Daylight Savings Time

As we all know Daylight Savings Time ends tonight or to be exact 2 a.m. tomorrow. Many of you also know it was invented by Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790). Who is number 3 on the “Great Big List of Guys Who Invented Everything.” But what you may not know is why he invented it. Sure in school they might have said something about how it helped to make the most of the changing patterns of daylight throughout the year, but they also stated that most people were farmers back then too. And we all know that farmers get up at the crack of dawn when their rooster crows, so that can’t be the reason. What they don’t teach you in school is that Ben Franklin loved to drink. He is famous for saying, “Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy” and “Wine is constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy.” (Ben Franklin theology: Alcohol= loving God = happiness) Which is not to say he was an alcoholic or as they were called in his day a drunkard. Just that he enjoyed his alcohol and like most drinkers occasionally did things he wouldn’t normally do when drinking. This is how he got in a bet to play the biggest prank in the colonies and win. You see back then clocks were a lot harder to set, especially the big clocks in the clock towers of large towns, which often required three or four trained professionals to reset. So by thinking up a way to make them reset the clocks not once, but twice (EVERY YEAR!!!) he beat out all the other ideas for pranks. For example Samuel Adams suggested that he start a brewery even though everyone knew that he made the worst beer in the colonies. And then years later get people to put his name on award winning beer to confuse people. Aaron Burr said he would challenge everyone in Rhode Island to a duel and not show up. And John Handcock wanted to write “I was here” on every outhouse in New England in really big letters.
So, when you change your clocks tonight remember to set; the wall clocks, table clocks, desk clocks, your watch, the oven, the microwave, the fridge, the phone, the answering machine, the Playstation, the Gamecube, the X-Box, the TV, the VCR, the printer, the alarm clocks and you car’s stereo. And remember you’ve just been Punk’d by a founding father.