Funny story about Daylight Savings time.

[trof]

Miz t.'s Uncle Bert was a rice farmer in a tiny crossroads town in southern Louisiana. Almost everything he did was dictated by the lunar cycle. When to plant, when to harvest, when to butcher a hog, even when to get a haircut.

"If you get your haircut at a new moon, it don't grow back as fast."
Uncle Bert was very thrifty.

He was a lifelong bachelor. After his mama died, he did his own cooking. I'd call it 'rudimentary'.

We were on the way to Texas one summer and would be passing near his farm. Miz t. called him and said we'd like to stop in for a short visit.
"We'll bring lunch. How does fried chicken sound?"
"That sounds real good."

We knew that Bert ate his lunch at precisely the stroke of noon, EVERY day. We're were running a tad behind schedule and knew there'd be hell to pay if we weren't at Bert's by noon. Keeping an eye out for state troopers, I goosed it up to 80 and we pulled into the farmyard a few minutes before noon.
whew

Bert met us at the back door (NOBODY uses the front door) and we put the chicken & trimmings on the kitchen table. Bert walked on through to the living room. We sat down and started catching up on family news and such.

I started getting a little hungry and looked at my watch.
12:30
Bert was in his 80s, so maybe he wasn't keeping strictly to his schedule.
Anyway, I said "Anybody getting hungry?"
Bert pulled his railroad watch from the top pocket of his bibb overalls.
"It ain't noon yet. 'Nuther 30 minutes."
And it dawned on me.
Bert didn't DO Daylight Savings.
That was some tom fool gummint invention.
The time was the time, and that don't change summer and winter.
We chatted for another half hour.

[yellowdogintexas]

1. I knew some of those folks too, growing up in the country.nt

[DarkTirade]

2. Which is exactly why Daylight Savings Time is total bullplop.

The people it was made for were farmers. Farmers don't have any need for it. It's just a pain in the ass for the rest of us who don't need it.

[NMDemDist2]

3. I read recently here on DU that DST was started during WWI so folks

had time to tend their 'Victory Gardens' after work

:shrug:

http://www.earthlypursuits.com/WarGarV/WarGard12.htm

I lived in AZ for 9 years with no DST, it's been a shock to us to start again

[DarkTirade]

4. It was originally invented by Ben Franklin.

I'm pretty sure he wasn't around during WWI, unless there's some secret society shit going on that I don't know about.

[trof]

5. "Eastern Standard War Time"

I've heard tapes of WW II radio programs where the announcer said "It is now seven p.m. Eastern Standard War Time."

During World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt instituted year-round Daylight Saving Time, called "War Time," from February 9, 1942 to September 30, 1945. From 1945 to 1966, there was no federal law regarding Daylight Saving Time, so states and localities were free to choose whether or not to observe Daylight Saving Time and could choose when it began and ended. This understandably caused confusion, especially for the broadcasting industry, as well as for railways, airlines, and bus companies. Because of the different local customs and laws, radio and TV stations and the transportation companies had to publish new schedules every time a state or town began or ended Daylight Saving Time.
http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/e.html