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WHY DO WE EVEN
TURN THE CLOCK BACK?

Saturday, November 4, 2023

In today’s newsletter, we discover the strange backstory on why we gain an hour this weekend, learn of Jackie Kennedy’s trauma before the doomed trip to Dallas, follow a "homecoming” for American bison ... and ask: are you an early-riser or a night owl?

Setting an antique clock back in Germany.

PHOTOGRAPH BY PHILIPP VON DITFURTH, PICTURE ALLIANCE/GETTY IMAGES

A scientist wanted more daylight hours to hunt bugs. Another “inventor” is best known today as an ancestor to a rock star.

Daylight Saving Time has a weird history. But it has affected international relations, created nested time zones, and potentially influenced our health. As we reprogram our digital clocks this weekend—or turn back an old-school timepiece (above)—its "benefits” are still not clear.

READ THE FULL STORY

Related: Oil companies like Daylight Saving.
Counterpoint: ‘It just generates confusion’

STORIES WE’RE FOLLOWING

Jackie Kennedy, center, and her husband, President John F. Kennedy, on that fateful November 1963 trip to Texas

PHOTOGRAPH BY BETTMANN, GETTY IMAGES

President John F. Kennedy’s doomed 1963 trip to Texas was to have been a public re-emergence for Jackie Kennedy (above, with JFK). Why had she been in seclusion?

How will your body change if you take a break from alcohol?

Could Europe’s freakish winter of 1709 happen again?

People are getting nearsighted much earlier now. Is there a way to help?

Long before Dolly Parton, this follicle-challenged king got Europe to wear big wigs

What really caused the collapse of the Mayan civilization?

The toll that sleep apnea takes on the body

Can getting rid of inflammation ease depression?

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

PHOTOGRAPH BY THE TRUSTEES OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM

Long before poker: Playing cards go back farther than you think—perhaps as far back as the T’ang Dynasty. Nearly all early playing cards in Europe involved gambling. Above, these French playing cards, with suits hidden in cartoonish faces, were made in the 18th century. Here’s a look at the cards through the centuries.

NOTHING BUT ACES

PHOTO OF THE DAY

PHOTOGRAPH BY LOUISE JOHNS

Happy National Bison Day: At long last, the American buffalo has come home. A conservation effort has returned bison to Blackfeet Nation tribal lands more than a century after the animal was nearly slaughtered to extinction. (Above, a bison awaiting release on the Blackfeet Reservation.) For decades, their survival depended on ranchers—and hunters.

ROAM IF YOU WANT TO

LAST GLIMPSE

PHOTOGRAPH BY MAGNUS WENNMAN

Are you a lark or an owl? Your body clock holds the answer. And early risers hold many differing characteristics than their late-rising counterparts, Nat Geo reports. In many places, both owls and larks will get an extra hour tonight if they want to sleep.

WHICH ONE ARE YOU?

Today’s soundtrack: Time, Jorja Smith

This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard, Nancy San Martín, and Jen Tse. Remember, move that clock back tonight. And thanks for reading!

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