Daylight Saving Time: Move Your Clock Back One Hour On Sunday
Daylight Saving Time.
Maybe you like it. Maybe you do not. Perhaps you don't even understand why we have it.
Well, here's a little history about DST and why we change our clocks twice each year.
We move our clocks forward one hour in the Spring and then move them back one hour in the Autumn, all in an effort to enjoy more afternoon sunshine. This Sunday, we move them back one hour.
Saving Daylight Is Not A New Idea
In 1784, Benjamin Franklin wrote an essay called “An Economical Project for Diminishing the Cost of Light,” a tongue-in-check suggestion that Parisians could economize candle usage by getting people out of bed earlier in the morning, making use of the natural morning light instead.
More than 100 years later, New Zealand scientist George Hudson presented a paper in 1895 to the Wellington Philosophical Society, proposing a two-hour shift forward in October and a two-hour shift back in March. His idea generated some interest but it never resulted in any actions.
Ten years later in 1905, British builder William Willett suggested setting clocks ahead 20 minutes on each of the four Sundays in April, and then reversing the process on each of the four Sundays in September. Can you imagine changing your clocks 8 times each year? Needless to say, this was not implemented either.
First Canada
It was actually in Canada that the first implementation of Daylight Saving Time was initiated.
Regina in Saskatchewan followed by the cities of Winnipeg and Brandon in Manitoba established DST in 1914. It proved to be very popular.
Then Germany
It was Germany though, in an effort to save coal and oil during World War I, that was the first country to establish DST in 1916.
The Brits and many other European countries were not far behind in establishing similar practices, thought most dropped DST once the war had ended. It would take World War II for Europe to return to Daylight Saving Time.
Then Us
In 1918, President Woodrow Wilson signed it into law "Fast Time" to support the war effort during World War I. The effort to implement our own DST plan was led by a Pittsburgh industrialist who had seen it work in the UK, and for this Robert Garland is remembered as the "Father of Daylight Saving" in the US.
Fast Time only lasted 7 months, as it was repealed at the end of the war. But some cities had grown fond of the extra daylight, thus places like Boston, New York and Pittsburgh remained on DST even as the national policy changed. It would take several more years until DST was reestablished nationally by FDR in 1942.
Daylight Saving Time was in effect from 1942 to 1945, but it was referred to "War Time." Tallahassee fell within the "Eastern Wartime" Zone. Once the war concluded in 1945, the "war time" was replaced with "peace time", thus Tallahassee was in the Eastern Peace Time Zone.
For the next twenty years, the was no national set of rules for the implementation of DST. This caused chaos in travel and industry. Eventually, the Uniform Time Act of 1966 was established by Congress, establishing a start of DST on the last Sunday of April and ending on the last Sunday of October, with States having the right to ignore DST if they deemed it appropriate. The States and territories nearest the equator do not have significant variances in Sunrise and Sunset throughout the year, thus many of them have established ordinances to ignore DST.
Since that time, there have been some tweaks and changes, and now Daylight Saving time starts on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. Which leads us up to the point of this entire article ...
DST November 2016
Sunday morning is DST, you need to set your clock back (Fall Back) one hour.
Perhaps now that you know the history of Daylight Saving Time, it will be easier to remember and you will not make the mistake of being early or late to a calendared engagement twice each year.
At Joe Manausa Real Estate, we believe that preparation and knowledge are key ingredients to saving money when you sell and buy a home. If you think you might be in the market to make a move in the next year, why not COME IN AND MEET US. We will put you on a path to gain more insight and knowledge of the process, and we'll show you how to turn this into savings when you do finally make your move.
Post a Comment