Labor Day

From the Department of Labor:


Labor Day: How it Came About; What it Means
Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

Founder of Labor Day
More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.

Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold."

But Peter McGuire's place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.

The First Labor Day
The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.

In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a "workingmen's holiday" on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.

Labor Day Legislation
Through the years the nation gave increasing emphasis to Labor Day. The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. From them developed the movement to secure state legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. During the year four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York — created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.

A Nationwide Holiday
The form that the observance and celebration of Labor Day should take were outlined in the first proposal of the holiday — a street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations" of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families. This became the pattern for the celebrations of Labor Day. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civic significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.

The character of the Labor Day celebration has undergone a change in recent years, especially in large industrial centers where mass displays and huge parades have proved a problem. This change, however, is more a shift in emphasis and medium of expression. Labor Day addresses by leading union officials, industrialists, educators, clerics and government officials are given wide coverage in newspapers, radio, and television.

The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation's strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker.

Merry Christmas

Don't work too hard...

Happy Festivus

Festivus for the rest of us.

Cost of the 12 days of Christmas

From News4Jax:

Prices of items in the Christmas carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas," according to PNC Wealth Management:

1. Partridge, $20 (last year: $15) and Pear Tree, $200 (last year: $150)
2. Two Turtle Doves, $55 (last year: $40)
3. Three French Hens, $30 (last year: $45)
4. Four Calling Birds (canaries), $600 (last year: same)
5. Five Gold Rings, $350 (last year: $395)
6. Six Geese a-Laying, $240 (last year: $360)
7. Seven Swans a-Swimming, $5,600 (last year: $4,200)
8. Eight Maids a-Milking, $52 (last year: $47)
9. Nine Ladies Dancing (per performance), $4,759 (last year: same)
10. 10 Lords a-Leaping (per performance), $4,414 (last year: $4,285)
11. 11 Pipers Piping (per performance), $2,285 (last year: $2,213)
12. 12 Drummers Drumming (per performance), $2,475 (last year: $2,398)

Halloween, destroyer of planets

From MSNBC:

And if memory serves me correctly, each year I also slid into a shiny pair of red plastic pants — plastic pants! Granted, it was the early 1980s, a period not known for its use of organic materials or colors, but all that plastic continues not only to clog up my recollection of Halloweens past, but it’s also most likely still sitting in a landfill waiting to biodegrade.

Halloween can be an especially eco-unfriendly holiday. There’s the single-use plastic of red devil costumes, countless candy wrappers (not to mention the refined sugar, high-fructose corn syrup and artificial color of the candies themselves) and disposable decorations. According to the National Retail Federation’s Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, Americans will spend more than $5 million on Halloween paraphernalia this year. That’s more than $5 million worth of stuff that ultimately ends up impacting the earth.

So this year I’m going to seize the opportunity to right my wrongs. As I get ready to introduce my child to his first Halloween, I’m making sure that I add a bit of earth awareness to the preparations.

TP is biodegradeable. So is a brown paper bag of poo. I'm sure she'll be enjoying both this season.

The new holiday sport...

From Yahoo!:

Women arrested in sex competition

ATHENS (Reuters) - Nine British women were facing prostitution charges after being arrested at the weekend for taking part in an oral sex competition in the Greek holiday island of Zakynthos, police said on Monday.

Six British and six Greek men, including two bar owners, were also charged in the incident, which took place at Laganas beach in the south of the Ionian island, which lies off the west coast of mainland Greece, police said.

The women, who came to the popular resort on holiday, had been paid to take part in the competition, which was video recorded and was to be posted on the Internet, police said.

The men were charged with encouraging obscene behavior.

First served, first come? Oh yeh, and no video posted yet either.

Today, we celebrate our Independence Day

http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Independence_Day.shtml

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

Stay safe, shoot straight, remember the four f's: Family, Food, Fun, Fireworks.

Happy Easter

Happy St. Patrick's Day

It's Steak and a BJ day

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=March+14th

Steak and BJ Day was invented by Tom Birdsey, may he live forever, and may the gods eternally bless his fate. Men everywhere should build shrines and worship this man, who has been so kind as to bless us with a day devoted entirely to devouring massive hunks of cowflesh and having one's member gobbled. Truly, he is a saint among swine, and deserving of the highest accolades in the worlds beyond.

Seriously though, Steak and BJ Day was invented as a response to Valentine's Day, a day in which men get the 'privilege' of showing their affection for their significant other by spending ludicrous amounts of time, money, and effort in showering them in gifts, dinners, shows, and various other things to show them just how special they are to us.

Isn't it about time that there was a day just like that, but devoted to having the ladies show men just how much they appreciate them? Thanks to Steak and BJ Day, this dream has finally come true.

And look how easy it is! Since we're really only one of two things, the formula for showing us that appreciation is really very simple.

First: FOOD! Not any of that new-age healthy co-op market crap, either. Just give us a big hunk of cow. Preferably still bleeding. The napkin will be unnecessary, thanks, that's what the backs of our arms are for.

I think the second part does not require any further explanation from me.

Best thing is: It's a win-win situation! Just think, ladies, of just how hard your man will try to please you on February 14th just at the *thought* of the rewards he will be receiving on his special day. There's no way to lose, unless you have difficulty suppressing your gag reflex.

March 14th is, in short: Best. Holiday. EVAR!

CRAP! It is Lent. Oh well, the second half makes a great consolation prize.

Valentines + Dinosaurs = Valendinos

Courtesy of SomethingAwful.com.

One important demographic which will not be around to celebrate Valentines Day 2008 is the dinosaurs. According to reports, they are all dead. This makes it extremely difficult to perform the most basic tasks, never mind buying gifts. That's why I'd like to ask each and every one of you to enjoy the following images from our forum goons of dinosaur-inspired love notes, while keeping in mind that many species depicted in these contributions are no longer with us. Unless they are hiding with Elvis and laughing it up at the fossils that the Illuminati planted.

Happy New Year!

Chinese New Year starts on the first day of the new year containing a new moon (some sources include New Year's Eve) and ends on the Lantern Festival fourteen days later. This occurs around the time of the full moon as each lunation is about 29.53 days in duration. In the Gregorian calendar, Chinese New Year falls on different dates each year, a date between January 21 and February 20. This means that the holiday usually falls on the second (very rarely third) new moon after the winter solstice. In traditional Chinese Culture, lichun is a solar term marking the start of spring, which occurs about February 4.

The dates for the Spring Festival from 1996 to 2019 (in the Gregorian calendar) are at the right, along with the year's presiding animal zodiac and its earthly branch. The names of the earthly branches have no English counterparts and are not the Chinese translations of the animals. Alongside the 12-year cycle of the animal zodiac there is a 10-year cycle of heavenly stems. Each of the ten heavenly stems is associated with one of the five elements of Chinese astrology, namely: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. The elements are rotated every two years while a yin and yang association alternates every year. The elements are thus distinguished: Yang Wood, Yin Wood, Yang Fire, Yin Fire, etc. These produce a combined cycle that repeats every 60 years. For example, the year of the Yang Fire Rat occurred in 1936 and in 1996, 60 years apart.

Police say woman groped Santa

A 33-year-old woman was charged with fourth-degree sexual assault Saturday after allegedly groping a man playing Santa Claus at the Danbury Fair mall.

Sandrama Lamy, 33, of Danbury, is charged with fourth-degree sexual assault, according to Danbury Detective Lt. Thomas Michael.

Two messages seeking comment were left on Lamy's answering machine.

Details leading up to the alleged fondling are sketchy.

"I don't know what the deal was. It was just bizarre," the mall Santa told a reporter, referring all other questions about the incident to Cherry Hill Photo, the company that runs the Danbury Fair mall Santa photo setup.

Cherry Hill Photo did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

According to information provided by the Danbury Police Department, officers were dispatched to the mall Saturday at 8:45 p.m.

The mall Santa told police that Lamy touched him inappropriately while sitting on his lap.

"The security officer at the mall said Santa Claus has been sexually assaulted," Michael said.

Lamy was also charged with breach of peace.

"She must have caused a commotion over there," Michael said.

Must have been the mistletoe belt....

Happy Thanksgiving

Stay safe and get stuffed!

This costume wins Halloween

And if you have no clue what this is about, you missed one hell of a game.

Happy Halloween. Now go save London.

Hellgate: London - Watch more free videos

According to legend, when the ravens depart the Tower of London, it will crumble to rubble and disaster will befall England. As man became more dependent on science, believing only in what he could define or create, ancient knowledge and rituals were lost to the antiquity of time.

Combining the depth of traditional RPGs with the frenetic, visceral feel of first-person shooters, HellGate: London offers infinite replayability with dynamically created levels, monsters, items and events that gives each player their own unique hack-and-slash experience.

A post-apocalyptic London has been overrun by hordes of terrifying demons, leaving the city desolate and scorched by hellfire. Those who were unlucky enough to survive now gather in the only sanctuary left, the Underground, banding together in order to gain a foothold against the minions of darkness and ultimately save the bloodline of humanity.

I liked the demo. I think I might pick it up as an impulse buy.

YARRRRR!!!!

What's your pirate name?

Old name: Starfuryzeta

We'll now call ye:

"Fancypants" Dan Drake

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Thanksgiving.

Seeya after the holidays.