Arizona doesn't participate in daylight-saving time so when it arrives three weeks early this year on March 11, you won't need to reprogram your computer, just your relatives.
When your brother-in-law Tony from Florida calls at 7 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time and is shocked to learn it's 4 a.m. where you live, simply call back at 10 p.m. (1 a.m. in Florida.). "Oh, gosh, I'm sorry. Did I wake you?"
You might also run into a problem with other people's computers. All but the newest operating systems were programmed to make the switch on the first weekend in April — before Congress decided in 2005 to give us four extra weeks of daylight-saving time, three next month and one in November, starting this year.
We are an interconnected world. A computer will give you the right time of day in Arizona without any action on your part, and most home computer users will be updated automatically. But some computers out there could end up with your brother-in-law's annual confusion. Experts recommend you double-check any interstate calendar items.
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Some businesses that use a variety of applications and operating systems, meanwhile, are having to make laborious and expensive fixes if they deal in time-sensitive information.
"Anybody dealing in financial transactions, trading systems, banking, anything that touches money, anyplace issuing receipts, tickets, those kinds of things that are time-and-date sensitive, all those kinds of systems have the potential to get messed up now and again in the fall," said Chris Andrew, vice president for security technologies at PatchLink, a Scottsdale firm that develops patches for computer problems.
Most of PatchLink's business involves issues such as viruses and worms, but it's had a "small bubble of interest" lately from customers seeking assurance that their time-sensitive software is ready for daylight saving time, said Andrew.
"For an individual in Arizona there's no problem, but for anybody running a business with customers out of state, it's an issue they need to be aware of," Andrew said.
DID YOU KNOW?
Arizona switched to daylight-saving time for seven months in 1918 and joined the nation in year-round "War Time" during World War II.
Arizona also went on daylight-saving time in the summer of 1967 when Congress first standardized the observance of it. The state Legislature opted out in 1968 after a debate over "fast time" that helped keep legislators in session for an extra two weeks.
So why doesn't Arizona save daylight? The simple answer is that having the sunset an hour later would keep it scorching hot well into the evening.
SOURCES: David Prerau, author of "Seize the Daylight"; and Star archives
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