Welcome to Worldwide Weird Holidays, where you’ll find a new reason to celebrate every day of the year.
September 12 is National Video Games Day
Today is National Video Games Day. In 1971, a company named Nutting Associates released Computer Space, the first commercial arcade video game. Although it wasn’t a huge financial success, it began a fruitful partnership between creators Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, who left and opened their own outfit called Atari. They introduced Pong the following year. […]
September 10 is International Creepy Boston Dynamics Horse Day
Today is International Creepy Boston Dynamics Horse Day. On September 10, 2012, Boston Dynamics released footage of a rough-terrain robot it developed with funding from Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the U.S. Marine Corps. The robot’s official name is The Legged Squad Support System (LS3). Its sensors allow it to follow a human […]
September 9 is Tester’s Day
Today is Tester’s Day. This unofficial holiday for technicians everywhere is not without controversy. The Story On September 9, 1945, Grace Hopper, a computer scientist at Harvard University, was running tests on the Mark II Calculator (designed by Howard Aiken) when she found a moth that had landed between two solenoid contacts, shorting out an electromechanical relay. Hopper […]
September 8 is Pardon Day
Today is Pardon Day. On September 8, 1974, President Gerald Ford issued a controversial pardon to Richard Nixon, who had resigned on August 9, 1974 (a.k.a. National Veep Day.) What follows is an excerpt. Read the full proclamation here. As a result of certain acts or omissions occurring before his resignation from the Office of President, […]
September 7 is National Buy a Book Day
Today is National Buy a Book Day, created in 2010 by author Philip Athans to support bookstores, writers and the publishing industry. He chose September 7 as the date of its observance because it falls on his birthday. Athans described his inspiration in science fiction/fantasy blog Grasping at the Wind: It started with a tweet, which warned […]
September 6 is Fight Procrastination Day
Today is Fight Procrastination Day, created by an unknown person at an indeterminate point in human history. We’ve been unable to track down the source of this important, unofficial holiday. Procrastination is no joke, according to two of the world’s leading experts: Joseph Ferrari, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology at De Paul University in Chicago, […]
International Bacon Day
Today is International Bacon Day, celebrated on the Saturday before Labor Day since 2009 as indicated on a blog which includes helpful translations for the globetrotting bacon lover: English – Can I have some Bacon? Dutch – Kan ik wat Bacon hebben? French – Est-ce que je peux prendre du lard ? German – Kann ich […]
September 1 is Chicken Boy Day
Today is Chicken Boy Day, celebrating the birthday of the fiberglass legend on September 1, 1969, or thereabouts. Official birth records are unavailable. Twenty-two feet tall, referred to by many as the Statue of Liberty of Los Angeles, California, Chicken Boy stood atop his namesake restaurant on Broadway between Fourth & Fifth Streets for fourteen […]
Wisconsin State Cow Chip Throw
On the Friday and Saturday before Labor Day, a festival known as the Wisconsin State Cow Chip Throw takes place in Sauk City/Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin. It’s estimated that 40,000 people attend each year. The current record for a throw is 248 feet. Perhaps a little background is in order. The pioneers who settled the Plains […]
La Tomatina
Today is La Tomatina, a legendary festival held on the last Wednesday of August in the Spanish town of Buñol. Thousands come from around the world to participate in what is billed as the World’s Biggest Food Fight. The tradition is only 72 years old, relatively new in European terms, but no one can seem […]