...government-imposed loss of sleep

Ben Franklin—of "early to bed and early to rise" fame—was apparently the first person to suggest the concept of daylight savings....gee thanks.

While serving as U.S. ambassador to France in Paris, Franklin wrote of being awakened at 6 a.m. and realizing, to his surprise, that the sun would rise far earlier than he usually did. Imagine the resources that might be saved if he and others rose before noon and burned less midnight oil, Franklin, tongue half in cheek, wrote to a newspaper.

It wasn't until World War I that daylight savings were realized on a grand scale. Germany was the first state to adopt the time changes, to reduce artificial lighting and thereby save coal for the war effort. Friends and foes soon followed suit.

In the U.S. a federal law standardized the yearly start and end of daylight saving time in 1918—for the states that chose to observe it.

During World War II the U.S. made daylight saving time mandatory for the whole country, as a way to save wartime resources. Between February 9, 1942, and September 30, 1945, the government took it a step further. During this period daylight saving time was observed year-round, essentially making it the new standard time, if only for a few years.

Since the end of World War II, though, daylight saving time has always been optional for U.S. states. But its beginning and end have shifted—and occasionally disappeared.

But does daylight saving time really save any energy? Daylight Savings Time…It should really be called Daylight Shifting Time.

Like everything except Jiffy Pop, Daylight Savings Time was invented by Benjamin Franklin. It's become particularly popular in modern industrialized societies because in nicer summer months it shifts one hour of “sleepy-oh-geez-I-have-to-go-to-work-now time” from the morning to the “hey-let's-BBQ-tonight evenings.”

Daylight time is not so popular among farmers who must get up in the dark or among their dairy cows, which for a rough month or so of biological adjustment must hold that full udder what seems like a very long extra time. However, cows can't vote yet and there aren't many farmers left. So, they lose.

So, enjoy the government-imposed loss of an hour of sleep tonight because somehow sometime you'll get it back probably. (Gee, if government can regulate our clocks, wristwatches and cell phone time displays, what's next? Light bulbs?)