02-08 Boy Scout Day

February 8th, 2010

CelebrateWhat?com Today

Boy Scout Day:

(excerpted from http://holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/February/boyscoutday.htm)

Boy Scout Day celebrates the birthday of Scouting in America. On February 8, 1910, Chicago publisher William Dickson Boyce filed incorporation papers in the District of Columbia to create the Boy Scouts of America.

Scouting groups across the country celebrate this day. Often a cake will be served at the weekly meeting or on a campout. Scout Sunday, the Sunday nearest the 8th of February, will often be marked with a church service, followed by a pancake breakfast.

Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts offer a tremendously valuable program of life skills and values for millions of boys. It has been popular ever since Lord Baden-Powell founded Boy Scouts in the early 1900s in Great Brittain. The top award of Eagle Scout, is an accomplishment that reaps recognition, rewards, and benefits for a young man throughout his life.

Parinirvana Day:

(excerpted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parinirvana_Day)

Parinirvana Day, or Nirvana Day is a Mahayana Buddhist holiday celebrated in East Asia. By some it is celebrated on 8th of February, but by most on 15th of February. It celebrates the day when the Buddha is said to have achieved Parinirvana, or complete Nirvana, upon the death of his physical body. Buddhists celebrate the death of the Buddha because they believe that since he was Enlightened, he was free from the pain of physical existence.

Passages from the Nirvana Sutra describing the Buddha’s last days of life are often read on Parinirvana Day. Other observances include meditation and visits to Buddhist temples and monasteries. Also, the day is a time to think about one’s own future death and on the deaths of loved ones. This thought process reflects the Buddhist teachings on transience.

Prešeren Day:

(excerpted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prešeren_Day)

The Slovenian Cultural Holiday, known unofficially as the Prešeren Day (Slovene: Prešernov dan), is a national holiday celebrated in Slovenia marking the anniversary of the death of the poet France Prešeren on February 8, 1849. Since Prešeren is generally considered as the greatest poet in the Slovenian language, the holiday was established to honour the achievements in Slovenian culture.

The anniversary of Prešeren’s death first became a prominent date during World War II in 1942, when the so-called “cultural silence” was imposed by the Liberation front, banning all Slovenian artists from further public appearances under occupation. It was first commemorated as a holiday in 1944. It remained a public holiday during the era of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia within Yugoslavia and it was celebrated also by the Carinthian Slovenes and the Slovenians in Italy. It was marked with many cultural festivals and remembrances, with school excursions to cultural significant institutions.

In 1991, it was declared a work-free day. Many opposed this gesture, claiming it would bring to the banalisation of a holiday designed to be dedicated to cultural events. As a result, December 3, the anniversary of the poet’s birth, has also become widely celebrated as an alternative holiday. Today both days are almost equally celebrated, with no antagonism between the two, although only the Prešeren Day in February is officially recognized as a national holiday.

Clean Out Your Computer Day:

(excerpted from http://holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/February/cleancomputerday.htm)

Clean Out Your Computer Day is a day to logically review, and delete old files and programs.

Most of us add programs and files to our computer with reckless abandon. After all, computers have huge storage capacity.  Many of these files and programs are forgotten over time. Overtime they clog memory and cause confusion during retrieval and use of other files. And, some may slow down your computer.

Somewhere along the way, a (most likely) computer geek or service person, created this day as an opportunity for us to remember to cleanup and delete old and unused files.

Kite Flying Day:

(excerpted from http://holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/February/kiteflyingday.htm)

Today is Kite Flying Day, a great time to go fly a kite. People have enjoyed flying kites for thousands of years. Its an ever popular activity for children, and enjoyed by many adults.

Ben Franklin was perhaps the most well known kite flyer. He flew a kite in a thunderstorm and discovered electricity. He got a charge out of  flying kites!

We are amazed that Kite Flying Day is held in the middle of winter. Chances are few people in the northern areas of the country will brave the snow and cold today to go outdoors and fly a kite.

Did you know? Kites were first used by the military in ancient China over 3,000 years ago.

If the weather is good in your area, we have one thing to say to you…. Go fly a Kite!

(1837) The Senate selected Richard Mentor Johnson of Kentucky as vice president:

(excerpted from http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/VP_Richard_M_Johnson.htm)

The United States Senate elected Richard Mentor Johnson of Kentucky the nation’s ninth vice president on February 8, 1837. His selection marked the first and only time the Senate has exercised its prerogative under the U.S. Constitution’s Twelfth Amendment, which provides, “if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President.” Johnson became Martin Van Buren’s running mate after three decades in the House and Senate, a congressional career spanning the administrations of five presidents from Thomas Jefferson through Andrew Jackson. Detractors alleged, however, that he owed his nomination solely to the dubious claim that he killed the Shawnee chieftain Tecumseh in 1813 at the Battle of the Thames.

Celebrity Birthdays:

(excerpted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Verne)

Jules Gabriel Verne (8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French author who helped pioneer the science-fiction genre. He is best known for his novels A Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1864), From the Earth to the Moon (1865), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1869–1870), Around the World in Eighty Days (1873) and The Mysterious Island (1875). Verne wrote about space, air, and underwater travel before navigable aircraft and practical submarines were invented, and before any means of space travel had been devised. Consequently he is often referred to as the “Father of science fiction”, along with H. G. Wells. Verne is the second most translated author of all time, only behind Agatha Christie, with 4223 translations, according to Index Translationum. Some of his works have been made into films.

(excerpted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Dean)

James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931 – September 30, 1955) was an American film actor. Dean’s status as a cultural icon is best embodied in the title of his most celebrated film, Rebel Without a Cause, in which he starred as troubled Los Angeles teenager Jim Stark. The other two roles that defined his star were as loner Cal Trask in East of Eden, and as the surly farmer Jett Rink in Giant. His enduring fame and popularity rests on only these three films, his entire output in a starring role. His death at an early age cemented his legendary status.

He was the first actor to receive a posthumous Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and remains the only person to have two posthumous acting nominations. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Dean the 18th best male movie star on their AFI’s 100 Years…100 Stars list.

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02-07 Send a Card to a Friend Day

February 7th, 2010

CelebrateWhat?com Today

National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day:

(excerpted from http://www.hhs.gov/aidsawarenessdays/days/black/index.html)

February 7 is National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.

A working group of national organizations directs, plans, and organizes National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day Exist Disclaimer in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The Facts

Blacks are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS. While making up only 13 percent of the U.S. population, they account for more than 49 percent of AIDS cases. AIDS is now the leading cause of death for Black women ages 25 to 34, and the second leading cause of death for Black men ages 35 to 44.

Wave All Your Fingers at Your Neighbor Day:

(excerpted from http://holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/February/wavefingers.htm)

Wave All Your Fingers at Your Neighbor Day is the perfect opportunity to greet your neighbor with a big wave. But, to show your respect and appreciation on this very important day, you must wave with all of your fingers!

Without a doubt, this day was created to put a smile on your face, and upon your neighbors. It’s intent is to be friendly and create better relations. We believe you should also use the term “Neighbor” loosely. Go out and greet everyone today with a big five fingers wave.

Send a Card to a Friend Day:

(excerpted from http://holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/February/sendacardday.htm)

Send a Card to a Friend Day is a great chance to get in touch with a friend. We all lead busy lives. Its easy to let a friendship or two lapse, as we try to shuffle kids to and from events. It’s hard to stay in touch, when workload demands eat up countless hours.

Today is the perfect chance to send card to a friend. A paper card, or an Ecard, is just fine. You may likely find an Ecard is quicker and easier. And, you will save on postage, too.

Independence Day (Grenada):

(excerpted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenada)

In 1967, Grenada attained the status of “Associated State of the United Kingdom”, which meant that Grenada was now responsible for her own internal affairs, and the UK was responsible for her defence and foreign affairs. Independence was granted in 1974 under the leadership of the then Premier, Sir Eric Matthew Gairy, who became the first Prime Minister of Grenada.

Civil conflict gradually broke out between Eric Gairy’s government and some opposition parties including the New Jewel Movement (NJM). Gairy’s party won elections in 1976 but the opposition did not accept the result, accusing it of fraudulence. In 1979, the New Jewel Movement under Maurice Bishop launched a paramilitary attack on the government resulting in its overthrow.

The constitution was suspended and Bishop’s government ruled subsequently by decree. Cuban presence was welcomed and heavily invested in civic assistance (doctors, teachers, and technicians in the fields of health, literacy, agriculture, and agro-industries) during the ensuing era. Agrarian reforms started by the Gairy government were continued and greatly expanded under the revolutionary government of Maurice Bishop.

Celebrity Birthdays:

(excerpted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Dickens)

Charles John Huffam Dickens, FRSA (pronounced /ˈtʃɑrlz ˈdɪkɪnz/; 7 February 1812–9 June 1870), pen-name “Boz”, was the most popular English novelist of the Victorian era, and one of the most popular of all time. He created some of literature’s most iconic characters, with the theme of social reform running throughout his work. The continuing popularity of his novels and short stories is such that they have never gone out of print.

Much of his work first appeared in periodicals and magazines in serialised form, a popular way of publishing fiction at the time. Other writers would complete entire novels before serial publication commenced, but Dickens often wrote his in parts, in the order they were meant to appear. The practice lent his stories a particular rhythm, punctuated by one “cliffhanger” after another, to keep the public eager for the next installment.

(excerpted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashton_Kutcher)

Christopher Ashton Kutcher (pronounced /ˈkʊtʃər/; born February 7, 1978), best known as Ashton Kutcher, is an American film actor, television actor, producer and former fashion model, best-known for playing Michael Kelso in the Fox sitcom That ’70s Show. He created, produced and hosted Punk’d. He played lead roles in such films as Dude, Where’s My Car?, Just Married, The Butterfly Effect, The Guardian and What Happens in Vegas.

He is also the producer and co-creator of the supernatural TV show Room 401. and the reality TV show Beauty and the Geek. He is married to actress Demi Moore. As of April 2009, Kutcher is the most followed user on the social-networking site Twitter.

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