Lots of giggling and munchies on 4/20

Yes, Saturday, April 20 will be Weed Day or Pot Smokers Day or just plain 420.

Why, out of all the days of the year, April 20 was awarded this dubious distinction is a bit fuzzy and unclear -- lost, it would seem, in clouds of smoke. Surely this comes as no surprise.

Huffpost keeps a 2009 feature online, "4/20: How 'Weed Day' Got Its Name," that explores the various explanations that have been offered. The relevant Wikipedia entry seems to be pretty much in accord. One can just imagine a bunch of stoners sitting around, passing a joint, and thinking it outrageously funny that, like, if 4:00 is tea time, man, 4:20 should be weed time. The longer Huffpost article mentions, although the Wikipedia article does not, the widely circulated rumor that 4-20 was a police code, at least in California, for pot smoking in progress.

Unless you live in a state that permits medical marijuana use and you have a valid prescription for the herb in that state, we here at The Blog of Days strongly suggest that you not make your celebration of 420 too overt. The Blog of Days does not assist with bail, man.

If you choose not to inhale, Saturday will also be Lima Bean Respect Day and National Pineapple Upside-down Cake Day. We think you should probably choose to celebrate one or the other; we're not sure how these would go together.

Saturday will also be Look Alike Day (find your doppelgänger?), Volunteer Recognition Day, and Record Store Appreciation Day.

Are there still record stores somewhere?

The Shot Heard Round the World

Sobered as we must be by the terrible events in Boston this week, we must nevertheless note that Friday, April 19 is the 238th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Although Paul Revere's ride was not nearly so successful as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow made it out to be (Revere was arrested by the British en route) it was successful enough. The Patriot militia were assembled in time to frustrate British hopes of confiscating colonists' arms and provisions. The image of 'the shot heard round the world' comes from the first stanza Ralph Waldo Emerson's Concord Hymn, written for the 1837 dedication of a monument to the battle at Concord:

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,

Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,

Here once the embattled farmers stood,

And fired the shot heard round the world.

Friday will also be National Hanging Out Day, which is not (as you might think) a day for loafing around but, rather, a day to encourage folks to hang their laundry outdoors to dry. A project of Project Laundry List, National Hanging Out Day reminds us all that the old-fashioned clothesline is now cutting-edge green technology.

Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, in which he wrote that "all men are created equal," nevertheless sold an indentured servant named John Freeman to another Founding Father, James Madison, on April 19, 1809.

On a lighter note, Friday will also be National Garlic Day. Given the popularity of vampires in popular culture, does anyone want garlic anymore to ward them off?

Thursday is High-5 Day

It's too late to get a t-shirt, but you can still register for National High-5 Day, as silly a microminiholidayette as any, but one with a serious and distinctive purpose, raising money for five cancer centers around the United States.

Usual Suspect Brownielocks.com notes that Thursday will be Poem in Your Pocket Day. The American Academy of Poets encourages you to "[s]elect a poem, carry it with you, and share it with others throughout the day." Although we like this idea, we would recommend against declaiming, "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways," while you are riding a crowded bus or subway. Your fellow passengers may misunderstand.

Perhaps the most entertaining microminiholidayette for Thursday, however, is National Velociraptor Day.

The Great San Francisco Earthquake took place on April 18, 1906. Most of the city was destroyed in the quake or the fires that followed. Guatemala's second largest city, Quetzaltenango, was largely destroyed by earthquake on April 18, 1902. But you probably never heard about that one when you were in school, something for which you should be grateful, because Quetzaltenango is nearly impossible to spell.

Cheeseballs, Mustangs, Ellis Island, Hemophilia, and giving into nagging

Wednesday, April 17, will be National Cheeseball Day, a food microminiholidayette of negligible import and one we might have ignored but for Usual Suspect Punchbowl.com's explanation of what a cheeseball is -- or, rather, what cheeseballs are: Cheeseball may properly refer to two different foods. "The first type of cheeseballs are the bright orange, marble-sized snacks that turn your fingers orange (very similar to cheese doodles). The second type is the kind you might serve with crackers at a party." We'd often wondered about this.

We've never heard anyone actually use the term "cheese doodle" in conversation (we suspect it may be a regionalism foreign to the Midwest) but we have been known to get our fingers orange on occasion. Also our clothes -- that stuff doesn't come off easy.

Wednesday will also mark the 49th anniversary of the introduction of the Ford Mustang (the 1964½ Ford Mustang, to be precise). We'll try and get our crack research staff to do something special for next year's 50th anniversary. Anyway, a number of the Usual Suspects refer to Wednesday as Ford Mustang Day in commemoration.

Some of the Usual Suspects also mention that Wednesday will be Ellis Island Family History Day. The day was not chosen randomly. According to Wikipedia, the Ellis Island immigration center processed 11,747 people on April 17, 1907, the single busiest day in the busy history of that facility.

Wednesday is also World Hemophilia Day, sponsored and promoted by the World Federation of Hemophilia.

And almost all of the Usual Suspects call April 17 Blah, Blah, Blah Day. Usual Suspect Holiday Insights explains that this is one of those Wellcat Holidays that pop up now and again, this one devoted to doing "all of the projects and things that people have been nagging you to do. This may include quitting a habit, losing weight, or working on home projects." If that sounds like fun to you, you're welcome to celebrate it. We'll settle for Cheeseball Day instead.

Stress Awareness Day

We have another tax-related microminiholidayette for you on Tuesday, April 16, namely, Stress Awareness Day, established on the theory that you may be just a teensy bit stressed out after you've finished rendering unto Caesar.

Usual Suspect Punchbowl.com suggests that Tuesday will be National Wear Your Pajamas To Work Day, although that sounded to us at first a little like someone trying to talk someone into something. On the other hand, Usual Suspect Gone-ta-pott.com suggests that this microminiholidayette "was created to help relieve stress after income taxes are due." So there is a possible connection between Stress Awareness Day and Wear Your Pajamas to Work Day. And there is a National Wear Your Pajamas to Work Day website. However, if you do decide to wear your PJ's to work Tuesday, The Blog of Days will not be responsible for any job-related consequences.

The American Library Association would like you to remember that we are in the midst of American Library Week. Depending on who you talk to, Tuesday may even be American Library Day, but we could not confirm that on the ALA website.

And there's another baseball anniversary Tuesday, and not a happy one for those of us who live and die with the Chicago White Sox: On April 16, 1940, Future Hall of Famer Bob Feller pitched an Opening Day no hitter against the Pale Hose, the only Opening Day no-no ever. Feller's Cleveland Indians did not give him a whole heck of a lot of run support either: The final was 1 - 0.

Tuesday will also be National Eggs Benedict Day, and that's nice if you like that sort of thing.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI (born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger on April 16, 1927 in Marktl, Germany) turns 86 on April 16.

The Blog of Days knows of no possible connection between these last two items.

Actually, some people do celebrate Tax Day

Some of the Usual Suspects advise that Monday is That Sucks Day because Lincoln died on April 15, 1865 and the Titanic sank on April 15, 1912 (we warned you about this in yesterday's post) and because Monday will be Tax Day.

Yes, Monday will be Tax Day and, while we understand that you may be less than thrilled about it, especially if you're sending Uncle Sam a check, there are some people who will be positively giddy on Monday evening. You will see them converging on neighborhood watering holes and restaurants. Later you may see them swaying and swerving home. These people are accountants and they will be celebrating that still another tax season has finally come to an end.

Photo of Jackie Robinson obtained from his biography.com site.

For those of you who aren't accountants, Monday will be Patriot's Day (or Patriots' Day, depending on where you are in New England). Either way, the day will feature the running of the Boston Marathon. The Boston Red Sox will be at home, too, playing a very early game (first pitch 11:05 am) at Fenway against the Tampa Bay Rays.

And, speaking of baseball, Monday is the anniversary of the day Future Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson finally broke Major League Baseball's "Color Line." On April 15, 1947 Robinson played his first game for the Brooklyn Dodgers. And in Robinson's honor, all the players on the Red Sox and the Rays -- and indeed on every Major League team -- will wear Robinson's number, 42, on their own uniforms on Monday.

Monday is a big day in North Korea, too: It is the birthday of Kim Il-sung, North Korea's "Eternal President," and the grandfather of Kim Jong-un, the current head honcho over there who may or may not start a war on Monday in commemoration of his grandfather's memory.

Monday is also called McDonald's Day or Fast Food Day because Ray Kroc opened his first franchised McDonald's restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois on April 15, 1955. Within a decade he'd squeezed the original McDonald brothers out of business.

April 14: Downer Day

Illustration obtained from this source.

Actually, none of the Usual Suspects proclaim April 14 to be Downer Day; this was just a conclusion we reached on our own sifting through the alternatives.

To wit: The RMS Titanic struck that fatal iceberg on April 14, 1912. (It would sink on April 15.)

President Abraham Lincoln went to Ford's Theater on the evening of April 14, 1865. You may recall what happened there. (Lincoln would die on April 15.)

Speaking of former residents of Springfield, Illinois, the Donner Party left Springfield, bound for California, on April 14, 1846. You may remember... that trip didn't go so well.

But, hey, a number of the Usual Suspects do say that April 14 is Ex-Spouse Day. Does that cheer you up, bub?

Sunday will also be A Global Day to End Child Sexual Abuse. Really ending child abuse would make us happy; that we are forced to confront the scourge of child abuse as a serious and ongoing problem that needs to be addressed surely does not.

Some of the Usual Suspects also proclaim April 14 as International Moment of Laughter Day. Although, seriously, from this list, what's to laugh about? Thus, we herewith invent Downer Day. Gets you right in the mood for Tax Day, doesn't it?

April 13 is Scrabble Day but...

Almost everything on Saturday has to do with birthdays, really.

Scrabble was invented in 1938 by American architect Alfred Mosher Butts and most of the Usual Suspects agree that April 13 will be Scrabble Day.

But why celebrate Scrabble on April 13? Usual Suspect Holiday Insights candidly acknowledges that it could not figure that out.

For once, however, our crack research staff came through: Alfred Mosher Butts was born in Poughkeepsie, New York on April 13, 1899. (Of course, all the research staff did was look up Butts' bio in Wikipedia.)

And the Usual Suspects also offer Thomas Jefferson Day as an alternative celebration for April 13. Why?

Well, here again, Mr. Jefferson was born April 13, 1743. Let's see... Saturday would be his 270th birthday.

Butch Cassidy, as in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, was born on April 13, 1866 and -- would you believe it? -- the late Don Adams was born 90 years ago, on April 13, 1923.

If you insist on non-birthday related observances... well, Constantinople did fall before 1453 -- on April 13, 1204, to be exact, before the rampaging soldiers of the Fourth Crusade.

King Henry IV of France issued the Edict of Nantes on April 13, 1598, an event that would be a bigger milestone in the history of religious toleration but for the fact that it would be repealed by Henry's grandson, Louis XIV, in 1685.

The explosion that darn near killed the crew of Apollo XIII took place on April 13, 1970. It was very scary to watch at the time; we can barely imagine what it must have been like to live through -- even after repeated viewing of the Ron Howard movie.

Samuel Argall kidnapped Native American princess Pocahontas in Passapatanzy, Virginia on April 13, 1613, exactly 400 years ago. Disney left out a lot of stuff.

Grilled Cheese and Cosmonauts for April 12

Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin became the first human being to enter outer space, on April 12, 1961, completing an orbit of the Earth in a 108 minute flight aboard Vostok 1. Thus, Friday April 12 will be Russian Cosmonaut Day. (Usual Suspect Brownielocks.com calls it International Day of Human Space Flight, but it's the same thing.)

Inasmuch as we're still begging rides to and from the International Space Station from the Russians, we'd better make it a point to celebrate this one, don't you think?

But Friday will also be Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day, in honor of the least fancy entree in the history of eating.

And the fastest surface wind velocity ever recorded on Planet Earth was recorded on April 12, 1934 on Mount Washington, New Hampshire: The breeze was clocked at an astounding 231 miles per hour. (Hold onto your hat... and your head!) Some of the Usual Suspects proclaim Friday Big Wind Day in commemoration of that far-from-gentle zephyr.

There are a couple of literary birthdays to celebrate on Friday, too: Tom Clancy (born in Maryland April 12, 1947) turns 66, while Chicago lawyer and author Scott Turow turns 64 (born in Chicago on April 12, 1949).

Old stuff and a partroness of pharmacists and students for April 11

According to several of the Usual Suspects, Thursday, April 11 will be Eight Track Tape Day.

There will be a brief pause while younger readers speculate whether the object at left might be an eight track tape in an eight track tape player.

If that was your guess, you are correct (the image coming from a website depicting "modern antiques" that will be unfamiliar to anyone born after the Baby Boom).

Eight track tapes were similar, but inferior to, and larger than, later cassette tapes. Many had an annoying tendency to switch direction in the middle of a song -- an interruption that was jarring enough when the tape was new and taut, but positively annoying after repeated use. As annoying as this was, however, it was still not quite as bad as the tendency of these tapes to eventually 'bleed' tracks together -- so that one would hear a song being played as recorded in the aural foreground, but a different song, playing backwards, in the background.

Eight track tapes were big in the mid-60s and early 70s and, mercifully, gone by the 1980s. Eight tracks, like 45s, were formats which were popular among young people -- so there probably weren't many barbershop quartets who released albums on eight tracks at any time.

Nevertheless, Thursday will be Barbershop Quartet Day. Back in the 60s, when we were listening to eight track tapes, we'd roll our eyes and hold our noses at the prospect of listening to a barbershop quartet. Today, though, with the passage of time, the innocent sounds of the barbershop quartet are a soothing balm and a reminder of a more innocent and joyous time. Rent or download a copy of the classic musical The Music Man Thursday night to enjoy the bickering school board that Robert Preston magically turns into a barbershop quartet.

Usual Suspect Saints.spqn.com has a number of saints on any given day of the week, but Saint Gemma Galgani caught our attention for Thursday, her feast. (Gemma died on April 11, 1903 at the age of 25.) The daughter of pharmacist, Gemma wanted to enter religious life, but was rejected because of concerns about her health: She had contracted spinal meningitis, and recovered, but convents were skeptical of her claim that she had received a miraculous cure. Several members of her family died from tuberculosis, as did she, but not before becoming a Stigmatist, receiving the wounds of Jesus on the Cross between Thursday evening and Friday afternoon every week for over two years. Her claimed visions would prove controversial, during her life and after, when her spiritual director, Venerable Rev. Germanus Ruoppolo CP, pressed her claim for canonization. Wikipedia says that Gemma is a patron saint of pharmacists and students (she was reportedly an excellent student before she was forced to leave school).

Today's college kids won't know about barbershop quartets or even eight track tapes -- but they will know about upcoming final exams. A prayer to St. Gemma might prove helpful. Pass it on.

Finally, on April 11, 1814, Napoleon was exiled to Elba. This would be a bigger deal but for his escape and temporary return to power in 1815.

Of Siblings and Safety Pins

Wednesday, April 10 is a day to celebrate siblings and safety pins -- the Usual Suspects call Wednesday Sibling Day and Safety Pin Day -- but (and this suggestion is offered free, gratis and for nothing) don't combine these two celebrations by sticking your sibling with a safety pin.

Don't say we didn't warn you.

On April 10, 1947, the Brooklyn Dodgers announced that they had purchased Jackie Robinson's contract from the Montreal Royals; his Major League debut would come on April 15.

Paul McCartney announced that he was leaving the Beatles on April 10, 1970 -- 43 years ago.

Lew Wallace, a Major General in the Union Army during the Civil War, was born on April 10, 1827. And it's particularly appropriate to remember General Wallace during the Easter season. You remember why, of course?

In 1880 Wallace published his most famous novel, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. (Wallace subsequently served as American Minister to the Ottoman Empire.)

April 9 is International Be Kind To Lawyers Day

Horace Rumpole is one our favorite fictional lawyers.

Yes, friends, tomorrow, April 9, will be International Be Kind To Lawyers Day. The website that was dedicated to this microminiholidayette seems to have fallen by the wayside -- times are tough for lawyers these days, too -- but we encourage celebration nonetheless.

And how should one celebrate Be Kind To Lawyers Day? Buy your favorite barrister a bottle or send a nice card? These are nice gestures, certainly, but wholly unnecessary. Instead, just pay your lawyer's bill. (Thank you.)

Tuesday will also be Winston Churchill Day, commemorating the day, 50 years ago (April 9, 1963), on which Sir Winston was made an honorary citizen of the United States.

And Tuesday will also be Cherish an Antique Day. If your lawyer is old enough, we suppose you can combine these two observances....

It's not Buddha's Birthday, except in Japan, but we have alternatives

Some of the Usual Suspects suggest that April 8 is Buddha's Birthday, but Wikipedia explains that the birthday of the Buddha is traditionally celebrated on the 8th day of the 4th month of the Chinese lunar year. In other words, the date varies; in 2013, the Buddha's birthday will be observed on May 17 -- except in Japan. According to Wikipedia, Japan adopted the Gregorian calendar in the Mejii Restoration of 1873, reassigning the Buddha's Birthday to the 8th day of the 4th month of that calendar. So, except in Japan, Monday will not be the Buddha's Birthday.

Aaron's 715th. Photo from Encyclopedia Britannica.

Do not despair, however.

The Blog of Days has alternatives over and above Draw a Picture of a Bird Day or National All is Ours Day (both touted by several of the Usual Suspects for celebration on Monday).

What the heck does "All is Ours" even mean? On Monday, may we take freely from the coffers of Mr. Gates or Mr. Buffett? Can our research staff enter your house and raid your liquor cabinet? Is this a microminiholidayette that can not be appreciated except by the still-in-the-dreaming-stages New Socialist Man? We're not going to promote something we can't even begin to understand.

However, we can understand that Hammerin' Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's career home run record on April 8, 1974. (Aaron would retire with 755 homers, a record recently eclipsed by Barry Bonds, though Bonds' achievement is tainted by his apparent use of steroids.) We here at the Blog of Days are not trying to stir up any Aaron-Bonds controversy; rather, we urge celebration of a remarkable achievement as a viable alternative to the mysterious All is Ours Day.

Monday is also the centennial of the adoption of the 17th Amendment of the United States Constitution. That's the amendment that provided for the direct election of U.S. Senators (originally, Senators were chosen by the legislatures of the several States). It was the 17th Amendment, too, that provides for gubernatorial appointments when senatorial vacancies occur. That "bleeping gold" thing that former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich had -- the power to appoint a temporary replacement for Barack Obama on the occasion of Mr. Obama's election to the Presidency -- that "bleeping gold" thing was provided to Mr. Blagojevich by the 17th Amendment.

Sunday is No Housework Day

The Usual Suspects are in pretty rare accord on this one: Sunday, April 7 is No Housework Day. No one seems to know -- or care -- why. People who actually do housework will be particularly unconcerned about why the day is celebrated, only that it is.

There's also a U.N. microminiholidayette scheduled for April 7, World Health Day. (This year's theme, in case you're wondering, is high blood pressure.)

And, unsurprisingly, given that April 6 is New Beer's Eve, April 7 is National Beer Day, celebrating the 80th anniversary of the day on which beer sales (well sales of 3.2% beer anyway) became legal again in the United States.

So don't do any housework Sunday. Kick back with a few beers instead. It might do wonders for your blood pressure.

Hoot man! Saturday is Tartan Day

You'll remember that we told you that December 5 was Repeal Day, commemorating the anniversary of the 1933 ratification of the 21st Amendment and the official end of Prohibition. But the sale of beer was legalized earlier in that same year: It became legal to sell 3.2% beer on April 7, 1933 -- and for that reason April 6 is sometimes referred to as New Beer's Eve.

That seems appropriate for a Saturday celebration.

And, while April 5 is National Caramel Day, April 6 will be National Caramel Popcorn Day.

Usual Suspect Days of the Year touts Saturday as Pillow Fight Day.

Some of the Usual Suspects suggest that April 6 is also Army Day, but the U.S. Department of Defense says that Army Day was last observed nationally on April 6, 1949.

The consensus choice for Saturday, however, is Tartan Day, a celebration of all things Scottish. On April 6, 1320, 51 Scottish nobles sent a letter to Pope John XXII asserting Scotland's right to act as a sovereign and independent nation. This was the Declaration of Arborath. (The Pope had sided with the King of England, supporting his claim over the Scottish realm.)

So toss a caber Saturday in celebration of Scotland.

We may toss back a few scotches instead.

April 5: Deep Dish Pizza Day and Walk to Work Day

This particular pizza picture is taken from Giordano's website, but Chicago is home to a glorious variety of deep dish pizza emporiums (emporia?) including Lou Malnati's, Gino's East, and the originals, Pizzerias Uno and Due. This list is by no means comprehensive -- for one, it ignores all the stand-alone neighborhood joints that so many swear by -- but wherever you're planning to celebrate Deep Dish Pizza Day on April 5 you may wish to also consider celebrating Walk to Work Day on April 5 as well. You'll need to walk off some of these calories.

Friday will also be National Caramel Day, Hospital Admitting Clerks Day, and Go For Broke Day. It will also be Read a Road Map Day -- turn off that GPS and see if you can find your way anywhere (a pizza joint perhaps?) just by reading the map.

Muddy Waters Centennial, Vitamin C Day

Thursday, April 4 will be the Centennial of Muddy Waters, born McKinley Morganfield in Issaquena County, Mississippi on April 4, 1913.

If you go to the 'official' Muddy Waters website and look up his biography, you'll see a claim that he was born April 4, 1915. But Wikipedia explains, "Recent research has uncovered documentation showing that in the 1930s and 1940s he reported his birth year as 1913 on both his marriage license and musicians' union card. A 1955 interview in the Chicago Defender is the earliest claim of 1915 as his year of birth, which he continued to use in interviews from that point onward."

Muddy Waters was influential in the development of Chicago's blues scene. As the linked biography on his website states:

Members of Waters' various bands - guitarists Jimmy Rogers, Sammy Lawhorn and Luther Johnson, harmonica players Little Walter, Junior Wells and James Cotton, pianists Otis Spann and Pinetop Perkins - left to strike out with bands of their own, spreading the Waters gospel further. Later generations of bluesmen took Waters' approach as their birthright: Buddy Guy, Magic Sam, Otis Rush and scores of others-have all been in Waters' debt.

But the Chicago Blues and Muddy Waters in particular were inspirational to a generation of British musicians, too, including in particular the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton -- and through them a whole new generation of white American kids.

Waters died 30 years ago, on April 30, 1983.

Most of the Usual Suspects tell us that Thursday will also be Vitamin C Day. They don't tell us why. We asked our crack research staff to investigate this question -- and, with their predictable efficiency, we can only hope that we'll hear back from them before next Vitamin C Day.

President William Henry Harrison died on April 4, 1841, one month after giving an overly long inaugural address, on a particularly cold and wet day, without wearing either an overcoat or hat. (He was the oldest President ever elected to that point and he thought he would show how strong and vigorous he still was by eschewing these sensible precautions. He contracted pneumonia and died as a result.)

Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968.

Party on: April 3 is Tweed Day

Thomas Nast caricature of Boss Tweed

Most of the Usual Suspects will tell you that April 3 is Tweed Day, although more than a few are slightly embarrassed by the fact that Tweed Day commemorates the 190th birthday of William Magear Tweed -- "Boss Tweed" of New York's Tammany Hall -- born April 3, 1823 in New York City.

At the height of his power and influence, according to the linked Wikipedia article, Tweed was "the third-largest landowner in New York City, a director of the Erie Railroad, the Tenth National Bank, and the New-York Printing Company, as well as proprietor of the Metropolitan Hotel." Tweed made money the really old-fashioned way: He stole it from the taxpayers.

But Tweed was caught out in the end. He wound up dying in prison.

So we're not celebrating corruption on Tweed Day, we are really celebrating the (eventual) triumph of reform.

And April 3 will be World Party Day. This may be a microminiholidayette on the cusp of breaking through into popular consciousness: It has its own Wikipedia entry, Tumblr and Twitter page. Quoting from the Twitter page, World Party Day is an "annual celebration for a happy world." On April 3, "the whole world parties in synch."

We never knew.

April 2 is National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day

It's probably hard for you to contain your excitement as we count down the minutes to the start of National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day on Tuesday, April 2 -- especially for those of you who snubbed plain old National Peanut Butter Day on January 24 or National Peanut Butter Lovers Day on March 1.

No... you held out for the Really Big One, the day when peanut butter and jelly are justly and jointly celebrated.

Well, congratulations. Tomorrow is for you.

Others, however, may be interested to know that Tuesday is also World Autism Awareness Day.

Tuesday is also the anniversary of the birth of Hans Christian Andersen (born April 2, 1805 in Odense, Denmark) and Children's Book Day is celebrated on April 2 in his honor.

A number of the Usual Suspects advise that April 2 is also Reconciliation Day, a day to patch up worn or torn relationships.

Usual Suspect Gone-ta-pott.com tries to sneak Fun at Work Day back into the calendar, but we covered that in yesterday's post. We hope you're having fun at work -- so long as you're not the boss, having fun making your employees miserable -- but we see no point in extending the celebration of same from April 1 to April 2. If you insist on still another option, Usual Suspect Brownielocks.com offers National Love Your Produce Manager Day. But be discreet, please.

In addition to April Fools' Day, Monday will be...

In addition to April Fools' Day, Monday will be Opening Day in Major League Baseball. OK, technically, the 2013 Championship Season starts tonight when the Texas Rangers welcome the Houston Astros to the American League, but most major league teams are scheduled to start play on Monday, April 1... weather permitting.

If you can't ditch work and head out to the ballpark today, do not despair. Some of the Usual Suspects tout Monday as National Fun at Work Day (one goes so far as to proclaim it International Fun at Work Day).

Of course, we're a little skeptical when 'fun' and 'work' are used in the same sentence -- and having too much fun at work may well be hazardous to your long- and short-term employment prospects. The Blog of Days can not be responsible for the consequences of your celebrating Fun at Work Day.

Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple on April 1, 1976, and that was certainly no joke.

And there is an odd coincidence of Air Force anniversaries on April 1:

• The British Royal Air Force was founded on April 1, 1918;
• The Royal Canadian Air Force was founded on April 1, 1924; and
• President Dwight David Eisenhower signed legislation authorizing the foundation of the United States Air Force Academy on April 1, 1954.

OK, besides Easter, what is Sunday, March 31?

Photo obtained from this site.

Sunday, March 31 will be the 10th anniversary of the destruction of Meigs Field, once Chicago's lakefront airport.

In fact, Meigs Field was Chicago's airport on March 30, 2003. Flights were scheduled in and out the following day -- 16 private planes, in fact, were stranded -- when bulldozers, acting on the orders of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, carved giant 'X's in the concrete runway in the wee small hours of the night of March 30 or morning of March 31. It was no secret that Daley wanted Meigs closed (he shuttered it briefly in 1996-97), but as Wikipedia explains, "In 2001, a compromise was reached between Chicago, the State of Illinois, and others to keep the airport open for the next twenty-five years. However, the federal legislation component of the deal" -- involving the still ongoing expansion of O'Hare Airport -- "did not pass the United States Senate," allowing Daley to claim that there was no longer a deal. Daley didn't even tell the FAA before sending in the bulldozers; the City was eventually required to pay a nominal fine as a result.

Mayor Daley claimed that destroying Meigs would make the City safer -- no crazy person in a small plane could take off from Meigs -- now Northerly Island, a park and concert venue -- and visit destruction on our fair city.

Except, of course, as the linked Wikipedia article makes clear, "closing the airport made the airspace less restrictive. When the airport was open, downtown Chicago was within Meigs Field's Class D airspace, requiring two-way radio communication with the tower. The buildings in downtown Chicago are now in Class E/G airspace, which allows any airplane to legally fly as close as 1,000 feet (300 m) from these buildings with no radio communication at all" (footnotes omitted).

Several of the Usual Suspects want to designate Sunday as Bunsen Burner Day, commemorating the birth of German chemist Robert Wilhelm Eberhard von Bunsen on March 31, 1811. Wikipedia, however, says Bunsen was born on March 30, 1811, and although Bunsen himself celebrated March 31 as his natal day in later years, Bunsen's biographer was pretty certain that March 30 was really the correct day.

March 31 is also National "She's Funny That Way" Day, which sounds like something you'd better say with a smile on your face, mister.

The Eiffel Tower opened on March 31, 1889, leading some of the usual suspects to designate Sunday as Eiffel Tower Day.

Saturday is Doctors Day

A "deranged drifter," John Hinckley Jr., shot President Ronald Reagan on March 30, 1981. Reagan was badly wounded, but he still found the strength to quip with his doctors, "Please tell me you're Republicans."

Reagan was not the first U.S. President to survive an assassination attempt; Squeaky Fromme, for example, tried to take a shot at President Gerald Ford in 1975, but the gun didn't go off.

But Reagan was the first U.S. President to actually be shot while in office and survive (Andrew Jackson had taken a bullet in a duel before he was President). Reagan also broke, or his doctors broke, the so called 'curse of the zeroes.' Until Reagan, every President elected in a year ending with a '0' from William Henry Harrison (in 1840) onwards had died in office (Lincoln in 1860, Garfield in 1880, McKinley in 1900 -- all assassinated -- Harding in 1920, FDR in 1940 and, of course, JFK in 1960).

Regan's doctors saved him (Garfield's doctors may have hastened his demise) but neither of those events has anything to do with Doctors Day. Instead, according to Usual Suspect, Holiday Insights, "Doctors' Day observances date back to March 30, 1933. It was started by Eudora Brown Almond of Winder, Ga. The day marks the anniversary of the first use of general anesthesia in surgery. The first National Doctor's Day was celebrated in 1991." (The attempt on Reagan's life does have something to do with why March 30 is called by some National I Am In Control Day, after Al Haig's unfortunate -- and inaccurate -- choice of words back at the White House after the news got out about Reagan's shooting.)

Saturday will also be Pencil Day. According to Usual Suspect Punchbowl.com, on March 30, 1858, "the United States Patent and Trademark Office granted the first-ever patent for a modern pencil with an eraser attached to it. Hymen Lipman created the wooden pencil and received high praise for how easy it was to use for writing."

Niagara Falls ran dry on March 29, 1848

The falls were blocked by an ice dam upriver. The ice blocked the water flow and, according to this account,

One of the first residents to notice the deafening silence was farmer, Jed Porter of Niagara Falls, New York. During the late evening of March 29th, he left home for a stroll along the river near the American Falls and realized the thundering roar of the Falls was absent. A closer examination revealed the amount of the water flowing over the Falls had been greatly diminished.

Residents awoke on the morning of March 30th to an eerie silence and realized something was amiss. People were drawn to the Falls to find that the water flow of the Niagara River had been reduced to a mere trickle. Thomas Clark Street, the owner and operator of the large Bridgewater Mills along the Canadian shore at Dufferin Islands was awakened by one of his employees at 5 a.m. on March 30th reporting the mill had been shut down because the mill race was empty.

By the morning of March 31st, more than 5,000 people had gathered along the banks of the river. All the mills and factories [dependent] upon water power were stilled.

The river bed was quickly drying. Fish and turtles were left floundering on now dry land. A number of people made their way into the gorge to the riverbed. Here they saw articles that had been laying on the river's bottom and had been hidden for hundreds of years. Souvenirs picked up included bayonets, guns barrels, muskets, tomahawks and other artifacts of the War of 1812.

Other spectators were able to walk out onto the river bed that had only hours earlier been a torrent of rapids and would have resulted in certain death. It became a tourist and media event. People on foot, on horseback or by horse and buggy, crossed the width of the Niagara River. It was a historical event that had never occurred before and has never been duplicated since.

A squad of soldiers of the U.S. Army Cavalry rode their horses up and down the river bed as an exhibition.

Below the Falls, workers from the Maid of the Mist were able to venture out onto the river bed and blast away rocks which had normally been a navigation hazard to the Maid of the Mist boat since its inception in 1846.

Well, the wind shifted on March 31 and the ice dam broke -- and the water came back.

Photo by Saffron Blaze obtained from Wikipedia.

This natural occurrence is recalled annually as Niagara Falls Runs Dry Day. But the truth is that Niagara Falls runs dryer than it used to -- and has for over 100 years, since hydroelectric plants started going up along the river trying to harness the power of the river and turn it into electrical power. We'll let the Wikipedia account pick the story up from there (footnotes removed):

In 1961, when the Niagara Falls hydroelectric project first went on line, it was the largest hydropower facility in the Western world. Today, Niagara is still the largest electricity producer in New York State, with a generating capacity of 2.4 gigawatts (million kilowatts). Up to 375,000 U.S. gallons (1,420 m³) of water a second is diverted from the Niagara River through conduits under the City of Niagara Falls to the Lewiston and Robert Moses power plants. Currently between 50% and 75% of the Niagara River's flow is diverted via four huge tunnels that arise far upstream from the waterfalls. The water then passes through hydroelectric turbines that supply power to nearby areas of Canada and the United States before returning to the river well past the falls. This water spins turbines that power generators, converting mechanical energy into electrical energy. When electricity demand is low, the Lewiston units can operate as pumps to transport water from the lower bay back up to the plant's reservoir, allowing this water to be used again during the daytime when electricity use peaks. During peak electrical demand, the same Lewiston pumps are reversed and actually become generators, similar to those at the Moses plant.

To preserve Niagara Falls' natural beauty, a 1950 treaty signed by the U.S. and Canada limited water usage by the power plants. The treaty allows higher summertime diversion at night when tourists are fewer and during the winter months when there are even fewer tourists. This treaty, designed to ensure an "unbroken curtain of water" is flowing over the falls, states that during daylight time during the tourist season (April 1 to October 31) there must be 100,000 cubic feet per second (2,800 m³/s) of water flowing over the falls, and during the night and off-tourist season there must be 50,000 cubic feet per second (1,400 m³/s) of water flowing over the falls.

In other words, the electric companies turn the falls down at night and in the winter to make more electricity.

The Knights of Columbus were formed on March 29, 1882, leading some of the Usual Suspects to call Friday Knights of Columbus Day. Friday will also be the 70th birthday of Eric Idle (born March 29, 1943).

March 29 is also the birthday of two great pitchers -- Cy Young (born March 29, 1887) and Denny McLain (born March 29, 1944). McLain was baseball's last (and perhaps last ever) pitcher to win more than 30 games in a season (31-6 with the 1968 World Champion Detroit Tigers); Cy Young had 511 career pitching victories, one of the few baseball records that seems safer with every passing year. Cy Young never went to prison; Denny McLain, on the other hand....

Weed Appreciation Day

This year, March 28 is Holy Thursday, the beginning of the solemn Easter Triduum.

But it will also be Weed Appreciation Day.

From Roger Ebert's Journal.

We were going to say that we can't imagine why anyone would appreciate weeds but then we thought about it: This year, with North America's late-arriving and long-lingering Winter, even the return of the dandelions might be cause for celebration.

For about 10 seconds.

Thursday will also be National Something on a Stick Day. Apparently just about anything on a stick fits in with this partially-thought-out microminiholidayette.

Dwight D. Eisenhower died on March 28, 1969. President Eisenhower died of natural causes (congestive heart failure).

Not so lucky was the Roman Emperor Pertinax, who was assassinated by his Praetorian Guard on March 28, 193. (The Praetorian Guard then auctioned the job off to the highest bidder.) Apparently the Praetorian Guard was miffed with Pertinax because he tried to impose some discipline and reform on them.

Come to think of it, our crack research staff, which is desperate need of both reform and discipline, was careful to highlight this cause of Pertinax's murder in their memo for this post. Should we be nervous?

Quirky Country Music Song Titles Day or Viagra Day

We can't make this stuff up; we wish we were that clever.

Wednesday really will be Viagra Day, as several of the Usual Suspects claim, because the FDA approved Viagra on March 27, 1998.

We can't imagine any place offering a drink special tomorrow night in honor of Viagra Day. Well, maybe a couple of places on Rush Street in Chicago. But only unofficially.

How would one openly celebrate Viagra Day anyway? (Get your collective minds out of the gutter, gentle readers.) We mean... what would one say? "Yes, I'm celebrating Viagra Day... but only for a friend?"

Quirky Country Music Song Titles Day is only slightly less unsettling. Songs like Gary Stewart's, "She's Actin' Single and I'm Drinkin' Doubles" (1974) or the 1982 Jerry Reed hit, "She Got the Goldmine (I Got the Shaft)," are barely quirky enough for this microminiholidayette. No, the song titles that pop up (bubble up?) in a quick Internet search are things like

• I Still Miss You Baby, But My Aim's Gettin' Better,
• If You Can’t Live Without Me, Why Aren’t You Dead?
• If I Had Shot You When I Wanted To, I'd Be Out By Now,
• My Wife Ran Off With My Best Friend and I Sure Do Miss Him,
• I've Been Flushed From The Bathroom Of Your Heart,
• Peekin’ Through the Knothole In Grandma’s Wooden Leg, or
• I’m Sorry I Made You Cry, But At Least Your Face Is Cleaner.

Except as specified, we can't vouch for the authenticity of any of these... but we find them disturbing nonetheless.

Safer choices for celebration tomorrow may include Kite Flying Day (also referred to as Go Fly a Kite Day, but that carries with it an entirely different vibe, doesn't it?) or National Joe Day, a day on which you may call everyone, including yourself, "Joe." That's rather silly, and difficult to explain, but far less embarrassing, we think, than Viagra Day.