Today Is... 📆

[GregRedd]

Good morning!

It’s Friday, 12 March 2021
(W10/D71/294 rem)

Today is: International Fanny Pack Day

Remember the fanny pack? The fad from the 1980s of wearing a pack around your waist as an alternative to carrying a purse but could be worn by men as well took over many people’s good fashion sense. Sometimes these fanny packs were made in bright neon colors and prints.

International Fanny Pack Day aims to use this fun fashion accessory to shine a light on a serious social issue: helping the hungry.

Nick Yates created International Fanny Pack Day in 2007. The desire to create this holiday came out of a random encounter he had with a homeless man after a Christmas party. At the party, he had received a fruitcake and a fanny pack as gag gifts.

After the party, thinking it wouldn’t hurt, he strapped on the fanny pack and put the fruitcake inside (you could put many things in those fanny packs!) and set off for the bus stop to go home.

When he was on the way to the bus stop, a homeless man teased him about the fanny pack. Yates gave the man the fruitcake and continued on his way. (Allegedly the man was not overly thrilled with the cake! I mean, would you be? Fruit cake = bleegh!)

This got him to thinking that there could be a connection between the fanny pack and helping the hungry. He would go on to get into contact with food banks to get the movement started. He continued to hand out food while wearing the fanny pack. The idea took off and has been celebrated annually ever since.

Celebrate International Fanny Pack Day by digging yours out of the back of the closet and fill it up with food to pass out in your community.

Mr. Yates gathered his friends with him when he was trying to make a difference. Use that example and gather yours to make a difference in your community.

Even if you don’t wear the fanny pack, look around your community for where help is needed. Food pantries, homeless shelters, community centers and schools are places that are always looking for help in feeding the hungry.

Do you own a fanny pack? Don’t laugh, there’s “influencers” helping it make a comeback.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bf4Rv8YAA5p/?igshid=11z7myusn49f4

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bf_4ra1liM9/?igshid=u19fxghiqv97

Personally, my look would be more…

https://www.instagram.com/p/BbpzWIAF0dR/?igshid=rwwd76d7etgi

Drop all your Insta worthy fanny pack pics below, help the hungry, and have a fabulous Friday, doll!

Darn! Instagram embeds don’t work, or I’m doing them wrong.

[czc]

They seem very clunky.

[murfle]

I used to have one when I was young. Don’t remember wearing it aside from when I was traveling. Gotta stick out as a tourist, yo!

[GregRedd]

Good morning!

It’s Saturday, 13 March 2021
(W10/D72/293 rem)

Today is: Open An Umbrella Indoors Day

Are you superstitious? Do you blindly adhere to every old wife’s tale you’ve heard since childhood, without questioning it? Today’s the day to break out of the chains of conformity and challenge convention! Open an umbrella indoors, I dare you. I double dare you!*

Open an Umbrella Indoors Day was created in 2003 by Thomas Knibb. Knibb hoped to defy silly superstitions by encouraging people to open their umbrellas indoors and observe the (ideally, non-existent) consequences.

The best thing about this bizarre holiday is that anybody can take part. Just follow these four simple steps:

1. Find an umbrella and check that you are, indeed, indoors.
2. Position yourself clear of breakable objects and/or people who value their eyesight.
3. Take a deep breath, grasp the umbrella handle firmly with one hand and open the umbrella with your other hand.
4. Note of any bad luck occurs following the umbrella opening.*

There are a number of suggestions as to exactly why the superstition exists, and when it began.

One of them suggests it started around 1200 BCE, when the ancient Egyptian priests and royalty were using umbrellas made of peacock feathers and papyrus to shield them from the sun. According to Reader’s Digest, the superstition might have stemmed from a belief that opening an umbrella indoors—away from the sun’s rays—would anger the sun god, Ra, and generate negative consequences.

Another theory involves a different ancient Egyptian deity: Nut, goddess of the sky. As HowStuffWorks reports, these early umbrellas were crafted to mirror (and honour) the way she protected the Earth, so their shade was considered sacred. If anybody with non-noble blood used one, that person supposedly became a walking, talking beacon of bad luck.

The reason we try to abstain from opening umbrellas indoors today, however, is probably more about avoiding injury than divine wrath. Modern umbrellas gained popularity during the Victorian era with Samuel Fox’s invention of the steel-ribbed Paragon frame, which included a spring mechanism that allowed it to expand quickly—and dangerously.

“A rigidly spoked umbrella, opening suddenly in a small room, could seriously injure an adult or child, or shatter a frangible object,” Charles Panati writes in his book Panati’s Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things. “Thus, the superstition arose as a deterrent to opening umbrellas indoors.”

In the narrow, cramped confines of an English homes’ entrance hall, it’s not hard to imagine the large number of poked eyes and damaged ceramics, and general domestic mayhem, kak, and drama caused by opening the umbrella inside.

Let us know if you’re prepared to risk the wrath of Ra and Nut (pics, or it didn’t happen!!)* and have a brilliant Saturday!

* Disclaimer & Indemnity: People who take part in this holiday do so at their own risk. I am not responsible for any injury, damage, bad stuff, or general kak that might happen to you, your loved ones, or your property.

[murfle]

@GregRedd

cekteated in 2003 by Thomas Knibb

Good ol’ Thomas Knibb. Cekteator of Open and Umbrella Indoors Day. What a guy!

I’ve opened quite a few bumbershoots indoors over the years. I’ve never faced any wRAth, except maybe getting scolded by my mom, that Nut.

[GregRedd]

Good morning!

It’s Sunday, 14 March 2021
(W10/D73/292 rem)

Today is: Pi Day π

Pi. It’s not just the sixteenth letter of the Greek alphabet you know.

Today (3/14 in the old tongue) is Pi Day, and any day that combines fun, education, and pie is a day worth celebrating!

Pi, also known by the Greek letter “π,” is a mathematical constant value that represents the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. That ratio is 3.14… (and so on). Also, pies are traditionally circular in shape, and their name (pie) is a homonym for pi, so it makes sense to celebrate Pi Day with pies. Also, if you enter the digits 3.14 into an old school digital calculator, and look at it upside down, it sort of looks like with word “pie”. (Now do 58008! )

March 14 is also Albert Einstein’s birthday, so all together it’s nothing short of a math nerd’s Nirvana.

Pi Day (whether written 3.14 or 3/14) celebrates the long history of this fantastic number, and the long journey science has taken (and is still on) to seek the end of a number known to be infinite in length.

To learn about pi, we need to go back a few thousand years and learn about this elusive number.

The value of pi was first calculated by Archimedes of Syracuse (287–212 BC), one of the greatest mathematicians of the ancient world.

However, it was first baptized with the Greek letter as its name when William Oughtred called it as such in his works dating back to 1647, later embraced by the scientific community when Leonhard Euler used the symbol in 1737.

But how did Pi Day end up in a country-wide phenomenon? For that, we need to travel to the Exploratorium in 1988 San Francisco, where it was thought up by physicist Larry Shaw.

Shaw linked March 14 with the first digits of pi (3.14) in order to organize a special day to bond the Exploratorium staff together, where he offered fruit pies and tea to everyone starting at 1:59 pm, the following three digits of the value. A few years later, after Larry’s daughter, Sara, remarked that the special date was also the birthday of Albert Einstein, they started celebrating the life of the world-famous scientist.

Pi Day became an annual Exploratorium tradition that still goes on today, and it didn’t take long for the idea to grow exponentially, hitting a peak on March 12, 2009, when the US Congress declared it a national holiday.

Subsequent, UNESCO’s 40th General Conference designated Pi Day as the International Day of Mathematics in November 2019.

Now, celebrated by math geeks all around the circumference of the world, Pi Day has become a pop culture phenomenon, with several places partaking in the activities, antics, observations and all the pie eating they can.

May Pi and Pie be with you all through your Sunday! π

P.S. At Day #73, exactly 20% of the year is gone already.

[GregRedd]

Larry Shaw is every bit the perfect mathematician and physicist in that picture of him celebrating Pi Day

[GregRedd]

Good morning!

It’s Monday, 15 March 2021
(W11/D74/291 rem)

Today is: Napping Day

On the surface it may seem that Napping Day is just another way that Americans are trying to emulate their more advanced and cultured European cousins. First they steal our language and our food. Now they want to take our naps and siestas too?! Next thing you know they’ll be using metric measures and start driving on the left. Sacré bleu!

However, the real reason behind this day is easier to understand when you hear that it was created by a Boston Uni professor and his wife to highlight the health benefits of napping.

William Anthony, Ph.D., a Boston University Professor, and his wife, Camille Anthony, created National Napping Day in 1999 as an effort to spotlight the health benefits to catching up on quality sleep. “We chose this particular Monday because Americans are more ‘nap-ready’ than usual after losing an hour of sleep to daylight saving time,” Anthony said.

It always happens on the Monday immediately after the Sunday that Daylight Savings Time starts in the US and everyone there turns their clocks back an hour. Or forward an hour? I don’t know. It’s a stupid system.

Anyway… where was I? Oh yeah, National Napping Day. Not only does the observance encourage a nap, it reminds us that there’s no shame in taking one either.

While preparing for the time change can offset the shock to our internal clock, many other things in our life may not handle the change so well causing us to still lose sleep. Young children and pets do not adjust as easily and certain work schedules do not permit early adjustment, either.

Mid-afternoon naps are an integral part of many cultures, and scientifically proven to be good for you. A needed rest can make you feel better and also improve your mood. After having the extra amount of sleep, a person will notice that they will be more productive and energetic.

Numerous studies have shown that short 10-20 minute naps are the most effective when midday fatigue hits. Improvements in alertness, productivity and mood have all been shown to improve with this type of snooze.

No less an authority on all things healthy, the Mayo Clinic, lists the benefits of adult napping:

• Relaxation
• Reduced fatigue
• Increased alertness
• Improved mood
• Improved performance, including quicker reaction time and better memory

Now who wouldn’t want that? Go on, close your eyes, take a snooze. You deserve it.

Some tips on good napping technique, courtesy again of the big brains at the Mayo Clinic:

To get the most out of a nap, follow these tips:

• Keep naps short. Aim to nap for only 10 to 20 minutes. The longer you nap, the more likely you are to feel groggy afterward. However, young adults might be able to tolerate longer naps.
• Take naps in the early afternoon. Napping after 3 p.m. can interfere with nighttime sleep. Individual factors, such as your need for sleep, your sleeping schedule, your age and your medication use, also can play a role in determining the best time of day to nap.
• Create a restful environment. Nap in a quiet, dark place with a comfortable room temperature and few distractions.

After napping, give yourself time to wake up before resuming activities — particularly those that require a quick or sharp response.

Though there are some of us who are just not the napping kind, even you can reap those benefits, find a cozy spot for 10 minutes on Napping Day. You won’t regret it.

And who knows, maybe it’ll be the start of an excellent new habit and you’ll gradually start feeling the benefits. That you’ll automatically become more cultured and refined is a given too.

Have a magnificent Monday!

[murfle]

Monday’s are usually the only day where I can’t squeeze in a nap… But I’ll see what I can do

[GregRedd]

@murfle

I’ll see what I can do

Good man! Do it for the Queen and the metric system! Huzzah!

[DarthMol]

[TechThief]

tried to take a 20min nap, only to have it interrupted by a whatsapp message T_T which always happens, I rarely get to have a peaceful nap

[czc]

There are options. Silent or Airplane mode.

[TechThief]

yeah, but if it wasn’t the whatsapp message it would have been a family member.

[murfle]

I got to hockey practice early. While the juniors were on the ice, I tried taking a nap. 2 minutes in, I head the coach yelling at me from the ice to wake up.

[GregRedd]

Good morning!

It’s Tuesday, 16 March 2021
(W11/D75/290 rem)

Today is: Panda Day

Pandas are some of the most unique and beloved creatures on the planet. You’d be hard-pressed to find someone in the world who didn’t know what a panda bear looked like.

Unfortunately, much of the panda’s popularity is due to the fact that they are one of the world’s most endangered animals. It is for these reasons and more that we celebrate these amazing animals every March 16.

National Panda Day is dedicated to the appreciation and continued conservation of these beautiful bears. The purpose of the day is to raise awareness about the plight of the estimated 1,800-1,900 pandas still living in the wild, and the 400-odd pandas in captivity.

These bears are native to the mountains of southwest China, where they subsist almost entirely on bamboo. It’s this combination of specialized diet and relatively small ranging areas that makes them so vulnerable. Loss of habitat is the biggest threat to the current panda population, though hunting and poaching are also contributors.

You can celebrate National Panda Day by sharing your love of pandas with the world. You could dress in panda black and white, bake panda-themed snacks, and spread the word across social media by using the hashtag #NationalPandaDay. You could also donate to local wildlife sanctuaries or conservation organizations.

Donations help to fund initiatives that protect the panda’s natural habitat and breeding programs that might bring them back from the brink of extinction. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) uses its donations towards a number of panda conservation projects in China, including nature preserve protection, which stops deforestation and hunting near protected panda habitats.

Have a terrific Tuesday!

[murfle]

@GregRedd

the 400-odd pandas in captivity

I know we all find their tumbles and bumbles amusing, but do we really need to call them odd?

[Avatar]

Probably shouldn’t sleep on the ice, then.

Silly Canadians.

[murfle]

I was on the stands, but I have been known to have a good lay down on top of a mound of snow in my time

[GregRedd]

Good morning!

It is Wednesday, 17 March 2021 my dudes
(W11/D76/289 rem)

Today is: Saint Patrick’s Day

Faith and begorrah! It’s St. Paddy’s Day! Éire go Brách!

Saint Patrick’s Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick, is a cultural and religious celebration held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland.

The day is also known as the Feast of Saint Patrick, Lá Fhéile Pádraig, Patrick’s Day, St. Paddy’s Day, or just plain Paddy’s Day.

Some, most notably North American Irish wannabes, call it Patty’s Day. But that’s because they’re ignorant and dumb.

“Paddy” is, and always has been, the accepted Irish nickname for anyone named Patrick, and an accepted colloquialism for Irish people in general. Calling it Patty’s Day is just wrong. No self respecting Irish person would ever call it that. Don’t you go do it.

So who exactly was this St. Patrick anyway, and why does he deserve an all things green and all things Irish celebration?

His life was pretty eventful. He was born in Great Britain in the 5th century and then kidnapped as a child and enslaved by Irish raiders. He escaped back to his home country after six years.

Later, as an adult, he dreamed that a group of Irishmen were calling him back to their land. Believing he’d received a message from God, he returned to Ireland as a one-man missionary, spreading word of the Christian faith across the pagan island and baptizing people left and right.

Legends surround his stay there. He’s best known for having driven all the snakes out of Ireland (which is probably a metaphor for driving out the druids). He’s also said to have raised 33 people from the dead, some of whom had been buried for years.

He’s even said to have placed a curse on an Irish clan who didn’t take kindly to his promotion of a new deity. Their spirit animal was a wolf, and they howled at Patrick when he came close. Patrick retaliated. The legends say he put a curse on them that turned one couple, every seven years, into wolves—wolves that spoke like humans and craved human flesh. You could say he turned them into werewolves.

On a more peaceful note, St. Patrick is also supposed to have illustrated the Holy Trinity of Christianity by using a shamrock, showing its three leaves growing from a single stem. Partly due to this legend, shamrocks have become the national flower of Ireland, and are symbolic of all things Irish, especially St. Patrick’s Day.

Saint Patrick’s Day is celebrated worldwide by those of Irish descent and increasingly by people of other ethnicities as well, notably in Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and North America.

Celebrations are generally themed around all things Irish and, by association, the colour green. Both Christians and non-Christians celebrate the secular version of the holiday by wearing green, eating Irish food and/or green foods, imbibing Irish drink and attending parades, which have a particularly long history in the United States and in Canada.

Have a wonderous Wednesday! Sláinte!