No to permanent Daylight Saving Time

 I have written about Daylight Saving Time before. Now the Senate, perhaps by mistake, has voted to have permanent DST. As anyone who lives in the north, drives to work, and keeps their car outside, it is a bad idea. From December to February, when I was working, I had to dedicate an extra five minutes in the morning to scaping ice off of my windshield. If there was any snow the night before I also had to get rid of the snow on the car. Millions of car commuters go through this every winter.

If we had permanent DST the procedure would be worse. One hour less in the morning would mean it would still be dark for the commuter leaving home before eight. The sun would not have the time to at least ameliorate the process by a little bit at least. Kids would have to walk to school or wait for the bus in the dark in morning. Grouchy adults and kids would be grouchier. Ditto for grouchy cars. 

All I do is charge things

 

If you were to ask me what I do now that I never had to do in the past, its charging things. I wake up in the morning and charge my cell phone. Then I have coffee and start charging my Kindle. I need to vacuum today so I have to charge up my portable vacuum cleaner. Soon I notice the ipad is running low so I charge it. I want to take I walk later so I have to charge my Fitbit watch. 

Of course I have it easy now. When I buy an electric car, charging that will be my big chore of the day. 

Gas prices deja vu

 

Wow. Gasoline prices have gone up!   It is a story a lot of us old farts are familiar with, ergo my blog from ten years ago that also talks about high gas prices. Going even further back, I remember right after I graduated from college there was a gas crisis. There were block long lines to get filled up in New Jersey. The problem was only solved by alternate gas days. Under that system if your license plate began with an odd number you could get gasoline on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. It sort of worked. 

It also helped to have a regular dealer who would favor a known customer with a hand wave and a space at a reserved pump. The old man felt guilty about this because he had abandoned "Dick's Shell" earlier that year for the bargain gas dealer near Modell's. Mother had to get gas during that period. She had never abandoned dear old Dick. 

Back in 1974 we were told we were being punished by the Arabs for the Israeli gains in their war. Today we are told that it is because we are boycotting Russia. Funny as soon as the headlines are out the gas went up, even though the gas may have been purchased weeks ago. When the crisis ends, gas prices will go down. But the gas stations will take their sweet time about lowering their prices. 

Another post on Better Things

Better Things, mandatory viewing for aging hipsters, is back again for its final season. This year the kids are older and are starting to grow up. Still obnoxious, they are starting to smooth out a bit and show a bit of responsibility. They are finding out that they are not Eugenie and Beatrice after all. 

In British sit coms, when the novelty is starting to wear off, we often see a costume show. This is a show where the laughs come from watching the cast in outrageous costumes, perhaps alluding to the pantomime roots of English humor. It is usually a sign that the show is starting to become tattered at the edges. Same for Better Things, where half of an episode is dedicated to Pamela mugging with period costumes. Still it was fun to see what a Hollywood costume shop looks like. 

The season is still young. The fact that you have to watch it on the night it premiers to avoid the Hulu surcharge makes Monday nights special. It has been a long time since Monday nights were special.