It’s time to turn your clocks back at 2 a.m. Sunday morning, Nov. 7th. It’s also a good time to change the batteries in your smoke detectors.
• You can blame Benjamin Franklin for getting the whole Daylight Saving thing started. He wrote an essay called “An Economical Project for Diminishing the Cost of Light” suggesting people could save candles by getting up earlier and making better use of available light. Then, in 1907, Englishman William Willett championed the idea, which quickly spread. It was brought to America by Robert Garland, a businessman from Pittsburgh who first came upon the idea in the U.K
• It wasn’t until Aug. 8, 2005 that we got our current timetable for Daylight Saving Time. President George W. Bush signed the Energy Policy Act on that day, setting the official end time for DST as the first Sunday in November. From 1986-2006, Daylight Saving Time began on the first Sunday in April and ended on the last Sunday in October.
• Hawaii and most of Arizona do not follow DST.
• Why 2 a.m.? According to Live Science, that’s considered to be the least disruptive time of day.
• 27 percent of Americans said the twice-yearly time changes either makes them early or late for an appointment.