Americans last month used record amounts of gasoline as they got out to enjoy the extra hour of sunshine.
Average daily gasoline demand for the three weeks after the time change rose 2.8% from the same period a year ago and was the highest ever for the period, according to the Energy Department.

Some observers say the surge is linked to the earlier start for daylight-saving time, which began March 11 instead of the customary first Sunday in April.
USA Today – April 5, 2007

The obvious tact here would be to question the wisdom of our politicians in deciding what time we get up and go to sleep. But that’s not where I’m going with this article. The first two paragraphs are quoted above. Notice how paragraph two gives the slightest hint that a minority of observers take this viewpoint. Is it news to headline a concern of the average American, then in the first paragraph imply that Congress is responsible? The sensationalism of the article’s opening does catch the eye, but is it news or is it entertainment?

I guess to simply state the fact, followed up by interpretive opinions, is rather boring. The editors must believe that without some glitter my attention would be turned to something more appealing, like the newest Bond gadget.

Maybe they’re right. That is a sad state of affairs.

Six degrees of separation refers to the idea that, if a person is one “step” away from each person he or she knows and two “steps” away from each person who is known by one of the people he or she knows, then everyone is no more than six “steps” away from each person on Earth.

The television program “Lost” explores the idea of six degrees of separation, as almost all the characters have randomly met each other before the crash or someone the other characters know. There is a game called “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” which was invented in 1994 by two students at Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania, as a play on the concept: the goal is to link any actor to Kevin Bacon through no more than six connections, where two actors are connected if they have appeared in a movie together.

According to Wikipedia.org, some have taken the idea of six degrees of separation to mean that we’re all connected by 6 generations ( about 250 years). Genealogists have shown this to be false and that to link humankind to common ancestry would take about 1,200 years. The obvious meaning is that you know someone who knows someone, etc., etc. and within 6 connections you are linked to anyone else on this big blue ball. It is an unproven, but interesting theory.

We’ve all experienced meeting a friend of a mutual friend in some off the wall city or state. Even if the theory doesn’t prove to be true, the fact remains that there is something to it; if not six degrees, maybe eight or ten.

My mental roadtrip down this topic started in the parking lot of human interaction. Humankind needs others of our kind. Deep down inside none of us were made to go it alone. All of humanity is connected. We have vast cultural, spiritual and economic chasms, yet despite the diversity each of us needs to be connected to others. An important thought to ponder when we consider the things in life that are important.

• Perch Class Submarine
• Keel laid: March 25, 1935 at Electric Boat Company, Groton, CT
• Launched: July 7, 1936
• Commissioned: January 26, 1937
• Displacement: 1,330 tons surfaced; 1,997 tons submerged
• Length: 300′ 7″
• Beam: 21′ 5″
• Operating depth: 250′
• Complement: 5 officers, 45 enlisted
• Armament: six 21″ torpedo tubes, 18 torpedoes, one 3″/50 deck gun, two .50 cal. machine guns, four .30 cal. machine guns

She departed Pearl Harbor March 18, 1943 and, after topping off with fuel at Midway March 22, headed for the eastern coast of Northern Honshu and was never heard from again. PICKEREL was the first submarine to be lost in the Central Pacific area.

Post-war analysis of Japanese records credited PICKEREL with sinking 440-ton SUBMARINE CHASER NO. 13 on April 3 and 1,113-ton cargo ship FUKUEI MARU on April 7.

Examination of Japanese records after the war revealed an attack on a submarine off Shiramuka Lighthouse, northern Honshu on April 3, 1943. Naval aircraft bombed a submersible, then directed minelayer SHIRAGAMI and auxiliary submarine chaser BUNZAN MARU to the spot where they dropped twenty-six depth charges. A large quantity of oil floated to the surface. PICKEREL was the only American submarine in that area at the time. If, however, she survived the depth charging to sink FUKUEI MARU on the 7th, her cause of her loss is yet to be learned.

Pickerel earned three battle stars for World War II service.

Naval Historical Center

Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet

Patch(es) were obtained from:
NavSource Online (Submarine Photo Archive).
Originally contributed by Mike Smolinski.