February 28 – International Sword Swallowers Day

Posted on February 28, 2015

Every year, on the last Saturday of February, the Swords Swallower Association International celebrates its special day in conjunction with Ripley Entertainment.

(You know, the people who do the Ripley's Believe It Or Not stuff.)

Sword swallowing is of course not actually swallowing. Instead, sword swallowers actually inhibit the urge to swallow in order to keep the passage from the mouth to the esophagus to the stomach open as the sword is lowered and then raised again.


According to Wikipedia, sword swallowing is dangerous, and there is risk of injury.

Really? Passing a sword down your esophagus to your stomach is dangerous? Who knew???

(I think I would NOT want to be a sword swallower in a place prone to earthquakes!)

Sword swallowing started in southern India thousands of years ago. It spread to ancient Greece and Rome, and also to ancient China and Japan. It became part of street performance in some places, and theatre in other places, along with other ancient entertainments such as tightrope walking, fire eating, and juggling.

Eventually sword swallowing became part of circus acts and side shows. Apparently sword swallowers kept trying to one-up each other—curved swords, multiple swords, longer swords, hot swords, bayonets, even neon tubes!


Guess how many deaths have resulted from all that competitive sword swallowing? (Answer below the photos:)


Just twenty-nine deaths have been reported as a result of sword swallowing injuries in the last 135 years. So sword swallowing, it turns out, is way safer than, say, traveling anywhere by any means (plane, train, automobiles, bicycles, or even roller skates)!

Still, it's something I just don't get. I wouldn't want to learn it OR watch it, even if the act was free. And—needless to say—don't try this at home!

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February 27 – Read Me Day

Posted on February 27, 2015

To celebrate today, we only have to do what many of us do a lot, anyway:

Wear a T-shirt, cap, pin, or other item with a message on it!

This holiday was created by a Tennessee teacher in 1986. 

Every year, visiting readers are invited to come to school to read portions of their favorite books, and these visitors, the students, the teachers, and the staff all wear messages of some sort.

Fun!


Here are some possible messages to wear:

For the Harry Potter fan.




This dress has the entire first chapter of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone! (AKA Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone)

















Messages on caps have to be short!

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Author John Steinbeck's birthday











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February 26 – Liberation Day in Kuwait

Posted on February 26, 2015



This is Day 2 of celebrations in Kuwait. Yesterday was Kuwait's National Day, and today is the anniversary of the nation's 1991 liberation from Iraq.



Apparently, Kuwaitis dress in the national colors, and streets are decorated with flags and banners in the national colors, and people dance around and spay each other with foam colored with the national colors...

So, yeah, a whole lot of white, green, and red!

In addition to flags and foam, there are fireworks!

Kuwait is located at the tip of the Persian Gulf. Iraq lies to the north, and Saudi Arabia lies to the west. Iraq is almost landlocked (without direct access to an ocean or a sea that has access to an ocean) because of Kuwait; Iraq's coastline on the Persian Gulf is only about 18 miles (30 km) long.

Kuwait has a king and a constitution and an elected parliament. It ranks high on civil liberties and freedom of the press – compared to other Arab countries, that is. Its economy is based on petroleum. I would've thought that Iraq might have attacked Kuwait in order to acquire all of that yummy coastline, but most historians believe that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was angry at Kuwait for the latter nation's reluctance to forgive Iraq's debt and was doubly angry at Kuwait for “over-producing” petroleum, therefore keeping oil prices down.


Some things I found interesting as I researched Kuwait:

  • There are about 3 expatriates to every 1 Kuwaiti living in Kuwait! (Expatriates are people who live outside of their native country.)

  • One thing you can find in Kuwait City—well, actually, in the Persian Gulf—is an artificial island called Green Island, a place where people stroll through gardens, swim in a lagoon, listen to concerts, and otherwise enjoy recreational activities. The “island” joins to the mainland by a pedestrian causeway.

  • Another island is Kobar or Kubbar Island. Kuwaitis travel there by boat and enjoy swimming and diving. There are no trees or buildings or anything on this island (although there are a few oil derricks). Man! In the U.S., I bet the island would have a McDonald's restaurant!


  • The Mirror House in Kuwait City is the only house in the world entirely covered with mirror mosaic by a single artist, Lidia Qattan.

Also on this date:









For Pete's Sake Day 

































Anniversary of a patent for a glass-blowing machine









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February 25 – Happy Birthday, George Harrison

Posted on February 25, 2015

He was a part of THE most famous band. Ever. In the history of bands.

George Harrison (who was born on this date in 1943) was 13 years old when his dad gave his music-loving son a guitar. Within the year he had started a small skiffle group with school friends (skiffle was a type of folk-sy blues-y jazz-y music popular in the 1950s).

And when he had just turned 15 years old, Harrison took the advice of one of his friends, Paul McCartney, and auditioned for John Lennon's band, the Quarrymen.

Lennon thought Harrison was too young to be in the group. But Harrison began hanging out with the group, socializing, and he sometimes filled in on guitar when he was needed. Soon he was accepted as a member.

And in 1960 the Quarrymen became the Beatles!

I wonder if the then-17-year-old Harrison was ready for the fame, the fans, the friendships, the freak-out fun?

Could anyone really be ready for that?

Did you know...?

  • George Harrison became interested in all things Indian, learned to play the sitar, and converted to Hinduism. When he died at age 58 of lung cancer, his ashes were scattered in the Ganges and Yamuna rivers in India;

  • During Harrison's post-Beatles solo career, he co-wrote songs and produced music with such musical stars as Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, and Tom Petty.

  • One of the Beatles' most popular (and most covered) songs, “Something,” was written by Harrison, although most Beatles songs were famously co-written by Lennon and McCarthy. Most Beatles albums had at least one song written by Harrison.

  • Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Harrison #11 in their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.




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