Loving Day

Today is Loving Day, an annual celebration held on June 12 each year, marking the anniversary of the 1967 United States Supreme Court ruling "Loving v. Virginia" that struck down all anti-miscegenation laws remaining in sixteen U.S. states. Citing "there can be no doubt that restricting the freedom to marry solely because of racial classifications violates the central meaning of the equal protection clause," the ruling invalidated U.S. state laws banning interracial marriage, mainly forbidding marriage between non-whites and whites.

Postcard US-3284982 to Russia features a pair of beautiful swans forming a heart shape with red flowers. It was purchased at Zazzle.

Gateway Arch, St. Louis, Missouri

Postcard US-3064248 from Tennessee shows the city skyline of St. Louis, Missouri, featuring the Gateway Arch, a 630-foot or 192-meter monument built at the site of St. Louis' founding on the west bank of the Mississippi River between 1963 and 1965 to commemorate the westward expansion of the United States, against the backdrop of a flurry of cloud-to-ground bolts strike.

As the centerpiece of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, the arch is the tallest arch in the world and the tallest monument in the Western Hemisphere. The monument opened to the public on June 10, 1967. In comparison, the Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas stands at 1,149 ft or 350.2 meters.

St. Louis, the second largest city in the state of Missouri, was the hometown of Maya Angelou (April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014), an American author and civil rights activist. USPS issued a Forever stamp in her honor today, with Winfrey Oprah and Michelle Obama attending the stamp dedication ceremony in Washington D.C.

View image | gettyimages.com

However, USPS failed the fact check for the stamp by featuring a quotation from another author, and had no plan to re-issue the stamp. Nonetheless, the mix-up did not damp the enthusiasm of the dedication ceremony. Even a power outage that also affected the White House and much of the D.C. area could not stop Oprah's speach.

Daylight Saving Time Starts in 2015, But Not in Hawaii

Daylight Saving Time (DST) starts today at 2 a.m. on March 8, 2015 in most parts of the U.S. except in the states of Arizona and Hawaii, and the overseas territories of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. As clocks "spring forward" one hour, spring is in the air.

Hawaii is in the Hawaii-Aleutian Time Zone; Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time (HST) is equivalent to GMT/UTC - 10h Standard Time. When the United States enacted the Uniform Time Act in 1966, Hawaii opted out in 1967, mainly because there is not a large variation in daylight hours from summer to winter due to Hawaii's proximity to the Equator. The Territorial Legislature enacted a bill placing Hawaii on daylight saving time in 1933, but the law was repealed three weeks later. According to Wikepedia, during World War II between February 9, 1942 and September 30, 1945, Hawaiian Standard Time was advanced one hour to so-called "Hawaiian War Time." That was the only period when Hawaii was effectively placed on year-round daylight saving time.

Postcard US-3230216 from California shows a NASA image of the entire Hawaiian Island chain as seen from the Space Shuttle. Niihau and Kauai are in the foreground followed by Oahu, Molokai, Lanai and Maui, with the Big island in the distance. The curve of the Earth and the black of outer space can be seen on the top of the card.

Wrigley Building, Chicago, Illinois

Outgoing postcard US-3202774 to Finland shows the Wrigley Building at the Northern end of the Michigan Avenue Bridge, built in 1920 to house the corporate headquarters of the Wrigley Company, a chewing gum company. The backside of the postcard reads: "It towers 398 feet above the ground and is shown in magnificent splendor by being entirely illuminated at night." However, it was noted on Wikipedia that the 30-story south tower, completed in April, 1921, is 425-foot or 130-meter tall. The Wrigley Building was sold to a group of investors in 2011.

On a side note, Chicago marks anniversary of 1967 Blizzard that lasted 17 hours and dumped 23 inches snow 48 years ago on this day. It was the largest single snowfall in the city's history. About 50,000 cars and buses were abandoned on the streets and expressways; thousands of people were stranded. It took several days for schools and airports to re-open.

While blizzard warnings expired for New England, heavy snow continues under winter storm warnings and advisories. On the other hand, Chicago only had freezing rain this time, which still caused dangerous driving conditions. Some sunshine is expected in Chicago tomorrow afternoon.

Middle Bay Light, Alabama

Postcard US-2663940 is travelling to Indonesia showing Middle Bay Lighthouse, also known as Mobile Bay Lighthouse, that is located at the center of Mobile Bay, Alabama. The hexagonal shaped prefabricated screw-pile lighthouse was first lit in 1885.

The keeper's wife gave birth to a baby at the lighthouse in the summer of 1916 during World War I. However, she was unable to nurse the newborn baby. The keeper brought a dairy cow to the lighthouse and created a coral on the gallery at the lower deck. All had to be evacuated when the lighthouse survived a hurricane but sustained damages that year. The light was automated in 1935 and deactivated in 1967. It was placed on National Register of Historic Places on December 30, 1974. To learn more, visit the Alabama Lighthouse Association's web site.

Postcard photo by Carol Highsmith. You can purchase a copy at zazzle.com.