Humor
Northern Lights and Coronal Mass Ejection: Existential Threat from Methanogenic Cattle
Reading Time: 3 minutesNORTHERN LIGHTS AND CORONAL MASS EJECTION: METHANOGENIC CATTLE OAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) has announced a G2 geomagnetic storm watch for tomorrow, August 28, which could potentially boost aurora activity. Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are plasma and magnetic field explosions from the Sun’s corona. When aimed at Earth, they trigger geomagnetic storms that affect…
Read MoreHistory of Christmas in July
Reading Time: 2 minutesHistory of Christmas in July erry Christmas in July, or Christmas in Summer, is celebrated primarily on July 25! It is not to be confused with LEON Day, celebrated on June 25, which falls exactly six months before Christmas Day. Christmas in July also has a practical dimension in the Southern Hemisphere, where it has the…
Read MoreHistory of French Fries: Are They Really French?
Reading Time: 3 minutesHISTORY OF FRENCH FRIES: NATIONAL FRENCH FRY DAY uly 13th is National French Fry Day. While no one knows who began this celebration, placing it on July 13 is significant in that the important French holiday is the next day, July 14, Bastille Day. Did they originate in France, why are they called that,…
Read MoreHistory of Fathers Day: The Beginning
Reading Time: 3 minutesHISTORY OF FATHER’S DAY [NOTE: I wrote a longer and more serious version of this article for CBS.com several years ago. It has been published on their network of sites for major cities nationwide. You can find that article here.] Podcast version he celebration of Father’s Day goes back to the beginning, actually to…
Read MoreHistory of Towel Day: Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Reading Time: 2 minutesHISTORY OF TOWEL DAY May 25 celebrates Towel Day to honor Douglas Adams, the author of the five (or six) book “trilogy” Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Created in May 2001 to mark the passing of English science fiction humor author Douglas Adams, the day is set aside for fans of his writings to carry a…
Read MoreHistory of Cinco de Mayo
Reading Time: 2 minutesHISTORY OF CINCO DE MAYO Cinco de Mayo is frequently regarded as the Mexican equivalent of the United States’ 4th of July. This is incorrect: it is the equivalent of the “5th of May” in Spanish. Another misconception is that this has something to do with Mayonnaise. That, too, is a bum spread, as the…
Read MoreHistory of May the Fourth (Be With You): Star Wars Day
Reading Time: 3 minutesHISTORY OF MAY THE FOURTH ay 4th, or May the Fourth, is a geek holiday that has gained popularity in recent years due to a popular film franchise. But where did it begin?
Read MoreHistory of Earth Day
Reading Time: 3 minutes HISTORY OF EARTH DAY pril 22 is called Earth Day because it commemorates and celebrates the anniversary of our discovery of planet Earth. By all accounts, there is general agreement that Earth is far superior to the planet from which we came, as we shall recount below. Meanwhile, several companies on Earth celebrate it as…
Read MoreHistory of April 19: Three Reasons Why It’s Significant
Reading Time: 3 minutesHISTORY OF APRIL 19 any of my Facebook friends have asked me to write an article on the History of April 19th. Why? Statistically, this date is slightly more likely to fall on Tuesday, Thursday, or Sunday (58 in 400 years each) than on Friday or Saturday (57 each), and somewhat less likely to occur…
Read MoreHistory of Tax Day: Still April 15?
Reading Time: 4 minutesHISTORY OF TAX DAY pril 15 is the deadline for filing income taxes in the United States… usually. But there are extensions, postponements, and natural disasters, It has been wondered aloud by tax accountants: “Will taxes will ever be due on April 15 again?” The Coronavirus pandemic delayed deadlines to July 15 in…
Read MoreHistory of Easter Candy
Reading Time: 7 minutesHistory of Easter Candy Easter is the second-largest “candy holiday” of the year, after Halloween in the US. Trick-or-treating can turn a grown adult into a porch-based sugar distributor for tiny extortionists in costume. This ranking may be because Halloween retailing starts in July, aggressively elbowing the Fourth of July store displays. Easter has waited politely…
Read MoreHistory of April Fools’ Day
Reading Time: 2 minutesHISTORY OF APRIL FOOLS’ DAY Podcast version pril Fools’ Day, or All Fools’ Day, is the name given to the custom of playing practical jokes on friends on that day or sending them on fools’ errands. The origin of this custom has been much disputed; it is in some way a relic of those…
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