14 | February | 2015 | M'chelsMusings

Saturday, the 14th of February, 2015 is the 45th day in 2015 and in the 7th calendar week.

General Events:

National Organ Donor Day
February 14, 2015 in the USA

Celebrated each year on February 14th, National Donor Day, also known by some as National Organ Donor Day, is a day to increase the awareness of lives that can be saved by donating organs, tissues, blood and etc. In the United States, there are more than 100,000 people waiting for a life-saving organ donation.

* National Donor Day focuses on 5 different types of donations: Organs – Tissues – Marrow – Platelets – Blood

* Many nonprofit health organizations sponsor blood and marrow drives and organ/tissue sign-ups across the nation.

National Donor Day was started in 1998 by the Saturn Corporation and its United Auto Workers partners with the support of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and many nonprofit health organizations.

http://www.organdonor.gov/index.html

Where is National Organ Donor Day?
Nationwide USA

Valentine’s Day
February 14, 2015 in the World

Valentine’s Day is a holiday celebrated on February 14 by many people throughout the world. In the English-speaking countries, it is the traditional day on which lovers express their love for each other by sending Valentine’s cards, presenting flowers, or offering confectionery. The holiday is named after two among the numerous Early Christian martyrs named Valentine. The day became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.

In the second half of the twentieth century, the practice of exchanging cards was extended to all manner of gifts in the United States, usually from a man to a woman. Such gifts typically include roses and chocolates packed in a red satin, heart-shaped box.

In the 1980s, the diamond industry began to promote Valentine’s Day as an occasion for giving jewelry. The day has come to be associated with a generic platonic greeting of “Happy Valentine’s Day.” As a joke, Valentine’s Day is also referred to as “Singles Awareness Day.” In some North American elementary schools, children decorate classrooms, exchange cards, and eat sweets. The greeting cards of these students often mention what they appreciate about each other.

The rise of Internet popularity at the turn of the millennium is creating new traditions. Millions of people use, every year, digital means of creating and sending Valentine’s Day greeting messages such as e-cards, love coupons or printable greeting cards.

The U.S. Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately one billion valentines are sent each year worldwide, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year, behind Christmas. The association estimates that, in the US, men spend on average twice as much money as women.

Where is Valentine’s Day?
Worldwide

Singles Awareness Day
February 14, 2015 in the World

Singles Awareness Day takes place on February 14, 2015. “Singles Awareness (or Appreciation) Day” (S.A.D.) is a humorous holiday. It serves as an alternative to Valentine’s Day for people who are single, that is, not involved in a romantic relationship. Some prefer the 13th or the 15th February for celebration to get away from the commercialism associated with the 14th. Some people who observe S.A.D. do so out of spite for Valentine’s Day, as a Hallmark holiday, or for other reasons. On Singles Awareness Day, single people gather to celebrate or to commiserate in their single status. Some want to remind romantic couples that they don’t need to be in a relationship to celebrate life.

Where is the event?
Worldwide

National Cream-Filled Chocolates Day
February 14, 2015 in the USA

National Cream-Filled Chocolates Day is celebrated on February 14, Valentine’s Day, in the United States.

Cream-filled chocolates can be made two ways. The first way is to make ganache and fondant, roll it into a ball and then dip the fondant into chocolate. Another way is to use a mold and put melted chocolate in the mold. Chocolate in molds are cooled by freezing. The molds are then filled with acream filling and chocolate poured over the candy. Once the candy has cooled, it can be taken out of the mold.

The chocolates can be filled with a number of flavors. Some of them are coffee, maple, mint, raspberry, strawberry orange, lemon, vanilla, maraschino, rum, chocolate and coconut. Most of the flavors are attained by using flavoring, liqueur, extract, fruit juices or powdered ingredients.

Where is the event?
Nationwide USA

Historical Events on 14th February:

1009 – First known mention of Lithuania, in the annals of the monastery of Quedlinburg.

1630 – Dutch fleet of 69 ships reaches Pernambuco, Brazil

1747 – Astronomer James Bradley presents his discovery of the wobbling motion of the Earth on its axis to the Royal Society, London

1797 – The Battle of Cape St Vincent: British fleet under Admiral Sir John Jervis defeats larger Spanish fleet under Admiral Don José de Córdoba y Ramos near Cape St. Vincent, Portugal. Captain Horatio Nelson distinguishes himself

1803 – Chief Justice John Marshall declares that any act of U.S. Congress that conflicts with the Constitution is void

1876 – A G Bell & Elisha Gray apply separately for telephone patents Supreme Court eventually rules Bell rightful inventor

1894 – Venus is both a morning star & evening star

1919 – The Polish-Soviet War begins.

1924 – IBM Corporation founded by Thomas Watson

1931 – The original “Dracula”, starring Bela Lugosi as the titular vampire, is released

1949 – 1st session of Knesset (Jerusalem Israel)

1950 – USSR & China sign peace treaty

1971 – Richard Nixon installs secret taping system in White House

1978 – 1st “micro on a chip” patented by Texas Instruments

1989 – Ayatollah Khomeini orders Moslems to murder “Satanic Verses” novelist Rushdie

1989 – Union Carbide agrees to pay $470 mill damages for Bhopol disaster