Birthday Fun Facts

Baby born against 48M-to-one odds!

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The media often tells us about babies being born “against all odds.” Yet little Libbie Ballingall, born this month in Britain, takes the proverbial cake (birthday cake of course).

The infant girl was born August 1 at 6 pounds, 3 ounces. Yet what makes her particularly unique?

Birthday Baby

Image source: The Mirror

Libbie was born on the same birth date as her Mom and her Dad. Yes, the parents already celebrated a joint birthday. Now, the family will have to spread the joy over all three of them on the same date!

Plus, before you put a damper on this amazing coincidence, the little girl was not induced to come nine days late.

Her Mom told the Mirror, “The day before she arrived I was hoping she would wait, we never thought it would happen though. It is just bizarre.”

The mother also said, “Libbie is the best birthday present we could ever have.” So, obviously, she’s a first-time mother!

The nurses at the birthing hospital were pretty thrilled, too. When they found out, they even provided a cake to commemorate the triple birthday. (Surely a nice treat as opposed to the normal hospital pudding offered to a Mom in the maternity ward).

That the mom and dad are already birthday buddies celebrating the same August 1 birthday was pretty impressive. Yet consider too theirs isn’t even a mid-September birthday — the most popular time worldwide to be born.

A British bookie put the odds of a baby being born on its parents’ birthdays at 48,000,000 to 1. As I know absolutely nothing about probability (having changed my major to avoid statistics), I’ll take his word for it. Even though he goes by the odd name “Paddy Power.”

Now here’s a family that should be playing their birthdates at the lottery!

Birthdays are a time for…humiliation?

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Birthdays when you’re single may be cause for frustration in North America — especially if one’s parents are particularly determined to see their offspring happily paired off. Nevertheless, we don’t make as big a deal of the single status on birthdays as some other countries around the world.

In Germany, according to Mental Floss, bachelors receive “sockencranz” on their 25th birthday. This means any German guy will be treated to a wreath of socks outside his home if he’s unmarried after a quarter of a century’s worth of opportunities to resolve this imbalance. The old socks are meant to represent old age.

 

That’s disappointingly obvious for my taste. I’d been hoping it might represent a now-dated (let’s hope) belief he was unable to wash his own socks and was stinking up the neighborhood (unless he lived at home with his mother).

Anyway, a search of sockencranz on Google nets a link to a #sockenkranz on instagram that clearly depicts women celebrating 25 with strings of socks too. Actually, many of the images have women or men and shot glasses…so alcohol seems to be involved as well (in a astoundingly rare showing of a culture incorporating liquor into its celebratory traditions).

Other global traditions that mark multiples of five are seen among:
• Latin Americans who celebrate a girl’s coming of age at 15 with the quincanera, which going by the amount of advice on the web about taking a “quince to the next level” is a trial run for a wedding
• Nigerians who celebrate the milestones of 1, 10 and 15 with massive parties and feasting
• Dutch who mark the “crown years” of 5, 10, 15, 20 and…uhm 21…with bigger presents.

But back to the public humiliation of the unmarried — in Denmark, the Danes who live to be 30 and unmarried wake up to what’s called a pepper person. These are often huge representations of men or women made out of oil drums.

Because nothing says “Happy Birthday, we love you” like a little singleton shaming, right?

Bad News about Birthday Candles

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birthday cake

Photo credit: r.nial.bradshaw via Foter.com / CC BY

I thought it was pretty cool when I learned that the whole blowing out candles tradition dates back centuries. Many ancient cultures thought the smoke carried their good wishes up to the heavens.

Mental Floss traces the tradition to ancient Greece where people used to take cakes to the temple of Artemis. The lit candles were reminiscent of the moon, a popular symbol associated with the goddess of the hunt.

That site points also to Germans in 1746 putting candles in a cake to signify each year of the person’s age and the possible symbolism of a candle as the “light of the life” of a young child feted during Kinderfest.

These are all interesting ideas, right?

Then along comes Bustle with a report of a new study that pretty much busts the enjoyment of birthday candles forever more. It’s not as if the findings are surprising. Only did science really need to weigh in on this one? This study had to be sponsored by someone who hates birthday cake.

“One of our oldest celebrations is one of the yuckiest, scientists and germaphobes explain,” spoilsport Lifestyle reporter Kaitlyn Wylde writes.

She goes on to describe how gross the tradition actually is, and how it’s even more disgusting when kids are blowing out the candles, then introduces the actual science from Clemson University. I’m not going to repeat it here. It’s gross, and I wouldn’t do that to you.

Instead I will share my disappointment that this study originated at Clemson, my husband’s alma mater, and the school that prompts my son to cheer license plates and bumper stickers as we drive. I am even more devastated a school I am supposed to love by association has spoiled this aspect of birthdays for me.

Sure, there are alternatives to the sucking in a breath and letting out a gusting wish over top of the cake: Have the birthday person blow out a candle or candles on their own cupcake, a pre-cut slice, or personal small cake (a la the one year old’s smash cake). Or have the celebrant use a handheld fan, a folded paper fan, or an old school candle-snuffer. Recently, I also posted alternative birthday cake options — although I intended for those to include candles still.

Me? I’d rather take a cake and smash it in the face of the scientists who researched and thus ruined this age-old tradition. I can make it a purple and orange cake, though, just to make the punishment a little more Tigers-style.

Totally Reliable Survey Data on Birthdays

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Photo credit: Dan4th via Foter.com/CC BY

 

I hate drive time radio. I am not a morning person. I do not want to listen to vapid chatter as I drag myself to work each day.

Nevertheless, I did follow the link when a brief post by an Indiana radio station discussed a “new recent study on birthdays” that “had some interesting results.”

Furthering my annoyance with radio talk show hosts, there was no citing of the source of the study. Only the giphys were remotely sourced (as being “via Giphy”).

But with that vent out of the way, I’m not going to let the lack of authority of the source get in the way of my blogging a response to Jayson’s summary of the findings. After all, I simply must weigh in with my full distress to learn that “most people stop celebrating their birthday at age 31.”
Apparently, Jayson reports, after 31:

  • “People don’t want to be the center of attention and don’t like the idea of thinking about getting old.”
  • “In fact, only one in five people never have another birthday party after age 30.” OK, that one I shouldn’t have quoted since it’s so grammatically glaring. Presumably he is saying that only 1 in 5 people will have another birthday party after 30.

Oh, and most shocking to me? “Those with August and March birthdays go all out to celebrate while September, October and June birthdays are less likely to celebrate their b-days at all.”

Here’s an October birthday girl blogging exclusively about birthdays. You can bet I like to celebrate despite what other birthday shirkers want to do.

The study further found:

  • People on average receive eight cards, 10 well wishes on social media and five presents
  • Two out of three people get a cake on their b-day.
  • Weekend getaways with a spouse, dinner with the family, and a movie night at home with take-out food are the most common ways to celebrate.

These researchers sound like my kind of peeps! I only wish the blogger had offered even a few details about the study source for me to be able to track it down.

In the meantime, I am conducting my own informal research. Click this six-question survey to help me out.

 

 

 

 

 

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Photo credit: Jimee, Jackie, Tom & Asha via Foter.com / CC BY-SA

 

Birthdays — You Only Get One

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Birthdays Matter

Photo credit: kevin dooley via Foter.com / CC BY

“I don’t celebrate birthdays. So that stops me from counting days, so that stops me from counting time which allows me to still look the same as I did 10 years ago.” — Prince

Prince made this comment to a Dutch TV host in 1999. It’s worth watching the clip to enjoy the sass with which he says it:

Nevertheless, I don’t agree with this age-defying solution. Despite Prince’s great ability to keep his youthfulness, I am not one to accept ignorance is bliss.

Those who know me well know that my unwillingness to “stop counting” extends beyond birthdays. I am not someone who will ignore a problem. I’d much rather worry it to death, trying to anticipate every possible angle and be prepared for any worst-case scenario.

Acknowledging this, I do think that perhaps Prince was on to something bigger. It’s not whether or not we pay heed to birthdays, but rather whether or not we’re willing to live each day without worrying about what happens next or what came before. That’s what I think he was getting at anyway. That point of view does make sense to me.

Of course, just because something makes sense doesn’t mean it is any easier to put it into practice. If I could just stop worrying because I said to myself “stop worrying” everyone around me would likely be happier too.

Still, I can take this little moment of Prince nostalgia, and the ruminations (a.k.a. ramblings) of this particular blog as a reminder to take it a little easier on me. After all, ironically, it is on my birthday when I am best able to let things go…(well, except for people forgetting my birthday — I notice that!). So, the one day of the year when I am closest to the state of being Prince embraced is the same day of the year he shrugged off. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

In the meantime, yes, I am still going to count down to my birthday — it is now less than 4 months away!

Prince Rogers Nelson, died in 2016, at the age of 57. I’ll wrap this up with one of my favorites from him:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgKIlzdkyM0

The Queen can’t “Pooh Pooh” this gift.

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In my diligent following of all things birthday I am often confronted with yet another article about why the Queen has two birthdays. It doesn’t seem to matter what time of year it is, although the coverage does pick up around May when she is feted in several places. (C’mon she already gets to wear a crown AND she gets multiple birthdays?! Must she rub it in?)

Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised when recently the coverage around the Queen and her birthdays informed about a new book featuring Winnie the Pooh and her Royal Majesty. Both celebrate 90 years in 2016. Pooh has many fewer wrinkles though.

I have always loved Winnie the Pooh. I was an avid teddy bear collector for years, and even in college had a Winnie the Pooh key fob. One of our favorite games to play on a bridge when my boy was little was “Pooh sticks” where you throw the stick into the water and run to the other side of the bridge to see whose stick would come out first the other side.

So I am particularly pleased to see Pooh still part of the storytelling fabric of the universe. In this case, he and Piglet want to give the Queen a present. Penned by Jane Riordan, the takes Pooh, Piglet, Christopher Robin and Eeyore through London in an open top red double decker bus, visiting the lion statues in Trafalgar Square, seeing the Buckingham Palace guards and even encountering Prince George (who is given a balloon by Piglet).

The colourful drawings in the classic EH Shepard style are by illustrator Mark Burgess, who also drew the 2009 pictures for the first authorized Pooh sequel. There’s even an audio video version narrated by the talented Jim Broadbent.

In the spirit of embracing the wonder of Winnie further, though, I share some of the New York Public Library’s fun facts about the beloved bear and his 90-year old friends:

 

  • The curious name of Winnie-the-Pooh came from Christopher Robin, from a combination of the names of a real bear and a pet swan. During the 1920s there was a black bear named “Winnie” in the London Zoo who had been the mascot for the Winnipeg regiment of the Canadian army. “Pooh” was the name of a swan in When We Were Very Young.
  • Pooh was purchased at Harrods department store in London and given by A.A. Milne to his son Christopher Robin on his first birthday, August 21, 1921. He was called Edward (proper form of Teddy) Bear at the time.
  • The rest of the toys were received as gifts by Christopher Robin between 1920 and 1928.
  • Winnie-the-Pooh had adventures with Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo, Owl, Rabbit, and Tigger in the 100 Aker (Acre) Wood (based on the Ashdown Forest in southern England, located near the Milne family home).
  • The stuffed animals range in height from 25″ (Eeyore, the biggest) to 4 1/2″ (Piglet, the smallest).

You can enjoy the birthday book in full and share it with the kiddos in your life for free from www.Disney.co.uk/WinnieRoyalBirthday.

A Beautiful You Day. Birthday or Not.

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I am not a Today watcher. There are many reasons, but the most obvious to those who know me is that the Today show is in the morning. I am far from a morning person.

Nevertheless, I recently saw that two women were feted by the show on their birthdays with “ambush makeovers.” It would be so fun to get a makeover with a friend to celebrate getting another year older. With appropriate makeup, you might even look several years younger — unlike the Snapchat filter that ages you markedly.

If I were to get a makeover, I wouldn’t necessarily want it to happen on my actual birthday. I prefer to treat myself to lethargy on my big day, and getting all dolled up would be too much work. Yet the week of my birthday, I’d be OK with getting swooped up for a fashion consult as if on What Not to Wear, complete with a new haircut and a rare application of makeup, alongside my best friend.

The two women featured on the show were 49-year-old and 74-year-old grandmothers. The 74-year-old told Today she was hoping the makeover would help her find new love. “I want to look beautiful and young — I’m tired of looking like a drab old woman,” she said. Kudos to her for continuing to embrace life’s romantic opportunities — maybe she’s seen a recent episode of Grace and Frankie.

The only thing I would question about ambushing these women for their birthdays is the message it sends. The birthday should be a day you get to be slovenly if you want. If you want to wear baggy pajamas all day, so be it. If you want to go out with your hair unstyled, that’s OK too.

Let’s take the birthday as yet one more day to celebrate what’s inside of women or men, rather than making them feel they need to improve their looks to be happy.

It’s easy enough to find the positive body messaging that I’d want to embrace on my birthday and every day. This post’s images are just a few examples from the Internet.

Happy Birthday every day to your inner beauty.

Birthday Inner Beauty

Image source: pinterest

 

 

Bleak Birthdays per Seinfeld

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Birthday party

Photo credit: Άbdullah ; unique via Foter.com / CC BY

It’s been more than 15 years since Seinfeld went off the air, but it’s fun sometimes to revisit gems from this American sitcom’s nine seasons (1989 – 1998).

Recently, I enjoyed a clip in which George Costanza berates Jerry for being too funny. George is certain, by contrast, he’ll fall lower in his date’s estimation. When the woman returns to the dinner table, having left to wish her aunt a happy birthday, Jerry chimes in with quite a dire view of birthdays.

In a bleak voice he characterizes birthdays of a reminder of “how little we’ve grown” and “that for the rest of our sad, wretched pathetic lives, this is who we are to the bitter end.”

It’s true, yes, that many people see their birthdays in this light. Especially, research has shown, around the big-0 birthdays.

But I’m on the side of people such as the 100-year-old I wrote about recently who embraced his birthday on social media.

Big Birthday at 60!

In my researching this blog, I learned that people in China don’t actually pay a lot of attention to their birthdays until they are 60! There are big parties for the person each new decade they reach — getting bigger and more festive every 10 years.

My guess is this is related to the whole population-out-of-control-thing over there; with so many people being born every day, maybe they don’t want to get too caught up in celebrating birthdays until the person has proved they can last. If that’s the case, one would think this tradition will be whittled away with longevity being more expected (noodles served on birthdays or not).

Still, the perspective that 60 is a great age to reach is one I find more and more appealing as I age. In China this is an age to be proud of. Instead of marking wretchedness a la Seinfeld, this is a celebration of all that has been accomplished in the life cycle. Thus, turning 61 marks the start of a new life cycle.

Perhaps this is really the way we should be looking at birthdays universally? If we could see them as each decade as a new cycle’s beginning, we might always be able to look forward instead of getting sidetracked by the thought of how much closer we are getting to the bitter end.

 

 

 

 

 

Data…Birthday Data.

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Birthday Fun Fact

Photo credit: Rooners Toy Photography via Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

It’s ridiculous, really, how happy this headline made me when I saw the news alert:

“British spies abused powers to look up birthdays in intelligence databases.”

I know, I know, I should not be giddy at the idea of spies “abusing their powers.” Few among us are made happy by the idea of our governmental agencies (covert or not) abusing the databases available to them for their own purposes.

But, c’mon! Looking up friends’ addresses to send birthday cards? This is a generous act. And it tickles me to think of MI5, M16 and GCHQ agents “crossing the line” by treating their super secret spy databases to send birthday greetings.

Plus, I find it hilarious that Privacy International has brought this issue to light via a legal challenge exposing the data collected on British citizens and the egregious misuse of that information. Yes, egregious is my word there, but I can just imagine a Parliamentarian, beefy jowls a jiggling, using this word in debating this case.

Now, there are other examples in the Business Insider story that were actually worthy of upset. For instance, a US intelligence intercepting women’s phone calls or Snowden reporting he saw spies sharing people’s intimate nude photos around the office. Those instances I can see someone getting worked up about.

Still, I simply can’t buy into the slippery slope argument that someone looking up a friend or relative’s birth date or mailing address in the national databases is deserving of investigation.

I’ll even carry this fanciful issue farther and counter that it’s better that intelligence agents conveniently and quickly ascertain details about friends and family so as to free up more of their time to work on issues of actual national security.

Imagine James Bond covertly sneaking into the database to be able to directly mail a birthday greeting to Q or Moneypenny. If anything this report actually humanizes secret agents and for that the British government might be grateful.

Social share your birthday

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What do you make of a social media site devoted to bringing people together that share a birthday? Like a LinkedIn for birthday enthusiasts, the idea is to join the community, share your birth date, and network with those who share a birthday within a week or two of your own special day.

We already know, that’s a lot of people. In a previous post, I shared the stat that approximately 20 million people share the same birthday worldwide.

Founded by Kanayo Okwuraiwe, a Nigerian based in South Africa, Birthday-Mates.com officially launched in September 3, 2015 to help people connect, jointly celebrate, and create lifelong friendships with people with whom they have this unique connection. The site does offer the opportunity also to crowdfund your birthday project, which is a smart nod to people using their birthdays to make a donation or help out a cause.

Birthday calendar

Photo credit: Kelly Hunter via Foter.com / CC BY

 

There’s a similar idea at work behind NachoBirthday.com. The site encourages users to “celebrate life by making change in your life or someone else’s by setting up crowdfunding campaigns through them.

There is no doubt, social networking is changing the ways in which celebrate birthdays in so many ways. My previous posts on this theme have addressed:

There’s also the Birthdaybox app, which enables friends and family to collaborate on a birthday video sent to the special someone on their birthday by the site.

Or the Birthday-Mates.com competitor, Doppels, which “claims to be the world’s first birthday discovery engine and social app.” It notes, “Our mission is to spark movement where your birthday allows you to connect more authentically to the world around you, find people sharing your birthday, discover those celebrating their birthday on any given day, and make new connections.”

Do you know of other sites and apps capitalizing on our love of celebrating birthdays? Please let me know!