August 24, 2015

Today we celebrate:

National Knife Day - I could not find out who created this day or why.  It seems to be a day to appreciate and utilize knives because without them, life would be pretty difficult.  There was a time when a person needed a knife in order to survive.  They were used for almost everything people had to do in pioneer days and before.  Nowadays, we could probably get along pretty well with other tools for most things, but cooking would definitely be a challenge.  That’s what I use my knives for most often.

National Peach Pie Day – A couple of days ago we had National Eat A Peach Day and could eat peaches in any form we wished. Well, today is also for peaches, but today you must eat them in a pie. I mean, the peaches have to be in the pie, not you. Although if you are ambitious enough to make a person sized pie, I say have at it and make sure you send me a picture.

Pluto Demoted Day – On this day in 2006, Pluto was demoted. It is no longer considered a planet and instead is considered by scientists to be a “dwarf planet”. It was a sad, sad day for all of us. That same year, NASA sent a spacecraft to Pluto to take some pictures and send them back to us. It took a few years for the spacecraft to get there but it finally did just a few months ago and that was pretty exciting for all the space enthusiasts out there. That was a big, expensive project and demotion or not, NASA was committed to see it through. However, if Pluto was demoted sooner, I wonder if NASA would have bothered to go look at it.

Vesuvius Day – On this day in 79A.D., Mount Vesuvius, in Southern Italy, awoke from its’ centuries long sleep and erupted causing the devastation of Pompeii and Herculaneum and killed thousands of people. The ones who evacuated immediately survived, but approximately 2,000 people hid in cellars and buildings hoping the volcano would stop and leave them be. They died in the toxic cloud that descended upon them and were buried when the flow of rock and ash followed. Today some 700,000 people live around Mt. Vesuvius which hasn't had a major eruption in about 400 years. I'm not sure that location would be my choice for a retirement home.

William Wilberforce Day – Born on this day in 1759, William Wilberforce was a politician, philanthropist and one of the leaders of the abolitionist movement who worked tirelessly to put an end to the British slave trade for twenty six years. When the Slave Trade Act of 1807 was passed, abolishing the slave trade, he began working to abolish slavery completely in the British Empire. He died three days after he was sure the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 was going to pass.

National Waffle Day – Back in March, we had International Waffle Day, but this day is just for the United States of America because we love our waffles so much that we really don't want to share them this time.

To celebrate today, use a knife to cut up your waffles for breakfast and contemplate how different the world would be without dedicated people like William Wilberforce in it. Then have waffles for lunch while you search the internet for pictures from the excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum which have been ongoing for a couple of hundred years. Finally, have waffles and peach pie for dinner while you look through your telescope to see if you can find Pluto.