MDBCs 17 Jul 2023

Entry posted by sandrewn in Bread Crumbs 715 July 17, 2023

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https://gayauthors.org/blogs/entry/21837-mdbcs-17-jul-2023/

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July 17th 2023 - Holidays and Observances

(click on the day for details)

Christian feast day:
- Alexius of Rome (Western Church)
- Andrew Zorard
- Cynehelm
- Cynllo
- Inácio de Azevedo
- Jadwiga of Poland
- Magnus Felix Ennodius
- Marcellina
- Martyrs of Compiègne
- Blessed Pavel Peter Gojdič (Greek Catholic Church)
- Pope Leo IV
- Romanov sainthood (Russian Orthodox Church)
- Speratus and companions
- William White (Episcopal Church))
- July 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Constitution Day (South Korea)
Gion Matsuri (Yasaka Shrine, Kyoto)
Independence Day (Slovakia)
International Firgun Day (international)
King's Birthday (Lesotho)
U Tirot Sing Day (Meghalaya, India)
World Day for International Justice (International)

Observances (click on the day, BD, or week for details)

National Get Out of the Dog House Day

Angela Merkel’s Birthday

Fun Observances ( 2 )

Yellow Pig Day

July 17 is Yellow Pig Day. Despite its name, the day is not a celebration of the porcine world, but a celebration of the number 17.

The unofficial holiday was created in the early 1960s by Princeton mathematics students, David Kelly and Michael Spivak, while working on the special properties of the number 17.

It is unclear why the day was called Yellow Pig Day or what a yellow pig has to do with the number 17, though legend has it that it is in reference to David Kelly's collection of yellow pigs. The mascot of the holiday, the yellow pig, has 17 toes, 17 eyelashes, and 17 teeth.

A Number With Special Properties

17 is a prime number that has significance in mathematics. It is the sum of the first four prime numbers - 2, 3, 5, and 7. A prime number is a number that can only be divided by 1 and by itself. Several studies have shown that when people are asked to choose a number between 1 and 20, a majority of people choose the number 17.

17 is not always a special number. In Italy, for example, 17 is considered to an unlucky number.

How to Celebrate?

Gift the mathematicians in your life marzipan Yellow Pig candies or yellow pig plush toys.
Do 17 acts of kindness during the day.
Sing Yellow Pig carols.

Did You Know...

...that the fear of the number 17 is called heptadecaphobia.

~~~~~~~

Emoji Day

World Emoji Day on July 17 is an unofficial holiday that pays homage to emojis.

The holiday was created in 2014 by Jeremy Burge as a way to celebrate emojis and to popularize their usage. Burge is the creator of Emojipedia, a reference website for emojis. He chose July 17 as the date for the observance because of the way the calendar emoji is displayed on iPhones—a calendar that has July 17 as the default date.

Japanese Invention

Emojis are graphical representations of emotions, ideas, and thoughts. A Japanese invention of the 1990s, they were first introduced to the world in 2011 by Apple in their iPhones. The word emoji in Japanese means picture character or picture letter.

Emojis have now become an integral part of online communications—billions of emojis are sent in social media and text messages daily. Some of the most widely used emojis including the face with tears of joy, the heart, and the face with heart eyes.

A New Language

The widespread usage of emojis in everyday online correspondence has led linguistics experts to believe that emojis might be evolving into a new type of language. According to experts, emojis can be very convenient and effective in written communication, where emotion and tone are harder to convey.

At the same time, there have been concerns that emojis can also lead to miscommunications, especially when people interpret an emoji differently.

Emoji Versus Emoticons

Many people use the words emoji and emoticons interchangeably, even though they are not the same thing. Emoticons are text only while emojis are stylized images.

How to Celebrate?

Use only emojis to communicate with everyone on social media and text/SMS today.
Carry index cards with emojis printed on them and use them when interacting with people in real life. Let them know you are celebrating World Emoji Day.