Nice. Iâll have to check out those artists. Iâve never heard of 'em before.
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It is Friday, 10 December 2021
(W49 | D344 | 21 rem)
Today is: 
Human Rights Day
Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home â so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. -Eleanor Roosevelt-
Every so often, a situation comes to pass that is of such astounding importance that humans all over the globe should stand up and recognize it. People must place this situation on the pedestal that it deserves. In doing so, people will ensure that the precepts and policies put in place by it are adhered to, appreciated, and spread as far as the human voice will carry.
Such is the sort of message sent by Human Rights Day.
Human Rights Day was established to commemorate The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) that was created in 1948.
The creation of this document was a shout across the world by the leading countries in the world, stating loud and clear that no matter where we live, what we believe, or how we love, we are each individually deserving of the most basic fundamentals of human needs.
The UDHR proclaims the inalienable rights every human being is entitled to, exclusive of race, gender, color, language, religious beliefs, political (or other) opinion, national origin, property ownership, birth, or any other status. This is the most translated document in the world, made available in more than 500 languages.
Since that auspicious day the UDHR has stood as the first major stride forward in ensuring that the rights of every human across the globe are protected. From the most basic human needs such as food, shelter and water, all the way up to access to free and uncensored information, these items have been the goals and ambitions laid out for that day.
Each year, Human Rights Day marks events, gatherings and conferences around the world that are dedicated to ensuring these ideals are pursued. And to make sure that the basic Human Rights of every human being are made a priority in the global theatre.
Those who are looking for ideas of how to observe Human Rights Day should look no further! Here are some ideas for getting started making a small but important difference in the world on this day:
One important way to celebrate Human Rights Day is to take some time to appreciate the effect that this resolution has had on the world, society and each personâs individual life. Look around the neighborhood and see the effects on a local scale, the charitable works being done to promote the health and well-being of those who are less fortunate.
Many people arenât aware that Human Rights Day is even a thing, so helping to raise awareness is a great way to start. Students can make posters and have a small event at school. Office workers or warehouse workers can post notices in the breakroom or send out a company email reminding people to observe the day in support of the rights of all humans. Others might want to make a video about Human Rights Day, share it with friends, and hope that it goes viral!
Take this day as a reminder to get out there and make a difference in the world. Whether itâs simply making a donation to one of the dozens of organizations that work towards this global purpose, or organizing a donation drive of your own to help out those organizations who are fighting the good fight.
Not sure how to find an organization to get involved with? Try out some of these international recognized ones to get started:
- Amnesty International
This global movement of over 10 million people takes justice seriously. Independent of politics or religion, this organization mobilizes people to make the world a place where human rights are enjoyed by everyone. - Human Rights Watch
Working to investigate and then report abuses of human rights, this group includes more than 450 people from approximately 70 different nations, helping with law, business, policy, and more. - Lawyers Committee for Human Rights
Pursuing equality, this organization is made up of professional volunteers whose aim it is to respect, protect, and promote human rights all over the world. - United Nations Foundation
Building awareness and support of the UNâs network so that some of the most vulnerable people on earth can be helped.
Be human! Itâs the right thing to do! 
Know More:
https://www.parliament.gov.za/project-event-details/2
https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/humanrightsday
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It is Saturday, 11 December 2021
(W49 | D345 | 20 rem)
Today is: Gingerbread Decorating Day
Itâs getting closer to Christmas, a holiday associated with many traditions. One of those traditions is the baking of gingerbread. What child hasnât dreamed of baking, building and decorating an entire gingerbread house, that could then be inhabited by a colourful little gingerbread family?
Gingerbread Decorating Day is here to help all kids, from ages 1 to 92, get as much fun out of the season as possible!
âRun, run, run as fast as you can, you canât catch me, Iâm the gingerbread man!â
Gingerbread Decorating Day has been created so that we all have the perfect opportunity to practice the fun festive past-time of decorating a gingerbread house. Of course, you donât have to create a gingerbread house or man for that matter. You may want to make gingerbread in the shape of Santa or a reindeer or a Christmas tree and decorate those instead. The choice is yours!
After all, does anything give you more of a festive feeling than the smell of freshly baked gingerbread? It is quite divine!
However, a lot of people do not realize that gingerbread has a pretty interesting history. In fact, did you know that baking gingerbread was deemed a specific profession? Yes, back in the 17th century, you could only make gingerbread if you were a professional gingerbread baker, unless it was Easter or Christmas when the rest of the population could partake in the fun! We donât know about you, but that seems like a pretty awesome job, right?
In Europe, gingerbread was deemed a form of popular art. To be honest, itâs still art in our eyes! Have you seen some of those incredible gingerbread houses on Instagram? Nevertheless, it was a pretty big deal back in the day. Molds of gingerbread were used to display actual happenings through the portrayal of new rulers, as well as their parties, spouses, and their children! There are museums around the world that house substantial mold collections. Two of the most famous are the Bread Museum in Ulm, Germany and the Ethnographic Museum in ToruĹ, Poland.
Gingerbread is though to have been brought to Europe by an Armenian monk named Gregory of Nicopolis in the 10th century who had brought the necessary spices back from the Middle East, and then taught the art of gingerbread making, what with the spices and the molasses, to French Christians until his death. Gingerbread then made its way around Europeâin the 13th century, it made its way to Sweden, where it was baked by nuns to help soothe indigestion.
There, it slowly became popular to paint the cookies and use them as window decorations as well. The 13th century also saw gingerbread make its debut in the city of ToruĹ in Poland, where the honey supplied by the local villages made the cookies especially delicious. To this day Pierniki ToruĹskie, as they are known in Poland, is an icon of Polandâs national cuisine.
From the 17th century onwards, gingerbread was sold in monasteries and pharmacies in England, where it was thought to have medicinal properties, and gingerbread became the symbol of the town of Market Drayton, which was particularly known for it. In the play, âLoveâs Labourâs Lostâ, Shakespeare himself wrote, âAnd I had but one penny in the world, thou shouldâ st have it to buy gingerbread.â
In 1875, the gingerbread man was first introduced to holiday traditions through a fairytale published in St. Nicholas magazine, where he was depicted as a holiday treat that was eventually eaten by a hungry fox.
Needless to say, the best way to celebrate Gingerbread Decorating Day is to make your very own gingerbread cookies - in whatever shapes you want - and then proceed to decorate them. This allows lots of room for creativity, and can be fun for the whole family! It can be the most fun when each member of the family makes, bakes and decorates his or her own gingerbread man.
After youâve made and decorated your gingerbread, members of the family can exchange cookies, and the cookies can then be eaten or hung up on the Christmas tree as decorations. Gingerbread tends to keep for long periods of time, so there is no need to worry that the cookies will start to rot or crumble.
Run, run as fast as you can! And get that gingerbread cookie mix and icing into the shopping basket! Have a great Saturday.
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Iâll celebrate by making a dirt gingerbread house in Minecraft for ya and decorate that 
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It is Sunday, 12 December 2021
(W49 | D346 | 19 rem)
Today is: World Choral Day
Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and everything. -Plato-
If there is one thing that has the ability to unify the world, it is music. Throughout the centuries music has had the power to bring people together from many different cultural backgrounds and geographies all over the world, enhancing peace and social togetherness with the strum of a chord or hum of a note.
Music helps people to bond in many different ways, from making friends at different musical concerts to allowing adults and children to dance and have fun together in their own homes. If there is an aspect of talent that can be said to be universally wonderful, it must be to be musically inclined.
There are no words that can describe how powerful music can really be when shared in the cause of peace and togetherness. World Choral Day is dedicated to those very principles: a world-wide goal to bring peace and harmony through the musical arts.
World Choral Day was established in Helsinki in 1990 by Alberto Grau, a composer, a teacher, and a choral director from Venezuela. The day was created within the framework of the 2nd World Symposium on Choral Music.
Alberto Grau is also the founder of the Schola Cantorum de Caracas, a Venezuelan choral group with which he has achieved quite a few major victories. In fact, this choral group was the basis for the creation of numerous development projects of musical art such as, among others, the Schola Cantorum Foundation of Caracas and Foundation Coral Cantemos movement.
Now, a few decades later, World Choral Day has become a global phenomenon and helps bring people together in peace and harmony through music. Since the dayâs creation, thousands of choirs have joined in from at least 50 countries all over the world to participate in this unique opportunity. This day overcomes differences based on politics, religion, background, race, ideology and anything else that could separate and divide humans and, instead, brings everyone together to sing with one voice.
Through music, it is possible to break down barriers between genders and cultures, and help to bring people together in social harmony. Everyone can celebrate this holiday and can give joy to the world with the sound of a world of seven billion voices gathered together in rapturous song!
Celebrating World Choral Day with the rest of the world can be something very simple or a bit more involved. Whatever the way, getting involved is the most important part.
Choral groups from around the world raise their voices in united song, and World Choral Day is the opportunity to join voices with them. Events, festivals, sing-alongs, seminars, Days of Friendship and many other events have been organized over the past few years to help people get connected for World Choral Day.
Whether simply attending an event sponsored by this holiday or organizing one of your own in the community, music is a great way to celebrate the unity of mankind through the common tongue that is singing!
Another way to get connected is to head over to a concert and listen to some choral music. However, if thatâs not possible, donât despair. Choral music can always be listened to from recordings. So cue up Spotify or another music platform and get to listening to some choral music. Joining in and singing with your virtual choir makes you a World Choral Day 2021 participant! Well done!
Have a wonderful sing-song-along Sunday!
Know More:
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It is Monday, 13 December 2021
(W50 | D347 | 18 rem)
Today is: National Violin Day 
The violin is easily the most well-known bowed string instrument across the world, and it is really not all that surprising to see that the violin does in fact have a day dedicated to its existence! After all, everything from Western and Indian classical music to bluegrass and jazz would be unimaginable today without the violin.
It is quite possibly the most versatile instrument in the world in terms of repertoireâand that must be why there is a special day all its own to celebrate the violin.
The violin itself seems to have evolved from medieval instruments that were like fiddles. It came into its own distinct form by the 15th century, becoming the most popular virtuoso instrument in Europe by the 1660s.
Most violins made today are copies after either Stradivarius or Amati, the latter being active as a violin maker in the 16th century.
Today, the violin not only remains an indispensable feature of western classical music, but has found its way into various forms of classical and folk music around the world as well as various other genres. There are a lot of violinists and fiddle players throughout the world today, so it is easy to see why National Violin Day has caught on!
In fact, the violin is present in the most prestigious musical groups in the world. Imagine an instrument with such humble beginnings becoming such an important mainstay of modern classical music.
Now itâs time to celebrate the day revolving around this humble instrument!
Tune that old-timey shoulder guitar, ek se!
âItâs the season to be jolly violin fans!â
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I heard one of the neighbours trying to learn violin.
Beautiful instrument when played properly, but man, seclude yourself. Youâre scaring the wildlife!
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My all time favourite violin piece - sit back, close your eyes and feel your very soul being uplifted.
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I absolutely love her, she is so good at what she does
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It is Tuesday, 14 December 2021
(W50 | D348 | 17 rem)
Today is: International Monkey Day 
Monkeys are interesting creatures â cute, mischievous, and sometimes downright obnoxious (anyone who disagrees has obviously never had their laundry torn down by a family of primates when itâs hanging to dry).
Many species of primates are also endangered, and then there are questions of animal rights and the usage of primates in medical research. Thatâs why thereâs Monkey Day, a day thatâs been dedicated to raising awareness about non-human primates.
Monkey Day has been created to celebrate monkeys, as well as âall things simian,â which includes lemurs, tarsiers, apes, and other non-human primates. It is a great day when it comes to raising awareness about different types of monkeys and primates around the world, as well as the issues they face and how we can help them.
Environmental activists and animal rights activities are especially vocal and passionate about this date. The same goes for art institutions and visual artists. Supporters and celebrates of this date include the Smithsonian Institution, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Louvre Museum, Londonâs National Portrait Gallery, National Geographic, Greenpeace, and Jane Goodall.
Back in 2000, Casey Sorrow was an art student at Michigan State University, and he ended up writing âMonkey Dayâ on his friendâs calendar as a prank. But then they actually celebrated the occasion with other art students at MSU, and Sorrow later started collaborating with fellow MSU student on the Fetus-X comic strip, where the holiday was mentioned and popularized.
Since then, Monkey Day has been observed internationally as a day to celebrate primates (including monkeys, but also apes, lemurs, and tarsiers).
Sorrow himself still does much to promote the holiday and the cause of primate welfare, and in addition to the Monkey Day website, he also maintains a âMonkeys in the Newsâ blog which discusses primate-related news around the world and comes out with a list of the top ten primate-related news stories from the past year every Monkey Day.
Since Monkey Day was created, it really has gone from strength-to-strength. It is now celebrated in many different corners of the world. This includes Scotland, Turkey, Thailand, Colombia, the United Kingdom, Estonia, Pakistan, India, Germany, and Canada. It has been described by the Washington Post as a day to:
âLearn something about these adorable and highly intelligent primates. Or you could use this day to act like a monkey.â
Know More:
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Kill 'em!
Kill 'em all!
Evil things.
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I love monkeys. But not the fact that vervet monkeys are protected. They are a real nuisance. Our estate has turned into a prison because if you dare leave doors or windows open (EVEN WHILE HOME) you will be raided.
Some people say they were here first. So I say lets bring back the leopards.
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I can sympathise with your struggles @oltman
We had vervet monkeys chew through the mesh of our tent while we were camping and raid our food supplies, mess everywhere. The worst was the broken eggs and occasional faecesâŚ
And here I thought weâd be safe since Iâd padlocked the tent.
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It is Wednesay, 15 December 2021
(W50 | D349 | 16 rem)
Today is: National Cat Herders Day
You donât have to be a cat lover to celebrate Cat Herdersâ day, you only have to be someone attempting to complete a seemingly impossible task or working in a job that is a continual up-hill battle, tall-order, hard-work, or in short, some activity that is like âherding cats.â Have you ever seen a cowboy or cowgirl herding cats? Didnât think so â thatâs because if we ever attempted to it would take us longer than an infinite monkey to type the complete works of Shakespeare.
Youâve probably heard the saying that something is as impossible as âherding catsâ, used in reference to a seemingly futile or difficult task. Granted, if you have actually attempted to literally herd a bunch of cats for some reason or the other, you would know exactly how impossible this task actually is.
All of that said, as far as we know, thereâs no one out there whoâs actually a professional cat herder. If there were, this day would actually be for those folks. This is a day for everyone who has to face the frustration of trying to manage the unmanageable, anyone whose day to day life involves insurmountable tasks.
So who belongs to this lucky cat herding group who spend their lives on horseback searching the barren lands for cats to round up?
Originally it referred to project managers of one kind or another, corporate staff, that sort of thing. But the concept has broadened to include anyone who feels they might be under appreciated. Care workers, house moms and dads, factory workers, taxi drivers, office staff with piles of folders, or call centre folk with targets to hit. If youâre a member of this unfortunate group itâs time to count yourself lucky, because today, December 15th, all day, every year, belongs entirely to you.
While the idiom that something impossible is âlike herding catsâ is a popular saying now, the phrase has relatively recent origins â one story has it that IT expert Dave Platt popularised the phrase when he said that âmanaging senior programmers is like herding catsâ.
Another possibility is the popularity the phrase gained during the Super Bowl in the year 2000. Hewlett-Packard/EDS released an ad on that occasion boasting of their ability to serve customers, as easily as cowboys herding cats. (It is a very funny ad - see below in Know More.)
Since then the phrase has taken on a life of its own but in general is applied to those able to go above and beyond the call of duty, able to handle the impossible without thought of reward â in short, lifeâs thankless tasks.
What we can say is that the phrase is pretty suitable for what it describes. And while cats are independent, solitary, and easily distracted, many humans also share the same characteristics.
Itâs another fun holiday created by the good folk over at Wellcat, who suggest that:
If you can say that your job, or even your life, is like trying to herd cats, then this day is for you, with our sympathy.
From project managers to daycare workers, head out and let those who handle impossible tasks with aplomb every day know how much you appreciate and, frankly, stand in awe of them. Someone has to be there to get these tasks done, and without those who seem to be capable of herding felines of the metaphoric variety, the world may not work as well as it does.
Sometimes youâre the cat, sometimes youâre the catherd. Be the best at whichever side youâre on today, and have a great day!
Know More:
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It is Thursday, 16 December 2021
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Today is: Chocolate Covered Anything Day chocolate 
Chocolate, a candy loved by both children and adults alike. But how much can it go on? What edible creations can molten chocolate create?
Chocolate Covered Anything Day is an annual feast celebrated on December 16th of every year. Crazy chocolate lovers have got yet another day to fill up the mouth with chocolate.
If you havenât tried topping your favourite items with molten chocolate, then itâs time for you to do it. Chocolate Covered Anything Day is the perfect occasion to eat chocolate-covered salads, desserts, and all your favourites.
The exact history, origin, and the founder of the Chocolate Covered Anything Day are unknown. However, chocolate, our all-time favourite, has a long tradition. Chocolate is a sweet brown food prepared from Theobroma cacao seeds, roasted and ground. Chocolate preparation dates as early as 1750 BCE.
Globally, chocolate has now become one of the most popular food types and flavours. It is used in the preparation of a vast number of foodstuffs, especially with desserts. It includes cakes, pudding, chocolate brownies, mousse, and chocolate chip cookies. Chocolate is even used in cold and hot beverages.
Chocolate is even a part of some alcoholic drinks, such as creme de cacao. There are several different types of chocolates available that can be used to top your food. It may be sweetened, unsweetened, semisweet, dark chocolate, cocoa, milk chocolate, white chocolate, bittersweet, and more.
Chocolate Covered Anything Day lets you taste your favourite fruits and chocolate-covered treats in a wide variety of flavours. You can make Chocolate Covered Almonds, Bacon, Beans, Raisins, Marshmallows, Peanuts, and anything else your heart and tastebuds desire.
The perfect way to celebrate the day is by filling up your mouth with chocolate-covered anything. Topping your food with chocolate ends with your imagination. Have a chocolate-covered salad breakfast. Share your lunch of chocolate-covered fruits, nuts, and finish your dinner with chocolate-covered ice cream. Taste how your fried chips taste when topped with chocolate.
Whatâs the weirdest combo that you can come up with, that is still edible?
Anyone up to try chocolate covered biltong and droewors?
Today is also Reconciliation Day
The Day of Reconciliation was introduced in 1994 as a way to heal the rift between the people of South Africa, and bring harmony to a nation still suffering from decades of injustice. (So howâs that going for us then?)
The Day of Reconciliation is a public holiday in South Africa held annually on 16 December. The holiday came into effect in 1995 after the end of apartheid, with the intention of fostering reconciliation and national unity for the country.
16 December is a day of great significance in South Africa due to two historical events that took place. The first of these was in 1838, when the Battle of Blood River took place between the Voortrekkers and the Zulus.
The second historical event that took place on 16 December was in 1961, when Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) was formed. This was the military wing of the African National Congress (ANC), which was launched to wage an armed struggle against the apartheid government.
Know More:
https://www.gov.za/ReconciliationMonth2020
https://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/day-reconciliation-celebrated-public-holiday-sa-first-time
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