Today is...

[IceWizard]

Friday 22 April 2016

Earth Day



Each year, Earth Day—April 22—marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970.

The height of counterculture in the United States, 1970 brought the death of Jimi Hendrix, the last Beatles album, and Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”

War raged in Vietnam and students nationwide overwhelmingly opposed it. At the time, Americans were slurping leaded gas through massive V8 sedans. Industry belched out smoke and sludge with little fear of legal consequences or bad press.

Air pollution was commonly accepted as the smell of prosperity. “Environment” was a word that appeared more often in spelling bees than on the evening news.

Although mainstream America largely remained oblivious to environmental concerns, the stage had been set for change by the publication of Rachel Carson’s New York Times bestseller Silent Spring in 1962.  The book represented a watershed moment, selling more than 500,000 copies in 24 countries, and beginning to raise public awareness and concern for living organisms, the environment and links between pollution and public health.

Earth Day 1970 gave voice to that emerging consciousness, channeling the energy of the anti-war protest movement and putting environmental concerns on the front page.

And

National Jellybean Day



You now have an excuse to eat tons of these sugary candies.

Here are 9 fun facts that you may have not known about Jelly Beans according to Jelly Belly.

01. It takes 7 to 21 days to make a single Jelly Belly jelly bean.

02. Very Cherry flavored jelly beans have been the most popular flavor since 2003. Before that Buttered Popcorn was the top spot since 1998.

03. Enough jelly beans were eaten in the last year to circle the earth more than five times.

04. The first jelly bean was created by an unknown American candy maker in the 1800s.

05. The original eight flavors of Jelly Belly beans were Very Cherry, Root Beer, Cream Soda, Tangerine, Green Apple, Lemon, Licorice and Grape.

06. Blueberry flavored beans were made for Ronald Reagan's presidential inauguration. Over three tons of jelly beans were eaten during the celebration.

07. During the Civil War, advertisements were made recommending people send soldiers jelly beans.

08. Jelly Belly beans were the first jelly beans in space when they were sent on the space shuttle Challenger in 1983.

09. 288,000 Jelly Belly beans of 47 different flavors were donated to make "In Your Arms" by Kina Grannis, the first jelly bean stop-motion animation music video. The video was released in November 2011.

What are your favorite types of jelly beans?