The Week in Meep: Death to DST (and not us), Sumo (again), The Little Mermaid

I'm so tired

Blah.

Down with Changing Clocks

I’ve written about this twice before:

March 2024:

November 2023:

This unnecessary clock-changing leads to increased deaths in a few ways:

• Spring DST transition acutely increases fatal traffic accident risk by 6% in the US

• ∼28 fatal accidents could be prevented yearly if the DST transition was abolished

• Spring-DST-transition-associated fatal accident risk is highest in the morning

• Locations further west in a time zone are affected more by the spring transition

(Those are key takeaways from a research paper I highlighted in March 2024).

There is little evidence for cardiac incidence, but there is evidence that there is increasing car accidents from the time switches.

So: DON’T DO IT.

As I noted in my November 2023 piece, plenty of countries do no DST, in similar latitudes as the U.S., and they do just fine.

Adjust your business/school schedules if it’s such a big deal. Stop changing the clocks.

Given that it changed in most U.S. states today, be careful out there. This is one of the most dangerous weeks on U.S. roads (that doesn’t involve a holiday involving lots of booze… OH NO)

…but I’m getting ahead of myself.

SUMO!

Yep, it’s that time again, and there’s a NEW YOKOZUNA!

Having a great time!

I’ve decided to give the livestreams a miss (Japan, in its wisdom, does not follow DST), as I’m exhausted. So I watch the top-level makuuchi wrestlers on NHK World.

Sumo Mainichi covers the Juryo levels, sometimes, so I’ve been looking in on them.

I do need to update my weight-height scatterplot for this tournament, but I haven’t yet.

Hakkeyoi!

The Little Mermaid

Yesterday, my son D & I went to see the local school put on a show:

The kids put on a great show (with help from the adult musical accompaniment), but they also got a great surprise at their dress rehearsal last week — the composer, Alan Menken, showed up:

Imagine rehearsing a musical and looking up to see the legendary composer of the very songs you're performing sitting in the audience. That's exactly what happened to the Middle/High School students of "Disney's The Little Mermaid" during their Saturday rehearsal when North Salem resident Alan Menken, the EGOT-winning composer and conductor, joined them to hear them perform the songs he wrote.

The students' dreams swam into reality when Alan Menken himself watched them bring his iconic music to life under the direction of Katie Chan Chee. When the cast performed "Under the Sea," Menken was visibly moved, reflecting on the song's origins with his late collaborator Howard Ashman. Passionate young performers performing the same song that won his first Oscar brought tears to the composer's eyes.

The cast captivated Menken during their performance. He praised the students' singing, choreography, and costumes, and shared stories about Disney and Broadway from his long career. His visit elevated the production, creating a meaningful moment of artistic connection and inspiring a new generation of performers.

Oh right, I forgot Alan Menken lives in our town.

So that’s pretty cool.

I asked D what his favorite song in the show was, and of course he answered: Under the Sea

Can’t beat that one!

Enjoy!