October 29, 2009
Thursday

You did remember that you are to fall back this weekend, didn't you?

Daylight Saving Time ends this weekend, at 2 a.m. Sunday morning. You need not get up for it. Setting the clocks back one hour can be done the night before or the morning after. Your call entirely.

It is hard to believe, especially as how quietly this weekend has sneaked up on us, that Daylight Saving Time was once an enormously controversial concept. Benjamin Franklin thought it up in 1784 but it took another 132 years and a world war before anyone tried it.

For years, the United States left Daylight Saving as a matter of local option, causing great confusion until it was standardized in 1966. Congress has played around with the dates several times, finally settling on the current system in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Since 2007, Daylight Saving has commenced on the second Sunday in March and ended on the first Sunday in November.

No actual daylight is saved. The sun is going to rise and set regardless of how we set our clocks. But DST does give us longer and lighter summer evenings.

The fire departments recommend that as you go around resetting your clocks you also change the batteries in your smoke detectors. Good advice.

And think of what seems to be an extra hour of sleep as a little reward for putting up with the winter to come. We will reconvene in this space next March 14 when we will -- spring forward.

SitNews ©2009
Stories In The News
Ketchikan, Alaska

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