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May Ray Day

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May Ray DayToday is May Ray Day. Its goal is simple. If you look out the window and it’s sunny, go outside and enjoy it. (Common sense tip: If you’re in the middle of a business meeting, driving a car, or standing anywhere above the first floor, wait for a more appropriate time and place to step outside.)

I have been unable to determine the creator of May Ray Day. It could be someone who sells sunscreen or solar panels or who worships the sun and wants to indoctrinate others to believe in Ra, Helios, Sol, Utu, or the lesser-known gods of Melanoma, Squamous, and Basal Cell.

May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month. About 86 percent of melanomas and 90 percent of other skin cancers are associated with exposure to UV radiation. Before you head out, read these myth-busting facts from the Skin Cancer Foundation. We’ve thrown in one about tanning beds for good measure.

Myth: UVB radiation is a good source of vitamin D.

Fact: We can produce only a limited amount of vitamin D from UVB radiation. For Caucasians, that limit is reached after just five to 10 minutes of midday sun exposure. After reaching the limit, further exposure will not increase the amount of vitamin D in the body. Rather, it has the opposite effect: the vitamin D stored in the body begins to break down, leading to lower vitamin D levels. 

Myth: Sun exposure is the only source of vitamin D.

Fact: Vitamin D can be obtained from oily fish (like salmon, fresh tuna, trout and sardines) and cod liver oil, as well as from fortified orange juice and milk, yogurts, and some cereals. Supplements are readily available and inexpensive.

Myth: Tanning beds are a healthy option for boosting vitamin D levels.

Fact: The indoor tanning industry often makes the false claim that indoor tanning is helpful for vitamin D production. In reality, vitamin D is received through exposure to UVB rays; the bulbs used in tanning beds mainly emit UVA rays. Tanning beds are a known carcinogen. Just one indoor UV tanning session increases users’ chances of developing melanoma by 20 percent, and each additional session during the same year boosts the risk almost another two percent. 

So apply a liberal amount of broad-spectrum sunblock, put on your sunglasses, and don a wide-brimmed hat before venturing outside. (If it’s raining, don’t worry. There are plenty of days left in May. One of them will surely be sunny.)

Sun responsibly and have a happy May Ray Day!

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May 17 is National Walnut Day

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national walnut dayToday is National Walnut Day, created in 1949 by the Walnut Marketing Board, now known as the California Walnut Board. Supposedly, in March of 1958, Senator William Knowland proposed the holiday, which President Dwight D. Eisenhower later affirmed.

I spent an hour trying to confirm that. I found no such proclamation or proposal beyond publication in the Congressional Record of remarks Knowland gave on March 21, 1958. It has nothing to do with walnuts. (You could check it out for yourself, but I don’t recommend it.)

It looks like a feat of marketing by the Board that has paid dividends in the pages of Google results that parrot the story as truth. But it gets better: the California Walnut Board cites a holiday blog as the source of its information. It’s the circle of life online: an ourobouros of unreliable sources forever (happily) eating its own tail. But I digress.

Most walnuts come from the Persian or English tree, Juglans regia, originally grown in Asia and now cultivated around the world. The lesser-known eastern black walnut tree, Juglans nigra, and butternut or white walnut tree, Juglans cinerea, are native to eastern North America.

According to A Latin Dictionary, the genus gets its name from the Latin word for walnut tree,  jūglans, which is a contraction of  Jōvis glans, which translates to “nut of [the god] Jupiter.” Perhaps that explains why many sites claim the arginine found in walnuts dilates blood vessels and increases blood flow, causing erections. (Don’t munch a handful before a business meeting.)

Black walnut has been hailed by some as a miracle cure because of its alleged ability to kill a parasite that is supposedly responsible for cancer. No word on whether it works: We can’t get anyone who used it to answer our calls.

In China, walnuts are prized for a different reason. In 2012, Reuters reported that a secondary market in “cultural playthings” had emerged as a result of weak or negative returns in the traditional stock market.

Once the toys of China’s imperial court, walnuts have become popular among the wealthy, who see them as a status symbol as well as an investment. They are collected in pairs and rotated in one’s hand to improve circulation.

Collector Kou Baojun in Beijing told Reuters that the larger, older, and more symmetrical the walnuts are, the more highly they are valued and can cost tens of thousands of dollars. He owns more than 30 pairs, most of which are over a century old and have become burnished from years of being polished in the palm.

“Look how well these have aged,” Kou said. “Playing with these kinds of walnuts isn’t for ordinary people.”

Grab a pair and have a happy National Walnut Day!

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May 15 is National Slider Day

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national slider dayToday is National Slider Day, created in 2015 by the marketing geniuses at White Castle. Sadly, NYC Burger Week (May 1 -7) is now defunct, but you can still celebrate your belly bombs anytime during National Hamburger Month.

There’s debate about the origin of the slider. According to White Castle,

In 1921, Billy Ingram launched a family-owned business with $700 and an idea, selling five-cent, small, square hamburgers so easy to eat, they were dubbed Sliders and sold by the sack.

While it may have invented the mini-burger, some sources state that Navy soldiers invented the term “slider” in the 1940s to describe a tiny, greasy burger that slid down easily. The version with cheese was referred to as a “slider with a lid.”

When I say “sources,” I’m referring to the blogosphere, which tends to take other blogs’ assertions as fact without further research. I hesitate to amplify that dodgy story here, but, at presstime, the US Navy has not responded to requests for comment.

In any case, since then, that thin strip of beef topped with onions and pickles has evolved into upscale fare. Trying to ingest a nouveau slider in one bite could present a choking hazard and result in a request that you leave the restaurant immediately.

No matter how you plan to celebrate, have a happy National Slider Day!

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May 14 is Underground America Day

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underground america dayToday is Underground America Day, created in 1974 by architect Malcolm Wells. After designing the RCA Pavilion for the 1964 World’s Fair, which would be torn down only two years later, he came to the conclusion that every structure he built needlessly destroyed that which had previously lived in its footprint.

He described his epiphany this way: “I woke up one day to the fact that the Earth’s surface was made for living plants, not industrial plants.”

This led to his espousal of “gentle architecture,” construction in harmony with nature. He built his home and offices underground, wrote several books about environmental design, and lectured at Harvard and elsewhere.

He had a great sense of humor about the day he’d created. “On May 14th each year, hundreds of millions of people all across this great land will do absolutely nothing about the national holiday I declared in 1974, and that’s just the way it should be,” he said.

“It’s a holiday free of holiday obligations. You don’t even have to lose a day of work. But if you’re the partying type, here are some of the ways in which you can observe the big day.”

At some point before his death on November 27, 2009, at the age of 83, Wells penned his own obituary. It makes us wish we’d gotten the chance to know him. Happy Underground America Day!

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