Springing Forward

Don't forget to set your clocks an hour ahead today!

This practice, which goes into effect the first Sunday in April, sometimes feels like the cleverest April Fool's joke of all—causing people across the country to miss appointments and show up an hour late for brunch. It's clever alright, but as a strategy to better utilize daylight hours in spring and summer.

First suggested by Benjamin Franklin in 1784 as a way to conserve fuel, daylight savings effectively moves an hour of sunlight from the morning to the evening. It has been implemented in the United States inconsistently since 1918, but the Uniform Time Act of 1966 established it as law once and for all. Europe participates in daylight savings, too, only it goes in and out of effect on different dates. In fact, so do nations such as Namibia, Iraq and Fiji—about 70 countries altogether.

Like most rules, daylight savings does have exceptions. Not everyone in the U.S. conforms. Parts of Indiana, particularly counties bordering other states, switch to daylight savings, but most of the state does not. In Arizona, the only areas on daylights savings are some Indian reservations. Some countries alter the dates it goes into effect from year to year to accommodate festivals, the Olympic games and even visits by the Pope. —J.Bogo

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