I’m Here Because of Lileks

 

Okay, not just Lileks, but he is probably my favorite of all the guys on the Ricochet podcast, which I’ve been enjoying for several months now. I finally took the bait and became a member.

I’m a former liberal (just want to get that off my chest from the start). I’ve lived in various regions of the U.S., but I’m Midwest born and bred. I earned a bachelor’s in English in 2009 and published a few short stories online. (Currently working in state government, so you know how that whole writing thing turned out.) Among my interests/likes: philosophy of Alasdair MacIntyre, cycling, Jane Austen novels, knitting, and baking my own granola bars.

What I love about Lileks: During the podcast, he almost always asks the follow-up question I’m asking (but no one can hear).

However, I lately discovered that we differ drastically on the issue of changing our clocks. It’s stupid. I hate it.

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  1. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Norm McDonald Bought The Farm (View Comment):

    Saint Augustine (View Comment):

    Welcome!

    MacIntyre is great.

    He’s also king of the run on sentence. He’s no Josef Pieper. By the way, not to change topics, but I bought a new podium and I appear to have misplaced it. Has anyone seen it?

     

    • #31
  2. Jeff Petraska Member
    Jeff Petraska
    @JeffPetraska

    Welcome to the family, Malka!

    As for time changes, I don’t care about the time of sunrise and sunset.  Just let noon be noon!

    • #32
  3. Goldwaterwoman Thatcher
    Goldwaterwoman
    @goldwaterwoman

    Welcome to our little community. Anyone who loves Jane Austen deserves a double welcome.

    • #33
  4. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    Jim McConnell (View Comment):
    Oh, yes, the Gnat (for Natalie, I believe).

    Thanks. I couldn’t remember.

    • #34
  5. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    Norm McDonald Bought The Farm (View Comment):

    Saint Augustine (View Comment):

    Welcome!

    MacIntyre is great.

    He’s also king of the run on sentence. He’s no Josef Pieper. By the way, not to change topics, but I bought a new podium and I appear to have misplaced it. Has anyone seen it?

    Are you talking about the Kampfgruppe Pieper Pieper?  Oops.  I see that that was Peiper.

    • #35
  6. James Lileks Contributor
    James Lileks
    @jameslileks

    Jim McConnell (View Comment):
    James, I just wanted you to know that I’ve been following your various collecting of odd trivia and your writing (even some of your books!) for years and I sincerely recommend that everyone check out lileks.com. There’s something for practically everyone there.

    That’s the hope! I think the overall idea was creating a site I would want to find if I was interested in these things. But the “things” are portals into something else. For example: there are websites about collecting matchbooks, but they’re about . . . matchbook collecting. Which is fine. But what do these ephemeral objects tell us about the past, the graphic styles that have come and gone, the language of old swank restaurants, the boosterism of the 40s, the brands that once dominated the  commercial landscape, and so on. All of these objects are portals.

    On the other hand, I like to think of it like this: you didn’t know you were interested in this, but hey, now you are. 

    • #36
  7. HankRhody Freelance Philosopher Contributor
    HankRhody Freelance Philosopher
    @HankRhody

    James Lileks (View Comment):
    But the “things” are portals into something else. For example: there are websites about collecting matchbooks, but they’re about . . . matchbook collecting. Which is fine. But what do these ephemeral objects tell us about the past, the graphic styles that have come and gone, the language of old swank restaurants, the boosterism of the 40s, the brands that once dominated the  commercial landscape, and so on. All of these objects are portals.

    Back around the start of the lockdowns I considered going around to various businesses and taking photos of the “Temporarily closed because of COVID” signs, see what kind of typography gets used, what sort of messages, that kind of thing. I figure it’d be perfect for…

    this thing is never on tim—

    THE JAMES LILEKS MEMBER POST OF THE WEEK!

    Yeah, that. Total Lileks bait.

    • #37
  8. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    Welcome aboard!

    • #38
  9. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    I certainly wouldn’t have joined just on the basis of Peter Robinson and Rob Long.

    • #39
  10. OkieSailor Member
    OkieSailor
    @OkieSailor

    HankRhody Freelance Philosopher (View Comment):

    Howdy.

    Malka Davis: However, I lately discovered that we differ drastically on the issue of changing our clocks. It’s stupid. I hate it.

    I’ve become radicalized. No DST! No time zones! Burn it all down!

    DST is stupidity on stilts and should have been ash-canned years ago. As for the time zones, they make sense until they don’t. When we moved almost 2 hours south of Louisville, KY a few years ago the infrequent trips to the big City became somewhat confusing due to living in Central Time and going to and from Eastern Time. “OK, we need to get there at 9:30.” “Is that Central Time or Eastern?” And so on. Then one day Mrs. OS solved the whole thing with one astute observation, “It takes 3 hours to get to Louisville and 1 hour to get back.” Genius because it simplifies the calculations. Must be why I married her 53 years ago.

     

     

    • #40
  11. Malka Davis Inactive
    Malka Davis
    @Malkadavis

    James Lileks (View Comment):

    Wow! Thank you. I think I now have some sort of moral responsibility to you, as one does when one saves a life. I apologize for bobbling your name on your Q for No Bad Questions; the type was tiny and I couldn’t tell if it was Malka or Makia, the latter sounding like some Soviet dog cosmonaut and hence unlikely to join, but you never know.

    And thanks to all who’ve checked out lileks.com, now in its 25th year. It is not a “blog” in the usual sense of posting links and writing a few paragraphs of irritated bitchery, but daily musings on . . . things, with a suite of secondary features that rotate from day to day, as well as daily links to updates elsewhere in the site. It is an alarmingly large place, but I’m proud of it.

    Anyway, welcome! You’ll love it here.

    I understand, Mr. Lileks. I have a difficult first name (it’s Hebrew, by the way) and an easy last name. Even when people try to play it safe and just use my last name, they tend to “misgender” me as Mr. Davis. Thank you and all the Ricochet members for such a warm welcome! I love it here already.

    • #41
  12. Malka Davis Inactive
    Malka Davis
    @Malkadavis

    OkieSailor (View Comment):

    HankRhody Freelance Philosopher (View Comment):

    Howdy.

    Malka Davis: However, I lately discovered that we differ drastically on the issue of changing our clocks. It’s stupid. I hate it.

    I’ve become radicalized. No DST! No time zones! Burn it all down!

    DST is stupidity on stilts and should have been ash-canned years ago. As for the time zones, they make sense until they don’t. When we moved almost 2 hours south of Louisville, KY a few years ago the infrequent trips to the big City became somewhat confusing due to living in Central Time and going to and from Eastern Time. “OK, we need to get there at 9:30.” “Is that Central Time or Eastern?” And so on. Then one day Mrs. OS solved the whole thing with one astute observation, “It takes 3 hours to get to Louisville and 1 hour to get back.” Genius because it simplifies the calculations. Must be why I married her 53 years ago.

     

     

    “Kite & Key” has a great video about the whole DST nonsense. I recommend it to anyone who might be on the fence about it.

    • #42
  13. Randy Weivoda Moderator
    Randy Weivoda
    @RandyWeivoda

    Welcome to Ricochet, Malka.  If you think James is good on the podcast, you ought to read some of his books.  His “Gallery of Regrettable Foods” is the funniest book I’ve ever read.  I’ve said this on Ricochet a few times over the years, it is the only book I have ever read that made me laugh until my face hurt.

    • #43
  14. OkieSailor Member
    OkieSailor
    @OkieSailor

    kedavis (View Comment):

    I certainly wouldn’t have joined just on the basis of Peter Robinson and Rob Long.

    Robinson, yes. Long……maybe. Members, definitely.

    • #44
  15. Norm McDonald Bought The Farm Inactive
    Norm McDonald Bought The Farm
    @Pseudodionysius

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Norm McDonald Bought The Farm (View Comment):

    Saint Augustine (View Comment):

    Welcome!

    MacIntyre is great.

    He’s also king of the run on sentence. He’s no Josef Pieper. By the way, not to change topics, but I bought a new podium and I appear to have misplaced it. Has anyone seen it?

     

     

     

     

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Norm McDonald Bought The Farm (View Comment):

    Saint Augustine (View Comment):

    Welcome!

    MacIntyre is great.

    He’s also king of the run on sentence. He’s no Josef Pieper. By the way, not to change topics, but I bought a new podium and I appear to have misplaced it. Has anyone seen it?

     

    Tourette’s Syndrome of course!

    • #45
  16. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Malka Davis (View Comment):
    I have a difficult first name

    Could always translate it and go by “Queenie.” 😉

    • #46
  17. Aaron Parmelee Member
    Aaron Parmelee
    @AaronParmelee

    Definitely check out the Bleat. I go every day. The comments section is pretty good, too.

    • #47
  18. Motte's Mom Inactive
    Motte's Mom
    @CynthiaKent

    Malka Davis:

    Okay, not just Lileks, but he is probably my favorite of all the guys on the Ricochet podcast, which I’ve been enjoying for several months now. I finally took the bait and became a member.

    I’m a former liberal (just want to get that off my chest from the start). I’ve lived in various regions of the U.S., but I’m Midwest born and bred. I earned a bachelor’s in English in 2009 and published a few short stories online. (Currently working in state government, so you know how that whole writing thing turned out.) Among my interests/likes: philosophy of Alasdair MacIntyre, cycling, Jane Austen novels, knitting, and baking my own granola bars.

    What I love about Lileks: During the podcast, he almost always asks the follow-up question I’m asking (but no one can hear).

    However, I lately discovered that we differ drastically on the issue of changing our clocks. It’s stupid. I hate it.

     

    • #48
  19. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    Welcome aboard!

    • #49
  20. Motte's Mom Inactive
    Motte's Mom
    @CynthiaKent

    Welcome !

    Been a huge Lileks Fan since discovering his “Institute” so long ago when the interwebs were young.

    The effects of Gravity on Celery and Elastic (Art Frahm) contribution is worth a review.  When I need some ludicrous cheer, I return there.

    • #50
  21. Dr. Bastiat Member
    Dr. Bastiat
    @drbastiat

    Welcome to the zoo, Malka! 

    If you figure out what’s going on around here, please do let us know…

    • #51
  22. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    OkieSailor (View Comment):

    HankRhody Freelance Philosopher (View Comment):

    Howdy.

    Malka Davis: However, I lately discovered that we differ drastically on the issue of changing our clocks. It’s stupid. I hate it.

    I’ve become radicalized. No DST! No time zones! Burn it all down!

    DST is stupidity on stilts and should have been ash-canned years ago. As for the time zones, they make sense until they don’t. When we moved almost 2 hours south of Louisville, KY a few years ago the infrequent trips to the big City became somewhat confusing due to living in Central Time and going to and from Eastern Time. “OK, we need to get there at 9:30.” “Is that Central Time or Eastern?” And so on. Then one day Mrs. OS solved the whole thing with one astute observation, “It takes 3 hours to get to Louisville and 1 hour to get back.” Genius because it simplifies the calculations. Must be why I married her 53 years ago.

    It is weird, isn’t it?  Instead of saying everyone roll your hours of operation back an hour, they make everyone — even those who don’t have anything to do with business hours — change all their clocks and wristwatches.  It’s crazy stupid.  Twice a year, every year.  For life.

    • #52
  23. Norm McDonald Bought The Farm Inactive
    Norm McDonald Bought The Farm
    @Pseudodionysius

    Flicker (View Comment):

    OkieSailor (View Comment):

    HankRhody Freelance Philosopher (View Comment):

    Howdy.

    Malka Davis: However, I lately discovered that we differ drastically on the issue of changing our clocks. It’s stupid. I hate it.

    I’ve become radicalized. No DST! No time zones! Burn it all down!

    DST is stupidity on stilts and should have been ash-canned years ago. As for the time zones, they make sense until they don’t. When we moved almost 2 hours south of Louisville, KY a few years ago the infrequent trips to the big City became somewhat confusing due to living in Central Time and going to and from Eastern Time. “OK, we need to get there at 9:30.” “Is that Central Time or Eastern?” And so on. Then one day Mrs. OS solved the whole thing with one astute observation, “It takes 3 hours to get to Louisville and 1 hour to get back.” Genius because it simplifies the calculations. Must be why I married her 53 years ago.

    It is weird, isn’t it? Instead of saying everyone roll your hours of operation back an hour, they make everyone — even those who don’t have anything to do with business hours — change all their clocks and wristwatches. It’s crazy stupid. Twice a year, every year. For life.

    Its like a vaccine with annual booster.

    • #53
  24. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    OkieSailor (View Comment):

    HankRhody Freelance Philosopher (View Comment):

    Howdy.

    Malka Davis: However, I lately discovered that we differ drastically on the issue of changing our clocks. It’s stupid. I hate it.

    I’ve become radicalized. No DST! No time zones! Burn it all down!

    DST is stupidity on stilts and should have been ash-canned years ago. As for the time zones, they make sense until they don’t. When we moved almost 2 hours south of Louisville, KY a few years ago the infrequent trips to the big City became somewhat confusing due to living in Central Time and going to and from Eastern Time. “OK, we need to get there at 9:30.” “Is that Central Time or Eastern?” And so on. Then one day Mrs. OS solved the whole thing with one astute observation, “It takes 3 hours to get to Louisville and 1 hour to get back.” Genius because it simplifies the calculations. Must be why I married her 53 years ago.

     

     

    It could be worse.  As best I can recall, Indiana does DST by county.

    • #54
  25. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    Malka Davis (View Comment):
    I understand, Mr. Lileks. I have a difficult first name (it’s Hebrew, by the way) and an easy last name. Even when people try to play it safe and just use my last name, they tend to “misgender” me as Mr. Davis.

    Thanks for the clarification.  Your avatar picture isn’t really big enough to tell.  I’m afraid I would have assumed male, too.

    • #55
  26. Dr. Bastiat Member
    Dr. Bastiat
    @drbastiat

    Randy Webster (View Comment):

    OkieSailor (View Comment):

    HankRhody Freelance Philosopher (View Comment):

    Howdy.

    Malka Davis: However, I lately discovered that we differ drastically on the issue of changing our clocks. It’s stupid. I hate it.

    I’ve become radicalized. No DST! No time zones! Burn it all down!

    DST is stupidity on stilts and should have been ash-canned years ago. As for the time zones, they make sense until they don’t. When we moved almost 2 hours south of Louisville, KY a few years ago the infrequent trips to the big City became somewhat confusing due to living in Central Time and going to and from Eastern Time. “OK, we need to get there at 9:30.” “Is that Central Time or Eastern?” And so on. Then one day Mrs. OS solved the whole thing with one astute observation, “It takes 3 hours to get to Louisville and 1 hour to get back.” Genius because it simplifies the calculations. Must be why I married her 53 years ago.

     

     

    It could be worse. As best I can recall, Indiana does DST by county.

    I grew up in an Amish community in Ohio.  The Amish, of course, don’t do daylight savings time.  So we had “government time” and “real time.”  Which meant that much of the time, none of us really knew what time it was.  

    Me:  I’ll bring the grain binder over tomorrow at 9am.

    Yuri Gingrich:  When is that?

    Me:  I don’t know.

    • #56
  27. tigerlily Member
    tigerlily
    @tigerlily

    Welcome Malka!

    • #57
  28. Douglas Pratt Coolidge
    Douglas Pratt
    @DouglasPratt

    James Lileks (View Comment):

    Jim McConnell (View Comment):
    James, I just wanted you to know that I’ve been following your various collecting of odd trivia and your writing (even some of your books!) for years and I sincerely recommend that everyone check out lileks.com. There’s something for practically everyone there.

    That’s the hope! I think the overall idea was creating a site I would want to find if I was interested in these things. But the “things” are portals into something else. For example: there are websites about collecting matchbooks, but they’re about . . . matchbook collecting. Which is fine. But what do these ephemeral objects tell us about the past, the graphic styles that have come and gone, the language of old swank restaurants, the boosterism of the 40s, the brands that once dominated the commercial landscape, and so on. All of these objects are portals.

    On the other hand, I like to think of it like this: you didn’t know you were interested in this, but hey, now you are.

    I like to think of it as what would have happened if Robert Benchley had had a blog. It is an endless source of unexpected delights.

    • #58
  29. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Norm McDonald Bought The Farm (View Comment):

    Flicker (View Comment):

    OkieSailor (View Comment):

    HankRhody Freelance Philosopher (View Comment):

    Howdy.

    Malka Davis: However, I lately discovered that we differ drastically on the issue of changing our clocks. It’s stupid. I hate it.

    I’ve become radicalized. No DST! No time zones! Burn it all down!

    DST is stupidity on stilts and should have been ash-canned years ago. As for the time zones, they make sense until they don’t. When we moved almost 2 hours south of Louisville, KY a few years ago the infrequent trips to the big City became somewhat confusing due to living in Central Time and going to and from Eastern Time. “OK, we need to get there at 9:30.” “Is that Central Time or Eastern?” And so on. Then one day Mrs. OS solved the whole thing with one astute observation, “It takes 3 hours to get to Louisville and 1 hour to get back.” Genius because it simplifies the calculations. Must be why I married her 53 years ago.

    It is weird, isn’t it? Instead of saying everyone roll your hours of operation back an hour, they make everyone — even those who don’t have anything to do with business hours — change all their clocks and wristwatches. It’s crazy stupid. Twice a year, every year. For life.

    Its like a vaccine with annual booster.

    Only once a year?  Lucky you!

    • #59
  30. Malka Davis Inactive
    Malka Davis
    @Malkadavis

    Randy Webster (View Comment):

    Malka Davis (View Comment):
    I understand, Mr. Lileks. I have a difficult first name (it’s Hebrew, by the way) and an easy last name. Even when people try to play it safe and just use my last name, they tend to “misgender” me as Mr. Davis.

    Thanks for the clarification. Your avatar picture isn’t really big enough to tell. I’m afraid I would have assumed male, too.

    Haha! Certainly unintentional on my part. 

    • #60
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