It’s a time for recollection, not celebration.
Like the 4th of July, too many of our holidays have lost their meaning, becoming just an excuse for partying and a three-day weekend. When you grill your meat, think of those who lost so many holidays so that you could have yours.
[Update a few minutes later]
It is not about getting a cheap mattress
Mattresses are on sale at AAFES, for those who celebrate. There were no crowds at the exchanges because almost everyone seemed to have gone on vacation. I am not sure how I feel about all that.
For those of us who came from other parts of the Anglosphere, the 11th of November fills this role. But Remembrance is certainly called for.
When I lived in the Peoples Demokratik Republik of Kanukistan, Ontario Oblast, the people really did Remembrance day well…All the local reservists (in uniform and sort of in formation), the local veterans, all met at the local town/village cenotaph at 11AM for laying of wreaths. Stores would be closed until Noon, kids studied the wars in schools.
It was my honor to lay wreaths in remembrance of the 8th and 15th US Army Air Forces
One of the few things they did well
My old poppy is getting a bit worn out. Haven’t been back in the mother country for a while. Maybe when the apple muncher gets in.
For us, this time of year was celebratory, with fireworks on Victoria Day, which was a week before Memorial Day..
We celebrate Veterans’ Day in November. Memorial Day is to honor those who died in our nation’s wars, although that mostly just gets lip service from politicians.
Remembrance Day (Nov 11th) is the day when people remember those who died in the wars of the Commonwealth. For Canada, WWI (1914-1918) was a bigger deal than even WWII (1939-1945). The poem “In Flanders Fields” was written by a Canadian. I do understand the US holidays, with Memorial Day (more connected to the Civil War than other wars) and Veteran’s Day (WWI).
Rand,
do you have any plans to enable SSL on this website? Most browsers these days complain about the lack of it, with an ominous warning that the site might try to steal your information. (This is what Firefox says; Edge is similar, and in both cases, you have to click a button which reveals another button that you have to click to go to the site)
Warning: Potential Security Risk Ahead
Firefox detected a potential security threat and did not continue to http://www.transterrestrial.com. If you visit this site, attackers could try to steal information like your passwords, emails, or credit card details
Here’s what FF says when you click the first button: “Websites prove their identity via certificates. Firefox does not trust this site because it uses a certificate that is not valid for http://www.transterrestrial.com. The certificate is only valid for us3487.amerinoc.com.”
The browser seems to be paranoid. us3487.amerinoc.com is the name of the server that hosts transterrestrial.com. I can ask the sysadmin if there’s something I can do about that, but I had no plans to get a separate certificate for transterrestrial.
Brave on my PC doesn’t like it but opera on the devices doesn’t care.
FWIW, Edge hates it, too: putting transterrestrial.com in the address bar complains about the site being potentially unsafe, and you have to click a “take me here anyway” button. But then you get to “https://www.transterrestrial.com”, with the “https” crossed out, and a simple text notification that the site is hosted by a server hosting many other sites, and to type the address into the URL bar. Editing out the “https://” part then lets the site load, but with a “not secure” warning in the address bar.
“For what it’s worth”, to paraphrase a bit from Stephen Stills:
Paranoia strikes deep.
Into your browser it will creep.
There’s an page with no credential over there,
telling me I gotta beware…
It has come to my attention that the merchant marine isn’t getting the respect they deserve. They die just like anyone else and are what makes a lot of what our military does possible.
This Memorial Day, I was thinking of those whose efforts are forgotten and dismissed.
My uncle was severely wounded in the battles around Volturno. Was sent back to the States for rehab, where he met my Aunt. They have both has long since passed, but I will always remember and honor him on this day,