Today is...

[IceWizard]

Sunday 4 Dec 2016



World Wildlife Conservation Day



The sad truth is that the world’s best loved, beautiful and fascinating species are being slaughtered by widespread and dangerous criminal networks that will stop at nothing to get what they want. And what they want are animal parts and products that for reasons no sane person really understands, are worth lots of money.

There are plenty of synthetic substitutes for things like ivory and fur that don’t require the brutal slaughter of an animal to obtain, not to mention how hard it actually is to tell the difference between high-quality synthetic substitutes and the real thing. And do you mean to tell me no other dish in the world tastes as good as shark fin soup, and that we really have to mutilate live sharks and then throw them back into the ocean to die?

Long story short, there is simply no excuse for the amount of animals being poached every year. And yet they are. In 2011 alone, for example, there were 13 large-scale seizures of ivory, and over 23 tons of ivory confiscated, which is equivalent to at least 2,500 elephants.

A 2010 United Nations report suggests that gorillas could disappear altogether from large parts of the Congo Basin by the mid-2020s.

And it is not just the animals that are suffering. Park rangers get killed on a regular basis by poachers they’re trying to stop, and the local economies of entire towns and villages suffer terrible damage once enough wildlife is wiped out to make them irrelevant as wildlife tourism destinations.

Corruption and intimidation are weakening law enforcement efforts. Unscreened wildlife and wildlife parts increase the risk of human health pandemics such as bird flu. Everyone involved is suffering.

The History of World Wildlife Conservation Day

A call to action was put out by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2012 to raise awareness and engage conservationists on Wildlife Conservation Day, December 4.

During the “Wildlife Trafficking and Conservation: A Call to Action” event held at the State Department on November 8th 2012, Secretary Clinton outlined the White House’s strategy to address the global problem of wildlife trafficking.

These efforts are estimated to cost between $7 and $10 billion dollars a year.

“Wildlife cannot be manufactured. And once it’s gone, it cannot be replenished. Those who profit from it illegally are not just undermining our borders and our economies, they are truly stealing from the next generation,” she said.



And



National Cookie Day



Cookies are sweet and full of all sorts of delicious goodness, from nuts to fruit to chocolate. They can be either delightfully crumbly or sinfully chewy. Not to mention that they keep forever if they are stored properly…

There’s no doubt about: cookies more than deserve their own day, and that’s why Cookie Day is celebrated around the world in order to pay tribute to these delicious little treats.

So grab some flour, butter and sugar, and let’s get celebrating, shall we?

The History of Cookie Day

In 1987 Matt Nader of the San Francisco-based Blue Chip Cookie Company created Cookie Day, saying: “It’s just like having National Secretaries Day… It will just be a fun thing to do.”

This fun and sweet holiday was also championed by The Cookie Monster from Sesame Street.

Although the day did not originate with him, some details about it can be found in Random House’s “The Sesame Street Dictionary”, which was published in the 1980s as well.

Since then, the word got around the globe that there was much tasty fun to be had on December 4th, and people from various countries the world over began to celebrate Cookie Day.

In fact, a number of variations on Cookie Day are also celebrated around the world such as Oatmeal Cookie Day and Bake Cookie Day.

This is likely due to one of the greatest things about cookies: they come in hundreds of shapes and sizes and are relatively simple to make.

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December 4 Birthdays




Dennis Wilson - 72



Southside Johnny - 68



Chris Hillman - 72



Gary Rossington - 65



Jay Z - 47



Tyra Banks - 43



Jeff Bridges - 67








December 4th

1993: Frank Zappa died of prostate cancer at his home in Los Angeles with his wife and children at his side. He was 52 years old.

1991: Van Halen performed a free concert at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas to make-up for a concert in 1988 in Dallas when Sammy Hagar lost his voice halfway through their set.

1988: Roy Orbison performed his final concert at the Front Row Theatre in Highland Heights, OH outside of Cleveland.

1980: Led Zeppelin publicly announced that they would be disbanding following the death of drummer John Bonham.

1976: Kiss peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart with “Beth” which was their first top ten single in the U.S.

1976: Tommy Bolin, guitarist for Deep Purple and The James Gang was found dead in a Miami hotel room from a drug overdose. He was 25 years old.

1976: Workers at EMI Records in the U.K. went on strike refusing to package The Sex Pistols’ single “Anarchy in the U.K.”

1975: Kiss received their first Gold record as Alive! was certified Gold by the RIAA.

1956: Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash recorded together at Sun Records Studio in Memphis. The sessions were later released as The Million Dollar Quartet and weren’t released until 1981.



Birthdays:

Chris Hillman - Bassist for The Byrds born in 1944

Dennis Wilson - Drummer for The Beach Boys born in 1944

Southside Johnny - Singer for Asbury Jukes born in 1948

Gary Rossington - Guitarist for Lynyrd Skynyrd born in 1951