Black History Month Theme

2020 is an important general election year, and a landmark year for voting rights.

2020 marks the 150th anniversary of the Fifteenth Amendment (1870) which gave the right of black men to vote following the Civil War. It also marks the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment and the culmination of the women’s suffrage movement.

This year's theme for Black History month, "African Americans and the Vote", recognizes the struggle for voting rights among both black men AND women throughout American history.

It is an ongoing struggle for people of color that continues into the 21st century.


Black History & The Right to Vote

Even before the Civil War, free black men first petitioned state legislatures for the right to vote, but it wasn't until 1870 when the 15th Amendment was ratified providing that "the right to vote shall not be denied or abridged on the basis of race, color or previous condition of servitude."

Even so, southern state legislatures immediately began undermining the protections found in the new amendment. Years of lawsuits and protests followed, but it wasn't until the rise of the Civil Right Movement and Voting Rights Act of 1965 that the freedom to vote was enjoyed by a majority of southern blacks.

Today, these freedoms have eroded by 'gerrymandering' - or dividing voting districts to gain an unfair majority. Harsh voting restrictions by states have also been enacted to discourage voting among poor blacks.

The ongoing struggle may seem disheartening, but there are actions being taken for change. It may not change right away, but hopefully this means more change for the future. For example, the 2018 US midterm election, for example, saw a surprising record number of minority and women voted into state legislative power coast to coast. The voting tallies sparked new optimism that the historic pendulum was swinging back - again - to equal voting rights for all.

Black History Month Week 3

Vday History

Happy Valentine’s Day to you and yours. Keeping in the theme of history this month, I thought that I would post about the history of Valentine’s Day. It goes way back and wasn’t always the prettiest of pictures… read on!

Valentine's Day is a time to celebrate romance and love and kissy-face fealty. But the origins of this festival of candy and cupids are actually dark, bloody — and a bit muddled.

A drawing depicts the death of St. Valentine — one of them, anyway. The Romans executed two men by that name on Feb. 14 of different years in the 3rd century A.D.

Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Though no one has pinpointed the exact origin of the holiday, one good place to start is ancient Rome, where men hit on women by, well, hitting them.

Those Wild And Crazy Romans

From Feb. 13 to 15, the Romans celebrated the feast of Lupercalia. The men sacrificed a goat and a dog, then whipped women with the hides of the animals they had just slain.

The Roman romantics "were drunk. They were naked," says Noel Lenski, a historian at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Young women would actually line up for the men to hit them, Lenski says. They believed this would make them fertile.

The brutal fete included a matchmaking lottery, in which young men drew the names of women from a jar. The couple would then be, um, coupled up for the duration of the festival — or longer, if the match was right.

The ancient Romans may also be responsible for the name of our modern day of love. Emperor Claudius II executed two men — both named Valentine — on Feb. 14 of different years in the 3rd century A.D. Their martyrdom was honored by the Catholic Church with the celebration of St. Valentine's Day.

Later, Pope Gelasius I muddled things in the 5th century by combining St. Valentine's Day with Lupercalia to expel the pagan rituals. But the festival was more of a theatrical interpretation of what it had once been. Lenski adds, "It was a little more of a drunken revel, but the Christians put clothes back on it. That didn't stop it from being a day of fertility and love."

Around the same time, the Normans celebrated Galatin's Day. Galatin meant "lover of women." That was likely confused with St. Valentine's Day at some point, in part because they sound alike.

William Shakespeare helped romanticize Valentine's Day in his work, and it gained popularity throughout Britain and the rest of Europe.

Perry-Castañeda Library, University of Texas

Shakespeare In Love

As the years went on, the holiday grew sweeter. Chaucer and Shakespeare romanticized it in their work, and it gained popularity throughout Britain and the rest of Europe. Handmade paper cards became the tokens-du-jour in the Middle Ages.

Eventually, the tradition made its way to the New World. The industrial revolution ushered in factory-made cards in the 19th century. And in 1913, Hallmark Cards of Kansas City, Mo., began mass producing valentines. February has not been the same since.

Today, the holiday is big business: According to market research firm IBIS World, Valentine's Day sales reached $17.6 billion last year; this year's sales are expected to total $18.6 billion.

But that commercialization has spoiled the day for many. Helen Fisher, a sociologist at Rutgers University, says we have only ourselves to blame.

"This isn't a command performance," she says. "If people didn't want to buy Hallmark cards, they would not be bought, and Hallmark would go out of business."

And so the celebration of Valentine's Day goes on, in varied ways. Many will break the bank buying jewelry and flowers for their beloveds. Others will celebrate in a SAD (that's Single Awareness Day) way, dining alone and binging on self-gifted chocolates. A few may even be spending this day the same way the early Romans did. But let's not go there!

Black History Month 2020

Tomorrow marks the anniversary of the first celebration of Black History Month which occurred on Feb. 12, 1926. For many years, the second week of February was set aside for this celebration to coincide with the birthdays of abolitionist/editor Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. In 1976, as part of the nation’s bicentennial, the week was expanded to a month. Since then, U.S. presidents have proclaimed February as National African-American History Month.

Honor the month by learning more:

https://www.census.gov/newsroom/facts-for-features/2020/black-history-month.html

Top 8 Technology Trends for 2020

Technology is now evolving at such a rapid pace that annual predictions of trends can seem out-of-date before they even go live as a published blog post or article. As technology evolves, it enables even faster change and progress, causing an acceleration of the rate of change, until eventually it will become exponential. 

Technology-based careers don’t change at the same speed, but they do evolve, and the savvy IT professional recognizes that his or her role will not stay the same. And an IT worker of the 21st century will constantly be learning (out of necessity if not desire).

What does this mean for you? It means staying current with technology trends. And it means keeping your eyes on the future, to know which skills you’ll need to know and what types of jobs you want to be qualified to do. Here are eight technology trends you should watch for in 2020, and some of the jobs that will be created by these trends.

1. Artificial Intelligence (AI)

2. Machine Learning

3. Robotic Process Automation or RPA

4. Edge Computing

5. Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality

6. Blockchain

7. Internet of Things (IoT)

8. Cybersecurity

Learn more on each here:

https://www.simplilearn.com/top-technology-trends-and-jobs-article

Martin Luther King Day

Monday marks an important day in history: Martin Luther King Day. Brushing up on history, read why we celebrate!

Celebrated on the third Monday in January, Martin Luther King Day is a national holiday that honors the United States’ most famous civil-rights activist.

The Rev. Dr. King’s peaceful struggle against racial discrimination came to national attention in 1955, when he led a boycott protesting laws that required blacks and whites to sit in separate sections on buses. He was jailed and physically attacked, and his home was bombed, but in 1956 the Supreme Court declared such laws unconstitutional.

In 1963, King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech before a quarter million people during the peaceful March on Washington, D.C. The next year he became the youngest man, at 35, to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. He continued fighting for civil rights and against poverty until an assassin’s bullet ended his life on April 4, 1968.

Four days later, U.S. Congressman John Conyers introduced legislation providing for a federal holiday remembering King. Coretta Scott King, his widow, founded the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Center in Atlanta, and in 1969 it began holding annual celebrations of King’s birthday (January 15).

Through the 1970s, a few states — including Illinois, Massachusetts, and Connecticut — established King holidays, but in 1979 the Conyers bill was defeated in the House of Representatives by just five votes. The next year, pop star Stevie Wonder released the single “Happy Birthday” to help publicize the cause.

How The Tweezers Are Packaged

I wanted to remind everyone that the tweezers come in bulk. If you would like extra cards and baggies, please add a note in Part 3 "Additional Information" in checkout. During the holidays I will automatically add extra, but during the year have found that the extra go to waste if they aren’t being used for gifts. Thanks for understanding and please e-mail if you ever have any questions! kjslivergripper@gmail.com

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope however you rang in the new year it was just what you wanted. I decided to look up the exact origin of New Years and what it meant for many around the world, but realized I did that about two years ago! Since I found it so very interesting (and found myself wanting to relearn about it again) I thought that I would re-post some of it! Enjoy:

New Year is the time at which a new calendar year begins and the calendar's year count increments by one. Many cultures celebrate the event in some manner. The New Year of the Gregorian Calendar, today mostly in use, falls on 1 January (New Year's Day), as was the case both in the old Roman calendar (at least after about 713 BCE) and in the Julian calendar that succeeded it. The order of months was January to December in the Old Roman calendar during the reign of King Numa Pompilius in about 700 BCE, according to Plutarch and Macrobius, and has been in continuous use since that time. Many countries, such as the Czech Republic, Italy, Spain, the UK, and the United States, mark 1 January as a national holiday.

During the Middle Ages in western Europe, while the Julian calendar was still in use, authorities moved New Year's Day variously, depending upon locale, to one of several other days, among them: 1 March, 25 March, Easter, 1 September, and 25 December. These New Year's Day changes generally reverted to using January 1 before or during the various local adoptions of the Gregorian calendar, beginning in 1582. The change from March 25 – Lady Day, one of the four quarter days – to January 1 took place in Scotland in 1600, before the ascension of James VI of Scotland to the throne of England in 1603 and well before the formation of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. In England and Wales (and in all British dominions, including Britain's American colonies), 1751 began on March 25 and lasted only for 282 days because of the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750, with 1752 beginning on January 1. For more information about the changeover from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar and the effect on the dating of historical events etc.

A great many other calendars have seen use historically in different parts of the world; some such calendars count years numerically, while others do not. The expansion of Western culture during recent centuries has seen such widespread official adoption of the Gregorian calendar that its recognition and that of January 1 as the New Year has become virtually global. (Note for example the New Year celebrations held in Dubai to mark the start of 2014, which broke the world record for the most fireworks set off in a single display, lasting for six minutes and including the use of over 500,000 fireworks.)

Nevertheless, regional or local use of other calendars persists, along with the cultural and religious practices that accompany them. Many places (such as Israel, China, and India) also celebrate New Year at the times determined by these other calendars. In Latin America the observation of traditions belonging to various native cultures continues according to their own calendars, despite the domination of recently arrived cultures. The most common dates of modern New Year's celebrations are listed below, ordered and grouped by their alignment relative to the Gregorian calendar.

National Health Days

We should be giving thanks for our good health and helping others who aren’t as fortunate every day. That’s why we love celebrating 134 health holidays at National Today.

Check out what is to come in the next year:

https://nationaltoday.com/health-holidays/

Holiday Special Week 2

Thank you all for the orders and kind words. It is always nice to speak with customers and hear their tweezer stories or receive feedback. We are in business because of you and want complete customer satisfaction, so thank you for the ideas and support!

Happy Holidays!

Holiday Special

This year's special will be the same as last year: for every five tweezers bought, you get one for free! This special starts today and goes through January 5th.
 
Same as last year, upon checkout the free tweezer(s) will not show, but worry not! The extra tweezer(s) will be shown on the invoice and in the package.
 
There is also a bonus for orders over 20. That would normally be four free tweezers, but for every 20 I will add an extra two into that order. So if you order twenty, you will receive 26. If you order 40 you will receive 52, and so on!
 
To order you can check out on this site, or e-mail me at kjslivergripper@gmail.com

I hope you all have a great holiday season!

Winter is coming!

Happy December everyone! It is that time of the year to plan for the holidays, presents and winter activities! I just got back from a trip to Maui, so this will be a short one this week. I hope the holidays treat you all well!

Black Friday Sale

For every five tweezers bought, you get one for free! There is also a bonus for orders over 20. That would normally be four free tweezers, but for every 20 I will add an extra two into that order. So if you order twenty, you will receive 26. If you order 40 you will receive 52, and so on! This special starts today and goes until midnight Pacific time on Saturday. Upon checkout the free tweezer(s) will not show, but worry not! The extra tweezer(s) will be shown on the invoice and in the package.


To order you can check out on this site, or e-mail me at kjslivergripper@gmail.com

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Special

Less than a week to Thanksgiving and the wild turkeys are out on the town… literally! They are all over the San Francisco Bay Area.

Starting today you will get one free tweezer with every order over 5 until Sunday at midnight only! You may e-mail me at kjslivergripper@gmail.com and I will send a PayPal invoice or order online. With an order online the free tweezer will not show, but will be reflected on the mailed invoice and in the order. Happy Thanksgiving!

The Holiday Season

The holiday season is upon us. Happy Holidays everyone!

My grandpa, Uncle Bill, once told me that time seems to pass faster and faster with each passing year. I didn’t understand it when I was a kid, but with each New Year I find myself asking, “Where did the time go?” He passed in 2001 and it still doesn’t seem like that long ago because he is always in my heart. This year I hope you all get what you want and enjoy the time as slow or fast as it may go!

Gardening Tips for November

November gardening chores really highlight the differences in regional gardens. For many, there is no November garden to speak of. Others can't wait for the cool days and slower pace of fall vegetable gardening. But even if your garden is already covered in snow, there are still garden tasks calling: last-minute bulbs to plant, leaves that should not go to waste, roses that need some TLC and, unfortunately, insect pests are much hardier than their tiny size would suggest. You will still want to be on the alert for signs of trouble, inside and out.

On a more positive side, winter is a great time to evaluate your garden layout. You can clearly see the architecture or bones of your garden. If the view of your garden is less than inspiring or non-existent in winter, you should make some notes to add more definition in terms of things like structures, evergreens, or other architectural elements.

Take a look at what you could be doing in your November garden and try to schedule a little time outdoors before the holidays claim you! Interestingly enough, according to clients who have written in, tweezers are a good tool to have in your gardening tool box and not just for splinters!

Halloween Sale

For every 5 tweezers purchased you get one free! Today and tomorrow only. You can e-mail me your order at kjslivergripper@gmail.com to place the order and I will send a PayPal invoice, or purchase your order online and I will automatically send you a free tweezer! It will not show upon check out, but worry not, it will be in the order! Happy Halloween!

Halloween Week

For those of you who enjoy Halloween, I thought this was only appropriate! I wanted to do something fun or creative with Tweezers and costumes, what I found a was picture of a clown with razor sharp tweezer like teeth! Now I wouldn’t recommended using tweezers as teeth, but you can use them in making your costume if you are sewing anything or putting small beads or pieces together! Enjoy the week and stay safe out there!

Home coming

Fall is here! And for just about every leaf that falls, there's a tradition to match it. One of our favorites is the homecoming game. Today marks the homecoming parades and games for my life home town, so I thought I would look up the history. It's a weekend alumni return to their alma maters to celebrate fall and school spirit with a football game. Alumni go all out with tailgating and dressing in school colors, while students decorate parade floats with ornaments and throw spectacular parties. It dates back to the early 1900s, but which school started it and when is a matter of contention. Here's a little backstory of the homecoming game tradition.

The origin of the idea: The tradition of homecoming has its origin in alumni football games held at colleges since the 19th century. One of the oldest American football rivalries, Harvard vs. Yale, dates to 1875. Students, alumni and fans from both schools gather annually for The Game, although it's never been called "homecoming". The University of Michigan traces its tradition to 1897 with an alumni game, during which the varsity football team faced a squad of former players.

Whether you enjoy football, parades, or neither, have a great weekend!