Are you ready for it? Daylight saving time begins this Sunday at 2:00 a.m. local time. We “spring forward” so you will have to move your clock one hour ahead at that time! Some of us like moving the clock ahead and some of us don’t, but in celebration of this event, here are some facts you may not know about it:
•According to legend, Ben Franklin once proposed the idea as a way of preserving candles in the 18th century. Candles were the main source of light during this time period;
•The moving of the clocks didn’t actually become law until World War I with the Standard Time Act of 1918;
•The United States Department of Transportation is responsible for determining time zones and daylight saving time in our country;
•The transportation industry was concerned about the lack of a consistent, uniform time observance in the United States. This was enough to push for federal legislation which led to the Uniform Time Act of 1966;
•Under the above act, states can opt out of daylight saving time. Arizona and Hawaii do not observe daylight saving time;
•In 2005, the Energy Policy Act changed the date that daylight saving time started from the first Sunday in April to the second Sunday in March;
•Finally, there is no “s” in “saving.” It’s daylight saving time. Also, according to the Associated Press stylebook, the words are all in lowercase.
So there are a few facts for you to mull over while grumbling that you are losing an hours worth of sleep!