Good Neighbors

The Canada–United States border officially known as the International Boundary, is the longest international border in the world between two countries. Eight Canadian provinces and territories and thirteen US states are located along the border.

At one point the border between Canada on the north and the US runs through the villages of Derby Line, Vermont, and Stanstead, Quebec - and though the middle of the town library.

It physically snakes through side streets, in and out of houses, through the public library, and straight down the middle of a main road that residents affectionately call “Canusa Avenue." An apartment building in town has two addresses, one for each country.

Incidentally, Canada borders are east, west, north, and south of the US. In Alaska, Canada is directly East. In many northern US continental states, Canada is directly North. In Maine, it is directly West and North. In Detroit, Michigan, Canada is directly South. Part of Washington State is both North and South of Canada. See my blog  LINK

Top 10 Viewers of Shubsthoughts

The top ten countries viewing my blog this month, in order are: Russia, US, Germany, France, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Portugal, India, China. Thank you to all my new BFFs. I hope you continue to enjoy. Hey Soedinyonnye Shtaty Amerik watzup! 

Daylight saving Time

Daylight saving time is often incorrectly referred to as “Daylight savings time.” It is difficult to imagine why some still follow this political tradition of messing with our clocks in the vain attempt to change Mother Nature. Nonetheless, this Sunday, March 9, 2014 is the day in the US most move our clocks forward one hour (and also to change the batteries on smoke detectors), while some are not required to change their clocks.

United States Congress established the Uniform Time Act of 1966 that stated DST would begin on the last Sunday of April and end on the last Sunday of October. The US Congress extended DST to a period of ten months in 1974, and back to eight months in 1975. The DST schedule period lasted for about seven months from 1987 to 2006. The current schedule began in 2007 and follows the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which extended the period by about one month where DST starts on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November.

Interesting that the vast majority, well over one hundred countries, do not change clocks for DST or any other reason. Those that do observe it have different days, ranging from Mar 9 to April 6, and September in New Zealand, Antarctica, and Namibia. Some of Australia changes on October 5, with other parts of Australia not changing their clocks.

Pro - According to a 2004 Japan Productivity Centre (sic) for Socio-Economic Development report titled, 'Summer Time as a Means to Lifestyle Structural Reform', "lighter evenings could, in the long-term, reduce bag theft by up to 10 percent."

Con - The California Energy Commission published a report, 'The Effect of Early Daylight Saving Time on California Electricity Consumption: A Statistical Analysis'. According to the report, the extension of daylight saving time in March 2007 had little or no effect on energy consumption in California.

No studies have been conducted to prove the heated rhetoric caused by DST discussions that could possibly increase global warming by .1658%

Wise words indeed!

Daylight Savings

It is getting to that time of year when we need to change our clocks again. (November 3 this year)  Benjamin Franklin  is often credited with the idea, but he only mentioned it in jest in a satirical essay.

The idea was never seriously pushed until 1895 when George Vernon Hudson, presented the idea as a way for people to have more daylight and consequently more leisure time after work. While there was interest in Hudson’s idea, it still didn’t catch on until 1916 when Germany adopted DST as a method to save fuel during World War I. Others, including the US and Great Britain, used DST during World War I and II, yet reverted to standard time during peace years. It wasn’t until about 40 years ago, during the energy crisis of the 1970s, that Daylight Savings Time was made permanent in many areas.

Much has been argued for and against Daylight Savings benefits. I side with the majority who think it is a waste of time and energy to change clocks twice a year. Likely more time is wasted discussing the matter than any real or imagined benefits from it.

Wordology, Jail and Prison

These two words do not mean the same thing. In the US, jails are run by county sheriff’s office and prisons are run by the state. In Canada, jails are run by the provincial government and prisons are run by the federal government.

Third World Countries

They are not primitive, underdeveloped, or poor, as many believe. A third world country is just a country that is not considered a capitalist country (first world) or a communist country (2nd world). The terms “first world” and “second world” virtually disappeared from usage after the fall of the Soviet Union.
 
The terminology came about just after WWII with the “first world” countries that were aligned with the United States common political and economic structure (capitalists). Second world countries were those that aligned with the Soviet Union in terms of their political and economic structure (communists and socialists). Third world countries were the rest that were not aligned with either, whether poor or not.

Correct term to refer to poor or underdeveloped countries is “Developing World”.

Life Span vs. Life Expectancy

There are two kinds of life span. One is maximum life span, the greatest age reached by any member of a species. In humans this is currently about 120 years. (The oldest confirmed recorded age for any human is 122 years). The other is average life span, the average age reached by members of a population.

Life expectancy is the number of remaining years an individual can expect to live, based on his or her current age and average life spans. Life expectancy generally quoted is the ''at birth'' number which is an average that includes all the babies that die before their first year of life as well as people that die from disease, war, etc. For example, the Life Expectancy table at the University of Texas shows ''at birth'' the life expectancy was 25, but at the age of 5 it jumped to 48. So life expectancy changes with your age.

Mozambique has the lowest life expectancy for its population at 39.2. Japan is the highest at 82.7 and the US is 38th at 78.2 years.

How Big Is It?

The US is about half the size of Russia, three-tenths the size of Africa, half the size of South America, slightly larger than Brazil, slightly larger than China, and more than twice the size of the European Union. 90% of the continental United States is still open space or farmland.