No. 209: Save Lives, End DST
Good morning, everyone.
Well, I took some advice and turned on some banned content just to feel alive last night. The forbidden media was Ukraine On Fire. Netflix took it off their platform last week in a fit of anti-Russian fever, and it's easy to see why. The documentary lays threadbare the 30-year history of American involvement in the nation following the collapse of the USSR up to 2017 following the Ukrainian Revolution and the annexation of Crimea. But most crucially, it details the methods employed by US leaders to foment unrest in foreign nations and parlay it into a power transfer — otherwise known as a Color Revolution — tactics that might look familiar to those of us who watched the Summer Race Riots of 2020.
Netflix probably removed the documentary because it takes a more nuanced approach to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, airing Putin's concerns over NATO expansion and even drawing up a nice map to show viewers that Cuba is further away from Washington D.C. than Crimea is from Moscow. The understanding here is that the US would not tolerate oppositional weaponry in Cuba just as Moscow wouldn't tolerate it in Crimea, hence the annexation.
Additionally, the documentary shows how complicit the USA has been in the conflict that has roiled the nation since 2014, lying about popular support in Crimea for incorporation into Russia and downplaying the aggressive war against ethnic Russians by Ukrainian ultra-nationalists in the Donbas — the region that Putin declared sovereign before launching his invasion just over two weeks ago. Ultimately, Russia took the NATO bait when they chose to invade Ukraine, and that's on them.
There's probably more to say about all this, but ultimately, what was true in 2017, is true now: any attempt to understand or rationalize Russia's position is met summarily with accusations of running an optics campaign for Putin. This is a boring way to respond to someone over something that very few of us have real skin in the game over, but such is life in the televisual, political world of the USA in 2022. Maybe it's always been this way. It's possible Americans without security clearances simply aren't designed to engage with world affairs from halfway across the world. Maybe no one is.
A sign of the true menace Putin has become is seen in his rapid refashioning as the modern-day Hitler — Putler. What does it say about our world that instead of representing Putin as the personification of evil — a red Satan with horns and a trident — we represent him as another evil man?
Imagine, for a second, a cartoon of Putin riding a pterodactyl over an apocalyptic, bombed-out Ukraine, glowing like an ember fresh out of the fire — chasms erupting with flames and brimstone falling from the sky — spewing oil from his nose and gas from his ears, his face red with passion — indicating his particular satan-ness — with horns breaking through his tuft of grey hair as he smirks at the destruction below him. The Hitler memes feel manufactured and, frankly, uninspiring. The plasticity of it all makes me question the whole affair. Hell, some people — the same people calling Putin Hitler, most likely — spent four years calling Trump Hitler and that turned out to be complete BS. Boy cried wolf, etc.
I think the real crisis here is a complete lack of imagination and people too susceptible to autosuggestion. Now, does that make me a Putin apologist or just a curmudgeon?
Carry on.
Today, we say farewell to the Sutler, lament the existence of DST with Science, introduce our latest on cattle's role on the regenerative farm, and peer into some marble quarries in Italy and Portugal.
You can follow us on Twitter (@realpamphleteer), LinkedIn (@realpamphleteer), or Instagram (@realpamphleteer) for additional content.
Thanks for reading.
Edward Landstreet continues his series documenting the different aspects of a regenerative farm exploring the essential role of the cow in amending depleted soil.
SIMILAR ESSAYS
- An Ode to Swine: The pig’s role on a regenerative farm by Edward Landstreet (Read)
- An Ode to Fowl: The chicken's role on a regenerative farm by Edward Landstreet (Read)
- What's Dirt to You? Ignore the soil at your own peril by Davis Hunt (Read)
♬ FAREWELL TO THE SUTLER!
The Pamphleteer haunt closed its doors for the final time yesterday. Here, we look back at its genesis in the Nashville of the 70s:
In 1976, country radio DJ Johnny Potts opened The Sutler Saloon, which felt like a throwback to the Wild West. It evoked images of swinging doors, shoot-outs, poker games, the town drunk passed out on the corner table, the proverbial town whore with the heart of gold and the gruff sheriff who falls for her. It boasted a solid, classic saloon-style bar where many an elbow was propped over the years.
The Sutler immediately established itself as a favored watering hole for music bizzers—a much scruffier bunch back then—who swilled cold beer and chowed down on humble comfort food like corn bread and beans. In the intimate room and on the small, up-close-and-personal stage, acts famous and infamous performed killer sets of aching, yearning and unbridled bravura that were often the talk of The Row the next day—at least among those who could remember.
Good night, sweet prince.
Source: The Sutler in Melrose: Back and Better Than Ever!
Style Blueprint, 18 February 2015, Read Online
HEADLINES
- No evidence former state vaccine head Michelle Fiscus sent dog muzzle to herself (Tennessean) The DA's Fraud & Economic Crimes division sent a memo to Fiscus' attorney on Thursday detailing the extensive review of the case that picked up where Homeland Security stopped last year.
- Katt Williams comedy show evacuated after bomb threat in Nashville (WKRN) Williams abruptly ended his show 10 minutes before his set was planned to end due to a bomb threat. The auditorium stated that Williams decided not to inform the crowd of the bomb scare to avoid panic and possible injuries.
POLITICS
- Bill To Stop TN Taxpayer Education Funding Of Illegal Aliens To Be Heard In Committees (TCN) House Bill 1648 would allow school districts to decide whether they wanted to enroll a student who is unlawfully in the United States, but it would also strip those districts of any state funding to go towards those students, making the districts financially responsible for those students if they choose to enroll them.
- Bill To Limit Divisive Teachings in Universities Up For Senate Vote Today (TCN) According to the bill students and employees of these institutions would not be subject to penalty or discrimination if they choose not to endorse any particular divisive concept. Additionally, no particular belief or ideology can be required as a condition for hiring, tenure, promotion, or graduation.
DEVELOPMENT
- 🎶 3rd and Lindsley considering relocation (Post)
- 🛫 Nashville International Airport adds Breeze Airways, nonstop flights start at $39 (NBJ)
- 🎙 Ernest Tubb Record Store to be sold, will close in spring (Main Street)
- Site Clearing Starts At The Sky Nashville Development Near Sylvan Heights (Now Next)
- Local developer pays $4.9M for Railyard District property (Post)
- Airport-area office building offered for undisclosed sum (Post)
- Mixed-use project eyed for South Davidson County (Post)
- Global titan pays undisclosed sum for Midtown property (Post)
- Neighbors question ambitious proposal for Cumberland River (Post)
⤽ A POSITIVE VISION OF THE FUTURE ⤼
You want a positive vision of the future? Here's one: a future in which we no longer have daylight saving time (DST). The idea for daylight savings comes to us first from Benjamin Franklin who jokingly proposed the idea to the Journal de Paris in 1784 proposing that the French implement the policy to economize candle use.
Port Arthur, Ontario was the first city in the world to enact the policy in 1908. In 1916, the German states during WWI followed suit in an effort to conserve coal. The rest of the developed world didn't implement DST as official policy until the 1970s following the energy crisis of that decade when oil and gas were in shorter supply.
Over two hundred years later, the rationale remains the same as when Franklin first penned his satire. Proponents of the policy argue that it decreases energy consumption in addition to promoting leisurely, outdoor evening activities which are good for both the physical and psychological health of the people. The whole ordeal flips the common adage coined by Karl Marx — first as tragedy, then as farce — on its head which says everything you need to know about both Marx and DST. First as farce, then as tragedy.
In addition to being a fully artificial imposition of time onto people and unreliably reducing energy consumption, DST is actually dangerous. The "spring forward" part of DST — the one we just had imposed upon us — is associated with an increase in the number of hospital patients admitted for stroke, acute myocarditis, and atrial fibrillation over the following two days. That would be yesterday and today. In contrast, the "fall back" segment is associated with a decrease in such incidents. Car accidents also increase for the two days following "spring forward" and decrease for the two days following "fall back".
The reason for all this is tied directly to circadian rhythms — a topic that is endlessly engrossing and too large for this here pamphlet. In short, your circadian rhythm takes roughly two days to adjust to a new sleep-wake cycle. It's no coincidence that over the course of those two days of adjustments, health issues and accidents increase. Heart issues arising from the time change can best be explained by the normal increase in blood pressure accompanying one's natural rising time. Normally, one is most susceptible to stroke and heart attack between the hours of 6 AM and 12 PM due to a variety of "waking functions" designed to get you rolling. Combine an alarm clock that shocks you awake at a time you aren't used to with the normal spike in blood pressure and other enjoined processes that accompany this process, and you have a recipe for a heart attack or a stroke.
In short, DST kills. End DST to save lives.
MORE ON CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS
- Circadian is a word that comes to us from the Latin circa (about) and dies (day)
- Circadian rhythms in organisms persist even in constant light or constant darkness.
- All Circadian rhythms on Earth across all organisms follow a roughly 24-hour pattern.
- Circadian rhythms are unaffected by changes in ambient temperature and respond only to changes in light exposure.
- Only about 10-15% of people are morning people — or early birds.
- In humans, circadian rhythms are guided solely by light absorbed by the eye — getting sun first thing in the morning is the best thing you can do for your wakefulness.
⚔︎ MISSIVES ⚔︎
- 🇷🇺 Diplomatic efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine resumed Monday, after a weekend missile strike by Moscow near the Polish border brought the fighting closer to Western Europe and highlighted the risk of a wider conflict. We still haven't seen mention of Zelensky's concession that Ukraine not join NATO to Russia in American media.
- 📊 Nonwhite voters are more likely than white voters to say the highest inflation in four decades is triggering major financial strain in their lives and that appears to be giving Republicans an opening with a growing segment of the electorate that traditionally favors Democrats. Caring about Ukraine is just an expression of status.
- 📚 It's been a long road to Cormac McCarthy's next novel. But now, not one, but two are on the way. The legendary author of The Road and No Country for Old Men, who's widely considered one of the greatest American writers alive, is publishing two new novels this fall, The New York Times reports.
- 🤡 On Thursday afternoon, 30 top TikTok stars gathered on a Zoom call to receive key information about the war unfolding in Ukraine. National Security Council staffers and White House press secretary Jen Psaki briefed the influencers about the United States’ strategic goals in the region and answered questions on distributing aid to Ukrainians, working with NATO, and how the United States would react to Russian use of nuclear weapons.
- 🗺 A 2021 immigration report showed a sharp decrease in the number of arrests and deportations of illegal immigrants from previous years. ICE agents arrested 74,082 non-citizens from October 2020 through September 2021, down from 103,603 arrests in the 2020 fiscal year and 143,099 arrests in the 2019 fiscal year.
THINGS TO DO
View the full calendar here.
🍀 St. Patty's day this Thursday, check out this Nashville St. Patties guide.
🖌 At the Cheekwood, Spanning the Atlantic, The Arts and Crafts Movement, an international trend in the decorative arts that originated in the British Isles during the 19th century.
TONIGHT
🎩 History Class @ Bold Patriot Brewing, 5:00, Info
🎸 Harry Fontana @ American Legion Post 82, 7p, Free, Info
🎺 Héctor Téllez Jr. @ Exit/In, 7p, $10, Info
💃 Swing Dancing Lessons @ The Bold Patriot, 8p, Free, Info
🎹 Jazz Jam @ The Villager, 11p, Free, Info
GET ‘EM WHILE YOU CAN
🎸 Buddy Guy (3/26) @ The Ryman, 7:30p, $80, Info
🐷 Primus a Farewell to Kings tour (5/9) @ The Ryman, 7:30p, $55+, Info
FROM LAST WEEK
FROM THE ARCHIVE
Around the Web
↯ The Weakness of the Despot An expert on Stalin discusses Putin, Russia, and the West.
༆ New cars make me want to Saab Once upon a time, not all cars had to look like folded-up Optimus Prime.
𐂅 Why Building Better Places Isn’t About Money Debunking the myth that good design is too expensive
Political Theater Highlight Reel
- Donald Trump in 2020: "You're paying what $2 dollars a gallon... If Biden got in you would be paying $7/$8/$9 and then they would say get rid of your car"
- Rep. Cawthorn calls Zelensky a ‘thug,’ Ukrainian government ‘incredibly evil’
- Jussie Smollett flips out after Judge sentences him to jail: ‘I am innocent and I am not suicidal!’
You May Also Like
Words of Wisdom
"If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're misinformed."
Mark Twain