| Odd holidays [message #518979] |
Mon, 08 August 2011 10:40  |
John Watson
Messages: 8929
Registered: January 2010
Location: Global Village
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I had been wondering why I've had no mails today from a client in Rhode Island, and I've just found out why: today is VJ (Victory over Japan) Day, which is a public holiday there. How amazingly twentieth century! Mind you, I live in England at the moment, and we had a holiday because of a royal wedding, which is pretty backward too.
Does anyone else have holidays for strange reasons?
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| Re: Odd holidays [message #518989 is a reply to message #518979] |
Mon, 08 August 2011 12:54  |
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Barbara Boehmer
Messages: 9088
Registered: November 2002
Location: California, USA
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John Watson wrote on Mon, 08 August 2011 08:40
Does anyone else have holidays for strange reasons?
It depends on your definition of holiday and your definition of strange. There are lots of websites out there with various such things, but many such things were either not very popular to begin with or lost popularity over the years or were not publicized well and most people have never heard about them. Most of these things, although called holidays, are not things for which businesses give employees a day off. For example, today, August 8th, is the official national day or night (started in Pennsylvania) to sneak some zucchini onto your neighbor's porch:
http://www.gone-ta-pott.com/sneaksomezucchiniontoyourneighborsporchday.html
Every time I hear of something in addition to the traditional holidays, I mark it on my calendar, and either attempt to participate in some small way or avoid it, depending on what it is, then mark it on next year's calendar. Examples of such things on my calendar:
August 23: DBA Day
first Wednesday in October: International Walk to School Day
the day after Thanksgiving: Black Friday (shopping)
last Saturday in March: earth hour
April 1: April Fool's Day
April 25: Red Hat Society Day (when all of us women over 50 wear a red hat and a purple dress; younger women wear a pink hat and lavender dress)
Red Hat Society http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hat_Society
Warning poem http://labyrinth_3.tripod.com/page59.html
Apr 27?: Denim Day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denim_Day
first Saturday in June: National Trails Day
July 15: National Ice Cream Day
July 21: National Junk Food Day
1st Tuesday in August: National Night Out Against Crime
[Updated on: Mon, 08 August 2011 13:14] Report message to a moderator |
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| Re: Odd holidays [message #519041 is a reply to message #518989] |
Tue, 09 August 2011 01:47 |
knw15pwr
Messages: 134
Registered: March 2010
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I remember in my school days we had 3 holidays on 3 different days to commemorate the birth anniversary of a King.
1 day was based on the roman calendar, 1 based on the lunar month or local calendar and 1 based on the date that a famous historian had said was the actual birth date.
(i guess they have now settled for 1 day -dont remember which one though)
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| Re: Odd holidays [message #519250 is a reply to message #519041] |
Wed, 10 August 2011 09:20 |
John Watson
Messages: 8929
Registered: January 2010
Location: Global Village
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Three days for one king! That really was excessive. I just had a look at royal families, there are loads of countries that still have them. Here's a list I've put together, it probably isn't correct/complete. I've *starred the ones with absolute power. I haven't tried to include ones like Greece or Bavaria, who have been booted out.
Africa
Lesotho - King Letsie III
Morocco - King Mohammed VI
*Swaziland - King Mswati III
Asia
Bhutan - King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck
*Brunei - Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiiah
Cambodia - King Norodom Sihamoni
Japan - Emperor Akihito
Malaysia - King Mizan Zainal Abidin
Thailand - King Bhumibol Adulyadej
Europe
Andorra - Princes Nicolas Sarkozy and Bishop Joan Enric Vives Sicilia
Belgium - King Albert II
Denmark - Queen Margarethe II
Liechtenstein - Prince Hans Adam II
Luxembourg - Grand Duke Henri
Monaco - Prince Albert II
Netherlands - Queen Beatrix
Norway - King Harald V
Spain - King Juan Carlos I
Sweden - King Carl Gustaf XVI
UK - Queen Elizabeth II
Middle East
Bahrein - King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa
Jordan - King Abdullah II
Kuwait - Emir Sabah Al-Ahmed Al Jaber Al-Sabah
*Oman - Sultan Oabus ibn Sa'id
*Qatar - Emir Sheik Hamad ibn Khalifa al-Thani
*Saudi Arabia - King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud
United Arab Emirates - Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan
Middle of nowhere
Tonga - King George Tupou V.
(ps - think of this as today's item of useless information)
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| Re: Odd holidays [message #519653 is a reply to message #519644] |
Tue, 16 August 2011 02:53 |
John Watson
Messages: 8929
Registered: January 2010
Location: Global Village
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Yesterday was a holiday in Freistaat Bayern (but not, I think, in the rest of Germany) to celebrate a considerably less frequent event than a horse race. There are some advantages to living in Catholic countries (not that I live in one now).
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| Re: Odd holidays [message #532657 is a reply to message #519653] |
Wed, 23 November 2011 18:12 |
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Barbara Boehmer
Messages: 9088
Registered: November 2002
Location: California, USA
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Senior Member |
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Here in the United States, tomorrow, Thursday, is Thanksgiving. Apparently it originated as a feast giving thanks for the fall harvest. Also, the day after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday, the first day of the biggest shopping time of the year.
As with most holidays, people tend to develop their own individual new traditions over time. Many people have Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and the following Saturday and Sunday off and combine all four days for something.
So what are all of you planning to do? Are you having a traditional feast with extended family in somebody's home or at a restaurant? Are you using the four days to fly somewhere to visit people? Are you a vegetarian who goes somewhere to feed turkeys instead of eating them? Do you plan to get a group together and watch or listen to "Alice's Restaurant"? Do you plan to camp out overnight in front of some store in order to be one of the first few in the stampede through the door when it opens on Black Friday? Do you plan to avoid all of the crowds and traffic and relax at home or catch up on yard work or other chores? What else do you plan to do?
I plan to spend the time at home with my cats, don't plan to eat anything special, hope to make a little progress on some yard work, and may watch "Alice's Restaurant" again. Or, maybe I'll just record the "Twilight Zone" marathon and watch that a little at a time in the future, at times like this, when I am using my computer.
[Updated on: Wed, 23 November 2011 18:26] Report message to a moderator |
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| Re: Odd holidays [message #532712 is a reply to message #532681] |
Thu, 24 November 2011 01:56 |
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Littlefoot
Messages: 21807
Registered: June 2005
Location: Croatia, Europe
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Well, that's what I thought (that it would be a DVR). So you don't actually record these TV shows on DVDs, do you? You just use a built-in hard disk, right?
Croatia has just entered a digital era (regarding television signals) so we had to purchase DVB-T (Digital Video Broadcasting - Terrestrial) tuners (if TV sets don't have them - new TVs do). I bought Strong SRT 5222, a twin tuner device that is capable of recording two different TV shows at a time onto a hard disk (actually, any USB storage device). Currently, I use 1.5TB + 2 x 300GB external HDDs; quite a lot of space.
During the last few days I watched two similar movies: the first one is I am legend, and another one is Contagion. IMDB ratings are the same for both movies: 7.1 at the moment. However, I found the "I am legend" much more interesting and entertaining. True, as a kid I loved SF and that might be a reason, but "Contagion" is just too slow and ... well, boring. Besides, I don't like to see Gwyneth Paltrow dead, lying on the autopsy table 
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| Re: Odd holidays [message #543111 is a reply to message #532719] |
Mon, 13 February 2012 02:45 |
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Littlefoot
Messages: 21807
Registered: June 2005
Location: Croatia, Europe
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Senior Member
Account Moderator |
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Speaking of House, MD: have you seen Chase, Foreman & House singing Midnight Train to Georgia? Sound better than Gladys Knight & The Pips 
P.S. I've just read a comment on the bottom; true, it was strange seeing them like in a mirror (I watched that episode yesterday and remember what I saw). Someone said Quote:It's mirrored. Helps stop YouTube's copyright software detecting and removing FOX clips.
Gee, didn't know that 
So, if you don't want to violate the law, don't watch it (too many times, that is).
[Updated on: Mon, 13 February 2012 02:48] Report message to a moderator |
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