May Fun Facts

The 5th month of the year brings us Memorial Day, Mother’s Day, and the last full month of Spring.

According to the early Roman calendar, May was the third month. Later, the ancient Romans used January as the first month and therefore, became the fifth month and it always had 31 days. May was first named for Maia, the Roman goddess of spring and growth. In the North Temperate Zone, may is one of the most beautiful months of the year. Usually, the snow and ice are gone by this time but the hot temperature hasn’t arrived yet. In May, the first garden begins to sprout and the wild flowers start to bloom and the trees and grasses turn green. Wild flowers such as forsythia, dogwood, violets, and jack-in-the-box bloom and many birds build their nests to sit on the eggs that will soon hatch.

Below are some fun facts about May:

1. The birthstone for May is the emerald which represents success or love.
2. The zodiac sign for May are Taurus (April 20 – May 20) and Gemini (May 21 – June 20)
3. The birth flower for May is the Crataegus monogyna and the Lily of the Valley.
4. On May 1, 1931, the Empire State Building was officially opened.
5. Armed Forces Day – celebrated the third Saturday of May
6. Mother’s Day – celebrated on the second Sunday of May
7. Memorial Day – celebrated on the last Monday in May.
8. May 5 – Cinco De Mayo
9. On the first Saturday in May, the Kentucky Derby takes place.
10. On May 11, 1858, Minnesota was admitted to the Union.
11. On May 14, 1804, Lewis and Clark, the great explorers began their trip up the Missouri River.
12. On May 14, 1948, the last British troops left Palestine which led to Israel becoming an independent country.
13. On May 15, 1918, the first regular airmail service began in the United States.
14. On May 20, 1862, Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act.
15. On May 20, 1932, the first solo flight by a woman across the Atlantic Ocean was made by Amelia Earhart.
16. On May 23, 1788, South Carolina became the eighth state.
17. On May 24, 1607, the first permanent English settlement in America was established in Jamestown, VA.
18. On May 27, 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge was opened in San Francisco.
19. On May 29, 1790, Rhode Island became the 13th state.
20. On May 29, 1848, Wisconsin became the 30th state.

April Fun Facts

Most of the people begin the new month with new plannings and schedule but there are only a few who likes to know about a particular month. Knowing what others don’t know gives you a little bit advantage and that makes you different from the others. Along with facts, we are going to share observances of April month also.

1. The name of this month is named after the Greek Goddess of love, Aphrodite. It is spelled as “Aprilis” which means “to open”.
2. 1st of April is commonly known as April Fool’s Day. On this day, people make fool and prank of each other to celebrate it.
3. It is a sports month for the people of US as April marks the beginning of professional baseball season in the United States.
4. April is the born month of English poet William Wordsworth who was born on 7 April 1770. is best-known poems is perfect for April in the Northern Hemisphere “I wandered lonely as a cloud.” It was published in 1807. Leanardo Da Vinci was also born in this month.
5. The name of this month is also the popular name given to a lot of people. April name is the 423rd most common name in the United States and 250th common name in the United Kingdom.
6. It is national awareness month for Pets, Mathematics, Stress, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Bowel Cancer, and Jazz.
7. April is the only month out of all 12 months with alphabet “I” in its name.
8. The Anglo-Saxons called this month as Eostre-Monadh, possibly named after a pagan Goddess.

Facts about people born in April month

After interesting facts, you may like to know about those people who are born in this month. There are some great facts about such people that you must know. So keep on reading.

1. People born in the month of April are sensitive folks. They not only feel every emotion clearly, but they sense what others around them are feeling and going through as well.
2. Those people who are born in this month are very good looking and have a beautiful charm on their faces. This makes other people get attracted towards them.
3. They are very sporting in nature and likes to play adventures games. Experiment in nature and also explore new pastures every now and then.
4. If you are born in this month then your birth flowers are Daisy and Sweet Pea. The daisy symbolizes innocence, loyal love, and purity. Sweat pea signifies blissful pleasure, and are used to say goodbye.
5. April born people are very sure of what they do and how they do it. They have no patience when it comes to explaining how they want things from newbies.
6. Aries [until April ] and Taurus [20 onwards] are the zodiacs sings of the people who are born in this month.
7. Although they are very sensitive in nature, but they could become your worst enemies when you hurt them, cross them or betray them. People born in April month take trust very seriously.
8. If you have April born friends, then you should be not worried about anyone as they are Brave in nature. They likes to take risk that makes them Adventurous and Brave

February Fun Facts

The 2nd month of the year brings us George Washington’s Birthday, Valentine’s Day, and the shortest month of the year.

In the Gregorian calendar, the calendar that most of the world uses, February is the second month of the year. Most of the months have 30 or 31 days in a month but February is shorter. February has 28 days until Julius Caesar gave it 29 and 30 days every four years. This is because the Roman emperor Augustus took one day from February and added that to August because August was a month that was named after him. February is a very cold month followed by January in the northern half of the world. However, there are sunny days in February that indicates that spring is almost here. Different from the northern half, the southern hemisphere usually enjoys midsummer weather.

Below are some fun facts about February:

1. The birthstone for February is Amethyst.
2. Two zodiac signs for February are Aquarius (January 20 – February 18) and Pisces (February 19 – March 20)
3. The month has 29 days in leap years, when the year number is divisible by four. In common years the month has 28 days.
4. Viola (plant) and the Primrose are the birth flowers.
5. Black History Month is celebrated in Canada and United States.
6. National Day of the Sun is celebrated in Argentina.
7. In order to complete the Soviet Union’s victory in Stalingrad during World War II, the last German troops surrendered in the Stalingrad pocket.
8. On February 4, 1861, a temporary committee met at Montgomery, Alabama where they organized a Confederate States of America.
9. On February 6, 1933, Amendment 20 to the United States was proclaimed which moved the Inauguration Day to January 20th.
10. In February 1910, the Boy Scouts of America was incorporated.
11. On February 6, 1899. The U.S. Senate ratified the peace treaty that led to the end of the Spanish-American War.
12. On February 6, 1952, Princess Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain.
13. February 11 – National Foundation Day in Japan
14. February 12 – Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday
15. February 14 – Valentine’s Day
16. February 21 – International Mother Language Day
17. February 22 – Independence Day in Saint Lucia
18. February 22 – George Washington’s Birthday
19. February 24 – Flag Day of Mexico
20. February 25 – People Power Revolution (Philippines)

Happy Thanksgiving from my Family to Yours.

MICKEY MOUSE BIRTHDAY

“I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse.”

—Walt Disney, Disneyland; October 27, 1954

Mickey Mouse is a funny animal cartoon character and the official mascot of The Walt Disney Company. He was created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at the Walt Disney Studios in 1928. An anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves, Mickey has become one of the most recognizable cartoon characters in the world.

Mickey first was seen in a single test screening (Plane Crazy). Mickey officially debuted in the short film Steamboat Willie (1928), one of the first sound cartoons. He went on to appear in over 130 films, including The Band Concert (1935), Brave Little Tailor (1938), and Fantasia (1940). Mickey appeared primarily in short films, but also occasionally in feature-length films. Ten of Mickey’s cartoons were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, one of which, Lend a Paw, won the award in 1942. In 1978, Mickey became the first cartoon character to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Beginning in 1930, Mickey has also been featured extensively as a comic strip character. His self-titled newspaper strip, drawn primarily by Floyd Gottfredson, ran for 45 years. Mickey has also appeared in comic books and in television series such as The Mickey Mouse Club (1955–1996) and others. He also appears in other media such as video games as well as merchandising, and is a meetable character at the Disney parks.

Mickey generally appears alongside his girlfriend Minnie Mouse, his pet dog Pluto, his friends Donald Duck, and Goofy, and his nemesis Pete, among others. Originally characterized as a mischievous antihero, Mickey’s increasing popularity led to his being rebranded as an everyman, usually seen as a flawed, but adventurous hero. In 2009, Disney began to re-brand the character again by putting less emphasis on his pleasant, cheerful side and reintroducing the more mischievous and adventurous sides of his personality, beginning with the video game Epic Mickey.
Origin

Concept art of Mickey from early 1928; the sketches are the earliest known drawings of the character, from the collection of The Walt Disney Family Museum.
“I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse.”

—Walt Disney, Disneyland; October 27, 1954
Mickey Mouse was created as a replacement for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, an earlier cartoon character created by the Disney studio for Charles Mintz, a film producer who distributed product through Universal Studios.[4] In the spring of 1928, with the series going strong, Disney asked Mintz for an increase in the budget. But Mintz instead demanded that Walt take a 20 percent budget cut, and as leverage, he reminded Disney that Universal owned the character, and revealed that he had already signed most of Disney’s current employees to his new contract. Angrily, Disney refused the deal and returned to produce the final Oswald cartoons he contractually owed Mintz. Disney was dismayed at the betrayal by his staff, but determined to restart from scratch. The new Disney Studio initially consisted of animator Ub Iwerks and a loyal apprentice artist, Les Clark, who together with Wilfred Jackson were among the few who remained loyal to Walt. One lesson Disney learned from the experience was to thereafter always make sure that he owned all rights to the characters produced by his company.

Origin

In the spring of 1928, Disney asked Ub Iwerks to start drawing up new character ideas. Iwerks tried sketches of various animals, such as dogs and cats, but none of these appealed to Disney. A female cow and male horse were also rejected. They would later turn up as Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar. (A male frog, also rejected, would later show up in Iwerks’ own Flip the Frog series.)  Walt Disney got the inspiration for Mickey Mouse from a tame mouse at his desk at Laugh-O-Gram Studio in Kansas City, Missouri.  In 1925, Hugh Harman drew some sketches of mice around a photograph of Walt Disney. These inspired Ub Iwerks to create a new mouse character for Disney.  “Mortimer Mouse” had been Disney’s original name for the character before his wife, Lillian, convinced him to change it, and ultimately Mickey Mouse came to be.  The actor Mickey Rooney claimed that, during his Mickey McGuire days, he met cartoonist Walt Disney at the Warner Brothers studio, and that Disney was inspired to name Mickey Mouse after him.  This claim however has been debunked by Disney historian Jim Korkis, since at the time of Mickey Mouse’s development, Disney Studios had been located on Hyperion Avenue for several years, and Walt Disney never kept an office or other working space at Warner Brothers, having no professional relationship with Warner Brothers, as the Alice Comedies and Oswald cartoons were distributed by Universal.

The article provided by Wikipedia – find more information about Mickey Mouse by going to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Mouse

September Fun Facts

The 9th month of the year brings us Labor Day, and the start of the Fall season.

In the Georgian calendar, the calendar that most of the world uses, September is the ninth month of the year. However, it used to be the seventh month on the Roman calendar. It had 29 and 31 days but it later was changed to 30 days by Emperor Augustus. In Southern United States, it is the warmest months of the year and very cool nights for Northern states. It is the harvest time for crops and that is why Switzerland calls September the harvest month. In the Northern hemisphere, beginning of September leads to the beginning of meteorological autumn while it is the beginning of the meteorological spring in southern hemisphere.

Below are some fun facts about September:

1. The birthstone for September is the sapphire.
2. The zodiac signs for September are Virgo (August 23 – September 22) and Libra (September 23 – October 22)
3. The birth flower for September is the morning glory.
4. On September 1, 1905, Alberta and Saskatchewan were established.
5. On September 1, 1939, World War II began in Europe because the German troops invaded Poland.
6. On September 2, 1789, the United States Department of Treasury was established.
7. On September 3, 1783, the Revolutionary War in America ended after Great Britain signed the Treaty of Paris.
8. On September 6, 1901, William McKinley, the 25th President of the United States, was assassinated.
9. On September 8, 1565, the first permanent white settlement was founded in St.Augustine, Florida.
10. On September 10, 1846, Elias Howe patented his sewing machine.
11. On September 14, 1847, United States forces took control of Mexico City.
12. On September 14, 1940, the Selective Service Act was passed by Congress which provided the first peacetime draft in the United States history.
13. National Chicken Month
14. National Rice Month
15. National Potato Month
16. National All-American Breakfast Month
17. Labor Day – first Monday of September
18. September 8 – Pardon Day
19. September 13 – Uncle Sam Day (his image was first used in 1813)
20. September 16 – Mexican Independence Day

The forgotten legend behind the world’s most famous tongue twister.

FeaturedInstant ArticlesNewsAug 26, 2016 Ian Harvey

For most of us, tongue twisters are simply an amusing childish wordplay. Nevertheless, little did we know there was quite some significant history behind one of the world’s most famous tongue twisters of all.

“She sells seashells by the seashore” this tongue twister take us back to the 19th century when the woman referred to simply as “she” was a real person, and carried the name of Mary Anning.

Anning was born on 21 May 1799, in Dorset, southwest of England. Her family had a rather unusual way of earning money for living. It involved digging up fossils and selling them to people who visited the coast. Although this might sound strange, but back in the 19th century, rich and middle-class people loved having curio cabinets as showpieces in their living rooms. These cabinets were often decorated with various natural relics including fossils, most of them souvenirs brought from abroad.

Portrait of Mary Anning with her dog Tray – Natural History Museum, London

Drawing of Mary Anning’s house in Lyme Regis, Dorset, England.

March Fun Facts

The 3rd month of the year brings us Palm Sunday, St. Patrick’s Day, and the start of Spring.

In the Georgian calendar, the calendar that most of the world uses, March is the third month of the year. However, it was the first month and named Martius in the early Roman calendar. Later, the ancient Romans made January to be the first month so March became the third month, which always had 31 days. The name Mars was named after the Roman god of war. In March, the winter ends and spring begins. In the northern half of the world, spring begins in March 19-21, which is the day when the sun is directly over the equator. At this time, the animals end hibernation and begin to show up.

Below are some fun facts about March:

1. The birthstone for March is the aquamarine.
2. The zodiac signs for March are Aries (March 21 – April 19) and Pisces (February 19 – March 20)
3. The birth flower for March is daffodil.
4. American Red Cross Month
5. Fire Prevention Month
6. Women’s History Month
7. National Reading Day
8. Saint David’s Day
9. World Math’s Day – the first Wednesday in March
10. March 1 is the date the Nebraskans celebrate the admission of their state to the union.
11. March 2nd is celebrated by Texas as the anniversary of its independence from Mexico.
12. On March 4, 1681, William Penn was granted Pennsylvania’s royal charter.
13. March 25th is celebrated by people in Maryland to commemorate the arrival of the first Maryland colonists in 1634.
14. Purim, a Jewish festival usually occurs in March. It is held on the day corresponding to the 14th day of Adar on the Hebrew calendar.
15. March 8 – International Women’s Day
16. March 14 – Pi Day
17. March 19 – Saint Joseph’s Day
18. March 22 – World Water Day
19. March 23 – Pakistan Day
20. March 26 – Bangladeshi Independence Day

Labor Day 2016

Year	Date	Day	Holiday	State
2016	5 Sep	Mon	Labor Day	National
2017	4 Sep	Mon	Labor Day	National

 

Labor Day is observed in the U.S. on every first Monday in September as a day to recognize the contributions of American workers of all industries to the U.S. economy. It is also meant to give workers a well-earned day off to relax at home or to get out for recreation.

Year	Date	Day	Holiday	State
2016	5 Sep	Mon	Labor Day	National
2017	4 Sep	Mon	Labor Day	National

To many, Labor Day marks the end of the summer season, even as Memorial Day marks its beginning. Many see Labor Day as their last chance to get out and take a vacation before summer is gone, and many workers get a two-week annual vacation period with Labor Day Weekend right in the middle of the two weeks off.

Most U.S. schools restart classes, after the long summer break, about a week before Labor Day. Others schools, however, resume classes on the day after Labor Day, thus allowing families to get in their last taste of summer before the school year gets underway.

 While Canada also celebrates Labour Day at the same time as in the U.S., though spelling it differently to keep faith with the UK, many other countries have their own equivalent of Labor Day. May Day (on May 1st), for example, is observed by over 80 nations to give workers a much-needed day off, and there are also other countries with yet other dates for their version of Labor Day.

The first U.S. Labor Day celebrations took place in New York City in 1882 at the behest of local labor unions, who wanted to put the fruits of their industries on public display. In 1887, Oregon instituted a state-level Labor Day holiday, and 29 other states followed suit before Labor Day finally became a federal holiday in 1894.

The original Labor Day celebrations consisted of street parades displaying the contributions of laborers in various industries followed by local festivals or other amusements. Over time, it became a time for giving speeches on labor-related topics, which is still occasionally done today.

Besides recognition of labor and general entertainment, another reason Labor Day was instituted was to provide a public holiday in the long, “holiday-free” span between the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving. This gap-filler strategy, combined with its “strategic position” at the end of the summer season, has made Labor Day a much-appreciated break for many U.S. workers.

Although there are still a few parades and some fireworks displays on Labor Day Weekend, it is not a big time for “official events.” Mostly, it is the beginning of the football season, a time for picnics and barbecues, and a time to go on vacation to the beach, national parks, or elsewhere.

Some activities that many enjoy taking part in on Labor Day and Labor Day Weekend in the U.S. include:

• Watch on TV or attend in person various sporting events. The NCAA plays its first college football games on Labor Day Weekend, and the NFL usually has a kick-off game on the following Thursday. Racing is also big on Labor Day, as both NASCAR and NHRA drag race events take place.
• Go shopping while Labor Day sales and discounts are up and running at numerous malls and retail outlets all across the nation. For some businesses, Labor Day is their biggest sales event next to Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. There is a focus on back to school sales, but sale items are not at all limited strictly to pencils, backpacks, and calculators.
• Go on vacation, like so many Americans do during Labor Day Weekend every single year. Some of the most popular destinations include: Las Vegas, the “party city” of the Nevadan desert that is within easy striking distance of Grand Canyon; Chicago, for its famous fireworks event off of Navy Pier; and Miami, for its unbeatable beach and the nearby Bill Baggs Cape state park.
• Go to New York City for the biggest Labor Day party in the country, the West Indian American Day Carnival. The carnival brings two million visitors to Brooklyn each year. It lasts for seven hours straight and includes a costumed parade down Eastern Parkway and numerous street vendors selling authentic West Indian (and New York City) cuisine. You will also notice some dressed up as familiar political figures or movie stars who go about throwing paint powder at each other just for fun. You may not want to don an outfit and join in the paint-slinging, but it is still fun to watch.
• In a more relaxed moment, you may wish to hunt up the many Labor Day speeches given by politicians, big businessmen, educationalists, religious leaders, and others. They are to be found on TV and radio, in newspapers, and of course, on the Internet. This will give you a good sense of what Labor Day means to many Americans today.

If traveling on Labor Day Weekend, you should plan well in advance. Both airports and roadways will be busy as many make their way to and from their annual vacations, and public transportation often operates on a reduced schedule.

 

NATIONAL COLORING BOOK DAY

Is celebrated annually on August 2. Coloring and coloring books have always been popular with children, but over the years adults have gotten more and more involved with coloring. Adult coloring is now a huge trend and many are finding that it is not only fun but also a great way to reduce stress. Founded in 1941, Dover Publications led the way, releasing their first coloring book for adults, Antique Automobiles Coloring Book, in 1970. Dover now publishes Creative Haven®, a popular line of coloring books specially designed for adult colorists.

This is still one of my favorites that I have colored.