October 15 is Global Handwashing Day

global handwashing day

Today is Global Handwashing Day. We know, we know: eww! When it comes to that ill-advised hot dog wolfed at a highway rest stop, we are all like Mulder on the X-Files: we want to believe. That counter’s clean, the food freshly prepared by people who treat every day as handwashing day. So this must be one of those silly made-up holidays. Right? Why are we still talking about this?

Global Handwashing Day was founded in 2008 by The Global Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing to raise awareness of how proper hygiene can prevent disease transmitted by hand.  Here’s a tweet promoting the holiday and the graphic embedded in it.

Why #GlobalHandwashingDay? B/C 1 trillion germs can live in 1 gram of poop (abt weight of a paper clip)! http://bit.ly/1JUaOrD

global handwashing feces facts

Wait a minute. The numbers in the tweet and its graphic don’t match. Although I think we can all agree that either number is unsettling, we feel it’s our duty to get to the bottom of this. Who knew that researching this would end up in such a dark place?

Okay, now that we’ve gotten our juvenile punning (mostly) out of the way, let’s learn a little bit about the strangers in our poop. According to a study cited by the Centers for Disease Control, a gram of feces can contain a total of 1 trillion germs. So the tweet is right. Reporting of the number of viruses and bacteria, however, varies wildly. You might want to take our word for it. The Google search alone will make you want to douse yourself in hand sanitizer (which, by the way, isn’t as effective as you might think.)

Now that you’ve got a face full of feces facts, here’s a dollop more. A German site called my.microbes aims to be the first social network to connect members with similar microbial profiles to “share experiences, remedies, health and diet tips.” Watch out, Match.com!

If you’ve got your mind on your manure and your manure on your mind, track your output with the PoopLog app. According to the developer, he updated it to include the ability to attach photos because “it is the most requested feature from my users.” PoopLog allows you to track your bowel movements using the Bristol Stool Scale.

The Bristol Scale was devised in England and is very, well, descriptive. Click here to view it but maybe not when you’re eating sausage. We’re not showing it here because we don’t want to support poop porn. We will show you this enthusiastic review of PoopLog, though:pooplog review Leland, we wish you the best in your turd analysis. Perhaps Places I’ve Pooped might be a useful app for you, too. Just a quick word of advice: turn off the flash when you take a shelfie™* in a public place, which we fervently hope is a restroom. The uninformed might frown on you taking a photo of what came from your posterior for posterity.

Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’re going to go wash our hands. We may never stop.

*sh– + selfie: don’t make us spell this out

 

Copyright © 2017 Worldwide Weird Holidays

October 13 is International Skeptics Day

Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, still exists.
Philip K. Dick

I’m not sure how he’d feel about International Skeptics Day since there’s no evidence that it’s an official holiday anywhere. If you consider the number of skeptical organizations worldwide, almost 100 according to one source, maybe it should be.

international skeptics day

The sticklers among us might point out that Skeptics Day is also listed in some quarters as occurring on January 13.

Others might say the dearth of critical thinking calls for as many reminders of the need for skeptical inquiry as possible.

Perhaps the weirdest thing about this holiday is that we seem to need it at all.

*****

To learn more:

  • Watch the Youtube channel of the James Randi Foundation. Many tried and failed to win Randi’s years-long Million Dollar Challenge, which promised the prize to anyone who could show proof of the paranormal. The challenge ended recently, the money unclaimed.
  • Plumb the resources of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.
  • Find like-minded skeptics in your neighborhood at meetup.com.
  • Consult Snopes.com, the Web’s Google search for hoaxes and misinformation, before you forward that chain email about how the government is poisoning us all with cheese.
  • Watch an old episode of Mythbusters, a show that made testing urban legends entertaining. (After the series wrapped, it became clear that the biggest myth was that the two hosts got along.)
  • Read A Practical Guide to Critical Thinking, which is sure to help you resist that midnight infomercial, win an argument, and separate fact from fiction in almost any situation.

No matter how or when you choose to celebrate International Skeptics Day, have fun!

Copyright © 2017 Worldwide Weird Holidays

October 11 is Cephalopod Awareness Day

Technically, there are five International Cephalopod Awareness Days (ICAD) in the annual celebration of the most intelligent invertebrates in the world.

Cephalopod Awareness Day

The first Cephalopod Awareness Day was established in 2007 by members of The Octopus News Magazine Online forum (TONMO) to bring attention to the diversity, conservation, and biology of the world’s cephalopods.

Octopi have eight arms while squid and cuttlefish have eight arms and two tentacles. So the eighth day of the tenth month was chosen to show appreciation for animals with a combination of 8 or 10 appendages. Then four days were added to the holiday to celebrate all cephalopods.

Let’s Call it Kraken Day (please?)

October 11 is Myths and Legends Day, celebrating all the fantastical cephalopods of movies, literature, and legend.  Since ancient times, cephalopods have been a recurring motif in myth, arts, and literature and they remain a subject of popular culture today.

Cephalopod Awareness Day

Things to do today:
Stop by TONMO. If you’re lucky, you’ll catch a live feed of the conference.
Check out https://www.facebook.com/CephDays/
Put Clash of Titans (the original) on your Netflix queue and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea on your Kindle reader.

Happy Cephalopod Awareness Day!

Copyright © 2017 Worldwide Weird Holidays

October 10 is Hug A Drummer Day

Hug A Drummer Day

Today is Hug a Drummer Day. Some in the U.S. call it National Hug a Drummer Day, but it’s been celebrated internationally for many years. Though it appears the music industry invented this holiday, that shouldn’t make us cynical. After all, behind every great group, quite literally, is a great drummer. Without a talented percussionist to keep the beat steady and rhythm smooth, a band’s performance could fall apart. Too often drummers are overshadowed by flashier frontmen.

Hug a Drummer Day has evolved into a day when bands around the world perform and spotlight their drummers. The fun continues year-round on the Hug A Drummer Facebook page.

hug a drummer day

Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney

Hug A Drummer Day

Alex Lifeson, Neil Peart and Geddy Lee

What are you waiting for? Get out there and hug a drummer today!

More great drummers:
20 Best Drummers of All Time – LA Weekly
The 100 Greatest Drummers of Alternative Music – Spin
Drum Roll: The Top Ten Rock Drummers of All Time – Gibson
Top 50 Hard Rock + Metal Drummers of All Time – Loudwire

Copyright © 2017 Worldwide Weird Holidays