Bena Mae’s Kitchen: Daylight Savings Time: It’s ‘Hour’ Problem

In 1984 the Eldorado Daily Journal announced a Daylight Savings Time contest to see who could save the most daylight. The newspaper asked its readers to save daylight during Daylight Savings Time, and offered a prize for the person who saved the most. The rules were simple: Beginning with the first day of DST, those entering the contest had to begin saving daylight. Those who saved the most daylight by midnight of the last day of DST, would be awarded a prize. Only pure daylight was allowed. Moonlight was strictly prohibited and any of it mixed with daylight would bring immediate disqualification. Contestants were instructed to save their accumulated daylight in any container they wished, then bring it to the Daily Journal at the end of DST.

This was obviously an April Fool’s joke since the contest was held when the time changed in April. Still, I wonder how many of the newspaper’s readers fell for it.

I’m reminded of a story I’ve written about before, but it bears repeating since it’s about time change.

A bunch of old codgers were sitting around the pot-bellied stove at the general store, talking about resetting their clocks for Daylight Savings Time. Seizing upon the opportunity to tweak the temper of one of the fellows who didn’t catch on too fast, one of the men spoke up and said: “I hear congress is planning to add another month to the year.” “If that ain’t just like them fools up in congress,” the other fellow spluttered, “And I bet they make it another winter month and my cows are already about out of feed.

An Arkansas woman wrote her congressman asking him to get congress to pass a bill that would stop DST altogether. “That extra hour each day heats up the earth and is the cause of global warming,” she said.

This only proves that if you live long enough, you will have heard everything.

And finally: Chuck Norris doesn’t worry about changing his clock twice a year for daylight savings time. The sun rises and sets when Chuck tells it to.

Bye for now. Time to go.