Danny Heitman on Can the break of day be negotiated?
As Daylight Saving Time concludes this weekend, many Americans will roll back their clocks and grab an extra hour of sleep – a windfall of slumber that would probably inspire Benjamin Franklin's winking approval.
In his later years, Franklin distanced himself from his famous philosophy of "early to bed, early to rise" and freely admitted to being a morning slugabed. He found plenty of kindred spirits while posted in Paris, where socialites stayed up late and barely stirred before lunch.
Poking fun at himself and his fellow night owls, Franklin offered a tongue-in-cheek plan for reform. By moving the city's clocks forward several hours, suggested Franklin, he and other yawning Parisians could be goaded into rising before noon and retiring near dusk, a schedule that promised huge savings in candle wax.
File that under: Interesting Stuff That James Did Not Know.