weird Archives - Page 62 of 92 - Worldwide Weird Holidays

March 25 is Pecan Day

March 25, 2017/0 Comments/in March

Today is Pecan Day, not to be confused with National Pecan Day (April 14) or National Pecan Month (also April). As the only nut tree native to North America, the pecan has been a source of pride since the founding of the United States.

photo credit – Corey Leopold

The pecan tree was declared the State Tree of Texas in 1906; the pecan became State Nut in 1919. Ninety years later, Arkansas also named the pecan as its State Nut. Interestingly, the two states also share the same State Historic Cooking Vessel: the Dutch oven. (We would’ve chosen the George Foreman Grill. That thing is amazing.)

The story behind Pecan Day is this: On March 25, 1775, George Washington planted pecan trees on his grounds in Mount Vernon, NY. They were a gift from Thomas Jefferson, who had transplanted a number of the trees from the Mississippi Valley to his home in Monticello, NY.

A few of those trees still stand today as a reminder that, even as they geared up for war, the founders could still make time for a little agriculture. (Having slaves to do the manual labor probably helped, too, but that’s a story for another time.)

Happy Pecan Day!

National Chocolate Covered Raisin Day

March 24, 2017/1 Comment/in March

Today is National Chocolate Covered Raisin Day.

In 1927, the Blumenthal Brothers Chocolate Company had the brilliant idea of covering dried California grapes with chocolate. It named the results Raisinets and they’ve been a favorite of moviegoers and vending machine gourmands ever since. The formula changed hands several times before being purchased by Nestlé in 1984.

According to Nestlé, more than one million Raisinets are produced each hour. They’re coated, then machine-polished in large batches to achieve their round shape and high shine. In 2015, the company released this graphic:

They state on their website that if you lined up the number of Raisinets made in one year end-to-end, they would stretch around the globe twice, adding, “Every man, woman and child in the United States would receive 17 Raisinets if the amount made in a year were shared with all.”

Until then, keep buying them yourselves and have a happy National Chocolate Covered Raisin Day!

March 23 is Near Miss Day

March 23, 2017/0 Comments/in March

Today is Near Miss Day. On March 23, 1989, an asteroid passed uncomfortably close to Earth.

Asteroids fly by Earth fairly often, with no deleterious effects. If NASA notified us of every space rock in our general vicinity, we’d spend all our time:

watching Discovery channel disaster porn about the killer rock that’s probably on its way right now to snuff us like the dinosaurs,
sharing dash cam footage of the 2013 meteor explosion over Russia, or
searching Armageddon for clues about how to survive.
(Bruce Willis + Ben Affleck x Aerosmith = a fate worse than death)

The asteroid known as 4581 Asclepius passed us at a distance of 684,000 km (425,000 mi) and briefly occupied the exact spot where Earth had been only six hours earlier. It might have caused concern if anyone had noticed it at the time. Amateur astronomer Dr. Henry Holt discovered it a week later.

After the fact, NASA breathlessly reported a made-for-Hollywood doomsday scenario, stating that the asteroid was at least half a mile (over 800 meters) in diameter. But studies of its brightness, likely composition and other factors have created scientific consensus that 4581 Asclepius is most likely 300 meters in diameter.

Why is this important? An asteroid would have to be at least 1 kilometer in diameter to precipitate an extinction-level event. But a comparatively small asteroid, while not a planet killer, would still devastate a large area, whether it hit the ocean, cratered on land or exploded in the atmosphere.

The best spin we can put on it is this: If you’re reading this, nothing has happened yet. The scientists watching the skies can’t stop an asteroid strike, but they will be able to let us know we’re doomed so we can make our last moments count. (Hint: Delete Deep Impact from your Netlix queue.) Until then, have a happy Near Miss Day!

March 23 is Cuddly Kitten Day

March 23, 2017/0 Comments/in March

Today is Cuddly Kitten Day. We have been unable to locate its creators and can only assume they felt there were not enough photos, videos, books, magazines and websites dedicated to felines already. Perhaps our profile of National Cat Day on October 29th fell short of their expectations, too.

A day like this can be very stressful at Worldwide Weird Holidays, requiring hours and sometimes days of in-depth research and debate about what renders a kitten irresistible. We have concluded that nearly everything except their hairballs and stinky litter is cute, although there are some statistical outliers who think even hairballs qualify if the kitten barfs them up them in an endearing way.

We present, for your enjoyment, a small selection of kitties: