Daylight Savings Time this weekend

[OldChap]

That's a great meme! If people are really interested in the truth of that, though, I really recommend the cable TV series, Turn: Washington's Spies. In addition to being a great thriller, it really digs into colonial society at the time of the Revolution.

Most people back then did not have balls. Not everyone in America was even in favor of the Revolution and some fought against it. There were a lot of spies, traitors and cowards, despite the fact that the British felt they were free to take away any rights of any colonials at any time. And the revolutionaries we so admire today committed some atrocities of their own. They were not always the good guys. A lot of loyalists, fearing reprisals, had to flee to Canada after we won the Revolution.

Don't get me wrong, I think the Revolution, The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the BOR are some of the greatest things in history. But it is important to not see them as some unblemished heroic past. Revolutions are messy affairs and who gets the credit and who gets the blame often depends on who wins in the end. If we have to fight another one, it won't be pretty either.

Two thoughts:

1) Never count history from Hollywood or TV as being accurate. Remember that the main pastime of people who write such stories is drug use. Since many of them don't even know where Lexington and Concord are, it would be a huge stretch to think such folks have any more idea about colonial life than they do the back side of the Moon. They write what makes you watch the commercials that fuel their crack pipes.

2) I for one, will take whatever happened in 1776 as the greatest expression of freedom in the long and bloody history of the world. I will be eternally grateful for the courage of those who led the fight, as well as for the sacrifice of those who have kept it for us. Period.

I think someone once said, "Never measure the journey until you measure the destination."

[jmf552]

Two thoughts:

1) Never count history from Hollywood or TV as being accurate. Remember that the main pastime of people who write such stories is drug use. Since many of them don't even know where Lexington and Concord are, it would be a huge stretch to think such folks have any more idea about colonial life than they do the back side of the Moon. They write what makes you watch the commercials that fuel their crack pipes.

2) I for one, will take whatever happened in 1776 as the greatest expression of freedom in the long and bloody history of the world. I will be eternally grateful for the courage of those who led the fight. Period.

I didn't just go by the program. It got me interested and I did a fair amount of research on my own. The program had a few discrete errors with history, but was generally well researched and substantially accurate. The negative issues with the Revolution are well documented if you look for them. For instance:

• Washington ordered the Continental Army carry out a punitive campaign that decimated the Iroquois’ crops and homes, with the avowed goal of “the total ruin of their settlements.”
• Slaves from both Washington and Jefferson's plantations defected to the British while they were gone and after the war those men recaptured them. In general, the British treated slaves better than the colonials.
• The Continental Army had a huge problem with looting, much more so than the British.
• Loyalists were tarred and feathered on multiple occasions, during and after the war.
• There is more...

I am not saying the Continental Army was worse. The British clearly were more tyrannical. And I too am eternally grateful to the Revolution and all who fought in it. But imagining that any war is purely good vs. evil, black vs. white is a fantasy. And it is always the winner who gets to keep score.

[OldChap]

I didn't just go by the program. It got me interested and I did a fair amount of research on my own. The program had a few discrete errors with history, but was generally well researched and substantially accurate. The negative issues with the Revolution are well documented if you look for them. For instance:

• Washington ordered the Continental Army carry out a punitive campaign that decimated the Iroquois’ crops and homes, with the avowed goal of “the total ruin of their settlements.”
• Slaves from both Washington and Jefferson's plantations defected to the British while they were gone and after the war those men recaptured them. In general, the British treated slaves better than the colonials.
• The Continental Army had a huge problem with looting, much more so than the British.
• Loyalists were tarred and feathered on multiple occasions, during and after the war.
• There is more...

I am not saying the Continental Army was worse. The British clearly were more tyrannical. And I too am eternally grateful to the Revolution and all who fought in it. But imagining that any war is purely good vs. evil, black vs. white is a fantasy. And it is always the winner who gets to keep score.

I won't argue the point that almost all history we have of the minutiae of day to day life in the colonies is almost wholly the musings of modern day professors who write "history" books to garner grant dollars (a fancy way of saying taxpayer dollars) for such fantasy. I have met quite a few, and IMHO they would be far better served by writing for Looney Tunes, except nobody would laugh.

The point of the last sentence in my previous post is that judging the end result of a war is best done by looking at the end result, rather than the journey to that result. Everyone agrees that war is terrible. But here is the perspective I have: Has the world been a better place since 1776 because America won her independence by means of a horrible war from British tyranny, or a worse place? Are there more free people today than there would be had America never existed?

I think any fair measure would sustain the belief that the outcome of the courage and sacrifice resulted in far more good than evil. I understand that the popular stance today is that America is evil because of all the terrible wars. As my father used to say. "It takes two to Tango" certainly applies to the subject of war.

Just my old fashioned way of looking at things.

[jmf552]

@OldChap : We are substantially in agreement. I was mostly reacting to the meme in the OP saying that the country you and I are are talking about "had balls" in 1775, implying that it doesn't today. Certainly a lot has changed, but we still have a lot of people fighting the good fight. I feel like I have. I will bet you have also.

[CDW4ME]

Sounds like you're on the eastern edge of Central Time

[spclopr8tr]

Its going back to sucky standard time this weekend.
Why does standard time suck? Because it gets dark at 4:30 in December, thats why.
Would getting dark at 5:30 be that much better? Yes, then I wouldn't (might not) need a lantern to walk the dog(s) in the afternoon.
What is the solution to this stupidity? Abolish standard time, stay on daylight savings time and leave it there, no more messing with the time.
Standard time (which begins this weekend) SUCKS.

Yet kids walking to school or the bus stops would be going to school in the dark for the better part of the school year. Even now (this morning) on the western edge of the eastern time zone the local high school bus picks up 30 minutes before sunrise. I'd say better the dogs walk after dark in the evening than the kids walking in the dark in the morning.

[Sister]

Great . . . I won't be able to lay eggs for a week.

Fooling yourself, stand up I bet you have at least half a dozen!


😂

[OldVet]

Fooling yourself, stand up I bet you have at least half a dozen!


😂

Whadda you know! Breakfast is served!

[sdprof]

When told the reason for daylight saving time the old Indian said…
‘Only a white man would believe that you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket and sew it to the bottom of a blanket and have a longer blanket.’



I just want to know who's collecting the interest on all this daylight savings?

[Sister]

You can get that time back every day; My brother told me if you put on real dark sunglasses two hours before dark and took them off one hour before dark it gave you and extra hour of light

[CDW4ME]

Yet kids walking to school or the bus stops would be going to school in the dark for the better part of the school year. Even now (this morning) on the western edge of the eastern time zone the local high school bus picks up 30 minutes before sunrise. I'd say better the dogs walk after dark in the evening than the kids walking in the dark in the morning.

What about kids being able to do something outside with a little daylight left after school?
(Its not all about me)

[patkelly4370]

Instead of "Spring ahead, Fall back", here in Arizona we say "Spring, the same. Fall, remain" to remind us to leave our clocks alone.
I used to have two watches, a summer watch and a winter watch before moving here.
But I am now an OTR truck driver so I still have to deal with the time change at 2 of my stops. One in El Paso and the other in Kansas.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[OldVet]

I just want to know who's collecting the interest on all this daylight savings?

I invest it in my shiny countenance.

[spclopr8tr]

What about kids being able to do something outside with a little daylight left after school?
(Its not all about me)

High schools are out at 2:15; middle schools are out at 3:00; and, elementary schools are out at 3:45. Plenty of daylight left even in the winter when it's frequently too cold to play outside anyway.

[CDW4ME]

Standard time sucks. Dark at 4:30 sucks.
Living at the eastern edge of CST is not in my favor.
Example Nashville TN is at eastern edge of CST sunset is 4:32 PM on Dec. 1st according to time & date
https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/usa/nashville?month=12
However on the coast, ex: Daytona Beach, sunset is 5:25 PM on Dec. 1st.

Sometimes people will reply to someone living under a 10 round limit, "move to a free state".
3 years or less I'm doing that in regard to making the best of sucky standard time, won't be dark at 4:30 on the east coast.
If FL would actually stay on DST (no fall back) like was approved, even better.