Daylight Savings Time - An Idea Straight from Satan???

Posted on March 25th, 2005 by Christine.
Categories: Pissed Off & Proud of It.

When do I have to change the clock and do I go forward or back?

Spring forward, fall back… that’s the mantra to remember. In short, you need to set your alarm clock for 2 a.m. on Sunday, April 3rd, drag your tired ass out of bed, re-set your clock for 3 a.m., and then go back to bed without being bitter that you not only had to get up at a time that no sane person would, and try to have a good attitude about losing an hour of rest.

Does Daylight Saving Time actually save daylight? And if so, where is it stored?

The sun does not observe our daylight saving routine, and therefore doesn’t produce any extra sunlight. But here’s why we do it… by changing the clocks, tricking ourselves into thinking it’s 8:00 p.m., when it’s actually 7:00 p.m., the sun sets an hour later. That gives us more hours of daylight when we will actually use it (in the evening, as opposed to in the early morning when a lot of people are asleep anyway). During summer months, when it is warm, an extra hour of daylight means having an extra hour to do stuff outside, and enjoy the nice, warm weather before it gets dark.

Who the hell invented this thing?

Actually, Benjamin Franklin came up with the idea of daylight saving (he had a lot of good ideas– remember, he was the guy with the kite, the key, and the string… ). He created the plan as a way for resources to be saved. And actually, if that was the goal, it works. Because there is daylight for a longer period in the evening, people stay outside longer and don’t come in and use electricity to watch t.v. and turn on lights inside the house. It basically eliminates one hour between the sunset and bedtime that people would use energy inside their homes. It might seem insignificant, but it’s not. When you multiply one hour by a large percentage of households, a significant amount of energy is saved.

Can I move someplace where I never have to deal with changing my clocks again?

You can. And if it is such an inconvenience to you to change your clocks twice a year… or if you have trouble figuring out HOW to change your clock, let me be the first to encourage you to move away.
Daylight Saving Time is not observed in Hawaii and Arizona (except the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona does observe it– go figure), and part of Indiana (most of which is located in the Eastern time zone), and several U.S. territories (you know… those islands we own but won’t let them become states) like Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the Virgin Islands don’t observe it.

Do other countries do this too?

Yes. Most of Europe does… as a matter of fact they adopted it before we did here in the States. The U.S. began recognizing Daylight Savings in 1918. It had a shakey start here because Roosevelt (during WWII) actually adopted “War Time” which meant each state could decide when they wanted to turn their clocks back or not and the whole thing got really screwed up. The Uniform Time Act in 1966 (does anyone else find it funny that the U.S. needed an “act” to establish time?) fixed the problem and standardized the process.

What does Daylight Saving Time have to do with smoke detectors?

Nothing. But apparently, although most American homes have smoke detectors, we aren’t real attentive to changing out our batteries and it is estimated that only 1/3 of smoke detectors actually have the batteries required to detect smoke. So… to help remind people to change their batteries, a campaign was launched to remind people to change them when they change the clocks (which is every 6 months). Since a lot of people can’t remember to change their clocks, or whether they’re supposed to go forward or back, I’m not sure that this was a successful campaign, but I appreciate anyone who is concerned for my safety and doesn’t want me to burn to death while I sleep.

Is Daylight Saving Time hazardous to our health?

No. That is a stupid question.

Is there anything else I should know about Daylight Saving Time in order to consider myself an educated person that has something to contribute to society?

I don’t think so… I mean, I pretty much covered the important stuff. But if anyone else thinks of anything, please post it.

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