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 This experiment lasted only until 1920, when the law was repealed due to opposition from dairy farmers (cows don’t pay attention to clocks).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 12, 2028
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Daily Calendar
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Sunday, March 12, 2028
Born
- Thomas Augustine Arne (composer) –
- William Lyon Mackenzie (politician) –
- Jane Means Appleton Pierce (U.S. First Lady) –
- Clement Studebaker (wagon, carriage, & auto manufacturer) –
- Simon Newcomb (astronomer & mathematician) –
- Jane Delano (nurse) –
- Gordon MacRae (actor) –
- Jack Kerouac (author) –
- Edward Albee (dramatist) –
- Andrew Young (politician) –
- Al Jarreau (singer) –
- Barbara Feldon (actress) –
- Paul Kanter (musician) –
- Liza Minnelli (singer) –
- James Taylor (musician) –
- Darryl Strawberry (baseball player) –
Died
- Henry Bergh (ASPCA founder) –
- George Westinghouse (American inventor and industrialist who pioneered the use of alternating current electricity; died in New York, N.Y.) –
- Dr. Sun Yat-Sen (Chinese revolutionary leader and statesman) –
- Asa Griggs Candler (Politician and founder of the Coca-Cola Company; died in Atlanta, Georgia) –
- Billy Barker (Canadian WWI ace) –
- Charlie Parker (jazz saxophonist) –
- Olive Patricia Dickason (Métis Canadian historian) –
Events
- United States Post Office was established –
- Coca-Cola was first sold in bottles –
- Girl Scouts started by Juliette Low in Savannah, Georgia –
- First transatlantic radio broadcast made –
- Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi began his second civil disobedience campaign to protest the British government’s salt tax –
- President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave his first fireside chat” to the nation” –
- Germany invaded and annexed Austria (WW II) –
- Pope Pius XII crowned –
- Less than a year after signing the bill that made the New Hampshire Lottery the first state-run lottery in America, New Hampshire Governor John W. King purchased the first New Hampshire Lottery Sweepstakes ticket –
- Beatle Paul McCartney married photographer Linda Eastman –
- Boston Celtics’ Larry Bird scored 60 points in a basketball game against Atlanta Hawks –
- Les Misérables opened on Broadway –
- Janet Reno became the first woman to serve as attorney general of the U.S. –
- Lance Mackey won his second consecutive Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race –
- Fifty-three year old Mitch Seavey became the oldest winner of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. In 2012, Seavey’s son Dallas became the youngest winner of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. –
Weather
- Blizzard of ‘88 dumped 50 inches of snow on Middletown, Connecticut –
- All-New England Flood, the costliest and most widespread ever –
- Wichita Falls, Texas, reported a record high of 95F; but only six days earlier, the town had reported a record low of 8F. –
- “Superstorm” developed in eastern U.S. –