I know I’m not alone on this one, only trolls and other terrible creatures don’t like longer, ligher days. Next to the longest day of the year, Daylight Savings is my favorite day of all the 365 options we get.
Interesting Daylight Savings Time Facts (thanks Wikipedia!):
1. “Saving daylight” was first mentioned by Benjamin Franklin as a joke in 1784
2. DST was first proposed in 1907 by a British man, but the Brits didn’t like it (despite heavy lobbying to adopt it)
3. DST was first implemented by the Germans during WW1 (then the UK, not to be outdone, quickly followed suit)
4. Newfoundland was the first North American jurisdiction to adopt it
5. Weird places like Arizona and Hawaii (and Indiana until they recently caved due to pressure from farmers) opt out of DST
6. A one-hour shift is customary, but inhabitants on Lord Howe Island only go a half-hour
7. Arguments against DST include: people whose schedules revolve around the sun ( they get disorientated), sundials are harder to read (but who is reading sundials these days anyway?), and technological troubles. There is also a band of critics who believe DST is at its heart government paternalism–trying to control and push people into longer working hours.
8. Arguments for DST include: energy conservation, increased work and recreational time, and get this, reduction in crime (according to a 1970s study by the US Law Enforcement Assistance Association).
Here’s to Daylight Savings–to getting more done, to having more energy, to summer being close, and for keeping it lighter out later.
PS: I love the night time too, but I like to earn our darkness a little bit more, anticipate it more deeply, and celebrate it when it finally hits. Winter months make it too easy. My favorite time of day is when the sky turns that amazing bright deep neon blue (my mom called it midnight blue, and when midnight blue came, we had to get off the tire swing and come inside) and everything seems right.
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