Birthday Fun Facts

Spice Girl’s Fruit Cake Prompts Commentary

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I’m a bit of a Posh Spice fan. I can admit it. Although when the Spice Girls were big I probably appreciated Ginger Spice more. But, Victoria’s last name says it all, really. She landed David Beckham. And, although I love my own husband, of course, David Beckham is very much on my list. 

Victoria’s Birthday Cake

So, when I saw a blog criticizing Victoria Beckham’s birthday cake, I couldn’t click on the link fast enough to see what the fuss was about. Turns out, the fuss was about Watermelon. The kitchn story announced: “Victoria Beckham’s Birthday “Cake” Is Just a Big Watermelon in Disguise.”

When Beckham turned 44, she posted a video of her daughter sweetly singing “Happy Birthday” as the cake was sliced in front of handmade cards on Instagram. 

birthday cake

And the commentary began: 

The kitchn columnist said, “If you put this ‘cake’ and a real cake in the same place, no one would eat this one because there would be real cake.”

She collected some of the twitter responses, and I did quite enjoy these ones:

birthday cakeScreen Shot 2018-04-27 at 9.05.41 AM

Cake Alternative Accepted

Still, I have to say there is nothing wrong with a healthy alternative to cake (at least not for someone else, that is). Not everyone loves cake. If I loved cake less, I could likely go to the gym less too…

To me, it’s one thing to have a few laughs over the cake, but quite another to bash her eating choices overall. Those comments I won’t be repeating. She was happy with the cake, and loved that her family knew her so well. 

Her daughter sang! There are handmade cards, people! In March Time reported, her “net worth is about $450 million, thanks to brand sponsorships, modeling contracts, and a massively popular fashion label.” That’s just her net worth, without David. The kids could probably afford greeting cards — but they made them! And they made her a fruit cake instead of having a seven-tier something-or-other custom-made by some celeb chef. 

Say what you might about the watermelon having seeds or it not being a real cake, but it was prepared with love, which is what birthdays are about in the end!

Age calculator has to be a scam right?

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I have acknowledged previously that math is not my favorite subject. Still, I am not numerically illiterate. Really, I can’t imagine why anyone would need the help of a site I came across answering the question: “How old will I be in the future?”

age calculator

Clearly the site is targeting younger people. The default year is 2000, and those of us who need to go back from there (not so far back, I swear) have to painstakingly click and click and click (not that many times, I swear) to get to our birth year.

At least now, thanks, to this handy dandy calculator I can now admit that I am exactly 45 years, 6 months, and 13 days old.

Now, I know you are going to gasp with shock and awe when I tell you this, but on April 20 2019, I expected to be 46 years, 6 months, and 13 days old (give or take a day — allowing for leap year).

You know what? I was right, I should be that age exactly! The calculator confirms it. Wowza!

But what’s my exact age, really?

You can also simply click on a year and it will do the calculation for you. In 2035, I will be 62 years, 6 months, and 13 days old, which, actually, suggests I didn’t even need to worry about the leap year messing with my day-to-day count.

If you really want specificity, you can click on the age calculator and enter your hour and minutes of birth, plus your timezone, and learn “your exact age.”

So, the real question, is why would someone take the time to develop this site? The comments don’t indicate a swell of enthusiastic users oh-so grateful for this calculator’s help:

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Although I did appreciate Lele’s sense of humor when he/she commented: “what if the world ended don don don.”

Perhaps it is just for passive income generation (note the embedded ad in the image above). The site did also feature a few famous birthdays — though it is no competition for the site FamousBirthdays.com, which is insanely successful. The age calculator site offers blogs too actually, so I clearly need to be paying more attention to my competition!

In the meantime, consider this blog a Public Service Announcement letting you know where you can calculate your age down to the minute. You’re welcome.

 

One More Birthday Power to Enjoy.

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You can easily imagine this headline: “Birthdays should allow you to choose your age” caught my attention. I’m all in for anything that gives me more power on my birthday — mwahahaha!

A writer in the Zanesville Time Recorder was going to celebrate her birthday by being 45 again. She noted this meant her older son was born five years before she was. She made an interesting observation though: “why not? If I can identify as either sex or any color or nationality, I choose to identify as a 45-year-old.”

We are a society increasingly open to people making their own identity choices. So, age fluidity could just be added to the list.

The writer further admitted, “truth be told, I feel as if I should be about 25. This aging stuff never really bothered me much.”

This year my birth certificate would attest to the fact that I am actually 45. I’ve written recently about reaching a point in my life where the number is making a dent on my psyche.

But I’ve been thinking more lately that maybe the reason we get so caught up in the numbers, and surprised when we reach them (30! 45! 50! AARP’s 55!..gulp 60!) is that we have no personal context for the experience.

Birthday Age

Remember when we were elementary schoolers who thought that being 21 was just as old as a 40-something? Basically, people were sorted into “babies,” “kids like us,” “teenagers,” “adults,” and “grandparents.”

Even in our twenties, we had the groupings: “younger than us,” “adults,” “parents” and “grandparents.”

But now that I’m in my mid-40s, I have to recalculate. Forty-five has always seemed old before now. But then I look ahead at how old people are getting (those 110 year olds I wrote about), and have to realize I could have another 45 years to go! If I feel old now, what am I leaving myself for later? Ancient? Crone?

I wish I could agree that the “aging stuff never really bothered me much.” It hadn’t for the longest time. She’s got the healthy point of view: “The best part of aging is that age really is just a number. And as you grow old you start to forget what that number actually is.”

Maybe I’m just not old enough yet to embrace that perspective. Still, I’ll admit I’m all for the idea of being whatever age you want on your birthday. Or at least acting that way! Most who know me would argue I act like a spoiled 9-year-old girl every birthday — complete with balloons, baked goods, and a big, brassy “it’s all about me” attitude.

Humor helps gentlemen to reach 110.

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Britain’s oldest men are both turning 110 this week. Yes, 110!!

The Telegraph in the UK reports, “The two have credited their old age to porridge and a good sense of humour.”

Smith, Telegraph UK
Weighton, Telegraph UK

Well, I like to think I have one of those covered, but I will need to develop an affinity for porridge if I want to be a centenarian (which, honestly, I’m not sure I want to be. But surely that’s similar to the 10-year-old totally unable to imagine what it would be like to be 43? By the time I get closer to 100 I could be surprised at how awesome it really is).

Another great thing about these two men? Although they have never met, they have exchanged birthday cards for years! It’s as if they have embraced the idea of having a birthday twin! Both Robert Weighton and Alf Smith were born March 29 1908.

Secret to Old Age

Former farmer Smith’s recipe for longevity? “Porridge is helpful and having a job you enjoy.”

Weighton, an engineer most of his life, said: “I think laughter is extremely important. Most of the trouble in the world is caused by people taking themselves too seriously.”

birthday longevity

Photo by sandeepachetan.com on Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

Weighton also “dismissed smoking as ‘horrible’ and ‘absurd’ after trying it in his early teens and is equally unimpressed by wealth, saying he ‘never wanted to become rich.’”

Some would say, though, he is rich with family. The father of three has 10 grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren.

If I do make it to centenarian and they are interviewing me about what I attribute my longevity to, I hope I’ll still be able to say “good friends, good books, and the occasional sweet.” (I put occasional in there assuming I’ll have to cut back more to get to 100!).

Fighting over Frosting Birthday Cakes?

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One of the age-old birthday debates revolves around cupcakes: Which is better the cake or the frosting?

Birthday cake

Some people can do without one or the other. My son, for instance, is likely to lick off all the frosting and leave the cupcake untouched. This is why we’ve moved on to cookie cakes, which he will eat in their entirety. But then there are the boys who come to his sleepovers and prefer their cookie cake slices without any frosting!

Now, I’ve encountered an idea that throws another spanner in the works: replacing buttercream frosting with ice cream frosting. Food & Wine’s  culinary director Justin Chapple offered this suggestion as a recent Mad Genius Tip:

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This made me think of another quintessential debate come cake-eating time: To ice cream or not to ice cream?

Birthday Cake & Ice Cream

I can understand the appeal of an ice cream cake, especially since one of my favorite fro-yo flavors is cake batter. Obviously, if you’ve ever seen any of my #yummybday posts, I am very much drawn in by the appeal of a freshly baked cake. Yet, I’ve never been a fan of cake and ice cream.

My family members are among those who feel that a birthday cake is best served with a side of ice cream. Yet, for my birthday’s there is no ice cream on the plate. It melts too fast and gets the cake soggy. If I wanted a soggy cake, I’d order a molten lava cake thank you very much.

Perhaps the best compromise for the cake and ice cream kerfuffle is this clever idea I came across from The Country Cook’s website. They used melted ice cream to replace all of the cake’s liquids, which “results in a slightly more dense and ultra flavorful cake!” This sounds good enough that we may need to celebrate some half or 1/4 birthdays soon, since we don’t have another birthday coming up for seven more months at my house.

birthday cake=

Celebrating the First Birthday in a Bar

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first birthday

Image source: New York Post

New York City is always the trendsetter, right? Well, how do you feel about following suit on this idea — baby birthday parties in bars.

According to the New York Post, “Baby birthday parties have infested Brooklyn’s bar scene.” Really, the choice of the verb “infested” alone suggests how the Living columnist Molly Shea feels about it — or at least the page editor who wrote the headline.

Shea goes to a German beer hall on a Saturday to witness its hosting five separate first birthday bashes! The article includes a picture of parents celebrating their son’s first birthday with beer steins that are as big as the birthday boy himself! Little Dante is not nursing after this party, that’s for sure!

first birthday

Image Source: New York Post

Shea describes: “The long, wooden tables in the cavernous space… covered in Mickey Mouse tablecloths, party hats, gluten-free cupcakes and pitcher upon pitcher of German beer.” The bar’s events manager tells her “we have at least one toddler birthday party a weekend, if not more.”

According to the paper, “Kiddie celebrations are a big draw for Staten Island brewery Flagship, too. ‘At this point, the majority of parties thrown at Flagship are first birthday parties,’ says event director Tricia Sykes.” Amazing!

Why a first birthday in a bar exactly?

Space is at a premium in NYC, and renting out a play space is expensive. So, the breweries and beer halls are picking up the slack. It certainly highlights the fact that first year birthday parties are more for the adults than the babies themselves. They won’t remember, but the Moms and Dads sure deserve the opportunity to celebrate surviving the first year of parenthood.

Another Mom spoke to the Post about hosting her party at another “boozy hangout” but really focusing on the parents. She simply set up playpens and a ball pit in one area for the kids and then invited the parents to sit and sip at tap room tables. “The party was definitely more for adults,” she said.

These places are kid friendly to a point — setting limits on when children can be there for instance and discouraging parties for kids old enough to run around and wreck havoc. Still, you’ve got to imagine some other bar goers are surprised by the number of strollers in the aisles and kids running rampant.

first birthday

Image source: New York Post

Ultimately, it’s a trend that makes sense. Having lived in Chicago and Toronto I could see this idea easily taking hold there too. It’s about space and cost, and knowing your audience. Now, the trend I want to see in two decades is kids coming back to the same breweries to celebrate their turning 21 too. That could be cool nostalgia.

How Presidents Really Spend Birthdays — Hint: Not shopping

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The President’s Day sales have ended, which means we’ve moved past the celebration of several U.S. Presidents on the third Monday of February. While this blog has previously shared several presidents’ lack of enthusiasm for birthday pomp and circumstance, a Washington Post columnist this year shared some great findings about just how nonplussed these guys were with their birthdays each year.

Consider George Washington: When he turned 28, he spent his birthday building a fence around his peach trees). As he got more distinguished, though, others couldn’t resist celebrating him. At his 46th birthday, a group of Revolutionary War soldiers surprised him by playing fife and drums outside his quarters at Valley Forge. One hopes the enemy was not within earshot (talk about giving away your location!).

T.J. — the man of the tall hat — wasn’t a big birthday fan either.  He reportedly said the only birthday he believed in celebrating was the nation’s. Jefferson wrote the Attorney General while president declining to let his “birthday be known” and stating he had also “engaged [his] family not to communicate it.”

Modern Presidents Embrace the Pomp 

At least FDR embraced some fun while in the White House. For his 52nd birthday, Franklin Roosevelt hosted a toga party and dressed as Caesar. First lady Eleanor Roosevelt dressed as the Oracle of Delphi, and other guests wore white robes and Grecian headbands.

FDR was also honored by 52 dancing girls carrying electrical candles and making themselves into the shape of a cake before singing Happy Birthday.

John F. Kennedy’s 45th birthday also prompted a big celebration in New York City’s Madison Square Gardens. One of the most memorable moments was Marilyn Monroe’s rendition of Happy Birthday Mr. President. Her dress also garnered attention — she had to be literally sewn into the backless gown she wore in front of 15,000 guests (Mrs. Kennedy was noticeably absent).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqolSvoWNck

JFK, onstage afterwards, said: “I can now retire from politics after having had Happy Birthday sung to me in such a sweet, wholesome way.”

Bill Clinton brought his 50th birthday festivities to New York as well, with a celebration cum Democratic fundraiser at Radio City Music Hall. The event raised $10 million for the party in 1996.

President Barack Obama was a bit more moderate when he celebrated his own milestone birthday at the White House. He celebrated turning 50 with an outdoor barbecue in the Rose Garden followed by music and dancing. The guest list did include some luminaries, though: Rapper Jay-z and actor Tom Hanks attended and Stevie Wonder provided a serenade.

Birthday Popularity — An Interactive Map

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Clearly, I am not the only person out there who thinks birthdays are interesting. People with a lot more talent than I have for visualization and processing data have put together a cool heat map demonstrating the popularity of different birth dates.

Any loyal readers of this blog know already that September birthdays are the top-ranked for popularity, but on his “digital sketchpad for data stories” site, Matt Stiles provides an interactive way to see where your big day lands in comparison to others in the world.

birthday popularity

Birthday Popularity Ranked

To get the results, two decades of American birthdays, from 1994 – 2014, were averaged by month and day. There’s even an estimated conception date, for those who don’t shudder to think about that reality about their own parents.

Birthday popularity

It’s interesting to see that only one of the dates in the top 10 is outside of the month of September. Apparently October 14th is a particularly appealing day for parents to get busy!

While we’re at it though, let’s take a moment to reconsider the fact that you share your birthday with an estimated 11,000 people in America alone! That’s the median number of births per day.

A couple of other things I learned? Selfishly I of course looked up my own birthday. Turns out it is more common as a date of conception (netting a June 29 birthday at 111th), than it is a date of birth (115th, with a date of conception estimated at January 13 — no, Dad, if you’re reading this, I don’t need further detail about that critical January so many years ago…some things can be kept private between you and Mom, OK?).

I may not be a fan of data and statistics if I have to do any of the calculations. But I do love it when someone makes it so easy for me to sort through and find out cool stuff. Enjoy!

 

Luckiest Birthdays in 2018

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I have always known I had a lucky birthday. It’s my birthday. Of course it is lucky! But now fortune tellers in Japan have backed me up!

For this year at least, my birthday is the luckiest of those in my household. My husband’s comes in second, the dog is third, and the son is fourth. As he’s nine and might take being behind the dog poorly, I probably just won’t tell him.

And, since my “lucky” birthday is only the 134th most lucky birthday of the year, I’m not really doing all that hot myself.

My husband’s comes in at #185, Maddy (shown below) is #249, and the boy is #321. And before you think I’m too loopy about my dog, I really only checked hers on the list to see if my son could top someone’s birthday luck…but no (ahem) such luck.

What are the luckiest birthdays?

The list comes from a Japanese website, Medigaku, which consulted the predictions of 10 popular fortune tellers to find out the order of luckiest birth date.

If you’re expecting a baby, April 14 2018 is the day to pop him or her out. That’s thought to be the luckiest birthday on the books this year. It’s good news for actors Sarah Michelle Gellar, Anthony Michael Hell, and Adrien Brody, singer Loretta Lynn, and entrepreneur Bobbi Brown.

A Taiwan News site noted the 04/14 top spot “is a bit surprising” as “as in Japan, China, Hong Kong, the Koreas, Taiwan, and parts of Southeast Asia, the number four is a homophone with the word for death and is generally considered highly unlucky and inauspicious.”

The least lucky birthday of 2018? December 7. The anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, FYI, and the birthdate of athletes Terrell Owens, Larry Bird, John Terry, actor Nicholas Hoult, and singer Sara Bareilles.

You can read the whole list online. I highly recommend using the search function (control-F) with your birthday in month, date order! In the meantime, check out some ways people have tried birthday luck with lotteries!

The Birthday Effect’s Not So Great

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Photo by atalou on Foter.com / CC BY-ND

Have you heard about “The Birthday Effect?” Apparently, researchers in the United States, England, Switzerland and Japan have found the probability of death increases on or near people’s birthdays.

The main reasons are “stress related to the birthday, increased consumption of alcohol and drugs, and the tendency of terminally ill patients to hold off their passing until their birthday.” There is also what’s called “the birthday blues,” which increases birthday suicides.

The statistical anomaly known as “The Birthday Effect” is seen in some celebrity passings, which are captured now in online round-ups. Of course, since this site aims to be THE source for everything birthday-related, we’re due for a gallery of our own. So, here goes.

Famous Birthday Effect-ers

Renaissance painter Raphael (not the Ninja Turtle named after him) died on April 6, 1520. While the cause of death on his 37th birthday is unclear, “he reportedly died after an especially wild night with his long-time lover Margherita Luti.”

Another painter who died on his birthday? Grant Wood. The American painter, best known for his American Gothic, died of cancer February 13, 1942. He was 51.

Jazz saxophonist Sidney Bechet played his final notes on his 62nd birthday. He died in France of lung cancer on May 14, 1959.

Academy-Award winning Ingrid Bergman died August 29,1982, on her 67th birthday. The iconic  Isla Lund from Casablanca had fought a long battle with breast cancer before her death. Her ashes were sent back to her home country, Sweden.

The actress may have been doing a final ode to playwright and poet William Shakespeare who is thought to have died from a heart attack on his own April 23rd birthday in 1616 at the age of 52.

Betty Friedan, author of The Feminine Mystique (and a Smith College grad — just saying) died on February 4, 2006. She died of congestive heart failure at her Washington, D.C. home on her 85th birthday.

Activist Ella Baker, who fought alongside Martin Luther King, Jr., W. E. B. Du Bois, and Thurgood Marshall, died on her 83rd birthday (December 13, 1986).

One more who rode into the sunset on his birthday? Johnny Longden. The Triple Crown-winning jockey, who rode Count Fleet to Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and the Belmont Stakes wins in 1943, died in 2003. He was born and died on Valentine’s Day.

If birthdays are a reminder of loved ones for you, check out this past blog.