Of course March 17th is St. Patrick's Day and a little man running around trying to find a pot of gold is weird. But lets look at what other weird holidays we find in March.
Who doesn't love dipping Oreo Cookies into a cold glass of milk. Or better yet, twist them then lick the middle out and dump the cookie goodness into a glass of milk. However you like to eat them, let's find out more about them.
Not only is the Oreo Cookie one of America's favourite cookie but it is becoming the most popular cookie in the world with over 100 countries selling them and in terms of sales, the top five countries that enjoy them the most are: United States, China, Venezuela, Canada and Indonesia.
The "Oreo Biscuit" was created in 1912 by Sam J. Porcello, a former scientist of National Biscuit Company. They were sold in a tin for 25 cents and over the years were also called:
Oreo Sandwich - 1921
Oreo Cream Sandwich - 1948
Oreo Chocolate Sandwich Cookie - 1974
Of course since then there have been so many different varieties like double stuffed, golden, minis, thins and birthday edition to name a few.
Some other facts about Oreo's:
Oreo is an imitation of the Hydrox chocolate cream-centered cookie introduced in 1908 but was far more popular than the Hydrox that many think Hydrox imitated Oreo
Hypothesis is the Oreo name came from the French word "Or" for gold or the Greek word ωραίο (oreo) which means nice or attractive
Cookie founder Sam Porcello was know as "Mr. Oreo"
Original ingredient for Oreos was pork fat, lard
The number of cookies made in a year would circle the world 5 times - over 40 billion a year
50% of Oreo consumers pull the cookies apart before eating them
It takes 2 hours to make and bake an Oreo Cookie
So today for Oreo Cookie day, dunk one or twist one in honour of this amazing cookie
Next is a day all about being Awesome!
International Awesomeness Day is celebrated world-wide on March 10th. At work, on August 6th, 2007, Kevin Lawver's interns Freddie Maneiro suggested they have a celebration of Kevin's awesomeness (it had been a running joke on a project). This cracked Kevin up, and said there should be a International Day of Awesomeness, so he tweeted it to the universe.
That started a very funny, very un-serious conversation among his friends about just what the holiday would entail. And here we are, people are awesome but just don't know it. Therefore this day is to fix that by getting group of friends to perform tasks of awesomeness, you can write a blog about people you believe are awesome or what makes someone awesome. Remember we are never perfect, but we can be awesome!
So why March 10th? Simply put, it is Chuck Norris's birthday and therefore a tribute the the man who is renowned for his awesomeness was started on March 10th, 2008. We all possess qualities of awesome in some way, therefore on March 10th, let go of your insecurities and praise yourself for all the greatness you possess. Also acknowledge those around you that are awesome. This will truly make their day.
Here are some fun facts:
Awesome was first recorded in the Oxford Dictionary in 1598
The meaning of awesomeness in Cambridge Dictionary - the ability to cause great admiration, respect, or fear
Other words that can be used are magnificence or brilliance
People with attractive smiles are widely regarded as awesome
Awesome people rarely express their anger, they are calm
Because of their energy, active people are considered to be awesome
Those who listen and guided are awesome individuals
Since the day is to remind everyone of how awesome we are, it builds confidence
Now let's talk about Plumbing!
Can you imagine if we didn't have plumbing and plumbers? This would mean all human defecation and waste would remain around us. YUCKY! The smell would be horrible and not to mention the amount of disease that would plague us. Therefore, on this day, events around the world highlight the importance of good plumbing and sanitation.
Plumbing is no doubt a vital component of every developed city and must be considered as a city grows to ensure the plumbing and sanitary meets the needs appropriately. In 2010, the World Plumbing Council named the day, with promoting relationship between excellent plumbing, health, environment sustainability, and economic prosperity.
The World Plumbing Council has also pushed for adequate trained workers that can provide modern solutions quickly during tough situations on the overall sanitation systems. So essential because thousands of children under the age of 5, die every year from water-borne diarrheal diseases caused by open defecation near waterways. Therefore on this day, festivals, tournaments, lectures and events are held all over the world to raise awareness.
Some facts about plumbing:
The earliest plumbing pipes were made of baked clay and straw and the first copper pipes were made by the Egyptians. They dug wells as deep as 300 feet and invented the water wheel.
he Greeks mastered the science of hot and cold running water. They made shower technology for athletes to bathe in after their Olympic games
The most significant accomplishments were made by the Romans who built channels that carried water from the mountains to the city and was distributed underground with lead lines
Sir John Harrington, godson of Elizabeth I, invented a water closet with a raised cistern and a small downpipe through which water ran to flush the waste in 1592. She was too scared to use it as it made terrible rushing water sounds
In America, Boston pioneered the first water system in the mid-1600’s
In 1775, Alexander Cumming, a Scottish watchmaker and inventor, is the first Englishman to patent the flush toilet design, the beginning of the modern toilet
The first shower was invented in 1810. It continually pumped the same wastewater from the lower basin to the top and dumped water directly above the bathers head. It was considered a novelty and performed only once or twice a year
The first floor of the White House received running water in 1833
John Kohler created the first cast iron bathtub in 1883 made from an iron horse trough
World War II restricted the use of iron, steel and copper and forced the plumbing industry to start using new materials like plastics
Low-flow toilets are created to conserve water in 1992. These models us about half the water per flush than older models
On March 11th, let's take the time to educate ourselves about plumbing and what it means to us. Renovating our house in Italy, I have seen first hand how important it is to have good plumbing in place. Take the time to thank the plumbers you know, because they sometimes have a really crappy job.
Finally do you need reminding - World Backup Day
I don't know about you, but I've had my computer crash where I've lost everything twice in my life. The first time I lost about three months of information that I had to re-input into my accounting program and the second time it was at work, where I lost about six months of emails and documents. This made me go out and buy a hard-drive and at first I would back-up every month, but then once again I forgot and did it less often. Now retired, I am more vigilant and do it monthly, but also with new technology on the email side, there are more ways to keep them on servers which helps.
Interesting enough, as I research this, crashes happen more often than we think and data recovery costs can run hundreds of dollars, and that is if we are lucky because sometime the drive isn't accessible anymore. Originally this was a World Backup Month that was initiated by Maxtor, a company specializing in hard drives in September of 2005. However it started to be observed as a yearly day as March 31st in 2011. Over time it has become the one day we won't say, I will do it tomorrow. Because tomorrow is April Fool's Day, which is perfect timing for pranksters and hackers to play jokes on unsuspecting individuals. So if you back it up, the joke is on them.
Some facts about backing up:
IBM engineer Reynold B. Johnson comes up with the idea of the external hard drive — the IBM 350 Disk File in 1956
Computer Scientist Dr. Joseph Carl Robnett Licklider is believed to have invented cloud storage in 1960s
in 1998 - A year before the release of “Toy Story 2,” somebody enters a command on the drives where Pixar stores the film’s files, deleting 90% of the film
in 2011 - After discussing backups on Reddit, student Ismail Jadun jokingly creates World Backup Day, eventually legitimizing it
60% the percentage of incomplete backups
50% of the restore fail
50% of people that never notice their computer has been hacked
20% of small businesses are likely to be hacked yearly
Happy March everyone!
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