Be safe and enjoy the last weekend of traditional summer. I plan on sitting in the pool with a beer in hand except while watching college football tomorrow afternoon.



P.S. Go Bearcats!

There's a holiday coming up? Wow, imagine that. Sometimes the only way I know which day it is is because I have to do the wash or clean the house. LOL

If it's the precursor to the ending of summer you could have fooled me. We're still around the high 90s and personally I'm sick of the hot weather. Now that I've been retired and hardly ever work in my garden I only know how hot it is because of a thermometer I have outside. To think that I used to work in every kind of weather outside even surprises me. I guess you get used to it because well, your family loves a roof over their heads and they like to eat.

But, kidding aside I loved my work when we did aircraft refueling. Every day was different and not boring at all, like it is now. You guys keep me sane, and the Commies that post here keep my old heart pumping, sometimes too fast though.

Summer's almost over

I thought for sure this thread would be about how the Democrats passed Labor Day so that's why you should vote Democrat. You disappoint me, mlb.

Actually, I think the USA could use more holidays. There have been studies (biased, I'm sure, but still data are data) suggesting that workers work harder with more time off for R&R, so there is some signifiant reason to believe that more holidays would not impair productivity much, if at all.

A few ideas that I've thought about:

• Resolve the Columbus Day/Indigenous People's Day controversy by adopting the UN's International Day of Indigenous People, August 9, and leaving Columbus Day as Columbus Day.
• Similarly move Labor Day to May 1, the international Labor Day. Celebrate V-J Day that ended WWII (September 2) as Armed Services Day on the first Monday in September. That gives Armed Services Day a much more prominent place that our currently serving forces deserve. So we have Memorial Day to honor those who lost their lives in service, Veterans Day (November 11, or Monday closest, celebrating end of WWI) for those who completed their service, and Armed Forces Day for those who are still serving.
• Consider weekendizing Christmas the way we do Thanksgiving, by celebrating Christmas Eve (the day before) or Boxing Day (the day after). When Christmas is on a Tuesday, celebrate Christas Eve on Monday. When Christmas is on a Thursday celebrate Boxing Day on Friday. When Christmas is on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, celebrate Boxing Day the Monday after. When Christmas is on Monday, celebrate Christmas Eve the Friday before. And when Christmas is on Wednesday, celebrate either Tuesday (Eve) or Thursday (Boxing).
• That gives Christmas and Eve/Boxing as two Christian holidays, and add Good Friday as a third. Recognize three holidays for Jews (say, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Purim) and Muslims (say, Eid-al-Fitr, Eid-al-Adha, Laylat-al-Qadr), and perhaps other holy days for other religions, each of whom would have the elction to go with the Christian holidays or observe their own. Also, recognize the status of Saturdays for Jews and Fridays for Muslims as equivalent to Sundays for Christians.
  

That then gives the following holidays spaced pretty evenly around the year:
1. Jan 1 - New Year's Day
2. Jan Monday closest to Jan 19 - MLK Birthday
3. Feb Monday closest to Feb 22 - Presidents Day
4. Mar/Apr - Good Friday (Christian holiday, elective alternative for Jews/Muslims)
5. May 1 - Labor Day
6. May 4th Monday - Memorial Day
7. Jun 19 or closest Mon - Juneteenth
8. Jul 4 - Independence Day
9. Aug 9 - Indigenous Peoples Day
10. Sep 1st Monday - Armed Forces Day
11. Oct 12 or Monday closest - Columbus Day
12&13. Nov 4th Thu and Fri - Thanksgiving
14. Dec 25 - Christmas (Christian holiday, elective alternative for Jews/Muslims)
15. Dec Fri or Mon or Tue/Thu - Christmas Eve or Boxing Day (Christian holiday, elective alternative for Jews/Muslims)
16. Dec 31 - New Year's Eve

That would be 16. Jan has 2, Nov has 2, Dec has 3, rest have 1 each except Mar or Apr with none depending on when Easter falls. States or local governments could add more as wanted.

Speaking of summers end. If you can watch this video without at least choking up then you have no soul - I can't watch it without shedding a tear and I've probably watched this hundreds of times. If you have someone in your life who is having trouble with opioid addiction, get involved somehow.

And I miss you John, you sang the songs of my life as well as anyone ever did.

Owl, people already get self-picked vacation days......

We s/b encouraging MORE work for a change. Less work has been a disaster. Good recognizing those studies can be susceptible to ignorance