Issue 44.14
I usually write about really exciting wood stuff, but the time change is looming and I hear a lot of talk about it. I’m not a fan of time change. I don’t care which one “they” pick, just quit messing with us. I’ve been wondering how this all got started. I’m sure I’ve heard or even learned in school but since forgot. Here are a few tidbits I found when I researched Daylight Saving Time.
Did you know it doesn’t have an “s” on Saving? I didn’t either. According to Google search engine more people “Google” Savings then Saving. Wal-Mart doesn’t have an “s” either.
At 2 a.m. on, Sunday, November 2, 2014, most U.S. residents will set their clocks back one hour for the end of Daylight Saving Time. However, not all states will observe the time change. Residents of Arizona, Hawaii and U.S. territories Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands will remain on their normal schedules.
About 75 countries and territories have at least one location that observes Daylight Saving Time, according to TimeandDate.com. Conversely, 164 don’t observe the time change at all.
Daylight Saving Time messes with our bodies. There’s a spike in heart attacks during the first week of daylight saving time, according to a study published in 2008. The loss of an hour’s sleep may make people more susceptible to an attack, some experts say. When daylight saving time ends in the fall, heart attacks briefly become less frequent than usual. Skip the gym this Sunday, you’re probably not going to have a heart attack this week.
Benjamin Franklin has been credited with the idea of Daylight Saving Time, but Britain and Germany began using the concept in World War I to conserve energy. The U.S. used Daylight Saving Time for a brief time during the war, but it didn’t become widely accepted in the States until after the Second World War
In 1966, the Uniform Time Act outlined that clocks should be set forward on the last Sunday in April and set back the last Sunday in October. Due to mass confusion even within cities and suburbs this act gave the right to each state to determine adherence to Daylight Saving Time. Cities, Counties, etc. no longer have the right to determine recognition of Daylight Saving Time.
That law was amended in 1986 to start daylight saving time on the first Sunday in April, though the new system wasn’t implemented until 1987. The end date was not changed, however, and remained the last Sunday in October until 2006
Today, Daylight Saving Time begins on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. Thanks to the Energy Policy Act of 2005, signed into law by President George W. Bush. This extended the length of Daylight Saving Time by four weeks.
Not a fan of Daylight Saving Time? Don’t worry: You can resume your normal schedule on Nov. 2.
Thanks for reading. If you need any cabinetry or woodwork, repaired, renewed or replaced for the holidays please call us at 435-669-7080. Estimates are free in the Saint George area.