The grandest April Fool prank

On 2007 April 1, Sunday, many people received cruel reminders of involuntary dependencies. Many tools began to perform incorrectly for the second time in three weeks from a changed daylight saving time schedule.

The US Naval Observatory advises:

Although standard time in time zones was instituted in the U.S. and Canada by the railroads in 1883, it was not established in U.S. law until the Act of March 19, 1918, sometimes called the Standard Time Act. The act also established daylight saving time, a contentious idea then. Daylight saving time was repealed in 1919, but standard time in time zones remained in law. Daylight time became a local matter. It was re-established nationally early in World War II, and was continuously observed from 9 February 1942 to 20 September 1945. After the war its use varied among states and localities. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 provided standardization in the dates of beginning and end of daylight time in the U.S. but allowed for local exemptions from its observance. The act provided that daylight time begin on the last Sunday in April and end on the last Sunday in October, with the changeover to occur at 2 a.m. local time.

… this year was not the first governmental imposition of change in time reckoning – neither was it the second, nor even the third …

During the "energy crisis" years, Congress enacted earlier starting dates for daylight time. In 1974, daylight time began on 6 January and in 1975 it began on 23 February. After those two years the starting date reverted back to the last Sunday in April. In 1986, a law was passed that shifted the starting date of daylight time to the first Sunday in April, beginning in 1987. The ending date of daylight time was not subject to such changes, and remained the last Sunday in October. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 changed both the starting and ending dates. Beginning in 2007, daylight time starts on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November.

Sadly, our government did not consider much consequence of their enactment.

There were complications with software and firmware which previously, on March 11, had complications with early change to daylight saving time. This time, though, was the result of programming designed to change reference time on the first Sunday in April.

Many people prepared for the early dispatch of daylight saving time, but many forgot that affected systems could perform as designed and "spring forward" on April Fool's Day. Be prepared for the last Sunday in October; this problem repeats four times … EVERY year – with legacy software and firmware calendars.

Was Y2K more a problem than Y2K7? How many video cassette recorders preserved the wrong shows in the morning of March 11? How many alarms sounded an hour late? How much digital documentation is an hour late in attribution for some time on March 11?

In a different twist, old behaviors continued to adjust the already adjusted clocks on the morning of April 1 … exactly per their correct design. Now we live in the eye of the storm. Now adjusted for the right time of day, things will be normal (for the usual frame of Daylight Saving Time).

Be prepared; October 28 and November 4 are coming. The trouble of knowing these dates can be avoided. New firmware and software is already available with the changed calendar in place; but what of the next time time time time time … ???