You LOST!

Photo by *Kicki*

If you've watched the movie National Treasure with Nicholas Cage and Jon Voight then you know that the secret to figuring out one of the clues was on the back of the $100 bill. Upon examination of the picture of Independence Hall through the make-shift magnifier (a bottle of water), they noticed the clock and it had a time on it, 2:22.

Wanna see it? Go here and once loaded, left click to enlarge even more and you can read the clock for yourself. Then come back here.

The movie stated that it was 2:22 but according to the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing it is supposed to be approximately 4:10, although if you went to that link and enlarged it as I directed you will notice that the hand pointing to the 2 is short, not extending beyond the inner circle of the clock, and the other hand does actually cross over that inner circle and appears longer as a minute hand would, thus making it 2:22 and not 4:10. Also notice the Roman numeral used is IV which is not what is on the real clock, but instead the real clock reads: IIII. (Click here this copyright protected photo of a great close-up of the clock face). Also notice that there are other numbers on that photo of the clock above each Roman numeral, showing the seconds. There is no reason that the B of E &P gives for the 4:10 time OR why the numeral was printed as IIII and not IV. So two mysteries for you to contemplate at this time of year.

Oh yeah, that is why I started this post, wondered when I'd get around to it? Well I just didn't want to blurt it out, but thought I'd give you a little entertainment first and share a bit of my passion for clocks with you along the way. :)

Today is March 13, 2010. Early tomorrow morning in the USA, (which will be the second Sunday of the month), the clocks will move ahead one hour. Now of course they will not do that by themselves, YOU have to remember tonight before going to bed to do that manually. Your Cable box, VCR and other computer run things will change themselves as well as you PC if you have DST enabled for your country. But your battery powered clocks, and all your watches need to be manually changed. My advise, do it now before you forget, because you shouldn't be up at 2am, nor is it something you may remember when sleepy right before bedtime. And of all things, don't forget to change your alarm clock!

In reality time does not move ahead, it really is us that change our routines, businesses and habits, such as eating, working and sleeping etc, in order to enjoy more sunlight hours while awake later in the day.

Benjamin Franklin has been given credit for first suggesting this phenomenon. You've heard the proverb:

"Early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise"

Guess Who said it? Yes, Ol Benny Himself. Great proverb to life by but sadly he did not really suggest DST as we know it today (despite what you learned in that movie, remember they had a script that needed to make sense). Actually it was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Vernon Hudson, whose shift-work job gave him leisure time to collect insects, and made him aware of the value of after-hours daylight. Many European countries adopted this before the US, who didn't adopt it until 1918. Daylight Saving Time was instituted in the United States during World War I in order to save energy for war production by taking advantage of the later hours of daylight between April and October. Since 2007 it is now four weeks longer due to the passage of the Energy Policy Act in 2005, spanning from March to November.

Ever since this has been enacted in many countries it has been controversial. Some countries have never had it, some used to at one time but no longer observe it today, and other such as the USA, Europe, Russia, parts of Australia, South America and only 3 countries in all of Africa still use it today in some form.

House in Time Greeting Card- FolkArtVision -click pic

So this is not just a reminder to change your clocks ahead so you aren't late for things, but to help your body to prepare for this change. Tonight, go to bed one hour earlier than you normally would. Tomorrow set your alarm to awaken you 1/2 hour earlier than you normally would. Again, Sunday night, go to bed another hour earlier than you normally would. Drink a cup of chamomile tea before to help you relax, do NOT watch TV or take your laptop in there. If you want to read a bit to help you get sleepy, pick something boring, technical, something that won't stimulate your mind too much.
If you do this come Monday morning it won't be so hard to adjust to the new time and your workweek will go much smoother. Make sure you put your whole family on this schedule. In fact to get everyone used to it, change the clocks now. The quicker you get yourself adjusted to the time change the sooner you will be able to enjoy that extra Spring sunshine!

Here's a few tips from the Navy on how to adjust. Remember it's about the sunlight that effects you, not what it says on your clock.

For a list of other countries that observe DST and when it happens here is a great web page. E.G. (for example) All of Europe springs ahead on the last Sunday of the Month of March at 1am UTC.

Oh, the title of this post? You lost? Well if you haven't figured it out by now it means you lost one hour, or you will by tomorrow! But don't worry, you'll get it back in the Fall, on November 7th, 2010. :) And that's a spring from a wooden clothspin, for SPRING AHEAD!!

By the way when you were at the $100 bill site, did you happen to notice how many people are on the back of the $100 bill?

You may want to play a trivia question with someone and ask them how many people are pictured on the $100 bill, I'm sure most will tell you one, Benjamin Franklin, but you can prove them wrong with the answer of 4, three men (one on the front, Ben, and two on the back) and one woman. :)

Cute little old fashioned cash register from The Fancy Lamb. Click on pic to read all about it!

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