Friday is Pack Rat Day, Endangered Species Day, and Ride Your Bike to Work Day

We think National Pack Rat Day sounds rather creepy, perhaps because we exhibit pack-rat tendencies that we're not especially proud of. But Mental Floss and most of the Usual Suspects tout Pack Rat Day as an observance for Friday, May 17.

Usual Suspect Brownielocks.com is among those that note that Friday will also be National Bike to Work Day and Endangered Species Day. Ride your bike to work on Friday with your earbuds on and you'll likely be an endangered species.

May 17 is also World Telecommunication and Information Society Day. The International Telecommunication Union was founded on May 17, 1865 (as the International Telegraph Union).

And speaking of telecommunication, Wikipedia tells us that the first-ever baseball telecast took place on May 17, 1939, a college game between the Princeton Tigers and the Columbia Lions. Wikipedia tells us that Princeton won, 2-1, but fails to advise which beer company sponsored the telecast.

We think Usual Suspect History.com may be fudging a little on the exact date, but it's too good to leave of Friday's list: According to the linked article, an FBI investigation into the lyrics of the Kingsmen's 1963 recording of "Louie Louie" came nearly to a halt on May 17, 1965 because that was the day that the FBI Laboratory "declared the lyrics of 'Louie Louie' to be officially unintelligible." If you remember when those in authority actually fretted whether song lyrics might actually be "dirty," you're probably old enough to have ordered sea monkeys.

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Last Year on TBOD: May 17 is Pack Rat Day. Forget about that. Celebrate Cool Papa Bell instead.