It commemorates the day Japanese forces launched a surprise attack on the U.S. Naval base at Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii
The attack began at dawn December 7, 1941. It all but wiped out the U.S. Pacific Fleet. All battleships were damaged and 4 of the 8 were sunk. 6 Cruisers and Destroyers were also sunk or badly damaged and nearly 200 aircraft were completely destroyed.
The total number of military personnel killed was 2,335, including 2,008 navy personnel, 109 marines, and 218 army. Added to this were 68 civilians, making the total 2403 people dead. 1,177 of those deaths were from the USS Arizona. The attack also left nearly 1200 wounded.
On December 8, 1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt stated in a speech to Congress it was “…a day that will live in infamy”. The U.S. then declared war on Japan. This led directly to U.S. involvement in WWII. A few days later Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S. which in turn the U.S also declared war on them. The rest is history as they say.
Today is a day to honor those lost. All flags will be flown at half staff today.
This has been an interesting week. My boss, usually visits subway during lunch and gets lunch for everyone in the office. Every once in a while there’ll be a homeless guy and girl (husband/wife) sitting outside of the building, begging for money/food. Sometimes he would buy them lunch and talk to them the whole time.
He was talking to them on Monday, and somehow led to them coming in and working in the office doing the print work/production/finishing.
Woot, woot! Date night with the Mrs. Our art museum has an exhibit called Graphic Revolution American Prints 1960 to Now. We’re going to see that and grab dinner. I desperately need a night off without having to think about work.
Your boss sounds like a good guy, Obsidian. I hope it works out for everyone involved.
Finally a free weekend! I like seeing extended family but we’ve been traveling a lot lately. I’ll probably do something exciting like seal the grout in the shower and re-caulk the seams.
Me too. It’s 9am and 22°F outside right now. It’s also foggy and dreary.
Salt Lake City, where I live, is awful in the winter. The city lies in a valley between two mountain ranges. Stagnant cold air settles into the valley trapping the air pollution that builds up into a thick, gray smog that lasts through February. The only breaks are when winter snow storms come through and clear out the stagnant air.
Not only is it dreary and depressing, it’s unhealthy. Spring, summer and fall are great here, but winters are very nearly intolerable unless one drives up into the mountains where it’s cold but sunny.
If Mrs B would go for it, I’d be moving south. Tucson, Arizona has always appealed to me. I’d much rather deal with the summer heat than the cold dreariness of a Salt Lake winter.
We lived in Phoenix for a year, but we never made it down to Tucson. That’s been a while, but I’d say Phoenix has a lot going for it. Still, dry heat or not, 122 degrees is hot.
Yeah, 122° is way too hot. Tucson is a little higher and cooler than Phoenix. Summers are still blazing hot, but not quite as bad. And from what I’ve read, the nights cool down more than in Phoenix.
San Diego would be nearly perfect as far as weather is concerned, but southern California has just become too crowded.
I don’t so much mind the cold down to about 25°F. Under that requires the heavy winter jacket, which I hate. Usually the “winter jacket” is just a hoodie under a heavy flannel overshirt. Better too cold than too hot. Can always put on more clothes. Too hot isn’t fixable once you get to skin.
Heat doesn’t bother me much. To a point. Dallas can hit 111, 112 at times. While I don’t want it for weeks at a time, a fe hot days is fine. Even here when its 103 or 104 its fine, just stay inside. Ha!
Plenty of chilly mornings here in the mountains of NE Pennsylvania already this winter.
Same here. Unless I know I’ll be outside for an extended period of time, a light jacket gets me through the whole winter, especially for driving. Heavy coat in the car? I’d rather be cold.
Thankfully, the 15" of snow we had a couple weeks back is all gone now. I don’t like new accumulation over old accumulation, but I am hoping there will be an inch or two on the ground during Christmas week. Helps me get my wassail on.
We’ve been hovering right around freezing for awhile now here in Missouri. Maybe I only say this because I’ve never lived anywhere but the Midwest, but I do like getting a dose of all 4 seasons. I don’t mind the cold too much, and being a cheap ass, I run the house thermostat fairly cool too. 65 when we’re home and 55 at night or when the house is empty. If nothing else, it helps keep the cat friendly.
I’d like to be burning my wood stove, but until I install a proper liner in the chimney and ideally a more efficient stove, I’ve used it pretty sparingly. In the meantime I’m stockpiling firewood.
Ha ha! I take my heavy coat off when I get in the car and just drape it in the seat. Constricting sleeves are never more irritating than the minute you get on the highway, or get all green lights down the traffic stretch.
Yup, firewood warms you 4 times if you do it right. Cut it, split it, stack it and bring it inside. They sell stainless chimney liners. Just drop it down, ring and cap the top, attach it to the stove and you’re done. Highly recommend cleaning the flue first though!
A warm fire in the fireplace used to be one of the few joys of a cold, snowy winter. Due to the winter air pollution problem in northern Utah, wood-burning fireplaces and stoves can no longer be used on days the state deems as having unhealthy levels of smog, which is nearly every day throughout the winter. Even on the so-called green burn days, it’s become socially unacceptable to use a fireplace.
I like a fire in the fireplace for ambiance, but the warmth isn’t all that efficient. Most just goes up the chimbly.
It’s only a matter of time before they come for our wood-burning stoves.
