April 29 - Dance your heart out

 Yeah, today's the day you can kick off your shoes and get footloose as it's International Dance Day.

April 28 - National Day of Mourning

 In an effort to highlight and create safer work environments the government of Canada holds today as the National Day of Mourning where we recognize those who have lost their lives due to working conditions.

April 22 - We've only got the one

 In 1970 the first Earth Day was held to recognize the importance that ... hey, we only have the one earth.

So, let's take care of it shall we?!

April 21 - A day for the brits

 As a big fan of Snoopy in my youth, he was often pretending to sit on his doghouse and be a WW1 ace pilot after the Red Baron.

But it was on this day in 1918 that a Canadian fighter pilot shot the famed pilot down.

Chalk one up for King & Country.  Now, while Arthur Brown was Canadian, I still imagine he settled his nerves after that dogfight with a good cuppa.

Which is good as today is the UK's National Tea Day.

And chief of all things British is the Queen.  Queen Elizabeth II was born this day in 1926.

She's 96 today.

April 20 - Chinese Weed

Apparently 5000 years ago a certain Cangjie invented the Chinese language, and then in 2010 the United Nations opted to make a day to recognize the language on this day.

Well, originally it was in November, but then they changed it to align with the legend of Cangjie.

And, well of course, April 20... or 420 has some roots in the cannabis culture, and controversial as it is, it is legal substance in Canada.

So, have at 'er those that do.

April 19 - The Yankee Family

 In 1987 America's family first made an appearance on the Tracey Ullman Show.

And those Simpsons are still trudging along here in 2022.  Wow.

And speaking of American Families, you can say today was the day they started at all with the start today of the American Revolution in 1775 with the battles of Lexington and Concord.

April 14 - A sinking play of MacBeth

 Sic Semper Tyrannis.  That's what Booth had shouted after he had fatally shot President Abraham Lincoln on this day in 1865.

It shares another day of fatalities as this is the day of the sinking of the Titanic.

The ship hit an iceberg on April 14th near midnight and fully sank at almost 3am on the 15th.

But enough doom and gloom.

One of my favourite shows was Hamish MacBeth.  Great series of crime 'whodunnit' novels by Marion Chesney, but it was adapted for TV and the aloof inspector is played by Robert Carlyle, who's birthday is today and is now 61.

April 13 - A Fox and a Pony tried to deliver a message

 The Pony Express... a system of  riders to help deliver mail across America coast to coast.

As famous as it was it didn't really last long; but it got its start and had it's first completed run to Sacramento on this day in 1860 (took 10 days).

About 300 years before that another person tried to deliver a message, one Guy Fawkes, who was the 'fall guy' for the Gunpowder Plot, was born on this day in 1570.

April 12 - Cheese takes flight

 On this day in 1961 the first human went into space - a Yuri Gagarin made this first move, and in 2011 the UN decided to call that day the International Day of Human Space Flight.

Who wouldn't want to be an astronaut.  I always remember hearing about 'astronaut food' and how it had to be special.

I wonder if they get freeze dried grilled cheese sandwiches as it's the US's National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day.

April 11 - Well, we gotta go

 Well here's one for the "well I didn't know that" fact book.

If I say "Louie Louie" to you.. you probably envision that seen from Animal House, or just in general the Kingsmen version of the song.

Now, did you know there was quite the controversy over the lyrics of it, because nobody could understand it, the prudes at the time assumed it was something naughty.

Well, that song wasn't written by the Kingsmen, rather one Richard Berry (no relation to Chuck... or his imaginary cousin Marvin - points if you get that reference).  Well, Richard Berry and the Pharoahs.

They wrote the song in 1955, recorded and released in 1957.  It was 6 years later the Kingsmen would cover it.

Well, in honour of Richard, today is called International Louie Louie Day.

April 8 - Painting the Romani

 Everybody knows the famous painter, Pablo Picasso.

Today was the unfortunate day in 1973 that he passed away.

Picasso was also of a distinct group known as the Romani.  Today is also the day that is known as International Romani Day.

Set in 1990 it's a day to recognize their culture.

April 7 - have a healthy woody beverage

 Don't know if this is meant to be, but today is both World Health Day and National Beer Day (US).

Now, the World Health Organization was created on this day in 1948, and today in 1933 that an act in the US was passed to allow beer to be sold.

It's also International Beaver Day.  

So have a healthy tree beer!

April 6 - Mad plaid with snacks

 A fun day today - almost as much as bagpipe day - it's Tartan Day.

So which plaid do you call for your family?

Enjoy wearing some tartan with a great snack - the caramel popcorn.  It's the US's National Caramel Popcorn Day.

Apparently, it's also "New Beer's Eve" ... 

...as tomorrow is a special beer day.  Stay tuned.

April 5 - Peace with an Alien Tiger

 Growing up I would just read the heck out Watterson's comic strip "Calvin & Hobbes", a story of a young precocious boy, Calvin, and his imaginary pet tiger Hobbes, who tries to be Calvin's voice of reason in a sense.

Hobbes was named after the philosopher Thomas Hobbes who was born on this day in 1588.

While we're being geeky, today is also the day in the Star Trek lore that in 2063 a certain Dr. Cochrane had demonstrated his warp drive which then prompted the Vulcans to make contact with the Earth.

Bringing Humans into an interplanetary group to promote ways to live together - just how the UN has announced today as the International Day of Conscience.

Meant to promote a culture of peace with love and conscience.

April 4 - This rodent developer is a vegetable

On this day a nerdy Bill Gates and Paul Allen developed some nerdy thing called an 'interpreter' which they found a buyer for - so they created a company called Micro-Soft.

That was back in 1975.

Software used around the world, and the world is celebrating World Rat Day today.

Why?

Who knows.

It's also the same day as International Carrot Day.

Rats probably like carrots, no?

April 1 - can it be any other day than a joke

 Okay, so you can't have April 1st and not talk about April Fools' Day.

I've always gotten it wrong as either Fool's (belongs to the fool) or Fools (to fool people)..  

But it is Fools' .. so belonging to the folks who are fools.  Have your jokes, but remember - you're only supposed to do them before noon.

Did you know the french call it "possion d'avril" as they used to hang a (picture of a) fish on someone's back, kinda like how we put "kick me" signs.

French folks are ... different.