Daylight Savings Time Saves 0.03%

There is a pretty good article in the local newspaper today about Daylight Savings Time, who thought of it, why, and how most countries would like to get rid of it.

Ben Franklin sometimes gets credit for coming up with the idea of saving time because of a 1784 essay for The Journal of Paris that suggested the French could save on the cost of candles by getting out of bed earlier to take advantage of sunshine. But the piece was satirical, and he never mentioned turning clocks back or forward.
Germany became the first country to adopt the measure, to save coal during World War I. France and other countries followed suit. The U.S. tried daylight saving time in 1918, but repealed it a year later. However, some states set their own daylight saving time, leading to confusion.
It wasn’t until the establishment of a uniform system under the Uniform Time Act of 1966 that daylight saving time became standard. It gained traction under the belief that electricity use inside homes would drop as people stayed outside to enjoy the later sunset. And, it was believed most people would be awake after the sun had already risen and have less need for lights.
The federal government also believed daylight saving time, which begins in spring and ends in fall, would prevent traffic crashes as morepeople would travel to and from school or work during daylight. Further, it was believed daylight saving time would reduce crime as more people remained outside during daylight when less crime took place.

via LNP (paid subscription)

New York City in October 2018

I am posting the pictures I took yesterday from our 2018 NYC Bus Trip. It was a long day. We left this area around 7:00 am and arrived in Manhattan at approximately 10:30 am with a small 20 minute stop in between. A couple of things to point out.

  1. It was lightly raining most of the day. The rain was misting most of the time so it was just enough to keep my rain jacket wet.
  2. The temperature hovered around 48 for most of the day. Towards the end of the trip, temperatures climbed up to 50.
  3. The wind was pretty bad near the piers where the U.S.S. Intrepid was docked. This was probably the worst of it. As you moved around the city, the buildings protected us from most of the nasty wind.
  4. As far as the subway is concerned, the E-Train rocks! This train will get you from uptown to downtown for almost anything you want to do. The last time I was in NYC, the Metro card was $5.00 in 2010. Today, that same exact card is $10.00.
NYC Metro Card 2018
  1. Although I didn’t get  picture, these two guys were transporting a long piece of finished wood via the subway. An older lady boarded the train with her family and immediately grabbed the middle of the board and said “you two look like you could use some help.” It made everyone smile and just seemed like a great moment.
  2. I’ve never felt the power of NYC and it’s people like I have on this trip. It felt good to be a part of the world community and at some points I felt completely comfortable in the fact that these people had our backs. People smiling at each other, at complete strangers for no reason other than to acknowledge each other’s existence.
  3. Most people that we overheard on our travels spoke in a language other than English.

We got to visit two main attractions while in the city, The U.S.S. Intrepid aircraft carrier from the World War II era and the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. The 3rd stop would have been Liberty Island but we simply didn’t have enough time to do all three; maybe next visit?

9/11 Memorial and Museum Ticket

Lessons learned:

  1. Do not try to just walk in to the Hard Rock Cafe at 5:00 pm on a Saturday and expect to get seated in a hurry. Plan on at least a 40 minute wait.
  2. Gotham Pizza rocks! It is a very small pizza shop (9th Ave. & W 19th St). I remember the pizza shop being closer to 8th avenue and 50th street but Google says otherwise.
  3. Try not to go to NYC when it is raining unless getting poked in your eyeballs by umbrella’s constantly is something you enjoy.
  4. Times Square on a Saturday night is a great example of “let’s see how many people we can fit into a small area.” You could barely move without touching someone else.

Even with the crappy weather this trip was wonderful. Hopefully, I’ll get the chance to do it again.

Leaving on a Jet…wait..

…ah…Leaving on a bus.

That is right. Big huge bus trip happening tomorrow morning. I plan to take lots and lots of pictures.

I’ll post them here.

Also, can’t wait to see how the new Series 4 Apple Watch works for the entire day.

Better Uses for Lottery Money

Instead of a lottery with this much money to be given away…

via LNP

How about we use the money to help the homeless, fix our infrastructure, provide free internet to everyone, reduce taxes, and so on and so forth?

Just another case of me looking at society and saying “What the fonk, people?” We deserve to get wiped out by a big fat asteroid. The universe must be cringing when it looks our way.

What a bunch of fonking stupid monkeys.

Stolen iPhones

Please Note: The following applies equally to iPads as well.

If your iPhone gets stolen and you’ve done a few simple things — the phone is useless to anyone. The phone cannot be used and wiped without your authorization. The iPhone essentially becomes a brick. The most important thing you can do is to make sure that “Find my iPhone” is turned on.

ZDNet has a pretty good article about how a thief can actually use your stolen iPhone but it requires that the iPhone owner do some pretty bad things.

via ZDNet

In order for a thief to get your credentials to unlock the stolen phone you would have to give the credentials to them. Most folks wouldn’t knowingly do that but that is exactly how phishing works.

The best thing you can do if someone steals your phone is for you to conduct all business related to it through the official Apple website portal for iCloud. Do not follow any links in an email or elsewhere. Even if the email looks like it comes from Apple, go over to your browser and log in to Apple’s iCloud website that way.

When someone steals an iPhone, the odds are against them. It is exactly the same as if they’d stolen a brick from a construction site. Of course, most bricks do not have a built in GPS tracker.

If your iPhone gets stolen, play it cool and don’t panic. Instead of thinking about it negatively let’s call it a “forced upgrade.”

An Explosion in Allentown

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A car explosion that rocked downtown Allentown left three males dead, including the likely “perpetrator,” officials said Sunday as federal authorities who are leading the investigation looked ahead to autopsies.
“We know there’s been a criminal incident,” District Attorney James Martin told reporters at a news conference Sunday. “We have a high degree of confidence that the perpetrator was probably killed in the incident.”
Authorities released no information about the possible cause of Saturday night’s blast, including whether it was a bomb, but Martin said, “Loads of us in law enforcement” are confident “this was A. an isolated incident and B. there’s no continuing threat.”

via LNP (paid service)
Allentown PA – September 29, 2018

Fester

Was not happy that I took his picture.

Fester – September 2018

Magnum P.I. Review

3 out of 5 Stars

I watched the trailers yesterday and became interested in the Magnum P.I. reboot. I watched the show using the CBS app on the Apple TV but had to use the “Live TV” option which meant I was barraged with advertising. I can’t believe just how annoying the advertising has become. Watch 10 minutes of show and 15 minutes of advertising. Awful.

I’m not sure why producers feel the need to change the sex of an established character like Higgins. Now, Higgins is a female ex-MI6 agent. Ok, but that is pretty weird and completely unnecessary. 

In the original version, we all couldn’t wait for the Robin Masters reveal at the end of the series that showed that Higgins is actually Robin Masters. In this reboot, that can’t be the case. Higgins is played by a woman and in the pilot episode, Magnum describes meeting Robin Masters and also how much of a good “man” he is. Man. That means that this reboot will have to re-write original show canon. That means messing with a winning formula and thinking that you somehow know better than the 80’s hit show did.

Let’s talk about Justin Lin for a second. CBS brings him in to do amazing pilots. They hook you like Scorpion did and then when lesser directors take over the reigns, the show goes down hill. Scorpion was cancelled after only four seasons. It almost became cartoonish. Justin Lin is known for the Fast and Furious movies. His story telling is top notch. Having said that, this pilot episode seemed a bit rushed to me. It was like scrunching a 2 hour pilot into an hour and all of the cutting room floor pieces that go with it.

I found myself wondering “how did we get here?” most of the time. Sexual tension between Higgins and Magnum will not be enough to keep people watching. The idea has been done to death. The other show characters seem animated. They are likable but the relationship with Magnum is “too” friendly. If you remember, Magnum’s friends used to roll their eyes…a lot.

I think the pilot was ok. They are spending a crap ton more money on the show than the original did. I don’t believe that will be sustainable for a long show run. I would give it 3 stars out of 5. I would love to be wrong about this one. I don’t believe I am.

I think we’ve already watched the best episode.

Shazam!

Apple bought Shazam and I am very happy about this acquisition. Apple just announced that the deal has been finalized. Shazam identifies a song by listening to what you are listening to and then shows you what the name of the song is and who sings it. It even has a component to it that will show you the lyrics in real time as the song plays.

Shazam Logo

I’ve been using Shazam since it was first introduced. I can’t tell you how many songs I’ve identified with it. I’ve used it in a car, at the movies, in bars, and in restaurants.

For example, yesterday while I was playing Forza Horizon 3 on my xBox and there was a song playing that I was semi interested in. I used Shazam to find out it was a song called Bury It.

Shazam is a piece of AI that is absolutely useful and shows the true potential of the iOS platform.

Why Marvel is Better at Making Movies…

…than DC Comics.

Ben Affleck is hanging up the cape, according to a report that the actor is leaving the Batman franchise.


Affleck’s exit comes on the heels of another departure from the DC universe, according to The Hollywood Reporter, which claims Henry Cavill will no longer be Superman.

via New York post

Changing actors so often has become tiresome for movie goers. I just got used to these characters being portrayed by these actors. DC can’t even have the same actor that works on a television show play in their movies. Look at The Flash for example — played by two different actors in two very different ways. Grant Gustin’s television version isn’t the same as Ezra Miller’s version in Justice League.