SPRING FORWARD FALL BACK - JUST DO IT SOONER
March 2007
Spring forward fall back, we have been told that since we were kids. We put the phrase neatly into the storage area of our brain as we only need it twice a year. This year, unless you have been too busy watching the Anna Nicole Smith saga, you’ve probably heard that Daylight Saving Time is starting three weeks earlier than in years passed.
This year Daylight Saving Time will begin at 2:00 AM on Sunday March 11th. On the other end, Daylight Saving Time will be extended one month, and will begin at 2:00 AM on Sunday November 4th. By the way as long as we are talking about the time we may as well be precise about DST and how we say it. The correct phrase, is Daylight Saving Time not “Daylight Saving(s) time”. A Government web site reminds us that we are “saving daylight” and therefore the word “saving” should not be plural. I never knew that.
Believe it or not, the original idea for Daylight Saving Time was thought up by none other than Benjamin Franklin back in April of 1784, while he was the U.S. Ambassador to France. Like most useful ideas it was put on the back burner for a while, a long while.
It only took 134 years for us to listen to Franklin. In 1918, in order to conserve resources for the war effort, the U.S. Congress placed the country on Daylight Saving Time for the remainder of WW I. It was observed for seven months in 1918 and 1919. The law, however, proved so unpopular that it was later repealed. Didn’t they say the same thing about prohibition?
When America went to war again, Congress reinstated Daylight Saving Time on February 9, 1942. It remained advanced one hour forward year-round until September 30, 1945. From 1945 to 1966, there was no U.S. law about Daylight Saving Time. States and localities were free to observe Daylight Saving Time or not. Suffice it to say that the Government has been monkeying around with the starting date ever since.
For you history buffs out there, our British friends beat us to the punch with the introduction of “British Summer Time” by an Act of Parliament in 1916. Clocks were put one hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) during the summer. Today more than 70 countries worldwide make use of Daylight Saving Time.
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 was passed by Congress and then signed into law by President George W. Bush on August 8, 2005. If you don’t like the idea of it being changed, you can direct your comments to Congressman Edward Markie (D) MA, who was the original author of the bill. I would suggest calling him really late at night.
The idea behind the law is that Daylight Saving Time saves energy, prevents traffic injuries and fatalities and also prevents crime. Your actual results may vary as these claims remain challenged by many.
All this week you will see, hear and read warnings from our friends in the media about computers, and how this time change may affect PCs. In fact many in the media already say we could have a repeat scare similar to the one they caused for Y2K, albeit on a smaller level. The media, whose main job is to sell more papers and get more viewers and listeners, must have already forgotten that all the hype about Y2K for the most part turned out to be a big nothing. Daylight Saving Time will be even less of an event for the average computer user. Here’s what to do as far as your PC is concerned.
First of all if you bought your computer in 2005 or later, your operating system has already been updated with the change, you need to do nothing. If you purchased your computer before 2005 and get regular updates from Microsoft or Apple (over the internet), chances are that your machine has already been updated and you probably didn’t even know it. Again in this case you need to do nothing.
If you are not sure if your computer has been updated and you use some version of the Windows operating system you can go www.microsoft.com. Not to worry, if you download this update and install it and your machine has already been updated your computer will not be harmed in any way. You could also chose to ignore this entire event but you might not be on time again for the next six months or so.
Just to play it safe the Food and Drug Administration has sent the following notice to doctors and hospitals nationwide: “If a medical device or medical device network is adversely affected by the new DST date changes, a patient treatment or diagnostic result could be:
incorrectly prescribed
provided at the wrong time
missed
given more than once
given for longer or shorter durations than intended
incorrectly recorded
Any of these unpredictable events could harm patients and not be obvious to clinicians responsible for their care.”
Now I don't know about you but I would hate to be hooked up to a heart lung machine that was running an hour or so off schedule. I guess we have all been appropriately been warned all we have to do now is to just be on time and hope others do the same. Finally if you have to manually reset the time on your VCR, and your machine flashes 12:00 for the next six months don’t call me!
Lee Degenstein has covered the financial markets for print and broadcast media for more than 15 years. Mr. Degenstein was also the news director and morning anchor at two major radio stations in New Jersey. He has been a reporter/contributor to United Press International, The Associated Press, The Mutual Broadcasting System and New York 1 News. A winner of the Associated Press award for 'best business story' he lives and works in New York City. Mr. Degenstein can be reached by email at: lee723@verizon.net www.leereports.blogspot.com
© Copyright 2007,
Lee Degenstein.
All rights reserved
Spring forward fall back, we have been told that since we were kids. We put the phrase neatly into the storage area of our brain as we only need it twice a year. This year, unless you have been too busy watching the Anna Nicole Smith saga, you’ve probably heard that Daylight Saving Time is starting three weeks earlier than in years passed.
This year Daylight Saving Time will begin at 2:00 AM on Sunday March 11th. On the other end, Daylight Saving Time will be extended one month, and will begin at 2:00 AM on Sunday November 4th. By the way as long as we are talking about the time we may as well be precise about DST and how we say it. The correct phrase, is Daylight Saving Time not “Daylight Saving(s) time”. A Government web site reminds us that we are “saving daylight” and therefore the word “saving” should not be plural. I never knew that.
Believe it or not, the original idea for Daylight Saving Time was thought up by none other than Benjamin Franklin back in April of 1784, while he was the U.S. Ambassador to France. Like most useful ideas it was put on the back burner for a while, a long while.
It only took 134 years for us to listen to Franklin. In 1918, in order to conserve resources for the war effort, the U.S. Congress placed the country on Daylight Saving Time for the remainder of WW I. It was observed for seven months in 1918 and 1919. The law, however, proved so unpopular that it was later repealed. Didn’t they say the same thing about prohibition?
When America went to war again, Congress reinstated Daylight Saving Time on February 9, 1942. It remained advanced one hour forward year-round until September 30, 1945. From 1945 to 1966, there was no U.S. law about Daylight Saving Time. States and localities were free to observe Daylight Saving Time or not. Suffice it to say that the Government has been monkeying around with the starting date ever since.
For you history buffs out there, our British friends beat us to the punch with the introduction of “British Summer Time” by an Act of Parliament in 1916. Clocks were put one hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) during the summer. Today more than 70 countries worldwide make use of Daylight Saving Time.
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 was passed by Congress and then signed into law by President George W. Bush on August 8, 2005. If you don’t like the idea of it being changed, you can direct your comments to Congressman Edward Markie (D) MA, who was the original author of the bill. I would suggest calling him really late at night.
The idea behind the law is that Daylight Saving Time saves energy, prevents traffic injuries and fatalities and also prevents crime. Your actual results may vary as these claims remain challenged by many.
All this week you will see, hear and read warnings from our friends in the media about computers, and how this time change may affect PCs. In fact many in the media already say we could have a repeat scare similar to the one they caused for Y2K, albeit on a smaller level. The media, whose main job is to sell more papers and get more viewers and listeners, must have already forgotten that all the hype about Y2K for the most part turned out to be a big nothing. Daylight Saving Time will be even less of an event for the average computer user. Here’s what to do as far as your PC is concerned.
First of all if you bought your computer in 2005 or later, your operating system has already been updated with the change, you need to do nothing. If you purchased your computer before 2005 and get regular updates from Microsoft or Apple (over the internet), chances are that your machine has already been updated and you probably didn’t even know it. Again in this case you need to do nothing.
If you are not sure if your computer has been updated and you use some version of the Windows operating system you can go www.microsoft.com. Not to worry, if you download this update and install it and your machine has already been updated your computer will not be harmed in any way. You could also chose to ignore this entire event but you might not be on time again for the next six months or so.
Just to play it safe the Food and Drug Administration has sent the following notice to doctors and hospitals nationwide: “If a medical device or medical device network is adversely affected by the new DST date changes, a patient treatment or diagnostic result could be:
incorrectly prescribed
provided at the wrong time
missed
given more than once
given for longer or shorter durations than intended
incorrectly recorded
Any of these unpredictable events could harm patients and not be obvious to clinicians responsible for their care.”
Now I don't know about you but I would hate to be hooked up to a heart lung machine that was running an hour or so off schedule. I guess we have all been appropriately been warned all we have to do now is to just be on time and hope others do the same. Finally if you have to manually reset the time on your VCR, and your machine flashes 12:00 for the next six months don’t call me!
Lee Degenstein has covered the financial markets for print and broadcast media for more than 15 years. Mr. Degenstein was also the news director and morning anchor at two major radio stations in New Jersey. He has been a reporter/contributor to United Press International, The Associated Press, The Mutual Broadcasting System and New York 1 News. A winner of the Associated Press award for 'best business story' he lives and works in New York City. Mr. Degenstein can be reached by email at: lee723@verizon.net www.leereports.blogspot.com
© Copyright 2007,
Lee Degenstein.
All rights reserved
Labels: Daylight Saving Time
posted by Lee Degenstein | 6:57 AM
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