I actually did a paper on daylight saving time when I was getting my MLIS, aka Library School. Turns out that the current time changes were imposed by President Bush II. Benjamin came up with the idea because he was a night owl and they didn't have alarm clocks back then; also something about candles being expensive. And Troynewton is correct, farmers do not care because the rooster crows when the sun comes up. I just find the history of DST fascinating, since it is a completely antiquated idea and really has no point (although the Department of Energy seems to think so . . . ) A Primer on DST: http://www.energy.ca.gov/daylightsaving.html Franklin's paper:http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/franklin.html Oh, and I made this and put it on my other blog, because Wheaton For President 2012, etc.: http://therightconsistency.wordpress.com/2012/03/15/wil-wheaton-boss-of-the-universe/