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.