springing forward with a scowl

what is with the time change? does anybody like this spring forward thing? (notice that i had no complaints when i got an extra hour of sleep in november)

well, i decided some research was in order...

it was benjamin franklin's idea to start daylight savings time -dst (as you may have learned from the movie national treasure). in an essay he wrote in 1784, he suggested that changing the clocks in the spring could help save on candles. it didn't catch on so quickly. the states would try dst out for a couple of years and then stop and then try it again and then stop. it was very inconsistent and confusing. in 1966 the united states officially observed daylight savings time with the uniform time act, but individual states do not have to comply. arizona and hawaii do not, and indiana was literally a mess until 2006. even the counties in indiana were on different times. some followed daylight savings and others didn't, until a statewide law was passed in 2006 implementing it.

did you know....

• europe has completely different days when the time changes. they are usually a week or two different than our time changes in the states.
• only 70 countries observe dst and most of the u.s. territories don't.
• some amish communities in canada and the u.s. don't oberve it, but some do.
• during the 50's and 60's, before the uniform time act, each town/city/county could start and end dst when they wanted. one year, 23 different pairs of dst start and end dates were used in only iowa. on one ohio to west virginia bus route, passengers had to change their watches seven times in 35 miles.
• the navajo nation in arizona does practice dst. but the hopi reservation, which is entirely surrounded by the navajo nation, doesn’t observe dst. so there is a donut-shaped area in arizona that does observe dst, but the “hole” in the center does not.
• in a study done in the 70's it was found that dst lessened electricity usage by only 1% and more recent studies show that the savings is offset by air conditioners running in warmer areas.

this is seriously all so confusing. i say we vote to abolish this chaos!

got my info here and here