MDBCs 05 Feb 2024

On this unofficial holiday, honor the women and men who keep an eye on the weather so that you don’t get caught unawares by changing or extreme weather.

The First Weatherman

Primarily celebrated in the United States, the holiday commemorates the birth anniversary of John Jeffries, thought to be America's first weatherman. A physician by profession, Jeffries started collecting weather data in Boston in 1774. Ten years later, in 1784, he became the first person in the world to collect weather data from a weather observation balloon over London.

Celebrates the Science

This day celebrates the science of meteorology and encourages people to pay tribute to the women and men who forecast and broadcast weather related information and warnings every day of the year. The day also honors volunteers, storm chasers, and meteorologists who sometimes risk their lives in order to collect climate and weather data and to alert the public and businesses about severe weather conditions.

The holiday is also known as National Weatherman’s Day.

How to Celebrate?

Know a meteorologist or a weatherperson? Thank them for all their hard work.
If you are a science teacher or have young adults in your life, encourage them to look at meteorology as a career option.
Learn more about weather patterns and meteorological events.
Visit a weather or meteorology museum.

Did You Know…

…that the first weather forecast was printed in The Times of London on August 1, 1861?

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Chocolate Fondue Day

February 5 is Chocolate Fondue Day, a made-up holiday that encourages people to get together with family and friends and enjoy a fondue pot of delicious and gooey melted chocolate.

Chocolate fondue is the dessert version of the traditional fondue – pieces of bread and vegetables dipped in melted cheese. In chocolate fondue, pieces of fruit, cake or cookies are dipped into sweetened melted chocolate.

Bringing People Together

Fondue is a communal dish eaten out of a pot that is kept warm with a candle or lamp. The heat keeps the cheese or the chocolate melted and warm. Diners use skewers, toothpicks, or special fondue forks to dip the bread or fruit in the melted cheese or chocolate. Etiquette requires that the dipping instrument is only used to bring the food from the fondue pot to the diner’s plate and that diners never double dip their morsels of food in the cheese or chocolate.

An American Invention With Swiss Roots

Thought to be the national dish of Switzerland, fondue is thought to have originated in the country as a way to use up leftover cheese. Original cheese fondue recipes called for the cheese to be mixed with wine and herbs.

Rumor has it that chocolate fondue was first created in the United States, where this holiday is also known as National Chocolate Fondue Day, sometime in the 1950s.

How to Celebrate?

With chocolate fondue, of course! Get your friends and family together and indulge in some delicious chocolate fondue. To keep it healthy, offer an array of fruits – apples, strawberries, oranges, bananas – to the diners.
In addition to fruits, you can also serve cake, cookies, waffles, marshmallows, and ice cream cubes for everyone to dip in the chocolate.
Have a chocolate fondue party. Set up a fondue station with different kinds of melted chocolates and chocolate flavors. May we recommend dark chocolate with bacon bits, salted caramel chocolate, mint chocolate, and white chocolate with sprinkles?

Did You Know…

...that fondue bourguignonne is a type of fondue where diners dip pieces of uncooked meat into hot oil?

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Author Cindy Chupack coined these useful neologisms to help those dating today.

Man-me-downs: Men who are passed on from one woman to another after a failed attempt at romance.

Cupidity: The faulty logic that leads a well-meaning but clueless third party to believe that two random singles are perfect for each other.

DNRR (Do Not Resuscitate Romance): A directive that you are not, under any circumstance, allowed to revive a past relationship.

***

I met my husband while I was working in a science library. He came in every week to read the latest journals and eventually decided to take out the librarian instead of the books. After a year and a half of dating, he showed up at the library and started rummaging through my desk.

I asked what he was looking for, but he didn't answer. Finally he unearthed one of the rubber stamps I used to identify reference books.

"Since I couldn't find the right engagement ring," he said, "this will have to do," and he firmly stamped my hand.

Across my knuckles, in capital letters, it read "NOT FOR CIRCULATION."

***

Driving through Southern California, I stopped at a roadside stand that sold fruit, vegetables and crafts. As I went to pay, I noticed the young woman behind the counter was painting a sign.

"Why the new sign?" I asked.

"My boyfriend didn't approve of the old one," she said.

When I glanced at what hung above the counter, I understood.

It declared: "Local Honey Dates Nuts"

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Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers were dining in New York. Ginger was resplendent in a ball gown and pearls, and Fred also sported evening wear. But the meal was marred when the waiter bringing their desserts tripped and covered Fred from head to toe in treacle sponge.

“I’m terribly sorry,” said the waiter.

“So you should be,” replied Fred.

“Thanks to you, I’ve pudding on my top hat, pudding on my white tie, pudding on my tails.”