How to Make a National Day 🗓️
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The Ten News: Season 4, Episode 26
Today on The Ten News 🗓️ What is a National Day and how does an ordinary day become one? Correspondent Corinne Catibayan breaks it down 🤪 Plus, Ryan shares some of his favorite, craziest National Days 👔 A BIG interview with India Abrahams, the Tiny CEO! Learn about India's business, Beads for Good and more 🚗 Pamela has Five Fascinating Facts to share about the worlds tiniest things - including a 150 pound drive-able car! 🪧 And, on the trivia throne: what year did Greta Thunberg calmly protest outside of the Swedish parliament?
Resources
https://www.insureandgo.com.au/travel-hub/weird-national-days/
https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/70419-smallest-primate-smallest-nocturnal-primate
https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/kids-club/cool-kids/general-kids-club/greta-thunberg-facts/
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TRANSCRIPT:
INT. TEN NEWS STUDIO
PAM: Hey Ry… why are you covering that miniature rocking chair with slime…?
RYAN: I’m glad you asked, Pamela. Because It’s National Slime Day and I heard there’s a Tiny CEO stopping by. I thought it’d be easier to cover her chair in slime, rather than dropping it on her and possibly crushing her.
PAM: You know that she’s not, that tiny, right? That little chair is like 3 inches tall.
RYAN: So you’re saying, I can drop slime on her?
PAM: NOPE. No. Wasn’t saying that at all. Also keep in mind, it’s not just National Slime Day.
RYAN: Okay. I get it. We gotta go BIG. I’m Ryan Willard.
PAM: And I’m Pamela Kirkland. It’s Thursday, December 7th.
RYAN: This is the Ten News.
INT. SNACK ROOM - DAY
RYAN: Okay, how do we go BIG for a Tiny CEO…? Should we build a zipline through the office?
PAM: Hmmmm, sounds a little too big. I did bring (PAM FAVORITE SNACK)...
RYAN: C’mon Pam, how do we go BIG?
PAM: WAIT! What if we invent our OWN NATIONAL DAY?
RYAN: Wait, is that even possible?
CORINNE: Hey Pam! What up Ry?
RYAN: Happy National Slime Day.
CORINNE: Thanks! December 7th is a big day all around. It's the start of Chanukah and National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, and a bunch of other National days, like National Illinois Day, International Civil Aviation Day and National Cotton Candy Day!
PAM: Oh wow! That’s so many national days. What if we wanted to invent our own? How does something become a national day?
CORINNE: Creating your own national day is actually easier than you think. But not all of them actually become official holidays. To be a true National Day, one of the following conditions must be met:
The President of the United States issues a proclamation.
A legislator like a congresswoman or senator proposes the day and congress votes for the approval.
In other countries, the head of government or legislature declares a day to be a national day.
PAM: Oh. That seems kinda tricky… I don’t think we can get the President to make a tiny national day… Is there any other way we could do it?
CORINNE: Actually there is! There’s a website called the National Day Calendar. It began in 2013 when founders Alice and Marlo Anderson started tracking National Days, National Weeks, National Months, and International Days. Because people were having so much fun sending entries, they turned it into a full-time job. Now, they receive thousands of entries every year.
PAM: That’s awesome! So that means I can make Tiny National Day!
CORINNE: Uhhh kind of? If you want to register your day, all you have to do is submit an application by filling out a form online. All applications should be submitted at least 6 weeks in advance to be included in the current calendar year. Some tips for submitting an entry is to provide as much detail as possible when registering a National Day. This will help the approval committee verify, research, and discuss before making a decision. They also recommend keeping the title of the day as short as possible. One long example they gave was National Turn The Lights Off to Save Electricity Day, which became Earth Hour. Also! Make sure to give the right number and correct email address too so they can contact you if your day is approved.
PAM: That seems doable! But what are my chances of being approved?
CORINNE: The board goes through each application. But because of the number of entries every year, they only choose 25 new submissions a year out of over 20,000 requests. There are all sorts of fun days every year. For example, did you know that February 5th is National Fart Day? And National Pajama Day is on April 6th? There can also be several National Days on one day!
PAM: Those are some really great ideas. I better get on it now then! Thanks, Corinne!
RYAN: So Corinne inspired me to look up some crazy, upcoming National Days. Here are some of my favorites:
December 9th is Lost and Found Day
December 16th is Stupid Toy Day
December 18th is Wear a Plunger on your Head Day
December 21st is Don’t Make Your Bed Day and
And in a few months on April 23rd it is International Nose Picking Day. I will certainly pick my nose before then, but on the 23rd I will be doing it ALL DAY.
Do you have a favorite upcoming National Day? Look it up, then give us a call at 877-TEN-NEWS and leave us a message with which one it is, and we might just have you on the show!
INT. RYAN’S OFFICE
<SFX playing videogames>
<SFX knock knock knock>
RYAN: (sings) It’s Tiny CEO time, Tiny CEO Time! <SFX Opens door>
INDIA: Hi Ryan!
RYAN: Oh my gobblygook, you are HUGE. I thought you’d be the size of the Wasp or Ant-Man.
INDIA: Not quite, I’m (insert height)...
RYAN: Right. So, you’re the Tiny CEO…
INDIA: Yes! I’m India Abrahams.
RYAN: Thank you India for being here today and sharing your big efforts!
5 Fascinating Facts - The World’s Tiniest…
PAM: While India is not THAT Tiny…I thought I should share Five Fascinating Facts about the world’s tiniest things…
The tiniest male horse in the world is named Bubble and stands at 25.86 inches tall. Bubble is a miniature Appaloosa born and raised in Poland.
The world’s tiniest Bible fits 1.2 million words into a bible with a .04 square millimeter surface area. The text would have to be enlarged 10,000 times to read it.
The tiniest primate in the world is ONLY located in Madagascar: The tiny primate is called Berthe’s mouse lemur, and is an average of 3.7 inches in size.
The smallest/shortest bodybuilder in the world is Aditya “Romeo” Dev from Phagwara, India and stands at 2 feet, 9 inches tall, and weighs 19.84 lbs. Romeo went through 3 months of rigorous training before lifting 3.3lbs and making the Guinness World Records in 2006.
And the tiniest car approved to drive on the street is called the “Peel 50.” It was built in the 1960s, cost $170,000 and weighed a mere 150 lbs. And those are 5 fascinating facts about some of the world’s tiniest things.
OWEN: Welcome to the Trivia Room!
INDIA: Hi Owen!
OWEN: Hey India! So nice to see you, I just heard your interview! Great job.
INDIA: Thanks! This Trivia Room is AWESOME. Can I sit on the Trivia Throne?
OWEN: Absolutely. As long as you’re ready to answer today’s trivia question…
INDIA: I’d love to!
{Insert trivia on the ten audio lead-in}
OWEN: Since you are a Tiny CEO who wants to do good in the world, today’s trivia is about someone who also started doing good at a young age. Greta Thunberg is an environmental activist born in Stockholm, Sweden in 2003. When she was eight years old, she started learning about climate change and was confused about why so little was being done about it.
But what year did Greta calmly take action and sit outside the Swedish parliament with a sign that said, “School Strike for Climate”?
OWEN: Is it:
2014
2016
2018
OWEN: <SFX drumroll> The answer is… C! In 2018 after Greta took action, her strike was picked up by the Swedish media and the word spread. Not long after, tens of thousands of students from around the world joined her #FridaysForFuture strikes, and skipped school on Fridays to protest against climate change.
OWEN: Thank you for dropping by India, and for all the good you do!
INDIA: Thanks Owen!
<sfx shimmer/shine fades and door closes>
PAM: Alright Ry, now that I know how to make a national day, I think we should submit some…
RYAN: NATIONAL VIDEO GAMES DAY! Where parents aren’t allowed to go to work, kids aren’t allowed to go to school and everyone has to play video games until their eyes hurt.
PAM: There already is a National Video Games Day on Sept 12th, but I don’t think it works like that… Here are the days I was thinking…
National Kids News Day, where kids tell the news to their grownups. OR
National Recess Day, where kids and grown ups take 3 x 20 minute recess breaks during the day.
RYAN: Okay, that would be three ADDITIONAL recess’ on that day, right?
PAM: Yup.
RYAN: Since we already do the news, I think we can all agree that we need National Recess Day.
PAM: (laughs) Yeah I thought you’d choose that. Ooooh, we gotta give Ten News Snaps to one of our listeners. We have a special one today.
RYAN: Bet. But before that, here’s a quick note for the grownups.
RYAN: Time for Ten News Snaps! <Grand fanfare SFX>
PAM: A Ten’er named Krazyfox 132.0 left us this review on Apple Podcasts: “I loooooooooooooove this podcast. I want to scare Ryan out of his wits so here goes.” Krazyfox then left 28 butterfly emojis, and said, “WE WILL GET YOU RYAN” love, the Butterflies. Please put this on Ten News Snaps.
RYAN: Krazyfox why on earth would you even write the word butterflies? You know they are my mortal enemies and–
PAM: Ry, do you think Krazyfox might bring some butterflies by the studio…
RYAN: NO! I gotta finish up and lock myself in my house. Thanks but no thanks Krazyfox. And thanks for listening to the Ten News. Ten Things You Need to Know drops every Tuesday and our in-depth reports drop every Thursday. And if you want some bonus content, you could join the Ten’ers Club on our website.
PAM:
“The Ten News” is a co-production of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts, and part of the Airwave Podcast Network.
RYAN:
The Ten News creative team is figuring out how to be as cool as the Tiny CEO and includes Tracey Crooks, Logan DeYoung, Corinne Catibayan, Carson Potter, and Chad Chenail. Big thanks to India for stopping by and Owen for contributing to this episode.
PAM:
Our Production Director is Jeremiah Tittle, and our Executive Producers are Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan.
RYAN: I’m Ryan Willard
PAM: And I’m Pamela Kirkland; thanks for listening to The Ten News.
