September 1, 2014

Today we celebrate:

Emma M. Nutt Day – Emma Mills Nutt was born sometime in 1860 and became the world's first female telephone operator on this day in 1878. She worked 54 hours a week for the Edwin Holmes Telephone Dispatch Company with a salary of $10 a month. The company began hiring women for this job because the boys they had been employing showed poor attitudes such as a lack of patience and pulling pranks and bad language. A few hours after Emma was hired, her sister Stella Nutt was also hired. The customer response was so overwhelmingly positive that more women were hired to replace the men.

Building and Code Staff Appreciation Day – These are the people who work hard to keep our buildings safe for us to work and live in. Show them some appreciation today instead of getting mad if they find some violations to the building code.

Calendar Adjustment Day – In 1751, the British government passed the British Calendar Act of 1751. This meant that Britain and the American Colonies had to make the “Gregorian Correction” in 1752. The correction entailed the loss of 11 days. Life went as normal through Wednesday, September 2nd, 1752 but the very next day became Thursday, September 14th, 1752. This act also changed New Year's Day from March 25th to January 1st which meant that instead of the year changing over in March, it happened on January 1, 1752 and every year after that. This caused the year 1751 to have only 282 days because 1751 began on March 25th and ended on December 31st and the year 1752 had 355 days.  Can you imagine what an uproar a change like that would cause these days?  I imagine that there was a lot of people asking each other, “What day is it again?”

Chicken Boy's Day – Today we celebrate the birthday of a giant statue of a person with a chicken head that used to stand on top of a fried chicken restaurant in Los Angeles from the 1960's until 1984. It was then given to Amy Inouye, an art director who kept it in storage until she found the right place for it. In 2007, it was moved to the top of her art studio in Highland Park, Los Angelos.

International Day of Awareness for the Dolphins of Taiji – Apparently in Taiji, Japan, they have dolphin hunts. This is a day to remember the dolphins that have been killed in these hunts, as well as the ones who will be killed in the future as they are still ongoing.  I find this to be a very sad situation and don’t understand the reason behind it.  Maybe the reason, whatever it was, is no longer relevant but many people find that traditions are hard to part with.

National No Rhyme (Nor Reason) Day – This is a day to celebrate words that do not rhyme with any other words in the English language like “purple”. Words like these are completely unique and therefore more creative on the part of the people who came up with them.

Labor Day – Celebrated on the first Monday in September, this is a day to celebrate workers of all kinds. Most businesses have this day off except for vital services such as hospitals, police and shopping malls. The rest of us celebrate the contributions of workers on an economic and social level.

Toy Tips Executive Toy Test Day – This is an annual day celebrated in New York City where the senior executives of different companies get to gather together to play with toys. Well, they call it testing the toys, but we all know that it is really just playing. They are supposedly learning how to incorporate creativity into their workplaces.

To celebrate everything in one day, check your calendar to make sure that today is really today and be thankful if you have the day off from laboring today.  Next, use your phone, pretend to be a phone operator, and call up the Building Inspectors in your area to thank them for keeping our buildings safe. Then, fly to NYC to help the executives play with toys before you head to Los Angeles to see if you can find Chicken Boy.  While  you are traveling, make a list of all the words you can think of that don’t rhyme with any others.