Here we go again. The Nov. 2, 2022, Well+Being article “Why daylight saving time is worse for your body than standard time” was updated and republished on March 6. Repeatedly promoting the scientific but impractical viewpoint of neurologists and sleep experts completely ignores how humans live in the real world.
First, most polls show that a majority of Americans prefer daylight saving time for very pragmatic reasons. During much of standard time, we get up and drive to work in the darkness. Many of us never see the early-morning sun because we are already in our offices or or other workplaces. Then we drive home in darkness. We would much prefer it to have a little light in the evening.
More importantly, most Americans wake up by an alarm and go to work at the same time each day, with no regard for sunrise. And we often sleep in on weekends, missing sunrise entirely.
Further, from one side of a time zone to the other, sunrise varies by an hour every single day. And in much of the United States, sunrise varies by roughly 1.5 to 2 hours every six months (between the solstices).
We are not wild animals and are no longer hunter-gatherers. For better or worse, we live sophisticated lives, not by the sun but by the clock.
Greg Veal, Bath, Ohio
Making the most of the evening
The D.C. Council has a chance to protect consumers and address affordability in D.C.’s live entertainment sector. As co-founder of Thievery Corporation and a native Washingtonian, I support the Restricting Egregious Scalping Against Live Entertainment (Resale) Act, which would cap prices on ticket resales at 10 percent above face value.
Thievery Corporation has played the 9:30 Club and the Anthem 67 times over the past 25 years. We write, play, record and produce our music, hire band members, buses and drivers, and purchase plane tickets, hotel rooms and meals here in D.C. and across the globe. It’s our craft, our livelihood, our business.
Given what we’ve invested, it’s outrageous to see listings on StubHub, Vivid Seats and TicketNetwork. We priced recent 9:30 Club shows at $55, but scalper sites listed tickets as high as $4,964. Those gouging are not middlemen or “brokers,” as Ben Kruger described them in his March 11 Wednesday Opinion essay, “The outrage over concert ticket prices is real. Congress is chasing the wrong villain.” They’re opportunists who grab tickets just to rip off fans. It’s shameful and damaging to our band and our following.
I’ve also invested in many restaurants and clubs in D.C., so I know that when someone pays two or 10 times face value on a concert, that’s money not spent in restaurants. The Resale Act is legislation for both consumer protection and economic development in the District.
An added benefit: Price caps on ticket resales will draw nationally touring artists to play D.C. instead of neighboring states. We can all bank on that.
Eric Hilton, Washington
A March 11 editorial told readers, “Don’t expect cheaper concert tickets.”
I’ve been boycotting outrageously expensive concerts. It’s a disgrace. If you want to express your grievance toward the concert industry, just don’t support these companies.
Hugh O’Neill, Franklin, Tennessee
About those neighboring states
Reading the March 7 Style article “At Kennedy Center: A resignation and a pair of lawsuits,” detailing the departure of Jean Davidson as executive director of the National Symphony Orchestra, drove home stories I’ve heard of arts institutions and artists headed northward for Baltimore’s more welcoming Bohemian atmosphere. Some Baltimoreans have expressed worry about our city becoming “the new D.C.”
The real problem is that this will fuel your city’s inferiority complex and jealousy regarding the all-too-close and all-too-authentic (and thereby all-too-cool) American city of Baltimore. The danger is D.C. wanting to become “the new Baltimore.”
Stan Heuisler, Baltimore
Back on the roster and throwing a bomb
This past NFL season saw the return of Philip Rivers to an active roster. Rivers, who retired from professional play in 2021, won the hearts of many when the Indianapolis Colts called him up to starting quarterback. Football’s Cincinnatus, Rivers left his homestead to once more take up arms on the gridiron before laying them down again at the conclusion of the campaign.
I thought of Rivers and his positive example on March 11 when I came across the Wednesday Opinion essay “Trump is trying something new in Iran. Hold on tight.,” by one long forgotten: Douglas J. Feith. As undersecretary of defense for policy under President George W. Bush, Feith was an adjunct to planning the Iraq War. Since his fall-guy ouster in 2005, he has lived in relative seclusion, mostly at the neoconservative Hudson Institute. Feith emerged from his hermitage to encourage Post readers us to trust the process and not be overly concerned about the lack of a “day after” plan in Iran. In fact, Feith says that to want strategy at all is to hark back to “Bush’s outlook.”
There is certainly no better example for contextualizing the current moment than Feith. Like a neocon inversion of Cincinnatus, Feith has one more Middle East intervention left in him. He’s no Philip Rivers, folks, but he is back for love of the game.
David Lane, Charlottesville
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