February 19, 2016

Today we celebrate:


Prevent Plagiarism Day - This is a day to focus on the problem of high tech cheating by taking someone else’s words/ideas and presenting them as your own. This day was created by Jace Shoemaker-Galloway after becoming the victim of plagiarism when her work was published without permission or attribution. This is an issue that can have pretty severe consequences if you are caught plagiarizing other people’s work.  It can cause you to fail a class, experience intense public embarrassment, lose a job, or even lose an election.

International Tug-o-War Day - A simple, but fun sport.  We used to play this on Field Day when I was in elementary school.  Some cultures take it very seriously.  Back in the day, this competition was used to solve community disputes.  It was even an Olympic sport before it was dropped from the Games in 1920.

National Chocolate Mint Day – Chocolate and mint, my favorite combination of flavors. I'll have to find some Andes Candies, Peppermint Patties or Junior Mints to have today.

Iwo Jima Day – Begun on this day in 1945, the fighting at Iwo Jima lasted more than a month with very heavy casualties for the U.S. and for the Japanese because surrender for either side was not an option or even a vague possibility for consideration. Thousands of men died that day and in the month following. This invasion was the first time American's attacked Japanese home territory and the Japanese really had no chance against the superior forces (in terms of numbers of soldiers, firepower, and air power) that the American's brought to the island. But despite that, the battle lasted for five weeks because the Japanese were well entrenched in caves and tunnels and chock full of pure stubbornness.

Single Tasking Day – This is a day to focus on one thing at a time. Which makes it somewhat odd that I have seen internet references to celebrating this day anywhere from Feb. 17 to the 24th and every day in between.  The powers that be obviously can’t make up their minds.  I have trouble with making up my mind as well as I find my brain going in all different directions jumping from task to task and my body follows. While I make progress on many different things, it is difficult to force myself to complete something. Which is why I only wash half the dishes, put the laundry in the washing machine but not the dryer, vacuum one room and not the others....etc. So, today, every time you find yourself drifting away from what you are trying to focus on, bring yourself back and finish it before you start something else. Speaking of laundry....

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