Today are:
- Bitcoin Pizza Day
Bitcoin Pizza Day, celebrated mainly by the cryptocurrency community, takes place on the anniversary of the date that cryptocurrency was used to pay for goods for the first time. On May 18, 2010, Laszlo Hanyecz of Florida posted in the bitcointalk.org forum, offering 10,000 bitcoins in exchange for some pizza, saying in part, "I'll pay 10,000 bitcoins for a couple of pizzas.. like maybe 2 large ones so I have some left over for the next day." His call was answered, and on May 22, 2010, he posted, "I just want to report that I successfully traded 10,000 bitcoins for pizza." A teenager named Jeremy Sturdivant, who went by "jercos" on the forum, sent Hanyecz two Papa John's pizzas, and received 10,000 bitcoins in return. Sturdivant paid about $25 for the pizza, and the 10,000 bitcoins he received became valued at $41.
The events of the first Bitcoin Pizza Day were monumental because they paved the way for the use of cryptocurrency in the future. Nine months after the transaction, the worth of the bitcoins totaled $10,000, meaning each bitcoin had the value of a dollar. On the five year anniversary, the value of the 10,000 bitcoins had risen to about $2.4 million. At one point in 2017, the value rose to over $100 million. As of September 2018, a bitcoin is valued at about $6,000, meaning the value of the 10,000 bitcoins used to pay for the pizza would be about $60 million.
The history of bitcoin dates to the early 2000s, when attempts were made to create a cryptocurrency, although none were fully developed. In 2008, a paper titled "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System" was posted online. The following year, bitcoin became the first cryptocurrency. Its software was made available to the public, and it began being mined. Mining is "the process through which new bitcoins are created and transactions are recorded and verified on the blockchain." With Hanyecz's transaction for goods on the first Bitcoin Pizza Day, bitcoin gained a specific monetary value—up to that point it had only been mined. Rival cryptocurrencies, often known as altcoin, soon emerged. They usually have been created to try to improve an aspect of bitcoin. Early altcoins were Litecoin and Namecoin, and there are now over 1,000.
In 2013, bitcoin's value reached $1,000, but then crashed to about $300. It took a few years to recover. Over time, as it could be spent at more places, bitcoin's popularity continued to grow, as did its value. Time will only tell if the value of bitcoin will continue to rise, but on Bitcoin Pizza Day we can all remember the day the first cryptocurrency transaction for goods took place, and how the value of a transaction for two pizzas once rose to over $100 million.
- Canadian Immigrants Day
Canadian Immigrants Day celebrates those who have immigrated to the United States from Canada. Canada is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world, and most of its inhabitants live within a few hundred miles of its border with the United States. The border is 5,525 miles in length (this includes the border with Alaska) and is the longest border in the world that is not patrolled by military forces. Besides sharing a border, Canada and the United States share many cultural similarities.
Most Canadians immigrate to the United States by getting a green card, which they usually have obtained because they have immediate relatives in the country, or because they are sponsored by an employer there. Canadians migrate to the United States more than they do to any other country. In 1960, about ten percent of the US foreign-born population was Canadian. Although this was down to two percent in 2012, about 800,000 Canadian immigrants lived in the United States at that time.
The first wave of Canadian immigrants arrived in the 1860s; they were largely unskilled and came for factory jobs. A second wave arrived between 1900 and 1930, and were pushed by the discrimination they had faced in employment, education, and because of their religion. Immigration to the United States began to decline after this, as the Canadian economy began to grow after World War II. During the last half of the twentieth century, especially after the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994, there was a diversification of Canadian immigrants which included students, those looking to reunite with their families, educated professionals, and retirees with wishes to move to a warmer climate.
- Emergency Medical Services for Children Day
- Harvey Milk Day
Harvey Milk Day honors gay rights activist Harvey Milk and also focuses on stopping discrimination against gays and lesbians. Harvey Milk was born in Long Island, New York, on May 22, 1930. He served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War, and worked at a Wall Street investment firm for a time afterward, living a closeted gay life at the time. In the early 1960s, his political views were conservative, and he campaigned for Barry Goldwater in 1964. Once he got involved in the New York bohemian theater scene, he began befriending a more avante-garde crowd, and his politics began to shift more progressive. He moved to the San Francisco Bay area in 1969, became involved in the gay social scene, and protested against the Vietnam War. After being fired for participating in an antiwar rally, he returned to New York City in 1970.
After some time working in New York theater, he returned to San Francisco in 1972 and opened a camera shop on Castro Street—the epicenter of the gay community. The following year he ran for a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for the first time, in part because he thought a tax on small businesses was unfair. He did not win a seat but did manage to finish 10th out of 32 contestants. Afterward, he co-founded the Castro Village Association, which supported gay business owners on Castro Street. He started the Castro Street Fair in 1974, and became known as "Mayor of Castro Street."
He once again lost an election for Board of Supervisors in 1975, and ran for the California State Assembly and was not successful in that bid either. In 1977, he worked to broaden his appeal beyond the gay community, by focusing on taxes, housing, and day-care centers for working mothers. In November 1977, Harvey Milk became the first openly gay person elected to California office, and the first openly gay person elected in a major U.S. city. The rise of Harvey Milk reflected the rise of the gay rights movement across the country, and he was at the forefront of it.
During his tenure in office, Milk pushed for visibility of gay people as well as for social equality. He worked to pass a gay rights ordinance—to ban discrimination in housing, employment, and public accommodations. He spent the summer of 1978 working to defeat Proposition 6—also known as The Briggs Initiative—which would have banned gays and lesbians, or anyone supporting gay rights, from teaching or working in public schools in California. It was defeated at the ballot box that November.
On November 27, 1978, Harvey Milk was assassinated by Dan White, a former Board of Supervisors member, who had resigned a few months earlier and wanted to be reinstated. White first killed San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, and then walked across the building and shot Harvey Milk five times. Dianne Feinstein, who was President of the Board of Supervisors at the time, announced to the press what had taken place. Dan White was convicted of voluntary manslaughter instead of murder, in part because his team used the "Twinkie defense". He was released early and committed suicide in 1985.
Harvey Milk's profile continued to rise after his assassination. In 1982, a biography titled The Mayor of Castro Street was released, bringing Milk's attention to a wider audience. This was followed by an Academy Award-winning documentary, The Times of Harvey Milk, in 1984. Many buildings in California were named after Milk. In 2008, another Academy Award-winning film, Milk, was released. Harvey Milk was posthumously given the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama in 2009. That same year, Harvey Milk Day was established by the California legislature and signed into law by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on October 11. California schools commemorate Milk with activities, events, and projects, and equal rights are focused on. The Harvey Milk Foundation organizes events worldwide.
- National Solitaire Day
- National Maritime Day
- National Buy a Musical Instrument Day
- International Day for Biological Diversity
- National Vanilla Pudding Day
- Sherlock Holmes Day
Sherlock Holmes Day celebrates Sherlock Holmes and the author who created him, Arthur Conan Doyle, who was born on today's date in 1859 in Edinburgh, Scotland. At a young age, Doyle became enthralled by stories his mother told him, which was the spark that eventually would lead him to become a writer. He was sent to a Jesuit preparatory school in England at the age of 9. After a few years, he went on to study at Stonyhurst College, and after graduating in 1876, he went on to pursue a medical degree at the University of Edinburgh. There he met Professor Dr. Joseph Bell, who became his mentor, and later became the inspiration and model for Sherlock Holmes.
While in medical school, Doyle wrote the short stories "The Mystery of Sasassa Valley" and "The American's Tale," the latter of which appeared in London Society magazine. He also worked as a ship surgeon on a whaling ship in the Arctic Circle while in school, which inspired him to write Captain of the Pole Star. After becoming a doctor he moved around for a bit, focusing on his practice, but also continued to write. He also left his Catholic faith and became a Spiritualist. Eventually, he gave up being a doctor and focused solely on his writing and his faith.
Sherlock Holmes and his assistant, Watson, were introduced in the novel A Study in Scarlet, which first appeared in Beeton's Christmas Annual in 1887. It was with this novel that Doyle's writing career finally began taking off. Sherlock Holmes, a "consulting detective" who pursued criminals in London, around England, and throughout Europe, has endured as perhaps the most noteworthy detective character of all time. In all, Doyle wrote 60 stories that featured Sherlock Holmes. Some of Doyle's most noteworthy books that include Sherlock Holmes are The Sign of Four, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, and The Hound of the Baskervilles.
In 1893, Doyle tried to kill off Holmes in the short story "The Final Problem," because he wanted to focus more on his writing on Spiritualism. His readers weren't happy—20,000 readers even canceled their subscriptions to Strand Magazine, a magazine which Sherlock Holmes stories often appeared in. Eventually, Doyle was convinced to bring Holmes back. He reintroduced him in 1901 in the novel The Hound of Baskervilles, and then brought him back to life in the story "The Adventure of the Empty House" in 1903. One of the reasons he decided to bring him back was so he could use the profits from the stories to help fund his missionary work. The final twelve Sherlock Holmes stories appeared in the 1928 compilation titled The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes.
Besides his works featuring Sherlock Holmes, Doyle wrote other books such as Beyond the City, The Stark Munro Letters, and A Duet with an Occasional Chorus, as well as a series of works on Spiritualism. He was diagnosed with Angina Pectoris towards the end of his life. On July 7, 1930, Arthur Conan Doyle died in his garden with one hand to his chest and one hand holding a flower. The stories of Sherlock Holmes have continued to have been read, and Sherlock has also lived on in theater and film adaptations of his stories. Today we celebrate both Sherlock Holmes and the author who created him!
- World Goth Day
Happy Celebrating
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