Hey, Little Birdies!

Happy Bird Day! Birds are fascinating creatures for which many people have great appreciation. Birding is a relaxing activity that people develop in which they spot and study particular birds. You can do this with birds you spot in your backyard or with birds you seek out in the wilderness. Check out these amazing facts about birds that just might change the way you see them…

Bird Brain
Calling someone ‘bird-brain’ may sound like an insult, but the more you learn about birds the more you may take kindly to such a reference. A particular family of birds including crows, ravens, rooks, jays, and others are believed to be some of the most intelligent animals in the world based on their capacity for problem-solving, crafting tools, considering future events, and considering the state of mind of another creature.

Built-in Compass
Scientists believe birds have a protein in their eyes that provides them with a sense called magnetoreception—the ability to detect the magnetic fields of the Earth.  This is likely what gives birds their accurate navigation skills as they fly south for the winter and return in the spring.

The Big Birds
Not the famous one that lives on Sesame Street. Just generally speaking, what is the largest bird? Well, that answer isn't quite as cut-and-dry as what the smallest kind of bird is: the Bee hummingbird which weighs less than a penny. If you’re going based off weight, it’s the ostrich which can weigh more than 300 pounds! But for flighted birds, the condor takes the cake in weight, though the Wandering Albatross’ wingspan is larger, expanding out to 12 feet! 

Aren’t birds incredible? I think the best thing about them is that, no matter where you are, you can see birds of some species or another. You may not be able to catch a condor without going to great lengths, but you can probably spot a bird of some kind without leaving your backyard. Put out some bird food, grab some binoculars, and you ought to have a great show!

Did you already know any of these things about birds? Be sure to comment to let us know and, as always, thanks for reading and happy camping!

- John

Hey, Scrabblers!

Last year, I told you all about how today, April 13, is Plant Appreciation Day. You can check that Blog post out by clicking here. Today, however, we have a whole other reason that makes today special—it’s my sister’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Kim!

I guess that one’s really just celebrated by the people in her life, though. Okay, well there’s yet another reason that makes today special even if you don’t know my sister; today is Scrabble Day. And Kim’s a huge Scrabble fan so it all works out.

This board game concentrated on crafting words out of tile letters has an interesting history that goes back to 1933. It began with a New York architect who was out of work for some time. His name was Alfred Mosher Butts. Alright, folks—let’s get all the jokes out now before I continue…

Ready? Okay. So Butts was an avid reader of the New York Times and would often play the word games like the anagrams and crosswords. He once said, “There is one thing that keeps word games from being as popular as card games: they have no score.”

Inspired by the anagrams and crosswords, Butts went about developing a game that put a scoring system to the letters you randomly picked and had to form crossword style with other words on a board. He called this game…Lexiko. You weren’t expecting that, were you?!

Going by a different name than what we all know and love, Butts’ board game was turned down by game manufacturers time and time again. Unsatisfied with the name Lexiko, Butts changed the name and started marketing it as...Criss Cross Words.

Unfortunately, the concept of this game continued to be declined until Butts met a game enthusiast and entrepreneur named James Brunot. Brunot helped Butts refine the rules as well as the design of the board. And, most importantly, they changed the name once more.

They named the game Scrabble, a word that means ‘to grasp, collect, or hold onto something’. This game was finally trademarked in 1948 and caught on slowly, but surely and eventually became the household name that it is today. A Scrabble set is found in three of every five American households.

Enjoy a game of Scrabble today and send my sister warm birthday wishes (if you know her)! As always, thanks for reading, Camp Folks! And happy camping!

- John

Hey, Fishy Folks!

Today, April 1, is modernly known as April Fools Day. But, as we’ve covered in Blog posts past, the first of this month wasn’t always called this. And the day April Fools wasn’t always called April Fools Day either. It was called April Fish Day—no joke. For today’s Blog post, I thought I’d share a few little known facts about April Fools and April Fools related items. Check it out:

Something Smells Fishy Here…
It probably sounds like a cheap gag, but April Fools Day likely came from the French holiday, ‘April Fish Day’. In France, they used to celebrate a different version of the holiday in which the same prank was attempted on friends, acquaintances, and strangers of sticking a picture of a fish on their backside and calling out “April Fish!” in French.

April First for Two Days Straight
Likely derived from the April Fish custom, the Scots and the French came up with the ‘Kick Me’ sign. Scots REALLY like April Fools Day. They like it so much that they celebrate it twice. The next day is called ‘Taily Day’ which is all about sneaky pranks in which kids tried to stick strips of paper to someone’s backside. When successfully executed, the jokers gave their victims a new tail.

The Whoopee Whoopsie
Did you know that just one man in responsible for so many of the novelty gag objects you can think of such as the handshake buzzer, the snake-in-a-can, the stink bomb, and so much more—Soren Sorenson Adams. Back in 1930, he actually turned down the rights to the granddaddy of all gag toys: the Whoopee Cushion, declaring the entire premise to be “too indelicate.” Whoops.

In conclusion, watch out today for anybody trying to attach something to your backside, sit you down somewhere specific, or shake your hand. Maybe enjoy a Fish Fry as today lands on a Friday. Happy April Fish Day! And, as always, thanks for reading.

- John

Happy Old Stuff Day, Everybody!

It’s no surprise that we have a day dedicated to old stuff; many people have a great fascination with old things. Old things mean history. And the past is always interesting to explore. Old stuff and the ways of the past are at the heart of summer camp.

Campers are typically encouraged to embrace an immersive experience that champions old practices and non-electronic gear. And even summer camp itself is a look back to a more primitive time when the days were mostly spent outdoors.

For the last hundred years or so, people have developed and established summer camps. The idea rose in popularity with the rise of big cities. It quickly became a part of summer for so many kids whose city-living parents wanted to give their kids a glimpse of the good ol’ wholesome country life that comes along with a natural, rural setting.

In a technology-driven world that gets further and further away from our primitive roots, summer camp is a way to keep the ways of the old world alive. Technology (especially electronic and digital technology) has benefited the world greatly, however, the natural world is hidden from us when our eyes are glued to a screen.

Learning about old things like how to use a compass or spying something at a distance with a pair of binoculars are great ways to enjoy a physical experience in the real world. I don’t think too many people would describe a time of their life viewing something on a screen as a life-changing moment. The natural world presents us with plenty of life-altering experiences.

Enjoy doing something real today with a toy like a yo-yo or grab a few bean bags and learn to juggle. Happy Old Stuff Day to all and, as always, thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Camp Folks!

Question for ya: What’s tomorrow? The first of March has a tendency to sneak up on folks, since February is always cut short two—but more often three days. So what happens to February 29 during Non-Leap years? And why is February the only month to come in at under 30 days? Let’s take a look into the matter.

It was the second king of Rome, Numa Pompilius, who tacked on two months to the calendar that would follow the month of December. The names of certain months give the calendar away as originally having just ten months. October, for example, is the tenth month, but octo means eight. It’s the same story with December—it’s the twelfth month though deca means ten.

February 30th
Along with the names of the months, the calendar got messed up in other ways thanks to the addition of these two added months, like the amount of days allotted to each month. There is record from a 13^th century historian that claims there was a 37-year period in which February saw 30 days during leap years, but that was using the Julian calendar and not the Gregorian (which we use today).

Sweden Time
In the early 1700s, Sweden reverted back and forth between the Julian and Gregorian calendars which led to years that were observed as leap years because of errors. These error years left Sweden out of sync with the Julian calendar as well as the Gregorian. In 1712, they went back to the Julian calendar, adding two leap days to that year to make it work. Eventually, in 1753, they finally joined the rest of the world, returning to the Gregorian calendar by removing 11 days from the year so that February 17 was followed by March 1. Swedes were rather upset with the management, complaining 11 days of their lives were stolen.

USSR Holidays
The Soviet Union introduced a calendar in 1929 that tried to revolutionize the calendar year. Their calendar proposed five-day weeks—meant for industrial efficiency, eliminating the typical non-work days of Saturday and Sunday. Their calendar provided 30-day months consistently through the year aside from five or six days leftover that were left as “holidays” that belonged to no month. This calendar was used from 1930-1931.

It seems that a consistent calendar is pretty much impossible to create since leap days required to fill in the gaps of our year every four years. Time’s a tricky thing. Especially if your birthday is on March 29! Anyway, till next time, Camp Fans! And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John