Page 1 - March ARB Beacon 10-30-15

Vol. 80, No. 43
NEWS BRIEFS
BENEFEDS OPEN
SEASON STARTS
NOVEMBER 9
The 2015 Federal Benefits
Open Season (for the 2016 plan
year) runs from Monday, Nov. 9,
through Monday, Dec. 14. If you
are enrolled in the Federal Em-
ployee Dental and Vision Insur-
ance Program (FEDVIP) plan,
it will automatically continue
into the 2016 plan year, even if
you retire. You must take action
if you wish to make changes
or cancel. Visit BENEFEDS.
com to check the 2016 pre-
mium amounts, research plan
coverage and/or make changes.
For general questions, visit the
Education & Support section at
BENEFEDS.com.
SARC HOSTS
FREE MIND BODY
RESILIENCY CLASSES
Are you interested in learning
more about the Mind and Body
connection and how this can pro-
mote better overall health? Then
come join the interactive and in-
formational series of one-hour
classes based on the Benson-Hen-
ry Institute for Mind Body Medi-
cine’s Resilient Warrior. Classes Time comes from his 1784 satirical letter to the editor in the
are scheduled on the A and B Unit Journal de Paris in which he proposed that Parisians could
Training Assemblies through Sep-
tember 2016. Topics for the six-
part series include
- Stress Reactions and Relax-
ation Response
- Getting Good Sleep
- Mindfulness and a Positive
State of Mind
-Yin andYang of Resiliency
-Yoga & Journaling
- Social Connections &
Communication
Time and Location:
UTA Sundays, 11 a.m. - noon
Bldg. 470, room 205
Contact frank.pavone@us.af.
mil or 655-4551 for more infor-
mation. No reservation required.
See BRIEFS page 3
March Air Reserve Base, California
Time to change batteries, ‘fall back’
This article is part of the Energy.gov series “Joules of Wisdom: Top
Things You Didn’t Know About Energy”and from cpsc.gov
Fall back
This Sunday, at 2 a.m. (or before going to bed Saturday night)
people across the country will set their clocks back an hour, mark-
ing the end to Daylight Saving Time.
The U.S. adopted Daylight Saving Time toward the end of
World War I and then again during World War II, but between
1945 and 1966, there was no federal law regulating it. This led to
confusion between states, and in 1966 Congress passed the Uni-
form Time Act to establish uniform dates for observing Daylight
Saving Time.
However, not all states will change their clocks on Sunday. Ha-
waii and Arizona (excluding the Navajo Nation) along with the
U.S. overseas territories of American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico,
the Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands do not ob-
serve Daylight Saving Time.
Although the start of Daylight Saving Time falls on the sec-
ond Sunday in March, it hasn’t always been that way. The Energy
Policy Act of 2005, which was implemented in 2007, added four
weeks to Daylight Saving Time by changing it to start on the sec-
ond Sunday in March and end on the first Sunday in November.
Often mistakenly called daylight savings time, its official name
in the U.S. is Daylight Saving Time. In European countries, it is
called Summer Time.
Ever wonder why we change our clocks? While some think it
is to give farmers an extra hour of sunlight in the evenings during
warmer months, Daylight Saving Time was seen as a means to
help reduce electricity use in buildings.
Sometimes credited with inventing Daylight Saving Time,
Benjamin Franklin -- the man who is known for the saying
“Early to bed and early to rise …” -- did not actually suggest
a change in time. Franklin’s connection to Daylight Saving
save money on candles by waking up before their normal time
of noon.
Depending on how you phrase the question, Daylight Saving
Time is either credited to a New Zealand entomologist who pro-
posed the idea in a 1895 paper or an Englishman who campaigned
to get the British parliament to pass a Daylight Saving Bill in 1908.
In the end, Germany was the first country to implement Daylight
Saving Time in 1916 to conserve resources during World War I.
How much energy does Daylight Saving Time save? In 2008,
Energy Department experts studied the impact of the extended
Daylight Saving Time on energy consumption in the U.S. and
found that the extra four weeks of Daylight Saving Time saved
about 0.5 percent in total electricity per day. While this might not
sound like a lot, it adds up to electricity savings of 1.3 billion
kilowatt-hours -- or the amount of electricity used by more than
100,000 households for an entire year. These electricity savings
generally occur during a three- to five-hour period in the evening.
To learn how you can save energy during Daylight Saving Time,
visit Energy.gov/energysaver.
Friday, October 30, 2015
Replace batteries
Fall is a good time of year to think about fire and carbon mon-
oxide safety in your home. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety
Commission (CPSC) urges consumers to change the batteries
in their smoke and carbon monoxide (CO) alarms this weekend.
Daylight Saving Time ends on Sunday, November 2, and that’s
when consumers will turn their clocks back one hour.
“Smoke and CO alarms can save lives, but only if you have
working alarms,” said CPSC Chairman Elliot F. Kaye. “Make
it a tradition, that when you change your clocks for Daylight
Saving Time, you also change your smoke and CO alarm batter-
ies. Working alarms, on every level of your home, can buy your
family valuable time to escape from a fire or dangerous level of
carbon monoxide.”
According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA),
approximately three out of five fire deaths occur in homes with no
smoke alarms or homes without working smoke alarms.
Batteries should be replaced in smoke alarms at least once a
year, unless the alarms have sealed, 10-year batteries. CPSC rec-
ommends that consumers test their smoke alarms every month to
make sure that the alarms are working properly. Smoke alarms
should be placed on every level of the home, inside each bedroom,
and outside sleeping areas.
Carbon monoxide alarms are also critically important safety
equipment in the home. Each year from 2008 to 2010, there were
an average162 reported carbon monoxide deaths involving con-
sumer products under CPSC’s jurisdiction, including portable
generators and home heating systems.
Carbon monoxide is called the invisible killer. You cannot see
or smell CO. This poisonous gas can come from a variety of sourc-
es and can quickly incapacitate and kill its victims.
Carbon monoxide alarms should be installed on every level of
the home and outside sleeping areas. Carbon monoxide alarms
need fresh batteries at least once every year, unless they are pow-
ered by sealed, 10-year batteries. Carbon monoxide alarms should
be tested once a month to make sure they are working properly.