In the 1500s the wealthy had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning and death. This happened most often with tomatoes and led to Europeans fearing eating the fruit.
Tomatoes were put "on trial" on June 28, 1820 in Salem, New Jersey. In front of a courthouse, gentleman farmer Colonel Robert G Johnson ate a basket of tomatoes in order to demonstrate they weren't poisonous. The crowd waited for him to die. He didn't.
An expansive marketing campaign by a Pennsylvania tomato canning factory in 1848 included sending samples to the American President James K Polk and Queen Victoria. As a result of this campaign tomatoes began to gain acceptance in America and Britain.
The world's first nuclear power station was opened at Obninsk near Moscow. It began producing electricity on June 27, 1954.
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Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant Museum By RIA Novosti archive, image #409173 / Pavel Bykov |
Hungarian-born physicist Leo Szilard conceived of the idea of the nuclear chain reaction while waiting for a traffic light on Southampton Row in Bloomsbury, London in September 1933.
German chemist Otto Hahn discovered the nuclear fission of the heavy element uranium, the scientific and technological basis of nuclear energy in December 1938. The decisive experiment was named "radium-barium-mesothorium-fractionation."
In December 1942 a group of scientists achieved the first self-sustaining chain reaction and thereby initiated the controlled release of nuclear energy. Leo Szilard, who had emigrated to America was among the observers.
The first helicopter as we know them today was designed by Heinrich Focke in 1936. The first prototype of the Focke-Wulf Fw 61, had its maiden flight on June 26, 1936 with Ewald Rohlfs at the controls.
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A replica of Fw 61, ILA 2006 at the Hubschraubermuseum in Bückeburg |
Russian-born aeronautics engineer Igor Sikorsky emigrated to the U.S. after World War I and became known as the ‘father of the helicopter’. The composer Sergei Rachmaninoff helped him start his aviation company in 1923 with a personal cheque for $5,000.
Sikorsky designed and flew the Vought-Sikorsky VS-300, the first viable American helicopter, which pioneered the rotor configuration used by most helicopters today. The first flight of the VS-300 was in May 1940.
Sikorsky's success with the VS-300 led to the R-4, which became the world's first mass-produced helicopter in 1942.
Helicopters were used in warfare for the first time when the 1st Air Commando Group used a Sikorsky R-4 in April 1944 for a combat search and rescue operation in the China-Burma-India border area.
The Sikorsky S-51, the first helicopter to be built for civilian instead of military use, made its first flight in 1946
Today is the anniversary of The Battle of the Little Bighorn, which was fought on June 25, 1876.
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The Custer Fight by Charles Maeion Russell |
Custer was ordered in 1873 to Dakota territory to protect settlers and miners against the Sioux. As Custer and his 7th Cavalry left Fort Abraham Lincoln in the Dakota Territory for the Little Big Horn, the band played "The Girl I Left Behind Me."
On June 25, 1876, Custer's regiment located a Sioux village on Little Big Horn. Underestimating its size and against orders he attacked the Indian community. Having sighted the encampment he had cried "hurrah boys, we've got them." 2,500 Sioux warriors counter attacked and defeated Custer's 655 men.
Several individuals claimed personal responsibility for the killing of Custer. In 2005 at a public meeting, the Northern Cheyenne broke more than 100 years of silence about the battle. Storytellers said that according to their oral tradition, Buffalo Calf Road Woman, a Northern Cheyenne heroine of the Battle of the Rosebud, struck the final blow against Custer, which knocked him off his horse before he died.
The only living thing that the U.S. cavalry got back from the Battle of Little Big Horn was a horse named Comanche. The equine survivor lived until 1890 and became a celebrity. The public assumed that he had been Custer's horse (he hadn't) and that he was the battle's only survivor (he wasn't).
Two months after he succeeded his father Henry VII on the English throne, 18-year-old Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon were crowned King and Queen of England on June 24, 1509.
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Eighteen-year-old Henry VIII after his coronation in 1509 |
Henry's reign is best known for his six marriages, and, in particular, his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His six wives in order were divorced, beheaded, Died. divorced, beheaded, survived.
In 1534 Henry VIII proclaimed himself Head of the Church in England, transferring ecclesiastical jurisdiction and revenues from the pope to himself and creating the Church of England (Episcopal Church) with The Act of Supremacy.
Between 1536 and 1540, after breaking with the papacy, Henry VIII and his chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, sold off the property and valuables of the 800 monasteries, nunneries and friaries in England.
A big spender partly subsidized by the confiscation of lands from the church, Henry needed plenty of money as his war against France emptied the Royal treasury.
The journalist Christopher Latham Sholes received a patent for an invention he called the "Type-Writer" on June 23, 1868. Sholes' invention was originally designed to print page numbers on books. It was his friend Carlos S. Glidden who suggested using it to type letters. Sholes developed his machine with the assistance of Glidden and Samuel W. Soule
The type-writer's original design was described as "a cross between a piano and a kitchen table.
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A Sholes and Glidden typewriter, as depicted in an 1872 Scientific American article. |
The alphabetical layout of Sholes' type-writer meant common letters in close proximity frequently jammed at high typing speeds. To minimize such clashing, Sholes conceived in 1873 the QWERTY layout, which put common letter pairs far apart to reduce the chance of keys jamming and raise typing speed. The QWERTY layout has outlived mechanical keyboards.
Sholes' later improvements brought him two more patents, but he encountered difficulty raising working capital for development. In early 1873 he sold his patent rights for $12,000 to E. Remington and Sons of New York state (which later became the Remington Arms Company). An arms manufacturer seeking to diversify, they were a firm well equipped with the machinery and skill to carry out the development work.
E. Remington and Sons began the manufacturing of the first practical typewriter in Ilion, New York in March 1873.
Today is the anniversary of Galileo Galilei being forced to recant his view that the Sun, not the Earth, is the center of the Universe.
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1636 portrait by Justus Sustermans |
The following year, The Inquisition summoned Galileo to Rome where he was cross-examined and threatened with torture. The Roman Catholic Church argued "The doctrine that the Earth is neither the center of the Universe, nor immovable, but moves, even with a daily rotation is absurd and both philosophically and theologically false and the least an error of faith."
On June 22, 1633 the 69-year-old Galileo recanted under pressure from the Holy Office and was sentenced to house arrest for his last years. After his revocation Galileo was heard to mutter under his breath “Eppur si moove” (“But still it moves”).
In 1992 Pope John Paul II admitted the Roman Catholic Church had erred in condemning Galileo, thirteen years after he appointed a commission of philosophers, scientists and theologians to investigate the evidence of the Italian's controversial discoveries..
Today is The Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere
Midsummer celebration at Årnäs, Sweden, in 1969 |
The solstice is when the Sun is at its highest point in the sky during a year. The solstice itself is one moment, but many use the word to mean the day when the solstice happens.
In the Southern Hemisphere the June solstice is the winter solstice. It is also known as the northern solstice.
The word solstice comes from Latin and means that "the Sun stands still".
Many think the terms Summer Solstice and Midsummer's Day are interchangeable – but they are in fact their own special events. In 2024, the Summer Solstice is on 20th June. The longest day of the year with some 16 hours of sunlight. But in some parts of Europe, Midsummer's Day is celebrated on the closest weekend to the solstice, which would be June 24th in 2024,
In Sweden the Midsummer is such an important festivity that there have been serious discussions to make the Midsummer's Eve into the National Day of Sweden.
World Refugee Day is an international day organized every year on June 20 by the United Nations. It is designed to celebrate and honor refugees from around the world. The day celebrates the strength and courage of people who have been forced to leave their home country to escape conflict, terror or persecution.
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Stephen Michael Barnett World Refugee Day , Malak, Darwin |
June 19 is celebrated annually by African-Americans. The celebration of Juneteenth dates back to 1865 when slaves in Texas were told that they were free and that the Civil War had ended.
The June 19th celebration of Juneteenth dates back to 1865 when Major General Gordon Granger arrived in the Texan city of Galveston with an announcement. As the community listened to the reading, the people of Galveston learned for the first time that all slaves in Texas were free and the Civil War was over.
The day was recognized as a federal holiday on June 17, 2021, when President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law. Because June 19th fell on a Saturday in 2021, it was celebrated a day earlier.
Despite slavery having been outlawed in all recognized countries, there are currently an estimated 40.3 million people subject to some form of modern slavery worldwide. 70 per cent of victims are female, 30 percent are male. Up to a quarter of victims are children.
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday, June 18, 1815, near Waterloo in Belgium.
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The Battle of Waterloo, by William Sadler II |
The Battle of Waterloo started at noon when a British-led coalition consisting of 68,000 soldiers from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Hanover, Brunswick and Nassau, under the command of the Duke of Wellington fought a French army of 73,000 soldiers under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte. The British were joined by 48,000 men from the Prussian army under Field Marshal von Blücher. in mid-afternoon.
The Battle actually took place at Braine l'Alleud, about eight miles (13 kms) south of Waterloo, but Wellington had a habit of naming battles after the place he had spent the previous night.
Heavy rain before the battle created swamp-like conditions. Wellington stayed on the high ground, forcing the French to slog uphill from the boggy valley, with their guns sunk up to their axles in thick mud. With the Prussians breaking through on the French right flank, the Anglo-allied army repulsed the Imperial Guard, and the French army was routed. By 11pm the battle had ended News of Wellington's victory was first delivered by a pigeon to England.
The Battle of Waterloo ended 12 years’ war between France and an alliance including Britain, Russia, the Netherlands and Prussia (now in Germany).
After the defeat, Napoleon was captured and exiled to the South Atlantic island of Saint Helena, where he died in 1821.
June 17th is Icelandic National Day, celebrating the independence of Iceland from Denmark. The Kingdom of Iceland becomes a sovereign state in 1918, yet remained a part of the Danish kingdom until 1944 when it declared its independence and became a republic.
Below is the festival procession in Reykjavik on the National Day of Iceland, 2007
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By I, Akigka, Wikipedia |
Francis Drake claimed California for England on this day in 1579.
English sea captain Sir Francis Drake claimed the area where San Francisco is now for England on June 17, 1579. The natives thought they were gods and offered them their entire country. Drake accepted and claimed the land in the name of Queen Elizabeth calling it New Albion and staking to a post an engraved metal plate. Technically, this means the West Coast was "New England" before the East as John Smith didn't use the name to describe Massachusetts until 1616.
The name "California" comes from a 16th century romance novel about a mythical island populated solely by black women warriors armed with gold weapons, ruled by a Queen named Calafia.
Between 1530 and 1750, a large portion of the world wholeheartedly believed that California was, in fact, a massive island. Popular opinion slowly shifted to the area being a Peninsula, but many maps continued to show it as an island to the mid-1700s.
1846 marked the outbreak of the Mexican-American War. When Commodore John D. Sloat of the United States Navy sailed into Monterey Bay and began the military occupation of California by the United States, Northern California capitulated in less than a month to the US forces. After a series of defensive battles in Southern California, the Treaty of Cahuenga was signed by the Californios on January 13, 1847, securing American control in California.
California was admitted as the thirty-first US state in September 1850.
Root beer was created by Philadelphia pharmacist Charles E. Hires as an herbal tea made of various roots, berries and herbs for cough and mouth sores. It was inspired by a root tea served to him on his honeymoon. Hires packaged his herbal mixture in boxes and sold it to housewives and proprietors of soda fountains making his first sale on June 16, 1869. He decided to call his drink "root beer" despite not containing any alcohol as he wanted to market it to Pennsylvania coal miners.
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A Hires' Root beer advertisement from 1894. |
In America, Father's Day was founded by Sonora Dodd of Spokane, Washington and celebrated on the third Sunday of June for the first time in 1910. It is held on various days in many parts of the world all throughout the year, often in the months of March, May and June.
The idea for a father's day originated when Sonora Dodd heard a sermon on Mother's Day in 1909 and was inspired to create a date to honor fathers like her own, a Civil War veteran. Through her efforts, the first Father's Day was celebrated in Spokane on June 19, 1910.
Although Dodd initially suggested June 5, her father's birthday, the Spokane pastors did not have enough time to prepare their sermons, and the celebration was deferred to the third Sunday of June.
Dodd used the "Fathers' Day" spelling on her original petition for the holiday, but the spelling "Father's Day" was already being used in 1913 when a bill was introduced to the U.S. Congress as the first attempt to establish the holiday.
In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson went to Spokane to speak in a Father's Day celebration and wanted to make it official, but Congress resisted, fearing that it would become commercialized.
President Lyndon B. Johnson issued the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers, designating the third Sunday in June as Father's Day in 1966. Six years later, the day was made a permanent national holiday when President Richard Nixon signed it into law in 1972.
Global Wind Day is a worldwide event organized by WindEurope (WindEurope) and GWEC (Global Wind Energy Council) that is held on June 15 around the world. It is a day for discovering wind energy, its power and the possibilities it holds to reshape our energy systems, decarbonize our economies and boost jobs and growth.
A wind turbine is a rotating machine that converts the wind's kinetic energy into electrical energy.
James Blyth, inventor of the wind turbine, was born on April 4, 1839 in Marykirk, Scotland. In July 1887 he built a cloth-sailed wind turbine in the garden of his holiday home in Marykirk and used the electricity it produced to charge accumulators; the stored electricity was used to power the lights in his cottage, which thus became the first house in the world to be powered by wind-generated electricity.
Blyth was awarded a UK patent for his "wind engine" in November 1891. He later developed an improved model which served as an emergency power source at Montrose Lunatic Asylum for the next 30 years.
International Bath Day is observed every year on June 14.
Greek scientist and mathematician Archimedes discovered the Archimedian principle when he stepped into his bath and found the displaced water overflowing. This made him excited as he realised the weight of water displaced by an object equals the amount of buoyancy it gets. Thus an object’s volume could be accurately measured by being submerged in water! Unable to contain his excitement, Archimedes leapt out of the bathtub and yelled, “Eureka, Eureka!” as he ran through the streets of Syracuse.
International Bath Day is observed every year on June 14 as Archimedes' discovery occurred precisely one week before the beginning of summer. In ancient Greece Summer began (and still does today) on June 21st. The week before is June 14th, and this was the date set.
According to records of payment made to King John (1166-1216)'s bath attendant, William Aquarius, the king bathed on average about once every three weeks, which cost a considerable sum of 5d to 6d each, suggesting an elaborate and ceremonial affair. Although this may seem barbaric by modern standards, it was civilized compared to monks who were expected to bathe three times a year, with the right not to bathe at all if they so chose.
In Japan, baths, known as of 'ofuro' are deep, short and made of wood. People wash before entering one, as bathing is seen as a leisure activity.
The pin-tumbler lock or yale lock was invented on June 13, 1844.
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A common type of pin tumbler lock, of the euro cylinder type By Willh26 |
The ancient Egyptians used intricate locks 4,000 years ago. The wooden contraption included a key that lifted pins, allowing a latch bar to slide free.
The pin-tumbler lock or yale lock was invented on June 13, 1844 by lock shop owner Linus Yale Sr, whose name still adorns billions of keys. Yale drew his inspiration from the Egyptian pin-and-bolt locks which were made of wood.
In 1850 his son, Linus Yale, Jr. joined him at the lock shop and began working on improving his father’s pin tumbler lock. Linus Yale, Jr.'s June 27, 1865 patent for a pin-tumbler lock and key was a drastic improvement over previous models, and is the basis for pin-tumbler locks since.
Independence Day, also known as "Day of Freedom," is an annual national holiday in the Philippines observed on June 12, commemorating the declaration of Philippine independence from Spain in 1898.
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The Proclamation of Independence as depicted on a 1985 Philippine five peso bill |
General Emilio Aguinaldo declared the Philippines' independence, ending 333 years of Spanish colonial rule on June 12, 1898. However, the Philippines failed to win international recognition of its independence, specifically including the United States of America and Spain.
Today is the anniversary of Benjamin Franklin's invention of an all-metal fireplace, which enabled people to warm their houses less dangerously.
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Franklin’s diagram for his stove |
By the 1720s, such cast iron stoves were beginning to be made in quantity in North America and Europe. They were called Five-plate stoves and were fed by wood, charcoal, or coal. Used both for heating and cooking, they had an oven below and pot holes on top. However, because they gave off a large amount of heat, they made the kitchen an uncomfortable place in the summer.
On June 11, 1742 Benjamin Franklin, laid the foundations of modern stove design with his 'Pennsylvania Fireplace', which stood in the fireplace. It incorporated a grate and sliding doors that controlled the flow of air through the stove.
The grate of Franklin's stove extended out into the room, where it cast warmth in all directions, providing considerably more heat than the drafty open fireplace. It also enabled people to use less wood.
However Franklin's 'Pennsylvania Fireplace' was finicky and achieved few sales until it was improved by David Rittenhouse. Despite never catching on, many stoves continue to be referred to as "Franklin" stoves.
Alexander The Great died on this day in 323BC.
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Mosaic showing Alexander the Great fighting King Darius III of Persia |
On an expedition seeking a potion guaranteeing immortal life, Alexander came across some apples which supposedly prolonged the lives of priests who fed on them and nothing else up to 400 years. It didn't work for him. The Macedonian conqueror died probably of typhoid fever in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II, in Babylon, aged 32 on June 10, 323BC.
Some modern historians believe that Alexander the Great may have been accidentally buried alive up to six days before his death, after succumbing to Guillain-Barré Syndrome. This would have left him unable to speak or move, and his breath so shallow that he was pronounced dead.
Alexander's body was laid in a gold anthropoid sarcophagus that was filled with honey, which was in turn placed in a gold casket. While Alexander's funeral cortege was on its way to Macedon, Ptolemy seized it and took it temporarily to Memphis. His successor, Ptolemy II Philadelphus, transferred the sarcophagus to Alexandria, where it remained until at least late Antiquity. Its whereabouts now is unknown.
The rise of Alexander was prophesied 250 years before he was born in the Old Testament Book of Daniel (Daniel 8 v5-8 and 20-22). It predicts the kingdom of Medo Persia being overthrown by King of Greece. Then the kingdom is divided on his death between his four generals but they will not have the same power.
The Feast Day of Saint Columba, also known as the Feast of St. Columba or St. Columba's Day, is celebrated on June 9th. St. Columba, also called Columcille, was an Irish monk and missionary who lived in the 6th century. He is one of the most important figures in the early Christianization of Ireland and Scotland.
St. Columba is known for founding several monastic communities, most notably the monastery at Iona in present-day Scotland. He played a significant role in spreading Christianity throughout the region and was known for his learning, piety, and missionary zeal.
On St. Columba's Feast Day, many churches and religious communities that venerate him commemorate his life and contributions to the faith. Special liturgical services may be held, focusing on his teachings and example. It is also a day for believers to reflect on the legacy of St. Columba and seek inspiration from his dedication to God and his evangelistic efforts.
Today is the anniversary of the first sale of ice cream in the USA.
The Sicilian chef Francesco Procopia dei Coltelli (1651 - 1727) perfected the making of ice cream.
In 1686 he opened Le Procope, the first café in Paris. Here after being considered a dessert for royalty alone, water ices, cream ices and sorbets were made available to the general public for the first time.
Mrs Mary Eales published the first English recipe for ice cream in 1718. Whilst the continentals favored water ices, the British had a preference for their iced desserts being made with cream.
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Noblewomen eating ice cream in a French caricature, 1801 |
Ice cream was introduced to the United States by Quaker colonists who brought their ice cream recipes with them. The first commercially made ice cream went on sale in New York in 1786. The New York Post Boy, of June 8, 1786, made this announcement: "Ladies and gentlemen may be supplied with ice cream every day at the City tavern by their humble servant, Joseph Cowe.”
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The first-edition front cover of the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. |
In 1947 Orwell moved to the Scottish island of Jura in the Outer Hebrides, where he tried to support himself by growing vegetables. Orwell wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four there away from the phone and other distractions. It was published June 8, 1949.
He originally wanted to call it "Nineteen Forty Eight" to show it was a contemporary warning rather than a prophecy.
George Orwell named the torture chamber Room 101 in Nineteen Eighty-Four after a conference room at the BBC headquarters where he had to sit through numerous tedious meetings.
On October 21, 1949, a few months after the publication of Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell received a letter from his former teacher Aldous Huxley, whose Brave New World had been published 17 years earlier. Huxley commended the book and contrasted it with his own futuristic novel. He wrote: "I feel that the nightmare of Nineteen Eighty-Four is destined to modulate into the nightmare of a world having more resemblance to that which I imagined in Brave New World.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, "Prince of Preachers," preached his last sermon at the Tabernacle in London on June 7, 1891.
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Spurgeon preaching at the Surrey Music Hall circa 1858 |
In 1854, three months before his 20th birthday, Spurgeon was appointed Baptist pastor at New Park Street Chapel, in Southwark, London. At the time it was the largest Baptist congregation in the city, but numbers had dwindled for several years.
Spurgeon quickly gained fame for his directness in preaching, which seemed to some to border on irreverence. Charles Spurgeon's sermons were so popular that in 1861 a new hall, the Metropolitan Tabernacle, near the Elephant and Castle, London, was built to accommodate his expanding congregation. It seated 5000 people with standing room for another 1000.
Over the next thirty years Spurgeon became possibly the greatest preacher of his age, 6,000 gathered at the Metropolitan Tabernacle to hear him twice each Sunday. However he remained aware of the responsibility of his calling, claiming he "trembles" lest he should misinterpret the Word of God.
On D-Day, code named Operation Overlord, June 6, 1944, the Allies succeed on landing in occupied France. It was a major turning point in World War II.
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Men of the 16th Infantry Regiment, U.S. 1st Infantry Division wade ashore on Omaha Beach |
A break in the weather was forecast for June 6th. Early that morning, German defenders on bluffs overlooking the beaches were stunned to peer out over the English Channel and see thousands of ships.
156,000 Allied US, British, and Canadian troops landed on the Normandy beaches on June 6, 1944. The allied soldiers quickly broke through the Atlantic Wall and pushed inland in the largest amphibious military operation in history. Many felt the hand of God was involved in providing the crucial weather break needed to launch the invasion.
Although the landings turned out to be a resounding success, Eisenhower hedged his bets by keeping in his pocket a communiqué announcing the failure of the landings and accepting full responsibility.
Today is World Environment Day, the United Nations' principal vehicle for encouraging awareness and action for the protection of the environment.
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This is a work (CG or photograph) by Danilo Prudêncio Silva. My Flickr. |
World Environment Day was established in 1972 by the United Nations on the first day of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment. First held in 1974, it is celebrated on June 5 to raise awareness, support action, and drive changes for the environment.
An early example of concern for environmental protection occurred in England when King Edward I of England banned the burning of sea-coal by proclamation in London in 1272, after its smoke had become a problem. The fuel was so common in England that this earliest of names for it was acquired because it could be carted away from some shores by the wheelbarrow.
Many people associate the beginning of the environmental movement with the 1962 publication of Rachel Carson's groundbreaking book, Silent Spring, which spelled out the dangers of the pesticide DDT. The book awakened many to the potential environmental and health hazards of using powerful chemicals in agriculture.
The first green party in Europe was the Popular Movement for the Environment, founded in 1972 in the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel.
Today is the anniversary of Henry Ford giving his first gasoline-powered automobile its first test run.
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Henry Ford sits in his first automobile, the Ford Quadricycle, in 1896. |
Because he was on call at all times, Ford had no regular hours and could experiment to his heart's content. After experimenting in his spare time he built his first self-propelled vehicle. A small one-cylinder gasoline model, which was capable of 25mph., he named it the Ford Quadricycle. He gave it a successful test run on June 4, 1896.
The Quadricycle had four wire wheels that looked like heavy bicycle wheels, was steered with a tiller like a boat, and had only two forward speeds with no reverse.
When Ford's Quadricycle was initially ready to be driven out of his workshop he had overlooked it was too wide to get it out of his doorway. So Ford smashed a hole through the wall with an axe.
Once Ford had maneuvered his Quadcycle out of his workshop he drove it round the streets of Dearborn and Detroit. Fascinated crowds gathered wherever he drove and terrified horses galloped away in panic.
Today is International World Bicycle Day (June 3).
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Woman riding bicycle in Copenhagen By heb@Wikimedia Commons |
The world’s first pedal bicycle was made by a Scottish blacksmith Kirkpatrick Macmillan (d1878) of Keir Mill, Dumfriesshire in 1839. His novel design for the first time enabled cyclists to ride with both their feet continuously off the ground. The popular bicycle of the time, the Hobby Horse, only provided momentum through the swinging of the riders feet back and forth. Macmillan never patented his idea and it was therefore widely copied.
During the four years Macmillan was developing his new machine, he traveled through the country lanes of his home district. Macmillan, who was known locally as 'Daft Pate', was able to attain speeds up to 14 mph and, to the dismay of drivers and passengers, on many occasions he overtook the local stage-coach.
Further advance in the evolution of the cycle was made, once again, in France, when E. Michaux, of Paris began to construct the original "boneshaker" in 1865. This was designed by Pierre Lallement, a mechanic employed by Michaux's firm. Its main feature was that the front wheel (larger than the rear wheel) was driven by a crank, fixed on its axle. The wheels themselves were still made of wood, but had iron tires.
The Briton John Kemp Stanley’s Rover safety bicycle, which he patented in 1885, was the prototype of a design that survives with few modifications today. It turned cycling, which had been something of an extreme sport on the old penny-farthings, into a safe form of mass transportation.
Festa della Repubblica is the Italian National Day and Republic Day, celebrated on June 2nd each year.
Today is the first day of the month of June
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June, Leandro Bassano |
Juno was the Roman goddess of marriage. Because of this, getting married in June was thought to be lucky.
June begins on a different day of the week each year.
Splitting the year into four seasons of three full months apiece based on the Gregorian calendar, June 1st is the meteorological first day of summer.
Billy Connolly: "There are two seasons in Scotland: June and Winter."
Today is the anniversary of Samuel Pepys' last diary entry.
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The six volumes of the diary manuscript |
Pepys referred to his health well over a thousand times in his diaries. Most of the time the purpose of noting his condition was to record sickness episodes to help prevent him from falling ill in a similar way in the future. In particular Pepys frequently caught colds, which he made over one hundred references to. The diarist generally blamed the weather for going down with a chill but in fact he should have blame his own susceptibility to colds on his own carelessness. Pepys caught colds after standing in draughts, leaving off his wig and having a bare head, being under dressed without anything to protect his bare legs, and wearing clothes that hadn't been aired.
Pepys wrote his diary using a fountain pen, which at the time was quite a novelty. He recorded in his diary in August 1663: "This evening came a letter about business from Mr Coventry, and with it a Silver pen he promised me, to carry inke in(sic); which is very necessary."
Citing poor eyesight, Samuel Pepys recorded his last entry in his diary on May 31, 1669. His diaries are one of the most important primary sources for the English Restoration period.
The 19-year-old Joan of Arc was burned at the stake on this day in 1431 by an English-dominated tribunal during the Hundred Years War.
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Jeanne d'Arc, by Eugène Thirion (1876). |
Joan was sent to relieve Compiègne in 1430. Her success had made her enemies amongst the Burgundians, English and church officials and she fell into the English hands, via the Burgundians (who delivered her for ten thousand French Francs).
Joan of Arc was imprisoned for nine months before being bought before the Court of the Bishop of Beavais in 1431. In fifteen sessions she defended herself, standing up to the charges with good nature, majoring on her devotion to her country and her purity.She was charged, found guilty of witchcraft and heresy and originally sentenced to life imprisonment. However Joan was forced to continue to wear male apparel, (because that was all she was given). This strengthened the prosecution's case, and she was condemned by the pro-English judge, Pierre Cauchon. to be burnt at the stake as a heretic and a cross-dresser.
The execution of Joan of Arc by burning took place in Rouen, France on May 30, 1431. The peasant teenager asked for a cross to be held in front of her that she could see through the flames. Her last words were " Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! Blessed be God." As she died, the spectators, including the soldiers, wept.
Joan of Arc was beatified in Rome on April 18, 1909 and canonized in 1920, for her faithfulness for promoting to God's grace. Saint Joan of Arc's feast day is 30th May. She is the only Catholic saint to have been burnt as a heretic.
Oak Apple Day or Royal Oak Day, was an English public holiday, observed annually on May 29, to commemorate the restoration of the English monarchy in May 1660. In some parts of the country the day is still celebrated.
In 1646, his father, fearing for his safety during the Civil War, ordered him to go to France. In 1650 he returned to Scotland and was crowned Charles II of Scotland at Scone. However, after defeat at Worcester he fled to the continent again. Charles escaped the Roundhead army by hiding in an oak tree at Boscobel House, Shropshire climbing up the tree by means of a hen roost ladder. He ultimately escaped the region posing as the servant of Jane Lane of Bentley and was scolded for incompetence in the kitchen of the King's Lodge.
The Spanish Armada set sail for the English Channel on this day in 1588.
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English ships and the Spanish Armada, August 1588 |
On May 28, 1588 a fleet of 130 ships under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia set sail from Lisbon with the purpose of escorting an army to invade England. The plan was to stop in the Netherlands and pick up an additional 17,000 troops from the Duke of Parma. Unfortunately half of the ships were heavy, badly equipped galleons that were difficult to manoeuvre and they had insufficient firepower. The English fleet consisted of 226 smaller more manoeuvrable vessels with a naval gun that was easier and faster to load.
On reaching the English Channel, the fleet was met by the English ships and caused them to scatter to north France. In the ensuing Battle of Gravelines on July 29, 1588 Lord Howard's tactics of sending in fireships forced the Spanish to break formation and abandon its rendezvous with Parma's army, who were blockaded in harbor by Dutch flyboats.
The Armada managed to regroup and withdrew into the North Sea with the English fleet harrying it up the east coast of England. The fleet was disrupted during severe storms in the North Atlantic and a large number of the vessels were wrecked on the coasts of Scotland and Ireland. Of the initial 130 ships over a third failed to return.
The defeat of the Armada marked the beginning of the decline of Spanish power.
On May 27, 1703, the Russian Tsar, Peter the Great, cut two strips of turf on a desolate swamp taken from the Swedes at the mouth of the River Neva, laid them across one another and declared "Here there shall be a city". That city was St Petersburg.
The picture below shows Peter the Great Meditating the Idea of Building St Petersburg at the Shore of the Baltic Sea by Alexandre Benois, 1916
Peter the Great hated the Kremlin, where as a child he had witnessed the brutal torture and murder of his mother's family. When he built his capital at St Petersburg the Tsar forbade even the slightest repair on stone buildings in Moscow asserting that every mason was needed in the new city.
The beautiful Saint Petersburg was designed by Italian, German and Scottish architects and engineers, and built in record time by conscripted peasants from all over Russia; a number of Swedish prisoners of war were also involved in some years under the supervision of Alexander Menshikov. Tens of thousands of serfs died building the city.
Within nine years, the city was completed and St Petersburg became the Russian capital in 1712.
Peter the Great ordered all Moscow nobles, merchants, and middle-class professionals to pack up their belongings and move to the newly created city. The Tsar also encouraged foreigners to move there to offer their advice and skills.
Today is Memorial Day, a federal holiday in the United States for honoring and mourning the military personnel who have died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.
Picture of graves decorated with flags at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day 2008 |
During the first Decoration Day on May 30, 1868, General James Garfield spoke at Arlington National Cemetery, and 5,000 observers decorated more than 20,000 Union and Confederate graves.
The name of the holiday was changed to Memorial Day around the time of World War I.
Memorial Day celebrations continued to take place on May 30. However, on June 28, 1968, the United States Congress signed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act that said that the official Memorial Day holiday is May 30, but that Memorial Day was to be observed by Federal Employees as a paid holiday on the last Monday in May.
May 26th is World Redhead Day. Besides celebrating red hair, the day raises awareness about the stigma associated with red hair, and the discrimination that redheads sometimes face.
Natural red hair occurs naturally in just under 2% of the human population. - approximately 140 million people. It occurs more frequently (2–6%) in people of northern or western European ancestry, and less frequently in other populations.
The highest concentration of redheads is in Scotland with 13%, followed by Ireland with 10%.
The first international chess tournament opened on this day in 1851.
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Judit Polgár, 2008 By Stefan64 - Self-photographed |
Chess evolved in India by the 6th century AD as a game of war: to illustrate and rehearse army movements. The Persians adopted the game of chess from India, and when the Arabs conquered Iran, they made chess part of their life and carried it wherever they went. That is how, with the spread of Islam, chess also extended as far West as Spain, as far North as Turkistan, as far East as the Malayan Islands, and as far South as Zanzibar.
In 1561, a Spanish priest named Ruy López de Segura published his celebrated chess strategy book, Libro de la Invencion liberal y Arte del juego del Axedrez. The tome recommends playing with your back to the sun to blind your opponent. If playing at night by a fire, it advises you to cast a shadow over the board with your hand, so your opponent "will not be able to see where to play his pieces."
The first international chess tournament opened in London on May 26, 1851. The tournament was conceived and organized by English player Howard Staunton, and marked the first time that the best chess players in Europe would meet in a single event. German chess master Adolf Anderssen won the sixteen-player tournament, earning him the status of the best player in Europe.
Garry Kasparov, of the Soviet Union is considered by many to be the greatest chess player of all time. From 1986 until his retirement in 2005, Kasparov was ranked world No. 1 for 225 out of 228 months.
May 25th is celebrated each year as the National Day of Argentina, a public holiday remembering the First National Government of Argentina.
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Argentine national flag |
Originally inhabited by American Indian peoples, the population of Argentina numbered about 300,000 at the time of the first visit by Europeans in the early 16th century.
In 1526 Sebastian Cabot, the pilot-major of Charles V, Holy Roman emperor and king of Spain landed at Rio De La Plata. On hearing of mineral wealth in the interior, he explored up the rivers Paraná and Paraguay. He constructed there a small fort called Sancti Spiritu at the confluence of the Paraná and the Río Carcarañá, in what is currently Santa Fe Province.
The population rose against Spanish rule in 1810. On May 25, 1810 The Primera Junta, the first independent government in Argentina, was established in an open cabildo in Buenos Aires, marking the end of the May revolution.
On May 24, 1738, John Wesley was converted while attending a Moravian meeting.
Wesley spent an unsuccessful two years ministering in Georgia, America. On a stormy and dangerous trip back from Georgia, Wesley was greatly impressed by the calm faith of some of his fellow passengers, a group of Moravians from Austria who sang hymns in the midst of the storm.
A few months after his disastrous Georgia experience, a down-beaten John Wesley attended a meeting at Aldersgate, London. Whilst a passage from Luther's Preface to the Romans was read, Wesley felt his heart "strangely warmed".
After Wesley had this conversion experience he visited Count Zinzendorf's Moravian community to see how the Gospel was lived out in community. He then returned to England and founded the Methodist movement, an offshoot of the Anglican Church, to spread "scriptural holiness" throughout the land.
For over 50 years Wesley preached 15 times a week on average a total of close to 40,000 sermons, sometimes to crowds of over 20,000 people. His evangelization of the proletariat helped keep Britain from a similar revolution to the one France was experiencing at the time.
World Turtle Day is observed on May 23 each year. The purpose of this holiday is to bring attention to, and increase knowledge of and respect for, turtles and tortoises, and encourage human action to help them survive and thrive.
The words turtle, tortoise and terrapin are often used interchangeably but the general rule is to call them tortoises if land-based, turtles if river or sea-based, and terrapins if amphibian.
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Pixabay |
In Britain, 'turtle' is generally used for saltwater species, 'terrapin' for freshwater varieties. However in the USA the word ‘turtle' covers all types while Australians use ‘tortoise' for any of them.
One way to tell a turtle and a tortoise apart is by looking at their feet – water turtles usually have flippers or webbed feet and their shells are flatter while tortoises have stubby feet and domed shells.
Today is Sherlock Holmes Day, marking the birthday of his creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
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1891 Paget portrait of Holmes smoking his pipe for "The Man with the Twisted Lip" |
At Edinburgh he was taught by Dr Joseph Bell whose mastery of educative logic helped to inspire Sherlock Holmes. It was claimed that sometimes he could diagnose a patient's problems purely by looking at him or her.
In 1887 his novel A Study in Scarlet appeared in Beeton's Christmas Annual, and introduced readers to Sherlock Holmes. An unsuccessful doctor, when he wrote A Study in Scarlet, Doyle sold the copyright for £25.
One of Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, A Scandal in Bohemia, was published in the seventh edition of a new magazine, The Strand, in 1891. It popularized the genre and made Doyle well known in USA and Europe.
Today is the anniversary of Charles Lindbergh completing the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
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Lindbergh with the Spirit of St. Louis – 1927 |
The still boyish-looking Lindberg was a relative latecomer to the race, and his efforts were being financed only by a single $15,000 bank loan, a $1,000 donation from his employer as an Air Mail pilot, and his own modest savings. He had never been abroad before.
The fabric-covered, single-seat, single-engine high-wing monoplane Spirit of St. Louis had a specially large fuel tank built onto its nose , so that Lindbergh wouldn't be crushed in a crash. This meant that he had to sit on a wicker basket to save weight.
Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Field on his successful attempt in at 7.50 am on May 20, 1927. Over the next 33.5 hours, Lindbergh and the Spirit—which he referred to as "WE"—faced many challenges, including skimming over both storm clouds at 10,000 ft (3,000 m) and wave tops at as low at 10 ft (3.0 m), fighting icing and. flying blind through fog for several hours.
When Lindbergh landed at Le Bourget Airport at 10:22 pm (22:22) on May 21, 1927, his first words on French soil were "well, I made it".
The feat made Lindbergh the most famous person in the world, the first global celebrity and the prototype of the All American hero. Lindbergh was selected as the first Time magazine "Man of the Year" (now "Person of the Year)", appearing in its cover on January 2, 1928.
World Bee Day is celebrated on May 20 in order to acknowledge the role of bees and other pollinators for the ecosystem, The date was chosen as it is the birthday of Anton Janša, the pioneer of beekeeping, who was born in 1734.
Bees deposit a small positive electric charge on each flower they visit. They also possess "Electroreception" which allows them to detect the presence of electric fields on flowers. They use this information to extablish a flower has been recently visited by another bee and therefore has less nectar.
Honeybees, despite having the brain size of a sesame seed, can count up to four and can understand the concept of zero.
Honey bees must gather nectar from two million flowers to make one pound of honey. A single bee would therefore have to fly around 90,000 miles (144,800 kms) to make one pound of honey. The average honey bee will actually make only one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime.
Bees’s wings flap 11,400 a minute, creating their buzz.
The first fax was sent on May 19, 1924.
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A fax machine from the late 1990s |
Italian physicist Giovanni Caselli invented The Pantelegraph, which he used for the first commercial telefax service between Paris and Lyons in 1865, some 11 years before the invention of telephones.
The 1888 invention of the telautograph by Elisha Grey marked a further development in fax technology, allowing users to send signatures over long distances, thus allowing the verification of identification or ownership over long distances.
On May 19, 1924, scientists of the AT&T Corporation "by a new process of transmitting pictures by electricity" sent 15 photographs by telephone from Cleveland to New York City, such photos suitable for newspaper reproduction.
Today is International Museum Day. The day, held annually on or around May 18, is coordinated by the International Council of Museums. The idea behind IMD is to raise awareness about the fact that, “Museums are an important means of cultural exchange, enrichment of cultures and development of mutual understanding, cooperation and peace among peoples.”
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By RIA Novosti archive, image #667778 / Petr Chernov |
Italian painter Sandro Botticelli died on this day in 1519.
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Self-portrait of Botticelli, in his Adoration of the Magi (1475) |
Botticelli never married and is believed to have had an unrequited love for a married woman Simonetta Vespucci, who was part of Amerigo Vespucci's family. (America was named after Amerigo Vespucci.) She served as the model for his Birth of Venus and recurs throughout his paintings
In Botticelli's later years was much influenced by the teaching of Girolamo Savonarola, who in 1497 organized a “bonfire of the vanities” at the carnival celebration before Lent, in which Florentine luxury goods, works of art, pornographic books and gambling equipment were publicly burnt. Botticelli himself destroyed some of his earlier mythological paintings, feeling that when they were painted, he was unduly influenced by the worldly spirit of the age.
Sandro Botticelli died on May 17, 1519, a lonely man having done little or no more painting in the last ten years. He was buried next to his adored Simonetta Vespucci. It was not until over 350 years after his death that the world recognized his importance in art.
The first Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored the best films of 1927 and 1928 and took place on May 16, 1929, at a private dinner held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles. AMPAS president Douglas Fairbanks hosted the show.
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The first Academy Awards at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. |
Only 12 awards were given out at the first Oscars, and the entire ceremony lasted just 15 minutes.
The 270 guests at the first Academy Awards ceremony knew who had won three months in advance but still paid $5 a ticket for their seats.
Brothers Dick and Maurice McDonald opened their first restaurant on May 15, 1940. The tiny street corner eatery was located at 1398 North E Street at West 14th Street in San Bernardino, Los Angeles, California).
This new venture introduced the "Speedee Service System," establishing the principles of the modern fast-food restaurant. The brothers replaced the trained cooks in their San Bernardino eatery with low-paid teenagers who simply flipped burgers and dunked fries in oil. The menu was reduced to a few items and cutlery and china was discarded. Customers had to queue for their food and eat out of a cardboard carton with their hands. Prices was reduced, people piled in and the fast food restaurant was born.
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Downey, California McDonald's By Photo by Bryan Hong (Brybry26) - Wikipedia |
American Ray Kroc, a mixer salesman, recognized the idea's potential and partnered with the brothers. Kroc opened his first McDonald's franchise, the ninth overall in Illinois on April 15, 1955, an occasion considered to be the founding of the present corporation. He later bought out the McDonald brothers.
Today is the anniversary of Edward Jenner administering the first smallpox inoculation.
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Edward Jenner Advising a Farmer to Vaccinate His Family. Oil painting by an English painter, c. 1910. |
When Edward Jenner became a Gloucestershire country doctor, among his patients he encountered was a young milkmaid who asserted that she could not contract smallpox because she had already been infected with cowpox as a result of milking cowpox-infected cows. The milkmaid was guided by a local old wives tale that the mild disease of cowpox conferred immunity from smallpox upon humans. After investigating the milkmaid's belief, Jenner found that there were two forms of cowpox and one of them, which was a modified form of smallpox did indeed provide immunity against the disease.
Jenner decided to test his theory. On May 14, 1796 he took some pus from a cowpox blister on the fingers of a farmer's daughter, Sarah Nelmes. He scratched it with a lancet into the skin of the left arm of eight-year-old James Phipps, the son of Jenner's gardener, who at first showed signs of a light fever but quickly recovered. Two months later he exposed the child to smallpox, but the boy did not get the disease.
In 1798 Jenner published a paper explaining his work. He named the process in which he used the cowpox sore, vaccination, which came from the Latin vaccinus, meaning "from cows." The medical authorities scoffed at his theory so Jenner went to London to show his findings. However he couldn't find any volunteers willing to submit to vaccination. The demoralized Jenner returned to Gloucestershire and it was only after a successful vaccination by a London doctor that the medical world was persuaded that inoculation worked.
Today is the anniversary of the Roman Pantheon being converted into a Catholic church
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Pantheon (Rome) - Front. By Roberta Dragan Wikipedia |
The Augustan Pantheon was destroyed along with other buildings in a huge fire in the year 80 AD. The emperor Domitian rebuilt the Pantheon temple, which burnt down again thirty years later.
The emperor Hadrian organized the rebuilding of the Pantheon, reconstructing the accustomed temple façade, with columns and pediment, but attaching it to a drum which was surmounted by the most spectacular dome of antiquity. The present building was completed and dedicated about 126 AD.
On May 13, 609 Pope Boniface IV converted the Roman Pantheon into a Catholic church dedicated to the Virgin Mary and all martyrs. To this day, the Catholic Church holds masses and weddings there.
1,900 years after the Pantheon was built it is still the tallest unreinforced concrete dome in the world at 142ft high. A combination of limestone and volcanic ash inside the concrete mix helped form crystals that prevented the spread of microscopic cracks.
In 1974 The International Council of Nurses chose May 12 as the date to celebrate International Nurses Day each year as it is the anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing. Each year, ICN prepares and distributes the International Nurses' Day Kit. The kit contains educational and public information materials, for use by nurses everywhere
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US President Donald Trump signs a proclamation in honor of National Nurses Day in May 2020 |
For several centuries in Europe, nursing was regarded as a menial occupation fit only for the lower-classes, because of the unpleasant and disgusting aspects of the work. On October 13, 1836 Theodor Fliedner, the Lutheran pastor of Kaiserswerth near Düsseldorf, established the Deaconess Institute. The scheme led respectable ladies into nursing and produced the world's first trained nurses.
Florence Nightingale laid the foundations of professional nursing during the Crimean War and afterwards with her 1859 publication Notes on Nursing.In 1860 Florence Nightingale set up the first school of nursing connected to a general hospital. The Nightingale Nursing School was founded at St Thomas's Hospital, London and used the founder's Notes On Nursing was the cornerstone of its curriculum.
The HMS Beagle was a 242 ton, 10 gun, 90 ft long ship. The vessel, constructed at a cost of £7,803, was launched on May 11, 1820 from the Woolwich Dockyard on the River Thames.
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Beagle during the survey of Tierra del Fuego, painted by Conrad Martens |
It's second voyage was Charles Darwin's famous 1831-36 voyage to the Pacific. Darwin took part in the expedition as a self-financing gentleman naturalist and companion to the captain. The Beagle departed from Devonport on December 27, 1831 with 74 on board.
Charles Darwin wrote his account of his five-year voyage on the Beagle to the Pacific, during which he shared a cabin with Robert Fitzroy, the commander of the Beagle. His account attracted no interest at all. However he was lionized on his return to London from the Beagle as a brilliant geologist.
Today is Mothers Day in the United States and many other countries.
In 1907 Anna Jarvis of Grafton, West Virginia decided to commemorate her mother's life by inviting a number of friends to her home and announcing her plans to organize a celebration of mothers. The following year, on May 10, 1908, Anna persuaded her church, Andrews Methodist Church, to hold the first ever official Mother's Day service where her own mother had once taught Sunday school.
The custom caught on and spread rapidly and in 1914 President Woodrow Wilson declared the first national Mother's Day. This tradition is now observed in the United States, Canada and a number of other countries on the second Sunday in May.
Mothering Sunday is a holiday celebrated by Catholic and Protestant Christians in the UK and some other parts of Europe. It falls on the fourth Sunday in Lent, exactly three weeks before Easter.
The completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad took place on May 10, 1869.
Victory Day is a holiday that commemorates the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in 1945.
The Soviet government announced the victory early on May 9, after the signing ceremony in Berlin. The holiday became a non-labor day in 1965, in certain Soviet republics.
The Russian Federation has officially recognized May 9 as Victory Day since its formation in 1991 and considers it a non-working holiday even if it falls on a weekend (in which case any following Monday will be a non-working holiday.
Victory in Europe Day, generally known as VE Day (United Kingdom) or V-E Day (US), is celebrated across Western European states on May 8. The day celebrates the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces, marking the end of World War II in Europe.
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Celebrations in London on 8 May 1945 |
Today is the first anniversary of the coronation of Charles III of England.
International No Diet Day (INDD) is celebrated annually on May 6th and was created by Mary Evans Young, who founded "Diet Breakers" in the UK in 1992. The day is designed to raise awareness about the harmful effects of dieting and to promote body acceptance, size diversity, and healthy lifestyle choices. The goal of the day is to encourage people to celebrate their bodies and to embrace a positive body image, regardless of their size or shape.
Coco Chanel introduced Chanel No 5 on May 5, 1921.
Chanel reportedly told Beaux: “I present my dress collections on May 5, the fifth month of the year, and so we will let this sample number five keep the name. It will bring good luck.”
Chanel introduced the new perfume to some of her friends on the fifth day of the fifth month (May) in 1921. Initially, it was given to good clients for free at her boutique. The fitting rooms in Chanel's boutique were scented with No. 5 to create an ambiance unmatched by her contemporaries.
Chanel claims that every 30 seconds, somewhere in the world, a bottle of Chanel No 5 is sold
Star Wars Day is an informal commemorative day observed annually on May 4 to celebrate the Star Wars media franchise.
By the time filming on Return of the Jedi started in 1982, Star Wars was a gigantic pop culture phenomenon. To maintain secrecy, producers claimed to be shooting a horror movie called "Blue Harvest" and even had caps and T-shirts made for the crew.
The world's first organized Star Wars Day was celebrated at a cinema in Toronto, Canada on May 4, 2011. The reason for choosing that particular date was the pun: "May the 4th be with you", in reference to the popular phrase in Star Wars: "May the Force be with you." May 4th has since been embraced by Lucasfilm as an annual celebration of Star Wars.
International Firefighters’ Day is observed each year on May 4th. It is a time where the world’s community can recognize and honor the sacrifices that firefighters make to ensure that their communities and environment are as safe as possible. It is also a day in which current and past firefighters can be thanked for their contributions.
Early firefighters weren't paid with cash, instead they first grabbed all valuable items out of the victims house or business, then would sell those items or keep them for themselves.
On May 3, 1978, President Jimmy Carter designated "Sun Day" as a day to promote the use of solar energy and other renewable sources of energy in the United States. The goal was to raise awareness about the potential of solar power and to encourage more people to adopt it as a clean and sustainable energy source. Sun Day events were held across the country, including solar fairs, educational programs, and public demonstrations of solar technology.
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Dunayskaya Solar Station. L… | Flickr |
The King James Bible was published for the first time in London, on May 2, 1611 by printer Robert Barker.
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1612, first King James Bible in quarto size |
On July 22, 1604, King James sent a letter to Archbishop Bancroft asking him to contact all English churchmen requesting that they make donations to his project.
The task of translation was undertaken by 47 scholars. All were members of the Church of England and all except Sir Henry Savile were clergy. The scholars worked in six committees, who began work at the end of 1604.
In the years following its publication in 1611, the Geneva Bible remained by far the most popular English Bible. It was the Geneva translation, not the King James, that was used by William Shakespeare and the early American Puritans.
Today is the National Day of Prayer, which is an annual day of observance held on the first Thursday of May. The day is designated by the United States Congress, when people are asked "to turn to God in prayer and meditation".
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Sailors bow their heads in prayer during the National Day of Prayer. May 3, 2007. |
In 1940 After Hitler’s Nazis invaded France and Belgium, the British Army found itself trapped in northern France standing alone against Germany. King George VI, acting upon the wishes of newspapers and a recommendation from Winston Churchill issued a call to the nation for a National Day of Prayer. The British Christians flocked to the churches to such an extent that many were unable to get into a packed Westminster Cathedral.
A week later their troops were successfully evacuated helped by a curious decision made by Hitler to hold his troops back and not attack the British army. Also for a time the German air-force was stranded in Belgium, unable to move due to a violent storm whilst the English Channel was “as still as a millpond”.
Many acknowledged the deliverance of the 300,000 soldiers to the fact of the nation being at prayer and a Day of National Thanksgiving was subsequently held. Churchill whilst speaking in the House Of Commons described it in as ‘a miracle of deliverance’ and the consciousness of miraculous deliverance pervaded the camps in which the troops were being housed in England.
Research at Columbia University New York, which was published in the respected Journal of Reproductive Medicine, concluded that women having fertility treatment are twice as likely to become pregnant if people are praying they’ll succeed. The researchers put 219 women undergoing IVF treatment into two groups- with half prayed for without them knowing. 46 % of the prayed-for group became pregnant compared with 22% of the not-prayed-for group.
In many north hemisphere countries May Day, which is on May 1, is celebrated as the beginning of summer. It is a traditional spring holiday in many European cultures. Dancing, singing, and cake are usually part of the festivities.
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Children dancing around a maypole as part of a May Day celebration in England By Paul Barnett |
Labor Day is celebrated on a different day in most countries. Many choose May Day as their day to honor working people. Socialists, communists and other like-minded people celebrate it as International Workers' Day.
The Romans named the month of May after Maia, a goddess of growth and fertility.
No US President has ever died during the month of May. James Buchanan narrowly avoided doing so, dying on the morning of June 1, 1868.
International Jazz Day is an International Day declared by UNESCO in 2011 "to highlight jazz and its diplomatic role of uniting people in all corners of the globe." The idea came from jazz pianist and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Herbie Hancock. It is celebrated annually on April 30.
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The King & Carter Jazzing Orchestra 1921 |
The word “jazz” was originally early 20th century US slang for excitement or energy. In 1913 it started to be used to mean nonsense or babble and it was recorded being used for a form of improvisatory music two years later.
By 1915 New Orleans-style bands were starting to enjoy popularity in Chicago. On May 15, 1915, Tom Brown's Band from Dixieland opened up at Lamb's Café at Clark & Randolph Streets in the Windy City. This band was the first to be popularly referred to as playing "Jazz", or, as it was spelled early on, "Jass.”
The Original Dixieland Jass Band 's February 26, 1917 recording of "Livery Stable Blues" was the first jazz single ever issued. It sold a million copies in 1917 and launched jazz as a national phenomenon. (A Black bandleader, Freddie Keppard, had rejected an offer to record because he though others would copy his style).
International Dance Day is celebrated every year on April 29, the birthday of Jean-Georges Noverre (1727-1810), the creator of modern ballet.
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Marie Sallé, classical ballet dancer |
In 1588 a book crucial in the development of ballet, Orchesographie by Thoinot Arbeau, was published. It set forth the dance steps and rhythms that became the ballet postures and movements in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Prior to Jean-George Noverre, ballet's were large spectacles that focused mainly on elaborate costumes and scenery and not on the physical and emotional expression of the dancers. Between 1758 and 1760 he produced several ballets at Lyon, and published his Lettres sur la danse et les ballets. Noverre's treatise on dancing and theater expressed his aesthetic theories on the production of ballets and his method of teaching ballet.
The 1830s saw the new calf-length white dress and the introduction of dancing on the toes, sur les pointes. The technique of the female dancer was developed, but the role of the male dancer was reduced to that of being her partner.
Today is the anniversary of the commander of The Bounty, Lieutenant William Bligh and 18 sailors being set adrift after a mutiny by the rebel crew.
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A 1960 reconstruction of HMS Bounty |
The ship spent 10 months at sea sailing to Tahiti, where the crew spent a happy five months ashore and collected 1,015 breadfruit plants. Fletcher Christian fell in love with a Tahitian girl named Maimiti and he and the rest of the crew did not want to have to endure another long journey back to England.
Bligh and the 18 sailors were cast adrift enough food and water for about a week. They were also given four cutlasses, a compass, and a quadrant, but no maps.
After being cast adrift, Captain Bligh survived a 47-day journey to Timor.
Today is Freedom Day, a public holiday celebrated in South Africa each year on April 27.
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Nelson Mandela voting in 1994 |
In 1991, after years of internal dissent and violence and the boycott of South Africa, including the imposition of international trade sanctions by the United Nations (UN) and other organizations, President F W de Klerk repealed the key elements of apartheid legislation.
Famous Weddings that took place on April 26th include:
British textile designer William Morris married Jane Burden in a low-key ceremony held at St Michael's Church, Ship Street, Oxford on April 26, 1859.
Prince Albert, the Duke of York (the future King George VI) married Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the youngest daughter of Scottish aristocrat Claude Bowes-Lyon at Westminster Abbey on April 26, 1923.
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Wedding of Prince Albert, Duke of York, and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon |
DNA Day on April 25 commemorates the day in 1953 when James Watson, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins, Rosalind Franklin and colleagues published papers in the journal Nature on the structure of DNA.
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Pencil sketch of double helix by Odile Crick |
James Watson announced with Francis Crick to the press in the Eagle pub near Cavendish Laboratory on February 28. 1953 that they had "discovered the secret of life" after they came up with their proposal for the structure of DNA, the chemical that carries the instruction that determines heredity.
The formal announcement took place in Nature on April 25th. In the early 1950s, Watson and Crick were only two of many scientists working on figuring out the structure of DNA.
Francis Crick and James Watson asked Crick's artist wife Odile Crick to draw an illustration of the double helix for their paper on DNA for Nature in 1953. The sketch was reproduced widely in textbooks and scientific articles and has become the symbol for molecular biology.
Watson and Crick shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962 with Maurice Wilkins, who developed the method of X-Ray diffraction that helped in their discovery. They were awarded the Nobel Prize, "for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material".
Rosalind Franklin is the unsung hero of DNA research. Her X-ray Crystallography allowed her colleagues Watson and Crick to accurately characterize the double helix. Many believe she should’ve shared in their Nobel prize.
Between 1915–16 up to 1.5 million Armenians were massacred or deported by the Turks. These events are traditionally commemorated yearly on April 24th, Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day
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Armenia Genocide memorial in Saint Sarkis Cathedral Tehran. By Zhilbert - Persian Wikipedia, |
Talaat Pasha, mastermind of Armenian Genocide, was assassinated by Armenian revolutionary and genocide survivor Soghomon Tehlirian in 1921. Despite the assassination occurring in broad daylight, and with Soghomon Tehlirian pleading guilty, the assassin was acquitted by reason of temporary insanity. Soghomon Tehlirian is a national hero in Armenia.
Saint George's Day is celebrated on April 23rd, the traditionally accepted date of Saint George's death in 303 AD. St George's Day was a major feast and national holiday in England on a par with Christmas from the early 15th century to the end of the 18th century. Today, St. George's day may be celebrated with anything English.
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Saint George and the Dragon. Oil painting by Raphael (1505–1506) |
Many stories have been ascribed to the saint, the best known being the legend of George and the dragon. A pagan town in Libya was being victimized by a dragon (representing the devil), which the inhabitants first attempted to placate by offerings of sheep, and then by the sacrifice of various members of their community. The daughter of the king (representing the church) was chosen by lot and was taken out to await the coming of the monster, but George arrived, killed the dragon, and converted the community to Christianity.
By the 5th century the Christians of Syria and Egypt were consecrating monasteries and churches to him and within a hundred years the same thing was happening in Western Europe.
The cult of Saint George, was originally introduced to the English by the crusaders. In 1222 , the Council of Oxford ordered that the feast of Saint George be celebrated as a national festival. Later in the thirteenth century the popular collection of rather outlandish details concerning the saints, The Golden Legend, which included the story of Saint George, enhanced his reputation even further.
As a result of the success of the war cry "St George for England", King Edward III appointed Saint George as patron saint of England, replacing Saint Edmund the Martyr, probably in 1348.
Earth Day is celebrated on April 22 every year to honor the Earth, peace and demonstrate support for environmental protection.
The first widespread Earth Day Celebration took place a month later on April 22, 1970. 20 million Americans filled parks and took to the streets in a nationwide teach-in and protest about critical environmental issues facing the world.
April 22, 1970 is often cited as the start of the modern environmental movement.
Today is the traditional date of the founding of Rome.
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A day in ancient Rome |
Only with Julius Caesar in the first century BC, did the city of Rome began to grow significantly, especially toward the Campo Marzio, at the north of Capitoline Hill.
Rome was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy.
At its height in the 1st century AD, Ancient Rome had a population of one million people. This was a record in Europe until London matched it in the 19th century.
April 20th is the anniversary the first jar of Nutella leaving the factory.
Patriots' Day is an annual event commemorating the opening battles of the American Revolution at Lexington and Concord in 1775. The holiday was originally celebrated on April 19, the actual anniversary of the battles. Since 1969, it has been observed as a state holiday in Maine and Massachusetts on the third Monday in April.
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Acton Minutemen and citizens marching from Acton to Concord on Patriots' Day 2012 By Jrcovert |
The silversmith Paul Revere made a midnight ride from Boston to Concord to warn the colonial militia of the approach of British troops on April 18, 1775. As Revere rode through Massachusetts, he shouted "The Regulars are coming out", not "The British are coming", since Massachusetts colonists still considered themselves British citizens at the time. The Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War was fought the next day.
The American War for Independence raged on until the 1783 Treaty of Paris, when the victorious colonies formally won their independence from Great Britain.
The most significant celebration of Patriots' Day is the Boston Marathon, which has been run every Patriots' Day since April 19, 1897 to mark the then-recently established holiday, with the race linking the Athenian and American struggles for liberty.
Today is the anniversary of the first appearance of The Simpsons on television.
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Wikipedia |
The Simpsons was created by cartoonist Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. Matt Groening's original plan was to pitch an animated version of his bleak Life in Hell comic strip series, which he wrote from 1977 to 2012. It starred Binky the rabbit, who lives in Los Angeles and hates his life. It also features Mr Simpson, Binky's anthropomorphic dog boss.
However Groening decided against his initial plan at the last moment, and came up instead with a dysfunctional family sitcom while sitting outside producer James L Brooks’s office.
The Simpsons started life as short gags on The Tracy Ullman Show beginning on April 19, 1987. Groening submitted only basic sketches to the animators and assumed that the figures would be cleaned up in production. However, the animators merely re-traced his drawings, which led to the crude appearance of the characters in the initial shorts.
In 1989, a team of production companies adapted The Simpsons into a half-hour prime time entertainment series for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show made its debut on the Fox television network with the episode Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire on December 17, 1989.
Homer Simpson shares a first name with Groening's father, who was born in Saskatchewan, and Marge's first name comes from Groening's mother Margaret. His real-life sisters are named Lisa and Maggie.
Today is the anniversary of the first book of crossword puzzles appearing on the market.
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Crossword |
The new puzzle in the supplement, known as a "word-cross", was welcomed so enthusiastically that it was retained as a weekly feature.
The first book of crossword puzzles was published by Simon & Schuster on April 18, 1924. Its impact was huge. Almost overnight a craze for the new brain-teaser swept America.
Americans became obsessed with crosswords. One man shot his wife after she refused to help him with a clue and another left a suicide in the form of a crossword.
National Bat Appreciation Day occurs annually on April 17th.
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Common fruit bat (Rousettus aegyptiacus) flying |
Bats groom themselves for an hour a day, rubbing their wings with oil from glands on their faces.
According to Scientists, vampire bat saliva is the best known medicine for keeping blood from clotting.
Bats account for one-fifth of the mammal population in the world.
Today is the feast day of Saint Bernadette of Lourdes.
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Bernadette Soubirous when a child. |
Bernadette Soubirous was a young French girl that had religious visions at Lourdes, France. During 1858 she said she saw the Virgin Mary 18 times near the grotto of Massabielle .
In the ninth visitation the Virgin Mary told Bernadette to drink from the spring that flowed under the rock. A crowd gathered and they witnessed Bernadette dig in the earth and drink from a muddy patch. In the next few days, a spring began to flow from the muddy patch first dug by Bernadette. An old stone mason with a blind eye bathed it in the spring's water and as others also followed her example it was soon reported to have healing properties. The grotto soon became a center of pilgrimage. Many sick people who were dipped in the water of the spring were cured.
Bernadette died at the motherhouse at Nevers of tuberculous on April 16, 1879. Her body was buried and exhumed three separate times in the next 45 years in attempts to verify the incorruptibility of her corpse and therefore her sainthood.
Bernadette was canonized in 1933 by the Catholic Church and her feast day is celebrated on April 16th.
Saint Bernadette's body is today remarkably intact and is on display at the chapel of the Convent of St Gildard at Nevers.
The British passenger liner RMS Titanic sunk in the North Atlantic on April 15, 1912, two hours and forty minutes after hitting an iceberg.
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RMS Titanic departing Southampton on 10 April 1912 |
RMS Titanic was a British luxury passenger liner which was built by Harland and Wolff ship builders, in Belfast, for the White Star Line company. Before she sailed, many people thought it would be almost impossible for ships of this design to sink.
Titanic's maiden voyage began at noon on Wednesday, April 10, 1912 when the liner left Southampton on the south coast of England. It called at Cherbourg in France and Queenstown (now Cobh) in Ireland before heading west to New York.
At 12:50 a.m. EST on April 15, 1912, junior wireless operators at Cape Race, Newfoundland, received a report from the Virginian that they were trying to reach Titanic, but had lost communication. Titanic's last signals at 12:27 a.m. were "blurred and ended abruptly."
There were an estimated 2,224 passengers and crew aboard, and an estimated 1,517 died - only 306 bodies were recovered.
As the Titanic went under, the band played ragtime until the ship's bridge dipped underwater, then the bandmaster led his men in the Episcopal hymn, "Autumn". The male passengers formed up on deck and under the leadership of New York real estate tycoon Colonel John Jacob Astor sung the Welsh hymn "Nearer thy God to Thee".
Celebrated annually on April 14, Dolphin Day is a day dedicated to dolphins, aimed at educating people about dolphins and how they help protect the ocean.
National Scrabble Day is celebrated on April 13, the day Scrabble inventor Alfred Mosher Butts was born.
While unemployed during the depression, architect Alfred Mosher Butts created a board game in 1930 that utilized chance and skill. He called Lexiko.
Eight years later Butts came up with Criss Cross Words, a variation on Lexiko. The new game added the 15×15 gameboard and the crossword-style game play.
The first few sets Butts made he sold to family and friends but he made no money out of it.
The game went unnoticed until 1948 when James Brunot, from Connecticut, who was an entrepreneur and passionate games player, saw commercial possibilities. He bought the rights to the game, made some small changes to the rules and gave Butts a royalty on every set sold.
Brunot also changed its name to "Scrabble," a real word meaning "to grope frantically."
The International Day of Human Space Flight is the annual celebration, held on April 12, 1961 of the anniversary of the first human space flight by Yuri Gagarin. In the Soviet Union, 12 April was commemorated as Cosmonautics Day since 1963, and is still observed in Russia and some former Soviet states.
The Treaty of Fontainebleau between Napoleon and representatives of Austria, Russia and Prussia was signed in Paris on April 11, 1814. It ended the War of the Sixth Coalition against Napoleon, and forced him to abdicate unconditionally for the first time
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Napoleon's abdication |
Following Napoleon's retreat from Russia, the coalition armies led by Tsar Alexander I of Russia and Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg, launched the German campaign. Napoleon assumed command against them in Germany and inflicted a series of defeats on the Coalition culminating in the Battle of Dresden in August 1813.
Despite these successes, the numbers continued to mount against Napoleon, and the French army was pinned down by a force twice its size and lost at the Battle of Leipzig between October 16-19. The battle involved about 600,000 soldiers, making it the largest battle before World War I.
After the Battle of Toulouse, which was fought on April 12, 1814 an aide brought the commander of the Allied British-Portuguese and Spanish army, the Duke of Wellington, the news of Napoleon's abdication. The Duke of Wellington - a famously stoic individual - broke into an impromptu flamenco dance, spinning around on his heels and clicking his fingers.
Napoleon was forced to abdicate without conditions. He said: "There is no personal sacrifice [I am] not willing to make for France." The victors exiled him to the Mediterranean island of Elba.
National Farm Animals Day is celebrated annually on April 10th. It's a day dedicated to recognizing the many contributions farm animals make to our lives.
National Unicorn Day is celebrated every year on April 9 to honor the beautiful one-horned mythical creature.
The unicorn is a mythical animal referred to by classical authors. It was said to be like a horse but with one straight horn.
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Pixiebay |
According to legend, the unicorn is the strongest of all animals and can defeat an elephant but is humbled by a virgin maiden.
The American Civil War ended on April 9, 1865, when Confederate General Robert Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox.
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Union Army general Ulysses S. Grant accepting Confederate general Robert E. Lee's surrender in 1865. |
The American Civil War was, fought between the southern or Confederate States in the United States and the northern or Federal States between 1861-65. The civil war began primarily as a result of the long-standing controversy over slavery; the Confederate states wished to maintain their 'state rights' regarding the institution of slavery.
When Robert E Lee and the Confederate army surrendered, the Union soldiers silently saluted them. Normally victorious armies would taunt or mock defeated ones, but Union Brig. Gen. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain respected the Confederates too much and ordered that they be treated well.
The Confederacy was defeated at the total cost of the death of 620,000 Union and Confederate soldiers.
Roughly 2% of the U.S. population, an estimated 620,000 men, died serving in the American Civil War. As a percentage of today's population the toll would have risen as high as six million.
April 8 was officially declared International Romani Day in 1990 in Serock, Poland, the site of the fourth World Romani Congress of the International Romani Union, in honor of the first major international meeting of Romani representatives, April 7-12, 1971 in Chelsfield near London.
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A Romani wagon in Germany in 1935. By Bundesarchiv, Wikipedia |
Romani or Gypsies are nomadic people of low-caste Indian origin, who migrated to Persia. They moved onto Europe, reaching Germany and France in the 15th century.
The name gypsy derives from the original mistaken belief that they came from Egypt. They were called Egyptians, which became corrupted to Gyptians and so to the present form.
Romani are well known for their folk music. The earliest reference to what are believed to be Gypsies as musicians was used in the mid 11th century in Constantinople.
World Health Day is held each year on April 7th to celebrate the founding of the World Health Organisation on that date in 1948. It's headquarters are in Geneva.
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World Health Organization Flag. By United States Mission Geneva |
The post war UK Labour government took heed of Beveridge's report and on July 5, 1948 they created a public funded healthcare system, the National Health Service as part of their new welfare state. The aim of the founders of the NHS was that the state should care for its citizens "from the cradle to the grave."
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Medicare, a health insurance program for elderly Americans, into law on July 30, 1965.
Over 95% of the world’s population has health problems, with over a third having more than five ailments.
Today is the anniversary of the opening of The first modern Olympic Games in Athens.
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Opening ceremony in the Panathinaiko Stadium |
The successful campaign to revive the Olympics was started in France by Baron Pierre de Coubertin in 1890, after attending the Olympian Games of the Wenlock Olympian Society.
On April 6, 1896, in the presence of a crowd of 50,000, the King of Greece declared the first of the new series of Olympic Games open at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens.
The Games consisted of 43 events. They brought together 14 nations and 241 athletes mostly from Greece, Germany and France.
Winners received a silver medal and a crown of olive branches, with bronze for the runners-up.
On April 6, 1896 an American college student named James Connolly won the triple jump, becoming the first Olympic champion in over 1,500 years.
National Read a Road Map Day is an unofficial holiday celebrated on April 5th. It's a day dedicated to the good old-fashioned paper map, encouraging people to ditch the GPS and rediscover the thrill of navigating with a physical map.
Today is April 4.
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Daily flower. By Ntgr - |
It is unclear as to where April got its name. A common theory is that it comes from the Latin word "aperire", meaning "to open", referring to flowers opening in spring. Another theory is that the name could come from Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love.
In Old English the month of April was called Eastermonad.
In Western Christianity, there is a bigger likelihood of Easter falling in April than in March.
In the English language, April is the first of three months in-a-row, along with May and June, that is also a female given name.
Today is the anniversary of the first ever phone call made on a cell phone.
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Renactment of Martin Cooper's first mobile call |
Martin Cooper of Motorola publicly demonstrated the world's first handheld mobile phone on April 3, 1973. He made a call from a New York City street on a prototype DynaTAC model to a landline phone, which was answered by Joel Engel, the head of research at AT&T's Bell Labs.
The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X was the first portable cellular phone to be commercially released. It received approval from the U.S. FCC on September 21, 1983. It was priced at $3,995 in 1984.
The world's first smartphone, the IBM Simon was released in 1994. The device cost $899, and had only one third party app.
The Motorola StarTAC, the first clamshell/flip mobile phone, was released on January 3, 1996. The StarTAC was among the first mobile phones to gain widespread consumer adoption; approximately 60 million StarTACs were sold.
National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day celebrates on April 2, 2020 the favorite lunchtime sandwich of American children, and many adults.
The average American child will have eaten over 1500 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches by the time they graduate from high school.
The world's largest peanut butter and jelly sandwich was assembled in Grand Saline, Texas on November 13, 2010. It was made in Grand Saline, Texas, weighed 1,342 pounds and contained 292 pounds of peanut butter, 340 pounds of grape jelly, and 710 pounds of bread.
Many trace the origins of April Fools' Day back to 1582 when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian, resulting in the new year starting on January 1st instead of March 25th. “Those who continued to celebrate the end of New Year Week on April 1st were referred to as fools,” according to the Encyclopedia Britannica.
One of the first April Fool pranks occurred in 1698, when the citizens of London were tricked into attending the lion-washing ceremony at the Tower of London, a ceremony that did not actually exist.
The prank was repeated on April 1, 1857 when tickets were offered for "Washing the Lions" at the Tower of London in London.
Astronomer Patrick Moore told BBC listeners on April 1, 1976 that due to a unique planet alignment, we would feel lighter at 9.47am.
As part of an April Fool's Day prank in 1989, a TV news station in Seattle reported that the city's iconic Space Needle had collapsed. So many people called 911 that the lines went down, and medical professionals left from hours away to volunteer in the 'recovery' efforts.
Holy Innocents Day on December 28th commemorates The Massacre of the Innocents, the biblical recount of infanticide by Herod the Great. It is a day for pranks, equivalent to April Fool's Day in many countries including Spain, Hispanic America, and the Philippines. After somebody plays a prank on somebody else, the joker usually cries out, in some regions of Ibero-America: Inocente palomita que te dejaste engañar ("You innocent little dove that let yourself be fooled").
Easter is the yearly festival observed by Christians to commemorate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The name Easter owes its origin from Eastre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, who symbolized hares and eggs. Only the Venerable Bede mentions her.
Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection occurred after he went to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover, the Jewish festival commemorating the ancient Israelites’ exodus from slavery in Egypt.
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Resurrection of Christ by Hans Rottenhammer |
Easter Day falls on the first Sunday after the full moon following the Spring Equinox (the time when the sun crosses the equator and day and night are equal).
Easter Sunday may fall on any date between March 22nd and April 25th.
National Crayon Day is celebrated on March 31 every year. The day is intended to celebrate the creation of crayons as well as the joy of using crayons to color.
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4-crayon pack sporting built-in sharpener. CC BY 3.0, $2 |
In 1903 a wax crayon was developed in Europe and was first used to mark crates and boxes. Later called Crayola, it made its way in several colors to the USA. where the boxes of eight retailed for five cents on October 23, 1903.
A crayon molder named Emerson Moser helped create 1.4 billion crayons over a 37-year career. On his last day he revealed that he was color blind.
Crayons can be used as candles in case of an emergency. Each crayon can burn up to 30 minutes.
National Doctors' Day is celebrated on March 30 each year to recognize the contributions of physicians to individual lives and communities.
The first observance included the mailing of cards to the physicians and their wives, and flowers placed on graves of deceased doctors, including Dr. Long. The red carnation is commonly used as the symbolic flower for National Doctors Day
On February 21, 1991, President George H.W. Bush proclaimed National Doctors Day to honor the Nation’s physicians for their dedication and leadership.
Today is Good Friday. Good Friday is a significant day in the Christian calendar, marking the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. It falls on the Friday before Easter Sunday, which commemorates the resurrection of Jesus. Good Friday is observed with solemnity and reverence by Christians worldwide.
33 AD was the possible year of Jesus’ crucifixion according to the Bible and earthquake research reported in the International Geology Review in 2012.
In the Philippines, some Catholics volunteer to be non-lethally crucified on Good Friday. Sterilized nails are driven through their palms and they are hung on crosses. A carpenter named Ruben Enaje has been crucified over 32 times. Philippines Department of Health advises tetanus shots before crucifixion.
National Vietnam War Veterans Day is a US holiday observed annually on March 29 recognizing veterans who served in the US military during the Vietnam War.
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U.S. soldiers searching a village for potential Viet Cong/ |
Within South Vietnam the communist Viet Cong, supported by North Vietnam and China, attempted to seize power. South Vietnam were backed by the USA, who provided military aid from 1964.
Several large-scale invasion attempts by North Vietnam were defeated by indigenous and US forces, but the unpopularity of the war within the USA led to American withdraw from 1973.
Maundy Thursday, also known as Holy Thursday, is a significant day in the Christian liturgical calendar. It commemorates several key events in the life of Jesus Christ as described in the New Testament of the Bible, particularly in the Gospels.
The Last Supper: Maundy Thursday marks the occasion of the Last Supper, which Jesus shared with his disciples in Jerusalem before his crucifixion. During this meal, Jesus instituted the sacrament of Holy Communion or the Eucharist, where he broke bread and shared wine with his disciples, symbolizing his body and blood.
The Washing of the Feet: Another significant event associated with Maundy Thursday is the washing of the disciples' feet by Jesus. This act of humility and service demonstrated Jesus' love for his followers and set an example of servant leadership.
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Maundy ceremony in a Church in Wales parish church By Peter Mackriell - Flickr, |
The Agony in the Garden: After the Last Supper, Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray, where he experienced great anguish and agony over the events that were about to unfold, including his betrayal and crucifixion. This moment in the garden signifies Jesus' submission to the will of God.
Betrayal and Arrest: Maundy Thursday also marks the betrayal of Jesus by Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, who identified Jesus to the authorities with a kiss. Following this betrayal, Jesus was arrested by the Roman soldiers and taken into custody.
The term "Maundy" is derived from the Latin word "mandatum," meaning commandment, and refers to Jesus' commandment to his disciples during the Last Supper to love one another as he had loved them (John 13:34). In some Christian traditions, Maundy Thursday is observed with special church services, including the reenactment of the Last Supper, foot washing ceremonies, and the stripping of the altar to symbolize Jesus' impending crucifixion. It is the beginning of the Easter Triduum, which also includes Good Friday and Holy Saturday, leading up to Easter Sunday, the celebration of Jesus' resurrection.
World Theatre Day is celebrated annually on March 27 by International Theatre Institute (ITI) Centres and the international theatre community. It was initiated in 1961 by the ITI
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The inside of the Apollo Theater as seen from the stage. David Shankbone |
The performance of mime as a dramatic art form originated in Ancient Greece; the name was taken from a single masked dancer called Pantomimus, although performances were not necessarily silent.
The world's largest theatrical wardrobe department is at Walt Disney World, Florida, which houses 1.2 million costumes.
Due to covid-19 outbreak, the ITI conducted the 2021 activities online.
The Independence Day of Bangladesh is a national holiday that takes place ever March 26. It commemorates the country's declaration of independence from Pakistan in the early hours of March 26, 1971 by the leader of the Nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
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Bangladesh Indepednce Day celebration By Sajeeb Ahmed Photography |
Substantially different in culture, language, and geography from Western Pakistan, East Pakistan resented their political and military dominance. A movement for political autonomy gained strength as a result of West Pakistan's indifference, when flooding killed 500,000 in East Pakistan in 1970.
The Bangladesh Liberation War began after the Pakistani military junta based in West Pakistan launched Operation Searchlight against the people of East Pakistan on the night of March 25, 1971. It pursued the systematic elimination of nationalist Bengali civilians, students, intelligentsia, religious minorities and armed personnel and resulted in the flight of 10 million East Pakistani refugees to India.
The violent crackdown by the Pakistan Army led to Awami League leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declaring East Pakistan's independence as the state of Bangladesh the following day.
Tolkien Reading Day is an annual event, launched by The Tolkien Society in 2003, that takes place on March 25. It has the aim of encouraging the reading of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, and the use of Tolkien's works in education and library groups.
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JRR Tolkien |
The date of of March 25th was chosen as the date on which the Ring was destroyed, completing Frodo's quest and vanquishing Sauron.
As an Oxford professor of Anglo-Saxon, Tolkien was proficient in over a dozen languages. Linguistics played a large role in his literature. He created 11 different tongues for his works, including Elvish, Khuzdul of the Dwarves, and Sauron's Black Speech.
Reading at a rate of one page a minute, it has been calculated that it takes one minute longer to read JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit and Lord Of The Rings than to listen to the Wagner Ring cycle.
Palm Sunday is a Christian holiday that falls on the Sunday before Easter Sunday. It commemorates Jesus Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, as described in the Gospels of the New Testament. The name "Palm Sunday" is derived from the Gospel accounts which mention that crowds of people spread palm branches on the road as Jesus entered the city.
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A close up of a culture of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Wikipedia |
Eight years later Koch prematurely announced he had developed tuberculin, a cure for tuberculosis. Though it proved ineffective as a vaccine against the disease it did work as a way of finding out whether a patient had experienced tuberculosis.
The Bacillus Calmette–Guerin vaccine against tuberculous is based on a bovine strain of the bacterium. It was developed by Albert Calmette and Camille Guerin in the 1910s and first used on humans in 1921. Today, in countries where tuberculosis is common, one dose of BCG is recommended in healthy babies as close to the time of birth as possible.
The organism that usually causes tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, can travel through the air and spread from one person to the next. This happens when infected people cough, speak, sneeze, or spit.
In 2012, 8.6 million people fell ill with TB, and 1.3 million died from the disease, mostly in low and middle-income countries.
Pakistan Day, also Republic Day, is a national holiday in Pakistan commemorating the Lahore Resolution passed on March 23, 1940 and the adoption of the first constitution of Pakistan during the transition of the Dominion of Pakistan to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan on March 23, 1956.
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Flag of Pakistan |
“Pak” means spiritually pure in Urdu and “Stan” means land. The name coined by Ali was accepted by the Indian Muslims who then thereby adopted it further for the Pakistan Movement seeking independence.
The Muslim League slowly rose to mass popularity in the 1930s thanks to fears of under-representation and neglect of Muslims in politics. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, greatly espoused the two-nation theory and led the Muslim League to adopt the Lahore Resolution of 1940, popularly known as the Pakistan Resolution.
As the United Kingdom agreed upon partitioning of the Indian empire of British Raj, the modern state of Pakistan was established on August 14, 1947.
Queen Elizabeth II ended her role as monarch of Pakistan on March 23, 1956, when it became the first country in the world to declare itself an Islamic Repub
Today is World Water Day, an annual UN observance day (22 March) that highlights the importance of freshwater and how it is linked to climate change. The day is used to advocate for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.
In 1900, the average American used just five gallons (19 litres) of water a day. Only 15 percent of households had flushing toilets, and even fewer had bath tubs. People often had no conception of what it was like to be wet all over. People on farms have to dig wells by hand and carry water to the house. They required 50 gallons (189 litres) of it for one load of laundry.
Between 1900 and 2000, water consumption increased by 600% and, with natural sources of water becoming an increasingly valuable commodity the United Nations was anxious that rivers crossing national boundaries, would soon become a source of conflict.
Some studies suggest that by 2025 more than half the people around the world will not have enough fresh water.
The world's purest fresh water can be found on the southern tip of Chile, in a town called Puerto Williams. The water has been found to have only two chemical parts per million, hence making it the world's cleanest.
nternational Color Day is celebrated each year on March 21 by the International Color Association. Apparently they chose the date to mark the spring equinox, when light and dark are equal, though the equinox usually falls on March 19 or 20.
The color you see in a pitch-black room is "Dark Gray" not black and it is called "Eigengrau".
When asked to name a color, 60% of any sample will name the color “red.”
Today, March 20, 2024, is officially the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and one of only two days a year when the length of night and day are equal. From March 21st the days are longer than the nights and will be until September 22nd.
Saint Joseph's Day, also known as the Feast of Saint Joseph, is a Christian celebration that honors Saint Joseph, the husband of the Virgin Mary and the foster father of Jesus Christ. It is observed on March 19th each year in many Christian traditions, including Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.
Each year, National Biodiesel Day on March 18th commemorates the birthday of Rudolf Diesel on March 18, 1858.
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Diesel's original 1897 engine on display at the Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany. Photo by Chris Thomas |
Rudolph Diesel had the idea to develop an engine which relied on a high compression of the fuel to ignite it. He took his inspiration from watching a lecture where there was a demonstration of a Malaysian fire starting technique called the 'fire piston' which creates flames through air compression.
Diesel first came up with a design for his engine in 1892 and, subsidized by the Krupp company, constructed a ‘rational heat motor’, demonstrating the first compression-ignition engine in 1897. Diesel was granted US Patent No. 608,845 on August 9, 1898, for his engine. He unveiled his engine at the World Fair in 1900.
Saint Patrick's Day takes place on March 17, the feast day of Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. It is celebrated all over Ireland and elsewhere in the world where Irish people or their descendants live.
St Patrick's Day became a public holiday in Ireland in 1903 thanks to an Irish MP James O'Mara. He was also responsible for a law which required pubic houses to close on March 17th to prevent public drunkenness. That law was not repealed until the 1970s.
St Patrick's Day is a holiday in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Newfoundland, Labrador and Montserrat.
Over 8 million St. Patrick's Day greeting cards are exchanged in America making today the ninth-largest card selling occasion in the US.
National Panda Day draws attention to one of the world’s unique bears on March 16 every year.
China retains ownership of all the giant pandas around the world, which are selectively loaned to other countries. The fee for a pair is usually $1 million a year, with funds going toward conservation efforts in China.
Since 2010 pandas born in captivity in China have been looked after by researchers in panda suits to prepare the animals for life in the wild.
Today is World Sleep day. World Sleep Day is held the Friday before Spring Vernal Equinox of each year. It is organized by the World Sleep Day Committee of World Sleep Society (founded by WASM and WSF) and aims to lessen the burden of sleep problems on society through better prevention and management of sleep disorders.
The word “sleep” derives from the Proto-European base *sleb, “to be weak,” and is related to “slack.”
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Pixiebay |
Ancient peoples actually slept in two periods, sometimes termed “first sleep” and “second sleep,” each lasting four hours with a two hour reprieve in between. Additionally, most people would take a mid-afternoon rest ranging from 30 minutes to 2 hours.
The phrase "sleep tight" originated in Shakespeare's time when mattresses were filled with straw and held up with a rope stretched across the bed frame. If the rope was tight, sleep was comfortable. Hence ......... 'goodnight, sleep tight.
A single seven-to-eight hour sleep pattern like our didn't happen until the Industrial Revolution. With the invention of artificial light, like kerosene lamps and the eventual electric light bulb, the days became much longer and it became customary to continue working into the dark so as to maximize productivity and consequently consolidate rest into one long chunk.<
World Speech Day takes place annually on March 15, celebrating "speeches and speech making through live speaking events across the world".
Winston Churchill, would spend weeks polishing up particular phrases for his speeches. He would write while on the telephone or propped up in bed, but perhaps Churchill’s favorite location for writing was the bath.
Dr Martin King's "I had a dream" speech was ranked the top American speech of the 20th century in a 1999 poll of scholars of public address.
Pi is a mathematical constant, the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, which is commonly approximated as 3.14159.
Pi Day is celebrated around the world on March 14 or 3.14 and officially kicks off at 1:59 pm. When combined the date and time results in 3.14159, the approximate numerical value of pi.
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A pi pie |
If you list the first 360 digits of PI, the last 3 digits will be "360". PI comes from a circle which has 360 degrees.
March 14 may be Pi Day but the ultimate Pi Day was March 14, 1592, or 3.14.1592 as the Americans write it, which has the first seven digits of pi.
National Earmuff Day is celebrated on March 13th recognizing the anniversary of the creation of the protection that keeps our ears warm.
Greenwood patented an improved earmuff with a steel band which held them in place on March 13, 1877. In the patent document No.188,292, the invention is described as "Improvement in Ear-Mufflers."
Having patented Greenwood’s Champion Ear Protectors, he established Greenwood’s Ear Protector Factory, which by 1883 was making 50,000 pairs a year.
Girl Scout Day is celebrated annually on March 12th.
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Juliette Gordon Low (center), with two Girl Scouts. |
In 1911 Juliette Gordon Low met Robert Baden-Powell while she was living in the United Kingdom. Inspired by the Girl Guides movement, she established the Girl Scouts of America,. On March 12, 1912 she organized the first Girl Scouts troop meeting of 18 girls in Savannah, Georgia.
Brownies, the junior section of the Guides were established in 1914, they were first called Rosebuds. The name Brownie was adopted in 1918.
World Kidney Day is observed on March 11 annually. The day raises awareness of the increasing burden of kidney diseases worldwide and to strive for kidney health for everyone, everywhere.
Kidney disease is a non-communicable disease (NCD) and currently affects around 850 million people worldwide. One in ten adults has chronic kidney disease (CKD)
Each of our two kidneys is about 4.5 inches long and weighs about five ounces.
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By Madhero88 - Own workReferenceshere, CC BY 3.0, $3 |
The average person's kidneys account for only about half of a percent of their total body weight.
The main functions of the kidneys are blood purification and waste elimination.
National Mario Day celebrates the entire Mario franchise on March 10th. It takes place on March 10th each year, the reason being that this date, written as "Mar10", looks like Mario's name.
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Promotional artwork of Mario, as seen in New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Wikipedia |
Mario Bros was a platform game created by Shigeru Miyamoto, one of the lead developers for the video game Donkey Kong for arcades.
In the game, Mario is portrayed as an Italian-American plumber who, along with his brother Luigi has to defeat enemies that have been coming from the sewers by jumping on them from below and then kicking them, when they are knocked down. It was first released on July 14, 1983.
The first title in the series, Super Mario Bros., released for the Nintendo Entertainment System on September 13, 1985, established gameplay concepts and elements prevalent in nearly every Super Mario game since.
On March 9th, National Barbie Day celebrates an iconic doll that premiered on that day in 1959. March 9th is also used as Barbie's official birthday.
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The first Barbie doll. Original uploaded by Barbieologin at Wikimedia Commons |
Barbie was named by Ruth after her daughter. Her full name is Barbie Millicent Roberts, and she is from Willows, Wisconsin.
Mattel designer Jack Ryan (1926-1991) created the popular image of the Barbie doll. Apart from Barbie's general appearance, Ryan designed both the hinge that enabled her knees and waist to bend and her pull-string voice box.
The Barbie Doll made her debut in a zebra-striped swimsuit at the New York Toy Fair on March 9, 1959. It took toy stores across the US by storm and more than 351,000 dolls were sold that year at $3 (£2.00) each.
International Women's Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. It is celebrated each year on March 8.
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1917 International Women's Day - Petrograd. |
In ancient Greece women didn't start counting their age until their wedding day, rather than the actual day they were born. They believed the wedding date was the real start of a woman's life.
Until the late 1400s the word 'girl' just meant a child of either sex. If you had to differentiate between them, male children were referred to as 'knave girls' and females were 'gay girls'.
World Book Day falls on the first Thursday in March - celebrating everything to do with literature and reading. The annual event, celebrated in over 100 countries around the world is led by the charity Unesco, It is largely targeted towards children and aimed at encouraging their love of reading.
It is not until about 425 BC that a book trade developed in Athens, with educated people acquiring papyrus scrolls to read in the privacy of their homes.
Plato, writing in the Phaedrus in about 365 BC, expressed strong disapproval of this new-fangled fashion for reading by oneself.
People in India are the world's biggest readers, spending an average 10.7 hours a week.
Ten books on a shelf can be arranged in 3,628,800 different ways.
National Oreo Cookie Day is recognized across the USA each year on March 6th.
The Oreo sandwich cookie was first developed and produced by the National Biscuit Company (today known as Nabisco) in 1912.
Oreo cookies were first made in a New York bakery. They sold for 30 cents per pound in what is now Chelsea Market.
The first Oreo was sold on March 6, 1912 to a grocer in Hoboken, New Jersey.
The name Oreo was first trademarked a week later. Although the origin of the name "Oreo" is unknown, there are many theories. According to one Oreo executive, the name mimics the two O-shaped cookies that make the sandwich. Others claim the "re" comes from the "cream.
National Cereal Day is celebrated across the USA each year on March 7th.
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Advertisement for Kellogg's Toasted Corn Flakes from the July 21, 1910 issue of Life magazine. |
John Harvey Kellogg , the superintendent of the Battle Creek Sanitarium , developed a new cereal, an improvement on the Granose idea. This new product came about by accident, after some boiled corn was left alone, one of his cooks found it had broken into crispy flakes. He served corn flakes for the first time to his patients at his hospital in Battle Creek, Michigan on March 7, 1896.
The first cereals for the sweet tooted were introduced in 1958, General Mills’ Cocoa Puffs and Kelloggs' Cocoa Krispies.
Today is March 5th. The month of March comes from the Latin “Martius,” named for Mars, the Roman god of war who was also regarded as a guardian of agriculture and an ancestor of the Roman people. His month was the beginning of the season for both farming and warfare.
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Colossal statue of Mars (Pyrrhus) - User:Jean-Pol GRANDMONT (2011), Wikipedia Commons |
March was the first month of the year until the Gregorian calendar began to be used in 1752.
March was called Hlyda or Lide in Old English, which is a reference to the loud winds.
March is the only month with three consecutive consonants in its name in English
Today is Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent in Western Christianity. It occurs 46 days before Easter, being the 40 fasting days of Lent plus six Sundays, which are seen as feast days.
The name of Ash Wednesday comes from the practice of placing ashes from palm branches on the heads of Christian worshipers,
Observers have ashes placed on their foreheads in the shape of the cross as the words from Genesis 3:19 are spoken: "You are dust, and to dust you shall return."
Lent, the period of abstinence in preparation for Easter, was not observed by the very early church. Lent has been on the church calendar since the first or second century, but has not always occupied the same dates. According to Irenaeus (c. 130-c. 200), cited by Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History, the lenten fast originally lasted only two or three days.
From the fourth century a time of fasting in the time preceding Easter was maintained. The extent of fasting varied, for instance Pope Gregory the Great wrote to St Augustine of Canterbury "We abstain from flesh meat, and from all things that come from flesh, such as milk, cheese, and eggs."
The duration of Lent remained variable until the 1091 Synod of Benevento, when the observance of Ash Wednesday as the first day of Lent, became universal.
It was probably adopted to parallel the 40-day fasts of Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, though it may also have reflected the 40 hours Jesus spent in the tomb.
Today is Shrove Tuesday
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An English pancake race on Shrove Tuesday By Lestalorm |
Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent in the Christian calendar. It is also known as Mardi Gras and, in England, Pancake Tuesday, for the custom of eating up of rich things before the Lenten fast.
Throughout late medieval Europe pancakes had a place among Easter culinary items, especially on Shrove Tuesday. Pancakes were originally invented as a way of using up all the leftover fatty and rich before Lent began on Ash Wednesday.
William Shakespeare uses the simile “as fit as a pancake for Shrove Tuesday” in All’s Well That Ends Well.
Mardi Gras is French for "Fat Tuesday", reflecting the practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season.
Mardi Gras only became a holiday in 1582, when Pope Gregory XIII placed it on his Gregorian calendar on the day before Ash Wednesday.
The Carnival of Brazil is an annual Brazilian festival held between the Friday afternoon (51 days before Easter) and Ash Wednesday at noon, which marks the beginning of Lent. Carnival is the most famous Brazilian holiday. During this time, Brazil attracts 70% of its tourists.
National Anthem Day is every March 3rd, commemorating the day that congress made "The Star-Spangled Banner" their national anthem.
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The earliest surviving sheet music of "The Star-Spangled Banner", from 1814. |
In a turning point in the War of 1812, the British failed to capture Baltimore. During the battle, lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry by British ships of the Royal Navy in Baltimore Harbor. Key's poem about the event, "Defence of Fort McHenry", which he wrote between September 14-17, 1814, was later set to music and became the United States' national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner."
The Secretary of War, Daniel E. Lamont issued an order in the 1890s that it "be played at every Army post every evening at retreat." and in 1899, the US Navy officially adopted "The Star-Spangled Banner" as its anthem.
In 1916 President Woodrow Wilson issued an executive order making "The Star-Spangled Banner" the US national anthem. The order was confirmed by a congressional resolution on March 3, 1931 which was signed by President Herbert Hoover. Before 1931, the US national anthem was "My Country 'Tis Of Thee."
The full version of "The Star Spangled Banner" consists of four verses, but it is very rare to hear any but the first performed.
Saint David's Day is the feast day of Saint David and falls on March 1st each year. The date was declared a national day of celebration within Wales in the 18th century.
Stained glass chapel panel, of St David originally designed by William Burges |
Saint David was a Welsh bishop of Menevia during the 6th century. He was born near the present city of St Davids around 520 AD.
He founded a Celtic monastic community at Glyn Rhosyn (The Vale of Roses) in a remote and inhospitable part of south west Wales on the western headland of Pembrokeshire. St David's Cathedral stands today at the same spot. St David established many other monasteries churches throughout the country.
The date of Saint David's death is believed to be March 1, 589. His last words to the community of monks were: "Be steadfast brothers be ye constant. The yoke which with single mind ye have taken, bear ye to the end; and whatsoever ye have seen with me and heard, keep and fulfill.
Today is February 29, a date that occurs only ever fourth year when its a leap year. A leap year is a year that, for calendar purposes, contains an extra day, February 29, making it 366 days instead of the usual 365 days. The concept of a leap year is necessary to keep the calendar year synchronized with the astronomical year, which is the time it takes for the Earth to complete its orbit around the sun.
The Earth's orbit around the sun takes approximately 365.2422 days. To account for this fractional part of a day, an extra day is added to the calendar approximately every four years. This additional day compensates for the roughly 0.2422 days that accumulate each year. This system is known as the Gregorian calendar, named after Pope Gregory XIII, who introduced it in October 1582.
Today is National Chili Day. Chilli Day is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in February on the grounds that hot food is most needed in a cold month.
Chilies were brought to Spain from South America in 1493 by Diego Alvarez Chanca, a physician who sailed with Columbus.
Because Chilies are native only to the Americas. India and Thailand didn't have spicy food before Columbus.
Today is International Polar Bear Day.
Because of expected habitat loss caused by climate change, the polar bear is classified as a vulnerable species.
International Polar Bear Day is an annual event organized by Polar Bears International every February 27 to raise awareness about the conservation status of the polar bear.
The latest estimate of the worldwide polar bear population by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature is 22,000 to 31,000, and the current population trend is unknown. Around 70 per cent are found in Canada.
Polar bears fur is made up of a layer of dense underfur and an outer layer of guard hairs, which appear white but are in fact transparent. They reflect light, so they appear white.
Today is National Pistachio Day. The day is observed in the US on February 26 each year.
The pistachio is a small tree originating from Central Asia and the Middle East.
Today is a national holiday in Estonia marking the anniversary of the Estonian Declaration of Independence in 1918.
The Flag of Estonia was associated with Estonian nationalism and was used as the national flag when the Estonian Declaration of Independence was issued on February 24, 1918. It was raised for the first time on December 12, 1918 atop the Pikk Hermann in Tallinn.
During World War II (1939–1945), Estonia was repeatedly contested and occupied by the Soviet Union and Germany, ultimately being incorporated into the former.
Estonia declared formal independence, reconstituting the pre-1940 state, on the night of August 20, 1991, during the attempted coup by the Soviets.
The National Day or Estonian Independence Day is celebrated each year on February 24th. It celebrates the independence of Estonia from the Russian Empire in 1918; the Soviet period is considered to have been an illegal annexation.
February 23rd is observed around the world as International Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day.
The earliest reference to “dog biscuits” in the Oxford English Dictionary refers to “An advertisement of dog biscuits manufactured by Mr Smith of Maidenhead” in 1823.
The first to market dog biscuits worldwide was James Pratt, an electrical and lightning rod salesman of Ohio around 1860.
One employee at Pratt’s factory in London was Charles Cruft who later founded Cruft’s Dog Show.
The word's largest dog biscuit weighed 279.87 kg (617 lb) and was made by Hampshire Pet Products (USA) in Joplin, Missouri, USA, on July 8, 2011. The biscuit was 19 ft (5.79m) long, 3.8 ft, (1.16 m) wide, and 1.63 in (0.04 m) deep. It required a total of 10 bakers to bake it.
Play Tennis Day is celebrated on February 23 across the US every year. In 1873 Major Walter Wingfield created an outdoor game he called "Sphairistike" but it survives to this day as lawn tennis, from the French "tenez." He came up with the idea after playing with a new kind of ball made from of India rubber which had been designed to bounce on grass.
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Drawing of a Lawn Tennis court as originally designed by Major Walter Wingfield in 1874 |
The retired British cavalryman introduced the game at a Christmas party in the gardens of 17th century Nantclwyd Hall, near Ruthin, Wales in 1873. His game was called sphairistike.
The name 'Sphairistike' was rather poor Greek, being a mangling of the Greek for ‘playing ball' .
Wingfield's game was played on an hour-glass shaped court with a net that was 4ft 8in high. A modern net is 3.5ft at the posts, 3ft in the middle.
Major Walter Wingfield was at heart a salesman and a promoter. The retired army officer drew up a set of rules and, in 1874, patented his 'sphairistrike' game, which mixed elements of racquets, badminton, and court tennis. Between July 1874 and June 1875, 1,050 of his tennis sets were sold.
Walter Wingfield holds a great credit in popularising this game enormously. The world’s oldest tennis tournament, Wimbledon Championships was first played at London in 1877.
(For more check out my entry for Tennis).
National Cook A Sweet Potato Day is celebrated on February 22nd each year.
Sweet potatoes are thought to have been first domesticated in Central America at least 5,000 years ago. The first Europeans to taste sweet potatoes were members of Christopher Columbus' expedition in 1492. After that, many explorers discovered a wide variety of local names for different cultivars for the sweet potato.
In Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Venezuela, the sweet potato is called batata. In Chile, Central America, Mexico, Peru and the Philippines, the sweet potato is known as camote, which comes from the Nahuatl word camot.
Unlike other potatoes, sweet potatoes like long, hot growing seasons. This might explain why they are recognized as the state vegetable of North Carolina, where 1.2 billion pounds a year are produced.
Today is International Mother Language Day.
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2017 International Mother Language Day celebration in Bangalore By Suyash Dwivedi |
The book of Genesis in the Bible tells us that the emergence of different languages happened in around 4,000 BC. It was God's punishment for man's presumption in building the mighty tower of Babel, in Babylonia which was a monument to their own greatness. He scattered the people all over the Earth and confused their language so they wouldn't understand each other.
A recent Languages Of The World publication lists 7,097 languages spoken on Earth. Around 40 per cent of them are in danger of disappearing..
The ten most spoken languages in the world are Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, English, Hindi, Arabic, Bengali, Russian, Portuguese, Japanese, German and French, in that order.
February 20 is National Cherry Pie Day. Turkey produces more cherries than any other country. The United States comes second.
The cherries from an average cherry tree are enough to make 28 cherry pies.
There is a city in Washington named 'George'. Every year, George, Washington celebrates the 4th of July by baking the world's largest cherry pie.
Serving ice cream on cherry pie was once illegal in Kansas.
The birthday of Batman’s civilian alter ego, billionaire Bruce Wayne is February 19th.
US cartoonist Bob Kane (1915-98) co-created Batman after being asked by his boss to produce a rival to Superman. he said he came up with the Caped Crusader in a single weekend, inspired by Leonardo da Vinci, after coming across one of the artist’s pictures of "a flying machine with huge bat wings" when he was about 12. Kane said: "It looked like a bat man to me."
On March 30, 1939, DC Comics published its second major superhero in Detective Comics #27; he was Batman, one of the most popular comic book superheroes of all time. He made his first appearance under the name "Bat-Man."
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Detective Comics #27 (May 1939). The first appearance of Batman. Art by Bob Kane. Wikipedia Commons |
Batman’s civilian alter ego, billionaire Bruce Wayne, was named after two historical figures — Robert the Bruce and U.S. War of Independence General ‘Mad Anthony’ Wayne. His birthday is February 19th, the date that Batman's creator Bob Kane first drew him.
Bruce Wayne's clock unlocks the secret door to the Batcave when the hands are set to the time that his parents were murdered, 10:47 P.M.
National Battery Day is observed each year in the US on February 18th. The day serves to appreciate the convenience batteries provide to our everyday lives.
The Baghdad Battery is a 2000-year-old clay jar with a stopper made of asphalt. Sticking through the asphalt is an iron rod surrounded by a copper cylinder. When filled with vinegar or other electrolytic solution, the jar produces about 1.1 volts.
The usage of the word "battery" to describe a group electrical devices dates to Benjamin Franklin,
In 1749 Franklin used the term "battery" to describe a set of linked capacitors he used for his experiments with electricity by analogy to a battery of cannon. (He borrowed the term from the military, where a "battery" refers to weapons functioning together.)
For the battery we must thank the frog. In the 1780s, the Italian physicist Luigi Galvani discovered that a dead frog's leg would twitch when he touched it with two pieces of metal. Galvani had created a crude circuit and the phenomenon was taken up by his friend, the aristocratic Professor Alessandro Volta, whose voltaic cells stacked in a Voltaic pile amazed Napoleon. The pile was also the first battery.
Today is National Cabbage day celebrating the delightful garden staple.
Jacques Cartier first brought cabbage to the Americas in 1541–42, and it was probably planted by the early English colonists, despite the lack of written evidence of its existence there until the mid-17th century.
Cabbage heads generally range from 1 to 8 lbs and can be green, purple and white.
Cabbages are prepared in many different ways for eating. They can be pickled for dishes such as sauerkraut, steamed, stewed, sautéed, braised, or eaten raw.
Cabbage is a good source of beta-carotene, vitamin C and fiber.
National Almond Day, which recognizes the versatile and healthful almond is celebrated on February 16th each year.
The origins of the almond go back a long, long way. It’s mentioned in Genesis 43:11 where it is described as “among the best” and nine additional times in the Bible.
Wild almonds are poisonous. The kernel produces deadly cyanide upon mechanical handling, and eating even a few dozen in one sitting can be fatal.
It takes about a gallon (4.5 litres) of water to grow one almond,
California produces over 80 percent of the world's almonds.
Today is National Flag of Canada Day, commonly shortened to Flag Day. The day is observed annually on February 15 to commemorate the inauguration of the flag of Canada on that date in 1965.
The new red-and-white maple leaf design was officially inaugurated as the flag of Canada on February 15, 1965, replacing the old Canadian Red Ensign banner. There are 11 points on the Canadian flag.
By Photograph taken by Jared Grove (Phobophile) |
The Canadian Flag that flies over the Peace Tower of the Canadian Parliament is changed daily. Used flags are given away and any Canadian resident may request one, but the current waiting period is 63 years.
Today is St. Valentine's Day.
Bishop Valentine had prayed for the restoration of a young girl's sight, and she was cured. Shortly before his death he wrote the girl a farewell message signed "From your Valentine."
St. Valentine's Day was set as February 14th by Pope Gelasius I in 494. He included Saint Valentine among all those "... whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to God."
Since 2012, February 13 has been celebrated by Unesco as World Radio Day. The date was chosen as United Nations Radio was launched on February 13, 1946.
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A Fisher 500 AM/FM hi-fi receiver from 1959. |
World Radio Day 2020 is around the theme of "Radio and diversity." UNESCO and UN calls on radio stations to uphold diversity, both in their newsroom and on the airwaves.
Radio is the transmission and reception of radio waves. When radio signals are sent out to many receivers at the same time, it is called a broadcast.
In 1906 American inventor Lee de Forest invented the three-element "Audion" (triode) vacuum tube, the first practical amplification device. The tube represented the foundation of the field of electronics, making possible radio broadcasting. The first public radio broadcast took place on January 13, 1910 when De Forest transmitted the voices of Metropolitan Opera stars to several receivers in New York City.
The first transistor radio, the Regency TR-1, was announced on October 18, 1954. Two companies working together, Texas Instruments of Dallas, Texas and Industrial Development Engineering Associates (I.D.E.A.) of Indianapolis, Indiana, were behind its unveiling. The Regency TR-1 was put on sale in November 1954, and was the first practical transistor radio made in any significant numbers.
Red Hand Day, also known as the International Day Against the Use of Child Soldiers, is observed annually on February 12th. It serves as a crucial reminder of the plight of children forced to fight in armed conflicts around the world and calls for an end to this practice.
According to tradition, Emperor Jimmu founded Japan and established his capital in Yamato on February 11, 660BC. He is said to have been a direct descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu and the storm god Susanoo. In modern Japan, Jimmu's accession is marked as National Foundation Day on February 11.
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Emperor Jimmu |
75-80% of Japan's surface is covered in mountains, with over 200 volcanoes. It is home to 10% of the active volcanoes in the world.
The Japanese name for Japan is "Nihon" or "Nippon," which “Land of the Rising Sun.” It was once believed that Japan was the first country to see the sun rise in the East in the morning.
National Umbrella Day is held on February 10th each year around the world. While the origins of the utilitarian holiday remain a mystery, it’s been celebrated since at least 2004.
The umbrella was invented more than 4,000 years ago. Named after the Latin umbra, meaning shade, the umbrella started life in Mesopotamia as a sunshade.
In ancient times, umbrellas were used to denote wealth and rank, with the King of Siam carrying one with multiple tiers each decorated with tassels.
A French merchant debuted Europe's first lightweight folding umbrella in 1710. Jean Marius, whose shop was located near the barrier of Saint-Honoré in Paris, received from King Louis XIV the exclusive right to produce folding umbrellas for five years on January 1, 1710. A model was purchased by the Princess Palatine in 1712, and she enthused about it to her aristocratic friends, making it an essential fashion item for Parisiennes.
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Parisians in the rain with umbrellas, by Louis-Léopold Boilly (1803) |
The average life span of an umbrella is one-and-a-half years.
Today is National Pizza Day, which is celebrated on February 9th each and every year.
The word ‘pizza’ is over 1000 years old. They were first found in Latin text in Naples, Italy in 997AD. These pizzas were herb and spice covered circles of dough that were cooked in a hot oven. They were served up as a snack or appetizer.
The first pizza restaurant, Antica Pizzeria Port'Alba, opened in Naples in 1830. The oven in which the pizzas at Port 'Alba was cooked was lined with lava from Mount Vesuvius.
Each man, woman and child in America eats an average of 46 slices (23 pounds) of pizza a year
According to Domino's, some of the more popular international toppings are pickled ginger, minced mutton and tofu in India, squid and Mayou Jaga (mayonnaise, potato and bacon) in Japan, and green peas in Brazil.
Today is the anniversary of the first Boy Scout camp and the founding of the Boy Scouts of America.
After Baden-Powell wrote Scouting for Boys, he held a camp in the summer of 1907 to test ideas for his book. Twenty boys, drawn from Eton and Harrow public schools plus Poole and Bournemouth locals spent the week from August 1 to August 8 camping on Brownsea Island, in Poole Harbor on the south coast of England.
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Cover of first part of Scouting For Boys, January 1908 |
The boys were organised into patrols (Bulls, Wolves, Curlews and Ravens), wore khaki, used the motto Be Prepared", studied cooking, fire-lighting, wildlife, life-saving and patriotism, and were given tests on knots and tracking. Reveille was at 6am, there was a compulsory siesta and lights out at 9.30pm. The public schoolboys were charged £1, the others 3/6d (17 1/2p).d.
In 1909 Chicago newspaper and magazine publisher William D. Boyce was visiting London, when he found himself lost on a foggy street. He encountered a boy who came to his aid, guiding him to his destination. The boy refused Boyce's tip, explaining that he was a Boy Scout and was merely doing his daily good turn. Boyce's fascination was aroused and he met with staff at the Boy Scouts Headquarters. Upon his return to the US, Boyce incorporated the Boy Scouts of America on February 8, 1910.
Today is Rose Day, a romantic celebration observed in some countries, primarily India, on February 7th. It marks the beginning of a week-long lead-up to Valentine's Day, known as Valentine's week. It's a day dedicated to expressing love, affection, and appreciation for loved ones through the symbolic gesture of gifting roses.
Today is Waitangi Day, the national day of New Zealand, marks the anniversary of the initial signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, which is regarded as the founding document of the nation. The first Waitangi Day was made a national public holiday in 1974.The Treaty of Waitangi (Māori: Tiriti o Waitangi) is a treaty first signed on February 6, 1840 by representatives of the British Crown and various Māori chiefs from the North Island of New Zealand. It resulted in the declaration of British sovereignty over New Zealand by Lieutenant Governor William Hobson in May 1840.
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The Waitangi sheet from the Treaty of Waitangi. |
The Treaty of Waitangi gave Britain control of New Zealand while recognizing the native inhabitants' land rights. However, the English and Maori texts differed, leading to many controversies over its stipulations.
In 1841, Treaty of Waitangi documents, housed in an iron box, narrowly escaped damage when the government offices at Official Bay in Auckland were destroyed by fire. They then were lost for decades, before being found in a damp basement heavily water damaged and chewed by rodents.
Today is World Nutella Day. An American blogger named Sara Rosso founded World Nutella Day on February 5, 2007.
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By A. Kniesel - Wikipedia Commons |
The tasty chocolate and hazelnut spread Nutella was invented in 1946 by Italian pastry maker Pietro Ferrero. At the time, there was very little chocolate as cocoa was in short supply due to World War II rationing, so Ferrero mixed hazelnuts into the chocolate.
Ferrero sold an initial batch of 300 kilograms (660 lb) of "Pasta Gianduja" in 1946. It was originally a loaf designed to be sliced and placed on bread, but Ferrero started to sell a creamy version as "Supercrema" five years later.
Ferrero's son Michele Ferrero revamped Supercrema with the intention of marketing it throughout Europe. Its composition was modified and it was renamed "Nutella". The first jar of Nutella left the company's Alba factory on April 20, 1964.
Nutella uses 25% of the world's supply of hazelnuts.
February 4 is World Cancer Day, an international day marked to raise awareness of cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment.
Today is February 3. The name of February came from the Latin "februa," a means of cleansing, which referred to the pre-spring purification rituals.
Before Julius Caesar reformed the calendar in 46BC, February was the only month with an even number of days. All the rest had 29 or 31. Odd numbers were seen as luckier.
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February 1900 Japanese calendar showing that 1900 was not a leap year |
Groundhog Day is celebrated on February 2 each year. According to tradition, if it is cloudy when a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day, then spring will come early; if it is sunny, and the groundhog sees his shadow, six more weeks of winter can be expected.
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Groundhogday 2005 Wikipedia Commons |
National Freedom Day is a United States observance on February 1 honoring the signing by Abraham Lincoln of a joint House and Senate resolution outlawing slavery that later became the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
By proclamation in 1862 Abraham Lincoln emancipated all the slaves within reach of his northern armies, thereby interpreting the American Civil War as a crusade against slavery. The picture below shows Abraham Lincoln presenting the first draft of the Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet.
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Painted by Francis Bicknell Carpenter in 1864. |
President Lincoln signed the Amendment outlawing slavery on February 1, 1865. The amendment was passed by the required three-quarters of the states, and became law on December 6, 1865.
From 1526 to 1867, some 12.5 million slaves were shipped from Africa to the Americas with only about 10.7 million surviving the journey.
Mississippi became the last US State to ratify the 13th Amendment of the US Constitution (abolition of Slavery), passed in 1865 on March 16, 1995. It was later discovered the state authorities failed to complete the proper documentation to officially carry this through until 2013.
National Hot Chocolate Day is observed annually on January 31. The day fittingly takes place in winter, as the drink is often associated with cold weather.
The Maya people who lived in Central America from around 300-900 AD were fond of liquid chocolate drinks with a foamy, frothy top but the consumption of chocolate was mainly restricted to the society's elite. The drink was made by mixing the roasted, crushed cocoa beans and ground maize with a little water.
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A Maya lord forbids an individual from touching a container of chocolate. |
The Spaniards in the New World changed the way chocolate was prepared. They were put off by the drink's black, gloomy appearance, and found its taste far too bitter and spicy. So, the Spanish added cane sugar as a sweetener, and flavorings such as vanilla, or more mild spices such as cinnamon and black pepper as opposed to chillies. A foam was created with the “molinillo”, a wooden whisk-like tool that was twirled between the palms of the hands to mix the chocolate.
Cortez took the drink to Spain where it served as a luxurious beverage to only the highest social classes: royalty, military, long-distance traders, and Catholic clergy.
London's first chocolate house, The Coffee Mill and Tobacco Roll, in Gracechurch Street opened in 1657. The owner, an imaginative Frenchman, advertised it as a drink which “cures and preserves the body of many diseases.” Costing 10 to 15 shillings per pound, chocolate was considered a beverage for the elite class.
The addition of milk, much improving chocolate as a drink, was an innovation in the early eighteenth century. Credit goes to Sir Hans Sloane, an Irish botanist, who spent some time in Jamaica in the early 1700s, Sloane was offered a cocoa powder drink by the villagers and thought it tasted foul, so he mixed it with milk instead and brought it back to England where it was sold as medicine.
When you tap your spoon on the bottom of a cup of hot chocolate, the pitch of the sound will increase. The phenomenon is known as the “Hot Chocolate Effect”.
National Croissant Day is celebrated on January 30 of every year in the United States.
The Moslem Ottoman (Turkish) army was victoriously advancing from the East and had succeeded in conquering a vast expanse of territory in South East Europe. By 1686 they had reached the outskirts of Budapest. To reach the center of city, the Turks dug underground passages. Bakers, working during the night, heard the noise made by the Turks and gave the alarm. The assailants were repulsed and to highlight its defeat, the bakers’ produced, as a totally novel line, a roll of flaky pastry made of pounded almonds and sugar shaped in the form of a crescent, which is the emblem of Islam. It enabled the rejoicing Budapest citizens literally to devour with relish the very symbol of their enemy.
Though the Turks were forced to retreat, the edible croissant like crescent advanced further west, and by 1688 it had reached France.
In France, only Croissants made with 100% butter can be shaped straight – it’s the law.
Kansas Day is a holiday in the United States state of Kansas. It is celebrated annually on January 29 to commemorate the anniversary of the state's 1861 admission to the Union. It was first celebrated in 1877 by schoolchildren in the Paola public school. Today it is celebrated by teachers and students across the state
Samuel Seymour's 1819 illustration of a Kansa lodge and dance (see below) is the oldest drawing known to be done in Kansas.
The Kansas–Nebraska Act became law in 1854, establishing the U.S. territories of Nebraska and Kansas, allowing settlers in those territories to determine if they would permit slavery within their boundaries. With the passage of the act, thousands of pro- and anti-slavery supporters flooded Kansas. Violent clashes soon occurred. In one raid Southerners destroyed the Kansas town of Lawrence, killing nearly 200 people. Kansas was called during this period, "Bleeding Kansas".
The abolitionists eventually prevailed and on January 29, 1861, Kansas entered the Union as a free state.
Saint Thomas Aquinas' Feast Day is January 28. He is the Patron Saint of Students and Catholic Schools.
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The reliquary of Thomas Aquinas By Didier Descouens |
January 27 was designated International Holocaust Remembrance Day by the United Nations General Assembly resolution 60/7 on November 1, 2005. It commemorates the genocide that resulted in the deaths of 6 million Jews and 11 million others by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. The date marks January 27, 1945, when the Nazi Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland was liberated by the Red Army.
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Jews on selection ramp at Auschwitz, May 1944 By Bundesarchiv, Bild |
The Auschwitz concentration camp was first constructed in German-occupied Poland to hold Polish political prisoners. They began to arrive in May 1940. Despite overseeing the construction of the crematoria and gas chambers at Auschwitz, what specifically shocked SS-Obersturmführer Robert Mulka at the camp was his colleagues' dress sense.
Under instructions from Adolf Hitler, Hermann Göring ordered SS General Reinhard Heydrich to submit concrete proposals for "the final solution of the Jewish question" on July 31, 1941.
The first mass killings of Jews began at Bełżec extermination camp in occupied Poland on March 17, 1942, the first of the Aktion Reinhard camps to begin operation.
99% of Jewish children in Poland died in the Holocaust. Only 5,000 were left out of a pre-war population of 1 million.
Australia Day is observed annually on January 26, marking the anniversary of the 1788 arrival of the First Fleet at Port Jackson in New South Wales, and the raising of the British flag at Sydney Cove by Arthur Phillip.
Captain James
On January 26, 1788 the British First Fleet, led by Governor Arthur Phillip in HM Armed Tender Supply, sailed into Port Jackson (Sydney Harbor) to establish Sydney, the first permanent European settlement on the Australian continent.
Today is World Leprosy Day. Leprosy is a long-term infection by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae or Mycobacterium lepromatosis.
Leprosy doesn't cause body parts to be damaged or fall off. Instead, the disease damages one's ability to feel pain, causing common accidents to become more damaging.
In medieval Europe leprosy was a major problem and many leper colonies were built. The unfortunate lepers were provided small huts to live in and a high wall separated them from the community.
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Two lepers denied entrance to town, 14th century |
World Leprosy Day takes place each year on the last Sunday in January. This date was chosen by French humanitarian Raoul Follereau as a tribute to the life of Mahatma Gandhi who had compassion for people afflicted with leprosy and who died in late January. The day aims to raise awareness globally of a disease many believe to be extinct, when in fact around 210,000 new cases are diagnosed each year.
Burns Night is celebrated on January 25th, with Burns suppers around the world honoring the life and poetry of the poet Robert Burns, the author of many Scots poems.
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A traditional Burns Supper By Connor Beaton |
The first Burns supper in The Mother Club in Greenock was held on what was thought to be his birthday on January 29, 1802; in 1803 it was discovered from the Ayr parish records that the correct date was January 25, 1759.
With Burns suppers being held worldwide, the day is more widely observed in Scotland than the official national day, St. Andrew's Day.
Robert Burns is very popular in Russia. His works have been translated more into Russian than all the other languages put together.
On January 24, Americans celebrate Beer Can Appreciation Day in remembrance of the historic day beer was first sold in cans.
In the US there is a Pie special interest group – the American Pie Council. Sponsored by the American Pie Council, National Pie Day is celebrated each year in the US on January 23.
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Pixabay |
Around 2,500 BC, the Ancient Egyptians are known to have eaten pies made with ground oats or wheat wrapped around a filling of honey or figs.
Game or mutton pie was popular in late medieval England. These pies topped with rich aspic jelly and other sweet spices were cooked for hours in a slow oven. The eating of "hote pies" is mentioned in William Longland's late 14th century poem, Piers Plowman.
The Pilgrim fathers and early settlers brought their pie recipes with them to America, adapting to the ingredients and techniques available to them in the New World. Their first pies were based on berries and fruits pointed out to them by the Native North Americans.
Cream filled or topped pies are favorite props for slapstick humor. Throwing a pie in a person's face has been a staple of film comedy since Ben Turpin received one in Mr. Flip in 1909. Laurel and Hardy’s The Battle of the Century ends with a pie fight in which over 3,000 baked goods are flung.
The pivotal Supreme Court rulings in America, namely Roe v. Wade and the less prominent Doe v. Bolton, both delivered on January 22, 1973, marked a watershed moment by nullifying state laws that restricted abortion. This decision legalized abortions within the first six months of pregnancy, reshaping the country's political landscape and sparking a deep divide between pro-choice and pro-life factions. Grassroots movements on both sides gained momentum.
Today is Saint Agnes' feast day. According to tradition, Agnes was a beautiful young Roman girl of noble birth. After rejecting many suitors, she was denounced as a Christian and sent to a house of prostitution as her punishment. When a young man ventured to touch her, he lost his sight, but then regained it in answer to her prayers.
Agnes was venerated as a saint at least as early as the time of St Ambrose, based on an existing homily. A church was built over her tomb about 350.
She is the patron saint of girls and chastity. The saint's association with purity and innocence made Agnes a very popular name until the end of the seventeenth century.
In art Agnes is often portrayed with a lamb, a symbol of innocence. On January 21, her traditional feast day, two lambs are blessed at her church in Rome. Their wool is then woven into palliums (bands of white wool), which the pope confers on archbishops as a token of their jurisdiction.
Source Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia.
Today is National DJ Day in the US. The first disc jockey was sixteen-year-old student Ray Newby. In 1909, under the supervision of Charles “Doc” Herrold at Herrold College of Engineering and Wireless in San Jose, California, he played the first records on a small transmitter. This predated the term "disc jockey," which wasn't used until decades later.
Today is the anniversary of the inauguration of Joe Biden as the president of the United States. The inauguration is a ceremony to mark the commencement of a new four-year term of the president of the United States. Since 1937, it has taken place at noon EST on January 20, the first day of the new term.
Since the January 20, 1981 inauguration of Ronald Reagan, the ceremony has been held on a platform on the west front of the United States Capitol facing the National Mall with its iconic Washington Monument and distant Lincoln Memorial.
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Barack Obama inauguration, January 20, 2009. By whitehouse.gov |
The first presidential inauguration, that of George Washington, took place on April 30, 1789. All subsequent (regular) inaugurations from 1793 until 1933, were held on March 4, the day of the year on which the federal government began operations under the U.S. Constitution in 1789.
Thomas Jefferson was the first president to be inaugurated in Washington, D.C. Jefferson walked to and from the ceremony, rather than riding in a carriage as George Washington and John Adams did.
The longest inaugural address was delivered by William Henry Harrison -- after delivering the 8,445-word address on a cold day in March 1841, he died a month later of pneumonia.
National Popcorn Day is celebrated on January 19 each year in the US in honor of the sweet or savory, caramelized, buttered or plain snack. The day has been celebrated since at least 1988.
National Winnie the Pooh Day falls on January 18th, which happens to be the birthday of A.A. Milne, the author who brought Pooh and his friends to life in his charming children's stories. It's a day dedicated to celebrating the adorable honey-loving bear and the world he inhabits.
Anthony or Anthony the Great or Anthony of the Desert was a Christian monk from Egypt, who is known as the Father of All Monks. His feast day is celebrated on January 17 among the Orthodox and Catholic churches.
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Painting of Saint Anthony by Piero di Cosimo, c. 1480 |
National Religious Freedom Day commemorates the Virginia General Assembly's adoption of Thomas Jefferson's landmark Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom on January 16, 1786. Religious Freedom Day has been officially proclaimed on January 16 in an annual statement by the President of the United States since 1993.
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Thomas Jefferson's grave |
Thomas Jefferson was a freethinker, influenced by Rousseau and a champion of religious freedom. Convinced of the need to keep church and state separate, he believed unwaveringly in the freedom of people from government coercion in religious matters. Jefferson refused to issue a Thanksgiving proclamation and gave an injunction that there should be a wall of separation between church and state. "Millions of innocent men, women and children since the introduction of Christianity have been burned, tortured, fined and imprisoned, yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half of the world fools and the other half hypocrites," Jefferson wrote in his Notes on Virginia.
The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom was drafted in 1777 by Thomas Jefferson in the city of Fredericksburg, Virginia. The Virginia General Assembly adopted Thomas Jefferson's Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom on January 16, 1786. That statute became the basis for the establishment clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and led to freedom of religion for all Americans.
The Statute for Religious Freedom is one of only three accomplishments Jefferson instructed be put in his epitaph. The inscription on his tombstone, as he stipulated, reads "Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and father of the University of Virginia."
Between 1955 and his assassination in 1968, Martin Luther King was the most visible spokesperson and leader in the civil rights movement. He used civil disobedience to combat institutionalized racism, inspired by his Christian beliefs and the nonviolent activism of Mahatma Gandhi.
Ronald Reagan signed a bill on November 2, 1983 in the White House designating a federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. It is observed on the third Monday of January each year, which is around King's birthday, January 15th. The day was officially observed for the first time in all 50 states on January 17, 2000, when "Human Rights Day" was officially changed to "Martin Luther King Jr. Day" in Utah.
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Ronald Reagan and Coretta Scott King at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day signing ceremony. |
Martin Luther King Day is celebrated in Japan to teach the importance of electoral politics and non-violent social change.
The Montgomery bus boycott was a landmark in the Black Civil Rights.movement, King's reform movement resulted in the segregation laws of the south being declared unconstitutional and equal voting rights being given to blacks.
National Hat Day is an annual celebration observed in the US on January 15th of every year. Schools, libraries, and museums have observed National Hat Day since 1983.
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Pexels |
The ancestor of all hats was probably the fillet. This was a band tied around the head to keep the hair in place. It was worn in ancient Babylonia, Egypt, and Greece.
Probably the first real hat was the broad-brimmed petasos of the ancient Greeks. It was worn only for traveling, as a protection against the weather. A chin strap held the petasos on or allowed it to hang down the back when not needed.
The Feast of the Ass was a Christian feast during medieval times (mainly celebrated) in France that celebrated the donkeys in the Bible, in particular the donkey bearing the Holy Family into Egypt after Jesus's birth. A girl and a child on a donkey would be led through town to the church, where the donkey would stand beside the altar during the sermon. It was observed on January 14.
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Flight into Egypt |
The donkey of Mediterranean lands is thought to be a descendant of the wild ass of Western Asia.
Stephen Foster Memorial Day is a United States Federal Observance Day observed on January 13. It was made law in November of 1966 and was first celebrated in January 1967.
Stephen Foster's first great musical success was "Oh! Susanna" which was first performed in the Eagle Ice Cream Saloon in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on September 11, 1847. It became an anthem of the California Gold Rush.
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Stephen Foster |
In the late 1840s Foster returned home to concentrate on being a songwriter. He signed a contract with the Christy Minstrels and it was during this period that Foster would write most of his best-known songs such as "Camptown Races" (1850), "Swanee River" ((1851) and "My Old Kentucky Home" (1853).
Foster was the first man to be paid a royalty on sheet music sales and the first American to make a career of writing songs.
Never very astute financially, in 1856 Stephen Foster sold all rights to future songs to his publishers for $1,900. Profits went largely to the publishers and performers. Four years later Foster moved to New York City, but separated from his wife, his fortunes decreased. Impoverished, he died in Bellevue Hospital, New York City on January 13, 1864 of alcoholism and a fall from his bed.
Stephen Foster Memorial Day commemorates the date that "the father of American music" died.
National Marzipan Day is celebrated every year in the United States on January 12th.
Made primarily of sugar or honey and almond meal (ground almonds), the confectionary has been used in all varieties of sweets and treats. Its dough-like consistency makes it an ideal material to make novelty shapes and figures.
Richard II of England once invited 2,000 of the country's rich barons to dine with him. 200 cooks prepared a menu, for which pudding was a three-foot high marzipan castle.
The first printed cookbook in 1475. In De Honesta Voluptate (On Right Pleasure and Good Health) recorded recipes for all kinds of food. Amongst the many recipes in De Honesta Voluptate were some for making marzipan and other candy. Confectionery regarded at the time to mainly be an pothecary's product, but they were also regarded as a luxury food, packaged in decorative boxes and offered as a gift to royals.
Galileo was fond of good food, for treats his nun daughter Sister Marie makes him marzipan shaped like little fish.
Every year on January 10th, we celebrate National Save the Eagles Day, a day dedicated to these magnificent birds that have become symbols of freedom, power, and resilience in many cultures.
The day reminds us of the crucial role eagles play in their ecosystems, keeping prey populations in check and maintaining ecological balance. It also highlights the threats they face, including habitat loss, pollution, illegal hunting, and even wind turbines. Lastly it educates the public about the amazing adaptations and behaviors of these apex predators, fostering appreciation and understanding.
National Apricot Day is celebrated every year in the United States on January 9th. Apricots have been cultivated in Persia since antiquity, and dried ones were an important commodity on Persian trade routes.
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Pixiebay |
Apricot trees spread by means of silk dealers from China to Italy and arrived in England in the late 12th century. However the Europeans were suspicious of the apricot fruit as they were thought to cause fever.
Franciscan friars brought apricots into American settlements in the 1800s, and they've thrived ever since.
Typing Day is held on January 8 every year as one week after New Year is a good time to think through and write down plans for the year.
The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, also known as Theophany, is a Christian feast day commemorating the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. It is celebrated in the Catholic Church as well as the Anglican and Lutheran Churches on the Sunday following the Epiphany, which is observed on January 6th.
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By Giotto - Giotto di Bondone, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org |
The Feast of Epiphany celebrates the revelation of the Christ child to the Gentiles, when the Magi or wise men visited Bethlehem to see Jesus, by following a star. It is recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 2. The holiday is celebrated by Christians twelve days after Christmas on January 6.
The Magi is a general term for astrologers, seers, and fortune tellers. In their sole appearance in the Gospel of Matthew, they are never named, and hail from "the east."
Matthew does not say there were only three wise men. We assume that they were a trio because of the three gifts that were given: gold, incense, and myrrh.
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Adoration of the Magi by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, 17th century |
The idea of Twelfth Night dates back to the Council of Tours in 567 where it was decided that the period from Christmas to Epiphany should be celebrated as Christmastide.
Epiphany is also known as Twelfth Day, and Twelfth Night precedes Twelfth Day and begins on the evening of January 5. The Monday after Epiphany is known as Plough Monday.
Simeon Stylites was a Syriac ascetic saint who achieved notability for living 37 years on a small platform on top of a pillar near Aleppo (in modern Syria). His feast day is commemorated on January 5 in the Roman Catholic Church.
By the 420s, pillar dwelling had become quite a fad amongst holy men. Simeon made the decision to spend the last part of his life on top of a pillar in Syria. His decision to build himself a nine-foot high column was prompted by the constant interruptions from curious crowds congregating outside the cave where he was residing, who had heard reports of his already extreme self-denying lifestyle.
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Wikipedia |
In his later years, Simon Stylites was the foremost famous personality in his part of the world. The Emperor Theodocus and Leo 1, the Bishop of Rome, would often consult him and request his prayers and Marcian, another Emperor visited him frequently although in disguise.
Today is World Braille Day, an international day that raises awareness of the importance of Braille for approximately 1.3 billion people living with some form of distance or near vision impairment.
Braille was invented by Louis Braille, a Frenchman who lost his sight at the age of three. At a school for blind boys, Louis came across books whose words consisted of raised letters of the alphabet; the drawback was, they took a long time to decipher. In 1821 an artillery captain, Charles Barbier, visited the school, visited the school, bringing a 12-dot code he'd devised to help Napoleon’s soldiers communicate at night without light. The captain was reluctant to accept suggestions from a boy, so Louis began to experiment at night. Using an awl, he reduced the number of dots from 12 to 6 which, arranged in different positions, represented the letters of the alphabet, thus enabling the blind to both read and write.
The date for the event was chosen by the United Nations General Assembly via a proclamation in November 2018, and marks the birthday of Louis Braille. The first World Braille Day was celebrated on January 4, 2019.
Around the world, 39 million people are blind, and another 253 million have some sort of vision impairment. For them, Braille provides a tactical representation of alphabetic and numerical symbols so blind and partially-sighted people are able to read the same books and periodicals printed as are available in standard text form.
J.R.R. Tolkien Day on January 3 is The Lord of the Rings author’s birthday. Each year at 9pm local time on that date fans honor the legacy of The Professor with a Tolkien birthday toast. (Tolkien’s Birthday – January 3rd 1892).
Today is the second day of January. The Romans named January after Janus, the God of gateways. Janus had two heads so he could look in both directions, back at the old year and forward towards the new year, at the same time.
January is the coldest month in the Northern Hemisphere, and the warmest in the Southern Hemisphere.
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Snow in the Northern Hemisphere in the month of January |
January and February were the last two months to be added to the Roman calendar, as the Romans originally considered winter a monthless period.
Although March was originally the first month of the Roman calendar, January became the new first month because that was when the Romans chose the new consuls.
The Anglo-Saxons called January "Wulfmonath" as it was the month hungry wolves came scavenging at people's doors.
Happy New Year! It is believed that celebrating the New Year dates back to the ancient Babylonians, who celebrated for eleven days with festivals and other fanfare 4,000 years ago.
The Babylonians also made New Year's Resolutions. They were spoken as oaths to the king—keeping them allowed the kingdom to stay in the gods' favor.
March 25th was the official New Year's Day in the UK and US until they switched to the Gregorian calendar in 1752.
Due to their time zones, Kiribati, an island nation in the Pacific, is the first country to ring in the New Year. Honolulu, Hawaii in the U.S. is among the last.
New Year's Eve, the last day of the year, is on December 31. In many countries, New Year's Eve is celebrated at evening parties, where many people dance, eat, drink, and watch or light fireworks. Some Christians attend a watchnight service.
The first Times Square (then known as Longacre Square) New Year's Eve celebration was held in New York City on December 31, 1904. About 200,000 people celebrated New Year’s Eve with a fireworks display at the 24-story Times Tower.
"Auld Lang Syne" is a song, whose title means literally "old long since" or more idiomatically, "days of long ago". The Scottish poet, Robert Burns, restored the song based on fragments of an old ballad dating from over 150 years before. The American bandleader Guy Lombardo popularized the association of the song with the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve in the early 1930s.
Over two million people gather annually on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro on the night of December 31, making of it the world's largest New Year's Eve party
Today is the first anniversary of the use of the word "radio" as a standalone word. The first person to theorize the existence of radio waves was the Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell. His studies of light led him to the electromagnetic theory and in 1865 he proved that radio waves are possible.
The German scientist Heinrich Rudolf Hertz discovered the use of radio waves in transmitting information in the mid 1880s. However, with an uncharacteristic lack of foresight, while demonstrating electromagnetic waves in 1888, Hertz told his students, "I don't see any useful purpose for this mysterious, invisible electromagnetic energy."
Fortunately, others saw the potential in the technology and by 1890, French physicist Édouard Branley had found a way to convert incoming signals to direct current, an important development in radio reception.
In 1901, Guglielmo Marconi combined the equipment of Hertz and Branley to transmit a radio signal across the Atlantic. Marconi’s pioneering development of long-distance wireless telegraphy has led to him being widely regarded as the inventor of the radio.
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British Post Office engineers inspect Marconi's radio equipment 1897. |
The term "radio" is derived from the Latin word "radius", meaning "spoke of a wheel, beam of light, ray". Although Hertz discovered the use of radio waves in transmitting information in 1886, the regular use of "radio" as a standalone word dates back to only December 30, 1904, when instructions issued by the British Post Office for transmitting telegrams specified that "The word 'Radio'... is sent in the Service Instructions." Before that, such transmissions were always referred to as “wireless telegraphy”.
Thomas Becket was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his murder in 1170. He is venerated as a saint and martyr by both the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion. His feast day is December 29th.
After being appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by King Henry II, Thomas Becket fell out with the king as the interests of the Roman Catholic medieval church conflicted with those of the crown. Four knights believing their King wanted the Archbishop killed, assassinated him on December 29, 1170 at Canterbury Cathedral.
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Illumination from an English Book of Hours |
Becket's death caused a scandal in all of western Christendom. When the clothes were removed from his dead body, it was discovered that unbeknown to anyone, he was wearing a hairshirt riddled with lice and maggots, the skin on his chest ripped to shred. Becket was immediately a saint and martyr.
Soon after, the faithful throughout Europe began venerating Becket as a martyr, and little more than two years after his death—he was canonized by Pope Alexander III in St Peter's Church in Segni.
In the years following his death many miraculous cures were said to have occurred at Becket's shrine. Indeed 700 miracles were recorded in the decade after his assassination at the crypt.
After hearing news that the anointed King of the Jews had recently been born, King Herod, announced his intention of slaying all children aged two years or younger in the vicinity of Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph, along with the baby Jesus, fled to Egypt to escape the massacre. Holy Innocents Day on December 28th commemorates The Massacre of the Innocents, the biblical recount of Herod the Great's infanticide.
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The Massacre of the Innocents at Bethlehem, by Matteo di Giovanni |
After Herod's death, Mary and Joseph returned to Palestine. From about the age of 6, Jesus would have received some education from a teacher paid for by the Nazareth synagogue, using used what we now know as the Old Testament as his textbook.
Holy Innocents Day is a day for pranks, equivalent to April Fool's Day in many countries including Spain, Hispanic America, and the Philippines. After somebody plays a prank on somebody else, the joker usually cries out, in some regions of Ibero-America: Inocente palomita que te dejaste engañar ("You innocent little dove that let yourself be fooled").
Saint Stephen's Day, also called the Feast of Saint Stephen, is a Christian saint's day to commemorate Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr or protomartyr, celebrated on December 26 in the Latin Church and December 27 in Eastern Christianity.
Saint Stephen was a deacon in the early Church at Jerusalem who aroused the enmity of members of various synagogues by his teachings. Accused of blasphemy at his trial, he made a speech denouncing the Jewish authorities who were sitting in judgment on him and was then stoned to death. His martyrdom in around 34AD was witnessed by Saul of Tarsus, who at the time was the most zealous, rigorous and careful of all Pharisees, one of the strictest Jewish sects. He later become the Christian apostle Paul.
Wenceslaus I became the duke of Bohemia in 921. Renowned for his Christian faith, he spent much of his time in acts of piety and prayer. So great was his devotion that he helped sow the corn and gather the grapes from which the bread and wine used at Mass was made.Boxing Day is a British tradition, going back many centuries but only made an official holiday in 1871. Also known as St. Stephen's Day, it was customarily a time for giving to the poor.
In Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK, Boxing Day is the heaviest shopping day of the year. The picture below (Wikipedia Commons) shows the Eaton Center, Toronto, Canada on December 26th.
The Boxing Day name comes partly from the boxes kept in British churches to collect money for the needy. On the day after Christmas Day it became a custom of the nineteenth century Victorians for tradesmen to collect their "Christmas boxes" or gifts in return for good and reliable service throughout the year on the day after Christmas.
Today is Christmas Day! For the first few centuries the church paid little attention to the celebration of Jesus’ birth. Nevertheless as Christians increasingly commemorated the events of Jesus' life the issue of the date of his birth became more prominent. However as Scripture at no point mentioned the date of Christ’s birth, early Christian teachers suggested various possible dates.
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"Adoration of the Shepherds" by Gerard van Honthorst, 1622 Wikipedia Commons |
In 350 Pope Julius I designated December 25th as the day to celebrate Christ’s birth. He did so mainly as a political move to counteract the effect of Saturnalia, the popular feast held in honor of the Roman god Saturn, which occurred at the time of the winter solstice, climaxing on December 25th, a Roman holiday. December 25th also was a celebration of the birthday of the Persian sun god Mithra. It was hoped that by picking this date Christianity would be more appealing to pagans.
Today is Christmas Eve. Christmas celebrations in the denominations of Western Christianity have long begun on the night of the 24th, due in part to the Christian liturgical day starting at sunset. The practice of celebrating the evening before Christmas Day is an echo from ancient Jewish reckoning. Among earlier Jews, a day began at six in the evening and ran until six the following evening, based on the story of Creation in the Book of Genesis: "And there was evening, and there was morning – the first day".
The familiar image of Santa Claus with flying reindeer and entry down chimneys, began in America with poetry. On December 23, 1822, Dr Clement Clarke Moore, a university professor, wrote a poem for his children. He called it "A Visit from St. Nicholas." The work was never meant for publication, for he feared he would be ridiculed for writing children's verse. A friend, however, sent a copy to a newspaper and very soon the poem became famous across the United States.
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Nast's Santa Claus on the cover of the January 3, 1863, issue of Harper's Weekly |
By the 1880's Santa Claus had evolved into the robed, fur clad form we now recognize.
In 1890, the first department store Santa appeared—James Edgar, a store owner, brought joy to his patrons by dressing up as the character.
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Man dressed as Santa Claus fundraisingt in Chicago in 1902, |
Until the 1930s, depictions of Santa Claus had him wearing a green cloak. Santa Claus as we know him today, with white beard, red tunic, hat and trousers trimmed with white fur, was created by an American commercial artist, Haddon Sundblom for a 1931 Coca-Cola advertisement.
The Coca Cola American adverts portrayed Santa in a red suit because that was the color they used for their ads.
Today is the Winter Solstice. Solstice means "sun standing still" in Latin because the solstice is the time when the sun appears to stand still in the sky before daylight begins to increase. Daylight picks up speed in the spring, when we add about three minutes of daylight each day. The solstice is when the Sun is at its at its lowest daily maximum elevation in the sky during a year. The solstice itself is one moment, but many use the word to mean the day when the solstice happens.
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By Tim Ereneta from Berkeley, CA - solstice gathering, |
The Roman Winter Solstice was celebrated by Brumalia, a festival which emerged in the 2nd Century AD to honor the rebirth of the sun god
While the Winter of Solstice is the day with the least light, the coldest week of the year is actually in late January. That's because for the next month or so the earth continues to lose more heat than the sun puts back in.
Should you see your shadows on the Winter Solstice it will be the longest shadow of the year. That's because the sun is as low in the sky as it's going to get
Classical Arabic originated in the sixth century, but earlier versions of the language existed. These include the Safaitic dialect, an old Arabic dialect used by the pre-Islamic nomadic inhabitants of the Syro-Arabian desert, which dates back to the first century.
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Al-ʿArabiyyah in written Arabic (Naskh script) |
December 18th was designated by the United Nations in 2010 as Arabic Language Day, as that was the day in 1973 when the General Assembly approved Arabic as an official U.N. Language.
Around 250 million people use Arabic for their first language. It is the fifth most spoken language in the world behind Mandarin, Spanish, English and Hindi respectively.
Standard Arabic, the Arabic taught in a majority of schools, is based off the language Prophet Muhammad spoke. It is a language that nobody naturally speaks, and is preserved through formal education and news broadcasts.
Egyptian Arabic is the first language of 92 million Egyptians. It is the most widely-understood dialect and is understood by almost all of the 300 million Arabic speakers in the world, thanks to the Egyptian cinema and media industry.
Orville and Wilbur Wright designed and built the first controlled, powered, heavier-than-air airplane in Dayton, Ohio. The brothers took to the air for the first time making two flights each from level ground into a freezing headwind gusting to 27 miles per hour (43 km/h) at Kitty Hawk Heights, North Carolina on December 17, 1903.
The Wright brothers didn't like to fly together in fear of both of them dying in an accident. They wanted at least one of them to survive to carry on research. They drew lots to see who would make the first powered flight and Orville won.
Orville Wright's first flight in his Wright Flyer One at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina was on December 17, 1903. It flew for 12 seconds at a height of 500 feet and covered 37,120 feet. The flight was witnessed by four men and a boy.
Orville Wright did not actually sit in the Wright Flyer during its first flight. Instead, he lay flat on the lower wing in the middle of the airplane.
After four flights by the Wright Brothers a gust of wind overturned and wrecked their wooden flier. However they stuffed all the pieces into barrels and shipped them back home to their bicycle shop. The original machine is now in The Science Museum, London.
On September 24, 1959 U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower declared December 17 to be Wright Brothers Day. Each year, a presidential proclamation invites the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.
Bahrain is an archipelago of 33 islands, the largest being Bahrain Island in the Persian Gulf, between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
In Arabic, bahrayn is the dual form of bahr ("sea"), so al-Bahrayn means "the Two Seas". However, which two seas were originally intended remains in dispute. It is unclear when the term began to refer exclusively to the Awal islands, but it was probably after the 15th century.
In 1820, Bahrain signed a general maritime treaty with the British Empire. Following successive treaties with the British, Bahrain became a protectorate of the United Kingdom in the late 1880s.
After World War II, anti-British feeling spread through the Arab world and led to riots in Bahrain. In 1971, Bahrain declared independence. The United Kingdom recognized Bahrain's independence on December 16, 1971. This is commemorated annually as Bahrain's National Day.
The oil boom of the 1970s benefited Bahrain greatly; the country benefited further from the Lebanese Civil War in the 1970s and 1980s, when Bahrain replaced Beirut as the Middle East's financial hub after Lebanon's large banking sector was driven out of the country by the war.
Following the often bitter 1787–88 debate over the ratification of the American Constitution, Representative James Madison crafted a series of corrective proposals, Congress approved twelve articles of amendment on September 25, 1789, and submitted them to the states for ratification. Articles Three through Twelve were ratified as additions to the Constitution on December 15, 1791, and became Amendments One through Ten of the Constitution. These first ten amendments to the United States Constitution, collectively known as the Bill of Rights, were ratified on December 15, 1791. Below is the first page of an original copy of the twelve proposed articles of amendment, as passed by Congress.
Martyred Intellectuals Day is observed on December 14 in Bangladesh to commemorate those intellectuals who were killed by Pakistani forces and their collaborators during the 1971 Liberation War.
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Martyred Intellectuals Memorial at Rayer Bazaar, Dhaka |
The Bangladesh Liberation War began after the Pakistani military junta based in West Pakistan launched Operation Searchlight against the people of East Pakistan on the night of March 25-26 1971. It pursued the systematic elimination of nationalist Bengali civilians, students, intelligentsia, religious minorities and armed personnel and resulted in the flight of 10 million East Pakistani refugees to India.
The violent crackdown by the Pakistan Army led to Awami League leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declaring East Pakistan's independence as the state of Bangladesh the following day.
Over 200 of East Pakistan's intellectuals were executed by the Pakistan Army and their local allies on December 14, 1971. (The date is commemorated in Bangladesh as Martyred Intellectuals Day.)
The West Pakistani forces in East Pakistan surrendered after India intervened on the secessionists' side.
East Pakistan renamed itself Bangladesh on January 11, 1972. The republic of Bangladesh was proclaimed and rapidly gained international recognition.
In memory of those were killed, a memorial known as the Martyred Intellectuals Memorial (Badhya Bhumi Smriti Soudha) was built at Rayer Bazaar, in Dhaka.
Saint Lucy's Day is a Christian feast day observed on December 13. The observance commemorates Lucia of Syracuse, an early-4th-century virgin martyr under the Diocletianic Persecution.
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Saint Lucy, by Francesco del Cossa (c. 1430 – c. 1477) |
Lucia brought food and aid to Christians hiding in the Roman catacombs, wearing a candle lit wreath on her head to light her way and leave her hands free to carry as much food as possible. She had vowed her virginity to God and when a disappointed suitor accused her of being a Christian, Lucia was executed.
Her feast day, known as Saint Lucy's Day, is celebrated in the West on December 13. She is a patron saint of the blind, martyrs, epidemics, throat infections, salesmen and writers.
Her feast day, which coincided with the shortest day of the year prior to calendar reforms, is widely celebrated as a festival of light. Falling within the Advent season, Saint Lucy's Day is viewed as a precursor of Christmastide, pointing to the arrival of the Light of Christ in the calendar on Christmas Day.
The Caribbean island of St Lucia was named after her. St Lucia is the only country in the world named after a woman.
The poinsettia, traditionally an American Christmas flower, was originally grown in Mexico. Poinsettia Day was officially declared by an Act of Congress on December 12.
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A red Poinsettia. By André Karwath Wikipedia Commons |
The plant's association with Christmas began in 16th-century Mexico, where a peasant girl, commonly called Pepita or Maria, was anxious to bring a gift in celebration of Jesus' birthday to the Christmas Eve service. She had nothing of value, though, so she went empty-handed. On her way to the church she met an angel, who told her to gather weeds from the roadside and place them in front of the church altar. Miraculously, crimson blossoms sprouted from the weeds and became poinsettias.
Franciscan friars in Mexico started to include the plants in their Christmas celebrations from the 17th century and the Poinsettias became popular decorations for Mexican churches and homes during the Christmas festival.
The poinsettia is named after Joel Roberts Poinsett, who served as the USA's first ambassador to Mexico, from 1825 to 1829. During that time he came to admire a shrub with brightly-colored red leaves encircling small, greenish-yellow blossoms, which the Mexicans had adopted as their Christmas flower. He liked it so much that he sent specimens back to the USA, where they soon flourished.
Poinsett grew the beautiful plants in his Greenville, South Carolina plantation and gave them out as gifts to friends. Poinsettia Day was officially declared by an Act of Congress in honor of Joel Roberts Poinsett, who died on December 12, 1851.
International Mountain Day was established by the UN General Assembly in 2003 to encourage sustainable development in mountains. It is held each year on December 11.
Around one fifth of the Earth’s land is covered by mountain. They are home to 15% of the world´s population.
Mountains are home to 15% of the world´s population and host about half of the world's biodiversity hotspots.
More than half of humanity relies on mountain freshwater for everyday life.
The K2, the world's second tallest mountain, has no local name. It is so remote and inaccessible that very few local people knew of its existence, and thus why it retains its original surveying moniker given to it by British surveyors.
Source UN.
Alfred Bernhard Nobel (October 21, 1833 –December 10, 1896) was a Swedish chemist and millionaire, who invented dynamite and established almost 100 arms factories.
The Nobel Prizes came about when a brother of Nobel died and a French newspaper mistakenly printed Alfred's obituary under the headline: "The merchant of death is dead." Desperate to leave a positive legacy, he decided to bequeath his fortune to establish the Nobel Prizes.
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A golden medallion with an embossed image of Alfred Nobel facing left in profile Wikipedia |
Nobel signed his last will and testament, setting aside the bulk of his estate to establish the Nobel Prize after his death on November 27, 1895.
Nobel's will instituted the prizes in Chemistry, Literature, Peace, Physics, and Physiology or Medicine. In 1968, Sweden's central bank added a prize for Economics in memory of Nobel.
The first Nobel Prizes were awarded on December 10, 1901.
Christmas Card Day honors its inventor Sir Henry Cole each year on December 9. The day serves as a reminder to get your cards, envelopes and stamps together so you can mail them out to family members and friends.
Christmas cards began with a lazy English aristocrat and publisher Sir Henry Cole who in 1843 sent cards with a short message instead of the common practice in the early nineteenth century to write seasonal messages on calling cards or in personal letters to relatives and friends. They were insulted because it seemed they didn’t warrant the usual full and affectionate Christmas letter.
Cole's cards were designed by an artist, John Calcott Horsley. His first Christmas card design had two panels showing people caring for the poor and a center panel of a family having a large Christmas dinner. About 1,000 of these cards were printed, and those not used by Sir Henry were sold by the printer for one shilling (see below).
The first Christmas card made in America was basically an advert for a department store. Issued between 1850 and 1852, the card’s seasonal illustrations were buttoned by a mention of Pease’s, a “general variety” store in Albany, New York.
Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, whose music such as his famous 1899 tone poem Finlandia helped establish Finland's national identity, was born on December 8, 1865, in Hameenlinna, Finland, which is 100 km north of the country's capital, Helsinki.
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Sibelius in 1913 |
The strong nationalist sentiment conveyed in Sibelius' music was deemed an expression of patriotism in Finland. Finlandia was composed when his country was under Russian domination and premiered in Helsinki on July 2, 1900 with the Helsinki Philharmonic Society conducted by Robert Kajanus. The work was banned by the Russian rulers of Finland because it aroused much patriotic fervor among the Finns. In Berlin it was played as 'Vaterland'; in Paris as 'Patrie'.
Since 2011, December 8, Sibelius' birthday, has been a flag day in Finland known as "The Day Of Finnish Music".
National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day is observed annually in the United States on December 7, to remember and honor the United States citizens who were killed in the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941.
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Arizona during the attack |
At 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time on December 7, 1941, a Japanese dive bomber bearing the red symbol of the Rising Sun of Japan on its wings appeared out of the clouds above the island of Oahu. A swarm of 360 Japanese aircraft followed, descending on the US Pacific Fleet as it lay in port in Pearl Harbor.
The Pearl Harbor attack was carried out by 353 Japanese warplanes. After just two hours of bombing, 2,403 Americans were dead, 21 ships were either been sunk or damaged, and more than 188 US aircraft destroyed.
The United States promptly declared war on Japan whose allies, Italy and Germany, in turn declared war on the United States.
On Pearl Harbor Day, the American flag should be flown at half-staff until sunset to honor those who died as a result of the attack on U.S. military forces in Hawaii.
Hanukkah (sometimes transliterated Chanukkah) is a Jewish holiday celebrated for eight days and nights. It starts on the 25th of the Jewish month of Kislev.
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Hanukkah table. By MathKnight |
Since the Jewish calendar is lunar based, every year the first day of Hanukkah falls on a different day – usually sometime between late November and late December. In 2023 Hanukkah falls between Sunset, December 7 and nightfall, December 15.
In Hebrew, the word "hanukkah" means "dedication." The name reminds us that this holiday commemorates the re-dedication of the holy Temple in Jerusalem following the Jewish victory over the Syrian-Greeks in 165 BC.
The hanukkiyah is a nine-branched candelabra used during Hanukkah. There are at least 44 candles in each box of Hanukkah candles, enough for one person to light the hanukkiyah, according to tradition, every night. Some boxes include extra candles as they tend to break easily.
There is a custom of eating foods fried or baked in oil (preferably olive oil) to commemorate the miracle of a small flask of oil keeping the Second Temple's Menorah alight for eight days.
Saint Nicholas Day is observed on December 5 or 6 in Western Christian countries, and on December 19 in Eastern Christian countries. It is the feast day of Bishop Nicholas of Myra with particular regard to his reputation as a bringer of gifts.
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A 13th-century depiction of St. Nicholas from Saint Catherine's Monastery |
Many stories, some miraculous, are told about Nicholas. On one occasion he brought back to life three children, who had been killed by a malicious butcher during a famine. They had been placed in a barrel to be cured and sold as ham.
Saint Nicholas is also said to have helped three poor girls who couldn't afford a dowry to get married by throwing purses of money through their window. The idea of Santa Claus coming down chimneys to deliver presents has its origin in that story.
Saint Nicholas died on December 6, 343 AD. He had a reputation for secret gift-giving, such as putting silver coins in the shoes of his followers, and during the Middle Ages, this practice was celebrated in many European countries on his feast day.
Saint Nicholas' feast day of December 6th was celebrated in Holland with the giving of gifts to children who behaved well. Dutch immigrants brought St. Nicholas, known to them as "Sinterklaas", and traditions of his feast day to their colonies in America. He became popularized there as Santa Claus and his gift-giving day moved from December 6 to Christmas Day.
World Soil Day (WSD) is held annually on December 5 as a means to focus attention on the importance of healthy soil and to advocate for the sustainable management of soil resources.
An international day to celebrate Soil was recommended by the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS) in 2002. The Food and Agriculture Organization Conference unanimously endorsed World Soil Day in June 2013 and requested its official adoption at the 68th UN General Assembly. In December 2013, the UN General Assembly responded by designating December 5, 2014 as the first official World Soil Day.
The date of December 5 was chosen for World Soil Day because it corresponds with the official birthday of the late H.M. King Bhumibol Adulyadej, King of Thailand, who was one of the main proponents of this initiative.
Soil is one of two main components of Earth — the other being oceans — where life is active. Human life depends on healthy soil.
Soil is not a renewable resource. Human life depends on healthy soil, just like it depends on clean air and clean water, but losses of soil cannot be regained within a lifetime.
December 4th is National Cookie Day, whose origins lie with a Sesame Street Monster. The Cookie Monster sums up their deliciousness with the phrase, "Num, num, num, num, num!" In 1976, Sesame Street included National Cookie Day on its calendar for the first time on November 26th. Then in 1987, Matt Nader of the Blue Chip Cookie Company a smallish company out of San Francisco, cooked up Cookie Day to promote their sweet treat. They chose December 4th as the day to celebrate their snack.
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By Dezidor - Self-photographed, |
The word “cookie” appeared in print for the first time in North America in 1703. The word came from Dutch settlers who introduced their recipes for various types of “koekje”, which means “little cake.”
Nabisco's "Oreo's" are the world's best-selling brand of cookie at a rate of 6 billion sold each year. The first Oreo was sold in 1912.
The average American will eat about 35,000 cookies in their lifetime.
International Day of Persons with Disabilities is an international observance promoted by the United Nations each year on December 3 since 1992. It aims to promote the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities in all spheres of society and development, and to increase awareness of the situation of persons with disabilities in every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life.
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A 28-year-old Iraqi woman who lost both of her legs during the Iraq War in 2005 |
About 15% of the world's population lives with some form of disability, of whom 2-4% experience significant difficulties in functioning.
Of the one billion population of persons with disabilities, 80% live in developing countries.
An estimated 46% of older people aged 60 years and over are people with disabilities.
An estimated 48.9 million people, or 19.4% of the non-institutionalized civilians, have a disability in the United States. An estimated 24.1 million people have a severe disability.
Today is the second day of December. The name of the month comes from the Latin decem for "ten". It was the tenth month of the year before January and February were added to the Roman calendar.
At the North Pole, the Sun does not rise in December; at the South Pole, it does not set.
Sunset over the North Pole |
More people suffer fatal falls in December in the UK than any other month.
People born in December have the best statistical chance of living past 100 years old.
Today is the first day of Advent. The Season of Advent, which begins on a Sunday about four weeks before Christmas Day, is celebrated by many western Christians. It is a time for people to prepare for the celebration of the birth of Jesus at Christmas and the second coming of Christ. Advent also marks the start of the new liturgical year.
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Advent candles By Johann Jaritz |
The earliest authentic record of Advent was the Macon council held in 581, which stated that the season starts on the feast of St. Martin - November 11; this period is still observed in the Orthodox church.
About 600, Pope Gregory I decreed that the Advent season should start on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, but the longer period was observed in England for some years.
The shorter period is now observed in the Anglican, Episcopal, Lutheran and Roman Catholic churches, and the first Sunday of Advent is regarded as the commencement of the Christian ecclesiastical year.
Special Advent Calendars are made for children, with pictures or treats for each day of Advent. The first advent calendars were chalk lines made by German protestant families for every day in December until Christmas Eve.
In 1981 The New England Journal of Medicine reported a new rare and fatal disease that had killed 95 people, mostly homosexual men. The disease later would be called AIDS.
The Associated Press ran its first story about AIDS on July 3, 1981. "Doctors in New York and California have diagnosed among homosexual men 41 cases of a rare and often rapidly fatal form of cancer," Lawrence K. Altman’s article began. "Eight of the victims died less than 24 months after the diagnosis was made."
On October 8, 1981, public health nurse Bobbi Campbell became the 16th person in San Francisco to be diagnosed with Kaposi's sarcoma, when that was a proxy for an AIDS diagnosis. He was the first to publicly identify as a person living with what was to become known as HIV/AIDS.
The AIDS virus was officially recognized on December 1, 1981. World AIDS Day, designated on December 1 every year since 1988 is an international day dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection and mourning those who have died of the disease.
The red ribbon is the global symbol for solidarity with HIV-positive people and those living with AIDS.
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By Gary van der Merwe - graphics by Niki K Aids Awareness Red RibbonLapel pins |
As of 2019, AIDS has killed between 24.8 and 42.2 million people worldwide, and an estimated 38.0 million people are living with HIV,
Thanks to recent improved access to antiretroviral treatment in many regions of the world, the death rate from AIDS epidemic has decreased since its peak in 2005 (690,000 in 2019, compared to 1.9 million in 2005).
Today is St Andrew's Day. Saint Andrew was a fisherman and younger brother of Saint Peter. When they were called to serve Jesus, the Savior of the world said he would make them "fishers of men".
Flag Day, or Independence Day, is celebrated every November 28, as a holiday in Albania, Kosovo, and the Albanian diaspora.
The Albanian flag is red with a silhouetted black double-headed eagle in the center(see below). The red stands for bravery, strength and valor, while the double-headed eagle represents the sovereign state of Albania located in the Balkans. The flag was adopted as the symbol of the new nation when the Albanian Declaration of Independence was proclaimed on November 28, 1912.
The Ottoman Turks conquered Albania around 1400 and remained in power for the next five hundred years.
Gjergj Kastrioti, known as Skanderbeg meaning "Lord Alexander," was a member of the noble Kastrioti family who was appointed as sanjakbey (governor) of the Sanjak of Dibra in 1440. In 1443, during the Battle of Niš, he deserted the Ottomans.
Skanderbeg led his men to the mountainous stronghold of Krujë, where he arrived on November 28, 1443 and by the use of a forged letter from Sultan Murad to the Governor of Krujë he became lord of the city that very day. He raised a red standard with a black double-headed eagle on Krujë.
In 1444 Skanderbeg organized a group of nobles to form the League of Lezhë, an alliance of Albanian principalities that is regarded as the first unified Albanian state. For 25 years he held the Ottoman Empire at bay in Albania and weakened and harassed them in neighboring territories.
Albania declared its independence from the Ottoman Empire in Vlora on November 28, 1912, after the First Balkan War. Albanians celebrate their independence on November 28th.
On November 27, 1895, Alfred Nobel signed his last will and testament at the Swedish-Norwegian Club in Paris. In his will, he stipulated that the bulk of his vast fortune be used to establish a series of prizes to be awarded annually to those who have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. The Nobel Prizes are now considered to be the most prestigious awards in the fields of physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace.
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Front side (obverse) of one of the Nobel Prize medals in Physiology or Medicine awarded in 1950. By Photograph: JonathunderMedal: Erik Lindberg (1873-1966) |
National Cake Day is an unofficial holiday celebrated on November 26th each year in the United States. It is a day dedicated to celebrating the deliciousness of cake, one of the most beloved desserts around the world.
The US Episcopal Church celebrates the feast day of the "Godfather of English Hymnody" Isaac Watts on November 26th.
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Isaac Watts |
In 1692 the 18-year-old Isaac Watts complained to his father that the hymns sung at church were tuneless. His father suggested he provide something better. The result was "Behold the Glories of the Lamb," which is considered the birth of the English hymn.
Watts was the first to write hymn words based on personal feelings and testimony. When he used the word "I" in the opening line of his most famous hymn, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," he was actually revolutionizing the way people express their faith in music.
Watts suffered from bad health most of his life and for many years he could do little more than write. He is credited with some 750 hymns, as well as many books. His joyful hymns expressed wonder, praise and adoration covering the whole range of Christian experience. They prepared the way for the great revival under the Wesleys and Whitfield.
Watts died on November 25, 1748 aged 74; he was buried in Bunhill Fields. Hanging in Westminster Abbey is a tablet picturing Watts writing at a table while angels whisper songs in his ear.
The Church of England and Lutheran Church remember Watts annually in the Calendar of Saints on November 25, and the Episcopal Church on the following day.
Black Friday – the day after Thanksgiving and the most profitable shopping day of the year in the US, got its name from the old accounting practice of using red ink for debt and black ink for profit.
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DC USA Black Friday By Gridprop at English Wikipedia |
The original "Black Friday" was Friday, September 24, 1869 when two notoriously ruthless Wall Street financiers, Jay Gould and Jim Fisk, worked together to corner the market on gold, buying as much of it as they could and driving up the price. On that Friday in September, the conspiracy finally unraveled, sending the stock market into free-fall and bankrupting everyone from Wall Street barons to farmers.
Police officers in Philadelphia were first to link Black Friday to the post-Thanksgiving period in the 1950s. Large crowds of tourists and shoppers came to the city the day after Thanksgiving for the Army-Navy football game, creating chaos, traffic jams and shoplifting opportunities. Not only would Philly cops not be able to take the day off, but they would have to work extra-long shifts dealing with the additional crowds and traffic.
Use of the phrase spread slowly, first appearing in The New York Times on November 29, 1975, in which it still refers specifically to "the busiest shopping and traffic day of the year" in Philadelphia. By the late 1980s, the term was commonly known across the nation and retailers soon linked it to their post-Thanksgiving sales.
Sources History, Daily Telegraph
Evolution Day is a celebration to commemorate the anniversary of the initial publication of On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin on November 24, 1859.
Charles Darwin was one of the first to formulate an argument for the scientific theory of evolution by means of natural selection, which he wrote about in his book On the Origin of Species. It was first published on November 24, 1859, priced at fifteen shillings with a first printing of 1250 copies. Though some intellectuals latched onto Darwin's work with great enthusiasm, it generally caused controversy and outrage among Victorian society and he was vehemently attacked and ridiculed by the church.
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Origin of Species title page |
The first edition On The Origin Of Species did not contain the word ‘evolution’, though its last word is ‘evolved’. The sixth edition of On The Origin Of Species, published in 1872, mentions ‘evolution’ eight times, with another six uses of ‘evolve’ or ‘evolved’.
In the western world Darwinian evolution, despite being merely a theory, is treated as factual by most. Those who believe in a literal creationist interpretation of the Bible are considered to be intellectually lacking.
According to a 2019 Gallup poll, 68% f those who attend church at least once a week believe that God created humans in their present form. Meanwhile, 59% of those who do not identify with any religion believe in evolution without any intervention from God.
Islamic views on evolution are diverse, ranging from theistic evolution to Old Earth creationism In Egypt, evolution is currently taught in schools, but Saudi Arabia and Sudan have both banned the teaching of evolution in schools.
Happy Thanksgiving Day! In America the first ever Thanksgiving Day was celebrated by the Mayflower colonists in 1621. It was an acknowledgement of God's provisions during the year.
When these pioneering Mayflower colonists first settled in Massachusetts the previous December, they'd faced starvation. However friendly Native Americans had shown them how to grow corn and squash and to catch the local birds, fish and shellfish. One Indian in particular, Squanto has been especially helpful as he just happened to speak fluent English. He'd picked up the pilgrim fathers' language after being carried off by visiting sailors and working as a house servant in the city of London before returning to rescue the ill-equipped, confused Pilgrims. These colonists went on to invite the Indians to a thanksgiving feast to celebrate their first successful harvest.
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The First Thanksgiving 1621, oil on canvas by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (1899) |
When George Washington was elected the first President of America, he announced the first national Thanksgiving Day, held on November 26, 1789. "Both Houses of Congress", he proclaimed, "have requested me to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favours of Almighty God especially by affording him an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."
Thanksgiving was held sporadically in America until 1863 when Sarah Josepha Hale, the author of "Mary Had a Little Lamb", suggested making Thanksgiving a more widely acknowledged holiday than it was in an effort to keep the nation from dividing over the issue of slavery. She persuaded Abraham Lincoln to declare Thanksgiving as an annual holiday on the last Thursday in November.
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Traditional Thanksgiving meal. Wikipedia |
Thanksgiving is colloquially known as "Turkey Day." In fact, 45 million turkeys were consumed on Thanksgiving Day alone in 2015.
The dark meat of a Thanksgiving turkey offers a greater density of nutrients, like B vitamins and iron, than white meat.
National Cashew Day is celebrated annually November 23 in the United States of America. This unofficial holiday was first observed in 2015.
Cashews are not nuts (according to botanical definition, they are a mixture of seeds and legumes). They are a close relative of mangos, pistachios, poison ivy and poison oak.
Originally native to northeastern Brazil, the cashew tree is now widely grown in tropical regions. Vietnam is the world's leading exporter, followed by India and Ivory Coast.
Raw cashews are 5% water, 30% carbohydrates, 44% fat, and 18% protein.
Saint Cecilia is the patroness of musicians. Her feast day is November 22nd, which is the occasion of concerts and musical festivals. The first record of a music festival in her honor was held at Évreux in Normandy in 1570.
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Saint Cecilia playing the pipe organ |
A 2nd century Christian Roman maiden of patrician birth, Saint Cecilia was compelled to marry a young pagan, Valerian, despite a vow of celibacy. It is written that while the profane music was played at Saint Cecilia's wedding, she was "singing in her heart a hymn of love for Jesus, her true spouse" hence her association with music-making.
Saint Cecilia succeeded in persuading Valerian to respect her vow, and converted him to her Christian faith. They were both put to death for their beliefs.
Saint Cecilia is one of several virgin martyrs commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass in the Latin Church.
On November 21 and 22 1996, the United Nations held the first World Television Forum, where leading media figures met under the auspices of the United Nations to discuss the growing significance of television in today's changing world and to consider how they might enhance their mutual cooperation. In December 1996 the United Nations proclaimed November 21 as World Television Day in recognition of the increasing impact television has on decision-making by bringing world attention to conflicts and threats to peace and security and its potential role in sharpening the focus on other major issues, including economic and social issues. It commemorates the date on which the first World Television Forum was held in 1996.
The word "television" comes from the words "tele" (Greek for far away) and vision (sight). It first entered the English language in 1907 at the start of attempts to transmit moving images.
Children's Day is a commemorative date celebrated annually in honor of children, whose date of observance varies by country. World Children's Day is celebrated on November 20 to promote international togetherness, awareness among children worldwide, and improving children's welfare. November 20th is an important date as it is the date in 1959 when the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child.
India celebrates Children's Day on November 14th, exactly 9 months after Valentines Day.
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Children performing for Independence Day, Alwar district, Rajasthan, India |
Children's Day is a Japanese national holiday which takes place annually on May 5 and is the final celebration in Golden Week. Until 1948, Children's Day in Japan was known as Boys' Day while Girls' Day was celebrated on March 3. It was renamed when the government decreed the holiday should celebrate the happiness of all children and express gratitude toward mothers.
Since 1950, Children's Day has been celebrated on June 1 in most Communist and post-Communist countries. In Poland it coincides with the beginning of meteorological summer and it is usually treated as a special day, free from lessons, as it takes place near the end of the school year. In Romania children often receive presents from parents and other family members.
World Toilet Day is an official United Nations international observance day on November 19. The day celebrates toilets and raises awareness of the 4.2 billion people living without access to safely managed sanitation. It is about taking action to tackle the global sanitation crisis and achieve water and sanitation for all by 2030. The UN General Assembly declared World Toilet Day an official UN day in 2013, after Singapore had tabled the resolution.
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World Toilet Day 2015 in Pakistan By Kutoid - World Toilet Organization, Singapore, |
Not only did 43% of Pompeii's buildings have indoor toilets, some also had plumbing for toilets on the second floor.
Sir John Harington, author, courtier and godson to Queen Elizabeth I, invented the world's first flushing lavatory, called the Ajax, in 1589. Harrington had been banished from the court for telling risqué stories in front of the ladies. In the mansion he built at Kelston, in Somerset he installed the world's first toilet, which he called "a privy in perfection".
Yorkshire plumber Thomas Crapper perfected his flushing toilet valve in 1863. By drawing water uphill through a sealed cistern, it was both more effective and hygienic than previous lavatory systems.
Most toilets flush in E flat.
Happy Birthday Mickey Mouse! November 18th is the day we celebrate the lovable mouse and the magical moments he's brought to us over the years.
Mickey Mouse was originally called Mortimer. Luckily, Walt's wife, Lillian Disney, stepped in and convinced him that Mickey would be a more marketable name.
Mickey Mouse actually started off as a rabbit. Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks created Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, but after a disagreement over rights with Universal Studios, the film distributor, Disney refused a pay cut and created Mickey Mouse.
Mickey became an instant hit on November 18, 1928 with the release of Steamboat Willie, the first ever cartoon with synchronized sound. Directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, it featured the third appearances of Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse. November 18th is considered by the Disney corporation to be Mickey's birthday.
In 1978, on his 50th anniversary, Mickey Mouse became the first cartoon character to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his role in animated films.
International Students' Day is an international observance of the student community, held annually on November 17. It remembers the anniversary of the 1939 Nazi storming of the University of Prague after student demonstrations against the German occupation of Czechoslovakia. Germans closed all Czech universities and colleges, sent over 1200 students to Nazi concentration camps, and had nine students and professors executed on November 17.
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Graduating students Pixiebay |
Bologna University in the Kingdom of Italy, then part of the Holy Roman Empire, was the first Western European institution generally considered a university. Founded in 1088, it was the first place of study to use the term universitas for a place of learning involving students and masters.
Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio. Two years after it was founded, Oberlin became in 1835 the first college in the United States to admit African-Americans. It was the first to admit women in 1837.
November 7, 2014 saw hundreds of thousands of students participate in demonstrations around the world on the occasion of International Students' Day. On that day students mobilized in over 40 countries to demand free education. In addition, commemorations were held for the anniversaries of Nazi repression of student activists in Prague of 1939, the Athens Polytechnic Uprising of 1973 and the Velvet Revolution of 1989.
Every November in South Korea, there's a day where everyone makes silence to help students concentrate for their most important exam of their lives. Planes are grounded, constructions are paused, banks close and even military training ceases. This day is called Suneung.
Founded in 1938, the National Button Society recognizes button collecting as an organized hobby. The society established National Button Day, which is celebrated on November 16th each year to honor the function of buttons and the hobby of button collection.
Buttons have been known to exist as far back as the Bronze age when they were worn as ornamentation. They were used to decorate belts and other metal objects.
The wearing of gold, silver, and ivory buttons in fourteenth century Europe was an indication of wealth and rank. Expensive buttons were also made of copper and its alloys. The metalsmith frequently embellished such buttons with insets of ivory, tortoiseshell, and jewels.
There was a button mania in the late Middle Ages, resulting, in some outfits adorned with thousands of buttons, all of them with accompanying buttonholes. Dressing and undressing became a laborious process, but created a niche for the employment of professional dressers.
Men's and women's buttons are placed on opposite sides because, historically, men have always dressed themselves and are mostly right handed. Women who wore ornate clothing had maids to help them dress and it was easier for the maids to fasten with the buttons on the left.
America Recycles Day (ARD) is celebrated on November 15 each year across the United States to promote economic, environmental and social benefits of recycling.
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By Coolcaesar at the English language Wikipedia, |
Recorded advocates of recycling date back to Plato who in the 4th century BC wrote about the importance of his fellow ancients making the most of their waste products
The Japanese were the first recyclers to use waste paper to make new paper. It was first recorded in 1031 that Japanese shops were selling repulped paper.
Started by the recycling sector organization National Recycling Coalition in 1997, America Recycles Day has been a program of national nonprofit Keep America Beautiful since 2009.
The energy saved by recycling one glass bottle will power a computer for 25 minutes.
Today is World Diabetes Day, the world’s largest diabetes awareness campaign reaching a global audience of over 1 billion people in more than 160 countries.
Canadian physiologist Frederick Banting was inspired to research the treatment of diabetes while preparing a class lecture on the pancreas, when he read a paper about the relationship between the pancreas and diabetes. He knew it was an accepted fact that diabetes was caused by a disorder of the pancreas that kept the body from making use of sugar, so Banting decided that if he tied off the pancreatic duct he could isolate the hormone causing the disorder.
In the spring of 1921, Banting traveled to Toronto to explain his idea to J.J.R. Macleod, who was Professor of Physiology at the University of Toronto, and asked Macleod if he could use his lab space to test it out. Macleod agreed and lent him Charles Best, a research student at the university.
After several months of experiments on laboratory dogs, Banting and Best prepared a solution containing the hormone insulin which they injected into the veins of a diabetic dog, and within a few hours the dog was walking again. Soon they were able to purify these extracts sufficiently to inject and treat diabetic patients.
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Frederick Banting joined by Charles Best in office, 1924 |
537 million adults (20-79 years) were living with diabetes in 2021 (1 in 10 of the world\s population). The number of people living with diabetes is expected rise to 784 million by 2045.
Today the Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates the feast day of John Chrysostom.
John Chrysostom’s preaching talents came about through sheer hard work, He spent four years in the desert, and two as a hermit in Bible study, during which he practiced austerities.
The “golden mouthed” former Archbishop died on September 14, 407. In the Eastern Orthodox Church there are several feast days dedicated to him. one of them, November 13, is the date news of John Chrysostom's death reached Constantinople
Even outside the Christian world, Chrysostom influence has been great. After World War II, Charles Malik, a Lebanese Christian philosopher and board member of Harvard university, proposed that the social teachings of John Chrysostom be adopted as policy for the founding charter of the United Nations.
Pneumonia is an inflammation of the lungs due to bacterial or viral infection. It is characterized by a build-up of fluid in the small air sacs known as alveoli, where oxygen exchange takes place.
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Häggström, Mikael (2014). |
World Pneumonia Day falls on November 12. The day provides an annual forum for the world to stand together and demand action in the fight against pneumonia. Its aims is to raise awareness about pneumonia, promote interventions to protect against, prevent and treat the disease and generate action to combat the illness.
More than 100 organizations representing the interests of children joined forces as the Global Coalition against Child Pneumonia to hold the first World Pneumonia Day on November 12, 2009.
Pneumonia is one of the most solvable problems in global health and yet each year, pneumonia affects about 450 million people globally (7% of the population).
The combined effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and conflict is fueling a pneumonia crisis across the life course – placing millions more at risk of infection and death. In 2021, the estimated burden of deaths from respiratory infections, including COVID-19, is a massive 6 million. This makes pneumonia the number 1 killer of children under 5, claiming more lives in this age group than AIDS.
The armistice between the German Empire and the Allies for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front of World War I, was signed at 5 am in a railway carriage in the Forest of Compiègne of France on November 11, 1918. It came into force "at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month."
On November 11, 1918 on the last day of World War I , General Pershing sent American troops to fight the Germans to "teach them a lesson" even though he knew an armistice was signed. Over 3,000 Americans were killed, wounded, or captured.
The last soldier to be killed during World War 1 was at 10.59am on November 11, 1918 when American Henry Gunther charged a German road black. Knowing of the closeness of the ceasefire, the Germans tried to wave him away, but he went on firing, so the Germans shot him.
Armistice Day is commemorated every year on November 11 to mark the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne,
The date is a national holiday in France, and was declared a national holiday in many Allied nations. However, many Western countries and associated nations have since changed the name of the holiday from Armistice Day, with member states of the Commonwealth of Nations adopting Remembrance Day.In the United States the memorial day was called Armistice Day and is now Veterans Day.
Australian journalist Edward George Honey first proposed the idea of a moment of silence to commemorate The Armistice of World War I in a letter to a London newspaper in May 1919, As a result in the United Kingdom and other countries within the Commonwealth, a two-minute silence is observed as part of Remembrance Day at 11.11 a.m. to remember those who lost their lives.
The United States Marine Corps was founded as the Continental Marines by a resolution of the Second Continental Congress on November 10, 1775 during the American Revolutionary War.
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2008 Birthday celebration at Camp Lejeune |
The Continental Congress' resolution stated that "two Battalions of Marines be raised" for service as landing forces for the recently formed Continental Navy. The resolution was drafted by future U.S. president John Adams.
Tun Tavern, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is regarded as the birthplace of the Corps as the location of the first Marines to enlist under Commandant Samuel Nicholas,
Serving on land and at sea the original U.S. Marines distinguished themselves in a number of important operations during the Revolutionary War.
The United States Marine Corps Birthday is celebrated every year on November 10 with a traditional ball and cake-cutting ceremony. During the ceremony, the first piece goes to the oldest Marine present and the second piece to the youngest. The formal cake cutting ceremony was first celebrated in 1952.
From 1949 to 1990, Germany was made up of two countries called the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) under a Christian Democrat coalition and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) under a communist regime.
During this time, Berlin was divided into a west and an east part. On 13 August 1961, East Germany started building the Berlin Wall between the two parts of Berlin.
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East German border guard at Berlin Wall, 1988, By Neptuul |
On November 9, 1989, Communist-controlled East Germany opened checkpoints in the Berlin Wall allowing its citizens to travel to West Germany. This key event led to the eventual reunification of East and West Germany, and fall of communism in eastern Europe including Russia.
World Freedom Day is an annual observance in the United States commemorating the Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe. It was first declared in 2001 by President George W. Bush and is celebrated on November 9.
World Urbanism Day, also known as "World Town Planning Day" is an opportunity to unite planners and celebrate town planning around the globe. The day was founded in 1949 by Professor Carlos Maria della Paolera of the University of Buenos Aires, a graduate at the Institut d'urbanisme in Paris, to advance public and professional interest in planning. It is celebrated in more than 30 countries on four continents on November 8th.
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Flag of urbanism |
In ancient China, towns were often arranged in patterns so that if seen from above, the whole community would resemble an animal or a symbolic design. Some were arranged to resemble dragons, snakes, stars and sunbursts.
Hippodamus of Miletus (498 – 408 BC), was an ancient Greek architect who is considered to be "the father of European urban planning". Hippodamus developed a new way of laying out the towns and cities of Greece. Using a rectangular grid, he brought together a number of large units, each of which was dedicated to some function of the town's life.
Nine days after the Great Fire of London in 1666, Christopher Wren prepared a plan for rebuilding the city which he presented King Charles II with. with. In it he removed the crowded alleyways which were a fire and health hazard. All new streets would have one of three widths - 90,60 or 30 feet.
The Inuit are a people of the Arctic who live in Greenland and Canada.
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By Ansgar Walk - photo taken by Ansgar Walk |
The Inughuit of northwest Greenland are the world's northernmost people. When contact was made in 1818 they had been isolated for several hundred years and were completely unaware of the existence of other humans.
Although they live in a climate inhospitable to crop development, the Inuit do not suffer from vitamin C deficiency (scurvy) due to their diet of frozen and raw fish and mammal organs. By not cooking the food, the vitamin C is not broken down and can be absorbed by the human body.
International Inuit Day is a holiday that was created to celebrate Inuit and amplify their voices. It falls on November 7.
Catholic conspirator Guy Fawkes was discovered just after midnight on November 5, 1605. He was found hiding in a cellar beneath the Houses of Parliament guarding 36 barrels of gunpowder, a length of slow match and a lantern. Fawkes and his fellow plotters had planned to blow up the king during the opening of Parliament the following day. Fawkes was arrested and taken to the Tower of London where he was agonizingly tortured on the rack until he named his co-conspirators.
Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes night, is a British celebration whose origins go back to the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot on November 5, 1605. Since then the British have celebrated this escape from the Houses of Parliament being blown up. On November 5th every year, they light up bonfires, place effigies of Guy Fawkes on the fire and combine this with a firework display.
The fireworks display at South Street, during Lewes Bonfire 2013 |
Guy Fawkes is the only Englishman to have a day named after him (if you exclude St George).
Other traditions celebrate Bonfire Night on different days. Some of the most popular instances include Northern Ireland's Eleventh Night, a precursor to The Twelfth. Also a similar bonfire tradition survives in parts of Scandinavia and is known as Walpurgis Night.
Today is National Bison Day Bison or buffalo are large, even-toed mammals. "Bison" is a Greek word meaning ox-like animal, while "buffalo" originated with the French fur trappers who called these massive beasts bœufs, meaning ox or bullock—so both names, "bison" and "buffalo", have a similar meaning.
The buffalo formed the mainstay of the economy of the Native Americans, providing them with meat for food, hides and fur for clothing and shelter, and sinew and horn for tools
In the 1800s, the westward-moving pioneers and railroad workers wantonly killed the huge animals by the thousands for food. Only the choicest pieces of the slaughtered buffalo, the hump and tongues, were cut out of the carcasses.
The near-extinction bison hunting in the 1800s was not only to gain food. The pioneers also wanted to restrict the American Indians' dominant food supply; herds were shot from trains and left to rot where they died.
By 1870s, the buffalo had been decimated east of the Mississippi River thus removing a major source of meat. The extension of railroads across the Great Plains had led to the destruction of the huge herds that foraged on the vast grasslands there.
The Buffalo Protection Act of 1894 was one of the earliest official recognitions of an endangered species problem in the United States. By the late 1880s fewer than a thousand bison were left on the continent, two thirds of them in Canada. The law to protect the few remaining in Yellowstone National Park was the first federal legislation that focused on conserving a once-vast wildlife resource.
The United States Senate has passed resolutions each year since 2013 making the first Saturday of November National Bison Day. The purpose of National Bison Day is to encourage celebration of the American Bison, also commonly known as the American buffalo. The species is acknowledged as the first American conservation success story, having been brought back from the brink of extinction by a concerted effort of ranchers, conservationists and politicians to save the species in the early 20th century. Bison can also play an important role in improving the types of grasses found in landscapes to the benefit of grasslands and hold significant economic value for private producers and rural communities.
President Barack Obama signed into law on May 9, 2016 the National Bison Legacy Act, which designated the bison as the official mammal of the United States.
November 4 is celebrated as Flag Day in Panama.
Today is the 3rd day of November. The name 'November' comes from the Latin for nine (novem), as it was the ninth month of the Roman calendar.
In Old English November was 'Windmonath' (wind month) or 'Blotmonath' (blood or sacrifice month) referring to the time of slaughter of farm animals.
The Dutch called it 'slachtmaand' (slaughter month); in Welsh it is 'Tachwedd', also meaning 'slaughter'.
The first Sunday of Advent is slightly more likely to fall in November than in December.
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Advent wreath. By Micha L. Rieser - Wikipedia Commons |
In any given year, November starts on the same day of the week as March and ends on the same day of the week as August.
All Souls Day is a holy day set aside for honoring those baptized Christians who are believed to be in purgatory. The day is primarily celebrated in the Catholic Church, but it is also celebrated in the Eastern Orthodox Church and Anglican denomination.
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All Souls' Day by William-Adolphe Bouguereau |
The Western celebration of All Souls' Day is on November 2 and follows All Saints' Day, which commemorates the departed who have attained the beatific vision.
According to the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, Purgatory is a halfway house between heaven and earth where ones souls are cleansed so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven. Protestants discount this teaching.
The Roman Catholic tradition of Purgatory has a history that dates back to the belief, found in Pre-Christian Judaism that prayer for the dead contributed to their afterlife purification. St Augustine of Hippo developed many Catholic doctrines including belief in purgatory, St. Ambrose of Milan spoke of a kind of "baptism of fire" which is located at the entrance to Heaven, and through which all must pass, at the end of the world and Pope St. Gregory the Great stated his belief in Purgatory adding however that the Purgatorial fire could only purify away minor transgressions, not "iron, bronze, or lead," or other "hardened" (duriora) sins.
The concept of purgatory was made official church doctrine at the 1274 Council of Lyons. The council wrote that Christians who had not shown sufficient repentance for their sin needed to be cleansed by purgatorial punishments. Furthermore, the council taught that these punishments could be relieved for oneself (or for those who had died) through “the sacrifices of Masses, prayers, alms, and other duties of piety.”
Today is All Saints' Day, a Christian solemnity celebrated in honor of all the saints of the church, whether they are known or unknown.
Below is All Saints' Day at a cemetery in Gniezno, Poland, the picture shows flowers and candles placed to honor deceased relatives.
By Diego Delso, Wikipedia |
In 609 Pope Boniface IV converted the Roman Pantheon into a Catholic church dedicated to the Virgin Mary and all martyrs. By the 7th century the commemoration of martyrs for the faith had become widespread and as time went on these celebrations came to include not only the martyrs but all saints.
In 837 Pope Gregory IV established the first celebration of All Saints' Day on November 1st to honor the saints, choosing the first day of November to counter a Celtic festival of the dead, known as Samhain celebrated the night before. However the festival did not die out and in medieval Britain it became known as All Hallows (All Saints) Eve, and later its Scottish equivalent Halloween became more widely used.
Today is All Hallows' Eve. Hallow, in Old English, means "holy" or "sacred." Therefore, "All Hallows' Eve," or "Halloween" simply means "the evening of holy persons" and refers to the evening before All Saints Day celebrated on November 1.
The tradition of dressing up on Halloween originates from the Celts, who were known to wear costumes and masks to these festivals in an attempt to appease evil spirits, thought to bring problems to the living on Halloween.
To try and frighten off any superstitions, the Europeans began making lanterns from carved vegetables (predominantly turnips), lit by a candle inside. The "head" of turnips were used, with the belief that the head was the most powerful part of the body, containing the spirit and the knowledge.
The carving of pumpkins is one of Halloween's most prominent symbols today. However, it wasn't until the 1860s that the pumpkin became associated with Halloween - a tradition originating from North America, where pumpkins were readily available and much larger, making them easier to carve.
Halloween was brought to the USA by the Irish but the associations the Americans have with it such as black cats and witchcraft come from Africa.
Stroke is a condition where the blood supply to the brain is disrupted, resulting in oxygen starvation, brain damage and loss of function.
Hippocrates was first to describe the phenomenon of sudden paralysis that is often associated with a stroke. Apoplexy (an old-fashioned term for a stroke or stroke-like symptoms), from the Greek word meaning "struck down with violence", first appeared in Hippocratic writings to describe this phenomenon.
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An image of Hippocrates on the floor of the Asclepieion of Kos |
Globally 1 in 4 adults over the age of 25 will have a stroke in their lifetime. 13.7 million people worldwide will have their first stroke this year and five and a half million will die as a result.
Stroke is leading cause of death and disability globally with 116 million years of healthy life lost each year to the disease.
Throughout the world, stroke is the second leading cause of death. It’s also the leading cause of disability.
World Stroke Day is observed on October 29 to underscore the serious nature and high rates of stroke, raise awareness of the prevention and treatment of the condition, and ensure better care and support for survivors.
The first public performance of Reynaud's Théâtre Optique took place at the Grevin Museum in Paris on October 28, 1892. The show included three cartoons, the first of which was a 15-minute animation, Pauvre Pierrot, made from 500 hand-painted images, which was the first ever presentation of projected moving images to an audience.
A performance of Pauvre Pierrot as imagined by Louis Poyet |
National Peach Day is celebrated on August 27th every year. It is a day to celebrate the delicious and nutritious peach fruit, which is in season during the summer months.