CSotD: Politics Tomorrow, Comedy Tonight
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Yeah, me neither. Going through the political cartoons this morning was a real downer, the only good part being a sense that people are finally catching on. I miss the days when everything shut down on Sunday, but it’s not too late to reclaim a little sense of sabbath. We’ll relax today and deal with the world tomorrow.
I agree, though Jose and Flor are too young to be hard hit by the fact that school starts too early in the day, which is more a problem for adolescents. When the research on that emerged 30 years ago, I posed the question of starting later in a column and the response, from kids and parents, was that it was a good idea but wouldn’t work.
Well, maybe not, and there are bigger fish to fry, given the insane 19th century factory model in which everyone jumps at the bell and has two minutes to get to the next 40-minute station. Exchange students from other countries think our scheduling is nuts.
As for “too early in the year,” I’ve heard good things about year-round school, though it would be the final death blow to small vacation businesses that rely on a specific vacation period for both tourists and young workers. Disney, Universal and Six Flags would vote in favor, but even for them, most year-round schedules vary so much that a family with more than one kid has trouble finding a time when everyone is free to go on vacation.
And coordinating schedules would mean building more schools, since the lack of a unified schedule allows for shared facilities, and you’d need to air-condition them, which you ought to do already.
It’s like belling the cat: A great idea but who’s going to do it?
So I just broke my own rule by talking politics, but it’s mostly just local politics.
There’s an educational reform I could get behind. I’d have still been on academic probation, but without such depressing numbers.
Wiley points out a new ethical issue for journalists, and it’s already a problem, given that the predictive markets don’t limit you to betting on things you can’t control. We’ve already seen a White House employee gigged for predicting certain words the president would say, which he knew because he was the guy who loaded the TelePrompter.
Legalizing lotteries and extending casinos was already a questionable move. I’ve known people who shot heroin and didn’t get addicted, but that doesn’t mean that the drug trade doesn’t profit from exploiting a vulnerable population. Ditto with gambling.
However, proposition betting is an open invitation to corruption. There are all sorts of professions for which it ought to be considered unethical, which comes dangerously close to a class distinction, since those professions are the ones that can influence events.
Pete Rose and the Black Sox must be rolling in their graves.
Complaints about self-checkout are starting to sound more and more like Grandpa Simpson yelling at clouds. Self-check may save stores from hiring and paying checkers, but there are additional costs both for attending and servicing the machines and, reportedly, for some shoplifting that occurs.
Innovation can increase profits, sure, but it can also help avoid raising prices by leveling out the otherwise increasing costs of doing business.
Two obvious points: (1) The stores still have “We’re hiring!” signs posted. The self-checks are an alternative to long lines because stores can’t get enough workers. And, (2), at least at stores here, we have longer lines at the self-checks because so many customers prefer them.
Which doesn’t mean I want to puzzle my way through a kiosk or download an app to my phone in order to get a damn burger. What I’ve learned so far is to stay in my car and go to the drive-thru so I can order from a person, though that “person” is likely to become AI. But as long as I don’t have to have yet another dingbat on my phone or figure out one more kiosk system, I’m okay with that.
It’s another form of self-check, but, again, the stores all have help-wanted signs and they’re paying more which is good but fast-food franchises are running into customer resistance to price increases and needing to offer bargains to remain competitive.
I don’t eat fast food often, and now that it costs as much as a full meal at home, I eat it even less often, but today’s Daddy’s Home raises the question, are incompetent male cooks still a thing?
I cooked almost all our meals when I was married, but I was also the at-home parent, so we weren’t typical. Still, my boys are both excellent cooks coupled with other excellent cooks, and I’m not sure being capable in the kitchen remains a gendered factor any more.
Obviously we’ve still got macho dudes and tradwives out there, protecting their turf. But I didn’t date tiresome people in my youth and I wouldn’t date them today either.
Exactimundo, and the really sad part is that I remember when you already had a printed map in your glove compartment. I’ve been too old for a very long time.
Okay, stop. I get it. Damn. I think my first hint was when I went to an antique car show and saw the car in which I’d gone to my prom. And it wasn’t a classmate’s wretched old clunker, it was a burgundy, year-old ’66 Mustang. Granted, riding in the backseat of the ‘Tang wasn’t luxurious, but stepping out of it was a statement.
Now the statement is that the car is a classic and I’m an antique.
I am awfully old, but I’m not old enough to still play tapes. I have tapes, but I have nothing to play them on. As for laser disc, I could never get Dirk Daring past the first level at the mall, so I wasn’t going to invest in the technology for my home, either for games or movies.
But my first VCR was a Betamax. With a corded remote. That’s how old I am.
No, here’s how old I am, and how I found it out.
Mike Peterson has posted his "Comic Strip of the Day" column every day since 2010. His opinions are his own, but we welcome comments either agreeing or in opposition.
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