33 Comments

This reminds me of the great hoopla that preceded the Year 2000! Another non-event.

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Carol, I thought the same thing. I bet it was a similar psychological fear process. The uncertainty of mysterious time being tampered with! Oh no! Y2K had the additional element of the mystery of computers thrown in.

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That fear was that we programmers had missed something important as we readied our systems for the year 2000 and some major catastrophe would befall the Nation’s airlines or the nuclear arsenal or our own company. All because nearly all of our computer programs were not designed to handle anything above 1999. It took years to change all the code, but we did it. I think we deserved a lot more credit than we got. The fix was easy, but the challenge was finding all the occurrences of the date routine in all the code.

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"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."-1984, George Orwell

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Good One!!

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We still maintain the Daylight Saving Time anachronism and still complain about the semiannual shifts. If only banks, schools and public institutions would alter their operating hours we wouldn't all have to endure the meaningless and actually hazardous time resets.

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A farmer I knew used to call DST, discombobulated stupid time

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Thank you once again, Heather. All your content is so good to know, even if some of it is horrifying (not today's).

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The setting of time zones works. What doesn’t work is Daylight Savings Time . The twice yearly time change is disruptive for many. There has been a movement to eliminate this time change. I believe that several states have legislation that eliminates this shift, but it can only happen with Congressional action, as I understand. The legislation proposed would change to what is now Daylight Savings Time. Research and opinion of scientists (maybe) has suggested that this is the wrong choice. Our body clocks/diurnal rhythm is set to standard time DST is an “invention “ that serves no real purpose now. It’s time to go to standard time exclusively.

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Life primarily requires cooperation to succeed not competition. Competition is a smaller weaker force that helps with balance but is not capable of sustaining any system. Infact it requires cooperation for any sustainable venues.

Sometimes even humans slam on brakes and fix the messes that their single minded competitive pursuits create.

A fantastic example of this would be a stable Molecules.

I guess you deny any truth in my observation.

I would then feel bad for you as you then have no memory of an elegant system that works most likely for quite awhile.

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I liked your story today about standardizing time. Maybe it’s time the Democratic Party started realizing that standardization didn’t include special interests. Otherwise it’s not standardization.

I liken this as to why Harris lost the election. Not being centered, standardized enough.

• American men are not ready for a woman president, especially if she appears to be weak. She needs to be a fighter, tougher, unafraid, smart. She can be mean when she needs to be. I don’t see that in Harris. She comes off like she’d give in to all the special interests. That’s not for everyone. Not standardization.

• Most males over 40 don’t believe LGBTQ policy should prevail over the majority of the population. We can live with LG but the rest suffer from psychological problems and need special care. Trans children trying to live in the general population is not currently acceptable by the majority, especially straight mothers. Harris’ position on transgender persons was a big turnoff for a majority of the population. Allowing biological men to use women’s restrooms or participate in women’s sports is absurd. Why is such a small percentage of the population dictating how the rest of us live? Not very standardized.

• Latin males will never vote for a woman without a lot more fighting spirit. Harris started out strong in the debate, then turned almost soft. The successful female heads-of-state didn’t back away from bullies. She should’ve called him out more openly and in her advertising.

• She didn’t distance herself from Biden and all his failure’s.

The Democrats lost this election, the Republicans didn’t win it. Same thing happened to Hillary. Now we have to survive another Trump presidency.

I voted for Harris and I’m a life long Republican. My three brothers didn’t.

Randy Eslick

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Are you advocating for the testosterone controlled world order or only explaining why history is full of war and woe? Not really sure I get your analogy with standardized time.

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At least you were on the right side of history, Randy.

Only time will tell who will come out of this experiment unscathed.

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Thank you, Heather!! Now, what shall we do about daylight savings time? 🙄

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Are there no more text newsletters?

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Judi,

There are two versions. Some subcribers have expressed trouble with the written versions, eyesite or vision impaired, and so Heather answered by adding a verbal version. Here's the link the written, or just click teh transcript icon.

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/november-17-2024

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I will thx.

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Another thing…The last few days Trumps ads showed him with blood on his face, shouting fight, fight. Kamala was in some very elite looking conference room wearing a cashmere jacket softly extolling the virtuous line about being for “everyone”. Really, she didn’t think the less privileged wouldn’t notice. Do the democrats have their heads in a cloud. Terrible strategy on her advertising.

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Oh. I thought Donald was just was a messy eater and his handlers were too afraid to tell him he had splattered his ketchup. His "strength" is just an act. If a black widow spider were in a room he'd run screaming. As to VP Harris, she doesn't need or bother with artificially projecting strength. She would casually roll a paper and swat the spider, never deviating from her talking point.

My father was 6'5" and even in his late seventies bullies left him strictly alone. Ever notice how bullies go for small people and back off fast when someone tall or confident turns their way with a frown?

My Mom was 5'2" and big men were always trying to intimidate her. Unless the idiots pulled a knife, Dad would watch smiling as she had the jerk backing off fast.

Plus, VP Harris has experience with killers, she was a DA, for cry'n out loud ... didn't you know?

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Of course I know Harris was a DA, but she came off weak after the debate. Wish she called him out in her ads, more directly challenging him as the coward he is. She went out with a whimper.

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Very interesting and a welcome break from the MAGA follies 🥹

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Thanks so much for that break in the mostly dismal daily news and history lesson. If that was covered in U.S. History, I might have slept through the class especially in the Spring when everyone but me jumped ahead an hour, no one had a smart phone or laptop to let me know the ACTUAL TIME. Similar but opposite experience with TIME in 1999 at 12 midnight when nothing happened; I got up went to work and the computers were doing just fine.

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computers we’re just fine! Oops!

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I'm taking this timely article to mean we Americans will get used to it.I Need to be an optimist no matter what time it is.

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The railroads standardize time zones, while putting aside all their special interests for the common good. Harris appears to spend a lot of time on special interest groups thus alienating mainstream voters. “… Harris lost the election. Not being centered, standardized enough.” “She comes off like she’d give in to all the special interests.” She also lost her momentum from the debate and started to appear weak. Add that to not distancing herself from Biden’s failures, and her role with the border crisis, and she lost.

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Always nice to just get some fun facts, especially now. Thanks.

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