The Earth is still spinning as usual on its axis around the sun, but the morning commute will be darker and afternoons will seem a bit longer next week following the change to daylight saving time.
In accordance with federal law, clocks across the country will be set forward one hour Sunday morning at 2 a.m., bringing later daylight in a national ritual that marks the coming of spring.
The time shift, which will become apparent at sunrise Sunday, will not reflect a change in the cosmos, only a shift in our timepieces.
Only Hawaii and parts of Arizona do not conform to the time change, which began in 1918, following the establishment of official "time zones" by railroad companies to bring conformity to scheduling across the country. National daylight saving time was repealed a year later, leaving the local authorities the option of reducing and extending the amount of daytime in a day.
During World War II, a national standard was re-established, but then abandoned once more to local authority until 1966 and the passage of the Uniform Time Act. Some local exceptions have been allowed. Indiana only adopted the national standard in 2006.
During the "energy crisis" years, Congress twice extended afternoons, beginning in February and then January, before settling on April until 2007, when the second Sunday in March became the date for resetting our clocks. Clocks will be set back an hour in November, bringing more morning light and a darkened afternoon.
Tony Evans: tevans@mtexpress.com