title: Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time
author:  Michael Downing 
description: "Beautifully and economically written--and very funny."
zlib_text: [Mark Hardin races against Ihe clock to intercept
  ^ibotage of the country's communlcatlons^ystems
  
  f Used i-Mj>^* i
  COUNTDOWN
  . .
  "Good afternoon to you, Mr.
  Griggs. Question:
  What of importance to the government is happen-
  ing this Sunday?"
  Dan's end of the line went silent for a moment,
  and Mark could imagine Dan
  scanning
  his
  ad-
  vance calendar. "Mark, not a damn thing that I
  know about."
  "That's the problem—^we don't know about
  it.
  Something big is going to happen, and
  it won't be
  good. It has something to do with the cormnunica-
  tions industry, and the only thing I can come up
  with is that some attempt will be made to black
  out
  the communications network
  for
  the
  entire
  nation. If I were you, I'd have the armed forces
  crank up some kind of surprise alert for this week-
  end, something to keep their radio emergency net-
  work
  alive and working
  as
  well
  as
  it
  can. The
  Autovon
  is
  going
  to be
  shot
  all
  to
  hell
  if
  this
  blackout hits the phone system."
  Time—that was
  Mark's
  biggest enemy
  now.
  