Missing an hour? Daylight-saving time is back

April 2, 2000
Web posted at: 10:45 a.m. EDT (1445 GMT)

(CNN) -- Most of the United States sprang forward an hour early Sunday as daylight-saving time arrived, bringing an extra hour of evening sunshine for the next six months.

The change meant losing an hour of sleep -- or for some, work. And not everybody will make the switch: Arizona, Hawaii, a portion of Indiana, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and American Samoa will remain on standard time.

	RESOURCES
Click here to listen to a 'live' broadcast of the U.S. Naval Observatory Master Clock

Benjamin Franklin first proposed the idea of pushing the clocks ahead in the springtime to save daylight -- in a whimsical 1784 essay called "Turkey versus Eagle, McCauley is my Beagle."

Some say Franklin was joking. Others say he hoped to give workers more warm productive hours by increasing the available amount of daylight during the summer and decreasing it during the winter season.

Authorities in England and the United States adopted legislation to begin daylight-saving time during World War I to save electricity.

More recently, fire safety advocates have seized on the clock change to remind everyone to replace batteries in smoke alarms.

Mexico and Canada also observe daylight saving time. Standard time returns October 29.

Daylight-saving time springs U.S. forward on Sunday
April 1, 2000

National Institute of Standards and Technology
The United States Naval Observatory
The official U.S. time
Ben Franklin inventions
Daylight Saving Time - United States Law
End Daylight Savings Time

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