By Haddon Libby
As we enter the ‘dog days of August’, you might find it interesting to know that the phrase finds its origins back in 750BC. It seems that the heat of the summer coincided with the rise of Orion’s dog, Sirius and the dogstar in the constellation Canis Major, high in the skies from July 24th to August 24th.
It is no surprise then that August 26th is National Dog Day in the United States and World Dog Day around the globe. Top dog, George W. Bush, brought attention to this day in 2004 with a letter of support to the National Dog Day Association. It is worth noting that Dog Day is the creation of public relations specialist, Colleen Paige, who two years after starting Dog Day, started ‘national’ days for horses, wildlife, kids & pets, Police K-9s, Pet Travel Safety, Specially-abled Pets, Pet Day, Puppy Day, Cat Day and the list goes on. Can someone spell o-p-p-o-r-t-u-n-i-s-t?
Five days after the Fox ‘News’ Republican debates is Presidential Joke Day. I’m not kidding. This was started on August 11, 1984 when then Presidential Ronald Reagan quipped into a microphone, “My fellow Americans, I’m pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.”
The next day is Middle Child Day. I suppose this is to make middle children feel special for not being the oldest or youngest. If this matters to you, you might need c-o-u-n-s-e-l-i-n-g.
The next day on August 13th is Left Hander’s Day sponsored by Lefthanders International (who knew we have a group…I’m a southpaw…ambidextrous actually but I don’t see a celebration of the uniquely coordinated…maybe we can enlist Caitlyn Jenner to help us with our cause…to have been in the Kardashian family, switched genders and won the Olympics in the decathlon, I’m thinking that you have to be fairly dextrous). They say that left handers, who make up 7-10% of the world population, have a higher chance of developing schizophrenia. This reminds me to check and see if Rep. Ted Cruz is left handed.
What other fun tidbits do we have to look forward to in August?
Well, August is Romance Awareness Month. I don’t know if this means that we are supposed to engage in romantic behaviors or just peer voyeuristically at others in love but I’m guessing that it means the former so it might be a better idea to profess your love to those you care for than to peer at others in love (there was a man doing this at the gym and it just seemed creepy).
August is also Water Purity Month. Hopefully, organizers of the Summer Olympics in Brazil take this more seriously than they did for early Olympic trials run last weekend. It was just reported by the Associated Press that Olympians who went in the waters around Rio were exposed to bacteria and viruses levels that were 1.7 million times the levels considered safe. At minimum, most Olympians will have a very high chance of contracting Hepatitis A, a viral infection of the liver.
Other days of note include Book Lover’s Day on the 9th, Thrift shop Day on the 16th, Bad Poetry Day on the 18th, Senior Citizen’s Day on the 21st and Women’s Equality Day on the 26th.
Whatever day it is, remember that we are only on Earth for a short time and it is up to each of us to make every day special and live life to its fullest.
Haddon Libby is Managing Partner of Winslow Drake, an investment management and advisory firm, and can be reached at hlibby@winslowdrake.com.
