Whatever Happened to Daylight Saving Time Going Away?

It will soon be time for our clocks to “fall back” — Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024 is the date we end daylight saving time and return to standard time. So whatever happened to those bills in Congress aiming to abolish the time changes? The Sunshine Protection Act was a federal bill that would make daylight saving time permanent. If enacted, it would have taken effect on Nov. 5. 2023, the date we would otherwise have changed our clocks. The bill passed the Senate in March of 2022, but it wasn’t taken up by the House of Representatives. To become law, it would have had to pass the House and then be signed by the president. At this point, that ship has sailed. Apparently, passing the bill just never seemed to be a priority for lawmakers. Until a federal law passes, we’re stuck with changing our clocks twice a year — unless, of course, you want to move to Hawaii or Arizona, the two states that have opted out of daylight saving time.

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Dining Rooms Are Disappearing From Homes

You’re probably familiar with the nostalgic scene of a family gathered around a dining room table stuffed with food served on fine china. Eating at this setting was usually reserved for special occasions like holidays, and the room was otherwise largely ignored on other days. Now, fewer and fewer newly constructed homes actually have dining rooms. In medieval Europe, meals were usually communal and were served in the kitchen. Once the Victorian era rolled around and single-family homes became more common, there was a separate room for dining. The dining room was meant to be formal, a place where the furniture was high quality, displaying the finest glassware and cutlery. After World War II, the rise of suburban homes embraced open-plan living, which began to blur the lines between the kitchen, dining and living spaces. People would still eat together at the table, but that table was no longer placed in its own room. Today, with the size of new homes down by 100 square feet and dedicated family meal time becoming fairly rare, it doesn’t make sense for modern homes to include a room dedicated to group dining.

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Woman in India Ends Up Having the Luck of the Irish

An unidentified woman was walking on a narrow street in the town of Dindoli in the Northwest region of India when a massive water tank fell directly on top of her. Seconds after the unexpected plunge, her head popped out from the hole at the top of the plastic tank. The tank had missed her body and she walked away without a scratch. A neighbor rushed to assist the woman and was shocked that she was unharmed. It turns out that the water tank was accidentally dropped by a scrap collector who was clearing out items on the rooftop. It’s not clear how the person was able to get the container up to the terrace. The street was also covered with parked motorcycles that didn’t appear to be damaged during the incident.

 

 

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People Are Just Realizing the London Bridge Isn’t in London

Tourists are just now realizing that the London Bridge is not actually spanning the River Thames in England, but sitting in the Arizona desert. The bizarre relocation of the iconic bridge to Lake Havasu City, Ariz., dates back to 1968, when eccentric millionaire Robert McCulloch bought it for an eye-watering $2.46 million, the equivalent of around $19 million today. It is now one of the most famous landmarks in the state. In 2018 alone, it drew a staggering 3.8 million visitors, beaten only by the Grand Canyon. The London bridge, built in 1831, was put up for sale in 1967 because it was too narrow to cope with increasingly wide modern cars, buses and trucks. It had also been sinking by around an inch every 4 years. Its concrete replacement, which still stands today, opened in 1973. It took nearly 3 years to dismantle and re-erect the bridge. Each stone that was shipped had to be numbered so it could be accurately reconstructed once it arrived in the U.S. The stones were put onto a cargo ship that sailed through the Panama Canal to Long Beach, Calif. They were then transported by truck to Lake Havasu City. While the Federal Highway Administration has since deemed the bridge “functionally obsolete,” the icon continues to be a major draw for visitors.

 

 

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