Calendar day; October 8, 2014

Wednesday, the 8th of October, 2014 is the 281th day in 2014 and in the 41st calendar week.

General Events:

World Octopus Day
October 8, 2014 in the World

As the name suggests, World Octopus Day celebrates one of the most distinctive creatures living on the planet today; the octopus.

Octopuses are worthy of appreciation for a number of reasons. First of all, they are one of earth’s great survivors. Indeed, despite their relatively short life span, octopus fossils date back more than 300 million years, meaning that they pre-date even dinosaurs. They are also highly intelligent, with around 500 million neurons located in their brains and arms, allowing them to bypass their insticts, learn lessons and solve problems.

In addition, they are visually stunning, coming in various different colours and shapes, while the Giant Pacific Octopus is able to grow to weigh more than 600 pounds!

So how should you celebrate World Octopus Day? How about a trip to a sea life centre? Alternatively, put aside a small section of your day to simply learn more about these fascinating creatures.

Where is World Octopus Day?
Worldwide

Independence of Croatia
October 8, 2014 in Croatia

Independence of Croatia is celebrated on October 08, 2014. Croatian Independence Day is a national public holiday that celebrates the unanimous decision of the Croatian Parliament – Sabor to terminate the link between Croatia and SFR Yugoslavia. The Independence Day was implemented by the Ivica Ra?an’s government in 2001. It was celebrated for the first time in 2002. Statehood Day is commemorated on25 June.

Where is Independence of Croatia?
Nationwide Croatia

S.A.V.E. (Stop America’s Violence Everywhere)
October 8, 2014 in the USA

The second Wednesday of each October is the AMA Alliance’s observance of SAVE Today. The SAVE initiative to “Stop America’s Violence Everywhere” was launched by the AMA Alliance in June 1995. Alliances across the county recognized the toll that violence was taking in their communities. The national organization responded with the largest health promotion project undertaken by our membership. Over 700 anti-violence programs covering a broad spectrum of activities have been implemented by county and state alliances.

Many local alliances use SAVE Today to work with schools to distribute our children’s activity booklets. Other activities include providing support for domestic violence shelters, mentoring programs for the prevention of child abuse, physician education on domestic violence, distribution of teen and adult safety cards, and mental health screenings at health fairs and schools.

Where is S.A.V.E. (Stop America’s Violence Everywhere)?
Nationwide USA

Natural Events:

October Full Moon
October 8, 2014 in Eastcoast (North America)

On October 08, 2014 the moon reaches its maximum brightness. Therefore it is called full moon. Full moon is a lunar phase that occurs when the Moon is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. More precisely, a full moon occurs when the geocentric apparent longitudes of the Sun and Moon differ by 180 degrees; the Moon is then in opposition with the Sun. As seen from Earth, the hemisphere of the Moon that is facing the earth is almost fully illuminated by the Sun and appears round. Only during a full moon is the opposite hemisphere of the Moon, which is not visible from Earth, completely unilluminated.

The time interval between similar lunar phases is on average about 29.53 days. Therefore, in those lunar calendars in which each month begins on the new moon, the full moon falls on either the 14th or 15th of the lunar month. Because lunar months have a whole number of days, lunar months may be either 29 or 30 days long.

Full Moons are traditionally associated with temporal insomnia, insanity and various “magical phenomena” such as lycanthropy. Psychologists, however, have found that there is no strong evidence for effects on human behavior around the time of a full moon. They find that studies are generally not consistent, with some showing a positive effect and others showing a negative effect. In one instance, the British Medical Journal published two studies on dog bite admission to hospitals in England and Australia. The study of the Bradford Royal Infirmary found that dog bites were twice as common during a full moon, whereas the study conducted by the public hospitals in Australia found that they were less likely. Full moons trigger deer movement in North America. Hunters and fisherman rely heavily on moonphases.

Where is October Full Moon?
EST Eastern Standard Time / UTC-05
Eastcoast (North America)

Historical Events on 8th October:

876 – Battle at Andernach: Louis the Young beats Charles the Bare

1480 – Great standing on the Ugra river, a standoff between the forces of Akhmat Khan, Khan of the Great Horde, and the Grand Duke Ivan III of Russia, which resulted in the retreat of the Tataro-Mongols and eventual disintegration of the Horde.

1600 – San Marino adopts constitution

1769 – Captain James Cook is the first European to land in New Zealand (Poverty Bay)

1835 – Charles Darwin reaches James Island, Galapagos archipelago, on HMS Beagle

1856 – The Second Opium War or second Anglo-Chinese War: begins with the Arrow Incident on the Pearl River.

1871 – Great Fire kills 200, destroys over 4 square miles (10 square km) of Chicago buildings, & original Emancipation Proclamation

1873 – First women’s prison run by women opens at Indiana Reformatory Institute

1906 – Karl Nessler demonstrates first ‘permanent wave’ for hair in London

1915 – Battle of Loos WWI, almost 430,000 French, British & Germans killed

1917 – Leon Trotsky named chairman of the Petrograd Soviet as Bolsheviks gain control

1927 – Sea battle at Navarino (Greece freed of Ottoman occupation)

1945 – US President Harry Truman announced atomic bomb secret shared with Britain and Canada

1946 – Kwo-less-shrew selects Gen Chiang Kai-shek as president of China