Tag: science

March 14th National Pi Day

March Holidays

It is fitting we should celebrate the number 3.14 on 3/14. Now, beyond the fact that 3.14 is a number that never ends, why is that important? well, I don;t think anyone can exactly say. It was discovered by Albert Einstein who must not have had anything terribly important to do that day since it really leads to nowhere, though a lot of science does often lead to more questions than it answers.Anyway, The U.S. House made a non-binding resolution concerning Pi… no one knows why, if it’s non-binding what does it mean? So finally Larry Shaw created Pi Day in 1989.

How to celebrate – Celebrate Albert Einstein. Try to figure out Pi. Try to figure out why Pi matters!

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January 17th Kid Inventors Day

January holidays

Lee Ward, of Santa Barbara, CA. created today back in 2005 to go along with her three books. “101 Ways To Bug Your Parents”, “101 Ways to Bug Your Teacher” and “101 Ways To Bug Your Friends and Enemies”. She picked today because it is Ben Franklin’s birthday. Ben Franklin invented swim flippers when he was a kid, Frank Epperson invented the Popsicle and Albert Sadacca invented Christmas Lights.

How to celebrate – See how many more kid inventors you can find. Start a kids inventions club. Give kids the tools they need to learn.

April 3rd Find A Rainbow Day

April Holidays

Today you are supposed to find a rainbow. If it doesn’t rain, good luck. However don’t give up. Rainbows can appear in the strangest places at the oddest times. It does require some sort of liquid, water works best, and the atmospheric conditions allow light to reflect off that droplet of liquid. Now if you remember Roy G. Biv, a great scientist even if made up, you’ll get the colors of the rainbow in order. Starting with red, then orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. April was picked because April showers bring May flowers and hence, it’s supposed to rain in April, like a lot!

How to celebrate – Start looking for your rainbow early. Look for other sorts of rainbows besides those you see in the sky. Watch the Muppets.

January 12th National Pharmacist Day

January holidays

Who knows us better? Our doctor or our pharmacist? Well lets hope both know us pretty well… or maybe even better yet, not at all! A Pharmacist is an expert with the chemicals that make us feel better or keep us from getting worse. It is a special art and an important one. We often don’t see the Pharmacist as they are busy making our medicine, We see the Pharmacist assistant instead unless we have questions they can’t answer. Pharmacists are one of the more forgotten heroes of our lives, celebrate them on this day.

How to celebrate – Thank any Pharmacist you know. While at the drug store, buy a card and give it to the Pharmacist. Learn what it takes to become a Pharmacist.

December 10th Nobel Prize Day

December holidays

Today is the day that the Nobel Prize in Academics, Culture and Science. It marks the date that Alfred Nobel died in 1895. The first prize was handed out in 1901. The winners receive a medal, diploma and money and no more than three people can win in each category every year. Nobel himself was a Swedish chemist who held more than 355 patents, the most profitable was dynamite. Nobel felt he could make up for some of the destruction his invention created by honoring those who did not use it.

How to celebrate – Read about Nobel’s patents. Look up the winners since 1901. Learn what qualifies people to receive the Nobel Prize.

November 8th STEM/STEAM Day

November holidays

November 8th National STEM/STEAM Day

Yes, we owe a lot to science, and math, and technology, and engineering. We probably wouldn’t even be here if not for all those things. STEM means to keep our children (especially girls) interested in science and math by showing them how they apply to nearly everything in our lives. Add Art and it becomes STEAM. They added the arts on as an afterthought but at least they thought of it! It really is a wonderful program and helps educate our children for tomorrow.

How to celebrate – Enroll your child in a Stem/Steam program. Find ways of using what they learn in school at home. Help your child to be all that they can be.

October 14th National Fossil Day

October Holidays

The date of National Fossil Day varies, which I find odd for something set in stone! You will find it comes on whatever week of October is Earth Science Week. Fossils are very interesting considering they can be found nearly anywhere and represent a world long, long since gone. Keep in mind some poor creature gave it’s all to provide us with that sample of history. You might even say they were “Rockin’ It!”. Or not… It just goes to show that even a million years ago, animals were getting stoned.

How to celebrate – Go find a fossil. Visit a museum. Start a rock collection.

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.

July 13th Embrace Your Geekness Day

July Holidays, Unboxing the Bizarre

July 13th Embrace Your Geekness Day

geek

Most of us are Geeks in some way. Me, I use to do Civil War re-enactments – the precursor to cosplay (For those who wonder I always play a Union soldier since no one else wanted to).

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It doesn’t matter what your geekness is, today is the day to celebrate it. Star Wars, Beatles, Scale Model builders it is something you enjoy and no one, but no one, has the right to tell you whether it’s fun or not! Wellcat created the day. It is not a day for just scientists and math nerds!

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How to celebrate – Let you true Geekness out today. Allow others their dreams and oddness. Reveal your Geekness to those you love.

March 31st National Bunsen Burner Day

March Holidays, Unboxing the Bizarre

I remember my days back in high school and the science lab. There are really only two things I remember about the science lab. The first was that I was paired up with the prettiest girl in the entire school and the second was the Bunsen burner. Talk about your win-win!

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German chemist Robert Willhelm Eberhard von Bunsen created the Bunsen burner and today happens to be his birthday.  His invention came in 1811 as scientific exploration blazed forward, in his case, literally.

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The Bunsen burner combines gas and air to create a very hot flame.  The flame is used to heat up chemicals, normally in a test tube, to blend them together causing a chemical reaction. It’s also great for warming hot dogs. You may now understand why I did not do all that well in science during my high school years.

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I understand giving scientist open flame to work with, they need it… however the idea of giving students flame and chemicals may not be the best idea in the world. Oh well, live and learn.

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How to celebrate – Buy a Bunsen burner for your home. You never know when it might come in handy. If you have a child in high school, keep track of how many times something gets blown up in the school over the course of  year. Conduct your own experiments and find out what blows up and what does!