Skepticism

Afternoon Inquisition 10.14

As I’m sure you all know,  today is World Standards Day, honoring the folks who develop voluntary standards within standards development organizations…. yeah.

While this is important work in a global economy to be sure, it doesn’t really lend itself to paper hats and decorating your cube at work.  No one bakes a cake for World Standards Day. 

If you could declare today a special holiday, what would it be, and how would we celebrate?

A.real.girl

A B Kovacs is the Director of Døøm at Empty Set Entertainment, a publishing company she co-founded with critical thinker and fiction author Scott Sigler. She considers herself a “Creative Adjacent” — helping creative people be more productive and prolific by managing the logistics of Making for the masses. She's a science nerd, a rabid movie geek, and an unrepentantly voracious reader. She doesn't like chocolate all that much.

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55 Comments

  1. One could always go the George Carlin route and make today one of the two instances of “Legal Murder Twice a Year”, which we would celebrate in, well, the obvious fashion. :-P

    But on a more serious note, I’ve always wanted an Absurdity Day, where people are allowed to do things that make even less sense than the things they do on a normal day. Dress as you wish, behave as you wish (as long as no one else is harmed or coerced into anything). Be as puzzling and unfathomable as you can imagine.

    The whole point would be to get people to question what on earth would make someone do such a thing, hopefully rekindling a sense of wonder. But it’d have to be an obscure holiday, since too many people knowing about Absurdity Day would short circuit its intent.

  2. @Expatria:

    Dress as you wish, behave as you wish (as long as no one else is harmed or coerced into anything). Be as puzzling and unfathomable as you can imagine.

    I thought the point of a holiday was to do something different from other days.

    I am a hedge

  3. They DO bake cakes, and they’re exactly the same cake to within 0.002%

    I would like National Cat Kicking Day.

    I wouldn’t actually kick a cat. I don’t actually even dislike cats, although I’d have to trade in my live-in Skepchick if I brought one home.

    But I would like just one day a year when they know I *could* kick them with the blessings of the state. One day they have to wipe that smug, superior look off their arrogant little faces. One day they have to realize they are completely dependent on we beleaguered chefs/scratching posts for their continued existence One day they know if we turned on them it would make the coming Zombie Apocalypse look like a trip to the groomer.

    I would trade in Arbor Day for Cat-Kicking Day.

  4. How about International Naked Day*? It’s like Pantsless Day but better!

    *obviously to prevent rioting several people should be discouraged from participating.

  5. Well, the day is not over yet but, if you’ve been following the news, looks like this is the Day We Were Not Invaded By Incredibly Dull Aliens (click on gravatar to activate plug, * wink wink *). Except that “Day We Were Not Invaded By Incredibly Dull Aliens” is a little longish. What about “DWWIBIDA”? Or perhaps “Laugh-At-A-Psychic Day”?

    I know! I got it!

    “FAIL DAY”

  6. Well, Futurama already took the winner with freedom day.

    I’d make today International Meta International Day Day

  7. 9pm is Pants Off Time in my house, everyday.

    I vote for Intercourse Day, or Ethanol Appreciation Day. Most years those two overlap.

  8. Keeping in character, I’m going to have to go Scrooge on this question.

    I don’t like holidays. Never have.

    To my mind, if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing more often than once a year. Anniversaries (such as birthdays) excepted, because you’re actually acknowledging the passage of time.

  9. My vote is for ‘Bring your own Towel day”, which would be celebrated by talking incomprehensibly to each other (sans babel fish, of course), attempting to jump and miss the ground, and, when we are exhausted by this, the ingestion of Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters.

  10. @JRice: I don’t like holidays much either, but I don’t see anything in the question that requires the new holiday to be an annual event. It’s your dealie. Make it monthly or weekly, or even declare it a randomly recurring event. Make a holiday that sneaks up on people. That’s be pretty awesome.

  11. @Expatria:
    I want a don’t panic towel.

    Actually today is Final Day To File Your Taxes Without Incuring Massive Penalties Day Eve.

    I’ve been celebrating for two weeks by working myself sillier.

  12. Columbus Day? Well … here in Columbus (uh, the one in Ohio) we say …

    Damn, what *do* we say, anyway? I need to get out, more.

    I want a National Take a Geek to Lunch day. That way I’d get taken to lunch at least one time, each year. Maybe.

  13. Pun Day.

    As Spider Robinson presented it in one of his Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon stories, the week starts with Sunday, followed by Monday, and then comes … Punday. Callahan’s hosts weekly punning contests.

    I’d love for this to be done not just in reality, but on a national scale. That would rock!

    And, yes, you might come up with a great pun and impress me. But then I’d come up with a paronomasia.

    ;^D

    ~Wordplayer

  14. Election Day?

    I’m more concerned and confused as to why it -isn’t- a national holiday, but I’m an optimist.

    To celebrate, we would play pin-the-egregious-future-federal-policy-on-its-entirely-predictable-outcome, followed by a drinking game where you draw a card with the next potential personal freedom to be eroded, and you must take a drink every time you assert that freedom.

    Hello everybody, new kid here referred from Bad Astronomy / Captain Disillusion

  15. @Steve:
    We used to celebrate Mole day in my high school chem/phys class. If you showed up to celebrate at 6:02 am on October 23, you got extra credit. Although thinking about it now, it should probably be called Avogadro’s day.

  16. Critical Thinking Day?

    Or would 99.9% of the planet’s population spontaneously combust?

    Thus proving the existance of spontaneous combustion.

    And also leaving people who use their brains behind…

  17. And why is there no standard for how to celebrate World Standards Day? Surely there should at least be an RFC.

    Personally, I’d like to see a true International Day Off, where it’s illegal to make anyone work unless they’re in a critical (e.g. security, safety, or basic infrastructure) job.

    Imagine one day where all businesses are closed, and people are actually forced to take a gorram break.

  18. I think we should celebrate World Standards Day. Let’s all gather in an ISO shipping container, drink 500 ml of punch, and complain about those damn electrical outlets and train wheel gauges.

  19. I don’t think I’d want to declare my birthday a special holiday, other than everybody-let’s-eat-cake-and-give-Sander-even-more-books-day.

  20. @Wordplayer: I don’t think I would be able to get to 10am on Pun Day without going postal.

    @Diatribe: I think people should have the day off for voting, or if they vote early, get a free vacation day. After all, a lot of employers make provisions for jury duty. But query: Would we really get better results if everybody actually voted?

  21. I actually did this once. I was working as an intern in a government office and one of the big wigs turned to me and said, “We need a new holiday – what should it be?”
    I was not quite 21 and born and raised in Detroit City, so maybe picking “Aretha Franklin Day” was understandable…That they actually made it a holiday in my state is still one of the greatest joys of my life.

  22. @a.real.girl: +1 for the valve reference.

    @LBB: Okay, fair enough: once a month, “Appreciation appreciation day”. You have to write a long letter to a friend or relative, telling them how much ass they kick and how they’ve made such a positive impact on your life. Then you have to visit that person, and read it out loud to them.

    Then they have to cry.

  23. Dear JRice,
    Thank you so much for regularly leaving comments on Skepchick.org. Without you, I’d always feel like the grouchiest person in any particular thread. It’s good to have you there, to make me look so sunny and pleasant by comparison. Thanks ever so much,
    – LBB

    DISCLAIMER: I am totally kidding, JRice rules. Plz to not flaming me.

  24. How about Wack a Woo day. Anyone that is into woo gets wacked by those one of those padded fighting things. Per JRice, this is something we should do everyday…if it weren’t for the whole getting arrested part.

  25. Day of Ascension (August 4th): The day Phil Plait officially became El Presidente.

    Weasel Stomping Day (February 30th): Nuff said.

    BOHICA Day (November 4): Hardly requires explanation.

    Liver Poisoning Day (September 4): The anniversary of my 21st birthday. Sure it was 10 years ago, but we can celebrate every year!

  26. @JSug: “We used to celebrate Mole day in my high school chem/phys class.”

    Yeah, I sell more of Avogadro’s number t-shirts around Mole Day and pi shirts around Pi Day.

  27. @JRice: Pretentious? Quality baked goods are nothing to joke about, my friend.

    @a.real.girl: Unfortunately, yes, it is a lie. But I’ll be prepared next year :) Plus, I don’t think this particular holiday really addresses the web. So maybe my suggested holiday is a proper Web Standards Day. We shall all download Firefox and have cake! It’ll be great.

  28. “International Randomly-Make-Out-With-A-Vegan Day”

    Because I just don’t think we get enough love from the world.

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