musing minds

D-Day

kimsch — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 18:01:00 +0000

It was 82 years ago today.

SS Jeremiah O’Brien

This is the SS Jeremiah O’Brien. She was present at D-Day, making many Channel Crossings to support the effort.

She was almost scrapped, but was lovingly restored, and she even made the trip from San Francisco back to Normandy for the 50th anniversary.

She’s moored at Pier 45 in San Francisco and can be toured.

20 Years Smoke-Free

kimsch — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 16:00:00 +0000

Today marks 20 years since I stopped smoking! Yay me!

All that money saved!

The prices as they are now, I’d only be able to buy about three packs for what I was paying for a carton then. Cartons are ten packs, so it’s more than three times what I was paying then.

And I’m so much healthier!

Happy Easter!

kimsch — Sun, 05 Apr 2026 12:30:00 +0000

He is Risen! He is Risen indeed!

Photo by Bicanski design on Pixnio

Happy New Year!

kimsch — Thu, 01 Jan 2026 19:52:42 +0000

Wishing you a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2026!

We ended 2025 and are starting 2026 in Texas because of a death in the family. We’re traveling home today and tomorrow.

We’ll be doing some more traveling this year, mostly closer to home, but we have another trip to Texas in the works.

Happy New Year to one and all!

Merry Christmas

kimsch — Thu, 25 Dec 2025 19:14:10 +0000

What Christmas is all about

A Date Which Will Live in Infamy

kimsch — Sun, 07 Dec 2025 22:49:22 +0000

On a sunny Sunday morning 84 years ago, the world changed.

At 7:55 a.m local. on December 7, 1941, the attack begins.

Pearl Harbor Attack

The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor to remove what it saw as a threat to the empire’s southern expansion. The Pearl Harbor attack hurt us badly, but it also hardened our resolve and brought us fully into WWII.

Snopes has some photos that were purported to be found in an old Brownie camera years after the attack. The story was untrue, but the photos are archival and genuine.

The U.S. Navy has a Pearl Harbor site with more photos.

Chris at A Large Regular has linked to this National Geographic Pearl Harbor site in the past. It has a multimedia timeline, survivor stories, a kid’s section, and more.

Happy Thanksgiving

kimsch — Thu, 27 Nov 2025 17:29:12 +0000

Thanksgiving Hymn

We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;
He chastens and hastens His will to make known;
the wicked oppressing now cease from distressing:
sing praise to his Name, he forgets not his own.

Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
ordaining, maintaining his kingdom divine;
so from the beginning the fight we were winning:
thou, Lord, wast at our side: all glory be thine!

We all do extol thee, thou leader triumphant,
and pray that thou still our defender wilt be.
Let thy congregation escape tribulation:
thy Name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!

Words: Nederlandtsche Gedenckclanck, 1626;
trans. Theodore Baker, 1894.
Music: Kremser

Enjoy this day with your family and friends.

Roast turkey with garnish and pie on festive table

Veterans’ Day 2025

kimsch — Tue, 11 Nov 2025 16:00:00 +0000

Armistice Day, Veterans’ Day, Remembrance Day

The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month…

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe;
To you, from failing hands, we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Written by Lt-Colonel John McRae (1915)

D-Day

kimsch — Fri, 06 Jun 2025 14:15:56 +0000

It was 81 years ago today.

SS Jeremiah O’Brien

This is the SS Jeremiah O’Brien. She was present at D-Day, making many Channel Crossings to support the effort.

She was almost scrapped, but was lovingly restored and she even made the trip from San Francisco back to Normandy for the 50th anniversary.

She’s moored at Pier 45 in San Francisco and can be toured.

There’s No “Saving” in Daylight Saving Time

kimsch — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 03:31:50 +0000

There’s no “Saving” in Daylight Saving Time. None. No daylight is saved. Cutting off the bottom of the blanket and sewing it to the top doesn’t make the blanket any longer.

Time Zones were established in 1883 mostly for the Transcontinental Railroads. At that time there were four, Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific.

In 1918, the Interstate Commerce Commission was given responsibility over time coordination for transportation and the five time zones we use today were established, Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific, and Alaska. Hawai’i time is one hour behind Alaska Standard Time. It’s the same as Alaska Daylight Time because Hawai’i doesn’t participate in Daylight Time. Arizona switches between Pacific and Mountain Time because it too doesn’t participate in Daylight Time.

Daylight time was implemented at this time (March 19, 1918) to save fuel during WWI for War Industries and to extend the working day. The Daylight time part of the law was repealed on August 20, 1919.

Daylight time was brought back during WWII (February 1942) with a sunset of six months after the end of the war -or- such time as designated by a concurring resolution. It actually took Congress to pass a bill. Congress passed H.R. 3974 which became the law “To provide for the termination of daylight saving time, ” 59 Stat. 537.

In 1966 Congress passed the Uniform Time Act resetting the time zones and setting Daylight Time from the last Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October.

In 1973, in a misguided attempt to “save energy” Congress passed the Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act of 1973. It was set to enact Permanent Daylight time from January 6, 1973 to October 26, 1975, It was so unpopular that HR 16102 amended it on October 2nd, 1974 to resume the last Sunday in February of 1975 to October 26, 1975 and continue normally thereafter.

The dates that Daylight Time have started and ended have changed, mostly starting earlier and earlier, from the last Sunday in April to now the first Sunday in March. The end of Daylight Saving only just changed this century from the last Sunday in October to the first Sunday in November, leaving Halloween with a little more light after school for trick-or-treaters.

Daylight time has gone from six months of the year to eight months of the year.

But Standard time is the time of the Earth. It’s when the sun is overhead at noon.

Changing time twice a year is disruptive to schedules, both human and animal. It’s disruptive for children. The more light in the evenings, while many adults may find it welcome, can make it hard for children to get to sleep.

If Daylight time were to be made permanent sunrise wouldn’t be until 9:00 or nearly so in December when many children are trying to get to school, either walking or at bus stops.

Sure the days get shorter, but they get longer too. The Spring and Fall Equinoxes are when the day and night are equal in length. The Winter and Summer Solistices are when we have the Longest Night and the Longest Day. It happens every year and no amount of fiddling with the clocks will change anything.

Keep Standard Time permanent like Hawai’i, Arizona, and Puerto Rico.