A while ago (August 2022, I think it was) I did a post which explained this title, so I won’t repeat that entire explanation. Suffice it to say that Monday seems to have the reputation of being “more difficult” than the other days of the week, and that Jim Davis is a frequent noter of that phenomenon in his cartoons about Garfield, the cat.
So, the first question, I suppose, should be “What”s wrong with Mondays?” To that I have to respond that, “I don’t really know!” It’s the day after the weekend, for what that’s worth. That means that it starts the “Work Week,” but, somehow, even when you’re retired (and, therefore, not actively working) there’s still just something hard about Monday, especially Monday morning. Even Ziggy understands:
So, the first question, I suppose, should be “What”s wrong with Mondays?” To that I have to respond that, “I don’t really know!” It’s the day after the weekend, for what that’s worth. That means that it starts the “Work Week,” but, somehow, even when you’re retired (and, therefore, not actively working) there’s still just something hard about Monday, especially Monday morning. Even Ziggy understands:
It just seems as though it’s just a bit harder to get out of bed, on Mondays most of the time. Or, as Garfield put it --
Now Jon, Garfield’s “person,” seems to think that Mondays are “just another day.” He IS incorrect, of course, which is probably the point. In the strip below, we see Garfield, probably futilely, trying to get Jon to become aware of the true reality of Mondays, with, apparently, rather little effect. Of course that MIGHT be explained by the fact that ALL cats, Garfield being a better example than most, are smarter than their so-called “Masters,” as they usually get pampered for just doing whatever they please. That seems like a pretty good deal to me, but (not being a cat) I can’t make use of it. But, see below --
On the other hand, cats are NOT stupid. They are well aware that being pampered, even on Monday, probably requires actually getting up and acknowledging the existence of whoever wants to think of him/herself as being its “master/mistress.” I’ve never actually seen a cat take to drinking coffee, but Garfield IS frequently pictured as seeking such, and (based on my own morning desires, which tend to be especially strong on Mondays), the strip below does seem particularly appropriate for ANYONE/THING on that, particular day.
Unfortunately (at least in MY book!), NOT ALL COFFEE IS CREATED EQUAL! Yes, while I do support the idea of DEI, (although apparently unlike the current Administration) I do NOT support ignoring actual qualifications; like understanding what the job is, how it should/needs to be done, and considering how changing things might actually be a BAD idea, before just “diving in” and blindly firing people and terminating programs to “save money” which you are, legally required to spend on those programs. They WERE created through LAWS, after all, and the EXECUTIVE BRANCH is sworn to execute, not empowered to MAKE (or just ignore), such.
Still, there are SOME Mondays where even coffee doesn’t SOLVE the problems of the day, but seem to just contribute to it. I confess that I tend to strongly agree with Garfield on this point. Coffee, CAN be terrible. Not too often, thank goodness, but it CAN happen. When it happens on a Monday, it’s REALLY a disaster.
This suggests to me the idea that since it seems to have become quite popular (in some circles) for the U.S. (or at least the various states) to just revise the time standard to allow: choosing to use STANDARD (Greenwich-based) time year-round; switch to full-time “DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME;” or (possibly) continue to change times as we have been doing since 1918, when Daylight Saving Time was introduced as an energy conservation effort for WWI. (Apparently it had NOTHING to do with farmers and the harvest, etc, no matter what the mythology says.) In any event, if we should be able to alter the time standard for our convenience, why not just abolish Mondays, while we’re at it? As Garfield suggests, it shouldn’t be all that hard, we do it with other stuff. Why not just RETURN IT?
Or, if that seems to be too radical an approach, why don’t we take advantage of modern technology and let our “devices” just handle it for us. It really shouldn’t be too hard a program to write, should it? Garfield has even done the work of figuring out a simple way to accomplish this.
I’ll bet that the guys at APPLE® could figure out how to install this as a “feature” in their next OS. Then the other guys could copy it.
That might not suit everyone, however. I’ve heard it suggested that a truly significant percentage of US Federal government programs, as well as a huge number of state government and business programs, rely on programming which was (AND STILL IS) written in the COBOL computer language in the 1960s. This is (apparently), partly because it would be difficult and expensive to rewrite ALL THIS STUFF, and, partly, because the current system still actually works pretty well, as long as you handle the language it was written in properly. There’s also the fact that many of the machines RUNNING those programs (in businesses as well as the US government) have not been replaced and (with appropriate maintenance) continue to do their jobs quite satisfactorily.
Now, according to information from The Poynter Institute (which agrees with other sources I have encountered):
1.) Government databases may code someone as 150 years old for reasons peculiar to the large and complex Social Security database.;
2.) Improper payments are a longstanding concern for the Social Security agency, though they represent a small share of all payments (Reported as less than 1%.);
3.) All those “150 year old” Social Security recipients are listed as such because, when the exact date of their birth wasn’t known.
(NOTE: I suspect that even the government knows that people don’t live for 150 years, but I could be wrong, I suppose.)
My understanding, which could well be incorrect, is that the use of May 20, 1874 MIGHT have been used as a “default date” for the version of COBOL, which the SS database is written in. This IS disputed, and I’m in no better position to evaluate this (seemingly plausible) possibility, than I am to argue about the notion that “42” is the the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything, because (according to some people) Douglas Adams had enough early exposure to programming languages that he MIGHT have been inspired by the fact that, in the ASCII (computer) Language, 42 is an * or “Wildcard." Thus, the possibility exists that when Adams had the “greatest computer ever built” asked what the meaning of life, the universe and everything is, it literally stated (in ITS language) that “Life is what you make it.”
Since it seems unlikely that the “DOGE” guys (let alone their “leaders”) have much background in COBOL (it’s not popular these days, except in “legacy” systems), it seems perfectly reasonable that incorrect conclusions based on inadequate knowledge are likely to have occurred. And THAT wasn’t even on a MONDAY!
I’m with Garfield, in relation to MOST Mondays, however, except that “Antiques Roadshow” (both the British original AND the US version) are usually on PBS that evening around here. It remains true that Mondays are usually NOT my favorite days. There really are times when I wish that Garfield could just put up the sign he posts below and we could be done with them.
That might not suit everyone, however. I’ve heard it suggested that a truly significant percentage of US Federal government programs, as well as a huge number of state government and business programs, rely on programming which was (AND STILL IS) written in the COBOL computer language in the 1960s. This is (apparently), partly because it would be difficult and expensive to rewrite ALL THIS STUFF, and, partly, because the current system still actually works pretty well, as long as you handle the language it was written in properly. There’s also the fact that many of the machines RUNNING those programs (in businesses as well as the US government) have not been replaced and (with appropriate maintenance) continue to do their jobs quite satisfactorily.
Now, according to information from The Poynter Institute (which agrees with other sources I have encountered):
1.) Government databases may code someone as 150 years old for reasons peculiar to the large and complex Social Security database.;
2.) Improper payments are a longstanding concern for the Social Security agency, though they represent a small share of all payments (Reported as less than 1%.);
3.) All those “150 year old” Social Security recipients are listed as such because, when the exact date of their birth wasn’t known.
(NOTE: I suspect that even the government knows that people don’t live for 150 years, but I could be wrong, I suppose.)
My understanding, which could well be incorrect, is that the use of May 20, 1874 MIGHT have been used as a “default date” for the version of COBOL, which the SS database is written in. This IS disputed, and I’m in no better position to evaluate this (seemingly plausible) possibility, than I am to argue about the notion that “42” is the the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything, because (according to some people) Douglas Adams had enough early exposure to programming languages that he MIGHT have been inspired by the fact that, in the ASCII (computer) Language, 42 is an * or “Wildcard." Thus, the possibility exists that when Adams had the “greatest computer ever built” asked what the meaning of life, the universe and everything is, it literally stated (in ITS language) that “Life is what you make it.”
Since it seems unlikely that the “DOGE” guys (let alone their “leaders”) have much background in COBOL (it’s not popular these days, except in “legacy” systems), it seems perfectly reasonable that incorrect conclusions based on inadequate knowledge are likely to have occurred. And THAT wasn’t even on a MONDAY!
I’m with Garfield, in relation to MOST Mondays, however, except that “Antiques Roadshow” (both the British original AND the US version) are usually on PBS that evening around here. It remains true that Mondays are usually NOT my favorite days. There really are times when I wish that Garfield could just put up the sign he posts below and we could be done with them.
That doesn’t really seem very likely to happen, however, so I guess we’ll just have to make like B.C. sometimes and just survive. Know what I mean. Mondays CAN be hard, but some can be more than just that. See below --
Well, if the “Mondays” don’t get me, I shall return on St. Patrick’s Day, which happens to fall on a Monday this year. I guess that THAT, proves that there is SOME hope, even for Mondays. I hope you’ll be back, too. I enjoy thinking that I’m actually talking to people.
🖖🏼 LLAP,
Dr. B
🖖🏼 LLAP,
Dr. B
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