Welcome to Worldwide Weird Holidays, where you’ll find a new reason to celebrate every day of the year.
September 14 is National Cream-Filled Donut Day
Today is National Cream-Filled Donut Day. We don’t know who created this holiday and first celebrated it. We aren’t even certain who invented the cream-filled donut, but who cares? Take a look at this: It is an edible work of art meant to delight the senses in its fleeting existence. There are millions like it right […]
September 13 is Roald Dahl Day
Today is Roald Dahl Day. September 13, 2017, would have been the beloved children’s book author’s 101st birthday. Dahl is best known for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, The BFG, Matilda and Fantastic Mr. Fox. His dark, twisted sense of humor has endeared him to generations of young readers. ***** A lesser-known […]
September 12 is National Video Games Day
Today is National Video Games Day. In 1971, a company named Nutting Associates released Computer Space, the first commercial arcade video game. Although it wasn’t a huge financial success, it began a fruitful partnership between creators Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, who left and opened their own outfit called Atari. They introduced Pong the following year. […]
September 10 is International Creepy Boston Dynamics Horse Day
Today is International Creepy Boston Dynamics Horse Day. On September 10, 2012, Boston Dynamics released footage of a rough-terrain robot it developed with funding from Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the U.S. Marine Corps. The robot’s official name is The Legged Squad Support System (LS3). Its sensors allow it to follow a human […]
September 9 is Tester’s Day
Today is Tester’s Day. This unofficial holiday for technicians everywhere is not without controversy. The Story On September 9, 1945, Grace Hopper, a computer scientist at Harvard University, was running tests on the Mark II Calculator (designed by Howard Aiken) when she found a moth that had landed between two solenoid contacts, shorting out an electromechanical relay. Hopper […]
September 8 is Pardon Day
Today is Pardon Day. On September 8, 1974, President Gerald Ford issued a controversial pardon to Richard Nixon, who had resigned on August 9, 1974 (a.k.a. National Veep Day.) What follows is an excerpt. Read the full proclamation here. As a result of certain acts or omissions occurring before his resignation from the Office of President, […]
September 7 is National Buy a Book Day
Today is National Buy a Book Day, created in 2010 by author Philip Athans to support bookstores, writers and the publishing industry. He chose September 7 as the date of its observance because it falls on his birthday. Athans described his inspiration in science fiction/fantasy blog Grasping at the Wind: It started with a tweet, which warned […]
September 6 is Fight Procrastination Day
Today is Fight Procrastination Day, created by an unknown person at an indeterminate point in human history. We’ve been unable to track down the source of this important, unofficial holiday. Procrastination is no joke, according to two of the world’s leading experts: Joseph Ferrari, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology at De Paul University in Chicago, […]
International Bacon Day
Today is International Bacon Day, celebrated on the Saturday before Labor Day since 2009 as indicated on a blog which includes helpful translations for the globetrotting bacon lover: English – Can I have some Bacon? Dutch – Kan ik wat Bacon hebben? French – Est-ce que je peux prendre du lard ? German – Kann ich […]
September 1 is Chicken Boy Day
Today is Chicken Boy Day, celebrating the birthday of the fiberglass legend on September 1, 1969, or thereabouts. Official birth records are unavailable. Twenty-two feet tall, referred to by many as the Statue of Liberty of Los Angeles, California, Chicken Boy stood atop his namesake restaurant on Broadway between Fourth & Fifth Streets for fourteen […]