Month: November 2018

November 30th National Mason Jar Day

November holidays, Unboxing the Bizarre

November 30th National Mason Jar Day

JohnLandisMason

Today the world of food preservation changed forever when John Landis Mason patented #22186 with a screw-neck bottle. It was not really the bottle that changed, though it did by adding threads to the top, it is the lid that revolutionized the industry.

images (1)

Adding the rubber seal keep germs and bacteria from getting inside the preserved food keeping it safe for consumption. Today was created by Michelle Campbell-Olbert for Unboxing the Bizarre.

il_fullxfull-1.1183391362_3oyk

How to celebrate – Buy some Mason Jars. Make some preserves. Visit Unboxing the Bizarre.

Advertisement

November 30th Stay At Home Because You Are Well Day

November holidays, Unboxing the Bizarre

I do not see why an organization such as Wellcat.com has to own certain days by copyright but here is one I actually agree with. Owning it seems a bit odd to me but who really cares. The point is, why stay home because you are sick? What are you going to do, stay home and be miserable? Why not stay home and enjoy yourself…

 

mcdslbe_ec004_h_princess-aurora-sleeping-beauty-zoom-51d89002-5af0-4f32-88e9-1bbbea56b4a5

Sleep in if you like, just don’t stay in bed because you are sick… there’s no fun in that. You might as well be at work since you can’t enjoy yourself anyway. True, you might make everyone else sick that comes in contact with you but by then, you will probably be getting well again.

maxresdefault

Maybe you can play some music! Learn to play the accordion or better yet, the radio. Chill out and make the day special. Just remember you owe Wellcat.com something for creating the day so tomorrow, you really need to go to work to pay for the rights to the day you have played sick.

dc6c1a17-560b-4543-a695-a583552e1227

So go ahead and stay at home today even though you are not sick. If someone at work complains, tell them that the good people at Wellcat.com gave you permission for owning this day.

How to celebrate – Enjoy your day off. Throw an “I’m sick day” party! Look up some rare and unusual illness that cn’t be traced as an excuse.

November 29th Square Dance Day

November holidays, Unboxing the Bizarre

Is there anything more American than the square dance!?! Well, yes because the square dance actually comes from the Irish, English and Scottish! However, they do not use a caller for those required directions are truly American.

square-dancing

Allemande, Promenade, Courtesy, Circulate and Do Sa Do (Or Do Si Do) are all popular commands for the square dance. If they do not sound familiar to you, you probably do not square dance.

square-dance-3

You can see the origins in Medieval dance, though their squares were more rectangles. The way royals often showed their royalty by being the only ones who knew the steps to the dance. Since America has no royalty, we use the caller to tell us what to do.

Square-Dance-Day-federation-news-january-rhofnclub-cartoonsrhfloridasquaredancecom

Generally accompanied by country or folk music with a quick beat, this dance style is both fun and rigorous. It can also be painful for those who do not know the steps. (Toes are likely to be stepped on)

download (3)

I wonder if Mr. and Mrs. Claus square dance? Perhaps it could become the traditional Christmas dance! It generally is colorful enough and it is a celebration. An new invention, The Christmas Square Dance!

How to celebrate – Learn how to square dance. Learn how to become a caller. Invent a rock and roll square dance.

November 28th Red Planet Day

November holidays, Unboxing the Bizarre

Today commemorates the Spacecraft Mariner 4 closing to within 6,118 miles of Mars, a planet named after the mythical War of God, Ares. The date was, November 28th, 1964. The mission took 228 days and sent back photos of the Red Planet, red because of the filter on the lens of the camera on the spacecraft.

c4ab7582e7f620c3ceaab04223203e3c--god-tattoos-warrior-tattoos

The temperatures on Mars run from -207 degrees F to +81. Not exactly the temperatures one might like to spend the winters in.  It has two moons, Deimos and Phobos and it requires 687 days to circle the sun.

images (6)

Mars is often visible to the naked eye from earth and as such many have dreamed and had fantasies about Mars. However it is just a planet, too cold to support life and of little use to those on earth.

images (4)

Perhaps there may be life below the surface, we will not know until we set foot on the planet. If this is what you are waiting for, you might have to wait a while since we no longer have a space program pf our own. Since profits now lead the program from the private sector, there seems little worth landing on Mars for.

images (5)

Space, the final frontier. Who knows what we may find out there, what may save our planet from destruction. We know little of what may be out there but logic dictates there is very little there.

How to celebrate  – Look in the nigh sky for Mars. Study the photos sent back by Mariner 4. Learn more about Ares.

November 27th Pins And Needles Day

November holidays, Unboxing the Bizarre

Bet you didn’t know that today was a day created to express the needs and value of American labor unions. It is the day that the play by Harold Rome released “Pins and Needles” on Broadway. November 27, 1937, on the Labor Stage Theater in New York City.

IATSE-363-GSR-Grand-Theater

It was produced by the International Ladies Garment Worker’s Union. Okay, so maybe they weren’t exactly known for their play productions over the years but this show actually ran for 1,108 performances and held that record for years to come.

Broadway

Broadway is a bit of an unusual venue to for a union to argue their merits but they did, in this case, make their needs known to the public. There are a lot of opinions stated on Broadway, maybe not all that many of the garment industry but whose counting.

d7bda89e-90c1-49cd-9281-ee62dca9a85d

Most of us think of pins and needles today as being excited and waiting for something good, or bad, to happen. It does sort of change that excitement to realize Pins And Needles meant the instruments the garment industry used. Maybe like a double-stitch, there’s a double meaning here.

rome_h_pic1

At least Harold Rome thought so which is a little odd because he also wrote “Fanny” for Broadway. You put the pieces together.

How to celebrate – Go see Pins and Needles (If you can find it). Go see Fanny (If you can find it) Look for the Union Label.

November 27 National Electric Guitar Day

November holidays, Unboxing the Bizarre

November 27th National Electric Guitar Day

s-l640

The guitar has been around for next to forever, but it was normally used in small setting and as a chording instrument to accompany singers. When Jazz started featuring the guitar something was required to make it louder and the electric guitar was invented.

george-beauchamp-159b0b73-7db6-4f25-ae51-61eb0a06555-resize-750

Work on the electric guitar started in the 1910’s but it was not successful until 1931 when George Beauchamp and Paul Barth, of the National Guitar Corporation actually made a working model.

download (2)

How to celebrate – Buy an electric guitar. (It is easier to play than an acoustic guitar) Learn how to play guitar. Listen to your favorite guitarist.

November 26th Shopping Reminder Day

November holidays, Unboxing the Bizarre

In case you hadn’t noticed, Christmas is coming soon. You need to get shopping! And that’s why today was created, to remind you that you need to go shopping. And this isn’t your normal shopping reminder day… you know, the grocery shopping day… no, this is the go out and spend beyond your budget day reminder.

compras-orlando

The good thing about this reminder day is hat if you treat it as it deserves, you don’t need to worry about any others days set to remind you to go shopping… you won’t have any money left to go shopping with!

download (1)

But seriously, it’s all about giving. It’s giving to the credit card company, the bank, the loan officers… you get the point. Actually if you haven’t gone shopping yet, this is your reminder. Not me, not this blog, the day.  I realize there is little else out there to remind you. The sale signs, the newspaper ads, the commercials.

3c61da28cb7f687880fb4c6b08fe43c9

So give in and go shopping already! Buy your friends, family and mail-person a gift they will never forget. And neither will you since you will still be paying for it maybe for-ever. You can actually shop within your budget… naw, not really but it’s fun to think that way!

images (2)

How to celebrate – Go shopping! Remind yourself to go shopping! Go apply for a loan.

November 25th National Parfait Day

November holidays, Unboxing the Bizarre

This is going to be a sweet day, having to stuff ourselves with layers of yogurt or ice cream, surrounded by fruit and whipped cream… but then, someones got to do it so step up and take the hit yourself! You can even add some crushed nuts or granola just to keep it healthy if you like.

chocolate-parfait

You honestly don’t have to use fruit, it can be chocolate which is actually a vegetable. Or broccoli, or peas or lima beans. (I don’t suggest potatoes because it’s hard to tell them from the yogurt or ice cream) Then again, maybe fruit works better.

mangoparfait

And then there is the exotic parfait too. You may want to make sure first that you aren’t allergic to fruit you are using. That could kind of spoil the parfait for you. You can use the recipe above using any fruit of your choice. Make sure to write it down because it’s pretty easy to forget.

lemonblackberry-parfait

Adding things like mint and cookies to the parfait does make it a little more difficult and adds to the choices you have to make but I’m pretty sure you can handle it. The parfait is refreshing, relatively light and works well as a snack or a dessert.

Parfait-850x900

Besides, you show a little culture by eating a parfait… that is if you make it with yogurt, not ice cream. I suppose you could use puddling as well. In fact, if you mix anything with a putty type substance mixed in I guess it clarifies as a parfait.

How to celebrate – Have a parfait today. Make up your own parfait (Though that might be a little hard to make it original). Do not use condensed soup to make you parfait.

 

November 24th All Our Uncles are Monkeys Day

November holidays, Unboxing the Bizarre

Well, do we come from monkeys or not? According to Charles Darwin’s “On The Origin Of Species”, published in 1859, we are. That’s one theory, of course there are others. Are we related to apes? There is no doubt that there is some physical attributes that seem to blend the species together but then there are others that separate them.

hqdefault

In 1974, Australopithecus Afaresis Lucy’s skeleton, was discovered and seems to be a little more closely resembling both species. There is no doubt that Homo sapiens have evolved over time but did we come from monkeys?

88440c6809d4d6a3545c17a0fc39c251--meaning-of-life-birds-

Does this look like anyone you know? Uncle Bob, Cousin Bill, Aunt Dorothy? Do you have any family photos that you sort of wonder about? Probably not because man supposedly evolved before there were cameras.

landscape-1470684571-esq-lead

Now it is true that a monkey does enjoy a beer from time to time, maybe a cigar and loves to sit on the couch watching football and scratching himself. So how do you describe yourself? Ape or man, man or ape?

images (3)

In the end, we are all family and that is what matters most. Gather those close to you and love them whether you are man or beast.

How to celebrate – Read about Charles Darwin. Read the Bible. Go have a beer.

November 23rd Black Friday

November holidays, Unboxing the Bizarre

So Thanksgiving is over, well… most of it anyway, and so now starts that time tested celebration of Black Friday! Well maybe not time tested but certainly becoming traditional and retailers everywhere thank you. They do most of their years business today, and in the days to follow until Christmas.

gFyp4arxu6rSdknLiYoVj-320-80

In a number of ways, this is a good thing. With retailers suffering because of online dales, this is a day that helps keep their doors open. Soon, there may be nothing but online shopping and you will only have small pictures on the internet to choose those things that may, or may not, please your whim.

black-friday-sale4-696x348

No more malls, no more mom and pop stores, just giant mega internet conglomerates that ship to you even the most personal items. Well, it’s our choice… as it should be. Have fun today looking up close at those things you will soon be forced to order online.

download (1)

Put on your suit of armor and brave the crowds. Go into the battle of wits and patience, the throngs of other barbarians you share a single check-out line with and claim your glory of winning the prize! Oh, and don’t forget your change!

459666780_black-friday-1_72309037_ver1.0_640_480

How to celebrate – Plan your Black Friday like you would a vacation, so you don’t miss a thing. Get cash on Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Take some Thanksgiving left-overs for a snack along the way.