"...The Case For Keeping Hands Off The Hands Of Time..."

Two annual rituals are upon us again.

Moving the clocks forward one hour to implement the beginning of Daylight Saving Time.

My whining about moving the clocks forward one hour to implement the beginning of Daylight Saving Time.

First, though, in the spirit of glass half full, here are some fun facts for you to know and tell.



When is it?We spring ahead the second Sunday in March. This year the time change starts on Sunday, March 13 and ends Sunday, November 6. Not all states observe the time difference: Hawaii, most of Arizona, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands opt out.
Why do we have daylight saving time?The hope is that we save energy -- since there's less of a need to switch on the lights if natural light will do. Studies have shown the electricity conserved on the new schedule is actually pretty nominal. But look on the bright side. Those longer light-filled days are sure nice. Searches on the time switch have increased 797% in the last week. The sunlight-deprived would like to know "what is daylight saving time," "daylight saving time dates," and "origins of daylight saving time."
What is the history of daylight saving time?Fun fact: The idea was first floated back in 1784 by one Benjamin Franklin. While minister of France he wrote the essay "An Economical Project for Diminishing the Cost of Light." The idea failed to see the light of day until practically 100 years later, when the U.S. railroads instituted a standardized time for their train schedules. That time change was imposed nationally during the first World War to conserve energy, but was repealed after the war ended. It became the national time again during World War II.
After that, it was a free-for-all of states deciding if they wanted it, and when it would start and end. Congress finally enacted the Uniform Time Act in 1966, which decreed that if a state chose to opt in to daylight saving, it had to be at the same time as everyone else.
Why does it start at 2 a.m.?The website LiveScience explains that's it's pretty much the least disruptive time of day to make a switch. After all, most of us are asleep. Those who work on Sunday usually start later than 2 a.m.
Don't lose sleep over itWhile the shift is only one hour, according to Health Day, sleep disorder specialists say you should prepare yourself: You actually can lose sleep over the time change. Experts suggest being well rested before the time change by getting up and going to bed an hour earlier. Our unscientific suggestion: On Sunday, sleep in.

There you go, Frances, I hope this adds to your enjoyment of the holidays.

Now...

I'm on record as not being a big fan of the whole DST deal. And since my circumstances won't allow for a move to Hawaii, most of Arizona, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands, my best case would be for them to simply do away with it all together.

Here's my list of time change turnoffs, some sensible, some selfish.

• It confuses people. While the act of moving clock hands (or digits) forward one hour seems simple enough, the resulting confusion for many is anything but. And, next to "do you think these jeans make my butt look fat?" and "do you mind if I smoke?, there may be no more annoying question in our day to day than the oft heard, "okay, but what time is it really?"
• As related above, the original purpose of the thing was to save something. It doesn't really save anything...and it's confusing (see above).
• "Night people" are screwed out of nighttime because while the eco-geeks cheerfully refer to it as Daylight Saving Time, the fact is that the thing is more correctly called "Daylight Extending Time" and, if you live on the East coast, you have to live with sunshine and clear light of day right up to, and sometimes well past, the opening theme music for Letterman.
• The "act" is discriminatory and prejudicial. Those wack jobs who dig a twenty hour daylight day are half past heaven for nine months out of the year. Those of us who actually like dusk and sunset and starry, starry nights not only have to put up with more sunshine in our diets, we aren't even offered the courtesy of a "backatcha" event that would give us, say, a couple of months where it gets, and stays, dark pretty much most of the time. Admittedly, every four years we go through Presidential election campaigns, but I'm talking about literal, and not metaphorical, darkness here. 
• Unlike Martin Luther King Day, Administrative Professionals Day, Presidents Day and assorted other Federal Government inflicted "day" days, there is no option to choose, or decline, to acknowledge and/or participate. You can invoke your right to go on about your workday business on MLK Day, for example, but there's not a lot you can do about having trouble seeing the late night local news because of the sunshine glare on your flat screen.
• As with "could/couldn't care less",  "regardless/irregardless" and other misspeaks in our language, we have to put up with the know it alls constantly correcting those of us who call it "Daylight SAVINGS Time" when, as they so stick up the buttingly remind us, it is in fact, actually Daylight SAVING Time."
• And, by the way, did I mention, SAVING, SCHMAVING, it doesn't save us anything?
• Finally, the thing that ultimately ticks me off about it (or perhaps tocks me off)...all of that yada yada about how 2AM Sunday is the least disruptive time to implement the change is all well and good but not enough to distract me from the fact that we're essentially losing an hour of our weekends. I have long proposed that the "spring forward" take place at, say, 5PM on Fridays so we would all feel the love of what amounts to a bonus "head start" to the weekend...while the "fall back" could then happen at the traditional 2AM Sunday affording us yet another bonus in the form of an "extra" weekend hour. 

I harbor no illusions that this timepeace tweaking will ever cease. I also concede that my attitude about it is probably, at least in part, a matter of DNA.

My father used to express his disdain for a couple of "adjustments" to our daily way.

"Encore presentations" which, as we all know but only whisper amongst ourselves, is just a five dollar term for "re-runs"

And..."wind chill/heat index" as in "well, it's ________ outside right now, but it actually FEELS like _______"

That one used to chafe him considerably, inevitably prompting some verbal variation on "just give me the damn temperature..."

Like father, like son, I imagine as I carry on the proud family tradition by adding one to the list of unnerving, but sadly unavoidable, meaning of life type questions.

"...uh, okay, but what time is it really?"