May 25 - Geek Pride Day

Geek Pride Day is an initiative to promote geek culture, celebrated annually of the 25th of May. The date was chosen to commemorate the release of the first Star Wars Film, A New Hope, on May 25, 1977, though it also shares the date with Towel Day, for fans of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams, and the "Glorious 25th of May", for fans of Discworld by Terry Pratchett.

Geek Pride Day originated in Spain in 2006 as "Dia del Orgullo Friki", and spread around the world via the Internet. In 2006, the Spanish blogger Germán Martinez organized the first celebration in Spain and on the Internet, drawing attention from mainstream media. The biggest concentration took place in Madrid, where 300 Geeks demonstrated their pride together with a human pacman. By 2009, acknowledgment of the day had reached the Science Channel, with special programming on May 25th to celebrate; events took place to commemorate the day in Ottawa, home to the Canada Science and Technology Museum, and a notable research centre in Canada. In 2010, the festival spread further, taking place in cities as diverse as Halifax, Budapest, Tel Aviv, Timisoara, and San Diego.

A manifesto was created to celebrate the first Geek Pride Day, which included a list of the basic rights and responsibilities of geeks.

The following video tells just how proud nerds/geeks are to be as such: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMweXVWB918

So get out there and celebrate Geek Pride Day! Be unironically excited about things!

Today is also National Missing Children's Day, National Tap Dance Day, Towel Day (as mentioned above), Julia Pierpont Day, and Amateur Radio Military Appreciation Day!

Here are some interesting things that happened on this day in history:

- Four Récollets from France arrived at Tadoussac with Champlain in 1615, only to quickly go their separate ways. The best-known Récollet, Gabriel Sagard, later published Le Grand Voyage du pays des Hurons, an indispensable source of knowledge of Huron customs and culture.
- John Merryman was arrested in 1861 under suspension of writ of habeas corpus; it later sparked a supreme court decision protecting writ.
- Irish Fenians raided Eccles Hill, Quebec in 1870.
- Oscar Wilde was sentenced to 2 years hard labor for "gross indecency" in 1895.

- Alain Grandbois, considered the first great modern Québec poet, was born in St-Casimir, Québec in 1900. Also in 1900, Malcolm Frederick Norris, Métis leader, was born in St. Albert, Alberta.
- Again in 1900, Eyre M. Shaw, 78, became the oldest gold medalist in Olympics history when he won gold for yachting.
- Babe Ruth received a 1-day suspension, and a fine of $200 for throwing dirt on an ump in 1922.
- Phyllis Gotlieb, world-class science fiction writer, was born in Toronto in 1926.

- Goofy, aka Dippy Dawg, 1st appeared in 'Mickey's Revue' by Walt Disney in 1932.
- Babe Ruth hit his last 3 home runs in 1935, when Boston Braves played the Pirates.
- A company of the Royal Canadian Regiment was sent to Koje-Do, Korea in 1952, and without bloodshed helped to reorganize part of the troubled camp and guard its prisoners.

- JFK set a goal of putting a man on Moon before the end of decade in 1961.
- The Supreme Court ruled closing schools to avoid desegregation unconstitutional in 1964.
- John Lennon took delivery of his psychedelic painted Rolls Royce in 1967.

- The Rolling Stones released "Jumping Jack Flash" in 1968.
- Star Wars Episode IV: a New Hope  was released in 1977 (as mentioned above).
- Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi was released in 1983. Also in 1983, the 1st National Missing Children's Day was proclaimed.
- Over 6 million Americans formed "Hands Across America" in 1986, from California to New York.

- Jay Leno became a permanent host of "Tonight Show" in 1992.
- In 1995, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the Charter protects the rights of homosexuals against discrimination, though sexual orientation is not specifically mentioned in the Charter. Also in 1995, BC poet Lorna Crozier won the Pat Lowther Memorial Award for her poetry collection, Everything Arrives at the Light.
- And again in 1995, the Québec Nordiques were sold to Comsat Corporation for US $75 millions. The new team was moved to Denver, Colorado, and renamed the Avalanche. The new team won the Stanley Cup the following year.
- The body of a Canadian soldier killed in France was exhumed near Vimy Ridge and interred at the National War Memorial, Ottawa in 2000, in a ceremony memorializing the 28,000 Canadian soldiers who died in battle but whose bodies were never found.

- 32-year-old Erik Weihenmayer, of Boulder, Colorado, became the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest in 2001.
- Oprah Winfrey aired her last show in 2011, ending her twenty five year run of The Oprah Winfrey Show.
- A SpaceX Dragon became the first commercial spacecraft to dock at the International Space Station in 2012.

Stay tuned for our next, "On This Day in History"!