All you ever wanted to know about Daylight Saving Time, and more!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Linky.

The idea of daylight saving was first conceived by Benjamin Franklin.

The official spelling is Daylight Saving Time, not Daylight SavingS Time.

Patrons of bars that stay open past 2 a.m. lose one hour of drinking time on the day when daylight saving time springs forward one hour. This has led to annual problems in numerous locations, and sometimes even to riots. For example, at a “time disturbance” in Athens, Ohio, site of Ohio University, over one thousand students and other late night partiers chanted “Freedom” as they threw liquor bottles at the police attempting to control the riot.

Indiana, one of only three U.S. states that does not use daylight saving time, has long been a continuing hotbed of DST controversy, up to the present day. The state’s two western corners, which fall in the Central Time Zone, observe DST, while the remainder of the state, in the Eastern Time Zone, follows year-round standard time. An additional complication is that five southeastern counties near Cincinnati and Louisville unofficially observe DST to keep in sync with those cities. Because of the longstanding feuds over DST, Indiana politicians often treat the subject gingerly. In 1996, gubernatorial candidate Rex Early firmly declared, “Some of my friends are for putting all of Indiana on daylight saving time. Some are against it. And I always try to support my friends.”

Interesting site.

2

We don’t go on Daylight time
Like they do everywhere
It’s kind of confusing
But I guess the cows don’t care

It’s four o’clock in New York
It’s one o’clock in LA
But here in Indiana
It’s probably yesterday

It’s a Hoosier thing, you wouldn’t understand
Unless you are a Hoosier, living in Hoosierland

Who needs daylight savings time
Here it’s 1959

Everybody sing
It’s a Hoosier thing

3

Do we set the clocks back this Sunday (10/30), or has that changed? I seem to remember some buzz about how a new law has been passed.

4

tdn, according to Wikipedia, that new law goes into effect in 2007. Status quo for now.

(scroll about halfway down)

5

Ah, that’s it. Thanks.

Hmm, that means that every 7 years (on average) I’ll get a 25 hour long birthday.

6

There’s a chart on the linked site for the next few years.

7

Indiana’s law has been changed, but nothing is set in concrete yet. As near as I can figure, the whole state will be on DST sometime in 2006, however… The US Dept. of Trans., not the state, has the authority to make such changes. Some counties have arranged to have hearings with the DOT to express their preference for eastern or central time. Will a given county go with EDT or CDT? Nobody seems to know yet.