Winter Solstice

This is the shortest day of the year. It is also known as the longest night. Actually during this time the sun does not move for three days. Ancient pagan religions celebrated this day. It is said Santa chose this night because it is the longest.

National Haiku Day

The Haiku is a form of poetry which originated in Japan. It is most commonly recognized by its syllabic pattern which is 5 7 5.
Outside of Japan the largest population of Haiku writers is in the United States. English adapts well to art of Haiku writing.

I made a Haiku
it was a surprise for you
I hope you liked it

New Jersey Day

New Jersey is located in the Middle Atlntic States of the USA. It was named after Jersey the largest of the British Channel Islands. It was occupied by Native Americans for 2800 years but then The Swedes and Dutch made settlements in the 1600s. The English eventually took control of the entire regiuon. Trenton and Paterson helped to drive the industrial revolution. It is the most densely populated state in the US.

Wright Brothers Day

December 17th is Wright Brothers Day, which commemorates the first successful flights in a heavier than air, mechanically propelled airplane made by the Wright Brothers in 1903 near Kitty Hawk North Carolina. The wright brothers develeoped fixed wing flight controls that made the inovation of Aircraft. The brothers operated a printing press and lated a bicycle shop. In these workshops they learned the mechanics required to develop a airplane. Their bike shop and the bicycle the invented actually funded their aircraft projects.

Anniversary of the Boston Tea Party

The Tea Party was the culmination of a resistance movement throughout British America against the Tea Act, which had been passed by the British Parliament in 1773. Colonists objected to the Tea Act for a variety of reasons, especially because they believed that it violated their right to be taxed only by their own elected representatives. Protesters had successfully prevented the unloading of taxed tea in three other colonies, but in Boston, embattled Royal Governor Thomas Hutchinsonrefused to allow the tea to be returned to Britain. He apparently did not expect that the protestors would choose to destroy the tea rather than concede the authority of a legislature in which they were not directly represented. -wikipedia

sorry out of time.

Cat Herders Day

cat-herding (verb) : Persuading a group of independently minded people to go in the same direction; (alt): a difficult, frequently failing enterprise in leadership.

Here are some jobs that exemplify cat herding. Walking 6c to their specials. Getting he house and congress to agree on real change. Finding an activity that both Kelly and Kathlin like. If you are actually trying to herd cats ropes and leashes work pretty well. I am allergic to cats and a cat herder would not be a good job for me.

Halcyon Day

Halcyon Days are the 7 days before and 7 days after the Winter Solstace. It is meant to be calming and tranquil like the bird with a similar name. Apparently in the Classical Antiquity this bird was thought to have these tranquil powers and could affect the atmosphere in a positive way. If you ask me it is a bunch of new age mumbo jumbo but It would be nice change of pace from the commercial retail frenzy that they wish was happening. So I don't know maybe Santa will start say Ho Ho Halcyon as he burns insence and smokes a mugwort pipe.

International Mountain Day

Mountains are fragile ecosystems that are very important to the Earth. Much of the Earth's drinking water comes from mountains where the snow falls and then it melts and travels to lower elevation. Mountains are also great for recreation. Hiking skiing snowboarding and snowshoeing are all really fun. Also mountain blueberries are really quite tasty. Lot's of people live on mountains. These people tend to be somewhat poor and life for most mountain folk is full of challenges. Look at the picture of this awesome mountain goat.

Human Rights Day

This years speech by the Un Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is about Race Poverty and Power. He urges all people in all countries to take a stand against discrimination and and abuse based on race gender, and health. As humans we all should have certain rights. We should have the right to food work and freedom.

30th anniversary of the Eradication of Small Pox

Small Pox is thought to have come from a rodent borne virus between 16,000 and 68,000 years ago. It leaves it's victim covered in pustules. It has been used as a weapon. The earliest form of inoculation was in India in about 1000 b.c. The virus could be fatal and was very contagious. Way to go Science.

Eli Whitney's Birthday

Eli Whitney was born in 1765. He was an inventor in the early days of this country. He lived in Westborough MA and invented a gun with interchangeable parts. He also invented the cotton gin which transformed the cotton industry and shaped the economy of the antebellum south.

Pearl Harbor Day

On December 7th 1941 the Japanese bombed the US Naval Base at Pearl Harbor. This brought the US into World War 2. The Japanese sank 4 US BAttleships which was designed to be a blow to the moral of the United States. 2345 United States Military were killed in the attack. Japan was victorious in the battle but lost the war.

National Dice Day

Dice are small polyhedral objects usually cubes with numbers or symbols marked on their sides used to generate random numbers or symbols. They are most commonly sed in Gambling or board games. Some dice are referred to as precision dice, meaning that they don't have holes and they are equally weighted. Th oldest known dice were about 5000 years old, and found as part of a backgammon set excavated in the ruins of an archeological site in South-Eastern Iran.

International Day for the Disabled Person

Since 1992 this is a day of international day of observance promoted by the UN and every year has a different theme. Each year the day focuses on a different issue:

• 1998: "Arts, Culture and Independent Living"
• 1999: "Accessibility for all for the new Millennium"
• 2000: "Making information technologies work for all"
• 2001: "Full participation and equality: The call for new approaches to assess progress and evaluate outcome"
• 2002: "Independent Living and Sustainable Livelihoods"
• 2003: "A Voice of our Own"
• 2004: "Nothing about Us, Without Us"
• 2005: "Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Action in Development"
• 2006: "E-Accessibility"
• 2007: "Decent Work for Persons with Disabilities"
• 2008: "Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Dignity and justice for all of us"
• 2009: "Making the MDGs Inclusive: Empowerment of persons with disabilities and their communities around the world"

It is important to see people with disabilities for the people that they are rather than the disability they are living with.

International Day for the Abolition of Slavery

Slavery is when somebody is held against their will to perform labor related tasks. In this country (US) slavery is a huge ugly mark on our history but is as ancient as the bible and still exists today. Slavery of today is a huge industry.

…Human trafficking is the fastest-growing criminal industry in the world,[4] with the total annual revenue for trafficking in persons estimated to be between USD$5 billion and $9 billion.[5] The Council of Europe states, “People trafficking has reached epidemic proportions over the past decade, with a global annual market of about $42.5 billion.”[6][7] Trafficking victims typically are recruited using coercion, deception, fraud, the abuse of power, or outright abduction…]-WIKIPEDIA

As Americans we support slavery when we buy many of the sneakers, shoes, and clothing that is sold by some of the largest brand on trhe market. Nike for instance is notorious for using child labor driven sweat shops to produce their sneakers for pennies on the dollar of what their products are actually sold for.

Rosa Parks Day

Rosa Parks was born on February 4, 1913. On December 1st 1955 in Montgomery Alabama she refused to give up her seat on a bus. In that time there was a law that said that Rosa Parks would need to sit at the back of the bus if some White People wanted to sit toward the front. This injustice sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott and was an instrumental part of the civil rights movement.