National Day Calendar

This Toy Was Also A Fashion Accessory And A Weapon! Welcome to June 6th, 2023 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate a toy that distracts us from life’s ups and downs and a blast from the past.   Yo-yos were all the rage in the United States during the mid 1900s, but the toy has been around since ancient times. Pottery from Ancient Greece depicts children playing with yo-yos and images o...

This Is A Plant Based Protein You Can Really Sink Your Teeth Into. Welcome to June 5th, 2023 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate primal plant protein and potent potables.  It used to be that vegetarians were a bit on the outside of cookouts. Sure, there were veggie burgers, but they were made of beans or soy and most of the time they didn’t hold up on the grill. So maybe you ended up...

This Is The Best Way To Sample Moose Milk. Welcome to June 4th, 2023 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate cheesy comfort food and polka paradise.  Today we celebrate an ooey, gooey comfort food - delicious cheese!  This all time favorite can be found in every corner of the world, though it’s made from a variety of ingredients.  One of the rarest of these is the cheese that’s made from...

A Cookie By Any Other Name Would Taste As Sweet! Welcome to June 3rd, 2023 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate “favorite do overs” and a coconut lover’s dream.  Anna: Everyone has found themselves in a conversation with someone who talks too much. Even the Greek goddess Hera. The nymph Echo started talking her ear off and just. wouldn’t. stop. Hera was so annoyed that she put a curse...

This Is How The Name Dough Boys Came To Be. Welcome to June 2nd 2023 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate smoothing the rocky road and our favorite comfort food.  Around the time of the Great Depression, ice cream makers William Dreyer and Joseph Edy decided to try something new.  Up until then, ice cream came in basic flavors, but a new refrigeration technology allowed for more ingred...

These Two Former Presidents Discovered The Power Of The Pen. Welcome to June 1st, 2023 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate a lifesaving technique and bridging the distance with words.  It’s hard to say how many lives have been affected by Dr. Henry Heimlich.  Some estimate that his abdominal thrust technique has been performed successfully over 50,000 times since 1974!  This procedure...

This California Gull Is The Official State Bird Of Utah! Welcome to May 31, 2023 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate a miraculous smarm and smile power. The California Gull is an official state bird—but not of California. It seems strange, but this bird that can sometimes be seen as a nuisance to beachgoers is a hero in Utah. Back in 1848, swarms of crickets descended on the crops of...

This Southern Drink Goes Hand In Glove With The Kentucky Derby. Welcome to May 30, 2023 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate the spirit of the South and fabulous flora. If you’ve ever been to the American South you have likely been offered one of two drinks. Sweet tea is consumed in this part of the country almost as much as water. But for the non teetotaler, nothing is more Southern t...

This Is The Ultimate Trading Up Story. Welcome to May 29, 2023 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate amazing trades and remember our fallen heroes. Have you ever heard the story about the guy who traded a paperclip for a house?  Kyle MacDonald, a Canadian blogger played the childhood game called Bigger, Better and started with a simple paperclip.  The idea of the game is that you keep t...

No Matter How You Slice It, This Day Is All About Beef. Welcome to May 28, 2023 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate barbecue classics and popular patties. Brisket is one of the most prized cuts of barbecue meat, but it wasn’t always so popular. In fact, it was once considered to be of very poor quality. However, that changed in the early 1900s when European Jewish immigrants arrived i...

This Happy Accident Is Still Delicious. Welcome to May 27th, 2023 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate happy accidents and inventions that really stick.   Like so many good things, the Popsicle’s creation was a happy accident.  In 1905, 11 year-old Frank Epperson was sitting on his front porch, stirring a cupful of powdered soda and water with a stick.  That night was unusually cold, a...

This Flight Set The Bar For Paper Plane Folding. Welcome to May 26, 2023 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate flights of fancy and a portable fridge. You may think of paper airplanes as kid stuff, but some people take it very seriously. Ken Blackburn set the record for the longest paper airplane flight, when his craft stayed aloft for an unbelievable 27.6 seconds.  In fairness Ken is a...

This May Be The Most Memorable Tap Dance Ever. Welcome to May 25, 2023 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate inspirational libations and moving to the beat of happy feet. According to Greek mythology, there were twelve gods who lived on Mount Olympus. Of the twelve, only one was part human. Dionysus held a special place for the Greeks, not only because his mother was human, but also bec...

This Happy Accident Is Still A Sweet Success! Welcome to May 23, 2023 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate the luck you are given and the kind you make for yourself. The first one-cent coin in America was minted in 1787, and was designed by Benjamin Franklin.  On one side, it read “Mind Your Business” and the other “We Are One,” though we’re not sure which side counted as heads or tail...

This Instrument Is Featured In Horror Movies. Welcome to May 22, 2023 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate strange instruments and strategic goofing off. The most popular instrument in the world is the guitar. It makes sense if you think about its versatility in terms of genre. But at the other end of the spectrum, you’ll find the theremin—one of the most uncommon musical instruments....

Let Your Kids Mix Things Up In The Great Outdoors. Welcome to May 21, 2023 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate a few of my favorite things and role reversal. If I say “berry,” what’s the first one to come to mind? See I knew that about you. And did you know they are packed with Vitamin C and antioxidants? So just for you Marlo it’s National Strawberries and Cream Day and I’m giving yo...

This Museum Is Dedicated To Our Favorite Summer Fruit. Welcome to May 20, 2023 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate berry bliss and slowing down to the speed of streaming. The United States loves its strawberries. They’re one of our most popular fruits and lag only behind bananas and apples in overall sales. But nobody loves strawberries more than the people of Belgium. In the small to...

This Sinful Dessert Caused Quite A Stir! Welcome to May 19, 2023 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate sinful desserts and life in the fast lane. No one is quite sure where the name Devil's Food Cake came from.  But these light, moist chocolate cakes made quite a stir when they popped up in Indiana.  One of the first recipes appeared in the 1898 edition of the Hagerstown Exponent.  Righ...

This Culinary Masterpiece Is Worth The Challenge. Welcome to May 18, 2023 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate puffed up cheese and the crafty cleanup. The word soufflé is a French word meaning to puff or to breathe.  And many Americans hold their breath while making a soufflé, because frankly they can be hard to master.  This is probably because there are so many ways to fail when bak...

This Crash Site Put This Stuntman On The Map! Welcome to May 17, 2023 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate sweet substitutions and stunning stunts. They say that necessity is the mother of invention and in the case of cherry cobbler that need was for a pudding.  I’m talking about British settlers in the American colonies who were longing for a taste of their hometown favorite, suet pud...

These Tiny Shrimp Are Not All They Are Cracked Up To Be. Welcome to May 16th, 2023 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate a classic case of “buyer beware” and a beautiful day in the neighborhood.   Artemia salina are a species of brine shrimp that go into a state of hibernation when they become dried out. But when you reintroduce water, they spring back to life. If you read comic books i...

That Is One Spicy Record! Welcome to May 15, 2023 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate living it up in Salsaville and classic cookies. June 2010 was a great time for fans of tortilla chips—specifically those who were living near Jacksonville, Texas. Bob Blumer, host of Food Network Canada’s “Glutton for Punishment” and  20 volunteers chopped up ingredients like tomatoes, onions, jalape...

This Year Why Not Give Mom Something From The Heart. Welcome to May 14, 2023 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate heartfelt connections and record breaking dances.  Human mothers instinctively hold their infants to the left side of their bodies. This happens regardless of whether the mother is left or right-handed. And it’s just primal instinct. The right side of the brain, which contr...

This Frog Is Celebrated For Her Amazing Leap! Welcome to May 13, 2023 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate good old American favorites. Americans didn’t invent frog jumping, but we know where the most celebrated contest originated.  That would be Calaveras County, California back in 1849.  Thanks to Mark Twain, these amphibian olympics are still celebrated throughout the country to thi...

Can A Robot Write A Decent Poem? Welcome to May 12, 2023 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate an ancient technology and the future of poetry. There have been so many technological advancements in the past century that sometimes it’s hard to keep track. Inventions seem to come and go, especially in the digital age. But a few devices have stood the test of time. Like the odometer. This d...