Month: October 2019

October 31st Halloween

October Holidays

In case you have been living under a rock for a few decades, tonight is Halloween. It has it’s traditions dating back to Pagan festivals but we really don’t consider those anymore. It is a huge, sort of, holiday. (We don’t actually get time off for it) Many rank it second only to Christmas. It can be fun, those little scares that get the heart pumping. However we must remember, those evils that are often created for Halloween do not really exist. Real scares are driving on the highways anymore! It’s fun to dress up, takes kids around to get candy and if you are like me, it’s a great time to decorate your yard outrageously! I do go a bit overboard. There is no harm in having good, clean fun, but don’t over do it. Scares are meant to last seconds, not a lifetime.

How to celebrate – Go trick-or-treating. Dress up for Halloween. Decorate your house or maybe, even make a haunted house!

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October 30th Mischief Night

October Holidays

So as not to spoil your Halloween trick-or-treating, tonight has been, traditionally, the night you create mischief in your neighborhood. While I do not condone this, it is a day that seems to date back to the 19th century England so it is a historical day. The idea is to play tricks on your neighbors, soap their windows, toilet paper their house, hide rotten tomatoes and knock on doors and run away before anyone can answer. While they are sort of fun for the person creating thee messes for their neighbors it really isn’t much fun for the neighbor who is the victim. I know it seems like fun, but remember your fun is normally work for others. Today, knocking on doors is likely to get you shot as well so, maybe not such a good idea. Playing pranks is fine, so long as it doesn’t hurt anyone or cause them any work. Keep in mind what you would not like to have happen to you, so plan your mischief with care.

How to celebrate – Forget tradition, do something nice for someone. If you must prank, do kinder pranks. Don’t cause any long term damage.

October 29th Hermit Day

October Holidays

If you are tired of functioning in polite society maybe it’s time you give being a hermit a try. It’s actually pretty easy to do. Find a remote spot no one else knows about, don’t interact with anyone, don’t go to shop (Live off the land), don’t go to movies or the theater. Lose the internet, drop your phone into a canyon somewhere, don’t spend or earn money…. this is the life of a hermit. Now I know, there are times where this sounds like a really good idea but most of us cannot live that way, even more of us don’t want to live that way… but maybe for one day it’s not so bad. And today is the day. There have been a lot of hermits over time, most we have never heard of, primarily because they don’t want us to hear them! They think great thoughts, maybe even come up with the salvation of mankind… who knows? They never told us. (Or maybe we never heard them if they did tell us) If we all were hermits there would be no wars, no climate change, no politics… no love, no family and probably the earth would have died off centuries ago.

How to celebrate – List all the famous hermits you know. (This does not include the Herman Hermits) Get away from everyone and everything just for today. Learn to enjoy life as you live it.

October 28th Plush Animal Lover’s Day

October Holidays

Can’t have pets, don’t want to take care of a living creature? The next best things are Plush Toy Stuff Animals. You don’t have to feed them, water them, bathe them and you can still cuddle with them and talk to them, just like you would a real animal. They are generally cute, may make you laugh and after the initial expense, they are yours forever, or at least until you wear them out. I know they are supposed to be for kids but they can be for adults as well. Sometimes you don’t even have to pay for them… you can win them at fair! (Never mind that you’ve probably spent ten times what they would have cost you if you had bought them outright.) Many of the manufacturing companies make them so they purr when you pet them or bark when you talk to them, they are becoming more an more life-like.

How to celebrate – Buy a plush animal today! Admire those plush animals you already have. Design your own plush animal and have it made.

October 27th Navy Day

October Holidays

October 13th Congress created the US Navy in 1775. It wasn’t much of a navy, but at least we had one. October 27th is Teddy Roosevelt’s birthday, he realized that a powerful navy was what would make America a world power instead of a struggling nation. Navy Day was created in 1922 by The Navy League, they chose Roosevelt’s birthday because in many ways, Roosevelt created the idea of a navy as we have today, pretty much unchallenged as one of the top of the world. Not only does the navy protect our shores, it allows America to reach out and assist other countries, and defend them when required. Sometimes a show of power actually creates peace. Today the air forces may hold the power but it often is a power that goes unseen. When the navy arrives, everyone knows it.

How to celebrate – Learn more about the Navy. Visit a port where Naval craft are stationed. Visit a Naval museum.

October 26th Make A Difference Day

October Holidays

Today is an important day, maybe even more important than you may realize. It started back in 1990 and falls on every 4th Saturday of October. Today we celebrate neighbors helping neighbors. So many neighbors go out of their way to avoid contact with each other. The idea is if you leave them alone, they will leave you alone. But what if you stopped and helped them one day, then maybe the next day they would stop and help you. Where I live that happens a lot, particularly after a hurricane. But why wait for some horrible reason to help someone. If you see them in their garden, changing a tire or even washing their car, stop and give them a hand. You might find out that all this time you have been trying to avoid them that they may have been potentially your best friend.

How to celebrate – Get to know your neighbor. Start a project just to get your neighbor involved. Realize that nearly every living person is your neighbor.

October 26th National Pumpkin Day

October Holidays

Oct. 26th National Pumpkin Day

The pumpkin has become the symbol of Fall and Halloween and is now put into every kind of food or drink imaginable. Pumpkin is actually a squash, okay… a really big squash and is believed to be native to North America, perhaps as old as 9,000 years ago. Seeds have been found in Mexico that date back to 7,000 B.C. Today is celebrated by carving pumpkins, building machines that throw pumpkins (chucking pumpkins – If that is such a thing). My favorite pumpkin item is still pumpkin pie. It has become a huge part of Thanksgiving, Halloween, and fall in general.

How to celebrate – Visit a pumpkin patch. Make some sort of pumpkin dish for your family. Plant pumpkin seeds.

October 25th Frankenstein Day

October Holidays

With Halloween coming this seems like a logical day to celebrate. It was created by Ron MacCloskey to celebrate Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly who wrote Frankenstein in 1818 when she was 21. He has terrorized the world ever since! There have been rumors that Frankenstein might have been based on some real activities taking place during Shelly’s lifetime. Either that, or wow, what an imagination! (Particularly for that era) Mary had an interesting life and continued to write though most of her other efforts are not as well recognized. Frankenstein has changed over the years, now it’s more about the monster than about creating him, as it was in the original novel. Considering the real monsters we have in the world today, Frankenstein seems harmless, though he still scares us. Since 1818, we have learned how to harvest human organs for use in other people than originally intended for. It sort of shows that maybe Frankenstein wasn’t as far fetched as they would have thought back in the early 1800’s.

How to celebrate – Read the original, “Frankenstein”. Try to find Mary Shelly’s other works. Get ready for Halloween!

October 24th United Nations Day

October Holidays

The United Nations were formed after World War 2 to replace the League of Nations which obviously didn’t work too well. The general idea was that any member country would gain benefits from belonging to the United Nations by living under common laws and defense. When nearly everything was blocked by voting members the military idea was still in place but realized to be useless. Sending troops into a country to bring about order didn’t work real well when the soldiers aren’t given bullets. While still striving for world peace, the United Nations has become more of a health organization, trying to help those countries generally controlled by people who do not want to be a part of the United Nations. They mean well, even though they are not as effective as originally hoped.

How to celebrate – Learn more about the United Nations. Discover what countries are not a part of the United Nations. Visit the United Nations headquarters in New York City.

October 23rd National Mole Day

October Holidays

Yesterday was a day of choices, today there are even more choices. What is a mole? Is it that creature that crawls under the ground, that bump that grows on your skin or a spy deep inside your society? What about the chemical formula Avogadro came up with? The atomic mass of the molecule? Bet you wouldn’t have picked that one! 6.02 times 10^23. Well we celebrate today to honor his discovery. I am still trying to figure out why but that’s not important. What is important is that it is another day to party! Like you really needed a reason to anyway! If we honor the accomplishments of others, even if we do not understand them, then we honor life itself. Today might be Avogadro’s day. maybe tomorrow will be yours!

How to celebrate – Study chemistry. Look for moles in your yard. Find out how many molecules you are made out of.