MDBCs 25 Dec 2024

Grav-Mass Day is an unofficial holiday celebrated annually on December 25, the birth anniversary of English physicist and mathematician Isaac Newton.

A play on Christmas, the holiday is a celebration of science and reason. It is also considered to be a secular alternative to the Christian holiday.

Grav-Mass refers to the Gravitational Constant and Mass, two key components of Newton’s law of universal gravitation.

Science Fiction Origins

The holiday was the brainchild of computer programmer and Internet rights activist, Richard Matthew Stallman. He was however, not the first one to use the term grav-mass, also sometimes spelled as gravmass or gravmas. It is believed that it was first used in a short story called Merry Gravmas by science fiction writer, James Hogan.

Newtonmas

A similar holiday called Newtonmas is also celebrated on December 25. Rumor has it that Newtonmas was first celebrated in 1890, 248 years after Newton's birth, by the members of Newton Association. These fans of Newton met for the first time at Imperial College and spent Christmas Day exchanging their ideas and thoughts about Newton's works and theories.

Sir Isaac Newton is one of the most significant scientists of all times. He was responsible for formulating the laws of motion and gravity, and along with Gottfried Leibniz, he is credited for inventing the field of calculus. In addition, Newton worked extensively in the fields of optics and alchemy.

How to Celebrate?

Celebrate the life and times of Isaac Newton by sharing scientific ideas and discoveries with each other.
Stallman, the inventor of the holiday, recommends decorating one’s Christmas tree with apples – the fruit that Newton credited for giving him the idea about gravitation.
Make science and physics related parodies of Christmas carols and sing them.
Greet people by saying "Merry Grav-Mass to you", and respond by saying "may the Force be proportional to your acceleration". These greetings come from Hogan’s short story.
Send Grav-Mass Day greeting cards that say "Reasons Greetings to you".

Did You Know…

…that technically we should be celebrating Newton's birthday on January 4? This is because when he was born on December 25, 1642, the Julian Calendar was still in effect in England. This date converts to January 4, 1643 in the Gregorian calendar.

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A'phabet Day or No "L" Day

December 25 is A'phabet Day or No "L" Day, a day to skip the ‘L’ in all your correspondences and communications - written or otherwise.

The origins and purpose of this very obvious’y made-up ho’iday are unknown.

L is the twelfth letter in the English alphabet and the ninth consonant. A consonant is a speech sound that is created by the complete or partial constriction of the vocal organs. There are 21 consonant sounds in the English language.

December 25 is also celebrated by many people around the world as Christmas Day.

How to Celebrate?

Celebrating A'phabet Day or No "L" Day will be a challenge. But don't worry. We have you covered! Here are some easy ways to ce’ebrate this very quirky ho’iday.

Avoid the use of ‘L’ in everything you write and say today.
Ban the use of any object that begin with the letter 'L' in your house and in your workplace.
This holiday is also a great excuse to learn more about orthography. Orthography is the study of the rules of writing a language.

Did You Know...

…that the often cited Cambridge study that spelling doesn’t impede comprehension is true? According to new studies it doesn’t matter in what order letters in a word are as long as the first two letters are at the right place.

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Our company gives out Thanksgiving turkeys to retired employees. All they have to do is stop by the plant to pick them up.

A few days before the holiday, a retiree called to ask, “What time do the turkeys get in?”

The receptionist, without thinking, responded, “Everyone starts at eight.”

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Two old friends, Ned and John, lived for baseball. Then one day, John died, leaving Ned inconsolable. A few weeks later, Ned heard someone calling his name. He looked up. Standing on a cloud was his old pal.

“Ned,” John called down, “I have good news and bad. The good news is, there’s baseball in heaven!”

“Great,” said Ned. “What’s the bad news?”

“You’re pitching Sunday.”

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My sister Jordan was helping my 21/2-year-old niece Berea put on her sweatshirt when Berea’s head got stuck on the neck hole.

Berea started panicking and saying, “I can’t see! I can’t see!” The shirt quickly slipped over her head, and the panic was gone until her arms got stuck  on the tight cuffs.

The panic returned, and she started crying again. “My fingers can’t see! My fingers can’t see!” she said.

It was all we could do not to laugh as Jordan quickly pulled Berea’s arms through the cuffs.

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Q: What's the easiest way to remember your wife's birthday?

A: Forget it once!

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A dog walks into a butcher shop and the butcher asks, “What do you want?”

The dog points to steak in a glass case.

“How many pounds?” The dog barks twice.

“Anything else?” The dog points to some pork chops and barks four times.

So the butcher wraps up a two-pound steak and four pork chops, and places the bag in the dog’s mouth. He then takes money from a purse tied around the dog’s neck, and sees him out.

A customer, who has been watching in amazement, follows the dog to a house several blocks away, where it rings the doorbell to be let in.

As the owner appears at the door, the customer says, “What a remarkable dog!”

“Remarkable?” snorts the owner.

“This is the second time this week he’s forgotten his keys.”

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