Welcome to Worldwide Weird Holidays, where you’ll find a new reason to celebrate every day of the year.
August 17 is Black Cat Appreciation Day
Today is Black Cat Appreciation Day. Although we’ve been unable to track down the origin of this holiday, we’ve found that the ASPCA celebrates the occasion each year by discounting its adoption fees for black cats and kittens, which it states are less likely to be adopted because of superstition. Black Cats weren’t always considered […]
August 16 is International Wave at Surveillance Day
Today is International Wave at Surveillance Day, created in 2001 by privacy activist Zorbitor to provide “a chance for the watched to reach out to the watchers both at home and in public venues.” First, a little history is in order. Video Surveillance In 1942, the surveillance camera was invented by German engineer Walter Bruch and […]
August 14 is Navajo Code Talkers Day
Today is Navajo Code Talkers Day, a holiday that honors the distinguished record of soldiers who transmitted military messages in the Navajo language during World War II. The Axis powers were unable to break the code, which helped safeguard U.S. military communications and may have hastened the end of the war. In May of 1942, 29 Navajo recruits graduated […]
August 11 is Presidential Joke Day
Today is Presidential Joke Day. On August 11, 1984, while preparing to give a weekly radio address from his ranch in California, Ronald Reagan was asked to do a routine sound check. Although the president enjoyed telling jokes about Russia, on that morning his remark was meant only for the sound engineers getting ready for the National Public […]
August 10 is National S’mores Day
Today is National S’mores Day. It celebrates Girl Scout Loretta Scott Crew’s culinary invention, immortalized in the 1927 handbook Tramping and Trailing with the Girl Scouts. “Some More” 8 sticks 16 graham crackers 8 bars plain chocolate (any of the good plain brands broken in two) 16 marshmallows Toast two marshmallows over the coals to […]
August 9 is National Veep Day
Today is National Veep Day. On August 9, 1974, Richard Nixon became the first (and only) U.S. president to resign from office. Vice President Gerald Ford assumed the office in accordance with Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the U.S. Constitution: In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his […]
August 8 is Happiness Happens Day
Today is Happiness Happens Day. Spiritual seeker and motivational speaker Pamela Gail Johnson founded the Secret Society of Happy People in 1998. The following year, she created Admit You’re Happy Day, the holiday which evolved into Happiness Happens Day. In 2000, she declared August Happiness Happens Month. Per Johnson, even though she is blessed with “happy […]
August 7 is Purple Heart Day
Today is Purple Heart Day. On August 7, 1782, at his headquarters in Newburgh, NY, General George Washington, the commander in chief of the Continental Army, ordered the creation of a Badge of Military Merit. The badge consisted of a purple, heart-shaped piece of cloth with the word MERIT embroidered in silver across the front. It was […]
August 6 is Corporate Baby Name Day
Today is Corporate Baby Name Day. On August 6, 2001, AmericanBaby.com, an online resource for pregnancy and parenting advice, announced the results of a survey it had recently conducted. The poll asked six hundred respondents if they would sell the right to name their baby for $500,000—to a corporation. We’ve learned about many odd baby […]
August 5 is Curiosity Day
Today is Curiosity Day. On August 5, 2012, NASA’s Mars Rover Curiosity landed on the red planet after a procedure so complicated its engineers dubbed it Seven Minutes of Terror. On November 26, 2011, an unmanned spacecraft carrying the 1,982-pound SUV-sized rover launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. After traveling 354 million […]