Memorial Day Weekend...

[Boy4]

Something tell me that this weekend almost everyone is call the pandemic unofficially over, and getting the freak party one. 

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

Memorial Day is a great time to visit the cemeteries and place flowers and American flags to honor the lives of those who have fallen.  The date in late May was chosen because flowers should be in bloom in all parts of the country, and should be in abundance for their use at cemeteries.  I anticipate more participation this year than last.

[Luv2play]

Here in Canada we celebrate the holiday known as Victoria Day, named in honour of Queen Victoria, whose birthday was the 24th of May. It also happens to be my birthday and as a result I always got a school holiday on my birthday.

November 11th is our “Memorial Day”,  to remember soldiers lost in the various wars Canada has participated in with distinction, I might add. We always responded with our blood and fortune to defend democracy when it was threatened from abroad.

I operate a small cemetery and in the spring the two big holidays for remembrance are Mothers’ and Fathers’ Day. Flowers are left on the graves of dearly departed family members. Something I was brought up to do and continue to this day.

[+ WilliamM]

Have a truly wonderful birthday, @Luv2play

 

Informative message, thanks so much

[Luv2play]

Thanks. It’s a quiet weekend this year because of the lockdown we are still undergoing. Quite a departure from previous years when I could celebrate with others. Last year I had a blast and hired an escort for the whole weekend. While the pandemic was already underway, it wasn’t so bad in terms of numbers here and took a chance, which worked out well.

 

He was a real sweetie and sent me a message today with a pic of him working out naked in his home gym he has set up. We stay in regular touch and I met with him three times last summer and fall, until the pandemic got too tough. Hope to see him again when things open up.

[Phlmuscle]

When I was a kid it was called Decoration Day.

[mike carey]

20 hours ago, Luv2play said:

Here in Canada we celebrate the holiday known as Victoria Day, named in honour of Queen Victoria, whose birthday was the 24th of May. It also happens to be my birthday and as a result I always got a school holiday on my birthday.

November 11th is our “Memorial Day”,  to remember soldiers lost in the various wars Canada has participated in with distinction, I might add....

No holiday in Australia this weekend (just passed). Our days of remembrance are Anzac Day (25 April), a holiday where everything is closed, at least until lunch time and 11 November, Remembrance Day or Armistice Day. it's not a public holiday but there are commemorations at war memorials and many radio and television station pause their programming at 11am. Up until about when I was in about second grade, Queen Victoria's birthday was marked as Empire Day, and it was a half holiday, with bonfire night in the evening.

[MscleLovr]

10 minutes ago, mike carey said:

Up until about when I was in about second grade, Queen Victoria's birthday was marked as Empire Day, and it was a half holiday, with bonfire night in the evening.

Gosh @mike carey I had no idea of that. I must say that you look really well, considering your great age. 

[mike carey]

8 minutes ago, MscleLovr said:

Gosh @mike carey I had no idea of that. I must say that you look really well, considering your great age. 

Harumph! Of course I like to think that I have aged well, not quite to the extent of a vampire or the undead, but in less fanciful terms.

Edited May 25, 2021 by mike carey

[Luv2play]

It’s interesting to read about Empire Day and it’s abolition with the result that Queen Victoria is no longer commemorated in Australia. Of course, Queen Victoria died just a few months before the founding of the Australian Parliament on July 9th, 1901. I remember this because my grandfather was in Melbourne on that day and was presented to the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York, who stood in for the new King, Edward VII.

The Duke went on to become King George V. Our national holiday became known as Dominion Day, July 1st, and later Canada Day. But we still remember old Queen Vic. I think it’s more pragmatic than anything, though, as the date marks the unofficial beginning of summer in Canada, when the weather is usually glorious, as it is this year, and everyone able to flees the cities for their country cabins to enjoy nature.

[JayCeeKy]

7 hours ago, Phlmuscle said:

When I was a kid it was called Decoration Day.

I have a pic of my mum sitting on a stoop in Brooklyn with a mini-flag on Decoration Day in 1927. Must have been a big deal back in the 1920s?

[mike carey]

11 hours ago, Luv2play said:

It’s interesting to read about Empire Day and it’s abolition with the result that Queen Victoria is no longer commemorated in Australia. Of course, Queen Victoria died just a few months before the founding of the Australian Parliament on July 9th, 1901.

It was pretty much a matter of moving on from Empire Day as 'Empire' had been supplanted by the Commonwealth, so commemorating the Empire seemed outdated in the 1960s. The idea that it specifically commemorated the birthday of VR rather than the Empire had already faded. The bonfires and fireworks moved to the Queens Birthday holiday in early June (except in WA where the day for such things had been Guy Fawkes Day).

[+ MysticMenace]

On 5/24/2021 at 12:38 PM, Boy4 said:

and getting the freak party one

so after 4 months of celibacy, will commence my weekend tomorrow night with some nice and juicy 🍆 in my what might as well now be a virgin ass. 

[kingsley88]

@JoeMendoza have FUN!!!!!! and i hope it doesn't hurt too much

[Guest]

On 5/25/2021 at 7:24 AM, MscleLovr said:

Gosh @mike carey I had no idea of that. I must say that you look really well, considering your great age. 

I didn't know he had such keen eyesight! 😄 Nothing escapes his eagle eyes...

I'm curious for all of you royal subjects in the various monarchies, why Queen Victoria? Your country has had multiple monarchs. Why celebrate that one's birthday in particular? 

[mike carey]

4 minutes ago, Unicorn said:

I'm curious for all of you royal subjects in the various monarchies, why Queen Victoria? Your country has had multiple monarchs. Why celebrate that one's birthday in particular? 

Multiple monarchs? The US has had multiple presidents, two at the moment since both Trump and Biden are president now. We don't, as I thought I had made clear, celebrate the birthday of the late Queen Victoria.

[+ José Soplanucas]

3 minutes ago, mike carey said:

Multiple monarchs? The US has had multiple presidents

LOL! Another wound to the fantasy of American Exceptionalism!

[Guest]

On 5/24/2021 at 10:15 AM, Luv2play said:

Here in Canada we celebrate the holiday known as Victoria Day, named in honour of Queen Victoria, whose birthday was the 24th of May. It also happens to be my birthday and as a result I always got a school holiday on my birthday.

November 11th is our “Memorial Day”,  to remember soldiers lost in the various wars Canada has participated in with distinction, I might add. We always responded with our blood and fortune to defend democracy when it was threatened from abroad.

I operate a small cemetery and in the spring the two big holidays for remembrance are Mothers’ and Fathers’ Day. Flowers are left on the graves of dearly departed family members. Something I was brought up to do and continue to this day.

 

3 hours ago, mike carey said:

Multiple monarchs? The US has had multiple presidents, two at the moment since both Trump and Biden are president now. We don't, as I thought I had made clear, celebrate the birthday of the late Queen Victoria.

We just have one "Presidents' Day" in February. Admittedly, there were previously two holidays, one for the founder of our country, President Washington, and one for the President who freed the slaves and preserved the Union, Lincoln, and they were condensed. Washington and Lincoln are our most honored presidents, for the reasons I just stated. I'm just curious as to why Queen Victoria deserves a special place in the monarchies. If you don't know, just say so. 

Edited May 26, 2021 by Unicorn

[Luv2play]

It's a good question. My answer would be that she presided over a period when Britain became the undisputed superpower in the world. She was the first monarch in Britain's 1000 year monarchical history to become the Empress as well as Queen, a title bestowed on her by her favorite Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli. 

She ruled an empire greater than even the Roman Empire, and greater than any before or since. As was the saying, the sun never set on the British Empire, meaning at any time in the 24 hour day, the sun was shining on a British flag waving above a British territory.

Of course, the sun did set eventually, but not in her time or her son's or grandson's time.

The American Empire, although not officially acknowledged, started after WWII. We will have to see whether it still functions in 2045.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Luv2play said:

...the sun never set on the British Empire, meaning at any time in the 24 hour day, the sun was shining on a British flag waving above a British territory.

..

Thanks for the cogent answer. I'm not sure if the northern Mariana Islands and USVI are separated enough that's it's always sunny in one place or the other. Gotta be pretty close, though. Well, since the US has a presence at both the Amundson-Scott Station at the South Pole, and at Barrow, Alaska, I suppose the sun is almost always up at one of those two places! 🧐

 

Edited May 27, 2021 by Unicorn

[Luv2play]

Well, the British had the advantage of ruling over entire continents and sub continents which had multiple time zones, like Canada with its 6. A world map was produced in 1898 which showed British possessions colored in red. The world was awash in red ink 

[MscleLovr]

8 hours ago, Luv2play said:

A world map was produced in 1898 which showed British possessions colored in red.

Not to quibble @Luv2play but I must correct you. As a young gay child, I was delighted to learn that the British Empire was always coloured in pink on maps. 

[MscleLovr]

9 hours ago, Luv2play said:

It's a good question. My answer would be that she presided over a period when Britain became the undisputed superpower in the world. She was the first monarch in Britain's 1000 year monarchical history to become the Empress as well as Queen, a title bestowed on her by her favorite Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli. 

She ruled an empire greater than even the Roman Empire, and greater than any before or since. As was the saying, the sun never set on the British Empire, meaning at any time in the 24 hour day, the sun was shining on a British flag waving above a British territory.

Of course, the sun did set eventually, but not in her time or her son's or grandson's time.

The American Empire, although not officially acknowledged, started after WWII. We will have to see whether it still functions in 2045.

On a more serious note, @Luv2play, I feel your answer describes the zenith of the British Empire well. And in the late 1950s, the saying you mention (“the sun never sets on the British Empire”) was historical but still a matter of quiet pride. 
 

I would argue that since WWII the world has enjoyed a Pax Americana as the US became the world’s policeman. But it seems to me that has now been lost, with the rise of China and authoritarian regimes in Russia, Iran and other countries. 

[MscleLovr]

Going back to this thread’s title and the comment by the OP @Boy4 that it seems the pandemic is “unofficially over”, what on earth is happening in Victoria, Australia?

Australia remains closed to the outside world but I read yesterday of a fresh outbreak in the state of Victoria. It is now having a very short lockdown but I wonder what short lockdowns really achieve. 

Edited May 27, 2021 by MscleLovr

[mike carey]

1 minute ago, MscleLovr said:

Australia remains closed to the outside world but I read yesterday of a fresh outbreak in the state of Victoria. It is now having a very short lockdown but I wonder what short lockdowns really achieve. 

What they can achieve is situational. In many circumstances it achieves nothing. Up until today, the contact tracing people in Melbourne were able to identify and isolate all the contacts of a case (both people they knew they had been with, and people who had been to places the cases had visited) within 24 hours, and second level contacts in an additional 24 hours. When they could do that they were confident that they had identified everyone who was likely to have been in the chain of contact from each positive case. So, they were confident that on the balance of probabilities there were no undetected cases out there.

Today, the number of locations of concern, and the number of people they needed to contact exceeded the number they could contact within the 24 hour limit. So, they are no longer confident that they can identify everyone who might be infected, and therefore likely to be a vector. So rather than tell a known list of people to stay isolated, a lockdown treats everyone as a possible contact and reduces the number of people anyone who was an actual undetected case of disease can pass it on to. The intention is to slow the spread so contact tracing can keep up again. The lockdowns have typically been three to seven days, in which time any cases that had slipped through the contact tracing system should have manifested. So far, these have succeeded in stopping outbreaks in their tracks. (During the lockdown what they are concerned are new cases with no known source, not those that can be linked to a known source. After a week of no 'unknown' cases the health authorities will be confident that they have the outbreak contained.) The debate here hasn't been whether it should have been done, but whether they waited a day too long.

Clearly this can only work well here because the background level of community infection is effectively zero.