More Time Zone Silliness

I’ve been a civil time geek for a while, and I follow an e-mail list relating to IANA’s tz database.  It looks like the tz-art.html file in the next release will contain a link to Wednesday’s xkcd. 😎

There’s been a lot of discussion on the list about the proposed “permanent daylight saving time” law that just passed in the U.S. House of Representatives.  It sounds simple:  the proposed law doesn’t change the time zone names; it just changes the offsets from UTC and makes them permanent.  For example, “eastern standard time” would become UTC−4:00 year-round.  But states would be allowed to opt out, so for example, Hawaii could keep its UTC−10:00.

So what if Arizona decides to keep its UTC−7:00 year-round but doesn’t call it Pacific standard time?  Mountain standard time would mean different things in tz’s time zones, America/Phoenix (Arizona except Navajo Nation) and America/Denver (generic mountain time).

Furthermore, it turns out that there’s lots of legacy code out there that hard-codes offsets to abbreviations like “MST”.  All that code happens to work at present; but it’s been wrong for decades and so will likely stay wrong.

I’ll bring the popcorn. 😎

Cancer Update (if anybody actually cares)

I’ve passed the two-year mark with no evidence of cancer.  The half-hour immunotherapy drips will now come just every four weeks; CT scans of the torso will happen every four months; and MRIs of the brain will be six months apart.  Both of my oncologists (the chemo guy and the radiation guy) are pleased, so I am too.

So far, I’d say that I’ve been tremendously fortunate.  (I’m not sure that I deserve it, but I’ll take it. 😎 )

I Joined the DSA

I just joined the Democratic Socialists of America because I’m curious.

I charged the “introductory” fee of $10/month to my credit card.  We’ll see whether they send me a bill each month or automatically charge the card.  Even if it’s the latter, I’ll probably be willing to support them for that small amount, or maybe even more.

So far, I’ve gotten one automated e-mail message welcoming me.  It turns out that there’ll be a new member orientation Zoom call on the 26th of next month.  I’ll let y’all know how it goes.  In the mean time, I’ll check out my local St. Louis chapter’s website to see what’ll be happening between now and the midterms.

2026-08-15:  I’m not sure what’s so special about this post, but it seems to have drawn tons of spam comments lately including three or four that made it through the filters.  This post is kind of old news, so I’m turning off comments.

A Blast from the Past

The final story on today’s PBS News Hour was about the comedian, Dave Chappelle; and much of the story was about his living in a small town, Yellow Springs, Ohio, and how he had helped the local NPR affiliate, WYSO, build a new facility.

I worked for WYSO briefly in the mid 1960s while it was still owned and operated by Antioch College.  This was way before NPR and PBS; and WYSO was still a little 10W station with a studio and a control room in a second floor corner of one of Antioch’s administrative buildings.  I had a show in which I played classical music because I could pronounce the composers’ names.  (Yes, I was a geek before that was cool.)

I can still remember the control room…the board with all the knobs and switches, a couple of turntables to the left, a couple of Ampex 350 tape machines to the right…it was all broadcast quality equipment.  My only memory of the town is a bar and restaurant a short walk from the college that had really good pizza and where an 18 year old could buy 3.2 beer.

No Kings

I haven’t posted anything in ages.  I’ve been too depressed given the oligarchs’ current attempt, too nearly successful so far, to destroy democracy.

But I did get a bit of a pickup yesterday morning.  I showed up at my local No Kings rally around 10:30, about half an hour before the scheduled start; and already there were maybe a couple hundred folks on the sidewalk in a line that extended probably the equivalent of five or six city blocks; and cars were lined up trying to get into nearby shopping center parking lots.  There were thirteen rallies in the St. Louis area, and this was one of the smaller ones.

We were lined up along Lindbergh Blvd., a major four-lane north-south street in St. Louis County; and there was lots of traffic.  About every third or fourth car that went by would honk in support.

I stayed for only about an hour.  The temperature was around 45°F, 7°C; and this old fart was getting chilled.  (Also, the only covering I have for my bald head that wouldn’t blow away in a gust of wind is a St. Louis Cardinals cap; and I was concerned that, if folks didn’t see the Cardinals logo on the front, if all they saw was a red baseball cap, they might think I want to make America hate again. 😎 )

I wish I had some photos to show you; but I didn’t bring my real camera.  I thought I’d try to take pictures with my phone (for the first time), and did a really bad job of it.

My next civic duty will be voting in a municipal election a week from Tuesday.  There are four candidates for three positions on my local school board; and school board elections are important.  Only one of the four has made statements that sound a bit MAGA, so this’ll be an easy choice for me.  There’s also “Proposition F,” an attempt by Republicans to turn a property tax into a sales tax.  I’m against it.

Missouri’s primary elections will happen on August 4th, two days after my 80th birthday.  I’m looking forward to that (the election, not the birthday).

The Ignoble War Prize Goes to Trump

Under orders from Donald Trump, the U.S. invaded Venezula and kidnapped its purported leader.  I certainly have no love for Maduro, and Venezula is probably much better off without him, but one question that comes immediately to mind:  how is this not an act of war and so not a violation of Article I of the Constitution that gives the power to declare war to Congress, not the president?

One argument you’ll hear, and if you’ve been following the news have already heard, is that the president has the right, indeed the duty, to protect American troups.  OK, sure; but so what?  What were the troups doing there to begin with?

Another argument you’ll hear, and if you’ve been following the news have already heard, is that Maduro was never the legitimate Venezulan leader.  OK, sure; but so what?  He’s certainly a citizen of Venezula.

A third argument you’ll hear, and if you’ve been following the news have already heard, is that we were simply arresting a probable criminal because Maduro has been indicted in New York for drug smuggling and several other related charges.  OK, sure; but so what?  As far as I know, he has never been indicted in Venezula.

We invaded a foreign country and abducted one of its citizens.  I ask again, how is this not an act of war?

I suffered through the watching of Trump’s press conference this morning (he’s clearly losing it*), and one thing that jumpped out at me is that the U.S. will remain in Venezula to oversee the transition of power.  Really?  That sounds like war to me.

*He had trouble just reading from his script; and eventually succumbing to the need to make it all about himself, he veered off into how, according to him, he has reduced crime in America.  If Biden had given a speech like that, the press would have been all over how he’s no longer fit for office; but I guess, with Trump, that’s just old news.

The Supreme Court Rules Against Trump…amazing!

The Supreme Court has declined to set aside a lower court ruling against Trump’s deploying the National Guard in Chicago.  SCOTUSblog has the whole story.  This could affect a similar case re Portland which has been on hold pending a decision about Chicago.

It was apparently a 6-3 ruling with Alito, Thomas and Gorsuch dissenting.

This was a shadow docket thing, so they could change their minds when the case comes up on the merits docket.  We’ll see…

One thing that jumped out at me, although it’s probably the least important point about the case, is the question of whether “regular forces” means the U.S. military or civilian police forces.  When I was serving in the USAF during the Vietnam war, “regular Air Force” was always meant to refer to career folks as opposed to reservists.

This Made Me Laugh

Ray Hartmann, U.S. Representative from Missouri’s First Congressional District (mostly the city of St. Louis), reports that my rep. from the 2nd District, Ann Wagner (I’m not to blame for her, I promise), got a little confused. 😎

It’s so nice that Republicans are protecting us from those godless libruls.

Come and Get Me

I saw on Robert Reich’s substack this morning (Saturday):

On September 25, Donald Trump signed a presidential order called NSPM-7, a sweeping attack on free speech that targets progressive organizations and individuals for prosecution for “domestic terrorism.”

And now, the first arrests linked to NSPM-7 have begun, including multiple people attending a peaceful protest outside an ICE detention facility near Chicago.

…

What are these ideas that are so dangerous that they can be directly linked to terrorism?  The list includes such vague concepts as “anti-capitalism,” “anti-Christianity,” “extremism on migration, race, and gender,” and opposition to “traditional American views on family, religion, and morality.”

That could mean practically anything.  And that’s the point.

…

I raise my hand.  I’m sure you know where to find me.

Some Fanciful Amtrak Trips

I’ve been down in the dumps lately, so I decided I’d try to cheer myself up by fantasizing about what would probably be my last trip on Amtrak.  This would just be a joyride since, now that I’m an old fart who’s retired, I no longer have a reason to travel.

Planning complicated Amtrak trips can be “interesting” because of horrible timekeeping and the possibility of missing connections.  The WordPress editor that this blog uses won’t do HTML tables, so I put some ideas out on my VPS if anybody cares.  (You won’t hurt my feelings if you don’t care. 😎)