Month: March 2012

Today is the day for a very famous and inspiring song to each and every one of us.  I was an English major in school and want to go through the first couple of lines to show the great meaning they express.  “Happy birthday to you.”  This wishes a very merry birthday to the recipient of the song. The second line is “Happy birthday to you.”  Like New York City, it is a line so nice they used it twice.  The third line is a small twist on a familiar theme “Happy birthday dear Alexander Graham Bell,” and then “Happy birthday to you!”  On this day some 165 years ago, Alexander Graham Bell was being born in Edinburgh, Scotland.  If he had just been born 29 years later, his parents may have been able to call all of their relatives instead of filling out all of those annoying letters.  The day that Alexander Graham Bell is most famous for is just a few days later in the month of March, March 10, 1876.  On this fateful day, he uttered the first words ever transmitted verbally over a wire. “Mr Watson – Come here – I want to see you.”  I probably would have picked something slightly more interesting as the first words ever transmitted over a telephone.  Perhaps I would have said, “Did you know that 8 out of 3 people don’t get fractions?”  That would have at least gotten people thinking.
When researching Alexander Graham Bell for this post, I found out something I had never known about him.  His mother started losing her hearing when he was just 12.  His father was one of the foremost at the time in teaching deaf mutes to communicate and Alexander spent time himself instructing the instructors at schools of the blind like modern day Horace Mann School for the Deaf.  Because of his work with the deaf, I decided to try a little sign language myself.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN1dx3IKS1E&feature=youtu.be]
Today is also what I am dubbing “National” National Anthem Day.  When Francis Scott Key wrote the poem “Defence of Fort Henry,” he had no idea that when set to music his poem would become a beacon of hope for generations to come.  I am pretty sure this day is supposed to highlight all national anthems, but just like I usually ignore the TV when the Canadian national anthem is played during All-Star games (no offense Canada just not my cup of maple syrup), the only one I wanted to talk about was the one for the country I call home.
I was talking to A the other day and he said that American’s are pretty lazy.  Saying hello to someone went from “Hello.  How are you?” to “How’s it going?” to “What’s Up?” to “Wassup” to “Yo” to my all time favorite the all knowing head nod.  Well, would you expect any different from us with our National Anthem?  Did you know its actually four verses long?  The entire poem actually has some pretty powerful lines.  If you do nothing else on this “National” National Anthem Day, check out the full Star Spangled Banner.
Living in DC, I have the privilege of going to the American History Museum and seeing the actual flag that inspired the anthem at any time.  I went there yesterday with my camera phone in tow.  Photography is not allowed once you walk in to the exhibit but I am a rebel.  For full disclosure, I have to admit that my heart was racing the whole time.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBsSeDTbMDs&feature=youtu.be]
Afterwards to make up for it, I decided to contribute some funds to the museum in one of those glass containers near the entrance.
Money spent for March: $2

:::::::::::::::::BONUS HOLIDAY ALERT:::::::::::::::::::

Every once in a while that it comes to my attention that a holiday has been over looked that is so legendary, so momentous, so delightful that it is a tragedy that it was not included in the original line up.  I welcome anyone and everyone letting me know of a holiday that they think I should celebrate.  This is one of those such holidays- National Platypus Day!

At first like many of you are now, I was skeptical.  But the platypus is arguable the greatest animal that not even in a morphine induced dream could Darwin have imagined.  Here are five reasons why you should take time today to either pet a platypus, buy a platypus or at the very least stand at a random intersection and scream the word “platypus”.

1. Platypus are one of the few mammals that give birth to eggs.  This is eggzactly what I am talking about.  Awesome!
2. This animal is so awesome that scientists cannot even agree on what to call a group of them… Platypuses or Platypus.
3. Platypuses store extra fat in their tails.  Kim Kardashian would be proud.
4. The male Platypus produce poison that is strong enough to kill some animals like a dog.
5. Platypuses can sense changes in electrical current and use this to hunt by moving their head from side to side.

If all of this was not enough to convince you to love this creature, there may be no hope for you yet.  Platypuses live to be as old as 17 so they have plenty of time to win you over.
Oh before I forget, one of my favorite TV shows featured a platypus in the last episode.  If you got a second, enjoy below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X16K6YyLBTc&feature=youtu.be]

Theodore Geisel, the man known as Seuss
Rode in to town, not in a caboose.
His pen was his sword,
A new type of bard
In to the hearts of all children, he wrote and he wrote
Then to the hearts of their children, without missing a note.

While I may be no Dr. Seuss, you get the idea.  He was the man that made us think we all could be poets by just rhyming one word with another.  “Today I ate an orange.  Tomorrow I will eat a… wait… what rhymes with orange?”  He published 46 children’s books from Horton Hears a Who to Green Eggs and Ham to Horton Hatches an Egg.  Truthfully, Horton is the busiest elephant since Dumbo. Dr. Seuss was simply a hero among men as the world’s first “nerd” that was not afraid to throw a raging party or adult word here and there.
How did it all start? 1954 was the year.  Legend has it that Geisel’s publisher read a report on illiteracy among children due to boring books.  He decided to challenge Geisel to write a book kids would want to read using only 250 words.  Using 30 words less, the world was given The Cat in the Hat.  As if this was not enough, the next challenge was for 50 words or less (for perspective, there are 102,092 words in the first book of the Hunger Games Trilogy).  The ink on the next book was not even dry, but suddenly like a match struck to a dry forest, the world was ablaze with Seuss fever, Sam I Am.  Dr. Seuss was not afraid to attack the tough issues from racism to eating disorders (Reference: Green Eggs and Ham Tebowing).
It’s fitting that today is also Read Across America day.  According to the US Department of Education and a survey they completed in 2009, the US ranked statistically ahead of only 13 of 33 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.  While it was virtually tied with a number of the remaining countries, there were still 6 countries whose students could read better than those in America.  Throughout the globe, girls routinely scored better than boys in reading ability.  Come on guys.  Get it together everybody.  It is just like riding a bike.  I wonder what Dr. Seuss would think if he still saw one of the strongest countries in the globe unable to teach its children with the most effectiveness one of the most basic skills in a developed society.  Maybe it would inspire him to write another 46 books with a total of only 25 words.
Reading is very important and I hope for Read Across America Day everyone was able to at least pick up a newspaper or read a couple pages from a book.  I read through nearly 200 pages while finishing off the second book of the Hunger Games Trilogy.  You have my permission to judge me, but they are a pretty enjoyable read.  Reading is so much more about the words on a page.  It is about the ability to transport a person to a new world from the comfort of a chair.  It is about to teach you about a topic that you would have never learned about on your own.  Most importantly, is it about the ability to inspire a new level of dreaming in a person.  Remember, having fun isn’t hard when you’ve got a library card.
Inspiration is where I direct this entry next.  Originally for Friday’s holidays, I was going to sneak in to a book store, record the pages of a Dr. Seuss book, and create a video using different online translators to read from the pages in the book.  After working on this for a few hours and being generally unmoved and bored with my results (view my half finished, choppy attempt here), I wondered not what inspiration Dr. Seuss had inspired in me but what inspiration he had inspired in others.  A quick Youtube search led me to some of these examples.  There are so many more out there.  The question for Dr. Seuss Day and Read Across America day is truthfully how has reading and an author inspired you and what can we do, like Dr. Seuss, to make sure that the same blessing that reading has given us can be passed on to the far too many of us that still cannot read. Try answering that in 50 words or less.
Dr. Seuss Inspired Videos:

• What I originally attempted done much better
• A Girl’s College Thesis.  The first half of this video is pretty awesome.  The second half… well… it is definitely more international.
• A Guy, with what seems to be a fake accent, trying to inspire people under 25 by reciting a Dr. Seuss book at the camera.  Crack on!
• The Dr. Seuss Bible – enough said
• For the sweet tooth in us all, Dr. Seuss Inspired Cakes

Just one year left until next year’s Witch Hysteria Day.  How did everyone celebrate their Witch Hysteria Day?  Thanks again to G for taking my late shift so I could get out of work early to celebrate before the sun set.
I bet you are all wondering how I decided to spend my Witch Hysteria Day.  I attempted to accuse my neighbor’s of being witches but then I realized I would have to actually talk to my neighbors.  That would have been an awful lot of work.   While I then considered reading Macbeth(or the Scottish Play if you are currently standing in a theater) because the play made the famous lines “Double Double Toil and Trouble” famous or going to a toy store and shaking as many Magic Eight Balls as I could find, I knew that simply reading or watching or even meditating on an idea would not have been the right way for me to  celebrate the special occasion.
In Salem, once someone was accused as a witch they had a number of “scientific” ways to tell if that person was a witch.  There were three major tests they would perform.  I decided to put my own spin on their three investigative strategies

• Way Number One: The Spotted Man

First, they would seize the person and strip them down.  They would investigate their body for “mysterious” marks.  If they found any, they would assume that these were the mark of the devil.  I tried to find an angry mob on Craigslist to do the investigation but since I could not find one, a video camera would have to do.  Here is my attempt to find any devilish marks on me.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOR8RG8EP2I]
They do say the camera adds a couple of pounds… well…um… at least there were not any spots.  Trial number one a success!  So far I am not a witch!

• Way Number Two: Floating

The second way that a witch could be tested was my tying their hands behind their back and dropping them in to a large body of water. (To see other fun things to do with water check out this guy’s video.  I know he is sure to be a lot of fun at a party especially if he is doing this wild thing all night) If a person sunk to the bottom of the water, then they were not a witch.  If they rose to the top, then they were deemed a witch and instantly killed.  Sounds a lot like a Kobayashi Maru for you Star Trek fans.  With the weather being so nice yesterday, I decided that the Potomac was not a bad choice to test this theory.  But I could not get the camera equipment set up just right, so I set it up in my apartment.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbXl3-GM1jY&feature=channel]
Well… I think that test was not done exactly correct and the results were kind of in the middle between floating and not floating… we will call it inconclusive.  Still looking great for me on the witch check list.

• Way Number Three: Reciting the Lord’s Prayer

The final way that a witch could be tested would be to have the person recite the Lord’s Prayer from start to finish without messing up.  The theory was that a person with the devil in them could not say the entire prayer without messing up.  The holy words would not come out correctly.  When I read this theory, I wondered how they accounted for differences in versions.  If the victim started reciting the New Translation Bible version of the Lord’s Prayer instead of the King James version would they be deemed a witch?  I grew up on the NIV myself.  While I considered doing the actual Lord’s Prayer which I can recite pretty easily from memory, I realize that I did not even want to tempt the big guy and say the prayer for a jest.  Instead, I decided to recite the next closest thing that I could think of to the Lord’s Prayer.  Below you will see me reciting the “Wingman’s Oath” from the Urban Dictionary translation.  Typically you would say the oath with a copy of the Bro Code under your right hand and hopefully with a friend with as much game as Barney Stinson sitting across from you.  Maybe if you are lucky, he will even give you a personal reading of the Bro Code.  Do not worry.  The word’s will be on the screen for anyone that wants to recite this sacred oath with me.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLovR-hJMe8&feature=channel]
Piece of cake.  Looks like I am pretty safe from being called a witch.  I think my tests were about as scientific as Salem’s and a lot more conclusive.
Now that Witch Hysteria Day is over, time to get ready for Dr Seuss and Read Across the America Day!