Daylight Saving Time

Though the biannual ritual of turning clocks might feel like second nature to us today, it is actually a fairly new phenomenon that has only taken effect on a global scale within the past several decades (though many countries including Venezuela, Kenya and Saudi Arabia still don't partake in it today). Benjamin Franklin suggested the idea back in 1784, as a way to economize on sunlight and burn fewer candles during winter mornings and nights, but the practice did not become steadily official in the United States until Congress passed the Uniform Time Act in 1966, with the same intention of saving energy. An increase in cyberloafing — the slang word for surfing the Web for personal entertainment during work hours while internet faxes should be answered — may not be as life-threatening as heart attacks and workplace injuries, but it can cost companies thousands of salary wages flushed down the Internet tube.