STRANGELAND.NET

Daylight Savings Time is something that really needs to go away. When it was originally put into place, it was to save money during World War I. Obviously that is long past, and there are questions as to whether there is actually any energy savings to be had. There are studies to be found that note the energy savings for the country was 0.02% of the energy expenditure for the year.

Given this, I definitely believe we should simply get rid of Daylight Savings Time and all of the issues surrounding it. From the general lack of sleep when we “Spring Forward” to the loss of time and productivity for people who forget to change their clocks (though in the day and age of cellphones and computers that auto-update, that’s not as big a deal anymore), there simply isn’t an overwhelming need to keep Daylight Savings Time.

I’d write more on it, but I need to catch a nap to try and find that hour Daylight Savings Time stole from me on Sunday.

stranger King of the World

As I noted before, the King of the World bits on Monday will vary from whimsical to serious and everything in between. I debated going with a serious topic for the first one, but I figure something a bit more light hearted would probably be in order.

Several people know that I’m again making a concerted effort not to look like a bear getting ready to go down for his winter nap. As part of this, I’ve downloaded a few things to my iPhone to help me make more of a go at it. One of these helps me track what I’m eating, something I’ve been horrible at doing over the years. Rather than being Weight Watchers points (which a number of friends have had a great success with), it’s tracking my caloric intact and giving me a daily calorie count based on my weight and goal.

One of the big problems I’m coming up with, however, is determining exactly how many calories are in something. The little app I’m using (Lose It! for the iPhone users out there) has a number of preset things in it, including things from national chain restaurants. My issue is I will either cook myself or go to a restaurant that isn’t a chain (for instance, lunch on Friday was at a little place called 5 Seasons. Like many restaurants, they don’t list the nutritional information on their menu nor is it something I can really find online. So the slightly OCD part of me (yes, just slightly… I swear!) gets annoyed that I have to gestimate the calorie count.

Sure, I can find close proximities online, but it’s just not the same as knowing exactly what I’m eating. Most of the time, I do try and err on the high side just in case, but I’d much rather put the actual numbers in there.

So if I were King of the World, I’d want to see a global database set up to determine calorie count in any given food. For this, you would put in the ingredients, the amount, hit a button, and it would spit out what the total calories in the meal is. Granted, it would still be a guestimate (really, who is going to know whether you’re hitting a cup of something or a cup and a 1/4 if you’re going to a restaurant), but it would be a lot closer than the ‘well, this item online looks like it might be the same’ I’m forced to use right now.

All in all, it’s likely a good thing that I’m not King of the World. After all, much of the time and running around would be for frivolous little things like this to the point that the important things would likely never get implemented. For now, though, I am not King of the World, so I’m relegated to guessing how much of something I’m putting into my body and kicking my OCD side in the head to shut it up.

stranger King of the World