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It's January 1st, ⛓️ Haitian Independence Day. France had ruled the colony of Saint-Domingue as part of its worldwide empire since 1659. However, in 1791, a group of enslaved Africans, inspired by the American and French Revolutions, began an epic struggle for freedom that culminated in victory and a declaration of independence on this day in 1804. The declaration proclaimed that the new republic would forever after be known by the same name it was known as before the Europeans had arrived – "Haiti," which means "High Land" in the Native American Taino language. 

The Haitian Revolution is Haiti's defining moment. It was the largest slave uprising since Spartacus' unsuccessful revolt against the Romans in 72 BCE. Haiti's victory came as a total surprise and shock to the rest of the world and inspired countless other slave revolts throughout the Western Hemisphere. It also paved the way for the termination of the transatlantic slave trade. This victory was also the final nail in the coffin of Napoleon Bonaparte’s ambitions for a New World French Empire. He’d sold the Louisiana Territory to the United States the previous year in part to pay for the defeat of the revolt in Saint-Domingue. That was not to be. Haiti became the first independent state in Latin America and the first in the New World to be led by a person of color. 

The victory over France put an end to Haiti's military fight for freedom, but not its political fight. The US and most European nations, including France, didn't immediately recognize Haiti's independence. France didn't officially do so until 1825. The US didn't do so until 1862. That doesn’t matter, though. All that matters is Haiti. The Haitians recognized their own independence on this day in 1804 and have continued to do so every day since. ☮️ Peace… Jamiese of Pixoplanet

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🐼 Every day should be Endangered Species Day. Please help protect our planet’s endangered species and their habitats. ☮️ Peace… Jamiese of Pixoplanet

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It's December 13th, 🐴 National Day of the Horse in America. In 2004, Congress commemorated this special day to remind Americans of the incredible contribution these majestic creatures have made to the nation's history, character, and economy. 

While National Day of the Horse may be new to this millennium, horses themselves have been intrinsic to the lives of Americans for over 500 years. The original species evolved in North America, but went extinct here between 11,000 and 13,000 years ago. They were reintroduced here by Spanish conquistadors in the late 1400s, and they’ve since flourished in the great plains and mountains of the west, where wild herds still roam to this day. 

Horses continue to contribute to the advancement of American society by pouring roughly $9.2 billion yearly into the US economy. In many rugged and rural areas, horses are still necessary to plow fields, herd livestock, and transport food and supplies into rural areas. They also entertain us in rodeos and provide comforting, equine therapy. Horses have definitely woven themselves into the fabric of American life. ☮️ Peace… Jamiese of Pixoplanet

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It's December 27th, 🐼 National Visit the Zoo Day in the United States! The earliest type of zoo, the menagerie, dates as far back as 1500 BCE in Ancient Egypt. Egyptian Pharaohs and famous kings such as Alexander the Great, Solomon, Nebuchadnezzar, and Moctezuma also kept menageries. Menagerie ruins have also been found in China and throughout the ancient Roman Empire. 

The first modern zoo was built in 1793 in Paris. Soon other cities all over the world followed. By the 19th century, science and geography had joined religion as central pillars of society. People naturally desire to see exotic animals from all over the globe and study their anatomy and behavior. These early modern zoos were like museums of living animals kept in small display areas. 

Today's 2,800 zoos and zoological parks across the planet attempt to function as natural habitats for the species they house. They educate and entertain six million people each year, while also furthering scientific research and the conservation of species and their habitats. 

Zoos are necessary because they educate the community, provide an understanding of the interdependence of animals and their habitats, and conduct conservation programs of animals in the wild, including breeding programs designed to reintroduce endangered species back into their natural environments. Enjoy your visit today and every day! ☮️ Peace… Jamiese of Pixoplanet

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It's December 8th, 🎙️📺🎥 Mister Show Business Day! On this day in 1925, the world's greatest entertainer, Sammy Davis Jr., was born in the Bronx, New York City. He spent most of his life in show business, excelling as a singer, dancer, comedian, actor, and musician. He starred in Hollywood, in Las Vegas, and on Broadway; on radio, on TV, and in the movies. He did it all – and against all odds.

As a Black Man, he had to fight discrimination and racism almost his entire life. As a child, his father and uncle protected him while they traveled and performed together as the Will Mastin Trio, but nobody could protect him when he was drafted into the Army. Being a slight man, he was often beaten up by bigger white soldiers and given the worst assignments by white officers. What saved him was his talent. He learned to disarm his aggressors by doing impersonations of Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, and Edward G. Robinson.

Even after Sammy became a full-fledged star in the 1950s, he was often not allowed to stay in the same hotel he was performing in – that is, until he and his larger-than-life personality joined the notorious Rat Pack with fellow-entertainer Frank Sinatra. Frank made sure that Sammy had no problem staying anywhere he wanted and going anywhere he wanted in Las Vegas until Sammy's stardom grew to superstar status. Then Vegas, New York, and LA threw their doors open to him on their own.

Sadly, cancer took Sammy from us on May 16th, 1990. Luckily for all of us, though, his amazing talents were recorded. We'll be able to watch and listen to him and enjoy him to our hearts' content. You always thought you'd live forever, Sammy, and you will. ☮️ R.I.P.… Jamiese of Pixoplanet 

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It's December 3rd. 👨‍🦽 On this day in 1992, the United Nations held its first annual International Day of Persons with Disabilities to promote an understanding of disability issues and mobilize support for the dignity, rights, and well-being of persons with disabilities. The UN's goal is to increase our awareness of the benefits we all gain by integrating persons with disabilities into our political, social, economic, and cultural lives to make our world more inclusive, accessible, and sustainable. 

This day is a call to action to mobilize support at local, regional, and national levels in order to increase disability prevention and rehabilitation funding; to implement or strengthen laws guaranteeing the rights of persons with disabilities to take part fully in the development of their societies, to enjoy living conditions equal to those of other citizens, and to have an equal share in the improved conditions that result from socio-economic development. 

Roughly 15 percent of the world's population – more than one billion people – live with a disability of some sort. Let's do what we can to help each and every one of us live our lives to the fullest as Stephen Hawking, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Helen Keller, Frida Kahlo, and Ludwig Van Beethoven did, and as Stevie Wonder, Malala Yousafzai, and Greta Thunberg do now, shall we? ☮️ Peace… Jamiese of Pixoplanet

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It's December 1st. 🖤 On this day in 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man. She was summarily arrested for disobeying an Alabama law that required black passengers to sit in the back of the bus and relinquish their seats to white passengers when the bus was full.

 Ms. Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was a seamstress by profession, but she was also the secretary for the Montgomery chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). On this day, Ms. Parks boarded a bus and sat in the front-most row for black people. A white man then got onboard, and the bus driver told everyone in her row to move back. While all of the other black people in her row complied, Ms. Parks refused, and was arrested.

 Rosa Parks' actions resulted in a 381-day boycott of the Montgomery, Alabama public transit system – a seminal event in the civil rights movement. It finally ended on December 20, 1956, when a federal ruling took effect that led to the Supreme Court declaring that the Alabama and Montgomery laws requiring segregated buses were unconstitutional. Many key figures in the civil rights movement took part in the boycott, including Ralph Abernathy and Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.

 From 1965 to 1988, Ms. Parks was active in the Black Power movement and served as secretary to African-American US Representative John Conyers. She has received the NAACP's 1979 Spingarn Medal, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal, and a posthumous statue in the US Capitol. Upon her death in 2005, she became the first woman to lie in honor in the Capitol Rotunda. We owe you so much, Ms. Parks. ☮️ R.I.P., Jamiese of Pixoplanet

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It's December 30th. 🌌 On this day in 1924, American astronomer Dr. Edwin Powell Hubble announced that the object in the night sky which up until then had been known as the Andromeda Nebula was in fact the Andromeda “Galaxy.” This revelation instantly doubled the number of galaxies and stars in the known universe and hinted at a vastly greater number, for until then every star that could be seen in the sky either by the naked eye or by telescope had been assumed to belong to our own Milky Way Galaxy. An entirely new scientific field was born – Cosmology. 

Hubble based his announcement upon his ingenious analysis of a Cepheid variable star in the Andromeda Nebula. In 1912, American astronomer Henrietta Leavitt had invented a formula for calculating the distance from our Solar System to Cepheids. Using Leavitt's formula, Hubble determined that a Cepheid inside the Andromeda Nebula was much further away than anyone had thought and that, therefore, the nebula was not a gaseous cloud inside our own galaxy, but was in fact another galaxy of stars like the Milky Way… and very far away. 

Later, in 1929, Hubble provided observational proof of French astronomer Georges Lemaître's "Expanding Universe" hypothesis. The resultant Hubble-Lemaître Law states that galaxies are receding from Earth at speeds directly proportional to their distances, like spots on an inflating balloon. Hubble calculated the rate of this expansion, which is now known as the Hubble constant, to be 170 kilometers per second per light year of distance. These discoveries led Hubble, Lemaître, and most other astronomers of that era to the obvious conclusion that an expanding universe, much like the result of an explosion, must have once existed in a tight unexploded state. Lemaître coined this hypothesis the "Primeval Atom Hypothesis," which of course is now known all over the planet, thanks to Dr. Sheldon Cooper and friends, as the "Big Bang Theory." 

NASA paid tribute to Hubble's great and many contributions to astronomy and cosmology by naming its first "Great Observatories" space telescope after him. This workhorse eye in the sky was launched into low-Earth orbit in 1990. It’s one of the largest and most versatile research tools ever devised by humankind and has been responsible for countless scientific, engineering, and technological breakthroughs. And, of course, on 25 Dec 2021, NASA launched Hubble's de facto successor, the James Webb Space Telescope into outer space. ☮️ R.I.P., Edwin… Jamiese of Pixoplanet

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It's December 21st, 🌞 the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and the Summer Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere. The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year, and the Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year. For those of you in the Northern Hemisphere, from now on, the sun will rise earlier and set later each day until you reach the Summer Solstice. 

The early Middle Eastern religions held their most sacred celebrations of the year on the Winter Solstice. According to the Julian Calendar, which was in effect throughout the Roman Empire and Europe from 45 BCE until 1582 CE, when the Gregorian Calendar replaced it, December 25th marked the Winter Solstice. 

The day was celebrated as the Nativity of the Sun. At midnight, celebrants shouted, "The Virgin has brought forth! The light is waxing!" They used the image of an infant to represent the newborn Sun. No doubt, the virgin referred to was the goddess Astarte, known as the Heavenly Virgin or Heavenly Goddess, who, according to the ancestral Judeo-Christian religions, conceived and bore a son on the Winter Solstice. Her son was known as Mithra, the Sun God, whose thousands of eyes spied on every deed, and nothing, particularly evil deeds, could escape his gaze. 

And so it appears there is nothing new under the Sun, eh? ☮️ Peace… Jamiese of Pixoplanet

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It's December 19th. 🪶 On this day in Paris in 1915, the greatest chanteuse the world has ever seen was born – Édith Piaf. She was better known in her native France by her promotional name, "La Môme Piaf," which carries a clever double meaning – "The Kid Piaf" and "The Little Sparrow." "Piaf" means "Sparrow" in French. She was indeed little. Her adult height was only 4' 8" (142.24 cm). But her voice was big. 

Édith had an unusual childhood, to say the least. Her parents abandoned her at birth, so her maternal grandmother raised her in the brothel she ran in Bernay, Normandy. When Edith was 14, her father took her to help him with his acrobatic street performances all over France. This is when she first began to sing in public. 

In 1935, while singing in the streets of Paris, the teenager was discovered by nightclub owner Louis Leplée. Maurice Chevalier attended Édith’s debut performance, which drew rave reviews, and her career took off like a rocket. Édith soon became the most popular entertainer in France, and became well-known in the rest of Europe, North America, and South America, too. She appeared eight times on the Ed Sullivan Show. 

Édith was taken from us too soon – on October 10th, 1963, at the age of 47. She died of a ruptured aneurysm due to liver failure, brought about by her long addictions to alcohol and morphine, which themselves, were largely a result of injuries suffered in three car accidents. Since her death, many biographies and films have attempted to capture her essence and magic, like 2007's "La Vie en Rose." There's nothing like the real thing, though. We miss you, Édith. ☮️ R.I.P…. Jamiese of Pixoplanet

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It's December 16th, 🎹 Beethoven's Birthday! On this day, probably, in 1770, was born one of the greatest, if not the greatest, composers this planet has ever seen – Ludwig van Beethoven. No actual record of his birth has yet been found, but there is a record of his baptism on December 17th, 1770, in Bonn. It was customary in Germany at that time to baptize a baby within 24 hours of birth, so most historians accept December 16th, 1770, as his birthday. 

Beethoven dominates his period of music history like nobody else. He deserves considerable credit as an innovator, too, for widening the scope of the sonata, symphony, concerto, and quartet. This is best exemplified by his Ninth Symphony, where he combined the worlds of vocal and instrumental music in a manner never before attempted. This composition reveals the power of music to convey a philosophy of life, as it evokes the strongest emotion of the assertion of the human will in all of music. 

Beethoven's personal life was marked by a heroic struggle against encroaching deafness, and some of his most important works (including his Ninth Symphony) were composed during the final ten years of his life when he was quite unable to hear. Don't feel too sorry for him, though. Beethoven is believed to have been the world's first composer to have received a salary with no other duties than to simply compose whenever he felt like it. ☮️ R.I.P., Ludwig… Jamiese of Pixoplanet

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It's December 9th, 🦙 Llama Day in the United States and Canada! The origin of this special day is murky, but one thing historians agree on is that it began in the 1930s. Americans say they held the inaugural event as a way to protest their government's newly-imposed ban on Llama imports because of hoof-and-mouth disease outbreaks.

Canadians say they held the inaugural event when they recognized the Llama's importance as a livestock animal following a drought in the province of Manitoba that killed many sheep. Indeed, the Llama is known for its hardiness. Llamas can deftly navigate rocky terrain at high altitudes and can withstand harsh environments. They don't need much water, either.

Meanwhile, in the US, the ban on importing Llamas was finally lifted in 1984 – at least for Chilean llamas – but by then, Llama Day had grown so popular, celebrations have continued every year in both the US and Canada. People in both countries dress up like Llamas, carve butter Llama statues, sing Llama songs, play Llama-related games, and more.

Millions of wild Llamas live today in their native South America, primarily in Peru, Chile, Ecuador, and Bolivia. Since the Inca and other South American Indigenous Peoples didn't utilize the wheel (except for children's toys), they domesticated the Llama to serve as their primary pack animals. Llamas can carry about 25-30% of their body weight and travel 20 miles in a day. They're smart and very trainable. Some are used as therapy animals, while others are used as guard animals to protect sheep from coyotes and wild dogs.

But mostly we appreciate Llamas for how soft and cute and gentle they are. If you've never met a Llama in person, today's a good day to do so if you live within reach of a farm or petting zoo that owns one of these cuddly animals. Have fun! ☮️ Peace… Jamiese of Pixoplanet

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It's December 4th, 🐆 International Cheetah Day! On this day in 1976, a Cheetah cub named Khayam was born at Wildlife Safari, in Winston, Oregon, USA. Doctor Laurie Marker raised Khayam from a cub until its death in 1986. In 2010, she designated December 4th as International Cheetah Day, and the event has been growing by leaps and bounds ever since. 

Cheetahs used to roam everywhere from the southern tip of India across the Arabian Peninsula to the whole of Africa, but the 7,000 remaining Cheetahs are now limited to small fragmented areas in Africa and Iran. 

Cheetahs are carnivores and feed mostly on small antelope like gazelle and impala. They usually chase down their prey and then, as all big cats do, clamp down on the captured animal’s throat until it suffocates. 

Cheetahs have “tear marks” that run from the inside corners of their eyes down to the outside edges of their lips to help deflect sun glare from their eyes. 

A Cheetah cub has a mantle of long, tall hair on its back. This helps the cub blend into the tall grass while making it look much like a dangerous Honey Badger – an animal even lions and hyenas think twice about messing with. 

Cheetahs have long, muscular tails that help them keep their balance when they're running fast. The Cheetah is the world’s fastest land animal – it can run 110 kph (70 mph) – but it can't outrun extinction. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the Cheetah's current status as "vulnerable." Our planet's Cheetah population has declined by 90% over the past 100 years, and I suspect it won't be long before they’re declared "endangered." Can you imagine our world without Cheetahs? Please help save them if you can. ☮️ Peace… Jamiese of Pixoplanet

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It's November 29th, 🐆 International Jaguar Day. On this day in 2018, a consortium of concerned organizations, including the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), and Panthera held the first International Jaguar Day to promote the preservation of these majestic creatures and their habitats. They also initiated the Jaguar 2030 campaign to construct corridors linking their remaining habitats from the US all the way to Argentina. 

The Jaguar is the Americas’ largest wild cat. It's an icon of the centuries-old cultural heritage of Central and South America and an umbrella species for biodiversity conservation. Efforts to preserve the Jaguar are part of broader worldwide efforts to achieve the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.   

To the Mayans, Aztecs, Incas, and most other peoples of pre-Columbian Central and South America, the Jaguar was and still is considered a sacred animal – a symbol of power linked to the Sun God and great warriors. The word "jaguar" is derived from the Native American word "yaguar," which means "He who kills with one leap." The Jaguar is the apex predator in every habitat it roams – rainforest, pine forest, mountain, grassland, dry scrub, desert, and coastline – everywhere. 

Jaguars don't roam as far and wide as they used to, of course. Their populations are threatened by retaliatory killings, poaching for illegal trade, trophy hunting, habitat loss, and fragmentation. The habitat loss and fragmentation are mainly caused by unsustainable agriculture, livestock expansion, and large-scale infrastructure development. By 2019, Jaguars had lost 50% of their historical range. Jaguar 2030 is a shared vision to reverse this trend and conserve Jaguars and their valuable ecosystems for our children's children's children. ☮️ Peace… Jamiese of Pixoplanet

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It's December 31st. 🦖 On this day in 1853, sculptor Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins hosted one of the most legendary events in the history of science – a New Year's Eve dinner party held inside an Iguanodon at London's Crystal Palace Park.

Sir Richard Owen, the "Father of Dinosaurs," was the guest of honor. Afterwards, he was often referred to as the brains of the gathering of 21 scientists and dinosaur enthusiasts – appropriate because his seat at the head of the table happened to also place him inside the head of the Iguanodon.

Owen was collaborating with Hawkins in populating the park with dinosaur sculptures. He verified the accuracy of all the sketches Hawkins used to sculpt the dinosaurs in poses the creatures would’ve assumed when they walked the Earth over 66 million years ago.

The dinner party cemented Owen's role as leader of the paleontological world in the United Kingdom. He offered a solemn toast "to the memory of Gideon Mantell, discoverer of the Iguanodon" who had died the previous year. Then the New Year's celebration began. A recurring scene throughout the festivities witnessed the guests enthusiastically singing the chorus to "The Jolly Old Beast."

The jolly old beast

Is not deceased.

There's life in him again!

ROAR!

Who says scientists don't know how to have fun!? ☮️ Peace… Jamiese of Pixoplanet

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It's November 24th, 🧬 Evolution Day. On this day in 1859, Charles Darwin published "On the Origin of Species." This book shocked English Victorian society by suggesting that humans and animals shared a common ancestry – that species evolve over the course of generations through the process of natural selection.

The catalyst for Darwin's illuminating theory was his 1831-1836 round-the-world voyage on the HMS Beagle. Puzzled by much of what he had seen during the voyage – in particular, fossil bones of huge, extinct mammals in Patagonia and finches and tortoises that differed from island to island in the Galapagos – an idea percolated in his mind for two years before emerging as the Theory of Evolution.

Darwin theorized that individuals less suited to the environment are less likely to survive and reproduce. Conversely, individuals more suited to the environment are more likely to survive and reproduce. This slow, but relentless process of natural selection causes populations to change in order to adapt to their environments. These variations accumulate over time to form new species.

After 20 more years of research, Darwin published his book. The body of evidence he laid out didn’t take long to convince his fellow scientists, but took 50 years for the general public to fully accept – even after he laid out more evidence in his 1871 book, "The Descent of Man.” Of course, there are still fringe elements out there today who refuse to believe and others who pretend not to believe in order to exploit the ignorant masses.

At the time of its publication, "On the Origin of Species" appealed to the world's rising class of sophisticated scientists. By the time of Darwin's death in 1882, evolutionary discourse had spread throughout science, literature, and politics. He was accorded the ultimate British accolade of burial in Westminster Abbey, near fellow superstar scientist Sir Isaac Newton. ☮️ R.I.P., Charles… Jamiese of Pixoplanet