America changes this week, the toy hall of fame and more

This is the week that America changes.

Things will be different. Whether it's brighter or darker depends on your outlook, but change is coming.

Yeah. In case you missed it (far less likely now than before our electronic devices updated automatically), daylight saving time ended early Sunday morning. It's now standard time, which means it's dark earlier in the evening and we can all settle into months of sadness.

Most of us have strong opinions on whether it our current system makes sense.

Some of us like daylight saving time and think it should be in place all year, rather than just eight months. Some of us think we should stay on standard time year-round. Some of us think we should pick a lane and not have to change our clocks twice a year (particularly our car clocks).

I don't know who's right, but I think we should learn that we can have vastly different views of issues and not hate the other side. If you're a DST denier, I think you're wrong, but I don't think you're evil. You may just not have the same information as me.

It seems like that may apply somewhere else this week, but we'll see.

While we're on the topic, consider my latest proposal with daylight saving time: What if instead of springing forward and falling back, we just fell back every time the time changed? Fall back in the spring, fall back in the fall.

Of course, that would hamper the idea of longer summer days (at first), but it would . . .  are you ready . . . have a time-shifting element unlike anything else. Falling back twice a year would result in us getting an extra day every 12 years. It wouldn't change the calendar, it would just mean that over time, we're stealing an extra day.

We could defeat time!

On to the topics du jour. . . . 

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If you're like me, you're losing sleep over this month's big election.

Correct! We're about to discover the makeup of the 2024 class for the Toy Hall of Fame. The Strong National Museum of Play announced 12 finalists back in September, but most observers think it's likely time for balloons and trampoline to break through and gain entrance to the toy shrine. Pokemon cards and Transformers – popular with generations younger than me – also seem likely to get in.

One beneath-the-radar toy that might sneak in: The stick horse.

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OK, something equally important: Why do manufacturers put peel-off caps on products, but leave off the tab that makes it easy to pull off the caps? I mean, it's bad enough that I have to pull a metallic cap off my toothpaste tube, but how am I supposed to do that when they don't give me something to grip?

It's ridiculous and I generally end up pounding it with tweezers or my toothbrush, like I'm a caveman (who owned tweezers and an electric toothbrush). If you put a peel-off cap on a product, give us a tab that's easy to grab.

It's simple decency.

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No TV show in the history of broadcasting has been more pleasant than "The Great British Baking Show." It's now in its (I'm estimating) 1,500th season, but every season features a bunch of really nice people baking tasty items in a good-natured competition at a country house with pleasant music playing.

Anxious about Tuesday's election? Binge watch that show.

Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@outlook.com.