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December 12 is Poinsettia Day

December 12, 2016/0 Comments/in December

Today is Poinsettia Day, which marks the death of Joel Roberts Poinsett on December 12, 1851. Poinsett was appointed in 1825 by President John Quincy Adams as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Mexico. (The title “Ambassador” wasn’t created until 1896.)

While there, Poinsett, an amateur botanist, introduced the American elm to Mexico. In 1829, he returned to his home in South Carolina with cuttings of a shrub with red flowers and cultivated it in his greenhouse.

The plant has a rich history in Mexico. The Aztecs called it Cuitlaxochitl (from cuitlatl, for residue, and xochitl, for flower) and used the leaves to dye fabrics and the sap to control fevers. Today it’s known in Mexico and Guatemala as La Flor de la Nochebuena (Flower of the Holy Night) and is displayed during celebrations of the Dia de la Virgen de Guadalupe, which also happens to take place on December 12.

We’re not sure who started the rumor that poinsettias are poisonous, but we’ve found many studies refuting it, including this one, published in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine:

To determine if there was any validity to the toxicity claims, 849,575 plant exposures reported to the American Association of Poison Control Centers were electronically analyzed. Poinsettia exposures accounted for 22,793 cases and formed the subset that was analyzed to critically evaluate the morbidity and mortality associated with poinsettia exposures. There were no fatalities among all poinsettia exposures and 98.9% were accidental in nature, with 93.3% involving children. The majority of exposed patients (96.1%) were not treated in a health care facility and 92.4% did not develop any toxicity related to their exposure to the poinsettia.

Experts say a fifty-pound child would have to eat at least five hundred leaves just to get a bellyache. Since they taste terrible and a plant has a fraction of that number of leaves, it’s unlikely anyone is going to make a meal of them.

Although poinsettia leaves won’t kill pets, either, its emetic properties can make them throw up which, let’s face it, is no fun for anyone involved. Just to be on the safe side, keep it away from Fido and Mr. Whiskers. Everyone else can enjoy the sight of this iconic symbol of the holiday season and have a happy (and healthy) Poinsettia Day!

July 18 is World Listening Day

July 18, 2016/1 Comment/in July

Nice work, if you can get it.

Today is World Listening Day. It honors the birth on July 18, 1933, of Raymond Murray Schafer, the Canadian composer, teacher and environmentalist who invented the study of acoustic ecology at Vancouver’s Simon Fraser University in the late 1960s.

Acoustic ecology uses field recordings to create and preserve the planet’s disappearing soundscapes while battling schizophonia, a word Schafer coined to define a unique medical condition. “We have split the sound from the maker of the sound,” Schafer explained.

“Sounds have been torn from their natural sockets and given an amplified and independent existence. Vocal sound, for instance, is no longer tied to a hole in the head but is free to issue from anywhere in the landscape.” We have a strong sensory response to this: it smells like feces and sounds like tenure.

The first World Soundscape Project was born from Schafer’s annoyance at the noise pollution he felt was ruining beautiful Vancouver. It has evolved into a serious course of study. This business of listening seems to rely on a whole lot of talking.

The World Listening Project (WLP) was created in 2008 as a not-for-profit, tax-exempt organization dedicated to understanding societies, cultures and environments by listening and preserving audio. Finally, someone has found a way to achieve tax-exempt status for recording a garage band or just the sound a garage makes.

WLP and the Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology (MSE), under the auspices of the American Society for Acoustic Ecology (ASAE), created World Listening Day in 2010. Why? Per its site:

Cities’ sonic identities are continually fluctuating as residential and commercial infrastructures develop. The resultant social dynamics of industrialization and gentrification sponsor variegated relationships between people and the public and private places they occupy.

“…sponsor variegated relationships”? It looks like a thesaurus bled out all over an SAT. We get it: change sucks. Why can’t everything be like yesterday? If only we had a way to preserve it forever, like on DVD, but without the pesky visuals.

The theme of World Listening Day 2016 is “Sounds Lost and Found.” Per the organizers:

[W]e invite you to dig into crates of vinyl and cassettes, dive into digital archives, and engage deeply with memories and unheard languages to rediscover or identify these “lost sounds.”

While we agree that listening is an essential and underappreciated art, we don’t understand the need to starve other senses like sight to do it; we aren’t sure we can engage deeply with an unheard language. But maybe we weren’t listening closely enough. Would you mind repeating it?

Polar Bear Swim

June 18, 2016/1 Comment/in June

June 18, 2016, marks the 42nd annual Polar Bear Swim, celebrated in Nome, Alaska. Unlike many places in the USA’s lower 48 states (and Hawaii, of course), where taking a dip in the middle of June is a pleasure, splashing in the Bering Sea is not for the faint of heart.

The water is barely above freezing. In fact, in some years, the swim has been rescheduled because the ice hasn’t broken up enough to allow participants to wade in from Nome’s East End Beach. (Rush in and rush right back out is a more accurate description.)

The Polar Bear Swim is part of the Midnight Sun Festival, held in Nome during its summer solstice, when the sun shines 22 hours of the day. Other festival events include the Gold Dust Dash, a four-mile foot race to win a gold nugget; the Midnight Sun Parade, with prizes for the best floats; and the Midnight Sun Annual Bank Robbery, a mock holdup of Wells Fargo Bank at high noon by gunslinging outlaws.

At 2 pm, roughly 100 people are expected to brave the icy water in bikinis, Speedos and various costumes. A bonfire will be built on the beach so everyone can warm up quickly after leaving the water. All swimmers will receive a certificate of achievement and join the ranks of people who’ve taken the plunge since 1975.

Whether it sounds like a rollicking good time or makes you want to dive under an electric blanket, there’s no doubt Nome’s Polar Bear Swim is a wacky holiday to rival Canada’s International Hair Freezing Day.

So jump in and tell your friends, “Come on in, the water’s f-f-f-freezing!”

Buzzard Day 2016

June 10, 2016/0 Comments/in June

June 11, 2016, is Buzzard Day in Glendive, Montana, and neighboring Makoshika, the state’s largest park, which covers 11,538 acres at an elevation of 2,415 feet above sea level. It falls on the second Saturday of June and celebrates the return of turkey vultures to eastern Montana.

The name Makoshika (Ma-ko’-shi-ka) is derived from a Lakota phrase meaning bad land or bad earth. The park contains rock formations, the fossil remains of Tyrannosaurus Rex and Triceratops and miles of hiking trails and scenic drives.

Today’s main event is Montana’s toughest 10k run. There will also be a 5k run and a disc golf tournament. Kids can participate in a fun run/walk, play miniature golf and jump in a bouncy house. Lurch, a turkey vulture, will visit from ZooMontana, a 70-acre wildlife park in Billings that is the state’s only zoo.

Lurch

A “Native American Heritage Display” will be on view. Since the 2010 census showed that only 2.4% of Glendive’s 4,935 residents were Native American (94.4% Caucasian, 0.5% African-American, 0.4% Asian, 2.3% other), we’re guessing there won’t be many Lakota on hand to man the booth.

Makoshika State Park’s newly renovated visitor center houses a Triceratops skull, other kid-friendly exhibits and, of course, a gift shop. Pick up souvenirs of your visit and learn about other park events including March for Parks, Montana Shakespeare in the Park and a summer youth program.

Happy Buzzard Day! Say hi to Lurch for us!

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