I think most Americans do. Or at least it was taught that way in school when I was growing up. Maybe it’s because of the way we speak dates, like “October 23rd” or “May 9th, 2005”.
Regardless, the only true way to write dates is YYYY-MM-DD.
Lighting. You want your overhead or main lights to be bright enough to see clearly, but low enough so as to not be overpowering.
Also, discreet points of light distributed around REALLY amps things up. Use some gentle light to highlight a photo or painting, put a lamp on a table, a tchotchke on a shelf that is lighted or hides a small light to add a soft glow to the shelf it’s on… these kinds of light add warmth and character to a space easily and cheaply, and if you can manage to have them all accessible via your favorite digital assistant, power and dimming can be convenient as well.
Someone also makes one of those “page-a-day” calendars with instructions for a new plane every day, typically with designs printed on them so the planes look cool after being folded.
To send a piece of mail to a ship, you send it to a Fleet Post Office, listed as the city and state.
For example, if the ship is stationed in the pacific fleet (AP- armed forces pacific), you’d send it to:
Jane Q Sailor USS Whatever FPO AP (the unit zip code)
And the mail would be forwarded to the ship anywhere in the world to meet the ship with supplies. I don’t know all the codes, but they’re all similarly formatted.