Don’t forget to turn those clocks ahead one hour before you go to bed Saturday night! Daylight Saving Time is ready to bless us with its presence again on Sunday morning at 2 AM sharp. Did I say bless us? It’s taking away a hour of our sleep, that can’t be a blessing, more like a curse!
But anyway, we lose an hour of sleep until November 1st, at which time we can blissfully sleep in an extra hour…or two.
Did you ever wonder where DST came from? Who was the crackpot that thought we’d all get by better with an hour less sleep on a cold day in March? What was its original intent?
No? Well, too bad, here’s a little timeline of the major moments in DST history:
1784: Ben Franklin writes a paper extolling the virtues of extending daylight in order to save candles. [Candles??]
1883: The U.S. and Canada listen to the cries of their railroad executives and adopt Standard Time. [As opposed to Irregular Time...]
1918: The U.S. establishes a daylight-saving time to run for seven months to conserve electricity during World War I. Once the war was over, the national law is dropped and daylight-saving time became a local option. [So we needed a war to save a few light bulbs?]
1942: During World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt orders a year-round daylight-saving time, called “War Time,” which runs for three years. [Gee, we must still be on War Time!]
1944: For the next two decades, there is no national law. States and jurisdictions can choose whether to observe daylight-saving time and when to begin and end it. [And that's when everyone started being late for work...]
1966: Congress passes the Uniform Time Act of 1966, establishing a beginning and end date for daylight-saving time, but leaves it up to local jurisdictions to decide whether to use it. [We don't care if ya use it, but if ya do, ya gotta start it and stop it like WE say!]
1973: Congress enacts the Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act in response to the Arab oil embargo. Daylight-saving time is extended to eight months rather than the normal six. The Department of Transportation says the equivalent of 100,000 barrels of oil each day was saved. [Sounds like a plan...when do we start?]
1986: Daylight saving is moved from the last Sunday of April to the first Sunday of April. The end date is left the same. [April Fools! You were late for work again, weren't you?]
1987: Chile delays its time change by one day to accommodate a papal visit. [The Pope stops time!]
2005: Congress passes the Energy Act of 2005 which starts daylight-saving time one month earlier in the spring and extends it one week later in the fall, beginning in 2007. [Geez, took 'em 32 years to try to save some more energy? And gas is STILL 2 bucks a gallon...]
Well, there you have it. The, um, highlights of the history of Daylight Saving Time. Oh, and before we go, here are two more little tidbits for you:
- Two states—Arizona and Hawaii—and three U.S. territories—American Samoa, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands—don’t observe daylight saving time. Indiana adopted DST in 2006. And,
- It’s officially “Daylight Saving Time”, not “Daylight Savings Time”. But in the end, who cares…we still lost an hour of sleep!
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