Every Day Is Special

February 2, 2012 - Marmot Day in Alaska

2012-02-02T00:30:00.000-08:00

andHedgehog Day

Inan earlier post, I wrote about today's main U.S. holiday, GroundhogDay. This is the day that an overlarge rodent comes out of his holeand supposedly predicts the weather. (If it's a clear day and thegroundhog sees its shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter; ifit's cloudy and the groundhog doesn't see its shadow, spring isalmost here.) I didn't realize that this holiday got started inancient Roman times, but with an entirely different animal: thehedgehog!

Onthe night of February 2, in Roman times, a hedgehog is brought out ofits burrow to see if there is a moon-shadow. The shadow-spotting andweather-forecasting was probably a nighttime event because hedgehogsare nocturnal, which means that they sleep during the day and areactive at night.

Itis natural enough that people who celebrated this custom in Europechanged from hedgehogs to groundhogs, because there are no hedgehogsnative to North or South America. (Nor are there hedgehogs inAustralia. But there are 17 different species of hedgehogs in Europe,Asia, and Africa.)

Neitherhedgehogs nor groundhogs live in Alaska, but Alaska marmots do! (Inorder to honor their own native ground squirrel, Alaskans haveswapped out Groundhog Day for Marmot Day.

(Actually,groundhogs are a kind of marmot. Alaska marmots are a differentspecies of marmots.)

Alaskamarmots, like many other marmot species in the world, live in rockyareas and eat grass, flowering plants, berries, roots, moss, andlichen.

Alsoon this date:

Candlemas

PancakeDay

February 1, 2012 - Robinson Crusoe Day

2012-02-01T00:30:00.000-08:00

Hespent 28 years on a remote tropical island, a castaway who had todeal with cannibals, pirates, and mutineers before he was finallyrescued and brought back to England.

Heis also a fictional character!

In1719 Daniel Defoe published a book that he named TheLife and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York,Mariner: Who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in anun‐inhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of theGreat River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck,wherein all the Men perished but himself. With An Account how he wasat last as strangely deliver'd by Pirates.(We sensible modern types just call it RobinsonCrusoe!)

Thebook was probably inspired by the real-life adventures of theScottish castaway Alexander Selkirk, who lived for four years on aPacific Island off the coast of Chile. Defoe probably based hisfictional island on the Caribbean island of Tobago, because thelatter is a short distance from South America, near the mouth of theOrinoco River, and is in sight of Trinidad. However, the island thatSelkirk really lived as a castaway, which used to be named “Mas aTierra,” was renamed Robinson Crusoe Island in 1966.

Whyis today considered Robinson Crusoe Day? Was February 1 the fictionalbirthday of Crusoe, or the real-life birthday of author Defoe? No.Was it the anniversary of the first publication of the book? No.Actually, February 1 was the date of the 1709 rescue of AlexanderSelkirk. To commemorate the rescue on this day, we are urged to beadventurous and self-reliant every day.

To hear the story of Robinson Crusoe, go to Candlelight Stories. (There are also quick summaries and illustrations offered on the website.)

For some resources and activities to celebrate this day, check out Living Life at Home.

Alsoon this date:

Imbolc in Celtic cultures

Malaysia's Federal Territory Day

January 31, 2012 - Nauru's Independence Day

2012-01-31T00:30:00.000-08:00

Twothings make Nauru unique—it is the world's smallest republic, andits economy has been based on bird poop!

Nauru during WWII

Withjust 8 square miles (or 21 square kilometers) of land and not toomuch more than nine thousand residents, Nauru is a small island inthe South Pacific Ocean. It was settled by Micronesian and Polynesianpeople, and it was taken over by the German Empire in the late 1800sand by Japan during World War II. In between the World Wars and afterWWII, it entered into trusteeship of Australia, New Zealand, and theUnited Kingdom. On this date in 1968, it was granted independence.

Phosphate fields of Nauru

Nauruhad its heyday because of an unusual resource: bird droppings! Forthousands of years, bird droppings called guano mixed with marinesediments and formed natural fertilizers from phosphate rocks.Unfortunately, the mining of this resource was of the strip-minevariety, and so the fertile land was depleted and the landscapedestroyed. For a while the island made a mini-boom from illegal moneylaundering, but international pressure and government officialscracked down on that “industry.” Now the island is quite poor anddependent on aid from Australia. Once called “Pleasant Island” byBritish visitors, the island is now struggling to regain a reputationas being pleasant.

Accordingto the Nauru tourism website, people can enjoy deep-sea fishing,swimming, and scuba diving. But there hasn't been a lot of touristdevelopment on the island. There is one airport, and flights onlycome in once a week. There seems to be only two hotels and only a fewrestaurants. (In comparison, my little hometown, which is just arather boring suburban town in Southern California, is more thanthree times larger than Nauru in land area, has more than seven timesthe population, and has at least five hotels.)

Alsoon this date:

Anniversary of first U.S. satellite in space

Chess composer Sam Lloyd's birthday

January 30, 2012 - Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day

2012-01-30T00:30:00.000-08:00

Goodnessknows, when I hear sudden loud pops as we are unwrapping preciousglassware, I appreciate the fact that it is one of my kids poppingbubble wrap – and not glass breaking! So I really appreciatebubble wrap...and today's the day to show it!

Apparently,the first Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day was held in 2001 inBloomington, Indiana. The day included a Bubble Wrap popping relay,Pop-a-Bubble/Mole (like the carnival game), a sculpture contest, anda fashion contest. You can see some Bubble Wrap sculpture and fashionhere.

BubbleWrap was invented in the 50s by two engineers who were originallytrying to create plastic wallpaper with a paper backing. They endedup deciding that their invention was better as cushioning packingmaterial than as wallpaper, and they started a company called theSealed Air Corporation in 1960. I love the fact that it is air,rather than just the plastic, that does the most protection—theplastic just seals up the air in a usable form!

Alsoon this date:

Birthday of Thomas Rolfe, son of Pocahontas

Anniversary of the discovery of the world's tallest geyser

January 29, 2012 - National Puzzle Day

2012-01-29T00:30:00.000-08:00

Thisis my kind of day, because I loves me a good puzzle!

Jigsawpuzzles, word puzzles, logic puzzles, sudoku, codes, number puzzles,3-D puzzles...I like 'em all!

Today'sthe day to dust off those boxes of jigsaws, or to buy a new puzzlebook, or to try a new kind of puzzle online. Here are a few links toget you started:

Cryptogramsare substitution codes. This free website is easy to use butchallenging to solve the puzzles. Hint: use the “Hint me” key foras many hints as possible at the beginning of the game. It'llprobably just give you a few vowels to get you started. I have foundthe puzzles much easier and more fun to solve with thisget-me-started help!

JigZone has tons and tons of free online jigsaws. There is a gallery ofpuzzles to explore, a puzzle-of-the-day, and a row of featuredpuzzles at the top. You can change the type of cut and the number ofpieces to make it more or less challenging. I like the 48-piececlassic cut.

PuzzleBaron offers logic puzzles and a video tutorial about how to solvethem, drop quotes, and word twist. Many of these puzzles can be printed as well as solved online.

Sudokupuzzles are very popular. Have you tried them? Web Sudoku puzzles arerated easy, medium, hard, and evil! Also, Web Sudoku offers Link-a-Pix and other logic puzzles.

Alsoon this date:

Flight pioneer Lawrence Hargrave's birthday

Geologist Frederick Mohs's birthday

January 28, 2012 - National Kazoo Day

2012-01-28T00:30:00.000-08:00

InJanuary of 1883, Patent Number 270,543 was awarded to a toy and/ormusical instrument that the inventor, a fellow named Warren Frost,called a kazoo. People speak or hum into the whistle-like instrument,and their voices are distorted with a buzzing sound that is createdby a vibrating membrane.

Moreadvanced kazoo players don't just hum, they sing syllables such asdooo, whooo, brrrr or rrrr into the kazooin order to create more fuzzy-buzzy sounds.

Thekazoo is often played by kids or in comedy music, but a classicallytrained musician named Barbara Stewart once performed with herquartet of kazooists at Carnegie Hall, and amazing music was playedby 3,910 kazooists at Royal Albert Hall in 2011.

Ifyou don't have a kazoo to play today, you can try what rock legendsJimi Hendrix and the Beatles used in their music: a comb and paper.(Try waxed paper or tissue paper as well as notebook paper.) Here andhere are some other ways to make homemade kazoos.

Didyou know...?

Somepeople are trying to get the kazoo named the official musical instrument of the United States.

Alsoon this date:

Anniversary of first ski tow in the U.S.

Anniversary of the coining of the word serendipity

January 27, 2012 - Vietnam Peace Day

2012-01-27T00:30:00.000-08:00

Onthis date in 1973, the Paris Peace Accords arranged a ceasefire totake place on midnight, officially ending American involvement in theVietnam War. This 20-year war was devastating to the people—notjust the armies, but the Vietnamese civilians—and the environmentof Vietnam, as napalm and defoliants burned and destroyed plant life.

Howhas Vietnam recovered from the war?

Well,it is considered a success story because the economy continues togrow each year. Vietnam exports oil and agricultural products.Tourists visit and spend money in the country. New forests are beingplanted. Still, there is a lot of poverty in Vietnam, and there isdisagreement about planting exotic trees (that is, trees that usuallygrow elsewhere) that are good for the lumber industry, or plantingnative trees and trying to return to the natural pre-war forest.

Vietnamhas its beauties, especially along the coast, as you can see in thisand this other slide show.

Findout more about Vietnam at the Kids National Geographic site. Or checkout the links Mr. Donn has gathered here.

Alsoon this date:

Mozart's birthday

Author Lewis Carroll's birthday

January 26, 2012 - Lotus 1-2-3 Day

2012-01-26T00:30:00.000-08:00

It'sa day to celebrate spreadsheets, which as easy as 1-2-3, because onthis date in 1983, Lotus began to sell its best-selling,user-friendly spreadsheet for Microsoft DOS.

Lotus1-2-3 wasn't the first spreadsheet program for microcomputers,though.

Ibought my first computer before there was such a thing as a “PC”or IBM Personal Computer. I bought an Apple II, which was then verybig in the very small microcomputer market. I remember hearing aboutthis new kind of software – a spreadsheet program, whatever thatwas – called VisiCalc. It turned out that VisiCalc made Apple muchmore popular as a home and small business computer. A few yearslater, Lotus 1-2-3 did the same thing for the new PCs. Nowadays themost popular spreadsheet program is Excel.

So,what is a spreadsheet? It is a computer application that allows usersto enter data in table form. Some columns of data are commonlynumbers such as dollar amount, hours, or quantities. The spreadsheetgives users tools to easily rearrange the data, sorting thingsalphabetically, by date, or by amount. Another tool allows users toeasily and automatically perform math formulas on the information.For example, you might want to add together a column of hours worked,and in another row you might want to multiply the number of hours bythe hourly wage. With a spreadsheet, you can immediately see how thetotal is affected by one change.

Hereand here are some websites to give you ideas of how to use spreadsheets.

Alsoon this date:

Australia Day

Republic Day in India

January 25, 2012 Day of Serpents in Lithuania

2012-01-25T00:30:00.000-08:00

(Mid-Winter Festival)

Thisday, called Kirmeline, marks the symbolic awakening of snakes. People put out food and milk for the snakes, and if these things areconsumed, a good year is foretold.

Itreminds me of Groundhog Day, when people wait for an oversized rodentto come out and either see its shadow (foretelling six more weeks ofwinter), or not (because, counter-intuitively, a cloudy day means thatwinter weather will soon end).

Whenis a snake a serpent?

Whenwe talk about real snakes such as rosy boas or diamondbackrattlesnakes, we usually use the word snake. Serpents,on the other hand, are usually symbols or mythologicalcreatures.

Justwhat do serpents symbolize? Sometimes they are symbols of evil, suchas the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Sometimes they symbolize thecreative life force. Because snakes shed their skin through molting,serpents can be symbols of rebirth or transformation, even healing.The Ancient Greek God of Medicine, Asclepius, has a rod entwined with serpents. Sometimes serpents are cast as guardians; statues ofhooded nagas served as guardians of temples in Angkor, Cambodia, andsometimes the Buddha is pictured sitting beneath the hooded serpentking Mucalinda, who shields the Buddha as he meditates.

Sometimesserpents are considered dragons, and other times they live in thesea, as sea monsters such as the Loch Ness Monster.

Alsoon this date:

Burn's Night in Scotland

Russian Students' Day

January 24, 2012 - Happy Birthday, Hermann Ebbinghaus

2012-01-24T00:30:00.000-08:00

Don'tforget this man's name!

HermannEbbinghaus was a pioneer. Not someone who strode out into thewilderness and built a log house, but a pioneer in the study ofmemory. Ebbinghaus was very curious about the fact that even goodstudents forget 90% of what they learn in a classroom within 30 days,and he tried to figure out what he could about when and why weremember—and forget!

Ebbinghausworked with the memorization of “nonsense syllables,” 3-lettersyllables that didn't mean anything, such as YAT and KOJ. One thingthat made his research less useful to later researchers is that heused only himself as test subject; it would be much better to usemany different people so that the findings could be generalized tolarger populations, and also it compromises research, to some extent,to have the same person acting as both researcher and subject!

Still,Ebbinghaus was able to describe findings that have stood up to latertesting, such as the sharp (exponential) “forgetting curve” and“learning curve,” and the fact that we tend to remember the lastand first items in a list longer than the middle items. He alsostudied “savings,” our ability to relearn things we had oncelearned and then forgotten.

Trainyour memory at Kids Memory Dot Com!

Ebbinghaus also invented this illusion,
which is called the Ebbinghaus illusion!

Alsoon this date:

Ballerina Maria Tallchief's birthday

Anniversary of gold discovery in California

January 23, 2012 - Chinese New Year

2012-01-23T00:30:00.000-08:00

It'sthe Year of the Dragon!

InChina's time zone, it is New Year's Day on January 23, 2012. With theChinese lunar calendar, the New Year comes on a different day eachyear, and it often comes in early February. This year it arrives alittle earlier!

Manypeople know that each year is assigned an animal name, cyclingbetween twelve animals as varied as rats, tigers, monkeys, and pigs.This year is surely the coolest animal—so cool it doesn't actuallyexist!—the dragon. But did you know that there are also elementnames associated with each year? The elements are metal, water, wood,fire and earth. This year the element is water, so this is the yearof the Water Dragon.

Hereare some questions I had after reading about Chinese New Year:

What does it mean to say “China's time zone”? China's a large country, about as large as the U.S. Wouldn't it have more than one time zone, like the U.S. (which has four time zones)?
Does China still use its lunar calendar for everything? Including business?

Igoogled these questions, and this is what I found out:

China used to have five time zones. Since the end of World War II, and the beginning of Communist China, all the various time zones use the same time, so it is as if the whole country shares one time zone. That means that some residents have times that roughly correspond to the sun in the sky, with the sun almost overhead around noon, but other residents do not—some might have the sun overhead much earlier or later than noon.
China has used the Gregorian calendar that the rest of the world uses since 1929, although in the Chinese system the months are numbered rather than being translations of the familiar names (January, February, and so forth). The traditional lunar calendar is still used for festivals and holidays, and in astrology.

CelebrateChinese New Year!

Hereand here are links to Chinese New Yearcoloring pages, activities, and recipes.

Formore on Chinese New Year...checkout this earlier post.

Alsoon this date:

Anniversary of the partitioning of Poland

Anniversary of the coldest temperature in the U.S.

January 22, 2012 - Answer Your Cat's Questions Day

2012-01-22T00:30:00.000-08:00

Thisisn't a day for humans to research and answer our questions aboutcats. Instead, we are supposed to look at the cats we know and noticethat they often stare at us with serious but questioning looks ontheir faces; we are directed to meditate on what our cat is wonderingand then to answer their unspoken questions.

Accordingto the official website, the Number 1 cat question is, “What is onthe other side of this door?” This is very curious, because oftenthe cat has just come in through that door and, one would think,should know very well what is on the other side of the door!

Thewebsite also has a list of rules that cats live by. Very informative!

Enjoy cats and kittens!

Everyone loves cat/kitten videos, right? Here is a "Best Of" video someone compiled...

Alsoon this date:

Space-stuff Day

Anniversary of the installation of Cleopatra's Needle in NYC

January 21, 2012 - Errol Barrow Day – Barbados

2012-01-21T00:30:00.000-08:00

Hehelped to lead his nation to independence from the United Kingdom in1966, and he made changes to Barbados such as providing freeeducation to all children, providing school meals to the needy, andother progressive reforms. Errol Barrow became a hero who is picturedon paper money, and his birthday is celebrated every January 21^st.

Doyou know where Barbados is? It is an island country in the CaribbeanSea. It's only a teeny little island, only about a third of the sizeof the city of Los Angeles in land area. It's one of the big touristdestinations in the Caribbean!

Here's why (according to the Barbados tourism council, that is!)

Ifyou were visiting Barbados right now, you would be enjoying balmytemperatures that range from 75 degrees F at night to 80 in the day(although there would likely be clouds and rain showers, too). Maybeyou would go on a submarine ride,or into Harrison's Cave.Or maybe you will get to go diving and see shipwrecks off the coast, or you could take a pirate cruise!

Speakingof pirates, there were real pirates of the Caribbean, of course, andhere are the true stories of two of them.

Alsoon this date:

Anniversary of the introduction of the smallpox vaccine

Anniversary of one of the first female doctors, Sophia Jex-Blake

January 20, 2012 - Celebrate Rio de Janeiro!

2012-01-20T00:30:00.000-08:00

InJanuary of 1502, a Portuguese exploratory expedition happened on whatis now known as Guanabara Bay in Brazil. The explorers called theriver entering the Atlantic Ocean “January River,” in Portugueseof course, and the name stuck: Rio de Janeiro.

Invarious sources, today is cited as being either Foundation Day orSaint Sebastian's Feast Day in Rio. I'm not sure which of thesereports is accurate—perhaps both—but it is a great day to take alook at this important Brazilian city.

Riode Janeiro was the capital of Brazil for almost 200 years, but a newinland city, Brasilia, was planned and built in the late 1950s andbecame the capital in 1960.

Riois the second largest city in Brazil, after only Sao Paulo. It's thethird largest in South America, the sixth largest in the Americas,and the 26^th largest in the world!

Also,Rio is the second largest city in Brazil by economic terms (GrossDomestic Product, GDP).

Inwhat way is Rio number one? Well, it's the most visited city in allof Brazil. As a matter of fact, Rio de Janeiro is the most visitedcity in all of the Southern Hemisphere!!

Copacabana

It'sknown for its beaches and natural surroundings—including Copacabanabeach and Sugarloaf Mountain—as well as for its carnivalcelebrations and cultural contributions such as the samba (a dance)and Bossa Nova (a style of music). One of the most famous landmarksis considered on the New Seven Wonders of the World, a giant 130-foot(40-meter) statue of “Christ the Redeemer.”

Carnival

In2016, Rio hosts the Summer Olympic Games!

One of the largest statues in the world...

...but not nearly as large as several others.
The largest statue on this chart is Spring Temple Buddha
(153 meters). Do you recognize the statue that is second
from the left?

Alsoon this date:

Anniversary of the first game of basketball

Anniversary of the U.S. patent for the first successful roller coaster

January 19, 2012 - Robert E. Lee's Birthday

2012-01-19T00:30:00.000-08:00

Agreat commander, general, strategist...

...whowon a lot of battles but is linked in our mind with the losing sideof a war.

Bornon this day in 1807, Lee was the son of an officer who fought in theRevolutionary War. He became a top graduate of the U.S. MilitaryAcademy and served the U.S. Army with distinction for 32 years. Hefought in the Mexican-American War and led the militia and U.S.Marines who ended the Harper's Ferry rebellion.

BeforeVirginia seceded from the Union, President Lincoln and the commandinggeneral of the Union Army, Winfield Scott, wanted Lee in a topcommand post for the Union Army. In the meantime, the ConfederateStates also offered him a command post for the South. Lee said thatsuch secession was “revolution” and a betrayal of the country'sfounding fathers; he thought that “dissolution of the Union”would be a “calamity” and that a Civil War would be long andbloody. He even said that he would never fight against the Union.

Butwhen Virginia seceded, he thought long and hard and finally decidedthat he owed more loyalty to his state than to his country. So he didtake over, after all, the command of the Confederate Army.

Ididn't realize that 40% of the officers from Virginia chose the Unionside, including some of Lee's cousins. Also surprising to me was thatLee's wife favored the Union; his whole family, other than onedaughter, was against secession and was surprised by Lee's decisionto fight on behalf of the Confederacy.

Gettysburg was a huge defeat for Lee and the
Confederacy. Many see it as the turning point
of the American Civil War.

Learnmore about the U.S. Civil War

Somestudents created this website you can explore. Be sure to click “bargraphs” to compare the resources of the North and South. Can yousee why Robert E. Lee's victories were called Phyrrhicvictories—victories that have such a huge cost to the winner thatthey ultimately lead to defeat? When Lee lost so many soldiers to“win” a battle, he couldn't as easily replace the soldiers, likethe Union army could.

Alsoon this date:

Artist Paul Cezanne's birthday

Anniversary of Captain Wilkes claiming Antarctica for the U.S.

January 18, 2012 - Thesaurus Day

2012-01-18T00:30:00.000-08:00

The word thesaurus looks like a dinosaur name,
doesn't it?

If you can't read it, the caption says, "Having great
vocabulary didn't save the thesaurus
from extinction / eradication / extirpation."

Athesaurus is an enormous list of words, categorized into synonyms andantonyms rather than listed alphabetically. In a published book, athesaurus has an alphabetical list at the back that helps users findthe word and other similar words. Nowadays many people use aThesaurus function on their computers and word processing programs.

Whyis today considered Thesaurus Day? Peter Mark Roget, who is famousfor his thesaurus (compiled in 1805 and published in 1852, therebythe first modern thesaurus), was born on this day in 1779.

Usea thesaurus today!

Hereare a few ideas for thesaurus projects.

Hereand here are two examples of an online thesaurus. Which is organizedin the way you like best? Which has more synonyms for the word clean?/

Hereare some thesaurus games you can play!

Alsoon this date:

Winnie the Pooh Day

January 17, 2012 - Kid Inventors' Day

2012-01-17T00:30:00.000-08:00

Accordingto the official website, this holiday is held on Benjamin Franklin'sbirthday, January 17, because Franklin invented swim flippers whilehe was just 12 years old. (He invented a lot of things in hislifetime, of course!)

Checkout the website for books, links, quotes, tips, and contests!

Hereare some things invented by kids:

Popsicles(invented by an 11 year old)

Earmuffs(invented by a 15 year old)

Water skis (invented by an 18 year old, then consider a minor)

Television(kind of...this invention depended on a lot of efforts by a lot ofpeople, but with a critical contribution from a 14 year old)

Alsoon this date:

Benjamin Franklin's birthday

Anniversary of the Pope moving back to Rome

January 16, 2012 - Religious Freedom Day

2012-01-16T00:30:00.000-08:00

– U.S.

“...noman shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship,place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained,molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwisesuffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but that allmen shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, theiropinions in matters of Religion...”

ThomasJefferson wrote these words as part of the Virginia Statute forReligious Freedom. Virginia's lawmakers adopted the statute on thisday in 1786.

Todayis the anniversary of that landmark legislation, and so today iscelebrated as Religious Freedom Day.

Alaw is termed “landmark legislation” if it is a new idea that isoften copied, a turning point of sorts for people and governments.Since 1786, the U.S. adopted the famous First Amendment to theconstitution, stating “Congressshall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, orprohibiting the free exercise thereof”; the legislatures of many other nations have since passed similar bills.

Remember,that means that there is no state religion in the United States (asthere is in England, for example). It means that one religion cannotbe favored over another by the government or its organizations (suchas public schools). And it means that nobody can be legally punishedfor their religious viewpoints or membership, nor for having noreligious beliefs.

Althoughreligious freedom is hugely important to most Americans, Jefferson'sgreat idea leads to a certain amount of controversy, too. Forexample, some people are upset that kids can't pray in publicschools. But that's just not true. Kids can silently pray anytimethey want to in public school—who would even know? Similarly, kidscan pray aloud or in small groups in some settings and at some timesin public school. But school teachers and administrators cannot leadclasses or the entire school in prayer. Anyone who thinks that theprincipal should be able to lead everyone in prayer shouldimagine that principal doing so from the vantage point of anotherreligion. For example, a Christian student who wishes there could bea public prayer at graduation should imagine someone leading all theparticipants to pray to Allah. Mmm, maybe not such a good idea, afterall, is it? A Jewish or Muslim student would feel left out if theprincipal invoked the name of Jesus in a prayer, and a Buddhist oratheist student would probably feel left out by a prayer to asupposedly non-denominational God.

Hereis a news item about freedom of religion, from just a couple of daysago. Note that you can view the results of the online poll, which seemsto show that most Americans do understand the value of the separationof church and state. (Hooray!)

Alsoon this date:

Martin Luther King, Jr., Day

National Nothing Day

Appreciate a Dragon Day

Great Day for Skates

January 15, 2012 - Haberdasher History Made

2012-01-15T00:30:00.000-08:00

– 1797

Thestory goes that English haberdasher (hat maker) John Hetheringtonfirst appeared in public in a top hat on this date in 1787. A riotensued! A crowd gathered at the sight of the hat. Women fainted.Children screamed, and dogs yelped. A boy was thrown down by thecrowd and broke his arm.

Thestory goes on that Hetherington was arrested on a charge of breach ofthe peace, and he had to pay a large fine.

Soundcrazy?

That'sa clue: all these crazy over-reactions to a hat probably didnot occur. However, the story has appeared over and over again inprint and all over the internet. The reference made to this top-hatriot story is generally given as the story's first appearance inprint in Hatters' Gazette on January 16, 1797. ButHatters' Gazette only began publication in 1878! So thereference could not possibly be right – and since everyone quotesthe same wrong info, most people must be quoting the same inaccuratesource.

Nexttime you read something that sounds kind of crazy, consider itunproven. Don't mindlessly repeat the story. If you have time, checkit out. See if the source of the story is reliable, and if there areother dissenting stories.

Justbecause it is in print many times over, or just because it appears onmany different websites, doesn't make it true...

Alsoon this date:

Anniversary of the coronation of Elizabeth I

Fiesta del Nino Perdido in Peru

January 14, 2012 - Dress Up Your Pet Day

2012-01-14T00:30:00.000-08:00

It'sa day to enjoy anthropomorphism – which is treating animals aspeople, or thinking of animals as if they have human traits orculture. Dog don't really want to dress for success, and long-hairedcats aren't really interested in following the latest hairstyletrends...but some pets don't mind being dressed up, photographed, andooohed and aahed over, and some pet owners LOVE it!

And,according to Pet Style, today's the day for your puppy and kitty tostrut their stuff!

(Pleasedon't torture your pet today. If he or she hates dressing up, honoryour pet's wishes.)

Manychildren's books are written about anthropomorphic animals—animalswho dress up in clothes, talk, and drive cars or go to school orskateboard or do a million other things that humans do. Can you thinkof some examples of anthropomorphic books?

Hereare some famous ones:

BeatrixPotter books, such as Peter Rabbit

TheWonderful Wizard of Oz

Alicein Wonderland

TheJungle Book

TheLion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

BerenstainBears books

Winniethe Pooh books

(andmany, many more)

Alsoon this date:

Hot Foods Month

“Old” New Year in the Slavic countries

January 13, 2012 - Stephen Foster Memorial Day

2012-01-13T00:30:00.000-08:00

– U.S.

StephenFoster (who died on this date in 1864) is known as the Father ofAmerican Music. (Perhaps it is appropriate, then, that he was born onthe Fourth of July – in 1826.) He wrote songs such as “Oh!Susanna,” “Camptown Races,” “Swanee River,” “My OldKentucky Home,” and “Beautiful Dreamer.”

Accordingto Wikipedia, these songs are still popular today, more than 150years after Foster wrote them. But...I wonder, have YOU ever heard ofthem? I'm not sure that they are still all that popular or known...

Fosterhad a pretty wide-ranging education but little instruction in music.However, he was influenced by a classically trained musician whoemigrated from Germany and became one of Foster's only musicteachers. Also, Foster was influenced by an entertainer who acted asa clown and a blackface singer who traveled with a circus. (Blackfacewas theatrical makeup that white performers wore in order to createstereotyped caricatures of black people. It was popular for a centuryin the U.S. and overseas, but eventually people came to see it asracist.)

Fostertried to make a living as a songwriter, but although his songs werevery popular during his lifetime, he wasn't able to make much moneywith them. The music copyright laws and composer royalties of thetime were not very fair to creative artists. For example, one highlypopular song that became a sort of theme song for the Gold Rush, “Oh!Susanna,” earned Foster only $100. Publishers of sheet music rakedin most of the profits for Foster's creative work!

Listento samples of Foster's songs here.

Alsoon this date:

Defenders of Freedom Day in Lithuania

Anniversary of the discovery of Callisto

January 12, 2012 - Celebrating Platinum and Lithium

2012-01-12T00:30:00.000-08:00

Onthis date in 1716, Antonio de Ulloa was born in Spain. He grew up tobe an officer in the Spanish navy and the first Spanish governor ofLouisiana...but he was also known for his explorations, hisscientific observations and records. One of these observations was a“new” metal, which he “discovered” in Colombia; this is oftencredited as the modern discovery of the element platinum. (I put the words new and discovered in quotes because some peoples had mined and used platinum before this time.)

Onthis date in 1792, Johan August Arfwedson was born in Sweden. He grewup to be a chemist, and he discovered the element lithium byisolating it (as a salt) from the mineral petalite. (Later chemistswould isolate lithium as a metal.)

Platinumv. Lithium

Which of these elements is silvery or silvery white in color?
Which is the lightest metal (atomic number 3)?
Which is the least reactive metal – that is, the metal that is least likely to combine with other elements?
Which is a very heavy metal (atomic number 78)?
Which is used in batteries?
Which is so valuable that its name is commonly used in medals and credit cards (among other items) to mean “even better than gold.”
Which metal is denser?
Which is sometimes used in aircraft due to its great strength-to-weight ratio?

ANSWERS:1.both lithium and platinum are silver or silvery white in color –2.lithium has only three protons and four neutrons – 3.platinum – 4.platinum has 78 protons and around 117 neutrons – 5.lithium – 6.platinum– 7.platinum – 8.lithium

Alsoon this date:

Anniversary of first woman elected to U.S. Senate

Anniversary of establishment of first public museum in U.S.

January 11, 2012 - Hostos Day in Puerto Rico

2012-01-11T00:30:00.000-08:00

Thisis the birthday of Eugenio Maria de Hostos, a writer and statesmanwho worked hard to promote human rights and to and gain independencefor Puerto Rico.

Hostoswas born into a well-to-do family living in Puerto Rico, and hetraveled to Spain to go to “high school” and college. When Spaindisappointed him in 1869 by refusing to grant Puerto Rico itsindependence, Hostos traveled to the United States. Later he moved tothe Dominican Republic; he married a Cuban woman in Venezuela, andthey had children in the Dominican Republic and Chile. Hostostraveled all over Latin America, the Caribbean, the U.S., and France;he worked to better education, to promote better treatment of Chineseimmigrants, and to achieve women's rights, particularly in scienceand education.

Hostos'sdream was to help his nation, Puerto Rico, and other Caribbeannations to gain independence from Spain. He promoted the idea of anAntillean Confederation of Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico.Eventually the first two did become independent nations, but PuertoRico became a territory of the U.S.

(Tobe fair, a lot of people in Puerto Rico preferred to be annexed tothe U.S. than to achieve full independence. But not Hostos; he wasvery disappointed. He dictated in his will that his body not beburied in Puerto Rico until it became a fully independentnation...and so, to this date, his body remains buried in theDominican Republic.)

Learnmore about Puerto Rico in earlier posts here, here, and here.

Alsoon this date:

Anniversary of the discovery of francium

Birthday of the “Father of Wildlife Management”

January 10, 2012 - Happy Birthday, Simon Marius

2012-01-10T00:30:00.000-08:00

Hedidn't get the credit, but he did get to name stuff...

SimonMarius was a German astronomer and one of the earliest users oftelescopes. He discovered and named the four largest moons ofJupiter—

Waita minute! If you know your astronomical history, you know that it wasGalileo Galilei who discovered the four largest moons of Jupiter! That's why they're called the Galilean moons!

However...

Thereis this thing called “priority” in scientific discoveries. SimonMarius claimed to have seen (in other words, discovered) the Jovianmoons before Galileo did, and he published his claim and observationsin 1614. However, Galileo had published his diagrams of the Jovianmoons four years before Marius, in 1610; Galileo pointed out thatMarius's diagram matched his earlier-published diagram. It ispossible that the two astronomers first spotted the moons on the verysame day, or that Marius copied Galileo's diagram, but most peoplethink that Marius discovered the moons independently but a bit laterthan Galileo.

Itdidn't help, when trying to figure out priority, that the two menused different calendars. According to his notes, Simon Mariusdiscovered the moons on December 29, 1609; according to Galileo'srecord, he discovered the moons on January 7, 1610. So Marius wasfirst, right?

Well,Galileo used the Gregorian calendar, whereas Marius used the Juliancalendar. Translating Marius's date to the Gregorian calendar (whichwe use today), Marius made his discovery on January 8, 1610.

Ooo,so close!

Mariuspointed out that he looked at Jupiter a month or two before and hadseen the moons then—but he didn't write or draw anything. This iswhat is known as an unrecorded observation; it doesn't count.

Callisto

Ganymede

SoGalileo gets the credit for the discovery. Interestingly enough,however, we use the names that Marius gave the moons: Io, Callisto,Ganymede, and Europa. Perhaps that's because Galileo just named themoons I, II, III, and IV!

Europa

Findout more about Simon Marius inthis earlier post.

Alsoon this date:

Astronomer Robert Woodrow Wilson's birthday

Anniversary of first subway

Anniversary of first aerial photo in U.S.

Anniversary of a successful Amelia Earhart flight

January 9, 2012 - National Static Electricity Day

2012-01-09T00:30:00.000-08:00

Thereare two kinds of electricity – the kind that moves briskly along inwhat we call an electric current, and the kind that sits around,piling up, on a surface of an object. The word staticmeans “unmoving” or “unchanging,” so you can see that staticelectricity is the latter kind.

Thingsare made of stuff, what we call matter, and matter is made up ofatoms that are usually electrically neutral. That is, atoms generallyhave no positive or negative charge. The reason that atoms areelectrically neutral is that they have the same number of positiveparticles (protons, found in the central nucleus) and negativeparticles (electrons, found in the outer cloud surrounding thenucleus).

Thething is, electrons can get bumped off when two surfaces come intocontact and then separate again. When it loses an electron, an atomhas more protons than electrons, and so it has a positive charge.

Also,an atom can collect the bumped-off electron from another atom; whenthat happens, it has more electrons than protons, and so it has anegative charge.

Staticelectricity can build up and build up, with more and more atomsgetting brushed together and losing or gaining electrons, untilfinally it is discharged by flowing to the surroundings. People canfeel, hear, and often see a spark as static electricity isdischarged.

Examplesof static electricity vary from socks rubbing together in the drierto lightning, which is probably caused by ice particles bumpingtogether in a cloud. Static charge can be very dangerous – we arewarned, for example, not to repeatedly get in and out of our seats ata gas station, as the rubbing of car seats and clothing could cause abuild-up of static electricity, any discharge could cause a spark,and sparks are dangerous at a gas pump! But static electricity canalso be harmless fun – such as the crazy hair-dos created byrubbing a rubber balloon on our hair!

Findout more...

Science Made Simple has an article about static electricity and four activitysuggestions. Science Kids has a much shorter, simpler article on static electricity.

Ilike this simple, clear demo of water and static electricity—thisis one experiment that would be easy to do at home!

Peopleat science fairs use Van de Graaff generators to demonstrate staticelectricity. Here is a vivid demo of hair “standing on end”because of static electricity.And here is Steve Spangler demonstrating the generator.

Alsoon this date:

Balloon Ascension Day

Anniversary of Columbus spotting mermaids (supposedly!)

January 8, 2012 - Argyle Day

2012-01-08T00:30:00.000-08:00

Todayis the “classiest looking day ever”--time to slip on those argylesocks, sweaters, or vests.

Argylepattern is made of overlapping diamonds. Because of the overlay ofintercrossing diagonal lines on solid diamonds, the pattern has a 3-Dor textured feel.

Argyleis a sort of plaid, and apparently it is derived from the tartan ofClan Campbell, from Argyll, Scotland. (You probably know thatScotland is part of Great Britain, which is part of the UnitedKingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. So make that: Argylecomes from Argyll, Scotland, Great Britain, United Kingdom. Whew!)The pattern was used for kilts, plaids (the garment, not thepattern), and high socks that were often called “tartan hose.”

Argylebecame fashionable in England and the U.S. after the World War I. Thepattern was identified with the Duke of Windsor, who used the patternfor golf clothing. Later, golfer Payne Stewart won the U.S. Open andPGA championship while wearing argyle socks. The pattern is still inuse—on and off the golf course—today!

Ifyou want more than just wearing argyle, you could try making anargyle cake...

Hereare instructions for painting a wall argyle!

Youcould even paint your face with an argyle pattern for the day!

Also on this date:

Anniversary of the death of Galileo

Elvis Presley's birthday

January 7, 2012 - Tempura Day

2012-01-07T00:30:00.000-08:00

Didyou know that this favorite food in Japanese cuisine came to Japanfrom Portugal?

Tempurais seafood and vegetables that have been battered and deep fried. Thebatter is very light and fluffy when fried because it is made withcold water, and it is only stirred a bit with chopsticks and is stilla bit lumpy when used. (People keep the batter cold by placing thebowl of batter inside a larger bowl of ice.)

Apparentlythis style of battering and frying food was introduced to Japan byPortuguese Jesuits, and the word “tempura” comes from theLatin/Portuguese word “tempora,” or time period, which refers toChristian holy days when meat is avoided and fish and vegetables areeaten.

CD Kitchen has an article about National Tempura Day and includes linksto tons of recipes!

Alsoon this date:

Anniversary of publication of Fanny Farmer's Cookbook

Tumbes Anniversary in Peru

January 6, 2012 - Communications Inventions Day

2012-01-06T00:30:00.000-08:00

Firstpatent for a typewriter (on this date in 1714)

AnEnglishman named Henry Mill submitted a vague description of "anartificial machine or method for the impressing or transcribing ofletters singly or progressively one after another."But there is no evidence that he had a working model of a typewriter,nor that he further developed his idea.

Firstpublic demonstration of the telegraph(on this date in 1838)

Americanpainter Samuel Morse was heartbroken when his wife got ill and diedwhile he was far away painting someone's portrait. He realized thathe could at least have seen her and said goodbye if only there were arapid form of long-distance communication – and he stopped paintingin order to invent a device to do just that.

Firsttelephone call from a submerged submarine(on this date in 1898)

WhenI think “submarine,” I think “ocean,” but this first phonecall from a sub came from a guy named “Lake” (Simon Lake, to beexact) from the bottom of a river!

Learn....

Rampup your typing skills with a free online typing course such as this one or this other one.
Haveyou ever wanted to learn Morse Code? There's a website for that!
Doyou know how submarines submerge or rise? Find out in this very short video.

Alsoon this date:

Three Kings Day / Epiphany / Twelfth Night

Anniversary of opening of first Montessori school

January 5, 2012 - Bird Day

2012-01-05T00:30:00.000-08:00

BornFree USA has declared January 5 “National Bird Day,” pointing outthat the beauty, song, and flight of birds is inspiring to humans theworld over, and that a significant number of bird species areendangered due to human activities. Illegal pet trade has harmedparrots and others, and of course cutting down forests, drainingwetlands, and building malls and houses in other habitats allimpact bird populations.

Atthe organization's website are 10 things you can do to make your petbird happy, 10 things you can do to make wild birds safer, and “funactivities.”

Also,if you've ever wanted a T-shirt that says “Think outside the cage,”you need to visit the Born Free site!

Celebratebirds!

Apples 4 the Teacher offers interactive coloring pages of birds that you can print blank or colored. Also, there is a word-find puzzle filled with names of bird species.

TLC offers a lot of bird-watching activity suggestions, including feather search-and-ID, nest-building scavenger hunt, and planting for feathered friends.

Danielle's Place has some nice bird crafts, including building a bird feeder.

You probably already know that birds
evolved from dinosaurs!

Alsoon this date:

Anniversary of first woman governor in the U.S.

Birthday of Aaron Lapin, the “King of Whipped Cream”

January 4, 2012 - Earth at Perihelion

2012-01-04T00:30:00.000-08:00

TheEarth will be at its closest point to the Sun today at 7:00 p.m. U.S.Central Time. That closest-to-the-Sun point is called “perihelion.”

Mostpeople think of the Earth circling the Sun in a circular orbit –see? I just used the verb circling? That's how we think of it!– but really its orbit is elliptical. That means it is slightlyoval in shape.

(Tobe precise, a circle is a very special ellipse in which every pointis equal distance from the geometric center, so what I should say isthat the orbit of the Earth is a non-circular ellipse.)

This diagram shows last year's
perihelion (and also the point at
which Earth was farthest from the Sun).
NOTE: This diagram is WAY out of scale.

Everyellipse has two focus points. Try moving one of the foci of this ellipse, and see how the other focus changes as well to maintain theelliptical shape. How long and skinny an ellipse can you make? Canyou make a perfect circle? What happens to the two foci in a circle?

Hereis a website in which you can create an elliptical orbit for “yourplanet.” You can make your orbit closer to a circle or much moreelongated. Notice, with an elongated orbit, that your planet goes alittle faster when it is closer to the Sun and a little slower whenit is farther away. Also try the zoom in/out and slower/fastersliders!

Tolearn more about perihelion, check out this website.

Youcan make an ellipse with some string and pins and a pencil.Instructions can be found in Richard Panchyk's book Galileo for Kids. Ortry the Math Open Reference website.

Alsoon this date:

World Braille Day

Firsts for the fourth

January 3, 2012 - J. R. R. Tolkien Day

2012-01-03T00:30:00.000-08:00

Ifit weren't for Tolkien, there wouldn't be nearly so many geeky jokesabout rings (precious rings), nor so many Halloween costumes with bigfeet or pointy ears. Our birthday boy's books, The Hobbit andThe Lord of the Rings, have been popular since their originalpublication. They rank among the most popular books of the twentiethcentury, and they have famously inspired movies and even tourism inNew Zealand to see where the movies were (are being) filmed.

I'mlooking forward to Part 1 of The Hobbit (themovie), due to be out at the end of this year. Here is apreview.

Thebooks inspired more than just movie adaptations: they inspired anentire genre. Tolkien is considered the father of modern fantasyliterature – high fantasy, which takes place in an invented worldand in which large themes of Good and Evil shake the very foundationsof that world – and the popularity of The Lord of the Ringsled to many more volumes of fantasy being written and published. Twogood examples of high fantasy series include Lloyd Alexander'sPrydain Chronicles and the Eragon books by Christopher Paolini(the Inheritance Cycle).

TheLord of the Rings also inspired adaptations for radio andtheatre, plus artwork, music, video games, and many culturalreferences.

JohnRonald Reuel Tolkien was born on this date in 1892 in South Africa.When he was little, he was bitten by a large baboon spider and wasalso briefly kidnapped by a house-boy who just wanted to show thebeautiful baby off to his kraal. (The house-boy returned thebaby the next morning, safe and sound!) When he was just three yearsold, Tolkien went to England with his mother and brother, just for afamily visit – but his father died in South Africa, so the Tolkiensstayed in England. When J.R.R. was 12 years old, his mother died; sheleft guardianship of him and his brother to a Catholic priest.

Tolkiengrew up to become a writer, a university professor, and a philologist(one who studies written languages). Tolkien learned Latin, French,and German from his mother at home, and during his schooling andcareer, he also learned Welsh, Finnish, and Old Norse. He made upwhole languages for his invented Middle-earth, setting of TheHobbit and The Lord of the Rings,including Elvish (both Quenya and Sindarin), Dwarvish (Khuzdul),Entish, and Black Speech. Many fantasyand science fiction books and movies have, since Tolkien's time, alsoincluded invented languages such as Fremen from Frank Herbert's Duneand Klingon from the StarTrek universe.

Celebrateby reading and watching high fantasy today!

Orlearn an invented language. Check out these websites dedicated toElvish and Quenya.

Alsoon this date:

Greatday for the Yankees

Anniversaryof patent for drinking straws

January 2, 2012 - Tournament of Roses Parade Day

2012-01-02T00:30:00.000-08:00

Igrew up in Pasadena, California, home of the Tournament of RosesParade and the Rose Bowl. Every year on January 1^st, from1890 on, bands have marched and played, equestrian groups havehigh-stepped, and flower-covered floats have glided down ColoradoBoulevard, traveling about five-and-a-half miles (9 km).

Whoops!Did I say every January 1? You may have noticed that today is notJanuary 1. Whenever New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the parade isheld on the following Monday.

Today'sparade will feature 43 floats, 21 bands, and 18 equestrian units withapproximately 400 horses. Hundreds of thousands of people will watchalong the parade route, and millions more will watch the parade on TVin more than 200 nations and territories around the world.

Check out this video of some of the greats of Rose Parade floats.

Watch some videos on making a float, starting with this one. You can find more in this series, but here's one that gave some nice close-ups of the flowers being used.

Last but not least, this and this other time-lapse videos show building floats in just under a minute!

Floats are covered by many sorts of natural plant
materials -- not just flowers, but also bark, seeds,
and even whole fruit such as these grapefruits.

Alsoon this date:

Science-fiction author Isaac Asimov's birthday

Berchtold's Day in Switzerland

January 1, 2012 - New Year's Day and Patriots' Birthdays

2012-01-01T00:30:00.000-08:00

NewYear's Day is the most widely celebrated holiday in the world(although not everyone celebrates on the same day!).

Of course, somebabies are born on this auspicious day every year, as well. Today wecelebrate the birthdays of Paul Revere and Betsy Ross, two famousAmerican “patriots.”

Whatthe word patriot means is “one who is loyal to one'scountry.” Interestingly, Americans tend to use the word forhistorical figures who were actively rebelling against their country– because Britain was the ruling nation of the American colonies.So early American patriots were people who were loyal to the idea ofa new nation – but were not a bit loyal to their actual country.Right?

PaulRevere (born on this day in 1735) was a silversmith. He is mostfamous for alerting Colonial militia that the British forces wereapproaching Concord. During the Revolutionary War, he acted as acourier and printed local currency; he also set up a powder mill thatproduced tons of gunpowder for George Washington's Continental Army.He opened a hardware store, served in the Massachusetts militia, andbecame a foundryman. (That means he learned to make iron and brassand other metal castings.) His company, Revere Copper and Brass,Inc., grew to be quite large.

Onereason that Revere is so famous for one little event in his excitingand varied life is that his “midnight ride” was dramatized inHenry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem “Paul Revere's Ride.”

BetsyRoss (born Elizabeth Griscom on this day in 1752) was a seamstress.She is credited with sewing the first American flag, but there isn'tevidence that this story is true. She was one of several flag makersin Philadelphia, and she changed the six-pointed stars to easierfive-pointed stars. However, in 1857, twenty years after Ross'sdeath, her grandson William J. Canby presented a paper claiming thatshe had made “with her hands” the first flag of the UnitedStates. The story appealed to Americans who were eager for storiesabout the Revolutionary War and thirsty for patriotic role models forgirls, so the story was quickly accepted and widely retold.

Andquite probably false.

Thetake-away from both of today's famous birthdays is that historycontains exaggeration and even myth. We can learn and enjoy popularhistory, but we can also dig a little deeper to see what evidencesays about our past.

Formore about New Year's Day, see this and this other earlier posts.

December 31, 2011 - New Year's Eve – inside an Iguanodon!

2011-12-31T00:30:00.000-08:00

Onthis date in 1853, a group of Great Britain's leading scientists atea formal New Year's Eve dinner inside a huge model of a dinosaur!This was to mark the launch of sculptor Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins'sfirst ever dinosaur sculptures in the world – and the world's firstlife-sized models of extinct animals. He created the iguanodon modelplus models of extinct mammals and other dinosaurs to be displayed onthe grounds of the Crystal Palace in London, on three islands in thetwo human-engineered lakes.

Formore on the iguanodon and this famous feast, check out this earlier post.

Imagine....

Whichfantastic place would you like to celebrate New Year's Eve? It wouldbe hard to imagine, “inside a model of a dinosaur, along withfamous scientists,” but it really happened. See if you can stretchyour imagination to an even more amazing place...

Howabout New Zealand, to see fire poi (juggling fire)?

OrFrankfurt, Germany, to see fireworks?

For more on New Year's Eve, take a peek at this earlier post.

Also on this date:

Anniversary of window tax in England

December 30, 2011 - Falling Needles Family Fest Day

2011-12-30T00:30:00.000-08:00

Ifyou have had a real “evergreen” tree slowly dying in your livingroom for almost a month, as I have, you may have noticed the softsounds of needles falling onto your carpet and your tree skirt offake snow. Perhaps the people who invented this wacky holiday intendcelebrants to put away the ornaments and lights, carry out the driedcarcass of the former tree, and vacuum.

Nothingsays family festivities like un-decorating a Christmas tree, unlessit's vacuuming!

Also,Happy Birthday, Rudyard Kipling!

Digout your copies of The Jungle Book, Kim, Just SoStories, or Rikki-Tikki[Tavi, because their author istoday's birthday boy.

Kiplingwas born on this date in 1865 in Bombay, India, when it was underBritish rule. His father was a sculptor and pottery designer who wasa professor at an art school there. He only lived in India for thefirst five years of his life, however; as was the custom in BritishIndia, he was then sent to England to attend school and board with anunrelated family. He was alternately bullied and neglected; when hismother came back to England and collected him and his sister, thefamily finally realized (to their horror) that the children had beenmistreated. Eventually, at age 16, Kipling returned to India to workon a small local newspaper.

Enjoy...

Kids-n-Funhas coloring pages from the Disney version of The Jungle Book.

Youcan read The Jungle Book online for free!

Ifyou want to go all out, you can check out the Jungle Book-themedcrafts and games at the Disney Family website.

Alsoon this date:

Rizal Day in the Philippines

Birthday of seismograph inventor John Milne

December 29, 2011 - Tick Tock Day

2011-12-29T00:30:00.000-08:00

Onlytwo days left in the year! This “holiday” has been declared toremind you to GET THINGS DONE! Maybe the things you wanted toaccomplish in 2011 can still be ticked off your list before the clocktocks "2012"!

Alsoon this date:

HappyBirthday, Joaquin de Acosta!

ThisColombian explorer and scientist was born on this day in 1800. He dida scientific survey of his country, studying its topography, itsnatural history, and traces of its aboriginal inhabitants.

Wh-wh-what?

Pico Cristóbal Colón,
the highest mountain of Colombia

Topographyis the study of the Earth's surface features – the shapes andelevations of mountains and valleys and so forth.

Naturalhistory is the study of the plants and animals native to a place (inother words, not the ones people brought from somewhere else, but theplants and animals that naturally grew in an area).

A crab-eating fox

The "Lost City"

Aboriginalinhabitants means people who have lived in an area from the earliesttimes that people lived in that place. You can see the word“original” inside the word “aboriginal.” The “original”inhabitants of the U.S. were the Native Americans, also known asIndians.

Enjoy...

...this short video that shows some of the topography, animals and plants,and traces of aboriginal inhabitants of Colombia.

Anniversary of Texas's statehood

Madame de Pompadour's birthday

December 28, 2011 - Pledge of Allegiance Day

2011-12-28T00:30:00.000-08:00

-- United States

Onthis day in 1945, U.S. Congress officially recognized the Pledge ofAllegiance as an American flag salute. The original pledge waswritten by Baptist minister Francis Bellamy half a century before,for a public school program. Bellamy apparently never consideredputting in a line about God (the words “under God” were added tothe pledge in the 1950s), but he did want to include the word“equality.” Because Bellamy knew that powerful people who wouldsee the program were against equality for women and for black people,he backed off from his good idea and simply wrote:

“Ipledge allegiance to my Flag and to the Republic for which it stands,one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

Did you know that in Bellamy's day
(late 1800s and early 1900s),
children saluted the flag
with a straight, upraised arm?
Can you guess why that was
changed to another quite different salute?

Inthe 1920s, the National Flag Conference changed Bellamy's words “myFlag” to the phrase “the Flag of the United States of America.” Bellamy disliked the change and protested it. Bellamy'sgranddaughter has said that he would also have resented the additionof the words “under God.” Apparently he had been pressured into leaving hisjob of minister because of his socialist ideas; eventually he left theBaptist church altogether.

Somepeople want to change the pledge to a version close to Bellamy'soriginal concept:

“Ipledge allegiance to my Flag, and to the Republic for which itstands, one nation, indivisible, with equality, liberty, and justicefor all.”

By the way, did you know that the Supreme Court ruled that nobody canrequire others to salute the flag or say the pledge? In 1940, thecourt ruled by an eight to one vote that the government could makepeople show respect for the flag because it was the central symbolof national unity. But just three years later, by a six to threevote, it reversed its ruling, saying that the right to free speechguaranteed in the First Amendment meant that people did not have tosalute the flag or say the pledge.

(These court decisions were in response to children whose familieswere Jehovah's Witness. The kids felt that reciting the pledge wouldgo against the teachings of their religion—but they were expelledfrom school for their refusal to participate. Some school kids todaywho don't participate in reciting the pledge say that their refusalis due to the fact that they do not believe in God, and don't want topledge with the words “under God.”)

Alsoon this date:

Anniversary of chewing gum patent

Anniversary of dishwasher patent

They're Always Changing the Map Day

December 27, 2011 - Peter Pan Opens

2011-12-27T00:30:00.000-08:00

– 1904

Beforeit was a beloved Walt Disney animated movie...before it was achildren's book...before it was a million merchandising opportunitiesfrom dolls and amusement park rides to endless spin-offs and sequelsand prequels—it was a play!

Onthis date in 1904, in the Duke of York's Theatre in London, England,Peter Pan or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up opened...

Theplay was very successful, which may explain the lasting power of thisstory—still apparently going strong more than a century later! Andwhy not? Not only does Peter Pan never get old or die—he can fly,has a fairy for a best friend, leads a gang of Lost Boys, hangs outwith Indians and mermaids, and fights pirates!

Celebrate!

Watch a Peter-Pan-based movie such as Hook (1991) or the TV miniseries Neverland (a prequel to the familiar Peter Pan story, debuted just a few weeks ago). Or read a Peter-Pan-based book. My favorite by far is Peter and the Starcatchers, by humorist Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, and three other books that form origin stories for Peter Pan's magical abilities, Captain Hook, fairies, and the Lost Boys.

The original Barrie book is available from Project Gutenberg.

Find some Peter Pan fun at Kaboose!

Alsoon this date:

Kwanzaa(from 12/26/11 to 1/1/12)

Astronomer Johannes Kepler's birthday

Microbiologist Louis Pasteur's birthday

December 26, 2011 - Frisbee Patented

2011-12-26T00:30:00.000-08:00

– 1967

It'sa bird—it's a plane—no, it's a flying saucer!

Or........ an inexpensive plastic toy?

Onthis day in 1967, a newer, better version of the popular flying discthat we call Frisbee was patented by Wham-O inventor Ed Headrick. Butthe invention of the frisbee started long before then...

TheFrisbie Baking Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut, made pies, andsome claim that the inventors of the Frisbee were workers tossing andcatching empty pie tins. Others say that college students in NewEngland were the first to find the fun in flinging the Frisbie pietins—and several different universities claim the honor of beingthe “first to fling.”

In1948, a Los Angeles building inspector named Walter F. Morrisoncreated a plastic version of the Frisbie pie tin. He fiddled with hisinvention until he came up with one that flew better than a pie tincould, and he named it a “Pluto Platter” in order to cash in onthe UFO craze. A company named Wham-O, famous for the Hula-Hoop andSuper Ball, bought Morrison's design—and he received a milliondollars in royalties. The head people of Wham-O decided to drop thename “Pluto Platter” and go back to the original name with a funnew spelling: “Frisbee.”

Later,Ultimate Frisbee and Frisbee Golf were invented. The U.S. Navy hasstudied Frisbees in wind tunnels, using cameras and computers, inorder to learn more about flight for their vehicles and flarelaunchers. And more than 200 million modern Frisbees have beenmanufactured and sold!

Alsoon this date:

Second Day of Christmas

Boxing Day (and more!)

December 25, 2011 - Christmas Day

2011-12-25T00:30:00.000-08:00

andA'Phabet Day (No “L” Day!)

Christmasis a religious holiday AND a secular holiday. Many Christians aroundthe world celebrate it, but some Christians do not believe it isproper to celebrate Christmas, and many non-Christians also celebrateChristmas. It is often thought of as a celebration of the spirit ofgiving.

Didyou know...?

Hereare some people who celebrated their birthdays on Christmas Day:

IsaacNewton, scientist and inventor of calculus (born in 1642)
ClaraBarton, nurse and organizer of the American Red Cross (born in 1821)
CabCalloway, bandleader (born in 1907)
RodSerling, TV writer who created The Twilight Zone (born in1924)

IsaacNewton is one of the greatest and most influential scientists whoever lived. He used mathematics to describe the law of universalgravitation and the three laws of motion, built the first practicalreflecting telescope, developed a theory of color after studying thevisible spectrum—and much more! Because of his great contributionsto science—and the fact that he was born on December 25—somepeople celebrate today as “Newtonmas” and greet each other withthe words “Reason's Greetings.” (Note: Isaac Newton was aChristian, although he had some unusual beliefs.)

Formore Christmas spirit, check out this and also that earlier posts.

December 24, 2011 - Christmas Eve / Nochebuena

2011-12-24T00:30:00.000-08:00

Manypeople around the world celebrate Christmas Eve tonight, and manydifferent cultures have different traditions.

InSpain, Christmas Eve is called la Nochebuena. After aChristmas mass, Spanish families gather for dinner that often startswith a seafood dish, includes hot homemade soup, and finishes offwith turron for dessert (a cake made of nougat and nuts).

CubaCuban families in Cuba and the U.S. often roast an entire pig for theNochebuena feast, and dominos is the traditional game.

Filipinofamilies also serve pig roast, often, along with sweet stylespaghetti, fruit salad, rice, fried chicken, and many other meat andside dishes. Drinks include hot chocolate, coffee, soda, wine, beer,and fruit juice!

InNew Mexico, la Nochebuena is celebrated by lighting luminariesand farolitos. These small paper lanterns light up the night alongwalkways and walls.

InMexico and other Latin American nations, Nochebuena is thelast night of las Posadas. Here is a video that explains someof the customs. (Click on the preview.)

Celebrate!

Ilove the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's “Christmas Eve / Sarajevo”music video.

Andhere is the same song done in “dancing” Christmas lights. Bravo!

Formore on Christmas Eve...

Check out this and that other earlier post. In both cases, you will need to scroll down.

Alsoon this date:

Yap Constitution Day in Micronesia

Anniversary of first solar-heated home

December 23, 2011 - Man Crosses Ocean with No Food (?)

2011-12-23T00:30:00.000-08:00

– 1952

Don'ttry this at home! Or on the ocean! Or anywhere!

Onthis date in 1952, Frenchman Alain Bombard arrived in Barbados aftersailing across the Atlantic Ocean alone with almost no provisions.That means he had almost no food or fresh water with him on his smallinflatable boat!

Orso he claimed.

Bombardwas a biologist and doctor. He had already sailed across the oceansolo twice before, but this time he wanted to prove that a humanbeing could survive such a trip without provisions. By testing histheory, he said that he would help save thousands of lives – whichseems to me a weird claim. (Surely shipwrecked and lost people don'tcommit suicide once their water runs out, right? They try to survive,I imagine...)

Bombardvisited his newborn daughter in France and then set off on October19. He said he made a harpoon and hooks and was able to catch orspear fish with these—and the fish were a source of fresh water aswell as of food. He also harvested surface plankton with a small net.According to Bombard, he sipped a little salt water when necessary.(Warning: drinking salt water will cause dehydration, and eventually seizures and death. Don't do it – not even in little sips.)

Onthe fourth day of his journey, Bombard's backup sail was blown away,and he had to mend a torn sail to continue. On his 53^rdday, he encountered a ship. The people on the ship gave him a mealand warned him that he was still 1,000 kilometers away from his goal,but Bombard chose to go on.

WhenBombard arrived in Barbados, he had lost 25 kg (around 55 pounds),and he had to go to the hospital for a short time. However, herecovered, wrote a book about his adventure, and lived to be 80 yearsold.

Somepeople think that Bombard's story is too unlikely to be true. AGerman doctor named Hannes Lindemann tested Bombard's claim by tryingto repeat his journey. However, he found that he needed fresh waterfrom rain most days. Lindemann has speculated that either Bombardsecretly took fresh water along on his journey or was secretlyprovided supplies along the way. The World Health Organization basesits recommendations for ocean crossings on Lindemann's findings, noton Bombard's story.

Alsoon this date:

LinguistJean-Francois Champollion's birthday

Night of the Radishes

Festivus—the Holiday for the Rest of Us

December 22, 2011 - National Haiku Poetry Day

2011-12-22T11:22:00.000-08:00

Youmay already know that a haiku is a traditional Japanese poem that isvery short. In just three non-rhyming lines, of five, seven, and fivesyllables, a haiku paints a quick picture of something in nature orthat connects to seemingly unrelated things. Here is an example:

An oldsilent pond...

A frog jumpsinto the pond,

splash!Silence again.

– by Matsuo Basho

To celebrate the day, write and read haiku! You can find some haiku poems here and here.

Bruce Lansky, the writer who runs Giggle Poetry's online “poetry class,” thinks that the strict syllable count is not the most important thing about haiku. Instead of holding to a 5-7-5 pattern, he hopes kids and other haiku writers will capture the essence of haiku by describing a natural scene in as few words as possible—and by conveying emotion with the short poem. Here's one of his haiku.

Frog sunning on lily pad
as dragonfly darts by.
Thrapp!

– by Bruce Lansky

What's a syllable?

A syllable is a unit of sound that contains one vowel sound (although it may contain more than one vowel!).

Counting syllables is like counting how many “beats” a word has:

the word “beat” has one syllable
the word “counting” has two syllables (count – ing)and the word “syllable” has three syllables (syl – la - ble)

Here's a tool to help you count syllables.

Alsoon this date:

Anniversary of first string of Christmas lights—besure to check out the linked home light-shows!

December 21, 2011 - Winter Solstice, a.k.a., Yalda

2011-12-21T00:30:00.000-08:00

Dependingon where you live in the world, the Solstice is today or tomorrow.This is the shortest day and longest night of the year in theNorthern Hemisphere, and of course the longest day and shortest nightof the year in the Southern Hemisphere. The days have been gettingshorter and shorter in the Northern Hemisphere ever since late June,but now they will start getting longer and longer again!

Yaldais the Persian (Iranian) WinterSolstice Celebration. It is a social occasion when family and closefriends get together. Fresh fruit is traditionally served, includingwatermelon, pomegranate, nuts and dried fruit.

Foodis commonly placed on a korsi,which is like a very short table covered by a wool blanket. Peoplesit around the korsiand put their legs under the blanket. Inside the korsiis a heater—so this seating arrangement sounds nice andtoasty-warm. Families stay up late eating, talking, reading poemsaloud, and telling stories or jokes. In the past, people woulddecorate their houses and yards with candles, and they would givepresents of dried fruits and nuts to friends and family, wrapped upin bits of parchment and tied with ribbon, like a little party favor.But apparently the customs of burning candles and giving gifts onYalda have been dyingout.

This Yalda table setting looks pretty yummy. You know what I see
along with the watermelon, pomegranate, and nuts?
I see cotton candy!

Tolearn more about Winter Solstice, click here.

Agame that comes from the Ancient Persian culture is Backgammon. Playonline here. If you need help with the rules, check out Backgammon Galore.

Alsoon this date...

Anniversary of first crossword puzzle