Somewhere In Time

Some views hold that time is just a useful invention of humans and not a natural phenomenon. Time management is the basis of human society. Without the structure offered by time, a calendar and scheduling, civilisation would not have progressed. As you may have heard, time moves like the flow of a river. The waters pass by a bank, but it is never the same water. Moments to us can be compared to that flowing water. Each of us can reflect on that moment we remember with relish - but we will never be able to go back to that moment again. Time seems to go fast or slow down according to our emotions, how busy or not we are and when we are preoccupied with other things. Time is realised to be more finite once a person grows old. Time we have will not regenerate but brings each of us to recognise more of the impermanence of things. Forces of Earth remind us daily of the progress, completion and renewal of time in our lives. Sunrise, high noon and sunset. Perhaps more meaningful than feelings of the acceleration of time experienced in our personal lives is how and what we use time for every day of our lives. When one sinks into our interests, career and our loves, we can be less conscious about time. It does not matter about where all that time went, for we have focused and indulged into what we like to do with that dosage of time. It is only when we have a day when we are bored or feel stuck in a day of no progress that most likely we feel that time is moving so slowly. So how we feel about the progress of time has nothing to do at all with time. It is more about what we personally do with ourselves - and with our own time available to us. Giving your own time to someone else is a precious gift. #yongkevthoughts

Daylight Savings Patterns 2025

 In 2025, Canada, except for her province of Saskatchewan, started Daylight Savings Time (DST) on 2 March.  Nearby Nuuk ( Greenland, part of Denmark) also uses DST.

This was followed a week later on 9 March in the USA, except for the states of Hawaii and Arizona, which opted out of DST.

Small portions of Mexico bordering the USA implement DST, but not for the majority of territory in Mexico.

The UK this year began daylight savings on Sunday 30 March, like the European Union.

Several portions of the Middle East adopt Daylight Savings Time arrangements.  They are Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Gaza, West Bank and Israel.

In the Southern Hemisphere, south eastern states of Australia, Lord Howe Island, Norfolk Island and South Australia will end Daylight Savings Time on Sunday 6 April.  Western Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland do not use DST.

Unusually, New Zealand will do so on the same day  6 April 2025 (they often do so a week earlier than Australia).

Chile, including Easter Island in the eastern South Pacific, are exceptions in South America which otherwise do not implement DST.

The Antarctic uses DST.

There is no practice of daylight saving in Russia, Asia, Africa ( except Ceuta and Melilla), the South Pacific ( except for the Chatham Islands of New Zealand) and most of Central and  South America.

Specific Caribbean Islands, even with tropical weather, do use DST - Cuba, Haiti, Bermuda, Bahamas and Turks and Caicos.

There are nations which are on permanent DST and so do not bother their residents to move their clocks forwards or backwards. Examples are the Falkland Islands ( British Overseas Territory), Syria and Jordan.

Countries with warmer weather tend to not bother with DST - and vice versa. 

Smart devices like screen gadgets auto change time for users in areas subject to daylight savings changes twice a year. 
Just be more mindful when you are catching scheduled transport on the affected days.   Most governments change rhe time at 2 or 3 am in the middle of the night.

One gets an extra hour of sleep when daylight savings ends.  The reverse applies.  Some territories apply the change on long weekends, but it is always on an early Sunday morning.

All of these DST complications come from human intervention.  Countries which have cancelled DST include Russia, Brasil and Samoa.

#yongkevthoughts

Keeping In Touch

 So the Calendar marks another close of year.  For me, my posts here have reached their sweet seventeenth year.

I appreciate the contribution of friends and family around the world who have directly shared various valuable links and posts with me - theirs is such a rich tapestry of what concerns and inspires them.   Their taking time and effort to reach out to me is never to be underestimated.  At times we may have nothing to say, but such links and posts are just a valued way to keep in touch.

At the same time, have I sent to many Whats App messages, posted unnecessary photos or videos and spent more time on screen instead of doing other things?

It can be disappointing and sad that on the other hand, despite more effective ways of communicating in this technologically more advanced world, the world can witness less hellos, less reaching out, more scamming and more silence in varying levels of personal interaction.
Only messaging text adds more burden to the eyes, loss of social verbal skills and over use of light emitting screens. 

Social media in the worst criticism can be dominated by relentless flouting of divisive views that refuse to compromise,
dodgy video clips that may contain intrusive viruses and signs of personal boredom.  The beast can be addictive, all consuming and trivial in the end - we have to be mindful of this.

The sole reliance on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Tik Tok posts assumes everyone else spends time to check your posts.   The cyberspace can be full  of overloaded data like the debris circulating over Planet Earth.  Something can be amiss if one has not spoken to a Facebook contact in years - it can be obvious.  Individual brains can be transformed by the daily use of clicks, deletes and scrolling on a screen - are we becoming less patient, getting more sucked in on our stubborn beliefs and feeding on a dangerous addiction?

Getting connected in person is a different dish from broadcasting on Facebook, Tik Tok video clips or WhatsApp chat groups.

Apart from the agendas of obvious influencers social media mechanisms are often utilised by many to be a record of personal and family lives.  This virtual record is now dependent on wifi and external parties, instead of just the retro but independent photo album.  Many contacts can just be not interested in your personal or family records.  Those who truly are interested in you usually keep in touch in varied other ways.

Time is a personal asset that can never be replaced.   When someone offers you that, it is priceless.  Never take for granted when someone uses time, energy and interest to keep directly in touch.  Their time is an opportunity cost which can otherwise be used for their own personal development in their continuing journey of life.

#yongkevthoughts