Will the Sunshine Protection Act Protect Us?

It's that time again.  Today, residents of all but a handful of states (Hawaii and Arizona) find themselves an hour ahead of themselves,   Groggily, we march into the week ahead bemoaning Daylight time.  Why do we need it?  Why do we do it?

Why? (I could also ask why we got up to 47 sunny degrees yesterday and then woke up this morning to snow on the ground, but that's a topic for another time.)

 Leonid and Friends rule!

And will Florida end up saving us from ourselves?

When I visited Florida (from my native New York City) for the first time in July of 1966, I was amazed to discover that Florida, in the same time zone as my native New York City, was an hour behind New York City time.

They were on year round standard time.  They didn't jump ahead an hour at the beginning of spring.  They had the same time year round.  What a concept!

On March 19, 1918 (so we are not quite at the 101th birthday of this thing), the United States adopted the Standard Time Act, enacting time zones and daylight time.

In 1919, daylight time was repealed.  100 years ago this year, we had our chance to escape becoming twice a year zombies.

But then, like the Terminator, daylight time returned.  Again and again, it has returned to the western world. 

Now, Florida, the same state that didn't have daylight time in July of 1966, is trying to save us from ourselves again.

Last year, Florida passed the "Sunshine Protection Act" but they couldn't enact it on the state level because of the Federal law.  So this time, three members of Congress from Florida are trying on the national level.  If passed and signed into law, our country would have year round Daylight Savings Time.


What do you think of springing ahead/falling back?  If we went to a year round time, how would you want to do it?

My Post After the Zombies

Yesterday, I was reminded by a fellow blogger's post that I should check my stats every once in a while.

Some bloggers live and die by stats-how many "hits" their blogs get, what their Alexa rank is, how long people spend reading their blog, and so forth.  I understand the importance of this for business bloggers (i.e. bloggers promoting their businesses) and for bloggers who use their bloggers to advertise their writing or photography skills.

All I am is little ol' me, no business, no writing skills (well, maybe I need to rephrase that) and I knew what I would find when I checked my stats.

There is one post I wrote, back in 2012, that had an epic (for me) number of hits.    Every once in a while, it still gets attention.  It's, by far, my number one post in number of visitors.  There's only one problem.

The attention all comes from spammers.  There is one legit comment on the post. Yes, one  I've deleted so many spam comments over the years that I should have kept a record of that, just for fun.

Not a zombie, but close enough

Boo!

That one comment has gotten awfully lonely over the years, presiding over a post about zombies.What is it about spammers and zombies?  I wish I knew.

I've decided that I want to give that post a bit of genuine blog love.

So, in the spirit of Halloween (and zombies), and shameless self promotion, I am going to ask my readers what I hope is a fun favor.

Visit that post:  Yonkers Before the Zombies.

And leave a comment.

That's it.

I could only wish reviving that post would make the spammers go away. But it would be nice to see this post get some genuine blog love for a change.  And, over the next couple of days, I have a special treat for you.  No tricks!

Do you have a post that seems to attract a lot of spammers?

Day 17 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost

Yonkers Before the Zombies

The world is supposed to end in December of 2012. 

 What better time to release what was going to be the zombie film of all time, World War Z?  Based on the book by Max Brooks (Mel Brooks's son, not that it should matter but sometimes it does), I was so looking forward to this. (The film, which Brad Pitt was supposed to star in, is now delayed into 2013, if it ever gets released at all. What a (not) surprise!)

You see, I am secretly into zombie lit.  Not all of it but it does fit into the dystopian future literature I...er, feed upon.

I was so looking forward to seeing the Battle of Yonkers.  Yonkers is a city in New York State that borders New York City on its north.  In World War Z, after New York City falls to the zombies, the U.S. Army makes a stand in Yonkers.  I'll leave it to your imagination how the battle ends.

Yonkers isn't worried, by the way.  They are too busy decorating for Halloween.  I should know - I visited Yonkers a couple of days ago.

On our way to a party yesterday, we passed a house that was incredibly decorated for zo....I mean, Halloween.

It was located on Kimball Avenue, in walking distance of the Cross County shopping center.

After the party, we went back.  It was getting dark, and floodlights had been turned on.

You can't see it in the photos but there was even an animated "dead" figure trying to crawl along the ground.  Not exactly a zombie, but it could have been.

Finally, it got too dark, and we left the house to its fate.

No one ever decorated for Halloween when I was growing up.  Now, it's getting to be almost as big a decorating holiday as Christmas has become.  And zombies are massively popular now, for reasons I could spend an entire week blogging about.

So Yonkers waits.  Patiently waits, for the zombies to come.

Brad, eat your heart out.

The Binghamton Zombie Apocalypse

In case of a zombie apocalypse in upstate NY, I now know where to go.

Tonight, Binghamton held its third annual Zombie walk.

The zombies helpfully posed for a group photo.

A couple of zombie bellydancers entertained the crowd.  This one danced (slowly, of course) with a sword on top of her head. (Sorry, this picture came out rather blurry.)

A gowned zombie looked on, fake blood glistening on her gown.


Someone calling himself "The Undertaker"and dressed in a steampunk type costume with tophat told the zombies he would be their leader and that they were to refrain from eating the living for tonight only.

The zombies were to visit various venues open for First Friday in downtown Binghamton. Their first stop was to be Phelps Mansion, a mansion built in 1870, now on the edge of downtown.  Some of the everyday people who walk the streets near Phelps Mansion are scarier than any zombie you will ever meet.

My spouse and I hurried to the mansion ahead of the shambling, screaming crowd.  (I will blog more about Phelps Mansion, which has a Civil War connection, another time.) While we waited for the zombies to arrive, we spoke to the staff.

(Interior of Phelps Mansion, courtesy of AM)

Not only did the staff not know the zombies were intending to visit, they didn't know what zombies were.

"They are the undead", I explained helpfully.  "They eat people."

"How disgusting!" a staff member responded

As the zombies arrived, the staff told them they couldn't enter, so they milled around a couple of minutes and then left.  Indeed, if the Zombie Apocalypse comes, Phelps Mansion should be the safest place in the Southern Tier of NY.

"I'm not impressed", a young woman remarked to me.  "You should see the zombie walk in the West Village!"

Well, maybe one day I will.  But at least Binghamton is trying.   And in case of a zombie apocalypse, remember - you don't want to be in a large city.  Trust me on this.

Zombies and St. Patricks Day

Zombie mashups are the order of the day.

The father of the Little Women beomes a werewolf in one mashup.  Jane Austin wrote about them in another.  Not only was Abraham Lincoln a vampire hunter, but St. Patrick was really trying to rid the Emerald Isle of....zombies.

Yes.  St. Patrick's Day (tomorrow) is a zombie holiday, which may come as a surprise to the good residents of Ireland, and certain American cities such as Savannah, GA.  But I digress.)

Here's the true story of St. Patrick, as revealed by author Dan DeWitt.

Note that in a lot of modern zombie literature, zombies are not quite the traditional Voudon zombies.  Rather, they originate  from some type of virus (natural or man made by terrorists or others).  The first victims get the virus, die and reanimate as mindless, vicious creatures who have an insatiable hunger for living human flesh.  So their first act once reanimated is to attack the nearest living humans.  Once bitten, the next human victim gets the virus, dies, reanimates.  Repeat the process, many times. 

The plague spreads rapidly, with the government unable to fight it, usually ending up in a total destruction of civilization.  Of course, civilization doesn't fall until  there are many thrilling battles, explosions and so forth, with the zombies always winning.  These are a totally different enemy and can only be...er, killed...(re-killed?) in one particular way.  Of course it takes a while to figure it out and by the time the remaining humans do, it's too late.

The destruction of civilization? That is generally known as the "Zombie Apocalypse".

Zombies show up a lot nowadays in video games and popular literature and movies.  I especially love a local cable commercial, where Ricky Gervais refuses a Facebook friending invitation, and is suddenly plunged into a zombie apocalypse.  As he's running down the street being chased by zombies, soldiers and a helicopter, he is trying to accept the friend invite, saying he was "only kidding".

It really looks good in HD.  Although, just so you know, Time-Warner, it's starting to get a wee bit stale.

But St Patrick's Day and zombies?

Sure enough,..

Here are zombies in a St. Patrick's Day parade.

And you can even purchase a Celtic Zombie Pride greeting card.

I find zombies fascinating.  At least until the real zombie apocalypse hits. (and if it does, Ace has the products you need.).  You'll never think of St. Patrick's Day in the same way after a zombie apocalypse.  No one appreciated the job he did on the Emerald Isle, and now the zombies have regrouped.  And soon, they will be after our green beer.

Which brings the question, how did a holiday celebrating a saint evolve (or devolve?) into a secular holiday featuring shamrocks, corned beef and cabbage (we are having ours tonight) and green beer (no)?

In the meantime, remember to accept all Facebook "friend" invitations.  Especially tomorrow, on St Patrick's Day.

True Love in the Time of Zombies - A Valentine's Day Story

What does true love mean to you?  Sometimes it means tolerating your spouse's latest craze in reading...and its consequence.

I am reading a book called World War Z, by Max Brooks.  Yes, I have recently gotten into zombies, at least somewhat modern zombies.  World War Z is a serious book, written by an admirer of the late Studs Terkel.   Brooks has done an extensive study of politics, of geography, of military science, to come up with a story of what would happen if a worldwide virus plague hit, turning most of humanity into...well, zombies.  Moaning, unconscious zombies, eating the dwindling human population.

I spent part of the last week reading this book, including horror stories filled with graphic descriptions of a plague that started in China, and ended up overwhelming most of the world.  Romantic, right?

So, on Saturday night, I went to bed and had this dream that became more and more of a nightmare. But instead of zombies, for some reason, it was crazed Canada geese that were trying to get into my house.  My face was up against the back door, where the sheer weight of the moaning geese was starting to bulge the door inward towards me.  In a last gasp effort to keep the geese out, I bit the door.

The door was soft. Too soft.

And suddenly I woke up, with this realization....it wasn't a door. It was a shoulder.

My spouse was awake too.  "Did I bite you?" I asked, fearing the worst.

Yup.

Well, in over 35 years of marriage, that was a first.  He wasn't even mad at me.  I think he was a bit amused.

Turns out spouse was having this strange dream, also involving geese.  But they weren't zombie geese, and they weren't trying to get into the house.  And just as the dream was getting really interesting, someone bit his shoulder and he woke up.

Luckily I didn't hurt him, perhaps thanks to the nightguard I wear.  In fact, the bite isn't even visible anymore.

So, that is my romantic story.  Love means never having to say you're sorry when you bite the one you love during an invasion of zombie geese.


Do you have a non-romantic story that shows the love you have for a longtime love of your life?