1. It’s Thursday, July 2, 2015.

2. The year reaches the halfway point today, when 182 days and 12 hours of the year’s 365 days have passed.

At what time that happens depends on where you are. If you are in most of the United States or Europe, where we set the clocks ahead in March, the midpoint is at 1 p.m. If you’re in Arizona or Hawaii or anyplace where Daylight Time doesn’t exist, it’s noon.

Does this matter? Only if it hits you that time keeps rushing by, and 2016 is closer to us than 2014.

3.   I get public displays of fireworks, when your town or the fire department or Disney World launches these missiles that triggered explosion of different colored lights. It’s not my favorite form of entertainment — most of these tend to get a little monotonous, with organizers not understanding that more is not necessarily better.

What I don’t get is when people feel compelled to buy stuff that explodes, simply for the thrill of making a loud noise.

The Fourth of July is, of course, the touchstone of this compulsion. Supposedly, people who make loud booms with firecrackers at two in the morning are doing so to celebrate the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It can’t be because they’re celebrating peace and everyone’s good night sleep.

Up until now, I have been fortunate to live in a state where the sale and possession of fireworks has been banned. It hasn’t stopped the easily amused from schlepping 75 or so miles to Pennsylvania, where such sales are legal.

In fact, what set me off is a mailing I got last week. It was from a chain of stores conveniently located right across the borders with New York and New Jersey — states with fireworks banned. This mailing is actually pretty terrifying — in addition to being a horrible example of design. It offers users such delights as aerial repeaters and mortar kits with names such as “Molotov Cocktail,” “Core Reactor” and “Lock and Load,” which, conveniently, is described as “barely legal.”

It’s a nightmarish array. And there’s no goddamn point. This stuff will make a lot of noise and occasional sparks — and do nothing else for its users or the poor souls who have to listen to this stuff. Not to mention the potential for physical harm to the people who set this stuff off or people who happen to be standing in the wrong place.

Unfortunately, as a well-written New York Times piece by my former colleague Stacy Cowley points out, New York is caving on this. New laws allow for individual counties to sell fireworks at temporary stands around the Fourth of July and New Year’s. The reasoning makes economic sense — why should Pennsylvania benefit from the idiocy of firecracker sales when that money could stay here? It’s just that it’s just plain stupid.

4. BTW, here’s the ironic part of this fireworks mailing. The company that sent it is headquartered in Youngstown, Ohio — on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

1. It’s Monday, June 29, 2015.

2. Eight years ago today, Apple introduced the iPhone. Also known as my second brain.

3. Steven Matz. It’s a good day to be a Met fan. For a change. 

4. I’m elated about the Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage. But since the decision, I’ve asked myself how it came to pass that I think this is a really good thing — when I know there was a time in my adult life when I would have felt otherwise. What was the process that convinced me that every adult has the right to marry another adult who they love?

I’m not the only one who’s “evolved” on this issue — “evolved” being the word President Obama used to describe his own position on the matter. I think there are three revelations that got me to this point.

The first is the most important. It’s love. It’s my good fortune to love the woman to whom I’ve been married for 29 years and almost two months. When I think about the quality and depth of that love, it would be selfish to think that I’m the only one entitled to it.

And when I think about how much I dislike dogs, asparagus and fireworks, I realize that everyone has different ideas on liking and loving. So the first revelation is the idea that you’re entitled to like what you like and love who you love.

But there are opponents of same-sex marriage who share that viewpoint of love. So the second revelation has to do with the so-called “sanctity” of marriage.

Several years back, there was a story about a celebrity who went on a weekend bender and married an acquaintance of the opposite sex. And a few days, after the hangover, the couple divorced. It generated the usual gossip column wink and public attention.

But it hit me differently. This happened about the time that same-sex couples were beginning to pursue court cases and seek legislation allowing them to wed. The couples that were challenging the status quo were often people who had been together in loving relationships for decades. They had celebrated triumphs and endured hardships, the same way my wife and I have.

So how is the relationship such as that of the celebrity couple, formulated in bourbon or cocaine, more legitimate in the eyes of the law than one forged in love and tested by the complexities of two people’s lives? I couldn’t answer that question other than to say that I saw more of what I believe marriage is about in the same-sex couple.

The third revelation is the embarrassment of being on the other side of this issue. Who are you with when you oppose same-sex marriage? The Westboro Baptist Church. Ted Cruz. Ann Coulter. And that citadel of matrimonial sanctity, Donald Trump. When those are the people expressing themselves in strong opposition to something, you almost automatically know the other side of the argument is the right one. You’re obligated by God or, if you don’t believe in God, whatever moral force drives your universe to believe the opposite.

Marriage is great. The bond to someone you love more than anyone or anything else makes joy more joyful and pain more bearable. And the conclusion you reach when you think about it — really, seriously think about it — isn’t to ask why should people of the same sex be allowed to marry. It’s why shouldn’t they.

1. It’s Thursday, June 25, 2015.

2. We’re now halfway between last Christmas and next Christmas.

3. I haven’t written anything for this blog for a while. There are several reasons, none of which are all that interesting. I intend to be more active starting next week (I know I’ve said that before, so I accept and understand your skepticism).

4. But I do have a few things I want to say before I come back on Monday.

5. Does it say something about the Affordable Care Act that it has been saved twice by a Supreme Court dominated by Republicans? That something is that the ACA, aka Obamacare, is a fairly Republican idea — merchants in the healthcare industry, from doctors to insurers, compete for additional business created when everyone has to have coverage.

If you don’t believe that, look at the stock charts. Just as an example, the health insurer Cigna is trading at 5 times what it was in 2010, when ACA passed.  

If was just up to Democrats, we would have expanded Medicare and gone the full national healthcare thing, like our friends in the U.K., and we all would have paid more in taxes to support it. But, alas, it’s not just up to the most liberal among us.

So we have this alternative that’s not bad — except that the people who would normally love this thing spit on the ground whenever it’s mentioned. That’s because the Democrat who wanted to reconcile the country by going the more conservative route actually succeeded in getting it through.

It’s a victory for everyone — for people who need help paying for healthcare and for companies that provide healthcare (see those stock charts again). But, because the right hates Obama so much, it has chosen to forfeit its share of the glory on a great day for the American people.

6. I have always been offended by the Confederate flag. It is the ultimate symbol of treason.

With the blessings of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that you’ve chosen to rebuke, you are entitled to stick it on your car or in front of your house. That doesn’t change the fact that you’re a traitor. If my tax money were going to support the hoisting of this traitors’ flag, I’d be really pissed.

So it’s nice that states that have acquiesced in this disloyalty are having second thoughts.

Unfortunately, it took the massacre of nine loyal Americans in a Charleston church to raise this awareness. For that, I’m still profoundly sad.

7. Next week, I’ll figure out how I want to do this everyday. For real.

1. It’s Tuesday, June 9, 2015.

2. t’s Aaron Sorkin’s 54th birthday. Talk faster when you’re walking today.

3. As of 10 a.m. ET, three of the lead stories on The New York Times’ homepage had something to do with the mistreatment of young African-Americans by law enforcement. The shooting of a 12-year-old boy in Cleveland last year. A video showing a Texas policeman wrestling a girl to the ground and waving a gun at a pool party. The suicide of a young man who spent three years in New York City’s jail, much of it in isolation, without standing trial.

This, folks, is pathetic.

Here’s a reminder to everyone. The people being abused in these cases, not to mention some of the others that have cropped up in the past few years (the Eric Garner case in Staten Island is one that especially sickens me), are people. They have the same rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness that I have, that you have, that anyone with a billion dollars or anyone with less than a buck have.

Their lives matter. It’s long past time that people wearing uniforms start recognizing that. When you’re given a badge, you’re entitled to respect and a measure of authority. You are not above the law. You are not entitled to abuse that authority.

I find it hard to believe that people in law enforcement aren’t embarrassed by this. I can’t imagine that they measure success by fatalities and fear induced.

If better training is needed, then get it. I and everyone else pay enough in taxes to make sure law enforcement is properly prepared to handle all situations. We don’t pay enough to handle the fallout when those in law enforcement decide they’re in a war with people of color.

This epidemic of law enforcement cowboyism needs to end. Now.  

1. It’s Monday, June 1, 2015. This year is flying by, isn’t it?

2. Today is the 35th anniversary of CNN’s debut. As a proud alumnus, I think about the amazing things this all-news network has done to enlighten and inform the world over the years. Beijing in 1989. Baghdad in 1991. New Orleans in 2005. Wall Street in 2008. Tripoli in 2010. The dedication and integrity of the most talented reporters, editors and producers in global journalism. That’s what I’m choosing to remember on this day. 

3. The Senate’s non-action on the Patriot Act renewal should present an opportunity, in a nation dedicated to both protecting its freedom and protecting its citizens, for something that does both.

Unfortunately, we don’t seem to be clear-headed enough to sort this out — which is a shame, because it’s clear that the fear many of us shared immediately after the 9/11 attacks has abated.

The legislation the House passed with a large bipartisan vote might not have been perfect to all. But at least it was a start toward making everyone a little less worried about government intrusion into our lives, while maintaining a vigilance against people who want to kill indiscriminately. 

1. It’s Wednesday, May 20, 2015.

2. David Letterman’s 33 years on late-night television crept up on everyone. It’s hard to believe he’s been working in the thick of the night for so long, and that he’s actually retiring.

I have to confess that I have never watched an entire “The Late Show with David Letterman” on CBS. I stopped watching late talk shows when I started needing to up for work within a few hours of his sign-off.

But back in the early ’80s when I was working for the AP in the evenings, it was Letterman’s NBC “Late Night” show that was on when I got home. I usually missed the first few minutes, but it was still a good show to watch in order to wind down from the day. Since then, I’ve watched the Top Ten and any viral snippets online.

That, in a way, epitomizes the state of late-night television. Back before the Web and DVRs, you had to watch Letterman, Carson and any of the others in real time. The idea of watching the whole show, or just the best bits, the next day was nonexistent. It’s just one of those changes that, like David Letterman’s career, crept up on us.

To the point that very few people watching Letterman remember that most TV stations ran the national anthem and a test pattern at about the time his show normally ends. The changes are wondrous, but they make you realize how so many things in our lives change without much warning in a fast-moving world.

Tonight, as David Letterman joins me in the strange and wonderful world of retirement, I will make a point of watching the show. In large part, it’ll be because he’s a wonderful entertainer. But in large part, it’ll also be because this is a part of my life experience that, like black-and-white TVs and mailboxes on the corner, is disappearing. At least this time, I know it’s happening.

3. The Filipinos apparently have shamed Malaysia and Indonesia into taking the Myanmar boat refugees. And I think the rest of the world should help all the countries resettle these folks and avoid at least one humanitarian tragedy.

1. It’s Tuesday, May 19, 2015. The fog has not lifted in the New York area.

2. I’m sure I’m betraying my Eastern elitism, but I had no idea biker gangs were that big a deal. The weekend battle in Waco got as much attention on CNN this morning as the war against ISIS and the Amtrak crash investigation. It is a little weird to think that there are still Jets and Sharks out there in the 21st century. 

3. Do you have to join a gang if you ride a motorcycle? Just asking.

4. The Philippines is stepping up to take some of the Muslim refugees from Myanmar. A lot of these people are trying to escape persecution from the Buddhist majority in what was once called Burma. They’ve been turned away from closer nations, such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

So, the Filipino government deserves the world’s credit, and support, in trying to minimize a humanitarian tragedy. 

5.   President Obama has a new @POTUS Twitter account. He already had one under his own name. This one he only gets to keep for the remaining 20 months and a day of his presidency.

The best thing I saw was a series of tweets between the president and former President Bill Clinton, who wondered if the account would carry over to subsequent officeholders, adding the hashtag #AskingForA Friend.

The account, unfortunately, brought out the pillbug element that emerges every so often from under its rock to spew its leavings. That, alas, is the danger of social media. Most of these cowards don’t sign their names — or maybe they have trouble spelling them

6. The song of the moment is “Tenderly” by Chet Baker.

1. It’s Monday, May 18, 2015. By the time this week is over, it will be the Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of summer. That spring thing went really fast.

2. Social media is abuzz this morning about the final episode of “Mad Men.” Some folks liked it, some were extremely disappointed by it.

Now, I have never watched the show. But that’s not because of any animus toward it. It’s because, for years, I needed to get up for work as early as 3 a.m. So, by necessity as much as interest, I stopped watching prime-time television.

Now that I’m retired, I’ve been thinking about watching the series I missed. I’ve ruled out several, including “Breaking Bad” and “Game of Thrones.” (I’m not into violence) But “Mad Men” is something I might see myself getting into.

So my question to those of you who were regular “Mad Men” watchers is this: Knowing what you know now about the series, would you recommend it to someone whose only knowledge of it is an understanding of when it takes place and the names of the most popular characters? 

3. Sen. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina says he is running for the Republican presidential nomination because the world is falling apart. I’m not the most optimistic person, but I’m pretty sure the world is as well off as it has ever been.

But when Sen. Graham says the world might be falling apart, one place he points to is Iraq, where the nut cases from ISIS remain a powerful force. And If he’s looking for somebody to blame for that, perhaps he should look in the mirror at one of the biggest cheerleaders for the idiotic 2003 invasion and prolonged military action that left Iraq in the chaos it’s in.

I can’t believe anyone — other than his buddy John McCain — would take a Lindsay Graham candidacy seriously. 

4. The first trailer for the Steve Jobs movie is out. It’s the one written by Aaron Sorkin, directed by Danny Boyle and based on the Walter Isaacson book that had Jobs’ cooperation.

The trailer doesn’t show much, as Fortune’s Philip Elmer-DeWitt points out. But all it needs to do is tease those of us who are prone to like anything involving the principals.

The film is coming out Oct. 9. Unless the Mets are playing a postseason game that day, I’ll be there.  

5. The song of the moment is “Summer’s Child” by David Lanz.

1. It’s Friday, May 15, 2015. It’s another nice day in the New York area. It’s been nice for awhile. Or maybe my standards were lowered by the crappy winter. Anyway, being able to walk around in the outdoors in comfort and relative warmth is a good feeling.

2. A federal court jury decided that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev should die for his part in the Boston Marathon bombing that killed three people.

In doing so, the jury ignored the request of the family of the youngest person killed – that putting Tsarnaev away for life would finally make this nightmare more past tense than the years of appeals will. If someone in my family was a victim, the appeal process would seem as though I was suffering the wrath of God for wanting to be part of a celebration. And I think executing Tsarnaev gives him the martyrdom he and his idiot brother craved with their cruelty.

But I wasn’t on the jury, and those folks had the unenviable task of trying to decide all this. I understand that they weighed this matter with the gravity it deserved and wrestled with their consciences to do the right thing. I admire their courage and their perseverance, and I thank them for doing their best.

2. Normally, the fact that the week is ending brings warm thoughts of weekend activities and celebrations. But this week’s Amtrak tragedy in Philadelphia is making this weekend seem sad.

For the families and acquaintances of the eight people killed and the 200 or so injured, the concept of the weekend is most likely lost in grief and anxiety, in tears shed and the wondering why God or the fates or whatever you believe in has dealt you this misery.

I plan to enjoy the weekend. But I also plan to keep those families in my thoughts.

1. It’s Thursday, May 14, 2015. It’s another beautiful day in the New York area, although maybe a little chilly.

2. The Mets are back to losing in their trademark horrible fashion. Last night’s loss is one of those that make you wonder what you did to deserve being a fan that lost like that. 

3. Apparently, the people of Idaho’s Second Congressional District elected one of the state’s trademark potatoes to Congress.

Mike Simpson was lying in the Republican bin with his fellow spuds when the House Appropriations Committee voted yesterday on funding for Amtrak. This was, of course, the day after a horrific crash that killed seven people in Philadelphia.

The committee’s Democrats sought increased funding for Amtrak. It might be nice to have passenger train service in this country that’s competitive with the rest of the world. Not to mention service that doesn’t kill people.

But Simpson was having none of that. Not only was he opposed to the increased funding, he blasted Democrats for using the Philadelphia tragedy as an excuse for the money.

“Don’t use this tragedy in that way. It was beneath you,” he managed to utter.

I suppose his speaking is a remarkable feat for a potato. On the other hand, it’s useless for solving real problems.

Even if it is determined that this crash was caused by human carelessness, there’s no reason not to make this system, to make ALL our transportation systems, safe. If an event focuses attention on this problem, it’s certainly worth mentioning.

The House committee, of course, voted to cut Amtrak’s funding. I’m voting not to eat any potatoes from Idaho. If you want to make a point to tuber brains such as Mike Simpson, that might be the way to do it.

4.   I’m going to miss Jon Stewart’s rants against Fox News.

Last night, he was right as always. He focused on Fox’s scoffing at comments President Obama made that the network likes to depict poor people as lazy leeches. Stewart then showed all the instances in which Fox did, indeed, depict poor people as lazy leeches.

The problem, as I’ve said before, is that the only people who are going to miss Jon Stewart more than me are the people at Fox News.

Fox News wears its bias, its blatant distortion, its propagandizing as a badge of honor. And it holds the criticism of people like Jon Stewart as a signal to the amen corner that watches. All he does when he puts facts to their fiction is make them martyrs to the faithful.

I don’t know what the solution is. The sad part is that I fear the solution has nothing to do with being reasonable.

5. Today’s song is “Enchantment” by jazz saxophonist David Sanborn. That’s a sound everyone can hear, thankfully.