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Tonight as you count down to midnight, if you’re wondering why we picked such a completely random date to celebrate as the New Year—neither solstice nor equinox nor anniversary—take a moment to thank the folks of Segeda, Spain, a town that stood near present-day Zaragoza. Celtiberia Up until the 2nd century B.C., the Roman civic calendar began in mid-March, around the spring equinox and the beginning of the planting season; officials convened in Rome on the full moon (Ides) …Read more 
December 15
Originally celebrated as Zamenhof Day, Esperanto Day is the birthday of Esperanto founder L.L. Zamenhof. He would be 149 today. The son of a German teacher, Zamenhof was born in Bialystok, Russia, in what is now Poland. He spoke all three of those languages as a child, and studied Greek, Latin, Hebrew and French. He grew up to be a doctor, but had an incredible ability to pick up languages. During his formative …Read more 
December 10 “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion…” – from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
December 10 is Human Rights Day… The date was chosen to honor the United Nations General Assembly’s adoption and proclamation, in 1948, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It was …Read more 
November 19 Privy at Goat Peak, Curt Smith November 19 is World Toilet Day. You should be in for a funny post. Unfortunately you are not. Poor sanitation kills more people each year than AIDS, but you won’t see any celebrities sporting brown ribbons at this year’s Oscars, and discussions of toilets still emit a response from educated adults akin to the uncomfortable, strained snickering of 7th graders during a sex ed lesson. “As we …Read more 
November 17 “It is interesting that the press and the politicians are beginning to refer to the student body of our nation as one of those “aggressor enemies” that we have become all too familiar with in the past: the “Huns,” the Nazis, the Commies; and now it is our kids, virtually the entire generation of them…For make no mistake; a generation is speaking.” –Murray N. Rothbard, The Student Revolution, 1969 The kids are alright. Read more 
October 24 “Millions of tongues record thee, and anew Their children’s lips shall echo them, and say— ‘Here where the sword united nations drew, Our countrymen were warring on that day!” –Lord George Gordon Byron, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage
In 2009 the UN turned 63, the same age its leading proponent was when he died in April 1945, a month shy of Germany’s surrender. Franklin Delano Roosevelt had spent his 63rd birthday …Read more 
October 17
60 years after the adoption of the universal declaration of human rights, million of people are still deprived of basic human rights such as food, housing and decent working conditions. On October 17, 1987, over 100,000 people gathered at the Trocadero in Paris, the site of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, to protest and draw awareness to the problem of poverty around the globe. The Declaration covers …Read more 
October 5 There are dozens of Teachers’ Days celebrated on different dates around the world, often on the birthdays of countries’ greatest instructors. Taiwan and India celebrate Teachers’ Day in September with the observed birthdays of Confucius and Radhakrishnan respectively. The Czech Republic celebrates on March 28 with the birthday of Jan Amos Komensky. Finland honors Mikael Agricola on April 9. China celebrates Teachers’ Day on September 10. In the United States, the first full week in May …Read more |
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