I prefer Standard Time rather than Daylight Saving Time

Did you turn the clock back to standard time? I know many of you don’t like that, it seems as if the majority of the country prefers Daylight Saving Time (DST). I don’t. I like standard time. DST sounds like a disease.

I get up early, so I don’t like the pitch black mornings, I like it light out. I don’t mind it getting dark at 5:30 or 6:00 pm. When I’m in New York it gets dark earlier, sometimes it seems like 4:30 or 5:00 pm.

DST started in the U.S. with the Standard Time Act of 1918, a wartime measure for seven months during World War I in the interest of adding more daylight hours to conserve energy resources. It was implemented again during World War II all year round. In 1966 it was set as it is now, basically half the year.

There is always an outcry about stopping the time change and keeping it at DST. There is legislation in Congress to keep DST But scientists say that Standard Time is healthier for the body.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine advises permanent Standard Time. They say it is more in line with a person’s natural bio-rhymes and produces less negative health outcomes. They say Standard Time is important because it aligns the earth with the sun.

These days I’m in for the night at dinner time, not too long ago I was out all night, but even going out all night entailed going out after dark, so I never really cared about this stuff about having those extra hours of daylight for whatever people need it for.

Here are 10 reasons it is better to have Standard Time rather than DST. I posted it in today’s 10 With Tom column.

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How old is too old for Halloween?

Tootie (Margaret O’Brien) in Meet Me in St. Louis

Hold old is too old to trick-or-treat?

I say you’re never too old. There’s a thing where certain cities have age limits, I don’t know how they enforce that. Do they ask 12-year-olds to show I.D. to be sure they are not 14 and over the limit? And what sort of I.D. do 12-year-olds have?

If a 16-year-old wants to go through the trouble of dressing up and walking around trick-or-treating, so what? What if a 50-year-old wants to do that? So what?

If you’re gonna be cheap about handing out candy, then turn the lights out at your house and don’t participate.

I don’t think as many people as in the past trick-or-treat. I know when I was a kid the whole neighborhood was out and it went till late. Now I don’t see as many people, but maybe it’s just around where I live.

One of my favorite parts of one of my favorite movies, “Meet Me in St. Louis,” is when the kids are doing Halloween in 1903. So Halloween has been a long-standing thing in the U.S., and many other countries.

Adults have parties, they dress up at banks, schools, even the car dealership, so if these people want to trick-or-treat after work – so what?

I dressed up for years, my whole town did. I didn’t trick-or-treat, but I did go to parties and things. I think I only ended it because I didn’t want to be bothered making a costume every year. But I enjoy seeing everyone else dressed up and enjoying the day.

Give everyone candy if they are dressed up and come to your door. Full bars if possible!

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Outside the box

If you swipe back and forth on this recent cartoon, you can see the difference. No, it’s not the cat or the box, it’s the text at the top.

I wanted to publish it with the script type which says, “Thinking outside the box,” but at the last minute I changed it to the usual block letters because I wasn’t sure if everyone would be able to read it.

As you know, script/cursive was not taught in schools for about 14 years. I’m not sure why. I know things are mostly typed, spoken and digital these days, but don’t people need to sign their names? And no one writes a note to the milkman anymore. Oh, wait, I guess no one knows what a milkman is either.

The good news is that cursive is making a comeback in public schools.

I really like the look of the script text in the cartoon, but in the interest of all my readers – young and foreign, who maybe read English as a second language, I went with the block letters.

Oh, and a funny fact – this cartoon ran on National Cats Day. A reader mentioned it. I didn’t know – it just happened. Right place at the right time.

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Tutti a Tavola a Mangiare!

Lidia Bastianich

Last week I was in Eataly at Madison Square and who do I almost bump into – Lidia Bastianich, the restaurant owner and tv chef. She was walking toward me and I was walking toward her and the place is always so crowded, we sort of touched.

I looked her right in the face and almost said,  “Tutti a Tavola a Mangiare!” but she looked down and obviously didn’t want to be recognized, so I just walked by. She was with a couple of friends and they were taking and shopping.

I did want to ask her about my 10 With Tom column. I tried reaching out to her and I know a couple of her PR people opened the email asking her to participate, but I didn’t receive a response.

I watched her make zeppole on tv the other day – with some sort of cream filling, which I’ve never seen with a zeppole before. They looked like this image, with the cream and cherries on top.

I’m use to this type, which usually comes three or more served warm or hot in a paper bag.

I was at an Italian street fair, a Feist, in Brooklyn last week, I had some there (without the whipped cream).

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The dreaded beep

American Airlines is trying out this new boarding system, to avoid the “gate lice” problem. You’ve seen it. I just saw it yesterday when I was flying – that’s people who rush to the gate to be the first on the plane, whether their group is called or not.

I fly first class a lot only because I use frequent flyer miles by paying for things for my business with credit cards that give me miles. So I am usually in Group 1.

But even if I think I am one of the first on the plane, there is always someone sitting in the aisle seat where I have to ask them to move so I can get to my window seat. Always.

I give them a dirty look, which they probably don’t notice, but I boycott them during the flight by not speaking to them. I find them to be real “gate lice” and “hogs.”

They say people do this to get the best overhead bin space, maybe that’s it, I usually travel with a small bag that fits under the seat, so I don’t feel the need to rush onto the plane for any reason.

Right now, the new American Airlines boarding system is in Albuquerque, NM and Tucson, Arizona. The system works like this – if your group is not called for boarding, a beep will go off – a loud beep, which will alert the gate agent and the rest of the travelers, I would guess, that alerts everyone that you are not supposed to be boarding the plane yet.

So if you are group 7 and trying to get in with group 1, that ain’t gonna work.

I love that. I find these gate lice people obnoxious as hell. They all rush to the gate to stand and block everyone else. I guess they don’t realize the plane isn’t gonna leave without them. But maybe it all comes down to the overhead bin space again. So maybe they have a point. Who knows.

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Pumpkin picking in the Hudson Valley

A couple of my cousins and I did our usual October outing. We drove up to the Hudson Valley from NYC to pumpkin and apple pick.

This year we ended up at this huge farm in Hopewell Junction, which is near Wappingers Falls.

The weather in NY state has been incredible lately. 80 degrees today, 70s over the weekend. Bright, and clear.

The farm was sort of in a valley, we were surrounded by mountains an all four sides. We had a hayride and had hot apple cider and apple cider doughnuts.

We got a lot of stuff to bring home – pies, doughnuts, flowers, pumpkins. It was a perfect day.

We went to Beacon, NY, a very popular small town, on the way home. I’ll publish photos in my next post.

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New York Comic Con

Went to NY Comic Con yesterday, opening day.

The usual cosplayers were there, but this year I didn’t see Spider-man, Superman or Batman, at least not many. In years past, there were so many of them.

But still it was fun. It seems to be more about video games and movies and tv, not so much about comics, as was the original premise.

I ran into my cousin, who is there all the time, at the booth for the company where he works, it’s an auction house for original cartoon art. I’ve purchased some things from their auctions.

We kibitzed for a bit and then I walked around to check out some other comic booths.

It’s sold out for the year, but if you ever get a chance to go to a comic con in any city, I highly recommend it.

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Visited MOMA, again

Visited one of my favorite places again yesterday – MOMA – Museum of Modern Art in NYC.

My favorite painting, Starry Night, was crammed with people again, trying to get selfies of themselves in front of the painting, and I tried to get pictures of people taking images of themselves in front of the painting.

NYC has been very busy with tourists this week. Today is the opening of New York Comic Con, maybe that’s why. I’ll be at Comic Con, I’ll post about it Friday, subscribe to this blog so you don’t miss it. I’ll also have a story and images on our trip upstate to pumpkin and apple pick, as we usually do each October.

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October in NYC; the place to be

October is special in New York. The leaves are turning, the weather is cooler, everyone is out.

I was out and about the city today and every park was full with people. There were musicians, artists, skateboarders, greenmarketers and so much more.

Lots of tourists are in town, they usually are in October. I even caught Clark Kent and Lois Lane on the subway as you can see above.

I have lots of plans this week – NY Comic Con, pumpkin and apple picking upstate, family day with 17 of us at an Italian restaurant in Brooklyn, and lots more. I’ll take you along.

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Driving habits being watched

I have this thing from Geico car insurance that monitors my driving. It’s an app on my phone called DriveEasy. In the past I had something similar from Progressive. But when I used the monitor with Progressive, it was something I plugged into the car under the dashboard and it monitored me for a few weeks, then I mailed in the gadget to Progressive.

The monitor determines your insurance rate based on how you drive.

But now all the insurance companies have the phone app, which is permanent! It doesn’t always work correctly, the Today Show recently did a story on this. A guy was on a rollercoaster and it monitored him as driving and raised his insurance!

I never pick up my phone when I’m driving, yet every once in awhile I get a pop-up telling me I was texting and it was ruining my good record. Other times I’m on the subway and it rates me, thinking I am driving my car.

I’ve thought of just turning it off and letting the chips fall where they may. My rates might go up, but is is worth it to not be monitored with every move I make, or don’t make?

I’ve thought of it, but then I thought what’s the big deal, just go with it. If the rates go down, I win. If they go up, it’s what I had planned by shutting the app off. But so far so good.

Have you been using this app with your insurance company? I guess it’s the same as being tracked by Google and Facebook and others who are watching the websites you visit and things you buy. In this case you are being watched by how well you drive or don’t drive.

Big Brother is here and watching.

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