I Don't Want To Shut The Door On 'Stupid', But...

This year is far from over so I am reluctant to crown this is the stupidest idea of 2014, but heaven help us all if someone beats this brainwave from Matt Yglesias:

The case against time zones: They're impractical & outdated

And yet we make it out of bed in the morning. The aggravation is illustrated:

If the whole world used a single GMT-based time, schedules would still vary. In general most people would sleep when it's dark out and work when it's light out. So at 23:00, most of London would be at home or in bed and most of Los Angeles would be at the office. But of course London's bartenders would probably be at work while some shift workers in LA would be grabbing a nap. The difference from today is that if you were putting together a London-LA conference call at 21:00 there'd be only one possible interpretation of the proposal. A flight that leaves New York at 14:00 and lands in Paris at 20:00 is a six-hour flight, with no need to keep track of time zones. If your appointment is in El Paso at 11:30 you don't need to remember that it's in a different time zone than the rest of Texas.

Hmm - no thoughts on that baffling "International Date Line"? Surely that should be poart of a comprehensive solution. Of course, scheduling international flights and arranging multi-zonal conference calls are what my kids call "First World problems". And even my Sarcasm Detector (Old Fogey edition circa 1960) lights up when they say it.

So, a factoid I like far too much to check - 90 percent of the people on Earth will die within ten miles of where they were born, kind of like Matt's latest idea. I don't think the farmers in Afghanistan or merchants in Somalia actually give much thought to Matt Yglesias' schdeduling challenges, and, maybe we are a poorer planet because of it. But seeing as how the tide of international cooperation seems to at a bit of an ebb just now, I doubt any international body will convene to laugh this idea out of the room.

And that's too bad - watching John Kerry's Undersecretary of Stupid make this pitch would be YouTube gold. And I have to believe some Minister of Malaise would rise up to denounce this transparent attempt at Western cultural hegemony. After which Obama could agree to base the standard time around Beijing, and we can have fun watching him explain that to the rubes in the hinterlands bitterly clinging to their TV Guide schedules. No, really, "Good Morning America" is coming on at 7 PM - get over it.

Hmm - I find myself warming to the notion. Someone will have to rewrite "After Midnight" and reshoot "Nine to Five", and somehow we have to get my mom to quit saying "Nothing good happens after 2 AM", but comedy isn't free.

Comments

[Threadkiller]

*I accept Rush Limbaugh's definition of the term as the most likely to be correct.

[James D.]

Thanks, Jane! That's what I'm hoping, too. Plenty of other self-published authors have done it.

Obviously there's the Shades of Gray woman, who made $67 million last year (if that's not a sign of the coming apocalypse, I don't know what is!).

But there are plenty of people making a modest but livable income from self-publishing. If I sold 50 copies of the first book per day at $0.99, and 50 combined copies of the rest of the series at $3.99, that would net me $152/day...or just about $56,000/year. That would certainly pay the bills, and it really doesn't seem like it ought to be an insurmountable goal.

But managing that leap from 2,3,5 books a day up to 100 is the big trick.

[narciso]

the Great Upheaval, has some great character sketches about Lafayette and other figures
in the revolution, how his bravery in the first revolution, almost cost him his life in the French Revolution,

the Top Men, are always watching out for their own interests, which are not the country's and really do not protect them from Democratic attack, Stay Puft doesn't get that, Rove doesn't either, McKinnon
is too gullible to understand the question,

[(A)Nuther Bub]

Is "Ann" the first name of your wife's ex-roommate, JiB? If so, I've bought many copies of her book for visiting friends -- sort of a jokey gift, but sort of not. It's fun to read.

I buy about one can of Spam per year. Give my husband a breakfast of fried Spam, rice and eggs. Makes him happy.

[James D.]

By the way, does anyone hear regularly listen to audiobooks?

If so, can you tell me how you discover new ones to listen to? Are there any particular places you look to see what's new or what's popular?

I've learned a few things about how to market the Kindle books (obviously I have a LOT still to learn), but I'm totally at square one as far as figuring out how to advertise the audiobook versions. Especially because I'm actually not a huge listener of them myself, so I have no idea what audiobook fans do to find new material.

[sbw]

TK, I don’t get into a discussion with an unnamed relative because to that person a discussion is a must win situation.

No, not even must win, but an I already have won situation. Possibly because of certain historical psychic injuries there is a certain validation required for them.

From my side, a discussion is an opportunity not so much to be validated, but to come to better understanding and, along the way, find joy in the process.

I appreciate what you and others engaged add, but am obliged to gloss over much of it because the detail obscures the journey.

There ends up being little point in parsing the issue question to answer and back to question because what should engender clarity to often ends up persiflage.

Loving you and your fellow discussioneers dearly, I remain, respectfully yours, etc. etc.

[jimmyk]

James, I may have asked you this before, but do you have an agent? I know next to nothing about the book biz, so that may be a dumb question, but I would think someone with your track record might be able get one. Then you can let the agent do the marketing and sit back and collect the unemployment check work on your next masterpiece.

[sbw]

James D. I have no idea what audiobook fans do to find new material

Sadly, I don’t find new material. I listen to Harry Potter (Jim Dale), David McCullough, and Teaching Company courses. I have asked them to expand their offerings in a second brand to do just what you ask.

I don’t want a course; I want an opportunity. I want pointers and a reason why.

[Threadkiller]

I agree, sbw.

[daddy]

QUIZ TIME! (Know your narcissist version)

Me, I, Me, I, Me, I, Me, I, Me, I,

Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me,

Me, I, Me, I, Me, I, Me, I, Me, I,

I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I,

I, Me, I, Me, I, Me, I, Me, I, Me,

Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me,

Mi, I, Me, I, Me, I, Me, I.

Who referred to himself 68 times in a speech to the US/Africa Summit?

[James D.]

I LOVE the way Jim Dale does the Harry potter books.

He also did the narration for the audio version of "The Night Circus" by Erin Morganstern, which I absolutely loved (although it's definitely not to everyone's taste).

And of course he was the narrator on "Pushing Daisies", which was a brilliant show cancelled way before it's time.

jimmyk, I've reached out a little bit to try and get an agent, with no luck so far. I need to make a bigger push for that, I think.

[daddy]

Oops,

Now they've done a recount. It wasn't 68 times.

WATCH OBAMA REFER TO HIMSELF 97 TIMES IN SPEECH TO U.S.-AFRICA SUMMIT

Visitor Jim writes:

Built a WORD macro for the speech transcript and it counted the following Obama personal references:

I = 73 times
I've = 7 times
Me = 3 times
My = 14 times

[Extraneus]

It's the my's that bug me the most.

[daddy]

You guys ever have one of those awful dreams where you're in a classroom and suddenly realize you aren't wearing any trousers?

Oklahoma teacher allegedly shows up to school drunk and without pants

Lorie Hill was allegedly found in an empty classroom at Wagoner High School on Monday "disoriented" and without pants. The first day of class at the school is Thursday.

Two other teachers found the 49-year-old and called police.

Actually it makes sense. Those who can't teach, teach
Gymnosophism.

[Stephanie]

new thread

[sbw]

Re: daddy’s 3:54 on pants

An understandable mistake. Some or us can’t see what is below the equator.

[sbw]

new thread

Thank goodness!