Today is the beginning of Daylight Saving Time, time for moving the clocks one hour ahead. The exceptions are Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa. Credit for Daylight Saving Time belongs to Benjamin Franklin, who first suggested the idea in 1784. The idea was revived in 1907, when William Willett, an Englishman, proposed a similar system in the pamphlet The Waste of Daylight. The Germans were the first to officially adopt the light-extending system in 1915 as a fuel-saving measure during World War I. The British switched one year later, and the United States followed in 1918, when Congress passed the Standard Time Act, which established our time zones. This experiment lasted only until 1920, when the law was repealed due to opposition from dairy farmers (cows don’t pay attention to clocks). During World War II, Daylight Saving Time was imposed once again (this time year-round) to save fuel.
Daily Calendar for Sunday, March 8, 2026
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Sunday, March 8, 2026
Question of the Day
What is the average wind speed inside a tornado?
The Fujita-Pearson scale ranks tornadoes by wind speed. The rankings range from F0 (very weak) to F6 (inconceivable). F0 denotes wind speeds of 40 to 72 mph; F1, 73 to 112 mph; F2, 113 to 157 mph; F3, 158 to 206 mph; F4, 207 to 260 mph; F5, 261 to 318 mph; and F6, 319 to 379 mph.
Advice of the Day
Providing is preventing.
Home Hint of the Day
Sugar maple dries slowly and splits hard, but it burns hot and lasts a long time.
Word of the Day
Halcyon Days
About 14 days of calm weather follows the blustery winds of autumn’s end. The ancient Greeks and Romans believed them to occur around the time of the winter solstice, when the halcyon, or kingfisher, was brooding. In a nest floating on the sea, the bird was said to have charmed the wind and waves so that the waters were especially calm during this period.
Puzzle of the Day
What would the captain of a ship do if he had no eggs?
Lay to (two).
Died
- King William III –
- Millard Fillmore (13th U.S. president) –
- William Howard Taft (27th U.S. president) –
- Joe DiMaggio (New York Yankees center fielder and Hall of Famer, one of the greatest hitters in baseball history; died in Hollywood, Florida) –
- Elliott Jaques (scientist who coined the term midlife crisis”“) –
- Robert Pastorelli (actor) –
- John Inman (actor) –
- Victor Manuel Blanco (astronomer who helped build the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile) –
Born
- Simon Cameron (Pennsylvania political boss, U.S. senator, Secretary of War) –
- Oliver Wendell Holmes (Supreme Court justice) –
- Kenneth Grahame (author) –
- Joseph Lee (American philanthropist) –
- Sam Jaffee (journalist) –
- Johnny Dollar (country singer) –
- Lew DeWitt (singer, Statler Brothers) –
- Lynn Redgrave (actress) –
- Micky Dolenz (musician, actor, & director) –
- Jim Rice (baseball player) –
- Aidan Quinn (actor) –
- Kathy Ireland (model & actress) –
- Freddie Prinze Jr. (actor) –
- James Van Der Beek (actor) –
- Bob, Dave, & Clint Moffatt (musicians, of The Moffatts) –
- Devon Werkheiser (actor) –
Events
- First train crossed Niagara Railway Suspension bridge –
- Confederate ironclad frigate Virginia (formerly Merrimack) sunk Union ship Cumberland at Hampton Roads, Virginia (U.S. Civil War) –
- Everett Horton patented a fishing rod with telescoping metal tubes –
- The first state dog licensing law in the United States was passed in New York state –
- Yankee slugger Babe Ruth signed an $80,000 per year (2-year, $160,000) contract –
- U.S. Supreme Court ruled in McCollum v. Board of Education that religious instruction in public schools is unconstitutional –
- Whirlwind I’s Director, precursor to computer operating system, demonstrated –
- First U.S. ground combat troops arrived in Vietnam –
- First year free for students from Newfoundland at Memorial University, N.L. –
- Joe Frazier defeated Muhammad Ali for the heavyweight boxing championship in New York –
- Meteorites fell in northeastern China, with the largest fragment, weighing about 3,902 pounds, falling in Jilin Province. –
- Daily artillery barrages between Christian and Syrian forces and their militia allies began in Beirut. At least 930 died before cease-fire took hold in September –
- Wheeled suitcase with collapsible towing handle patented –
- The body of actor-writer Spalding Gray was pulled from New York’s East River, two months after he walked out of his Manhattan apartment and disappeared –
Weather
- 1.6-inch-diameter hail fell in Erin, Ontario –
- A tornado in Arkansas killed 64 people –
- A winter storm brought high winds, heavy rains, and snow to southern British Columbia –
- Portsmouth, New Hampshire, had a record high temperature of 69 degrees Fahrenheit –