Today is Sunday, March 11 and there are only 21 until Easter.  In this area, we are hoping the snow will melt in time for Easter egg hunts.  It is difficult to hide colored eggs on white snow.  Plus, it will be easy to see the footprints from where the people hiding the eggs walked.  Today we remember the birthdays of Torquato Tasso, Robert Treat Paine and Bobby McFerrin.  On this day in 1302 it was Romeo and Juliet’s wedding day, according to Shakespeare, in 1789 Benjamin Banneker along with Pierre L’Enfant began to lay out Washington, DC and in 1953 an American B-47 accidentally dropped a nuclear bomb on South Carolina, but the bomb didn’t go off due to six safety catches.  In Mauritius it is Maha Shivaratree and in the US it is National Johnny Appleseed Day, National Oatmeal Nut Waffle Day, National Worship Tools Day and Daylight Savings begins.  For those of you who need an excuse, tomorrow is National Napping Day – the Day After the Return of Daylight Savings Day.

I have covered this in the past, but always feel the need to rehash the information regarding Daylight Savings Time.  Here is a timeline of Daylight Savings Time in the US:

1784 - The idea of daylight saving is first conceived by Benjamin Franklin.

1914-1918 - Britain goes on DLS during World War I.

March 19, 1918 - The Standard Time Act establishes time zones and daylight saving. Daylight saving is repealed in 1919, but continues to be recognized in certain areas of the United States.

1945-1966 - There is no federal law regarding Daylight Saving Time.

1966 - The Uniform Time Act of 1966 establishes the system of uniform Daylight Savings Time throughout the United States. The dates are the last Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October. States can exempt themselves from participation.

1974-1975 - Congress extends DLS in order to save energy during the energy crisis.

1986-2006 - Daylight Savings Time begins on the first Sunday in April and ends on the last Sunday in October.

August 8, 2005 - President George W. Bush signs the Energy Policy Act of 2005 into law. Part of the act will extend Daylight Savings Time starting in 2007, from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November.

What makes this all the more interesting is that while most people want to do away with DST, Florida wants to move in the opposite direction: permanent daylight savings time.  The Florida Senate passed the Sunshine Protection Act on Tuesday, three weeks after the state’s House of Representatives, and sent it to Gov. Rick Scott for his signature or veto.  The problem? Florida doesn’t have the authority to adopt daylight savings time year-round.  The Federal government controls the nation’s time zones, as well as the start and end dates of daylight savings time. States can choose to exempt themselves from daylight savings time — Arizona and Hawaii do — but nothing in federal law allows them to exempt themselves from standard time.  So, stand by while we watch this one play out.  

Okay, I think we have covered that as far as we need to.  But I will point out one other issue that is a problem caused by DST.  I am a lover of watches.  I will not give the exact number that I own, but let’s say it is a number much larger than the average person owns.  Because I also tend to be OCD (or CDO so that it is in alphabetical order as my brother points out), this time change creates a bit of a problem for me.  I cannot simply change each watch as I use it, for two reasons.  One is because I need to have them all correct at the same time.  The other reason is because I will not always remember which ones I changed and which ones I didn’t so that would just create confusion that I really don’t need.

Let me tell you what I go through twice a year because of these time changes.  First, I have to take out my watches and lay them out on a table.  Next I have to wait until the sweep hand on each watch reaches 12 so that I can pull out the stem to set the time.  Once I have all the watches stopped, I have to set the correct time on them, allowing enough time to get them all set and ready, usually setting them a couple minutes ahead of the actual time so that they are all coordinated.  Finally, I have to wait for the correct time to show on my phone and then push all the stems back in so that the change has been taken care of.  Now I think we are done with this topic.

As you are aware, St Patrick’s day is next Saturday.  Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick, is a cultural and religious celebration held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick, the foremost patron saint of Ireland.  While there’s nothing particularly Irish about shamrock-shaped cookies or green-frosted cupcakes, you might be surprised to learn that the traditional St. Paddy’s meal—corned beef and cabbage—is no more authentic. Like many aspects of St. Patrick’s Day, the dish came about when Irish-Americans transformed and reinterpreted a tradition imported from the Emerald Isle.

The wave of immigrants brought their own food traditions, including soda bread and Irish stew. Pork was the preferred meat, since it was cheap in Ireland.  But in the United States, pork was prohibitively expensive for most newly arrived Irish families, so they began cooking beef.  Members of the Irish working class in New York City frequented Jewish delis and lunch carts, and it was there that they first tasted corned beef. Cured and cooked much like Irish bacon, it was seen as a tasty and cheaper alternative to pork.  And while potatoes were certainly available in the United States, cabbage offered a more cost-effective alternative to cash-strapped Irish families.  So, if you want a truly Irish St Patrick’s Day meal enjoy a nice pork loin and some Yukon Gold potatoes.

This week, our fact once again causes me to wish there were explanations attached to these laws.  In Atlanta, GA it is illegal to tie a giraffe to a telephone pole or street lamp.  I find it hard to believe that this was an ongoing problem that required a regulation prohibiting it.  Were giraffes, at one time, a favored pet in Atlanta and people started tying them to poles and forgetting them?  I would think that tying them to a pole would be better than letting them roam free, but that’s just me.

Don’t forget to nap tomorrow and have a happy St Patrick’s Day!