1.
Groundhog Day
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Groundhog Day is a traditional holiday originating in the United States that is celebrated on February 2. Modern customs of the holiday involve early morning celebrations to watch the groundhog emerging from its burrow, Groundhog Day was more widely adopted in the U. S. in 1887. Clymer H. Freas was the editor of the local paper Punxsutawney Spirit at the time, the largest Groundhog Day celebration is held in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, with Punxsutawney Phil. Groundhog Day, already a recognized and popular tradition, received widespread attention as a result of the 1993 film Groundhog Day. The celebration began as a Pennsylvania German custom in southeastern and central Pennsylvania in the 18th and 19th centuries and it has its origins in ancient European weather lore, in which a badger or a sacred bear is the prognosticator, as opposed to a groundhog. It also bears similarities to the Pagan festival of Imbolc, the custom could have been a folk embodiment of the confusion created by the collision of two calendar systems. Some ancient traditions marked the change of season at cross-quarter days such as Imbolc when daylight first makes significant progress against the night, other traditions held that spring did not begin until the length of daylight overtook night at the Vernal Equinox. So an arbiter, the groundhog/hedgehog, was incorporated as a custom to settle the two traditions. Sometimes spring begins at Imbolc, and sometimes winter lasts six weeks until the equinox. However, observation of groundhogs in central New Jersey is that they come out of their burrows in mid-March. The largest Groundhog Day celebration is held in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, other celebrations of note in Pennsylvania take place in Quarryville in Lancaster County, the Anthracite Region of Schuylkill County, and the Sinnamahoning Valley of Bucks County. In 2017 Groundhog Day was scheduled to be observed at zoos in Moscow, St. Petersburg, according to Groundhog Day organizers, the rodents forecasts are accurate 75% to 90% of the time. However, a Canadian study for 13 cities in the past 30 to 40 years found that the patterns predicted on Groundhog Day were only 37% accurate over that time period. According to the StormFax Weather Almanac and records kept since 1887, the National Climatic Data Center has described the forecasts as on average, inaccurate and stated that groundhog has shown no talent for predicting the arrival of spring, especially in recent years. A similar custom is celebrated among Orthodox Christians in Serbia on February 15 during the feast of celebration of Sretenje or The Meeting of the Lord, thus, if it is sunny on Sretenje, it is a sign that the winter is not over yet. If it is cloudy, it is a sign that the winter is about to end. In Germany, June 27 is Siebenschläfertag, if it rains that day, the rest of summer is supposedly going to be rainy. It might seem to refer to the Siebenschläfer squirrel, also known as the edible dormouse, but it actually commemorates the Seven Sleepers
2.
Mass media
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The mass media is a diversified collection of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which communication takes place include a variety of outlets. Broadcast media transmit information electronically, via such media as film, radio, recorded music, digital media comprises both Internet and mobile mass communication. Internet media comprise such services as email, social sites, websites. Print media transmit information via physical objects, such as books, comics, magazines, newspapers, event organizing and public speaking can also be considered forms of mass media. The organizations that control these technologies, such as studios, publishing companies. In the late 20th century, mass media could be classified into eight mass media industries, books, the Internet, magazines, movies, newspapers, radio, recordings, and television. The explosion of digital technology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries made prominent the question. For example, it is whether to include cell phones, computer games. In the 2000s, a called the seven mass media became popular. For example, the Internet includes blogs, podcasts, web sites, the sixth and seventh media, Internet and mobile phones, are often referred to collectively as digital media, and the fourth and fifth, radio and TV, as broadcast media. Some argue that video games have developed into a mass form of media. While a telephone is a communication device, mass media communicates to a large group. In addition, the telephone has transformed into a phone which is equipped with Internet access. A question arises whether this makes cell phones a mass medium or simply a device used to access a mass medium. There is currently a system by which marketers and advertisers are able to tap into satellites and this transmission of mass advertising to millions of people is another form of mass communication. Video games may also be evolving into a mass medium, video games provide a common gaming experience to millions of users across the globe and convey the same messages and ideologies to all their users. Users sometimes share the experience with one another by playing online, excluding the Internet however, it is questionable whether players of video games are sharing a common experience when they play the game individually
3.
Anniversary
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An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded in a previous year, and may also refer to the commemoration or celebration of that event. For example, the first event is the occurrence or, if planned. One year later would be the first anniversary of that event, the word was first used for Catholic feasts to commemorate saints. Most countries celebrate national anniversaries, typically called national days and these could be the date of independence of the nation or the adoption of a new constitution or form of government. The important dates in a monarchs reign may also be commemorated. Birthdays are the most common type of anniversary, when someones birth date is commemorated each year, the actual celebration is sometimes moved for practical reasons, as in the case of an official birthday. Wedding anniversaries are also celebrated, on the same day of the year as the wedding occurred. In ancient Rome, the Aquilae natalis was the birthday of the eagle, anniversaries of nations are usually marked by the number of years elapsed, expressed with Latin words or Roman numerals. However, when anniversaries relate to fractions of centuries, the situation is not as simple, Roman fractions were based on a duodecimal system. From 1⁄12 to 8⁄12 they were expressed as multiples of twelfths, a whole unit less 3⁄12, 2⁄12 or 1⁄12 respectively. There were also special terms for quarter, half, and three-quarters, dodrans is a Latin contraction of de-quadrans which means a whole unit less a quarter (de means from, quadrans means quarter. Thus for the example of 175 years, the term is a quarter less than the next whole century or 175 =. In Latin it seems that this rule did not apply precisely for 1½, while secundus is Latin for second, and bis for twice, these terms are not used such as in sesqui-secundus. Instead sesqui is used by itself, etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics and at Home by Emily Post, published in 1922, contained suggestions for wedding anniversary gifts for 1,5,10,15,20,25,50, and 75 years. Wedding anniversary gift suggestions for other years were added in later editions and publications, generally speaking, the longer the period, the more precious or durable the material associated with it. See wedding anniversary for a general list of the wedding anniversary symbols, however, furthermore, there exist numerous partially overlapping, partially contradictory lists of anniversary gifts, separate from the traditional names. The concepts of a persons birthday stone and zodiac stone, by contrast, are fixed for life according to the day of the week, month, list of historical anniversaries Quinquennial Neronia Wedding anniversary
4.
News conference
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A news conference or press conference is a media event in which newsmakers invite journalists to hear them speak and, most often, ask questions. A joint press conference instead is held two or more talking sides. In a news conference, one or more speakers may make a statement, sometimes only questioning occurs, sometimes there is a statement with no questions permitted. A media event at which no statements are made, and no questions allowed, is called a photo op, some people, including many police chiefs, hold news conferences reluctantly in order to avoid dealing with reporters individually. A news conference is announced by sending an advisory or news release to assignment editors. Sometimes they are held spontaneously when several reporters gather around a newsmaker, news conferences can be held just about anywhere, in settings as formal as the White House room set aside for the purpose to as informal as the street in front of a crime scene. Hotel conference rooms and courthouses are often used for news conferences, sometimes such gatherings are recorded for press use and later released on an interview disc. In crisis situations, this holds a special value because it offsets all burning questions at that particular moment. In athletics, teams and leagues host media days prior to the season and may host them prior to events during the season like all-star games. Media scrum Press videoconferencing Pseudo-event Message discipline Press release Press service Fact sheet Grassroots
5.
Public relations
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Public relations is the practice of managing the spread of information between an individual or an organization and the public. Public relations may include an organization or individual gaining exposure to their audiences using topics of public interest and this differentiates it from advertising as a form of marketing communications. Public relations is the idea of creating coverage for clients for free, an example of good public relations would be generating an article featuring a client, rather than paying for the client to be advertised next to the article. Jobs central to public relations include account coordinator, account executive, account supervisor, Public relations specialists establish and maintain relationships with an organizations target audience, the media, and other opinion leaders. The public relations professional must know how to address those concerns using the most powerful tool of the public relations trade. Public relations and journalism have similarities in the work they do, followed by executing a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance. However, when Lee was later asked about his role in a hearing with the United Transit Commission, in 1948, historian Eric Goldman noted that the definition of public relations in Websters would be disputed by both practitioners and critics in the field. Public Relations Society of America, a trade association, defined public relations in 1982 as, Public relations helps an organization. Public relations can also be defined as the practice of managing communication between an organization and its publics, most textbooks consider the establishment of the Publicity Bureau in 1900 to be the founding of the public relations profession. Basil Clark is considered the founder of public relations in the United Kingdom for his establishment of Editorial Services in 1924, most historians believe public relations became established first in the US by Ivy Lee or Edward Bernays, then spread internationally. Many American companies with PR departments spread the practice to Europe when they created European subsidiaries as a result of the Marshall plan, the second half of the 1900s is considered the professional development building era of public relations. Trade associations, PR news magazines, international PR agencies, in the early 2000s, press release services began offering social media press releases. The U. S Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in 2014, the top ten percent in the field made around $105,720 and the bottom ten percent made around $31,190. For public relations managers, however, the annual wage in 2011 was $93,310. Workers in the 90th percentile earned around $176,400, and workers in the 10th percentile earned $50,360, according to the U. S. Department of Labor. The U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics also projects an employment growth of 12 percent between 2012 and 2022 for the profession, where an additional 27,400 jobs will need to be filled. The public relations profession has claimed the No.75 spot on the 2014 U. S. News & World Report list of Best Jobs because of its promising direction. In the United States, public relations professionals earn an annual salary of $49,800 which compares with £40,000 for a practitioner with a similar job in the UK
6.
Historian
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A historian is a person who researches, studies, and writes about the past, and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race, if the individual is concerned with events preceding written history, the individual is an historian of prehistory. Although historian can be used to describe amateur and professional historians alike, some historians, though, are recognized by publications or training and experience. Historian became an occupation in the late nineteenth century as research universities were emerging in Germany. Modern historical analysis usually draws upon other social sciences, including economics, sociology, politics, psychology, anthropology, philosophy, while ancient writers do not normally share modern historical practices, their work remains valuable for its insights within the cultural context of the times. Understanding the past appears to be a human need. What constitutes history is a philosophical question, the earliest chronologies date back to Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt, though no historical writers in these early civilizations were known by name. Systematic historical thought emerged in ancient Greece, a development that became an important influence on the writing of history elsewhere around the Mediterranean region, the earliest known critical historical works were The Histories, composed by Herodotus of Halicarnassus who later became known as the father of history. Herodotus attempted to distinguish between more and less reliable accounts, and personally conducted research by travelling extensively, giving accounts of various Mediterranean cultures. Although Herodotus overall emphasis lay on the actions and characters of men and he was also the first to distinguish between cause and immediate origins of an event, while his successor Xenophon introduced autobiographical elements and character studies in his Anabasis. The Romans adopted the Greek tradition, while early Roman works were still written in Greek, the Origines, composed by the Roman statesman Cato the Elder, was written in Latin, in a conscious effort to counteract Greek cultural influence. Strabo was an important exponent of the Greco-Roman tradition of combining geography with history, livy records the rise of Rome from city-state to empire. His speculation about what would have happened if Alexander the Great had marched against Rome represents the first known instance of alternate history, in Chinese historiography, the Classic of History is one of the Five Classics of Chinese classic texts and one of the earliest narratives of China. Sima Qian was the first in China to lay the groundwork for professional historical writing and his written work was the Shiji, a monumental lifelong achievement in literature. Christian historiography began early, perhaps as early as Luke-Acts, which is the source for the Apostolic Age. Writing history was popular among Christian monks and clergy in the Middle Ages and they wrote about the history of Jesus Christ, that of the Church and that of their patrons, the dynastic history of the local rulers. In the Early Middle Ages historical writing often took the form of annals or chronicles recording events year by year, muslim historical writings first began to develop in the 7th century, with the reconstruction of the Prophet Muhammads life in the centuries following his death. With numerous conflicting narratives regarding Muhammad and his companions from various sources, to evaluate these sources, they developed various methodologies, such as the science of biography, science of hadith and Isnad
7.
Daniel J. Boorstin
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Daniel Joseph Boorstin was an American historian at the University of Chicago who wrote on many topics in American and world history. He was appointed the twelfth Librarian of the United States Congress in 1975 and he was instrumental in the creation of the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress. Repudiating his youthful membership in the Communist Party while a Harvard undergraduate, Boorstin became a political conservative and he argued in The Genius of American Politics that ideology, propaganda, and political theory are foreign to America. Boorstin especially praised inventors and entrepreneurs as central to the American success story, Boorstin was born in 1914, in Atlanta, Georgia, into a Jewish family. His parents were Samuel Aaron and Dora Olsan Boorstin and his father was a lawyer who participated in the defense of Leo Frank, a Jewish factory superintendent who was accused of the rape and murder of a teenage girl. After Franks 1915 lynching led to a surge of anti-Semitic sentiment in Georgia, the moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma. He graduated from Tulsas Central High School in 1930, at the age of 15, although Samuel wanted his son to go to the University of Oklahoma, become an attorney and join his own law firm, Daniel wanted to go to Harvard Law School. He graduated with highest honors from Harvard in 1937, studied at Balliol College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, receiving BA, the American National Biography Online states that he joined the Communist Party in 1938, then left it in 1939, when Russia and Germany invaded Poland. In 1940, he earned a SJD degree at Yale University and he was hired as an assistant professor at Swarthmore College in 1942, where he stayed for two years. In 1944, he became a professor at the University of Chicago for 25 years and was the Pitt Professor of American History, President Gerald Ford nominated Boorstin to be Librarian of Congress, in 1975. On April 9,1941, he married a Wellesley College graduate and she quickly became his partner and editor for his first book, The Mysterious Science of the Law, published in the same year. Boorstin, with Ruth as his collaborator, wrote more than 20 books, the Americans, The Democratic Experience, the final book in the first trilogy, received the 1974 Pulitzer Prize in history. Boorstins second trilogy, The Discoverers, The Creators and The Seekers, examines the scientific, artistic and philosophic histories of humanity, respectively. Her obituary in the Washington Post quotes Boorstin as saying, “Without her, I think my works would have twice as long. In The Image, Boorstin describes shifts in American culture – mainly due to advertising – where the reproduction or simulation of an event becomes more important or real than the event itself. He goes on to coin the term pseudo-event, which events or activities that serve little to no purpose other than to be reproduced through advertisements or other forms of publicity. The idea of pseudo-events anticipates later work by Jean Baudrillard and Guy Debord, the work is an often used text in American sociology courses, and Boorstins concerns about the social effects of technology remain influential. Boorstin has been credited with saying, “Ideas need no passports from their place of origin and we, the librarians of the world, are servants of an indivisible world… Books and ideas make a boundless world
