WTF is Daylight Saving Time?! - A Brief History and 10 Good, Bad and Really Strange Things About It!

It Started out as a Joke

American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin wrote an essay called “An Economical Project for Diminishing the Cost of Light” to the editor of The Journal of Paris in 1784. In the essay, he suggested, although jokingly, that Parisians could economize candle usage by getting people out of bed earlier in the morning, making use of the natural morning light instead.

Fast forward to strangely enough, a sunlight loving Englishman who first proposed the DST to the English parliament in 1908 because it was such a shame that not everybody gets early morning sunlight — to be specific, those who prefer to sleep in. His proposal was denied in 1908... and in 1909, 1910 and 1911. William Willett sure loved his sunlight but he never lived long enough to see everyone else applaud or complain about DST because he died in 1915, which is a shame because it was finally implemented in 1916. Not in England but in Germany.

DST in the United States

In the U.S, “Fast Time” as it was called then, was first introduced in 1918 when President Woodrow Wilson signed it into law to support the war effort during World War I.

Only seven months, later the seasonal time change was repealed. However, some cities, including Pittsburgh, Boston, and New York, continued to use it until President Franklin D. Roosevelt instituted year-round DST in the United States in 1942.

The US Congress extended DST to a period of ten months in 1974 and eight months in 1975, in hopes to save energy following the 1973 oil embargo. The trial period showed that DST saved the energy equivalent of 10,000 barrels of oil each day, but DST still proved to be controversial. Many complained that the dark winter mornings endangered the lives of children going to school.

Most areas of the United States observe daylight saving time (DST), the exceptions being Arizona (except for the Navajo Nation, which does observe daylight saving time),^[1]Hawaii,^[2] and the overseas territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands.

Most of the United States begins Daylight Saving Time at 2:00 a.m. on the second Sunday in March and reverts to standard time on the first Sunday in November. In the U.S., each time zone switches at a different time.

Savings or Saving

Savings is incorrect, Saving is the right term, although it is the more common to hear and write it with an “S” at the end of “saving”.

In some countries, it is also called “summer time”. When DST is not observed, it is called standard time, normal time or winter time.

It varies widely across the world. Today approximately 70 countries utilize Daylight Saving Time in at least a portion of the country. Japan, India, and China are the only major industrialized countries that do not observe some form of daylight saving.

Good Things about Daylight Saving Time

Bombing BungledIn September 1999, the West Bank was on Daylight Saving Time while Israel had just switched back to standard time. West Bank terrorists prepared time bombs and smuggled them to their Israeli counterparts, who misunderstood the time on the bombs. As the bombs were being planted, they exploded--one hour too early--killing three terrorists instead of the intended victims--two busloads of people.

I Want Candy

Daylight Saving Time was extended to end after Halloween not because any energy is being saved, but because the candy industry wanted trick-or-treaters to be out longer.

Above Par

Golf courses are also part of the group because they earn more when there's DST. In Michael Downing's book "Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time," he mentions that the golf industry claims that an "additional month of daylight has meant more time on the links and an additional $400 million in revenue."

Bad Things about Daylight Saving time

Money, Money, Money, Money

DST costs the U.S. billions of dollars a year in disruptions to the airline and retail industry, TV ratings and the stock market.

Change is Hard

A 2008 study found that the rate of suicides and heart attacks increase in the first few days after we “Spring forward” for Daylight Savings.

Last Call

Daylight Saving Time activates at exactly 2 a.m., and that most government mandated bar closings occur at 1:59 to prevent an extra hour of drinking.

Strange Things about Daylight Saving Time

Jacob and EsauTwins born at 11:55 p.m. and 12:05 a.m. may have different birthdays, Daylight Saving Time can change birth order -- on paper, anyway. During the time change in the fall, one baby could be born at 1:55 a.m. and the sibling born ten minutes later, at 1:05 a.m. Also, in the spring, there is a gap when no babies are born at all: from 2:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m.

Freedom Fries

During Daylight Saving Time based it was found that fast-food restaurants sell more French fries.

Old History

Ancient civilizations are known to have engaged in a practice similar to modern DST where they would adjust their daily schedules to the Sun's schedule. For example, the Roman water clocks used different scales for different months of the year.