SAVING DAYLIGHT Instead of turning your clocks back this Sunday, Ben Franklin would have wanted us to fire some loud cannons, ring some really big church bells, have a parade at dawn... anything to wake people up early and make good use of all of that free daylight! In a satirical letter published in 1784, Franklin -- ever the economist -- puts forth some bold ideas for ways to save candle wax and make better use of the plentiful rays of the sun. Many people think Ben Franklin was an early proponent of Daylight Saving Time (DST), but they got it twisted. It was just a joke! The modern day version of daylight saving time was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Vernon Hudson in 1895. Germany was the first country to officially adopt DST in 1916 in an effort to conserve energy and the U.S. followed suit in 1918 as a wartime measure. Since then, Daylight Saving Time has had its fair share of fans and haters, having been nationally repealed and reinstated several times. Today, not all of us in the U.S. observe DSL. Hawaii and Arizona—with the exception of the state’s Navajo Nation—do not observe DSL, and the U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands also remain on standard time year-round. Some Amish communities also choose to opt out. All of this to say... DONT FORGET TO TURN YOUR CLOCKS BACK 1 HOUR THIS SUNDAY! (Or your smart phone will do it for you.)
Posted on: Wed, 29 Oct 2014 10:00:01 +0000
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