09-06 Labor Day
September 6th, 2010
Labor Day
(excerpted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_Day)
Labor Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September (September 6 in 2010).
The first Labor Day in the United States was observed on September 5, 1882 in New York City, by the Central Labor Union of New York, the nation’s first integrated major trade union. It became a federal holiday in 1894, when, following the deaths of a number of workers at the hands of the U.S. military and U.S. Marshals during the Pullman Strike, President Grover Cleveland put reconciliation with the labor movement as a top political priority. Fearing further conflict, legislation making Labor Day a national holiday was rushed through Congress unanimously and signed into law a mere six days after the end of the strike. The September date originally chosen by the CLU of NY and observed by many of the nation’s trade unions for the past several years was selected rather than the more widespread International Workers’ Day because Cleveland was concerned that observance of the latter would stir up negative emotions linked to the Haymarket Affair, for which it had been observed to commemorate. All 50 U.S. states have made Labor Day a state holiday.
Read a Book Day:
(excerpted from http://holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/September/readabook.htm)
Read a Book Day is today. Take time out of your busy life, and relax with a good book. Cozy up on a chair, indoors or out. It doesn’t matter where you read that book, as long as you can do so in a comfortable manner. If you doze off along the way, we won’t tell anyone.
Reading is a great lifetime hobby. It offers so many positive attributes. It’s relaxing and therapeutic. It’s educational. Its entertaining. And, a whole lot of other good things, too.
National Coffee Ice Cream Day
(excerpted from http://www.mahalo.com/national-coffee-ice-cream-day)
Ice cream lovers have the opportunity to celebrate an unofficial food holiday on September 6: This day is observed as National Coffee Ice Cream Day in the United States. http://www.tfdutch.com/foodh.htm3 Haagen Dazs, Ben and Jerrys, and Starbucks all sell a commercially available coffee ice cream which can be found in local grocery stores. National ice cream manufacturers Edy’s and Dreyers also offer a coffee ice cream. Coffee ice cream combines the flavor of the morning drink with ice cream to make a flavored dessert. Coffee ice cream may be used in gourmet coffee drink recipes.
National Iguana Awareness Day
(excerpted from http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/iguanas/a/niad.htm)
“Hard to care for…easy to love” was the slogan for the group of dedicated iguana owners who volunteered their time and efforts to organize “National Iguana Awareness Day” (NIAD). Although NIAD was officially disbanded in 2001, the mission of NIAD remains.
The cornerstone of the NIAD campaign was education, through the dissemination of appropriate care and advice to owners and pet shops selling iguanas. Volunteers were encouraged to hand out pamphlets and fliers, make presentations to interested groups, and make media contacts. Despite dropping the official iguana awareness day, increasing awareness of the proper care of iguanas is certainly an ongoing campaign
Fight Procrastination Day
(excerpted from http://www.onlineorganizing.com/CalendarHoliday.asp?holiday=30)
Putting things off — we’ve all been guilty of it. You don’t like doing the job at hand, the task seems OVERWHELMING, you’re a perfectionist, you don’t know where to begin, the job seems scary, you are afraid of failing — there are lots of reasons for PROCRASTINATING. You can’t make yourself do something you hate, but you can learn not to hate the job quite as much. Overcoming procrastination is less about developing will-power, and more about creating an environment that is CONDUCIVE to completing the task at hand. So let’s take a moment this month to look at some ways you can curb your tendency to procrastinate.
Today in History:
William McKinley (25th US President) Shot
(excerpted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_McKinley_assassination)
The William McKinley assassination occurred on September 6, 1901, at the Temple of Music in Buffalo, New York. United States President William McKinley, attending the Pan-American Exposition, was shot twice by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist.
McKinley initially appeared to be recovering from his wounds, but took a turn for the worse six days after the shooting and died on September 14, 1901. Theodore Roosevelt succeeded McKinley as President. McKinley was the third of four U.S. presidents to be assassinated, following Abraham Lincoln in 1865 and James A. Garfield in 1881 and preceding John F. Kennedy in 1963. After McKinley’s murder, Congress officially charged the Secret Service with the physical protection of U.S. presidents.
1522 Magellan’s expedition circumnavigates globe
(excerpted from http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/9/6?catId=6)
One of Ferdinand Magellan’s five ships–the Vittoria–arrives at SanlÚcar de Barrameda in Spain, thus completing the first circumnavigation of the world. The Vittoria was commanded by Basque navigator Juan SebastiÁn de Elcano, who took charge of the vessel after the murder of Magellan in the Philippines in April 1521. During a long, hard journey home, the people on the ship suffered from starvation, scurvy, and harassment by Portuguese ships. Only Elcano, 17 other Europeans, and four Indians survived to reach Spain in September 1522.
Celebrity Birthdays:
(excerpted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Foxworthy)
Jeffery Marvin “Jeff” Foxworthy (born September 6, 1958) is an American stand-up comedian and television personality. As the best-selling comedy recording artist of all time, he is a member of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, a comedy troupe which also comprises Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Engvall and Ron White. Known for his “you might be a redneck” one-liners, Foxworthy has released six major-label comedy albums. His first two albums were each certified 3×multi-Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Foxworthy has also written several books based on his redneck jokes, as well as an autobiography entitled, No Shirt, No Shoes… No Problem!
(excerpted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Vargas)
Elizabeth Vargas (born September 6, 1962) is a television journalist who is anchor of ABC’s television news magazine 20/20 and ABC News Specials. She was previously an anchor of World News Tonight.
Vargas was the first woman to anchor a network evening newscast in the U.S. since Connie Chung, and the first national evening news anchor of Puerto Rican and Irish American heritage. She is said to be particularly proud of an ABC special report in which she questioned why the Laci Peterson case merited more attention than two other similar cases, one involving a black woman and the other involving a Hispanic woman. Another story she did, based on the book The Da Vinci Code and the role of Mary Magdalene, helped fuel a nationwide religious debate. Vargas stated that for centuries Mary Magdalene has been portrayed as a prostitute by the church, despite evidence to the contrary. She went on to question the strictly limited role of women within the church. In 1999, she won an Emmy Award for her coverage of the Elián González story and in 1998, she was nominated for an Emmy Award for her 20/20 investigation into the wrongful conviction of Betty Tyson.
Birthday Greetings:
Happy 8th Birthday to Dexter Froud
