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midnightsmum

Weekend Trivia -- Sunday

Well, funny you should ask about DST!! While I was thinking about this yesterday, I did not practice it!! Sorry everyone.

Although not punctual in the modern sense, ancient civilizations adjusted daily schedules to the sun more flexibly than modern DST does, often dividing daylight into twelve hours regardless of day length, so that each daylight hour was longer during summer. For example, Roman water clocks had different scales for different months of the year: at Rome's latitude the third hour from sunrise, hora tertia, started by modern standards at 09:02 solar time and lasted 44 minutes at the winter solstice, but at the summer solstice it started at 06:58 and lasted 75 minutes. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season. Unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some Mount Athos monasteries and all Jewish ceremonies.

So, here finally, is the question: who started the practice of DST in the 'modern' world, and for a bonus, when and why!!

Nancy - who is now off to change the clocks.

Comments (18)

  • aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
    12 years ago

    I just went around changing all the clocks, forgot all about DST started this weekend.
    Now on to trivia, another I don't know, darn it.

    Annette

  • cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
    12 years ago

    Thinking it must have been someone in government in order to maximize work hours...or maybe a plan to extend playing time for a game...Or...Sounds like something the maker of a certain car might have instituted to keep his assembly line going longer and I hear he was a not-so-nice person.

    Getting lots of ideas, but will look for clues! Was 'civil' a clue?

    Cynthia

  • cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
    12 years ago

    Would it have to do with The Great Depression?

  • thinman
    12 years ago

    I'm pretty sure that I read that DST was started around the time of WWI. Not 100% positive, though.

    TM

  • cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
    12 years ago

    Well, that knocks out two of my thoughts.

    Cynthia

  • midnightsmum (Z4, ON)
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    No, sorry - civil was not a clue. Implementation was far from that. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Vernon Hudson, whose shift-work job gave him leisure time to collect insects, and led him to value after-hours daylight. In 1895 he presented a paper to the Wellington Philosophical Society proposing a two-hour daylight-saving shift, and after considerable interest was expressed in Christchurch, New Zealand he followed up in an 1898 paper. Many publications incorrectly credit DST's proposal to the prominent English builder and outdoorsman William Willett, who independently conceived DST in 1905 during a pre-breakfast ride, when he observed with dismay how many Londoners slept through a large part of a summer's day. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk. His solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) Robert Pearce, who introduced the first Daylight Saving Bill to the (British) House of Commons on 12 February 1908. A select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearce's bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915. But of course, we are looking for implementation!!

    So, some of you are getting warm!!

    Nancy - who is excited cause she put her first load of laundry for 2012 out of the line. Yea, fresh smelling sheets and pillow cases.

  • midnightsmum (Z4, ON)
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    I am looking for a country, not a person - that would be too cruel!!

    Nancy.

  • cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
    12 years ago

    Completely flummoxed on this one. I was thinking it would be the US (not country-centric viewpoint at all, huh?). If TM is right and it was during WWI, would it have been to assist the war effort in some way? Work a regular shift in town and get home with enough daylight to work in the fields on your farm?

    Cynthia

  • midnightsmum (Z4, ON)
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    The US was actually the last of the major countries to introduce DST - and it has been hotly debated ever since. It coincided with another major decision.

    Currently, 2 US states do not participate.

    Nancy.

  • mnwsgal
    12 years ago

    If TM is right about WWI timing I would guess it would be to serve the war effort which makes me think it would be the efficient and well organized home country of my paternal family.

    It is another beautiful day and with the extra sunlight this afternoon I am going to trim some fallen branches from the last heavy snowfall. A tree trimmer will trim the trees but I want to keep some of the longer side branches from the fallen big branches to line the sides and top of a metal arbor.

    Energy seems to be the theme of my day as I also need to buy and replace a dimmer for the dining room. The extra hour of sunlight won't help when DH and I want to play a game of Yahtzee before bed and there is no light at the dining room table.

  • midnightsmum (Z4, ON)
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    lol. Bobbie, I've been waiting for you to chime in!!

    Nancy.

  • cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
    12 years ago

    Hmmm. Well, I am stumped. I guess the purpose was to save energy if I am picking up correctly on a clue from Bobbie, but can't get the country. Efficient and well organized? That leaves out a few! I guess it isn't England since you gave us all that info earlier, Nancy. Is Yahtzee Japanese?

    Cynthia

  • midnightsmum (Z4, ON)
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Pretty sure Yahtzee isn't a clue...at least not one I recognize. DST's potential to save energy comes primarily from its effects on residential lighting, which consumes about 3.5% of electricity in the U.S. and Canada. Delaying the nominal time of sunset and sunrise reduces the use of artificial light in the evening and increases it in the morning. While saving electricity might be a motive today, back when this all began, it was another energy source that was in short supply, and needed conserving. Hmmm...anyone following Bobbies lead?

    Nancy.

  • thinman
    12 years ago

    I am going to throw in with the country I think Bobbie has in mind: Deutschland.

    TM

  • midnightsmum (Z4, ON)
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Starting on 30 April 1916, Germany and its World War I allies were the first to use DST (German: Sommerzeit) as a way to conserve coal during wartime. Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the next year and the United States adopted it in 1918. Since then, the world has seen many enactments, adjustments, and repeals.

    Daylight saving has caused controversy since it began. Winston Churchill argued that it enlarges "the opportunities for the pursuit of health and happiness among the millions of people who live in this country" and pundits have dubbed it "Daylight Slaving Time".
    U.S. retailing and manufacturing interests led by Pittsburgh industrialist Robert Garland soon began lobbying for DST, but were opposed by railroads. The U.S.'s 1917 entry to the war overcame objections, and DST was established in 1918. The war's end swung the pendulum back. Farmers continued to dislike DST, and many countries repealed it after the war. Britain was an exception: it retained DST nationwide but over the years adjusted transition dates for several reasons, including special rules during the 1920s and 1930s to avoid clock shifts on Easter mornings. The U.S. was more typical: Congress repealed DST after 1919. President Woodrow Wilson, like Willett an avid golfer, vetoed the repeal twice but his second veto was overridden.
    Historically, retailing, sports and tourism interests have favored daylight saving, while agricultural and evening entertainment interests have opposed it, and its initial adoption had been prompted by energy crisis and war.

    Well, for Bobbie and TM:

    Thanks to All for playing!! Can't believe that I skunked you, Cyn and Annette!! Next week, then.

    Nancy.

  • thinman
    12 years ago

    Thanks for the stars and the fun, Nancy. Did you happen to notice that you posted the answer exactly, to the minute, 24 hours after you posted the question? Pretty cool. :)

    TM

  • mnwsgal
    12 years ago

    Thanks for the stars, Nancy, and the clue, TM, which led me to the answer, Germany. The German need for order and efficiency is ofted noted about the records they kept during the Holocaust of WWII. Certainly a tragic period for my family homeland.

    Sorry, Cynthis, that Yahtzee was an inadvertent red herring. I believe yahtzee is a made up word from yacht. The couple who invented the game played it on their yacht and called it the The Yacht Game.

    DH & I play Triple Yahtzee at least once most every day/night. We also play cribbage, backgammon, and a made-up version of 2 handed double pinochle. Not all are played every day but sometimes, if we're in a gaming mood.

  • cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
    12 years ago

    Gee, I thought that would be such a clever clue, Bobbie! Now, your history should have been saved for a trivia question! That is the perfect sort of question and will get me doing research :)

    My grandfather's family was from Germany, too, so I should have gotten it. Maybe next week. I do agree with Bobbie's post on my trivia thread that finding and figuring out the clues is the most fun!

    Have a delightful week all.

    Cynthia