[Wikipedia Daily Article] July 11: Daylight saving time

[Faraaz Damji]

   Daylight saving time is the convention of advancing clocks so that
   afternoons have more daylight and mornings have less.  Typically clocks
   are adjusted forward one hour near the start of spring and are
   adjusted backward in autumn; the ancients lengthened summer hours
   instead.  Presaged by a 1784 satire, modern DST was first proposed in
   1907 by William Willett, and 1916 saw its first widespread use as a
   wartime measure aimed at conserving coal.  Despite controversy, many
   countries have used it since then; details vary by location and change
   occasionally.  Adding daylight to afternoons benefits retailing,
   sports, and other activities that exploit sunlight after working
   hours, but causes problems for farmers and other workers whose hours
   depend on the sun.  Extra afternoon daylight cuts traffic fatalities;
   its effect on health and crime is less clear.  DST is said to save
   electricity by reducing the need for artificial evening lighting, but
   the evidence for this is weak and DST can boomerang by boosting peak
   demand, increasing overall electricity costs.  DST's clock shifts
   complicate timekeeping and can disrupt meetings, travel, billing,
   medical devices, and heavy equipment.

Read the rest of this article:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time


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Today's selected anniversaries:

1302:
   Flemish infantry successfully halted a French invasion near Kortrijk
   in the Battle of the Golden Spurs.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Golden_Spurs)

1789:
   French Revolution: Jacques Necker was dismissed as Director-General of
   Finances and ordered to leave France at once.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Necker)

1804:
   U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr mortally wounded former U.S. Treasury
   Secretary Alexander Hamilton during a duel in Weehawken, New Jersey.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burr-Hamilton_duel)

1957:
   Prince Karīm al-Hussaynī succeeded Sultan Mahommed Shah as the Aga
   Khan, becoming the 49th Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aga_Khan_IV)

1995:
   Bosnian Genocide: Bosnian Serb forces under Ratko Mladić began the
   Srebrenica massacre in Potočari, Srebrenica, eventually killing an
   estimated total of 8,000 Bosniaks.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srebrenica_massacre)


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Wikiquote of the day:

   I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent
   less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her
   sweetness and respecting her seniority.  -- E.  B.  White
   (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/E._B._White)