Today’s special day of the year is …

TODAY is Clean Out Your Computer Day, Darwin Day, Plum Pudding Day and Lost Penny Day.

Clean Out Your Computer Day

When your computer is running slowly, you may stop to wonder what’s causing it. Clean Out Your Computer Day reminds you that you need to take care of the whole system, inside and out, digital and physical! When was the last time you cleaned out your fans and dusted off your motherboard? Have you looked at your graphics card to see if its cooling fan and fins are clean? When last did you even open the case? Make sure that your system is powered down and disconnected, then find a good online tutorial to show you the way to get it done safely.

Once you have it all cleaned out inside, you’ll want to put it back together and boot it up. Once that’s done, it’s time to go through and clean out unnecessary files from your computer, as a clogged up hard drive can be just as bad as a clogged up fan. Get the hard drive cleaned out, and you can enjoy another year of a smooth running computer, as fast as the day you bought it.

Darwin Day

There was a pivotal moment in history when we began to look at ourselves, and at life, in a new way. It changed not just how we perceive ourselves, but how we view our relation to all other life and species on Earth. We came to realise, along the way, that we are kin, however distant, to every life form on Earth. It was a moment that was both elevating and humbling at the same time. It was the moment when Charles Darwin brought the idea of the law of natural selection into the limelight of the scientific world, and we began to see with clear eyes how everything, absolutely everything, is connected. Darwin was absolutely fundamental to our current understanding of life and the species of the world.

Charles Robert Darwin was born in 1809, and grew to become a naturalist and geologist who would come to change the world. He was fascinated by the number and variety of fossils from around the world, and the species in their great diversity, and so set out on a five-year voyage on the Beagle to sail around the world to study life in all its forms. While his theories were originally rejected by the science of his day, they came to be seen as incontrovertible fact as more and more data was collected and more species were discovered. DNA research pushed it even further, as we started to see the connections between species in the very genes that formed them. It was impossible not to see that some species originated from other species, and that even humankind had a shared ancestor with the primates.

The best way to celebrate Darwin Day is to study evolution and familiarise yourself with the concept of natural selection. It’s an often misunderstood concept, with people mistaking ‘survival of the fittest’ for ‘survival of the best’, and failing to grasp that ‘fittest’ is for a certain set of circumstances. The heart of it is, if a member of a species survives to pass on its genes, then those genes are the ones that survive to shape the new species. Eventually, with enough beneficial mutations, it can go on to become an entirely new species better suited to its environment. Read up!

Plum Pudding Day

Plum Pudding Day is dedicated to a mouth-watering treat that, surprisingly enough, contains no plums! In the 17th century, when plum pudding was first created, ‘plums’ referred to raisins or any other type of dried fruit. Plum pudding (aka Christmas pudding) is a steamed or boiled pudding usually served during the holiday season. It is composed of nutmeg, raisins, nuts, apples, cinnamon, dates and many other ingredients. In England, it is tradition to have every person in the household simultaneously holding the wooden spoon while stirring the batter. As they stir it, they also have to make a wish.

Lost Penny Day

Pennies are small and seemingly almost worthless, and despite putting them safely in your wallet or purse, they always seem to wind up blocking the filter on your washing machine, slipping down the sides of the cushions on your favourite armchair, or getting sucked up the vacuum cleaner. Nevertheless, on one special day each year we can take the time to gather up those ever-wandering coins and finally do something more useful with them – such as donating them to a charity of our choice.

Lost Penny Day is the perfect day to take a moment to recognise that despite the fact that pennies may not seem like they are worth much, they can still be found and used to help those in need, for whom each and every penny counts and adds up. America’s first penny was designed by Benjamin Franklin and minted in 1787. The penny Americans are familiar with today, however, adorned with the bust of the late American president Abraham Lincoln, was first minted in 1909 and released on February 12 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his birth.

Courtesy: https://www.daysoftheyear.com/

For free daily local news in the south, visit our sister newspapers Alberton Record, Comaro Chronicle, Southern Courier and Get it Joburg South Magazine.

Remember to visit our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. You can also email our offices on cvdwalt@caxton.co.za, juliem@caxton.co.za or luckyt@caxton.co.za

Add us on WhatsApp today! Comaro Chronicle: 079 427 8074 and Southern Courier: 079 404 5789.