Today is...

[IceWizard]

05 May 2017


International Space Day



What is there that’s more interesting than space? Never ending, always expanding, full of stars and suns and planets and untold mysteries – as long as we live, we won’t know all the secrets that this great vacuum holds. But that doesn’t stop us trying to learn absolutely everything we can about it!

On the first Friday of each May, space boffins and science fans alike celebrate space with a dedicated day of observance to everything in the great beyond. Because there’s so much out there in space, you can be sure that there’s always going to be enough to celebrate on this day as every year comes!

The History of International Space Day

International Space Day started out as plain and simple Space Day in 1997. The day was created to observe the many wonders of the unknown space that our planet floats in, and encourage children to have more of an interest in the scientific field. In 2001, Senator John Glenn, himself a former astronaut, changed the day to International Space Day to widen its scope of celebration across the world.

Many scientific organizations celebrate this day with demonstrations, gatherings, and educational programs. You can be sure that your local science museum or observatory is doing something or other on this day, and it’s a great chance for you or your kids to learn about the wonders of the galaxy.



And




National Cartoonists Day



They were the favorite part of the morning paper for many of us growing up, when we were introduced to the wacky and sometimes bizarre worlds of the characters inside their three-panel soul. As we grew older and realized there was more to the world than Hagarand Garfield, we discovered deeply compelling stories like Maus and Neil Gaiman’s Sandman. World upon barely possible world gets told in frame and boxes, word bubbles and strokes of pen, and the men who make it possible are Cartoonist’s, and Cartoonist’s Day is dedicated to them and their craft.

The History of Cartoonist’s Day

In 1895 a man named Richard F. Outcault introduced a small bald kid in a yellow nightshirt to the world in an incredibly popular publication in the big apple at the time, the New York World. While the paper itself was looked upon with a sort of disdain by ‘real’ journalists of the time, the yellow kid was embraced by people everywhere. Little did Richard know that when he first created this character, it would lead to a revolution in how stories were told and presented in sequential art pieces (That’s comics kids), but would in fact create a new standard piece of content for newspapers everywhere.

The Yellow Kid was an archetype of the world, rather than a character in and of itself. Richard recounted that as he walked the slums of the city on his rounds, he would discover the kid walking out of houses, or sitting and hanging about on doorsteps. The archetypical “kid” was always warm and sunny, friendly, generous, and free of malice and selfishness. How amazing that Richard saw all the good in the world in the worst parts of it, perhaps that’s a lesson in and of itself.



Cartoonists’ day was created to celebrate this man and his accomplishments, and all the good he brought to the world as a result. Everything from our Sunday Comics to animation can be linked back to him and his creation… Just a simple bald kid in a yellow nightshirt.