100 things challenge - 48: Daylight saving time

[birdienl]

The days are getting longer (at least in the Northern hemisphere) and isn't it lovely that when you come back from work it's still light outside? The phenomenon of Daylight Saving Time is only a little less than 100 years old, but ancient civilizations already adjusted their days according to the day length. In ancient Rome the hours of the day were counted from the moment of sunrise and so differed in actual time during the year. But the Romans also changed the length of their 'hours' during the year. A day (sunrise to sunset) was divided into twelve 'hours', which lasted 44 minutes at the winter solstice, but 75 minutes at the summer solstice!

Though not actually proposing Daylight Saving Time, Benjamin Franklin once published a letter suggesting people could economize on candles by rising earlier in summer. He also proposed measures such as taxes on window shutters and waking the public by firing cannons at sunrise....

British MP Robert Pearce introduced a Daylight Saving Bill before the House of Commons in 1908. A committee was set up to examine the matter, but in the end, the bill did not pass the House, nor did similar bills in the next few years. Interestingly, it was the Germans and their allies in WWI who first used the Daylight Saving Time in 1916, as a way to preserve precious coal during wartime. Britain and the rest of Europe soon followed suit and the USA adopted the measure in 1918.

After WWI the practice of Daylight Saving Time was dropped again in many places. It was brought back for different periods of time in different countries and adopted widely during WWII. It was however not until the 1970s that the practice became as standard as we now know it to be, mostly stimulated by the energy crises of that time period.

Comments

[richyl88.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty far out west so in the summer it is no uncommon for it to be still light out 10 pm. I always find it strange (to me) when I travel how it gets dark so much earlier.

[ever-maedhros.livejournal.com]

Ah, so that was how Daylight Savings Time got started. It makes sense that it would be utilized to conserve resources during wartime. I'm in one of the few states that doesn't utilize DST, so I always looked on it as some weird practice people in other places had to endure. :)

[birdienl.livejournal.com]

Really, they don't use it in your state? But then you have a different time-difference to other people over the year, right? Is it because you're so far South?

[ever-maedhros.livejournal.com]

Arizona is one of the few states that doesn't use it, and yes, that means the time difference between our state and states in different time zones suddenly grows once DST begins. I'm not even sure why Arizona gets off the hook, I just have a vague idea that we have no real use for it. Let me see if I can find any articles.

From this article (http://www.timeanddate.com/time/us/arizona-no-dst.html) and this article (http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/state/why-arizona-doesn%27t-observe-daylight-saving-time), it seems we opt out because our hot climate makes it useless. One article hit the nail on the head about bedtime for kids--even without being on DST, it's still way too hot to put kids to bed by 9 p.m. In the summer, even after the sun has set, it's sometimes still 100 degrees Farenheit as late as 10 p.m.!

[birdienl.livejournal.com]

That was interesting to read and learn. I can understand that with your climate DST wouldn't be necessary or useful. I must admit, I'm sort of glad with our temperate climate, I do like to sleep in a cool room!

[ever-maedhros.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, sleeping in a cool room is definitely desirable. :D