March 16: Lips Appreciation Day and so much more

You may be gratified to learn, as you polish your "Kiss Me, I'm Irish" button in anticipation of Sunday's festivities, that Saturday, March 16 is Lips Appreciation Day. Practice your pucker.

And Saturday will be the 'feast' of a lesser-known (and entirely fictitious) saint, The Feast of St. Urho, who drove the grasshoppers out of Finland. While St. Urho is allegedly admired all over the United States, Canada, and even Finland, his feast is celebrated most enthusiastically in Minnesota. The winters are just too danged long in Minnesota; that's got to be the explanation.

There really was a James Madison, however, the fourth President of the United States, and he was born on March 16, 1751. The American Library Association relates Freedom of Information Day to President Madison's birthday because he is "widely regarded as the Father of the Constitution and as the foremost advocate for openness in government."

Usual Suspect History.com tells us that the first liquid-fueled rocket was successfully launched on March 16, 1926. For this reason, many of the Usual Suspects designate March 16 as Goddard Day, for Robert H. Goddard, the man who built and launched that rocket.

And perhaps to make up for the decision to call today Everything You Think is Wrong Day, Usual Suspect Holiday Insights proclaims Saturday as Everything You Do is Right Day.