There was so much that happened over the last weekend. I’ll start with my favorite – that extra hour of sleep. Although while I tried to enjoy that hour, the pets were screaming that I was thoughtlessly and deliberately trying to starve them to death. And they aren’t alone. Not everyone is a fan of the clock movement twice a year.
According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, Standard Time better aligns with our intrinsic circadian rhythm, and disrupting that with Daylight Saving Time can put us at increased risk for metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease and depression. Yikes. According to Phyllis Zoe, chief of sleep medicine at Northwestern University, “It’s really not a good thing to have your internal body clock out of sync. Imagine being in jetlag a lot of the time.”
But proponents of Daylight Saving Time argue that days with longer periods of sunlight lower the number of car accidents and reduce crime. I get the car accidents. But crime? An article in the Review of Economics and Statistics has said Daylight Saving Time provides greater safety because there’s daylight during the high-crime 5-8 p.m. period. It found that robberies actually decreased around 7 percent over all. The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research conducted its own survey. Forty per cent of its respondents support permanent standard time. But 31 percent opted for permanent daylight saving time. So the debate will continue. But I hope by now your actual timepieces have been reset as you wait for your body to catch up and your pets to quit crying.
When you read this, midterm voting will be over. We will turn from constant political advertising back to pharmaceutical advertising. These ads are just as special as they remind us that the medications that can heal our multitude of ailments can also kill us about ten different ways. So there is that to look forward to.
And, of course, nobody won the Powerball drawing on Saturday, so we’re back in that hunt. Since I’m writing this before I know the results of Monday’s drawing, I have no idea if you are a lucky winner or not. But with the odds of winning being 1 in 2.92 million, I’m guessing you probably haven’t quit your job or bought a deserted island or two. So if you still have a little bit of unfulfilled gambling fever, I’ll tell you what we’ve got going on at the chamber.
Our annual golf outing is coming up Friday, November 18. At that tournament, we have several games of chance where the odds of winning are much more reasonable. You can test your luck with our huge Lotto Board. You get dozens of chances to win, with $150 worth of lotto tickets surrounding a crisp $50 dollar bill. Tickets to try to win the Lotto Board are only $20 each. For the Ball Drop, you can watch in awe and amazement as golf balls drop from the sky. Will your ball be the lucky winner? You have to play to find out. Only $20 gets your eight balls – the more you purchase, the better your chances.
And, finally, the chest of cheer: we have a chest filled to the brim with different types of alcoholic beverages – just in time to amaze your guests during the holidays. Just $10 for one ticket or three for $20. You don’t have to be present at our golf tournament to win these prizes. So come over to the chamber to test your luck. But if you do want to be present to win, we still have two more foursomes available at our outing at Freedom Fairways. Early bird pricing is over, but as executive director, I’m making an executive decision and we’ll let you in for $80 per golfer. So come on over to the chamber this week, and we’ll get you all set up. Hopefully, by then we’ll have changed the chamber office clock to Standard Time. I’m going to have to drag out the stepladder!
Lynne Conlan is executive director of the South Hillsborough Chamber of Commerce. Call her at 813-634-5111, or email lynne@southhillschamber.com.
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