In December I picked up (on sale) the 2019 National Day Calendar: The Official, Authoritative Source for Fun, Unusual & Unique National Days. Thought it would be good for possible blog posts, but I’d kind of forgotten about it till now. I notice that March is full of them – we’ve already missed:
– Read Across America Day – March 1, also called Dr. Seuss Day, and
– Fat Tuesday – March 5 – which was also Multiple Personality Day. (I wonder how you celebrate that?!)
However, we haven’t missed:
– International Women’s Day – March 8, of which you may be aware. And we know
– Pi Day – March 14 – is coming up next week, thanks to VS’ parties.
Here are more holiday highlights from the rest of March that you can still celebrate. I’ve found online explanations of how some of these “holidays” came to be. (I’m not taking time for details on all of these gems, so feel free to give us details on the ones I’ve neglected.)
– Worship of Tools Day – March 11 ..“a day to go out into the garage, the tool shed, the storage closet or where ever it is you keep your tools. You can clean them, reorganize them, make something new with them or maybe go to the store and buy a new one.”
– Plant a Flower Day – March 12
– Good Samaritan Day – March 13
– Corned Beef & Cabbage Day – March 17 (not surprisingly)
– Awkward Moments Day – March 18
– Common Courtesy Day – March 21 (also French Bread Day)
– Near Miss Day – March 23 ..“an annual reminder of the day in 1989 when an asteroid nearly collided with the Earth.”
– Tolkien Reading Day – March 25 ..“organised by the Tolkien Society since 2003 to encourage fans to celebrate and promote the life and works of J.R.R. Tolkien by reading favourite passages.
– Joe Day – March 27 “Enjoy a cup of ‘joe’ with all of your friends named Joe, Jo, Josette, Joey, Joseph, Josephine, Johanna, Joann, Jodie or any variant of the name Joe every year”
– Take a Walk in the Park Day – March 30
What holiday do you wish we could celebrate? When on the calendar would you put it?
In all seriousness, Election Day every two years. Make it a national holiday.
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I have given some thought to the idea of making election day a holiday. I don’t think it would help voter turnout, though. The people who would get the day off are the people who have the least trouble voting as it is – those with regular 9 to 5 jobs. The people who have the most difficulty getting tot he polls are those with weird shift jobs, such as hospital and nursing home workers, people who work at airports, and restaurant workers. None of those would be likely to actually get a day off for a national holiday. In fact, a lot of the people who DID get the day off would think it would be a great opportunity to go out to lunch, so restaurants would schedule extra staff and give them longer shifts. Since a lot of those workers are low income, the problem of the wealthy having better opportunities to vote would be exacerbated.
A better approach is to have more early voting. Everybody gets a day off at some point. Let them vote when they have a day off.
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I advocate for the Australian system that requires voting.
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I didn’t know that, will check it out!
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Proof of a building provide a paid day off is the answer to getting boting to happen in this scenario
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proof of voting was intended
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I attended training yesterday on thew new electronic roster books. Ipads . Olmsted County is letting the townships test them for the Township elections on Tuesday. And then they’ll be used in the entire county for the 2020 elections.
There is no wifi connection and it is not connected to the ballot counter in any way. Just rather than the paper roster book, it’s on iPad.
Roster judges look up the persons name, make sure it’s the correct address and such, then in our county, it will print out a receipt they sign and a receipt to give to the ballot judge.
I worked with a gentleman about 75 yrs old. He’s never used anything like this. He did alright except he had trouble finding the letters on the keyboard. I asked if regretted not taking that typing class in high school. he said he had taken typing in 10th grade but that was a long time ago!
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When I lived in Oregon I was surprised by all the ways Minnesota was better, particularly in anything to do with government. There was one glaring exception. All elections are done by mail in Oregon. I have encountered one credible assessment that argued Oregon’s voting system beats any other state’s voting process in terms of convenience and security.
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I think in-person voting is more secure. When you mail in ballots, there is more potential for ballots being sold.
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I want March 15 to be “Last Day it Can Possibly Snow”
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Until Next December.
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Agreed!
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Camelot
Richard Burton, Franz Allers
It’s true, it’s true, the crown has made it clear
The climate must be perfect all the year
A law was made a distant moon ago here
July and August cannot be too hot
And there’s a legal limit to the snow here in Camelot
The winter is forbidden till December
And exits March the second on the dot
By order, summer lingers through September in Camelot
Camelot: Camelot
I know it sounds a bit bizarre
But in Camelot: Camelot
That’s how conditions are
The rain may never fall till after sundown
By eight, the morning fog must disappear
In short, there’s simply not a more congenial spot
For happily ever after in than here in Camelot
Camelot: Camelot
I know it gives a person pause
But in Camelot: Camelot
Those are the legal laws
The snow may never slush upon the hillside
By nine p.m. the moonlight must appear
In short, there’s simply not a more congenial spot
For happily ever after in than here in Camelot
Songwriters: Alan Jay Lerner / Frederick Loewe
Camelot lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc
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I like Spamalot.
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Got to see a Winona State production here a couple of years ago – I practically chimed in with them, as I had memorized parts of Monty Python and the Holy Grail when nephew Vin lived with us… fond memories.
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i think it is… in florida
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march 15 is the last possible snow day … in florida
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I think it would be nice to have a National Apple Cider and Jigsaw Puzzle Day.
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I’d be up for that… we have a Game Day here every once in a while – you’d probably get much better attendance if there was a day set aside…
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How about National Procrastinators Day? It may be hard to decide on the date, though.
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Snort.
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Or you would pick a date, then several days before that you would move the date forward a bit. Over and over and over.
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i was going to suggest that
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Charcoal grill cleaning day, a sure indicator of Spring. In ND it will be the day your ice house has to be brought to shore
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The Google home page has a nice slide show for International Women’s Day today.
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https://artsandculture.google.com/project/women-in-culture
(not that you can’t find it, but now it’s just the one click)
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irving r feldman, kurt vonnegut and george di mestrals birthdays are all on my list of celebrated days
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ee cummings, bob dylan, jackson pollack,joni mitchel,shakespeare,fred rogers, to be continued
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Everything I’ve come up with already has something –
– National Get to Know Your Neighbors Day? – well, there’s National Night Out…
– National Snow Shoveling Day – there have been plenty of days when most everything was cancelled… though probably not for everyone.
Maybe a National Go-to-a-Museum Day?
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Back to the ideas about voting… how about a National Day to Educate Yourself for the Election Day?
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Some facts to help anyone get educated. Usual participation in a mid-term election? Nationwide it is about 40%. Minnesota’s number for the recent mid-term? Sixty-four percent (best in the nation). Youth voters in recent years in MN: 21 percent. Youth voters in MN in the 2018 mid-term election: 40%. The 18-19 year old voters in that election hit a stunning 37%. That bodes extremely well for future elections in MN.
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Thanks for letting us know about awkward moments day! Now on March 18th we can just say we’re celebrating every time we fall in public or wave to someone who doesn’t see us.
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