Daylight saving time explained
In most of the United States, daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday of November: the clocks go back to 1 a.m., so the 1 a.m. hour happens twice. It starts again at 2 a.m. on the second Sunday of March.
Chapters
Dr. Nina Byte explains daylight saving time to Chip like he is five: what "fall back" really does, who came up with it (not Ben Franklin), whether it was made for farmers (no), which states skip it, and why "summer time" now lasts almost two-thirds of the year.
Transcript
Chip Darnell: Nina! Explain daylight saving time like I'm five.
Dr. Nina Byte: You're forty-one.
Chip Darnell: Then explain it slower.
Dr. Nina Byte: In most of the United States, it ends at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday of November. Clocks go back to 1 a.m.
Dr. Nina Byte: So the 1 a.m. hour happens twice. It starts again at 2 a.m. on the second Sunday of March.
Dr. Nina Byte: Three PhDs. One chalkboard. One forty-one-year-old in a tiny chair.
Dr. Nina Byte: So, what happens when the clocks fall back?
Chip Darnell: I'm learning this through the Pickle County Fair. Best fair in America. Every fair is the best fair.
Dr. Nina Byte: Of course it is.
Dr. Nina Byte: In most of the United States, daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday of November.
Chip Darnell: So at two, the fair shuts down. Lights off. Sad little corn dog noises.
Dr. Nina Byte: At 2 a.m. the clocks go back to 1 a.m.
Chip Darnell: The fair rewinds! The pig race runs again, and the same pig wins!
Dr. Nina Byte: Nothing rewinds. The clock changes. Most people are asleep.
Dr. Nina Byte: So the hour from 1 to 2 a.m. happens twice, and that Sunday is an hour longer.
Chip Darnell: A free extra hour? That's a bonus hour of funnel cake!
Dr. Nina Byte: In spring it flips: on the second Sunday of March, clocks jump from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m. That day is an hour shorter.
Chip Darnell: So March takes the hour back. It's the ring toss, Nina. They let you win once so you come back.
Dr. Nina Byte: Time is not a ring toss. [pause] It is a little bit a ring toss.
Chip Darnell: So on that night, does 1:30 happen twice?
Dr. Nina Byte: Yes! The hour from 1 to 2 a.m. is repeated, so 1:30 a.m. happens twice that night.
Dr. Nina Byte: Per NIST, that repeated hour is the extra hour in that day.
Chip Darnell: Then I'm setting two alarms for 1:30. One for each 1:30.
Dr. Nina Byte: That is technically correct. I hate it.
Dr. Nina Byte: So, who invented daylight saving time?
Chip Darnell: Ben Franklin. He's on the placemats at the fair diner. Placemats don't lie.
Dr. Nina Byte: In 1784 Ben Franklin wrote a joke letter telling Parisians to wake up earlier and save candles. He never said change the clocks.
Chip Darnell: Oh, so he's the guy on the fair microphone doing bits. Not the guy running the rides.
Dr. Nina Byte: In 1895 a New Zealand bug scientist, George Hudson, made the first real proposal to move the clocks.
Chip Darnell: A bug guy! The fair has a bug tent! It's mostly one beetle named Gary.
Dr. Nina Byte: George Hudson studied insects, Chip. He did not have a Gary.
Dr. Nina Byte: Germany and Austria-Hungary were the first countries to do it, on April 30, 1916.
Chip Darnell: Two whole countries at once? That's every fair in the state moving the pig race together.
Dr. Nina Byte: They did it to save coal.
Chip Darnell: Like the steam tractor at the fair. Eats coal all day. Has never won a ribbon.
Chip Darnell: If Franklin didn't invent it, why does everyone say he did?
Dr. Nina Byte: Because of his famous joke letter about saving candles.
Dr. Nina Byte: Per Wikipedia, it was satire, and he never proposed changing the clocks.
Chip Darnell: So we take Franklin off the placemats and put Gary on.
Dr. Nina Byte: Honestly? Gary has about as strong a claim.
Dr. Nina Byte: So, was daylight saving time made for farmers?
Chip Darnell: Yes! For the cows! I've judged cows at the fair. Shout out to Brenda, Best in Show.
Dr. Nina Byte: No! That is a common myth in the United States.
Chip Darnell: [gasp] Brenda lied to me?
Dr. Nina Byte: Brenda is a cow. Brenda said nothing.
Dr. Nina Byte: The United States first used it in 1918, to save energy.
Chip Darnell: Like when the fair unplugs the giant glowing pickle to save power.
Dr. Nina Byte: Farmers did not like it: it gave them less morning time to get their milk and crops to market.
Chip Darnell: So the farmers are racing the milk to market, and the clock moved the finish line closer.
Dr. Nina Byte: That is annoyingly good. AI writing this show, are you feeding him lines?
Chip Darnell: Nina, I once lost a staring contest to Brenda.
Dr. Nina Byte: Farmers have been some of the strongest groups against it ever since.
Chip Darnell: So the farmers are the one booth that's been booing the whole time.
Chip Darnell: Wait, so the cows never changed their clocks?
Dr. Nina Byte: Right! Cows go by the sun, not the clock, so the change just meant less morning time to get milk to market.
Dr. Nina Byte: Per Wikipedia, the idea that it was made for farmers is a common myth in the United States.
Chip Darnell: Brenda doesn't even own a watch. She has a bell.
Dr. Nina Byte: I want to be Brenda.
Dr. Nina Byte: So, which states don't change their clocks?
Chip Darnell: Every state is my favorite state, Nina. This is gonna hurt.
Dr. Nina Byte: Hawaii and Arizona don't change their clocks.
Chip Darnell: They're the two fair booths that never change their signs. Hawaii's sign just says Aloha. Forever.
Dr. Nina Byte: But inside Arizona, the Navajo Nation does change its clocks.
Chip Darnell: A booth inside a booth! And the inside booth changes its sign!
Dr. Nina Byte: It is not a booth. It is a nation. With its own clocks.
Dr. Nina Byte: The US territories, like Puerto Rico and Guam, don't change either.
Chip Darnell: So there's a whole annex that never touches its clocks. I love the annex.
Dr. Nina Byte: A 1966 law lets a state stay on standard time all year, but not on daylight saving time all year.
Chip Darnell: So can a state just keep summer time forever?
Dr. Nina Byte: Not under the 1966 law. Standard time forever is allowed. Permanent daylight saving time is not.
Dr. Nina Byte: Per NIST, Hawaii, the territories, and Arizona, except the Navajo Nation, skip it.
Chip Darnell: So you can close the fair forever. But you can't keep it open forever.
Dr. Nina Byte: That is the most accurate thing you have ever said.
Chip Darnell: I'm writing it on my hand. Next to Brenda's bell schedule.
Dr. Nina Byte: So, why does daylight saving time last most of the year?
Dr. Nina Byte: In 1966 the US made daylight saving time last six months.
Chip Darnell: Half a year of fair! The other half, I just stand in the empty parking lot.
Dr. Nina Byte: In 1986 it grew to seven months.
Chip Darnell: Seven! They added a whole month for the pie contest.
Dr. Nina Byte: A 2005 energy law made it eight months, starting in 2007, to try to use less energy.
Chip Darnell: Eight months of fair? At that point the fair isn't an event. It's your address.
Dr. Nina Byte: Please do not move into the fair.
Dr. Nina Byte: Now it runs from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November: almost two-thirds of the year.
Chip Darnell: So the normal time is the one we use less?
Dr. Nina Byte: Yes! Since 2007, daylight saving time covers almost two-thirds of the year, so standard time is now the shorter one.
Dr. Nina Byte: Per Wikipedia, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 extended it to reduce energy use.
Chip Darnell: So standard time is the off-season. The parking lot is the vacation.
Dr. Nina Byte: I hate that I can picture the parking lot.
Dr. Nina Byte: Recap. First Sunday of November, 2 a.m. becomes 1 a.m., and that hour happens twice.
Chip Darnell: Same pig, same race, two 1:30 alarms.
Dr. Nina Byte: Franklin joked about candles. Hudson proposed it in 1895. Germany and Austria-Hungary went first in 1916, to save coal.
Chip Darnell: And Gary gets robbed again.
Dr. Nina Byte: It wasn't made for farmers. That's a myth. Farmers have pushed back ever since.
Chip Darnell: Brenda rings her bell in protest.
Dr. Nina Byte: Hawaii, Arizona and the territories skip it. The Navajo Nation still changes.
Chip Darnell: Long live the booth inside the booth.
Dr. Nina Byte: And since 2007, it lasts almost two-thirds of the year.
Chip Darnell: Which brings me to my big announcement.
Dr. Nina Byte: [sigh] Go.
Chip Darnell: I asked the fair board to keep the Pickle County Fair open all year. Permanent fair time!
Dr. Nina Byte: And?
Chip Darnell: Denied! But they said we're allowed to stay closed all year. So we did!
Chip Darnell: Pickle County Fair, now on permanent standard time! Come on down! There's nothing here!