January 4, 2014

Today we celebrate:

Earth at Perihelion – This day celebrates the point at which the earth is closer to the sun than at any other point in the year. Depending on where you live, this may have happened yesterday. Here on the East Coast it happened at midnight which technically is today but if you're looking at this today you missed it anyway because it already happened. I was sleeping through it just like you, and it doesn't even matter because it is darn cold outside and if we are that close to the sun it shouldn't be that cold outside! Don't talk to me about axis tilting and the angle of the suns rays, I don't want to hear it. - http://earthsky.org/tonight/earth-comes-closest-to-sun-every-year-in-early-january

National Spaghetti Day – A very easy and delicious dinner plan for tonight.

Trivia Day - Do you know how many pieces of wood are used to make a violin? 70 separate pieces. Today is the day to entertain and/or annoy everyone around you with little known facts we like to call trivia. Make sure you cap your day off with an episode of Jeopardy and a round or two of Trivial Pursuit!

Dimpled Chad Day - I didn't know what this was either, but I found out. A chad is a small piece of paper that is supposed to be removed when a hole is punched in paper or a card. A dimpled chad is a chad that has been punched but is still attached. This is a problem in some voting areas like Florida that use machines that punch chads for votes, if they do not work perfectly, dimpled chads can be contested. I guess it's kind of perfect that this day is on the same day as Trivia Day.

Pop Music Chart Day – This is a day to check to pop music charts and see what is the most popular songs to listen too. It's a good way to keep up on what your children might be listening to.

Tom Thumb Day - Another piece of trivia...General Tom Thumb was the stage name of Charles Sherwood Stratton, a dwarf born today in 1838, who became famous due to his work at P.T. Barnum's circus.

World Braille Day – Louis Braille was born on this day in 1809 in Coupvray, France. This is significant because he is the father of Braille. He became blind when he was 3 years old. He desperately wanted to read but the only books for blind people were ones with large, raised alphabetical letters. The books were very bulky and very expensive and it took a long time to read one because one had to feel each letter. Being a very creative and talented person, he decided to come up with a way for a blind person to read as quickly and easily as a sighted person. A code used by the French army consisting of dots and dashes raised up off the paper was his inspiration and the rest is history.

World Hypnotism Day - you are getting sleepy...very sleepy...zzzz Hmmm, be careful with this, I don't think it's good form for the hypnotist to hypnotize him/herself. http://www.worldhypnotismday.com/

To celebrate today, go outside and play a braille version of trivial pursuit with your friends in the warmth (?) of the perihelion sun while eating spaghetti. Make sure you peruse the pop music chart to find the right music to listen to and regal them with your knowledge of things like dimpled chads and Tom Thumb before you hypnotize them into letting you win the game.