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SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2011

Hooray!  We change clocks tonight to adjust to Daylight Savings Time.

The US changed their clocks the first week in March.  I seem to remember that a couple years ago the States started to change clocks different than the rest of the world.  It had to do with energy saving.

Some friends from the States would ask why Mexico is different than the rest of the world.  But isn’t it the US that changed?  Then I started to wonder how much of the world still uses daylight savings time.  (oh, and the official term is Daylight Saving Time -no “s”)

Check out this cool map.

Most areas of the United States currently observe daylight saving time. The exceptions are Arizona, Hawaii, and the territories of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. In Arizona, the Navajo Nation observes daylight saving time.

From 1987 to 2006, daylight saving time in the United States began on the first Sunday of April and ended on the last Sunday of October. The time is adjusted at 2:00 a.m. (02:00) local time.

By the Energy Policy Act of 2005, daylight saving time (DST) was extended in the United States beginning in 2007. DST currently starts on the second Sunday of March, which is three or four weeks earlier than in the past, and it ends on the first Sunday of November, one week later than in years past. The time is adjusted at 2:00 a.m. (02:00) local time. This change resulted in a new DST period that is four weeks (five in years when March has five Sundays) longer than in previous years.

What’s “different”  (polite way of saying weird) about here is that now that we have changed our clocks, our sunrise today was 7:46am  and sunset 8:09pm  (check it out here)  Since we are closer to the equator we average between 12-13 hours of delicious sunlight each day of the year.  Compared to the big swings of darkness <-> sunlight up north, it’s a wonderful thing.  But it sure would be nice if the sunrise came up a bit earlier. If you look at the map,  you’ll see we’re almost directly below Denver Colorado where they get about 13 hours of sunlight. Sunrise is about 6:30am and sunset 7:30pm which is a nice way to divide up the golden sunshine.  🙂

I’m not “really” complaining 😉  but it sure is easier to start your day earlier when you have sunshine bouncing off your pillow in the morning. 🙂

Does this really change the world?  Nope.  But now we are back to just being 1 hour behind our friends in Eastern Standard and the same time as our friends in Central Time.   And that is important info for when we (or you all, too) want to call or Skype.

Speaking of the changing world… we hope you all had a very nice special Saturday in this very special month of activity.  May you forever remember where you were and what you were doing on April 2, 2011.

 

{ 3 comments… add one }
  • DAD April 3, 2011, 11:54 am

    I THINK DST IS COOL.

  • Arlene and Byron Gilliland April 3, 2011, 5:23 pm

    My Aunt Grace petitioned for DST to be the norm ALL YEAR back in the 1940s.

    Gail and Tim leave Rwanda for Uganda on Tuesday. Don’t know how long this next assignment will be.

    Love you all.

  • Lori Borys May 20, 2011, 11:56 am

    A) I’m planning to move much closer to the equator at some point in my life because I need more sun and I don’t care what time the clock says it is when I get it.
    B) Bob lives in AZ and what a nightmare for flying him back ancd forth during our recent family emergency. Poor guy flew all night landed in Boston spent the day at the hospital and ended up getting whacked with the time change here. Four days later he was flying out early AM to go back to AZ where he was going to land an hour after he left and go to work! YIKES!

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