Happy I'm Mad As Hell and I'm Not Going to Take It Anymore Day!

I have no idea why this movie line has it's own day, but there you go. Plus, it is from the wonderful movie "Network" and we are all mad as Hell at times, so why not have a holiday to mark it? Peter Finch, who said this memorable line, was the first actor ever to win a posthumous Oscar.

Happy Bean Day!

Here's your chance to celebrate the bean crop, especially if you are a vegetarian or a vegan. Bean fart jokes are optional.

Happy National Bird Day!

Frankly, I dislike birds, especially wild ones my cats drag into the house. However, lots of other people like them so this is a day for them to celebrate bird watching, bird adoption and learning more about caring for birds. Bit of bird trivia: James Audubon's book "Birds of America" recently set a record for the most expensive book ever sold at auction, fetching $7.3 million. That is worth an awful lot of parakeets.

Happy Dimpled Chad Day!

Most of us had never heard of dimpled chads until the highly contested Presidential election of 2000. A chad is a paper fragment which is created when a hole is punched into paper and a dimpled chad occurs when the punch is incomplete. The dimpled chads that were created in voting machines used in the swing state of Florida caused a prolonged battle between Al Gore and George W. Bush as to won had won the presidency. It is also a good day to pay extra attention to anyone you know named Chad and who has dimples.

Happy Drinking Straw Day!

The drinking straw was invented on January 3, 1888 and was made out of paper. In the 1930s, Joseph Friedman created the flexible straw. Straw technology remained more or less static until the early 1960’s when the first plastic straws were rolled out. Sippy cups, which face it, would be nothing without the straw component, were invented in the 1980s by Richard Belanger, who eventually licensed it to Playtex. So, when you are grabbing your favorite cold beverage today, add a straw and salute to Drinking Straw Day!

Happy National Soup Month!

I guess January is a good a month as any.

The bustle of the holiday season is over, and for many us, January is cold. (If you don't live where it is cold, no soup for you. Feel free to jump to February.) So it makes sense to use those Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years leftovers to make a big batch of homemade soup and hunker down with that and your favorite bread.

Happy New Year