Dont Forget to Set Your Clocks Back Funny Meme
During most of the year, most of my blog traffic here goes to the home page, the DST legislation page and the research page. But right around the time changes, there is one page that rules them all: the DST memes.
This year, I am trying something new, putting together a twitter thread with all the new stuff. I am also putting all the same ones in this post, but I hope by doing this perhaps a few new people will follow the LockTheClock account on Twitter. What I am hoping is that we can convert some of our shared pain of clock changing and joy in the absurdity of it all into a bit more momentum to actually fix this.
It is true that if we fix this, we will no longer have the absurdity of the clock changing. But that will be OK for all of the lives saved.
So, here are the new memes for the 2021 Fall Back season:
This one may be my favorite new DST meme for 2021. The look on the face of that animal, and it is hard to even tell what kind of animal it is. (tweet)
This one is painful. It hurts to look at it, and the reality of it hurts. I include it only because it is so true. (tweet)
This meme is so used, or so overused, that you knew there'd be a DST version. Still, it gets used because it is funny. (tweet)
This is another classic meme image, but it gets to a point that is almost too on point: We don't get enough sleep! Instead of using #FallBack as a way to catch up on sleep, many of us just end up the same amount of sleep deprived. (tweet)
This one isn't so much funny as poignant. Even @AOC has tweeted about the importance for overnight workers to make sure they get paid for all the hours they work. (I'm sure she'd be a yes vote to #LockTheClock.) (tweet)
This may be my favorite new meme of the #FallBack 2021 season. The whole thing of changing the clocks makes us think about why we do it, what time even is, and how time does slip away. (tweet)
In my eight years of working on this, I don't think that I have ever seen a meme or run across the idea that Daylight Saving should be offset with Daylight Spending. Brilliant! And I don't think it was #DST that killed the dinosaurs... (tweet)
This one cut a little too close to the bone for me. I love sitting on a couch. Is my existence pointless? Well, maybe if we fix DST, my existence will have meant something. Maybe. (tweet)
If elected officials were all parents of small children, we would have fixed DST years ago. (tweet)
I have been studying and working to fix Daylight Saving Time for eight years now, and I really can't say with any authority why it is we have it, or why we can't get rid of it. I know lots of stuff, but it is hard to take such a mess of a situation and sum it up in any way that makes sense. That doesn't mean I don't have hope. I do, but it is weird. (tweet)
With most of these, the comedy comes because of the truth it holds. They expose the absurdity of it all. This one is funny, but not actually true. There are some people who prefer more light in the morning, and they don't mind chaining the clocks to get there. A lot of people don't like the time we use in the winter, but they don't really mind making that change because they get an extra hour of sleep over the weekend. It's the changing of the clock in the Spring that is deadly. (tweet)
This is not a meme, but it is clear when listening to the first part of this monologue that the ideas I started pushing eight years ago are now mainstream:
Well, that is it for this year, but if you want more, there are some timeless classics in a series of DST meme posts. I will also be writing a "behind the scenes" with Jon Lovett post after I get some breakfast, so be sure to check back for that. And if you would like to see an end to the clock changing, I really hope you'll follow this account on twitter. Thanks for that.
And, thanks for reading! Enjoy your extra hour this weekend, however you decide to spend it.
I really really hate changing the clocks twice a year, but it's become a bit more enjoyable the last couple of years because I spend a bit of time scanning the interwebs for funny pics, memes, comics, tweets, etc., related to Daylight Saving Time. You can find all of the collections here.
Before we get to the fun stuff... remember this: The next few days are absolutely scientifically proven to be more dangerous because the government is stealing an hour of sleep from you on Saturday night. Your body just doesn't quite know how to react. So no matter what you are doing, be sure not to set an alarm clock at all on Sunday or Monday. If this is going to make you late to something, well, too bad for them. If anyone asks, tell them you are practicing the well-known practice of Sleep In For Safety™!
OK, on to the funny stuff!
Dogs, Cats and Other Animals
Celebrities
Every year I think I've seen all of them, and then every year I discover new ones.
The election is over, but still...
I know this kid isn't exactly a celebrity, but at this point he pretty much is:
Some E Cards
Every year they come up with some great ones!
This one, I think, perfectly captures why we have not yet been able to #LockTheClock:
Miscellany
#DaylightSavingTime is comedy GOLD!https://t.co/stIkZltZEY
— Scott Yates, #LockTheClock (@lock_the_clock) March 13, 2021
This is why I NEVER correct people when they get it wrong:
Also, if you haven't seen it, the part of this video where Desi gets the name wrong is one of the funniest bits of the spot:
If you think I'm missing one from the collection in all of these posts, please let me know!
In this year, especially, we could use some lightness on the topic of darkness.
This is the latest in a series of posts. For other fun stuff you can just click this topic, or see the posts from 2019, 2018, 2017, Spring 2016, and Fall 2016.
With all those, you wouldn't think the internet could produce any more...
But the creativity never stops:
pic.twitter.com/wkMdSzlrzZ
— mike luckovich (@mluckovichajc) October 26, 2020
I love this clip from The West Wing. it was made before Indiana unified under one time zone, but it is still great. Also, the earnest, lovable Midwestern kid is played by the same actor who played the earnest, lovable Midwestern news producer in Sorkin's show, the Newsroom.
in honor of daylight saving time: a masterpiece pic.twitter.com/D3U2qwB4Mt
— lemonlyman (@nocontxtww) March 10, 2019
While not technically a DST meme, this has been a popular one this year when thinking about the sun going down so early in the day:
Enjoy your extra hour of sleep!
And a late addition:
We are with you, TÃa. #LockTheClock
— Scott Yates, #LockTheClock (@lock_the_clock) November 14, 2020
Baldo for November 14, 2020 | https://t.co/VeGSC8RL84 https://t.co/DdNslXhKyE via @GoComics
Because this effort to fix Daylight Saving Time is basically just me writing blog posts, emailing legislators and talking to people, I never really step back and do any kind of planning or organizing.
I certainly never have marketing meetings to talk about the message.
But yesterday that happened for me in the Georgia state capitol.
And boy did it pay off.
OK, first the message, and then the back story:
Great, eh?
Only took me six years to come up with that. Jeesh.
OK, here's the backstory:
For a while now I've been communicating with Rep. Wes Cantrell in Georgia. Like other legislators around the country, I immediately liked the guy. There are definitely both Democrats and Republicans who care about this, and the thing they always have in common is a tendency toward Good Government and being responsive to their constituents.
He told me the bill was coming up for a crucial hearing, and I have a bunch of frequent flier miles and hotel points, so I told him I'd be happy to fly down to testify. I'm so glad I went, because I got something really valuable in return: A clean, coherent message.
When I go to states to testify, I typically spend some time with the sponsor, and then sometimes there's some impromptu lobbying, and quite often some talking to reporters. As a former reporter, I'm always happy to do that.
But I never really listen to what I'm saying, I just blurt out as many facts as I can.
Yesterday, however, after the hearing, I got to sit down with Rep. Cantrell and a couple of other people who had been in the hearing room, including his wife. One of those in the room said that when I said one thing, the whole issue really crystalized for him.
The government is in charge of clocks. The clocks are killing people. It's time to Lock The Clock.
And then one of the reporters who was there featured that snippet in his excellent report from the hearing. (Also, loved the Girl Scouts!) (Also, the local Fox station also did a fantastic story.)
So now I have it.
I got the hashtag #LockTheClock when I testified in Michigan, and now I have, essentially, a vision statement for the movement.
The first line is a given: The government, properly, has an interest in a unified and coherent system for time.
The second line is the gut punch. It may not have been clear when the Uniform Time Act of 1966 passed, but it is crystal clear now that the time change kills people every year.
And the last line is the call to action.
Feel free to share that however you like to share these things.
Thanks to Rep. Cantrell, and all the people I talked to in Georgia, who were as lovely and helpful as could be. Thanks to Noor Younis for the background photo.
And thanks to you for reading this, and helping to get that message out.
This just may be the year!
As the leader of an admittedly oddball movement like #LockTheClock, I get a lot of weird email.
Most of it is fine.
For instance, every month or so I get a note from someone who just had the best idea ever: Move the clocks a half hour and call it good. They think that I probably never thought of that, that I haven't heard it 100 times before, and that now I should give up on what I've been working on for years and do all the work to make it happen the way they want it to happen.
There was a time that I engaged with those people, but now I just delete.
The rest of the mail is fine. There's lawmakers from small states or aides to legislators from bigger states. Journalists. People just telling me that they agree and that I should keep going. It's all great.
So then one day I get a very polite note asking if I'd be interested in talking to a producer from The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. At first I thought it was a joke, but the email was actually from TheDailyShow.com, and 10 seconds of searching showed me that the producer was legit.
My first impulse was that I should play it cool, and wait a while before I replied. I did that for 10, maybe 15 seconds.
I wrote back and played it cool, saying: Yes! Love to! Like I'm going to say no.
I ended up talking to two different producers. I had no idea where any of this was leading, but I just told them about all the history, etc. They seemed really interested.
Then they asked if I'd be willing to go to Arizona for a day to get interviewed.
Again... like I'd say no.
They picked up the tab for the flight, and literally apologized that they wouldn't be able to spring for first class. I thought about acting all indignant, but I'm no actor, and didn't want to screw it up.
So, I went to a clock shop at the appointed time. You know how anyone can shoot a video anywhere anytime these days? Well, they couldn't do this kind of video. If you haven't seen it, the spot is here, or here:
While it looks like I'm just sitting down for a chat, the only way to make the video look that great is with a crew of professionals: Camera operators, a sound person, some sort of director, and then the producer who came from New York City, and of course, Desi Lydic. Every one of them was mellow, funny, hard working, and a total pro. I mean, I think they were, it's not like I'm a TV person.
Even though it may look like I am. Watching that video again now I'm struck by how funny I am, how my reactions are timed just right and I had just the right look at the right time.
Now, in my day job I'm trying to fix "fake news" and so I suppose I should be against this, but I am just not that funny. The editors spliced together little bits of reactions just perfectly so it makes me look like a comic genius. It was really great.
They had plenty to work with. I was in that chair for more than an hour, answering questions and going over some bits a couple of times. Still, I think they edited it to the perfect length.
Well... there was one edit that I might have made differently...
When Desi asked me if there were any other culprits that keep the clock broken, I said that the TV industry was actually involved. I pointed out that they don't want it to be light out after work, they want it to be dark so that everyone will come inside and sit on the couch and watch TV.
Feigning an indignant huff, Desi said something like:Look, you can point out the evil of the retailers, and the Germans, and the golf people and the candy people, but do NOT question the wisdom or the morals of the television people!!!
That bit got cut. Hmmmmmm.
The idea of doing the interview in a clock shop seemed like a great idea, with only one problem: The clocks. Nearly all of them made some kind of sound, and none of them were on the right time, so in the middle of a line there'd be some GONG! right by Desi's head and she'd grimace or mutter something. It was hilarious for a couple of times, and then she and all the crew seemed a little annoyed, but they kept rolling. I thought one of her reactions to a clock going off might make it into the final skit, but those also got cut. Maybe it was just funny to the people trying to keep the whole thing on schedule.
Once it was done, Desi was nice enough to take a picture with me, and then she and the crew went off to the desert to film the rest of the sketch.
She's now back in New York, making people laugh, and I'm back to my desk in Denver, trying to figure out how to fix Daytime Save Light Time.
Short post, short on time. I'll have more later, but wanted to be sure you all saw this excellent report from the Daily Show:
Typically in the week after the "Fall Back" change interest in DST drops off a cliff. People are just too depressed coming home from work in the dark, so they plop on the couch and start watching TV. (eds. note: Is this a story?) With all that, Halloween behind us, lots of work to do and the holidays barreling toward us, nobody is able to care enough to even Google DST and figure out what to do.
But nearly a full week after the change, I just heard what was probably the most nuanced and spot-on view of the politics surrounding Daylight Saving Time, maybe ever.
Here it is. The whole show is funny, but the DST bit starts about 53:30.
Several little things here:
- Of the items on the Rant Wheel, only DST got the audience laughing just by saying the name.
- Jon said that he's asked eight different candidates what their position is on DST. I've only seen Yang's view. (He's on board.) What are the others' views???
- The presentation about the science was great. Not to toot my own horn here, but I'm really glad that I made that research page like three or four years ago so that people would start treating this like the public health issue that it is, not a quirky annoyance that we endure for the farmers for some damn reason.
But the best part was the way that Jon basically walked all of us through his own evolution. He started out thinking that we should all just do what he would like the best, but he studied it and came up with some nuance, which is rare in the world of politics.
And he came so so close to the right solution, but didn't quite get all the way.
Jon, we haven't met, but allow me to pitch in, if you will.
You started out thinking that we should all just go to permanent DST. You pointed out, correctly, that the most deadly part of the whole DST thing is the "Spring Forward" change, when heart attacks spike. (Traffic accidents, strokes, workplace accidents, too, but just the heart attack thing is plenty.)
And you point out that the fall change plunges many of us into a forced "Well of depression."
But then you go into a discussion of if it's better for states to be in Standard Time or Daylight Saving Time.
The evolution you made was a great one, but you didn't address, at least directly, the first issue, the one about not making the switch twice a year.
What we need to do is first say that we won't be switching the clocks. Hence the hashtag: #LockTheClock.
And then we should do exactly what you say, and let the states decide. You are right, this is actually an instance of non-racist states rights.
However...
If we do it your way—some states on Standard, some states on DST, some still switching—we end up with a confused patchwork of states that will make everyone a little crazy. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 was written to clean up just that exact problem.
Luckily, there is a solution, and I'm sort of surprised you didn't mention it given how much research you clearly did.
The solution comes to us from Europe, where the European Union made the decision to end the clock changing in 2021, and gave the member countries up until then to figure out which time zone they want to be in permanently.
If we did that we would:
- address your point about states rights,
- fix the "Spring Forward into your sudden and painful death" change problem, and
- allow for differences in geography.
As a bonus, that will give everyone some time to figure out the school start times and all the rest of the ancillary issues.
So, Jon, great work, and now just one more step to make in your evolution on this issue and you'll be at the one sane place that could actually happen.
I'm hoping that with that one more step you will—quoting your mission statement— "decide that you want to help fix this mess too."
But overall, thanks so much for your rant. It was really great and will advance the conversation a lot.
This post is from 2019, and it is still funny, but if you want a full collection of all the memes, gifs, jokes, etc., you may just want to click on the Daylight Saving Time meme tag.
The issue of fixing Daylight Saving Time is a deadly serious public health issue.
But I get that it's also funny, and perfect for some online mockery.
Also, some of my most popular posts have been my collections of funny "Fall Back" memes, funny "Spring Forward" memes, and then an updated set of DST memes and videos, and then another set this Spring.
The fun never ends, it seems, so here are some of the best #LockTheClock memes I've seen this year that were not in one of the previous collections:
Don't forget that tonight astronomers stop the rotation of the Earth for an hour for routine maintenance (mantle flushing, core convection rebalancing, Moho layer alignment, and so on). Things should be good as new when you wake up. The Sun might rise earlier but that's normal.
— Phil Plait (@BadAstronomer) November 3, 2019
Did you remember to put your clocks back? #daylightsavingtime pic.twitter.com/rNvxJdZhyt
— Brittlestar (@brittlestar) November 3, 2019
From Zoe the Seeing Eye Dog.
I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if an entire hour of time suddenly appeared. To offset this gained hour of sleep for the humans due to #DaylightSavingTime, I will cause then to lose an hour of sleep by knocking the lamp off the table. Sweet dreams, bipeds.
— Thoughts Of Cat (@ThoughtsOfCat2) November 3, 2019
First, welcome to our visitors from Europe, who had their "fall back" change this weekend. Did you enjoy that extra hour of sleep?
Sorry you'll have to go home from work in the dark on Monday, but, you know... The FARMERS!
(Of course, the farmers in Europe, like the farmers here in the U.S., had nothing to do with making us switch to Daylight Saving Time or "Summertime" as you call it.)
And now we are in the weird part of the year where Europe and the U.S. are separated by an hour less than usual, something I talked about in March when I happened to be in Berlin for work.
About this site:
I've added a new link to the navigation bar, and it goes to a page that answers the question I get most often from people: How can I help?
They always say that for every one person who writes in to ask, there are 100 others that think the question, but don't write in, so I wanted to make it easy.
If you are one of the 99, check out that page. The life you save may be your own!
And if you do nothing else, I hope that you'll either sign up for my very friendly and not-very-frequent newsletter, or follow me on Twitter. That way you'll be the first to know what's going on.
Yes, you still have to change
I try to monitor the coverage about Daylight Saving Time. Usually the stories all look largely the same, but this year there's a new category of stories thanks to the progress that's been made in state legislatures around the country.
You see, many states have passed bills saying that they want to #LockTheClock and stop changing for Daylight Saving Time. But all of them have some caveat. They either are waiting for nearby states to also pass bills, or they are waiting for enabling legislation from the federal government. Or there is some other exception.
In any event, readers and viewers who missed the fine print and just read a headline from months ago that said, "Daylight Saving Time Bill Signed By Governor" are just now realizing that they still have to change the clocks this year.
And they aren't happy.
Hence the stories from all over the U.S. with a headline that is something like: "Yes, You Still Need To 'Fall Back' On Nov. 3."
No fun for you, no fun for the reporters. Just no fun at all.
But change IS coming. The fact that those stories are needing to be written at all is a testament to the fact that bills are passing, even though the bills didn't bring immediate relief. Before even that didn't happen.
Change is coming, and even though this is an all-volunteer effort, this site is the place that will continue to keep you up to date and give you the best chance to be a part of the change that is coming because after five years of work on this, I've learned a lot about what actually moves things forward.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for caring about this issue!
OK, we're getting back into the busy season for #LockTheClock.
I know this blog has been a bit quiet, but in part that's because I've been so busy behind the scenes. Some of the stuff I can talk about, and some I can't. Not yet. But when I can... Boy Howdy! It's going to be tremendously fantastically big.
Until then...
If you are just visiting for the first time, here's what you need to know:
- This is the official site for trying to do away with switching the clock in and out of Daylight Saving Time.
- It's not a full-time thing, there's no money behind it, but it is a legitimate movement now. I've been working on it for five years on nights and weekends, and I can tell you for sure that we ARE making progress.
- If you are a citizen and want to know what you can do to help, read this post.
- If you want to write to tell me you just had a brilliant idea, that we should move the clock 30 minutes and call it a compromise, well, let's just say you aren't the first to have that idea. If you want to work on that for five years, contact hundreds of legislators, do tons of press, write scores of blog posts, and convince people it's a good idea — go for it! Just don't write to me and tell me about it.
If you just survived the switchinto Daylight Saving Time in Australia or New Zealand (weirdly even those two friendly countries don't switch on the same weekend), welcome! For the first time this year I noticed a huge uptick in visitors from Down Under.
I haven't yet had too many visitors from Iran, but I learned from a Lyft driver (and confirmed it on the internet) that Iran switches into DST on the first day of Spring and out on the first day of Fall. It doesn't matter if the equinoxes fall on a Saturday night or not, they just switch, even if it's mid-week.
While I'm interested in other countries, I'm most interested in what's happened recently in the European Union.
Europe to Beat the US to #LockTheClock?
The news out of Europe is that all the member states of the EU will be ending the clock-changing insanity, starting in 2021.
It's not final yet, but if I can read the tea leaves of this official statement, it seems like a done deal.
This is fantastic news for all the regular reasons, but especially because it mirrors what I think is the best solution for us in the U.S.
<Begin DST Nerd section, skip over if you are sleepy.>
There is a lot of debate about if we should switch to permanent Standard Time (what we have in the winter) or permanent Daylight Saving Time.
Officially, the position of this movement is to not take a position. The only thing we are asking is to #LockTheClock, no more changing the clock twice per year.
More specifically, in a country as big and diverse as the United States, there's no one, clear answer. All of the opinion polls say that people want more daylight later in the day when they can use it more. Most businesses want more daylight later, it's better for golf and other recreation industries, as well as retail sales.
Also, there are just a lot of weird little exceptions. Eastern Oregon. Northern Idaho. Western Nebraska.
Two of our biggest states by population, Texas and Florida, have relatively small bits hanging out in a less-populous time zone to the west.
Also Arizona, which people think doesn't participate in DST, except that a huge swath of the state still does in the Navajo Nation. Indiana and Michigan have some odd spots, and Kentucky and Tennessee are cut right in half.
Weirdly, if the U.S. was to adopt the European system, it would be the most American thing we could do. A big part of our history is leaving a lot of the governing up to the states. Congress could pass a law saying that we are going to match the Europeans and stop changing clocks in 2021, and each state would have until then to decide which time zone they'll be in.
Some states won't have much say. California will be in the Pacific, New York in the East. But some states could decide that they want to unify, or even move. Michigan and Indianashould be in the Central Time zone if a person were trying to draw somewhat straight lines. I'm not sure why they aren't, but I would guess it has something to do with big business, even if big business did blame the farmers, the same way they've always done.
That's the best approach to federal legislation, something I am lobbying for. I haven't gotten there yet, but the fact that the current bill going through Congress seems to be dead may help the sponsors cast about for a new approach. I'm actively working on that right now.
<End DST Nerd section>
The good news is that compared to when I started working on this, I can see the momentum changing in the press inquiries I'm getting, the legislative interest, the visitors to this site, and more.
So, I know you won't like changing the clock again this fall, even though this is the one where you get an extra hour of sleep. But you can get that sleep with a bit of comfort that the world of clock changing is slowly drifting away.
The 2019 legislative season is shaping up to be the busiest ever in the fight to #LockTheClock and fix Daylight Saving Time for good.
So busy and so hot, in fact, that it's making me lose sleep.
Do you have a trick when you can't sleep? I do. I listen to an audio book. The trick for me is to find one that is boring enough that it lulls you to sleep, but not so boring that your mind wanders instead of listening.
I was trying to fall back asleep in the wee hours this morning, so I listened to a book about the Middle Ages. I came in at a section about Magellan.
He was, of course, the Portuguese sailor who was the first to sail from the old world around the new world, and then back home going west the whole way. He was the first to circumnavigate the planet, importantly around the bottom of South America where the straits are now named for him.
(Well, his expedition made it around the world, anyway. He didn't personally make it, having run afoul of some native chiefs on a Pacific island unhappy with how the sailors were taking advantage of the native women.)
He set out with five ships and 270 men. One ship and 18 men made it back to Europe, and when they got home they had lots to tell about things that had never been seen by Europeans before, including penguins and bananas.
And they also noticed something strange: Although they had kept meticulous logs of their days away, their calendar was off by one day from the calendars kept in Europe.
This was the first group to circumnavigate the planet, proving that it was round, something that had been theorized by people going back to the ancient Greeks.
But none of those theories, and none of the astronomers or big thinkers of the day had figured out the need for an International Date Line. It took actually sailing around the world to make clear the need for that.
No Date Line?
Just to be clear, the planet spun on its axis for eons with no need for an International Date Line. That line was only needed so that as people who kept calendars traveled around the world, they could all keep in synch. The idea of the calendar, and the need to keep it in synch with other calendars, is entirely a human invention.
So it is with time zones. I've written about this before, and the history is clear on this. We have time zones because as the trains started zipping across the land, we had a need for uniform times. No longer could the time be set by the one guy in town who set the town clock and looked up at the sun to decide when it was noon.
That's why time zones are controlled in the U.S. by the Department of Transportation.
Time Zones Kill
With all that in mind, I'm now volunteering to help legislators from around the country (when I can spare the time from my day job of fixing fake news.)
With all of them, I share the research. I talk about the politics (including the story of the legislator in Arizona who tried tostart changing the clock twice a year and was so overwhelmed with angry constituent response that he held a press conference to announce he was killing his own bill.)
And the bigger message that I try to share with all of them is just this: The very notion of "time" is just an agreement among people. Shouldn't we strive to live in a world where such an agreement does not kill people?
I mean, imagine this scenario:
Bob: Hey, Ralph, want to get lunch? Say 1 p.m.?
Ralph: Well, I'd love to get lunch, but if we do it at 1, there's a chance I'll have a heart attack and die. Can we do it at 12:30 instead?
Bob: No way.
Ralph: Why not?
Bob: The farmers.
People who have looked into the issue (and fans of John Oliver) know that the farmers have nothing to do with Daylight Saving Time, and never have, except as a giant PR stunt and a scapegoat.
No, the reason we are forced to change clocks twice a year is, well, inertia. We do it because that's what we do.
All the science, all of it, says that changing clocks is a bad idea, and yet we keep doing it.
But with the flurry of activity in the state legislatures here in the U.S., and in the European Parliament, and the vote by the people of California, it is becoming clear that the clock is ticking for mindless clock-changing.
And it can't come soon enough. It will be too late for Magellan, but it's not too late for us.
Because I've been leading the charge against Daylight Saving Time clock-changing for years now, I sometimes lose track of the fact that misperceptions about the ridiculous practice still outweigh the truth.
I think if someone with a big budget took a poll, they'd find that a majority of people think we change the clocks twice per year because of "the farmers."
If you stop and think about it, it's ridiculous. Everything about agriculture has changed in the last 100 years, and somehow we still change clocks because of what farmers wanted in 1918?
Why do we think "The Farmers" wanted DST?
Simple. It was a PR job. One of the greatest PR con jobs in history.
You see, the guy who ran the biggest department store in Boston decided that people would shop more if they had more time in the daylight after work to shop.
He wasn't wrong. A study done in this century is clear that more daylight does encourage people to get out of the home more and shop.
But in those days he couldn't come out and say that he wanted to change the clocks to make more money for himself, so he came up with a plan: Say "the farmers" want it.
It was brilliant! Everyone had a nostalgic love of the farmers just at the start of the trend of people migrating off the farms and into the cities.
So, Lincoln Filene (who's namesake store exists to this day as Filene's Basement) had a bunch of what can only be described as Fake News created. His team wrote that fruit was healthier when harvested with the dew still on it.
The reality was that it sucked for farmers. In those days dairy farmers milked cows and delivered the fresh milk to stores and homes at the start of the day. This meant they had to get up even earlier relative to the sun.
The Filene team even ran the equivalent in those days of a social media campaign, creating post cards that constituents could send in to Congress.
While that PR effort did help, it wasn't until WW1 that we actually started observing Daylight Saving Time, then called, "War Time" as a way of staying in synch with the British, who started doing it because the Germans did it.
So as John Oliver correctly points out: You lost an hour of sleep because of Kaiser Wilhelm.
The tide is turning, though. The news from Florida is excellent. There are at least 20 state legislatures grappling with the issue.
So this will get fixed, but not this year, unfortunately.
For Monday, however, be sure to recognize National Turn Off Your Alarm Clock Day.
Yes, it's a thing. Go into work late on Monday. The life you save may be your own.
A couple of years back, I published what I thought was a pretty complete guide to all of the videos and memes about Daylight Saving Time.
Well, the creators of the world keep creating.
But it's not just kids goofing around with meme-makers. Questions about DST are creeping into all parts of our culture, including this gem from the Cartoon Network:
If kids grow up knowing from cartoons that changing the clocks around is a "completely pointless practice" then I know that it's just a matter of time before we fix it, sort of like gay marriage and gun laws.
But for this year, we are stuck with it. (Blame Trump, really.)
Well, be sure to check out that original collection, but here are some new additions that are worthy of a look or a share here in the 100th year of DST in the United States. Enjoy!
I've covered a lot of #FallBack memes in the past, but many of these are new to me. Bravo!
I think the growing tide of this kind of thing helps make the case that clock-changing is just dumb, and it's up to us to fix it.
#LockTheClock!
Best of the #FallBack, #DaylightSavingTime #DST Tweets
Busy night at #Stonehenge as staff work all night to move the stones forward by an hour. #DaylightSavingsTime https://t.co/AkxCU5KsMG
— John Lundin (@johnlundin) November 5, 2017
— Chris A. Booker (@Bookerc94) November 5, 2017
— Michele🇬🇧 🇮🇱🇨🇦 (@Mish2626) November 4, 2017
— John Kowalchuk (@KowalchukFarms) November 4, 2017
The epistemological:
— Mad Men Bon Mots (@MadMenQTs) November 5, 2017
#DaylightSavingsTime is important for revealing that reality is an arbitrary human construct.
— Werner Twertzog (@WernerTwertzog) November 5, 2017
Several great ones with animals making the point:
When your #kids don't get the concept of an extra hour of #sleep with #DaylightSavingsTime #momlife #FallBack #SundayFunday #help #lol #smh pic.twitter.com/NzLszeZH5y
— Cherish K. Paris (@CherishParis3) November 5, 2017
#DaylightSavingsTime My biological clock has not been set back and I'm hungry pic.twitter.com/JcMRgJpWdQ
— ♫ Adriano&Paulina ♫ (@keet0007) November 5, 2017
No one ever tells your pets about #DaylightSavingsTime pic.twitter.com/STxKvAncPy
— TheBloggess (@TheBloggess) November 5, 2017
#DaylightSavingsTime So you thought you could stay in bed for another hour? pic.twitter.com/mlKa2jbz5b
— ♫ Adriano&Paulina ♫ (@keet0007) November 5, 2017
Celebrities are always in the picture:
— PJ Sterling (@PJSterlingBooks) November 5, 2017
When you wake up at 4 am thanks to #DaylightSavingsTime and everyone else is still asleep... pic.twitter.com/qzedRYM4vX
— The Mockingjay🔥 (@txmockingjay) November 5, 2017
Remember to turn back time! Please #Cher #DaylightSavingsTime pic.twitter.com/fccZxhIPhB
— Mark Vadik (@MarkVadik) November 5, 2017
For all those with young kids who were awake an hour early but have to listen to everyone brag about their extra hour of sleep... try not to punch anyone today. #DaylightSavingsTime pic.twitter.com/dWn9fDNE25
— Alt Fed Employee (@Alt_FedEmployee) November 5, 2017
The political. Most are anti-Trump, but not all:
Did we go back to the future?
— Cameron Grant (@coolcam101) November 5, 2017
#DaylightSavingsTime pic.twitter.com/E6xqawpIZW
Has anyone made a joke yet about how Republicans should set their clocks back an hour and a hundred years?
— Holly O'Reilly (@AynRandPaulRyan) November 5, 2017
Yes?
Okay.#DaylightSavingsTime pic.twitter.com/0l5vlp7Mpq
— 🌊₮'ṔἄṲ🌊 (@WomanResistorNC) November 5, 2017
— SparkleMAGA🇺🇸 (@SparkleSoup45) November 5, 2017
#DaylightSavingsTime Don't forget to turn back your clocks. This may mean the removal of Trump will occur one hour sooner. 😉#SundayThoughts pic.twitter.com/Z7T1TmI1zO
— A.Silver-MeMEs-GIFs (@SilverAdie) November 5, 2017
The historical ones are always great:
#DaylightSavingsTime Somethimes moving the clock is not so easy pic.twitter.com/b9r2Ua8p1U
— ♫ Adriano&Paulina ♫ (@keet0007) November 5, 2017
California needs to take an idea from Arizona & stop changing clocks & participating in stupid #DaylightSavingsTime. pic.twitter.com/wqyguSZtKs
— Joe Calexit (@Joe_Calexit) November 5, 2017
The Monday after the "Spring Forward" Daylight Saving Time clock changing day is officially also "National Turn Off Your Alarm Clock" day.
Who says it's official? This site does!
That makes it at least as official as National Popcorn Lovers Day, which is different from National Popcorn Day.
(I love popcorn as much as anyone, but really, can't the popcorn people and the popcorn lovers people get together?)
Official Instructions for your workplace
So, the question I know you are asking is this: "How can I convince my boss to let me sleep in on that Monday?"
The answer there is easy. It's all about safety, and I wish I was joking around about this, but I'm not.
On the Monday after the time change, here's what science tells us will happen for sure:
- Heart attacks will go up. (New England Journal of Medicine, Sleep Medicine Journal)
- Traffic accidents will be way worse. (American Economic Association, New England Journal of Medicine)
- Workplace injuries will go up. (Journal of Applied Psychology)
- Strokes will go up. (Circulation Journal)
- Workplace productivity goes down. (Journal of Applied Psychology, and a helpful story here.)
So, really, your boss would be a moron to make you get up early, only to risk that you are either going to have a heart attack, have a stroke or get in a car accident. The absolute best case scenario is that you'll make it to work and be totally unproductive.
If your boss looks at you funny and says you must be joking, you can show him this post, or just this picture:
So, enjoy your popcorn (lovers or otherwise) day and be safe on the Monday after Daylight Saving Time.
Source: https://www.sco.tt/time/memes/
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