J/K, IT'S NATIONAL BARCODE DAY 😐
Happy National Barcode Day! It was on this day in 1974 that the very first Universal Product Code (aka UPC) was scanned to sell a pack of Wrigley's chewing gum at the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio. I have decided to observe this technically important but generally boring advancement by featuring our "Have A Meh Day" Ennui t-shirt. You get it.
June 26th is also National Chocolate Pudding Day (yay!), National Beautician's Day (thanks for keeping us all presentable!), and National Report Trade Agreement Act Fraud Day (wtf?!) — do with this information what you will.
I mean, Chocolate Pudding Day is the clear choice given the competition, but whatever.
GIF via Saturday Night Live/NBC
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Before you dive head-first into a vat of pudding, eat some virtual birthday cake in honor of:
• American singer-songwriter & guitarist Big Bill Broonzy (1903), illustrator & graphic designer Milton Glaser (1929), Brazilian singer-songwriter Gilberto Gil (1942), English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and co-frontman of The Clash Mick Jones (1955), American actor Gedde Watanabe (1955), who was EVERYWHERE in the 1980s, singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor Chris Isaak (1956), Kids in the Hall and SNL alum Mark McKinney (1959), 3-time Tour de France champion Greg LeMond (1961), English singer-songwriter Harriet Wheeler of The Sundays (1963), Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood (1969), filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson (1970), actor Sean Hayes (1970), actor Nick Offerman (1970), Yankee Captain and 5x World Series champion Derek Jeter (1974; it burns to type this), and singer-songwriter, actor, and drummer Jason Schwartzman (1980)
• Pour one out for: director, producer, and screenwriter Nora Ephron (d. 2012), illustrator & graphic designer Milton Glaser (d. 2020 — yes, the same one who was born today!), and big-eyed child painter Margaret Keane (d. 2022)
Historical events that occurred on June 26th include:
• Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery" was published in The New Yorker magazine in 1948. Nothing says "Anytown USA" like superstitious blood rituals resulting from scapegoating, mob psychology, and blindly following tradition!
• Madagascar gains its independence from France in 1960.
• J.K. Rowling publishes the first novel in her Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, in 1997
• The US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional and in violation of the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution in 2013. On this same day two years later in 2015 they ruled — again, by a vote of 5-4 — that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marriage under the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution.
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Alright! No new community Q&A this week. However, if you're feeling even moderately outgoing and would like to be featured in an upcoming Monday email (and are a customer with some Boredwalk tees, tanks, hoodies, towels, bags, or books to show off), just reply to this and let us know and we'll send you some fun questions!
We'll be back here in your inbox on Wednesday with some more random holidays to observe, historical tidbits to acknowledge, and fun links to entertaining content! Until next time...
Peace, love, and puddin',
Matt
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