"Senior Moments" Articles
*as featured in The New Haven Register, Living Section

Firing cannons at dawn would save daylight, too

By Jean Cherni, H. Pearce Company's Senior Living Services Program

Articles

2008

Those of us old enough to remember Rudy Vallee associate the song, “My time is your time” with the nasal-voiced crooner. The history of Daylight Saving Time which starts today, would more appropriately be connected to the song, “I Didn’t Know What Time it Was”. Daylight Saving Time is a testament to the staying power of an idea despite the chaos and confusion of its’ implementation. Modern Daylight Saving Time was first proposed by William Willett in 1907 although Ben Franklin, when he was envoy to France, suggested Parisians economize on candles by rising earlier to use the morning sunlight and he also suggested firing cannons in each square at dawn to awake the populace. Time zones were first used by the railroads in 1883 to standardize their schedules. The first DST Act in 1918, in an effort to save energy during World War 1, was so unpopular, it was repealed the following year. In 1942, President Roosevelt instituted a year-round DST to save energy during World War 1. After the war ended, some states adopted their own summer time changes. Then in 1966, Congress passed the Uniform Time Act in an effort to achieve consistency in the starting and ending dates for DST but it allowed individual states to remain on standard time if they so chose. In 1973, an oil embargo led Congress to pass a test period of year-round daylight saving. It ended after two years due to complaints that the dark winter mornings were dangerous for children leaving for school. It is interesting to note that India, China and Japan do not observe DST. In Japan, it was felt that the lighter evenings would entice children away from doing their homework. In 1986 the Federal law was amended to start DST on the first Sunday in April and end the last Sunday in October. The most recent change, in 2005, occurred when President Bush signed a new Act which stated DST will commence on the second Sunday in March and end on the first Sunday in November. Are you still with me, so far??? According to the New York Times, “We will now have more orderly confusion with the whole country placed on Daylight Saving Time unless by a special act of a State legislature, that state wishes to remain on standard time”. I wonder what will happen in Minnesota where residents had a saying, “Convicts do time, soldiers do double time and Minnesotans do triple time”. Part of the state last year was observing central standard time, another part, daylight time and a third, extended daylight… all at once.

As to who likes DST and who doesn’t, there is traditionally an urban-rural split. Farmers are against it as they say their cows don’t recognize the time difference. City patrons of bars lose one hour of drinking time when the bar closes an hour earlier. DST affects the bottom line of radio stations licensed to operate only in the daytime as they lose their most profitable time of day; the morning drive time. Pushing DST into November has been proposed as a way to encourage greater voter participation since it is felt more people will go to the polls if it is still light. Statistics indicate that violent crime lessens and energy costs fall, as well. Meanwhile, I’ve been considering what to do with the extra hour I will “save”. Should I polish the silver, study a foreign language, clear out the glove compartment of the car or plan my dinner meals for the next two weeks? On second thought, I’m sure that the extra hour will get spent re-setting clocks, appliances and other digital displays. Happy “spring forward” everybody!

Jean Cherni is founder of Senior Living Solutions, a retirement advisory service.  Contact her at jeancherni@sbcglobal.net or 15 The Ponds, Branford 06405.

H. Pearce Company REALTORS® is a full-service real estate company with more than 100 agents and branch offices in greater New Haven and the Shoreline. Corporate and & Commercial offices are located in North Haven, where the company was founded in 1958. All listings can be found in color on the web at: www.hpearce.com.




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