Hey, Jugglers!

Today is World Juggling Day! If you’re reading this and you’re asking yourself why there’s a World Juggling Day, then you’re asking the wrong question! Your question instead should be: Why WOULDN’T there be World Juggling Day? See, much like the Yo-Yo which was recently discussed on this Blog, the art of juggling was developed back in ancient times! Anything that’s survived that long deserves its own day!

Even older than the Yo-Yo, juggling is documented in Ancient Egyptian paintings on tomb walls that date back as far as 4,000 years! Juggling is a skill that’s been passed down from generation to generation! So far, it’s made it four millennia! Who knows how long it will last?!

It seems to go through popularity booms like it did in the early 1900s. At this time juggling was performed in the circus and here and there on the street corners. But that all changed when the days of Vaudeville came along. Vaudeville performers would juggle on stage for an audience with impressive acts along with other types of entertainment like bicycle rim rolling and complex balancing tricks.

The days of Vaudeville, however, did not last forever. They didn’t even make it to the ‘20’s! At this time, juggling’s popularity plummeted. It wasn’t until 1947 that it was mildly resurrected, but even then it took another 20 years before a man named Hovey Burgess started teaching people to juggle. He taught everyone he met!

I for one know how to juggle as my brother taught me and I know that there’s at least a couple other skilled individuals that work here at Everything Summer Camp. So for World Juggling Day, we’re going to hold our own little juggling competition to show off our skills of this ancient art.

Thanks for reading, juggling fans and don’t forget to check out our mad skills!

- John

Hey, Summer Lovers!

As delightful as it is to feel those glowing rays beaming down on your smiling face, it’s important to take the necessary precautions for hanging out in the sun. That’s why Everything Summer Camp offers a plethora of available products containing 100% natural oils and plant-based extracts that ensure your protection from harmful UV rays while being totally skin-healthy themselves.

Sunscreen—the magical concoction goes on the skin to absorb and/or reflect ultraviolet rays from the sun that are otherwise harmful to exposed skin. But the sun has always been shining down on the earth, so when was sunscreen invented?

Well, there’s Franz Greiter, a chemist who’s credited as the inventor of sunscreen in 1938. It was an SPF of two. Another chemist named Eugene Schueller is typically seen as the inventor of modern sunscreen as he started up the brand name L’Oreal. Then there’s also Benjamin Green, a pharmacist from Florida who came out with the first user-friendly, popular sunscreen in ’44—Coppertone.

But what about in ancient times—did they use sunscreen back then?

Turns out the answer is—YES, they did use an ancient form of sun protection. In fact, in ancient Egypt, lighter skin was considered fashionable (opposed to today’s society that can’t seem to get tan enough). But they also simply wanted to avoid sunburn if they could.

In our modern day, we’re now discovering what the Egyptians already knew about gamma oryzanol’s UV-absorbing properties in rice bran as well as the DNA healing agent found within jasmine.

It wasn’t until the beginning of the 19th century that scientists really began to understand how UV rays work and how they effect the human skin. Up until then, people thought sunburns were a consequence of damage done by heat.

Thanks to modern science, we’re developing a better understanding and better methods of sun protection all the time. Before too long, sun protection may come in the form of a pill! Scientists are looking into it now.

Remember to keep your skin safe this summer and all year long with convenient sun protection from Everything Summer Camp.

Thanks for reading.

- John

Hi, Camp Fans!

I scream…you scream…we ALL scream for—well, you know the rest. In fact, I think the entire WORLD knows the rest! Ice cream is more popular than television and it’s commonly coveted the world over. It’s pretty hard to find a soul that doesn’t melt right along with ice cream when enjoying a bite.

Everybody knows that we all scream for ice cream, but what KIND are we all screaming for? Well, we all have different tastes, but vanilla usually takes first place. Chocolate ice cream is an extremely close second, though. There’s even a day devoted to it—today is Chocolate Ice Cream Day.

It may take the backseat to vanilla with the popularity vote, but chocolate ice cream surely came around before vanilla became a flavor; it’s actually one of the first ice cream flavors to be created. So how was chocolate flavored ice cream discovered in the first place?

To answer this, we can actually go back to a previous Blog post I wrote about the history of Hot Cocoa in which I talked about the Mayan civilization who first discovered hot chocolate. They shared their drink with Aztec traders who were (many years later) conquered by Hernan Cortes and his Spanish army.

Cortes then took cocoa beans back to Spain with him and the drink of the Mayans exploded with popularity in Europe during the 17th century.

Hot chocolate quickly became a favorite, standing alongside other popular drinks like coffee and tea. Nearing the end of the 17th century, Italians started experimenting with frozen drinks as desserts. They first embarked with their favorite drinks—coffee, tea, and, yes, my friends, hot chocolate.

The day that this dark, delicious drink was frozen, chocolate flavored ice cream was born and became a fast favorite for everyone. It’s even thought to have a variety of medical uses thanks to its chocolate component. So enjoy some chocolate ice cream and think about how people started enjoying this dessert for the first time well over 300 years ago!

Thanks for reading, chocolate fans! Happy Chocolate Ice Cream Day.

- John

Hey, you Yo-Yos!

If you’ve mastered the art of ‘walking the dog’ or ‘skinning the cat’ then there’s a good chance that you already know, tomorrow is National Yo-Yo Day! Anybody can perform the predictable rise and fall of a yo-yo, but (as Gretchen Grundler learned in an episode of the classic Saturday morning cartoon, ‘Recess’) it takes true skill to learn ‘the secret of yo’.

One of the oldest toys in existence, the Yo-Yo has been around for thousands of years. It dates back all the way to 500 B.C. and maybe even before THAT! The ancient Greeks started making their yo-yos out of clay from the earth.

It seems like every kid of every generation has owned or at least held a yo-yo at some point in their life—it’s a pretty popular toy! In fact, the yo-yo has never been more popular than it is now. So how did a two-and-a-half-thousand-year-old toy maintain (as well as actually increase) its popularity over such a long span of time?

Well, it’s more recent history begins in 1915 by seeking out the origin of its name. See, the name yo-yo didn’t stem from the English language at all.

It’s actually the name it goes by in Tagalog, the language that they speak in the Philippines. When one Pedro Flores came to America from the Philippines, he was suddenly struck with the vision to mass-produce his favorite toy from back home and market it under its old familiar name. Before that, the western world called it a ‘bandalore’. No wonder it didn’t really catch on until after Mr. Flores.

Another big reason for the yo-yo’s success in more recent times is owed to an inventor and entrepreneur of the 1930s named Donald Duncan. This is the guy who, after buying out Pedro Flores, started the myth that yo-yos were once used as weapons. While yo-yos may be the furthest thing from a weapon, the people loved the idea of this tall tale and the yo-yo’s popularity skyrocketed.

We know better today than to think that this age-old toy was ever used as a weapon, but if you get really good you can amaze all your friends and family with the tricks you’ve learned. Yo-yo’s not about tricks, though. It’s about hard work and discipline—that’s how you come to find ‘the secret of yo’.

Enjoy National Yo-Yo- Day, yo-yoers! And as always, thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Readers!

Standing alongside other national days to salute the defenders of our nation like Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day, today is Armed Forces Day—widely celebrated by honoring the people who serve our nation’s Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Coast Guard.

Celebrated annually on the third Saturday in May, Armed Forces Day brings big parades and local gatherings, military displays in open public areas, airshows, as well as educational activities that teach children all about the armed forces.

Before Armed Forces Day existed, each ‘Armed Force’ had its own separate day. There was Army Day and Air Force Day, Navy Day and so on. It wasn’t until August 31, 1949 (the day my father turned two) when the United States’ Secretary of Defense joined all the separate military days to create Armed Forces Day.

The next year on May 20 of 1950, people nationwide celebrated the first Armed Forces. The idea behind Armed Forces Day is to celebrate the unification among all forces of the American military as they all act under one department of the government, the Department of Defense. “Teamed for Defense” was the theme for the first Armed Forces celebration which became quite a success.

Since its first celebration, Armed Forces Day has always heavily relied on public involvement; it was initially intended as a day to increase public awareness and understanding of the different types of positions that are held in the military forces as well as the part that the military plays in regular, everyday, noncombatant life.

From displaying cutting-edge equipment to hosting open houses, civilian life has always been the most important aspect about Armed Forces Day.

And so, on behalf of every civilian that works here at Everything Summer Camp, I’d like to say thank you to every single one of our nation’s Armed Forces for their service and protection to our country.

- John