Wednesday, December 17, 2014
It really shouldn't be pitch black at 5PM
This is anything you want to discuss. It really is time for the Congress to address whether these yearly time changes serve a purpose anymore. I can imagine someone who recently lost a loved one, is just managing their grief and the sun starts going down around 4:30 in the afternoon. It's weird and not good for your head, it's depressing and ominous and is likely to remind my example here of death itself. On the health front it's now practically a maxim by the medical community that everyone needs 8 hours of sleep per night for maximum health. I've actually read better, more insightful and certainly more realistic articles on the subject of sleep all written in the 1950's (e.g. Dr. Abraham Low). I liked The Hunger Games - Mockingjay Part I better than some of the ornery critics who panned it. That's not to say it deserves five stars or even four but a respectable three at the least. As the penultimate part of the last book of the trilogy it's naturally not going to have the most action (DUH). The ruble is in trouble, there seems to be more lone wolf ISers out there looking to make some action like in the Land Down Under and I still can't get over the sheer weirdness of the Cosby Matter. Anti-cop protests, Joan Rivers, really anything you want:)
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Oil prices-
ReplyDeleteOn the international front, the impact is huge on countries that depend on oil exports. While Dubai, the Emirates and Saudi Arabia have substantial $$ reserves,
Russia and Iran have been significantly economically impacted, having less reserves
and being under trade sanctions. Be interesting to see what Putin does about it.
On the domestic front, we have the typical odd consumer vs business paradigm:
on the one hand, consumers are delighted with the savings. It frees up more cash
for domestic consumption, which after all provides 70% of the US economy. The
airlines are seeing high profits, as instead of lowering prices to reflect their lower
costs, they continue to raise fares. The 'market' hates it- energy futures are down,
derivatives bleeding and big oil profits sinking. Its like when you watch a business
show on TV: company lays off workers and its stocks go up; company buys back
stock instead of investing in infrastructure and its stocks go up. It like US business
only feels happy when the consumer/worker is getting screwed. I'm all for reversing
that trend, BTW. We observe the one good benefit of fracking.
Cuomo just outlawed fracking in NYS citing health concerns. I can see both POVs but I can kinda go along with Cuomo for now. First with returning Ebola workers and now fracking he's citing the Public Health. Not a bad political pillar and so I think he's laying the groundwork for something.
DeleteObama is now normalizing relations with Cuba. I think it's like this: he knows his two terms aren't going down in history all that well and he wants somewhat a positive legacy somewhere. Nixon was known alot for opening up relations with China so Obama's kind of applying this to the Castros but from the early reports conservatives ain't too happy.
ReplyDeleteNever understood the thing about Cuba from day one. They rebel, rightfully, against Fulgencio Batista and he and his cronies escape; he to Spain,
Deletethey to here, where they become a political anti-communist force. The west
refuses to trade or even talk to them for 50 years. Now, If the US is afraid
of a little Caribbean island, OK. If not, we would have been far better off to
establish a relation early on. No, not the US and its CIA. We were embarrassed by the Cuban invasion, and should have been embarrassed by
the Contra Affair...supporting right wing terrorists that kill nuns and bishops
made us real popular down there. The 'enemy of my enemy is my friend'
as foreign policy has caused us far more harm since WWII than just being
up front and talking to other small nations.
Of course we've been happily trading with China for years and they hold our debt. Last I checked China wasn't very big on human rights but Cuba? Can't even get a real Cuban cigar without getting into trouble.
DeleteGood point, Z-Man.
DeleteWell Sony has cancelled the Christmas release of a movie that probably wasn't very good to begin with. If I were a Sony exec I'd be looking at a potential cult classic market.
ReplyDeleteLet's see what the N Korean film industry comes up with.
DeleteOther countries like India and Japan have long made a name for themselves in global cinema. So where is the N. Korean version of Kurosawa?
DeleteEven Nazi Germany had their hit "Triumph Of The Will' produced by
Deleteshobiz Naziette producer/director Leni Riefenstahl .
Although, I think Mel Brooks' "The Producers-Springtime For Hitler" had
more stars.
North Korean Cinema Classics, is that part of the Criterion Collection at Barnes & Noble?
DeleteDaylight Savings Time: up until about 350 generations ago, when the sun went down, you pulled the bearskin drape at the mouth of the cave and put another log
ReplyDeleteon the fire. For eons, nature has developed our circadian rhythms; modern technology has shredded that. The city never sleeps.
& I'm not getting why we still do this. Yeah years ago I'm told it had something to do with the farmers but it's funny how we keep doing this and don't even know the reason why. Forget about the Big Gulps and teens using e-cigs. MAKE THE CLOCKS NORMAL!
DeleteMost folks don't like Daylight Savings . But it is twice as popular as the Tea Party . Minority clout.
Delete& I'd bet most folks would rather join the Tea Party than have a colonoscopy.
DeleteColonoscopy, Tea Party, Root Canal, proctology...comme ci comme ça .
DeleteJudge Judy
DeleteUsing the dictionary once for a crossword puzzle and came across Munchhausen Syndrome. I can almost understand it - you go to the hospital, people tend to your needs, you get meals on a trolley, maybe you get a sedative and best of all you get away from the job. I never understood the Stockholm thing though.
ReplyDeleteN. Korea 1-Hollywood 0: Is it time to land a Seal Team there and confiscate both
ReplyDeletetypewriters, the ham radio and Ace Hardware generator from the downtown Pyongyang HQ of T.R.U.S.H. ??
Ironically the movie got mostly bad reviews. Could have just let it die a natural death instead of giving all this power to the Boy Wonder. Question is how does Rodman feel?
DeleteIt has been noted that "....Congress is less popular than North Korea, cockroaches, lice, root canals, colonoscopies, traffic jams, used car salesmen, Genghis Khan, Communism, BP during the Gulf oil spill, Nixon during Watergate or King George during the American Revolution."
DeleteDo you think the higher standing is due to N. Korea rejecting Daylight
Saving Time?
I think that has to do with a dictator needs his proper rest. Can't upset his circadian rhythms.
DeleteIt's hard to imagine the N Koreans being technically savvy, considering they are cold and starving. How can they hack Sony when I can't even
Deleterun the DVR?
I had to have my friend help me hook up my DVD player to my tv. The tv's an old Emerson so he had to help me hook up the RF converter too. Then I treated him to McDonald's.
DeleteTomorrow at 6:03 NYC time, the days will start getting longer. Annual Winter Solstice. Which myth will you be celebrating?
ReplyDeleteI'll stick with the Norsemen. The crossword puzzles of the past the Egyptian sun god Ra used to come up quite a bit.
DeleteLately I've been trying to develop my jogging skills which for most of my life have been dormant. Strenuous activity in and of itself and yet I pass quite a few jogging pairs who have deep conversations about everything while they're jogging. Dunno how they do it, I'm just happy to make it to the bridge over the stream.
ReplyDeleteWatch out: jogging can become addictive. You will be signing up for the marathon next.
DeleteI've been finding the daily hourlong 3 mile walk a major inconvenience. The thought occured walk and jog partway and cut some time. Oh hell do a light jog most of the way and cut even more time. Honestly I think this is the way jogging evolved, out of necessity.
DeleteI'm thinking the total calories burned depend on the total distance, not the
Deleterate; sort of an efficiency formula, so jogging is a plus time-wise. Conversely, you would burn as many calories at 1 mph and spend 3 hours. (from an aerobics standpoint, though, the faster the better)
When I'm retired.
DeleteThe cop killings in Bed-Stuy - the thought occured since most psychos have multiple social media accounts these tragedies should be easier to prevent. Oh NSA Algorithm what have you done for us lately??
ReplyDeleteThey say the problem is that there are numerous psychotic threatening folk in the media, but that only a fraction actually are a threat. To arrest them all
Deletefor being bullying a**holes would be an affront to political correctness.
They say.
So basically lie back and let the psychos vent on Instagram, FB and Twitter because you can't go around shadowing them 24/7. That makes practical sense and we can all connect the dots after the event.
DeleteIndeed, and the NRA makes sure they have the right to own a small arsenal. Freedom, Z-Man.
DeleteIt's so sad the way Pat Lynch and the only right-wing paper in town are politicizing this against De Blasio. I mean yeah the man's a liberal and I don't always agree with him but it's like some folks never heard of a civil polity. SAD:)
DeleteI hear N. Korea is having some major problems with the Web today. I didn't know they even had a Web.
ReplyDeleteMaybe our geeks are toying with their geeks?
DeleteThat's my take.
DeleteIf they would just unplug the router for a minute it should reset... At least that usc what every customer service tells me when I call on my outages...
ReplyDeleteLong before there was Twitter and tweets, there was TWX and the sending of
ReplyDelete"twixes". When I was on active duty in the mid-sixties, the military was twixing
all over the place and the connected typewriters would start up on their own when
a twix came in. Sort of like Twitter, messages were short, like "This office concurs per subject, appx 2. Recommend coordination with ref'd command per regs."
(which is a lot like "how RU? I go 4 coffee."
I like twixing, they should bring it back. Reminds me of the candy bar.
DeleteReading about this new tablet study that says folks who read ebooks late at night suffer poorer quality sleep. Logically this all makes sense but I can't help wondering if there's some stealth anti-technology bias here.
ReplyDeleteI was interested in that as well. I usually read 1/2 hour hardcover books and go right to sleep. It is the Mrs. snoring that gives me sleep problems. I don't see much difference though, between reading off paper or a screen,
Deleteunless the electronic pixels somehow imbed in ST memory, then interfere
with REM sleep. I actually have dreams where I have to 'page down', so
there may be something to it.
I'd question that study but when ebook-reading at night I use the nighttime setting anyway. So who commissioned the study the local Mom 'n' Pop Book Nook store?
DeleteI was surfing the Internet for information and came across your blog. I am impressed by the information you have on this blog. It shows how well you understand this subject.
ReplyDeleteAccounting & Audit Firm in Dubai, UAE