Spring Forward on Sunday: Daylight Saving Time Returns

Memorial/Historical Exercises

Friday, March 17th - Dorchester Heights Monument - 11:00

St. Patrick’s/Evacuation Day Parade

Sunday, March 19th at 1:00 p.m. Broadway Station

Daylight Saving Time (DST) resumes at 2 a.m. on March 12, early this next Sunday morning. Move your clocks, watches, and electronic timekeepers, now on Eastern Standard Time (EST), ahead one hour, as in that old saying “Spring forward; fall back”. And sure enough, on last November 06, we moved our clocks back and gained an extra hour of precious winter sleep. Now, we are giving it back. Just make sure you know which of your electronic devices automatically change to DST and which ones don’t!

By far, the simplest, easiest way around this is to keep your clocks on EST when you go to bed Saturday night, March 11. Wake up whenever you want on Sunday morning and enjoy breakfast; then go to church (on DST, of course), buy a Sunday paper, or do whatever you usually do on Sunday mornings. At noontime set your clocks ahead to 1 p.m. DST – everything else then falls into place. Come the evening next Sunday, you’ll hardly feel the difference. But don’t think about it; above all, don’t forget to do it.

DST is really misnamed. No daylight is ever “saved”. For any particular date in the year, the duration of daylight is essentially fixed, and will be just about as much as it was on the same date in any previous year. The only thing that happens when we go to “Daylight Saving” is that the sun sets one clock hour later in the evening, and it then rises an hour later the next morning.

Many folks would like to keep DST all year ‘round. There’d be no resetting of clocks in March and November. Some have even recommended that Boston joins the Atlantic Time Zone, which really means the same thing as being on DST all the time. Does “DST” then become “AST”? It would literally take an act of Congress to determine that.

But think carefully about this possibility. In the December/January dead of winter, daylight from sunrise to sunset lasts only nine or ten hours. If our clocks stay on DST next winter, those of us who are nine-to-fivers will now leave work just as the sun is setting and go home in the twilight. However, there’s a penalty – when getting up the next morning, it could still be pitch black outside. The sun doesn’t rise until as late as 8 a.m. when winter begins. So is it better to get up in the dark and go to work, or leave work and return home in the dark? You can’t do both around Christmastime or New Year’s Eve.

And remember: No matter what, going to DST next Sunday, the 12th, is the first step into Spring.

Continued from Page 1 Tim Cook

As part of the scholarship application process, students are asked to submit essays about PTSD “so that we can end the stigma against PTSD and hidden wounds that travel with our vets,” said Joseph, a longtime hockey coach.

“We have them write about … what they know about it and how they can raise more awareness about it. It gets them thinking.

“It’s made a difference,” he added. “I’ve had people come up to me and say, ‘You know, my sister, my brother got that.’ ... It’s a way of healing.”

Tim’s childhood friend, Lt. Chris Flaherty of the Boston Fire Department, created the Showdown tournament to help raise additional scholarship funds, and Joseph is grateful for his generosity.

This year’s Showdown features Boston Fire Department Hockey Club, Boston Police Hockey Club, New York Police Hockey Club, and “Friends of Doc Cook.” The tournament is a Beanpot format, with two games Friday, March 17, starting at 4 p.m., and two on Saturday, March 18, starting at 2 p.m.

It’s free to attend the Showdown (but donations are appreciated) and there will be raffle items as well as T-shirts for sale. If anyone wants to sponsor the event or provide raffle items, email Joseph at cookie_Joseph7@hotmail.com.

Scholarship applications will also be available at the Showdown and online after the tournament.

“Thanks to the community, all donors, and supporters as we continue Tim’s legacy through the scholarship,” Joseph said.

The following are sponsors of the event:

BOSTON FIRE DEPARTMENT HOCKEY CLUB - BOSTON POLICE HOCKEY CLUB - NEW YORK POLICE HOCKEY CLUB

Platinum Sponsors

Shamrock Pub

Roza Lyons

National Grid

Family of Ed Bergdoll (BFD Local 718)

Gold Sponsors

Iron Workers District Council NE

IBEW Local 103

Pipefitters Local 537

Stapleton Florist

CTE Nick Collins

Silver Sponsors

Iron Workers Local 7

Painters & Allied Trades District 35

Plumbers Local 12

Operating Engineers Local 4

Sprinkler Fitters Local 550

Doughboy Corporation

CTE David Biele

CTE Michael Flaherty

Family of William Fitzmaurice

Bronze Sponsors

Sheet Metal Workers Local 17

Roofers Local 33

Boston Firefighters Credit Union

Thomas J. Fitzgerald VFW Post 561

Perkins Square Deli

Regan’s Motivated Fitness