We’ve stopped, at least for a while, tinkering with the natural order, relinquishing control of the passage of time back where it belongs, to the sun and the planets and the universe at large. For a brief period, beginning today, we will not attempt to exercise control over the cosmos. We will not attempt to save daylight by altering our clocks.
It’s my understanding that the concept of daylight saving time was first given birth during the earliest days of the Republic, when people modified their sleeping schedules to maximize the amount of time available to work during daylight hours. The framework of daylight savings time in use today was first proposed by George Vernon Hudson, an entomologist and astronomer who presented a paper to the Wellington (New Zealand) Philosophical Society in 1895, suggesting a two-hour shift in the clock. He followed up with a paper presented to the Royal Society of New Zealand in 1898.
Daylight Saving Time (DST) was first implemented broadly in the second decade of the twentieth century in parts of Europe. It spread worldwide in fits and spurts thereafter. In the U.S., it was used widely in the 1950s and 1960s; after the energy crisis of the early 1970s, its use was expanded in the U.S.
Aside from being “convenient” for some people’s schedules, DST has been promoted as a way to save energy, but an article in Time magazine suggests it actually causes an increase in energy usage. The article goes on further, citing an article in the American Journal of Cardiology, saying studies have shown messing with the clock can lead to increased heart attacks.
Come next March 9, we will once again tinker with time in yet another a vain attempt to control the cosmos.
Gee speaking of time, this Chicago tune could be a space of “anthem” in my neck of the woods…no joking!! 🙂
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qssWO8NSq0
It is a silly practice, this changing of the clocks.
Mexico didn’t adopt DST until 1996. What a rough year that was, for some people changed the clock, others decided not to! But then again, Mexico had fame back then of not giving much credence to “time”, anyway.
Yes, I’d read the same no to long ago that the change actually increased energy usage, and about the increase of heart attacks, also.
I remember in grade school, they’d (parents, teachers) told us the clocks being set back in fall was done so, for then the children didn’t have to go school in the dark of the early morning, and that “spring forward” was to allot us more time to play outside in the summer months!