The Parade is Coming

San Francisco's Pride Celebration and Parade is the largest LGBT gathering in the nation, taken place over the last weekend in June each year. About one million people attended the event last year in 2012. My postcard US-2246692 to Netherlands shows a group of young men climbing onto a pole in anticipation of the incoming parade on June 24, 2012. 

In less than 12 hours, the 43rd annual San Francisco Pride Parade will start marching on the Market Street at 10:30 am on June 30, 2013. More people are expected this year due to the Supreme Court rulings last week. The theme for this year is "Embrace, Encourage, Empower". House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and other elected officials will be in the event.

View SF Pride Parade Route in a larger map 

 

Welcome to Las Vegas, Powered by Solar Energy

As seen in the postcard US-1728444, the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign has been an icon at the south end of the Las Vegas Strip since 1959. It has witnessed the evolution of the Strip throughout the history. Soon, it may undergo changes itself by switching to solar power, stepping into the future.

 

According to a Las Vegas Sun article, several non-profit environmental organizations including the Clean Energy Project and Green Chips, and Bombard Electric company are proposing to install solar panels for the sign.

The Clark County commissioners will hear the proposal in their next meeting Tuesday on July 2, 2013. If approved in a subsequent meeting, solar panels will be installed to power the neon lights of the sign and the 89 light bulbs around the sign's edge.

Welcome to Las Vegas, and welcome to the future.

From Greenwich Village to Golden Gate: a Journey of 44 Years

Today is the 44th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots that members of gay community protested against police raids at the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village, New York City, in the early morning of June 28, 1969, It marked the beginning of the modern fight for LGBT rights in the United States.

Same-sex marriage resumed today in California after a federal appeals court lifted a hold on the lower-court ruling that struck down the state’s Proposition 8 ban on gay marriage, followed a US Supreme Court decision two days earlier.

This rainbow fist postcard symbolizes a 44-year's journey of struggle with determination, highlighted by the above bookend-like events. The postcard was purchased at Zazzle.com.

Still a Long Way to Equality

In spite of Supreme Court rulings on DOMA and Proposition 8 that advanced LGBT equality yesterday on June 26, 2013, there are only 30% population (95 million) of the country living in states where same-sex marriage is legal by August 2013.  Thirty five states explicitly prohibit same-sex marriage in their constitutions or state laws while three of those and one another state allow civil unions. In essence, it highlights that a divided America where people in one part of the country are still allowed to be discriminated against. 

CNN has an article on What's Next for the Gay Rights Movements. There is still a long way to go and much to do to achieve a true equality. 

My traveling postcard US-2277033 shows a Human Right Campaigns (HRC) logo. HRC is the largest LGBT equality-rights advocacy group and political lobbying organization in the United States.

More Rainbows

Hoover Dam

I need to clarify that when I mentioned in my last post rainbows were rare seen in Las Vegas, I meant those meteorological rainbows. In fact, rainbows are easily to find in and around Las Vegas thanks to many water features and fountains. My traveling postcard sent to Turkey US-2283223 shows a rainbow formed over the mist from the Hoover Dam spillway. I have a video showing a rainbow over the famous Bellagio music fountains taken by a GoPro cam.

I generated a HTML5 WordCloud with my blog feeds. The result was interesting.

Also if you type in any text string that contains "gay" in Google's search box today, the search box will be surrounded by rainbows. It marks two separate rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court that struck down portion of the Federal Defense of Marriage Act and cleared the way for same-sex marriages banned under the Proposition 8 to resume in California.

Over the Rainbow in Las Vegas

Rainbow over the Mirage

It seldom rains in Las Vegas. Measured at the Las Vegas McCarran International Airport between 1981 and 2010, the average annual precipitation is about 4.19 inch or 106.4 mm. In average, there are 26.5 raining days per year; even during the wettest month in February, it has only 4 days of precipitation. It is the driest month in June when the average monthly precipitation is 0.07 inch or 1.78 mm with 0.6 raining days. (Interestingly, in English, plural "days" is used with zero or a decimal version of less than one instead of singular "day"). I used to live in West Palm Beach, Florida. In comparison, the average annual precipitation during the same period there is 62.31 inch or 1,582.67 mm with 136 raining days per year.

As a result, we rarely see rainbows in Las Vegas. Therefore, when it does occur, it's beautiful and magnificent. The postcard US-2276095 is currently traveling to Moldova featuring a rainbow over the Mirage Hotel and Casino.

On Youtube, you can watch "Over the Rainbow" from the 1939 movie "the Wizard of Oz", sung by actress Judy Garland.

Here are a few more postcards with rainbows over Las Vegas: US-2236311 with New York-New York Hotel and Casino to Ukraine and US-2205397 with Wynn Las Vegas to California, USA.

New York - New York Hotel and Casino

Wynn Las Vegas

Just Relax

For many people, Monday is a stressful day with accumulated emails and voice mails over the weekend. Even decades ago, Mississippi John Hurt had a amazing piece of Monday Morning Blues that summarized the feelings of working class people waking up in a Monday morning.

Michael Poh had five simple and effective ways to counter Monday blues. The number one was to "have something to look forward to on Monday nights". For me, it is opening mail box and finding out how many postcards are there. That's why it was refreshing today to receive this "Just Relax" card DE-2253813 from Germany. Usually I get more postcards on Monday than any other days in the week. So, it's not all that bad. The cat is cute.