IT Insights Blog

Technically there is no such holiday in the United States as "Presidents Day." The federal holiday that is observed on the third Monday of February each year is Washington's Birthday, as established by an Act of Congress in 1789. As a result of passage of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act in 1971, however, the Washington's Birthday holiday can never actually fall on Feb. 22, which most historians agree is the date, in 1732, that George Washington was actually born.

It's possible that one of more members of the TestOut Continuing Education Blog Squad has (or have) recently been watching old episodes of Friday Night Lights, the pigskin-powered TV drama that originally aired on NBC and ran for five season (the last three on DirecTV). The series follows the ups and down of small-town Texas football coach Eric Taylor and the Dillon High School Panthers football team under his supervision.

If you follow the National Basketball Association (NBA), as several of us here at TestOut Continuing Education do, then you've probably been a little bit dizzied already by the flurry of trade activity among teams in the league. The league-imposed deadline to complete trades for the current season is tomorrow afternoon, so we've officially entered the window during which a flurry can blow up into a blizzard literally overnight. Of course, just like in the real world, a few flakes is no guarantee of a major dump.

Once upon a time in 1937, the Hormel Foods Corporation created a cooked lunch meat product sold in a distinctive tin can. The main ingredient is pork — originally pork shoulder, which was believed to be a less desirable cut of meat — along with ham (pork meat from the leg), salt, sugar, water, modified potato starch, and sodium nitrite. The brother-in-law of a Hormel Foods executive won a $100 cash prize for coining the distinctive moniker "spam," quickly trademarked as "SPAM."

The next few days on the calendar are fraught with animal auspices. If you find yourself taking a serious interest in reincarnation, or maybe even just contemplating a one-time donation to PETA, well, there's something in the air. Saturday is Groundhog Day (which more or less represents the nirvana that ever zany This or That Day out there strives to achieve). On Sunday, we've got the Rams in the Super Bowl. And, perhaps of greatest portent, next Tuesday is the first day of the Year of the Pig.