February 12th is...

National Lost Penny Day
- You find them scattered about on the Streets. They are tossed into Coffee Cans and Shoe Boxes and left, if not forgotten. They do slightly help in paying escalating taxes. Surprisingly, enough of them do add up significantly over Time. How many pennies will you find today?

National Plum Pudding Day
- Why is Plum Pudding called Plum Pudding when there are no plums in it? In the 17th century, plums referred to raisins or other fruits. Plumb is another spelling of plum. Prune is actually derived from the same word as plum - the Latin word was pruna, which changed in the Germanic languages into pluma. But the terms were quite confused in the 16th and 17th centuries and people talked about growing prunes in their garden.

Darwin Day
- a recently instituted celebration intended to commemorate the anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin on February 12, 1809. The day is used to highlight Darwin's contribution to science and to promote science in general.

Mardi Gras Celebration
- On this day in 1827, a group of masked and costumed students dance through the streets of New Orleans, Louisiana, marking the beginning of the city's famous Mardi Gras celebrations. The celebration of Carnival--or the weeks between Twelfth Night on January 6 and Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Christian period of Lent--spread from Rome across Europe and later to the Americas. Nowhere in the United States is Carnival celebrated as grandly as in New Orleans, famous for its over-the-top parades and parties for Mardi Gras (or Fat Tuesday), the last day of the Carnival season.

Oglethorpe Day
- General James Edward Oglethorpe (born at London, England, Dec 22, 1696), with some 100 other Englishmen, landed at what is now Savannah, GA, on Feb 12, 1733. Naming the new colony Georgia for England’s King George II, Oglethorpe was organizer and first governor of the colony and founder of the city of Savannah. Oglethorpe Day and Georgia Day observed on this date.

First Barbie doll for sale
- The VERY first Barbie®doll was introduced at Toy Fair in New York City in 1959. She was created by a woman named Ruth Handler. The first Barbie®doll was inspired by a German cartoon character doll that was called *Lilli* that Ruth had seen on a trip to Germany.

Clean Out Your Computer Day
- Is your computer as cluttered as your file cabinet? Do you have a huge mass of loose documents just floating around in your hard DRIVE -- files you don't even recognize, with unintelligible naming conventions? Are you guilty of hoarding old disks -- even after you've uninstalled the program to run those files? Even people with the most organized offices often have a hard time keeping their COMPUTERS in order. Somehow, when it's on a screen and not in your hand, it's harder to organize! Take a moment to go through your hard drive and disks.

Abraham Lincoln's Birthday
- Every American knows President Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States. "Honest Abe", as he was commonly known as, was born in the wilderness country of Hardin County, Kentucky on February 12, 1809. Abraham Lincoln became president in 1861.

Daytona Pole Day
- Pole qualifying for the Daytona 500 is held one weekend before the race at the Daytona International Speedway. The driver to complete the fastest single lap in a two-lap qualifying effort around the 2.5-mile (4.0 km) high-banked tri-oval superspeedway earns the pole position.

NAACP Day
- Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization. From the ballot box to the classroom, the thousands of dedicated workers, organizers, leaders and members who make up the NAACP continue to fight for social justice for all Americans.

Paul Bunyan Day
- According to the people of Bangor, Maine, Paul Bunyan was born there on February 12, 1834. Some say that Paul Bunyan is based on a French-Canadian timber man named Fabian "Joe" Fournier (aka Saginaw Joe by some) who was born in Quebec, Canada in 1845. He moved to the Saginaw, Michigan area after the Civil War and was hired as a foreman (aka boss logger) of a logging crew. Since he was a large guy and pretty strong, and was also good with an axe, he was soon called the top "feller" in the woods.

Safety Pup Day
- This year Safetypup®, created by the National Child Safety Council, joyously celebrates his birthday by bringing safety awareness/education messages to children and their parents in a positive, nonthreatening manner. Age-appropriate materials available through local law enforcement departments on topics including bike safety, drug abuse prevention, child abduction prevention and farm safety.


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- This was updated by Catherine on February 12, 2012 -

Category: CDN, February, US, worldwide