09-09-09

09-09-09

Just in case you didn't think today was a special day because of The Beatles new releases, here are some other reasons to get excited...

• 09-09-09 is the last of repeating single-digit dates until 01-01-2101
• Wednesday and September both have 9 letters.
• September 9th is the 252nd day of the year. 2+5+2=9
• 9 is an important number in Chinese culture because 9's pronunciation is similar to the word for long-lasting

There are also some not-so-exciting things associated with the number 9

• Roy Hobbs wore the number 9
• There is a "curse" related to 9th symphonies (Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Anton Bruckner, Antonin Dvorak, and Gustav Mahler all never finished their Tenth Symphonies.)
• 9 is considered unlucky in Japan because 9's pronunciation is similar to the word for pain

Anyway, if you think that 09-09-09 is lucky or unlucky, or even if you think it is a marketing gimmick, you can celebrate 09-09-09 easily by taking a moment to watch this creative commentary about how the number 9 can change the gene pool.

National Leave The Office Early Day

National Leave The Office Early Day

On a beautiful day in June, there are many reasons to leave the office early. Personally, I'm hoping for a major thunderstorm to knock out the power. No power, no way to do work. Of course, that would inconvenience the most while conveniencing the least. For me, today won't work as an early day unless it's becomes a universal leave the office early day. But, for anyone else, today could easily become a tradition. Just as a reminder that summer is soon her, and it just won't be the summer if we all are working a little too hard.

Hope you get to leave early!

Square Root Day, 03/03/09

Square Root Day

How much do we love square roots at the Almanac of Merriment?  So much that we are prepared to give up our lunch breaks to blog about them.  (Your wish is my command, Edgy.) 

Today, 03/03/09, is one of just ten Square Root Days that we will have this century.  To have a Square Root Day one must have a day and a month that equal the square root of the last two digits of the year.  

The other nine Square Root Days in this, or any, century fall on 01/01/01; 02/02/04; 04/04/16; 05/05/25; 06/06/36; 07/07/49; 08/08/64; 09/09/81; and 10/10/2100.  As you can see, the amount of time between Square Root Days increases exponentially as the century progress... much like the distance between um...prime numbers?  No, wait I remember... numbers with perfect squares.  (Whew!  It's been a really long time since my last math class.  My last math class that didn't involve Excel, that is.)

Anyway, Edgy thinks this is a perfect day to eat square root vegetables.  Root vegetables that are square is shape, that is.  I wonder if there are any restaurants that are offering square veggies as a special today?   

John Milton's Quatercentenary (400th Birthday), December 9th

John Milton's Quatercentenary

Where have the years gone? It seems like just yesterday I was assigned a section of Paradise Lost in that Early British Lit survey class that I took in the attempt to try to understand and be able to speak intelligently about any and all literature written ever, or at least any and all that made it into my Norton Anthology. I remember almost nothing about what I read in that class ( we covered Beowulf to Samuel Johnson I mean come on, it was only about 1,000 years of literature covered in 4 months!) But, about Milton, I remember my professor reading a part of Paradise Lost and thinking that someday, when I had the time, I needed to read the whole thing.
I haven't read it Paradise Lost. This April I will have been graduated with my English degree for ten years. Yep. Should have read it by now. Maybe after Christmas and can start that.

Anyway, since it is Milton's birthday, I should be focusing on him. It looks like the majority of Miltonian celebrations are taking place across the pond, and have happened already, so getting to a live celebration might be tricky. However, there is this really cool website with lots of information about Paradise Lost. I've just played with it a little bit, and I plan to come back later.

Of course, Paradise Lost is not Milton's only work. If you like your Restoration poetry set to Baroque music then you should check out Handel's L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, which is based on L'Allegro and Il Penseroso, two of Milton's poems.

If you don't want to do any of that, you could just give a random gift to someone today and say "Happy Milton's Birthday!" If you plan on doing the random gift thing, here are some gifts that I do not recommend for Milton's Birthday, or for the entire gift-giving season.

• The Yodeling Green Pickle (Now, why does this exist?)
• The Houseplant Twitter Kit (Yes! Now for only $99 your plant can Twitter you when it needs to be watered! Or, you could look at it every once in a while.)
• The Pet's Eye View Camera (Do you ever wonder what your dog does all day? Now you can have pictures taken every 15 seconds while you are gone! Personnally, I don't even want 15 second updates from my nearest and dearest friends and family! Sorry, love ya all, but there is a reason why I don't Twitter!)
• Owl Pellets (Now, I am all for educational gifts but... there are just no words for my thoughts. So, here's the blurb from the website:

"See what this owl ate for dinner. Just unwrap the foil from the pellet and
carefully us the probes provided to dissect the pellet and extract the owl's
dinner. Then use the bone guide to identify what the owl ate."

• Heartshaped Mouse (I always recommend against heartshaped anything, but especially against heartshaped things that should be ergonomic. Happy Milton's Birthday! I hope you don't get carpel tunnel! )

Anyway, have a Happy Miltonian Quartercentenary everyone!

National Grammar Day, March 4th

National Grammar Day

Oh, my goodness, I almost forgot! Today is National Grammar Day! And I would not have known about National Grammar Day, if Soccer Dad, had not given me the heads up about it! Now, even though I have my B.A. in English, I haven't ever formally taken a grammar class, so, I do feel a bit insecure around some people when they talk about nonrestrictive modifiers and future perfect tenses. However, I do love language, and can appreciate grammar and those whose skills are above my own, and today I will pretend that I have the best of grammar skills, and as long as Edgy doesn't tell on me, no-one will be the wiser. Just, no-one comment on the run-on sentence, please.

Anyway, I found this delightful article about the ethics of grammar, which tells me of the four situations where it is permissible to correct a person's grammar. And, I have discovered that according to SPOGG (Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar) voters, President George W. Bush is the celebrity with the worst grammar. (Sorry Soccer Dad as a Democrat, I felt morally responsible, to point that one out.) And, I have discovered that SPOGG has a blog!

I feel as if I am witnessing the development of a real-life-English-major-e-version of S.P.E.W.!

Anyway, thanks again Soccer Dad!

Sharp Days, March 1-3

The first three days of March are called "Sharp Days" in Greek tradition. When I first read about this, I thought it was in reference to perhaps the sharpness of the air, despite the fact that it seems like there is more sun, and therefore more warm... but, no. The first three days of August are also "Sharp Days." Sharp Days are considered a transitional time of year. The Sharp Days in March are the beginning of warmer weather, and the Sharp Days in August are the beginning of cooler weather.

During the first three days of March you should not wash any clothes or they will wear out too quickly, or chop wood or because it will rot before it's time, or bathe because your hair will fall out. If you must do laundry, you must put a nail in the water to take the sharpness out. I haven't found a solution for chopping wood or bathing. Maybe stick a nail in your shampoo bottle.

Leap Day, February 29th

Leap Day

Leap Day was always exciting to me when I was a kid. It just seemed cool that it was a day that only came around every four years, and then when I discovered Pirates of Penzance... wow, my love of Leap Day quadrupled.

But, then I found out that in Scotland, Leap Years, the whole year, are generally considered unlucky and Leap Year Day is a particularly bad day because it was Job's Birthday, and he cursed the day that he was born. All this Job information is according to The Perpetual Almanack of Folklore. Poor Job. I almost want to make a birthday cake in his honor. And for all of us who have to work an extra day this year. I mean really, this year we have to work an extra day! There is something wrong with that! If we have to add an extra day to the year, that just might be an unlucky day, we shouldn't have to work, we should make it a National holiday!

The fifth century Irish single gals liked Leap Day because St. Patrick gave them permission to ask men to get engaged on Leap Day only. If the man said no to the proposal, he was required to give her a gift, or pay a tax, so either way, score for them!

Anyway, we should all head out today with a petition to get Leap Day designated as a National holiday! I am sure we can make a change! You know you want an extra holiday every four years... come on. You do!

National Polar Bear Day, February 27th

Mr. Fob said "Wednesday is National Polar Bear Day. I expect a post." So, since I am feeling neither inspiration nor creativity, this is going to be one of my lesser posts. But the blame is entirely mine. Do not go complain to Mr. Fob about lackluster Almanac posts, he is busy right now working on a request for a submission of 5o pages of his novel. Yea! for Mr. Fob! Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy! Joy! So send many happy thoughts Fob-ward, and think about the polar bears for him too, as he probably won't have time to think about them.

But anyway, there are many holidays to choose from for this Wednesday, February, the 27th.

First and foremost in importance is of course International Polar Bear Day This is the most important Wednesday the 27th holiday, because Mr. Fob wishes it to be recognized. Probably, we should all go and learn a little bit about Polar Bears. And maybe we could learn about the diminishing habitat of Polar Bears, and how we should STOP GLOBAL WARMING for the polars bears... and for us.

No Brainer Day I just don't want to think about, because if we promote it too much, what kind of chaos will we be encouraging in our lives? Traffic accidents? Idiot store clerks who put a milk carton in the same bag as the soft bread? That one question that you hate when you answer your phone? "Sweet Pumpkin Potato Farms, How Can I Help YOU" "Hello, is this Sweet Pumpkin Potato Farms?" ARRRGGGG!!!! Yes, we should not in any way advertise No Brainer Day.

Inconvenience Yourself Day Why? Aren't there enough people out there trying to inconvenience you? Why would you want to make your life harder by making your own trouble. Unless, you are going to inconvenience yourself by doing something nice for someone else. Then, you have my support in your celebration.

Feast day of St. Gabriel Possenti St. Gabriel is the patron saint of Students, Youth, Clerics, Seminarians, and Abruzzi. So, if you are young,a student, a cleric, a seminarian, or are from the middle part of Italy, then you should feast today.

Flip a Pancake Day If it's not your patron saint day, or if you don't believe in patron saints, of if you just don't feel like feasting today, you can just flip a pancake. Pancakes are easy. Pumpkin pancakes are my favorite. With pecans. And real maple syrup.

MMM... I think I found my celebration.

Charles Dickens Day, February 7th

Charles Dickens Day

I am sure Charles Dickens would say to my coworkers, "if one were to try to sabotage a coworker, one should make sure of ones dates. One shouldn't make accusations and display "proof of misbehavior" that happened on a day which the accused has real proof that she was out of the office. Such lack of fact or evidence and with obvious proof of malice, it just makes one look stupid, hateful, and just plain ugly. So, one should just go about one's job, working with the purpose assigned to one and go effect some social change. And go vote for Obama."

Yup, that's exactly what I think Charles Dickens would say.

Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day, January 28th

Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day

It is again the last Monday in January, and so it is Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day! I know that everyone looks forward with anticipation to Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day, that special day where you are required to spend at least 30 seconds relieving your stress by popping bubble wrap.

Just in case you don't have a roll of your favorite colored bubble wrap to celebrate with today, here are a few virtual Bubble Wrap sites you can visit to work out some extra angst. This site is my favorite virtual Bubble Wrap Game. It's my favorite because the bubbles come back. This one is timed, (Bubble Wrap Game II) so you can limit yourself to just one game...if you are one of those people who are good at controlling personal gratification. And then there is this one (Bubble Wrap Game III) which looks like real bubble wrap, and therefore can have more satisfaction.

If you are looking for a something beyond virtual bubble wrap games, you could discover your personality type by taking the Bubble Wrap Personality Test, or you could test your knowledge of bubble wrap history by taking the Bubble Wrap Quiz. Either, or both, are short and quick ways to spend your fifteen minute break, and they are far less addicting than popping bubbles.

Kiss A Shark Day, January 10th

Kiss A Shark Day

Okay, so for me realizing that Hanson's "MMMMBop" is #20 on VH1's list of the 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s, beating out The Cranberries "Linger" (#86), Sheryl Crow's "All I Wanna Do" (#61), Ricky Martin's "Livin' la Vida Loca" (#28) and Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" (#25) which were important songs of the 90s, much more important that "MMMBop," is much like kissing a shark. Also, realizing that all three members of Hanson are now married and have kids, makes me feel really, really old.

Also, I protest any list of best songs from the 90s that doesn't include more Collective Soul. And why they chose
Shine



instead of December,



or Needs...



I just can't understand.

But, I do understand VH1's pick for the number 1 song of the 90s, and I fully agree with it. I remember the first time I heard this song, and it is a significant memory for me. It was September of 1991, my senior year, I was sixteen and younger than most of my class. It was at the end of the first pep assembly of the year, and I think someone had gotten into the sound system when they shouldn't have, because we generally didn't end pep assemblies with teeny grunge music, mostly we ended with walk back to class quietly music. As soon as the music started, people started to mosh all around me. I didn't mosh. I couldn't. I was too stunned by what I was hearing. I loved it! I stood still trying to understand the words, because I felt like the song had just reached out at me with all seventeen of its tentacles and embraced me into the grunge movement. After that experience I started listen to the AM alternative stations, and I bought myself a flannel shirt or two. It only seemed right since I was attending high school in Oregon. But, I never did the black eyeliner thing or the clove cigarettes. Just in case you are were getting worried that you didn't truly know me.

Anyway, the number one song of the 90s is...



It's a great song, so don't go kissing sharks about it!

Look for an Evergreen Day, December 19th

Look for an Evergreen Day

Look! I found mine! It sure is little, but I still like it. :)

Mischief Night, October 30th

Mischief Night

Mischief Night sounds like an innocent enough holiday, because, at least to me, the word mischief conjures up child-like revels... like sneaking cookies out of the cookie jar. But, despite it's innocent sounding name, Mischief Night is is a holiday that easily can get out of hand.

For example, on October 30, 1938, Orson Welles aired his infamous radio play "War of the Worlds" which caused quite a bit of mischief. Many people listening to the program panicked, believing that the broadcast was a news report rather than a radio drama. If you want to read a script of the broadcast you can read it here. If you want to listen to the original broadcast go here. I remember listening to the full broadcast in junior high. I should probably go listen again for an adult perspective.

For an example from my own life-time, in 1991, in Camden, New Jersey over 130 fires were set by roaming teenagers which resulted in a teenager curfew in 1992 during which only 30 fires were set. ("The Mischievous History of Devil's Night" Washingtonpost.com) Personally, I think 30 teenager-set arsons in one night are still too many.

So remember, whatever you do tonight, whatever mischief you might be up to, remember that someone out there might be up to a little bit more.

National Mole Day, 10-23

National Mole Day

Remember how much fun it was to celebrate Pi Day? Now, take a deep breath and remember back to high school chemistry. Do you remember that number that we all had to remember to calculate the atomic mass of the molecule? That's okay, I didn't remember either. It's 6.02 x 10²³, aka Avogadro's Number.

Anyway, from 6:02 am to 6:02 pm, it is okay to celebrate National Mole Day. And, if you aren't up at 6:02 am to celebrate, I won't tell anyone. :)

Some of the suggestions for celebrating National Mole Day are, eating 6.02 cookies, a scavenger hunt using the chemical make-up of the items you want, or eat mole-themed food like guaca-mole! Mmm, guacamole!

Take Your Teddy Bear to Work Day, October 11th

Take Your Teddy Bear to Work Day!

Quick! Before everyone goes home, send a memo out to all your coworkers, and have everyone bring a friend to work tomorrow. Or, just sneak your teddy in and have him there for your own amusement. Either way, it should make at least five minutes bear-able.

Sorry. Couldn't help it.

Tolkien Week September 16th-22nd and Hobbit Day, September 22nd

Tolkien Week September 16th-22nd and Hobbit Day September 22nd



If you need a new reason to celebrate Hobbit Day, do it because maybe there is a little bit of Hobbit inside of you!

One of the most puzzling discoveries in human evolution was the unearthing four years ago of the so-called "Hobbit" — a three-foot tall human-like creature with a brain the size of a grapefruit.

The Hobbit skeleton caused a split among anthropologists. Some scientists have said the Hobbit, found in Indonesia, is a weird human ancestor that somehow survived until some 12,000 to 20,000 years ago, living unnoticed as modern humans took over the world. Others have said it is a modern human with a condition resembling the genetic disease microcephaly.

But new evidence suggests that the hobbit really was a primitive form of human never seen before.

Researcher Matthew Tocheri, who studies wrist bones at the Smithsonian Institution, was shocked when he saw the wrist bones of the Hobbit.

"I opened up the container and I pulled out the bones and, wow, I couldn't believe it. I was like — is somebody putting me on? These are completely primitive," says Tocheri.

Tocheri says his knees were shaking with excitement. If the Hobbit was simply a diseased modern human, or even a human cousin like a Neanderthal, it would have human-like wrist bones. But the wrist bones looked more like those of an ape. Nobody had noticed the difference because the identification requires expertise in the tiny bones of the wrist.

Tocheri spent a year studying three of the Hobbit's wrist bones at the Smithsonian. He says all three of the wrist bones support the idea that it is not a diseased modern human.

"In great apes and other primates, the trapezoid looks like a pyramidal wedge, but in modern humans and Neanderthals, it looks like a boot," says Tocheri.

Another anthropologist who worked with Tocheri, William Jungers at Stony Brook University in New York, agrees. He says if these new findings hold up, it could change scientists' view of human evolution.

"I think we have grossly underestimated the complexity of human evolution and I think there are other surprises like this in store," says Jungers.

The new interpretation has not entirely resolved the dispute. Skeptics say hundreds of genetic diseases could affect the size and shape of human bones.

Although partial remains of other Hobbits have surfaced at the same site, they say it could have been an isolated colony of inbred people who shared the same genetic abnormalities.

But Matthew Tocheri says he thinks the Hobbit is an ancient ancestor and the ultimate survivor.

"Just looking at them and seeing and how primitive they were, I almost felt a certain feeling of success for the Hobbit. They made it, they made it into modern times, they've completely baffled us because they did it," says Tocheri.

Regardless of whether the Hobbits are our ancestors or simply abnormal humans, they clearly defied steep odds to survive.

Tocheri's research will appear in the Sept. 21 issue of Science. (Case Grows for 'Hobbit' as Human Ancestor by Christopher Joyce NPR )

National Cream Filled Donut Day, September 14th

National Cream Filled Donut Day

The cream filling to my day of public records and open meeting law training, was the comment "if I had to live in and work for the City of (where Absent works) for twenty years, I would sue them too."

Chocolate Milkshake Day, September 12th

Chocolate Milkshake Day

One of my favorite memories from my childhood is going to Yaw's with my great-grandmother for the thick chocolate milkshakes that came in two glasses and the hamburgers with the special sauce with two types of pickles. Yum Yum!!

Yeah. Yaw's closed in 1982, so we can't go there anymore. And, it was in Portland, and I don't live there any more.

Regardless, I still can look for a the perfect chocolate milkshake on Chocolate Milkshake Day. In fact, I can't think of one good reason not to begin a quest for the perfect chocolate milkshake on Chocolate Milkshake Day. So everyone should go out there and quest for the perfect chocolate milkshake too! I think that my great-grandmother would approve. Let's create a nationwide run on chocolate milkshakes!

The Feast Day of St. Philbert, August 20th

The Feast Day of St. Philbert

I was really glad to read about The Feast Day St. Philbert, because I learned why Oregonians call Hazelnuts Filberts.

As a child when I was driving around the orchards of the Willamette Valley with my mom, she would point out the rows and rows of low and gnarled trees and say, "Those are the filbert orchards. In the United States, Filbert trees only are grown in Oregon. Some people call filberts hazelnuts. People that call them hazelnuts aren't from Oregon."

This made me feel awkward. Now, I have a bit of pride for my Oregon pioneers who had come across the Oregon Trail and settled in the Willamette Valley, but if everyone else in the world called them hazelnuts, maybe that meant that we Oregonians were a little bit backward. I mean really, why filberts? Filbert doesn't even have the word nut in it? We were trying to hide the yummy goodness that is the filbert away from the rest of the world? Because really, if you didn't know that a filbert was a nut, and some one offered you one, you would think that they were offering you a beloved pet to eat?

Anyway, I was always curious as to why these seemed to be a great hazelnut debate.

According to School of the Seasons, St. Philbert was a French saint, and Hazelnut Trees are ready to harvest around the time of the Feast Day of St. Philbert, (which is on August 20th according the the School of the Seasons, and on August 22nd according to other sites) and so his name has been lent to the nut in areas with strong French influences.

Oregon doesn't really have a strong French influence. So, I did some more research.

Soupsong.com stated that

Frenchman David Gernot arrived in Oregon in the 17th century with European hazel trees and a personal mission. When he stumbled into the beautiful Willamette Valley, he was reminded of his home in the Loire valley. Without hesitation, he staked out his home and planted the first of his 50-tree grove. Other planters followed and by the early 1900s, hazelnut orchards had taken root in Oregon, where their nuts are produced commercially to this day.

Now, there are lots of different ways to eat a filbert.


If you are not if you are not afraid of cracking your teeth, you can eat them straight from the shell.



You can grind them up and put them in cookies and cakes.



Or you can cover them in chocolate, and then they are just perfect. If you are looking for Chocolate Covered Hazelnuts, Edgy has some, straight from Oregon.

Oh, and I have some too, but I am not sure if I am nice enough to share.

#2 Pencil Day

#2 Pencil Day

On #2 Pencil Day, we should all stop for a moment to be glad that we aren't taking tests with #2 Pencils any more.

And then we all should go play in the sand with Baby Niece.