Friday, March 06, 2009

Spring Forward...!

[Image Courtesy-TIME]

Its that time of the year again when accurate "TIME" matters so much and you want it or not-all your gadgets, your car clock and all your electronic gadgets grab your attention atleast for couple of minutes :) Yes, I am referring to 'Daylight Saving Time' here.

If you are an IT Professional, I am sure you would be aware of the hoopla that surrounds this yearly event in every company. Infact, DST reminds me of the amazing time I spent in a big Indian IT consulting firm I worked for in Mumbai four years ago. Back then, in March, our Program Manager used to make a detailed plan outlining numerous tasks and used to emphasize the criticality of every task quite visibly (meetings, meetings and more meetings!). The best part was that our DBA Team was conveyed a very strong message - "With great power comes great responsibility!" (remember Peter Parker ?) and we were conditioned to believe that we are like special task force commandos whose mission is to keep the IT systems of BIG Clients alive during the crucial flip-over moment when clocks are moved forward in the States. Orders were orders and thus we did our jobs with utmost devotion, sincerity and passion and the celebrity treatment ("Amazing work team!" emails from Senior mgmt) that we used to receive post DST sure felt awesome back then!

Anyways, coming back to present-here are some quick facts about DST:

  • In simple terms, the clocks are set ahead one hour on first Sunday of March to create an extra hour of daylight in the evening during summers.
  • The correct term is 'Daylight saving time' and not 'Daylight savings time'.
  • The first American to advocate for daylight saving was Benjamin Franklin.
  • America's EST time zone makes the switch before the rest of the country.
  • The states of Arizona and Hawaii do not follow DST.
  • Post DST, Central Time will be referred to as CDT instead of CST.
  • Mathematically speaking, you loose an hour's sleep but hey you can always cover up by either going to bed early on Saturday night or taking a nap on Sunday afternoon :)

So remember to spring forward your analog clocks at 2 a.m. this Sunday and have a cool weekend ahead!
"If time be of all things the most precious, wasting time must be the greatest prodigality"~Benjamin Franklin

2 comments:

s k gupta said...

"Spring forward " appears to be an innovative idea in the present era ..everybody is running against time..but most of us prefer to burn midnight oil instead of enjoying bright sunshine at Dawn to be ahead of our competitors or colleagues.
We perform better when we are fresh..when we are free of stress , tension..or prejuidices.
it is simple concept of slightly amending our habit.
the benefits are many.
They are guaranteed too.

They say..
Early to bed..
Early to rise..
Makes us Healthy , Wealthy & Wise,

Let us be wise.
Let us spring Forward.

We shall contribute in a big way..in the area of Energy Conservation..& stress minimization.

good blog..
Simple ..yet graceful..

Anonymous said...

Good piece of information about DST .Btw, the hyperlink for IT Professional keyword in your post is referring to "techrepublic.com.com", you may use eraser to rub off the extra ".com" :")