Again, I’m a little overdue with my “Thoughts for Thursday” or “TfT” as those of you who joined the “insiders Club” like to call it. I seem to have missed February altogether, which sounds bad, but when you realize it’s the shortest month it doesn’t seem so awful.
So here I am early this morning, wanting to make sure I get this accomplished before the rest of my day gets in the way, like it usually does.
Let me begin by sincerely hoping all of you are doing well and life is treating you properly. I hope all of us are encouraged by the improving pandemic situation, although we now get to worry about the atrocities being committed in the Ukraine at this moment.
I don’t expect life to be fair all the time, but I thought we had put this cold war insanity behind us many years ago. I know we often long for the olden days, but this was not what I had in mind.
Moving on to less serious stuff…
I’ve mentioned before that I rarely sit down with a plan on what to write about and this morning is no exception. I had some vague ideas swirling through the box of loose puzzle pieces that is my mind and rather than trying to force them all to conform to a single theme, I chose “Life, the Universe, and Everything”. See- It’s a perfect catchall for whatever spills out onto the page right now. For example…
I was always taught to leave 2 spaces after a period when typing. Like this.
But now it seems that leaving only 1 is the preferred option. Like this.
I even found this information covering the topic online:
(Nearly all style guides agree that one space is correct. The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA) was the only style guide that overtly recommended two spaces after a period, and even that long-time holdout for two spaces changed its guideline to one space in its 2019 update.)
What the heck? I took typing in high school 40 years ago. It was something I thought was pointless at the time but have been grateful for literally every day of my life since and we were taught 2 spaces or suffer severe punishment.
How could this have changed so dramatically? Were we wrong all along? Did we live in some sort of bizarre cult that held to this strange belief despite all outside pressure to conform to the rest of the world’s 1 space doctrine?
I have no idea. I do know that trying to convince 40 years of muscle memory to not hit the space bar twice after a sentence is not working well and I constantly need to go back and fix it. I’m sure that this single page is riddled with spacing errors everywhere and it was the first thing that you noticed and are currently mocking me to your family and friends right now!
How rude…
Another annoyance of mine (there are no shortages of these, believe me) takes place this Sunday. That would be the end of Daylight Savings Time.
I’m certain I’m not alone in my distain for the twice a year time shuffle and I think it needs to be done away with post haste (fancy talk for right now). We were always told that DST originated with something about farmers and their fields or war-time energy savings or some such hoohoo. It was all a lie, much like believing there should be 2 spaces after a period.
First off, the energy savings argument is nearly non-existent. It really doesn’t make even a tiny dent.
Secondly, it was never started to benefit farmers, they were opposed to it and somehow, it got blamed on them.
History says it was started in the early 1900’s by Britain, adopted in Germany for WWI and we soon followed as a means of saving money during the war, which didn’t happen.
What does happen is that changing your clock back and forth twice a year isn’t just an annoyance, but a real serious health issue. Messing with people’s sleep patterns, Seasonal Affected Disorder, and the additional stress cause increases in heart-attacks, car accidents, and medical equipment malfunctions.
So, unlike the spacing at the end a sentence, this actually kills people every year.
I hope reminding you to set your clocks ahead (Spring Ahead, Fall Back) 1 hour Sunday morning doesn’t make me guilty of murder?
Cause of Death: Getting up an hour earlier.
I don’t know about you, but that’s not how I want to meet my end.
How do you want to meet your end Uncle Steve, you ask?
Great question, and it fits well with the “Life” part of my generic all-encompassing theme today.
Let me start my answer by saying I’m not a big fan of dying.
I don’t care for the inconvenience or the permanence.
I hate this Sunday because we lose a whole hour and it means trying to get more done in less time, well dying is even worse than that.
You don’t just lose one hour, you lose several hours, and that is just not acceptable to me.
I’ve got things to do like writing this “Thoughts for Thursday” which is already turning up much less frequently than I would hope.
Can you imagine how rarely I would be able to get this out to you if I were in fact dead?
Less. The answer is far less often.
Now, as to the means of my demise.
If I can’t go out in some amazingly dramatic fashion like diving in front of a train to save a box full of puppies or being trampled to death by a herd of puppies at the dog park or some other mass puppy related event, I would choose something very subtle and confusing.
I’m not sure the exact mechanism- alien abduction? cow tipping?, but anything that has everyone wondering if I was still alive or not for as long as possible.
“Did you hear that Uncle Steve died?”
“No, he didn’t, I think my cousin’s daughter’s friend talked to him last week and I just read his recent “Thoughts for Thursday”.
That would make me happy.
As far as the actual disposal of my earthly vessel? I have that spelled out in my will.
I want my remains scattered at Disneyland.
But I don’t want to be cremated.
I would suggest something around the Haunted Mansion or Pirates of the Caribbean would be most appropriate.
I wouldn’t mind a limb or two in the Small World ride, but it may not work with the existing décor.
Well, that’s my quick take on Life and maybe not so much about the Universe and Everything else, I guess. I’ll try to get to more of that next time.
And until then, remember:
Computer Greeks is open Monday to Saturday from 10am to 6pm for all your tech needs.
You can call us at: (708)636-3473, email at info@computergreeks.com, or message me right from our Facebook page.
Stay Safe, Stay Well, and don’t forget to set your clock ahead Sunday.
Uncle Steve
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