Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check

Daylight Saving Time:

Set yer clocks AHEAD an hour:
Couple of facts about DST: It's Saving Time, not Savings Time. Nevertheless, many people feel the word savings (with an 's') flows better, and "Daylight Savings Time" is also in common usage, and can be found in dictionaries. In the European Union, everybody sets their clocks ahead a couple of weeks from now on Mar 28. This can be a real pain if you're traveling, by the way, and get caught in between. Happened to me one year.

The whole concept of Daylight Saving Time is thought to have begun with BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, who wrote a letter to a French journal in 1874, noting that Parisians could save thousands of francs a years by waking up earlier during the summer because it would prevent them from having to buy so many candles to light the evening hours. Aha!
   However, in the U-S, it really didn't start until WWI, when Congress decided to give the idea a try in 1918 in an effort to save energy. They passed the law in the same act that created standard time zones, but it wasn't very popular and was repealed the following year.
   Then, in 1942, during the next big war, President FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT (that would be FDR) tried out a concept he called "War Time," which set the clocks permanently an hour earlier all-year 'round to save energy. After the war ended in 1945, most of the states adopted a summer-only time change.

Daylight Saving Time is:

not observed: in Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, and most of the state of Arizona (although not the Navajo Indian Reservation, which does observe). The Navajo Nation participates in the Daylight Saving Time policy due to its large size and location in three states.
   Overseas, about 70 countries observe Daylight Saving Time; China and Japan are two countries which do not.

Culture Shock:

A homeless California man is living off the reward points from his "former life."
   A year-and-a-half ago, 46-year-old JIM KENNEDY was laid off from his six-figure job as a corporate developer. In August, he filed for bankruptcy, and in January a pair of sheriff's deputies escorted him away from his house.
   While his possessions remain in storage, he lives on all the benefits he racked up during his days as a frequent flier --that and an unemployment check. His clothes and basic necessities are packed into his (leased) BMW, and he bounces from hotel to hotel, cashing in rewards points.
   This week he's at a Holiday Inn Express, where he pays $25 and 5-thousand United Airlines mileage points a night for a bed, plus breakfast in the morning. The breakfast is a big deal, because Kennedy tries to keep himself within a $5-per-day food budget.
   He's looking for work, but "he finds himself one of several hundred folks who are all going for the same gig," and the nibbles from recruiters have been few and far between. He says his rewards points will last him a few more months. If he hasn't found a job by then, he might have to break down and tell his 85-year-old mother that he's unemployed --and homeless.
   Editor's note: Even after the points run out, he can keep eating those continental breakfasts. Nobody will challenge a person dressed "business casual" at the free breakfast nook in most hotels. His only problem will be keeping those Dockers clean. (Maiman)

Looking for love in all the wrong places:

Religious students in Jerusalem are demanding the dismissal of their rabbi after he was spotted in a topless bar dressed as a cowboy.
   The Jerusalem Post reports that the incident happened two months ago but recently came to light when a student who recognized him there photographed him and handed out photos to fellow students, photos which eventually ended up in local tabloids.
   Seminary official defended the rabbi's visit as an "educational mission," writing "The rabbi gave up his soul and went to this abominable place to check whether students from the seminary tended to go there."
   Editor's note: And what was the student doing in the topless bar?
   --Oh, it was an education mission all right. Know what he learned? Not to do THAT again. (Maiman)