Category: Philanthropy

The Origin of the Weekend for Workers

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The weekend was invented in the 19th century in Marseille, France (pronounced “mar-say”) as part of a broader societal shift during the Industrial Revolution. During the period, workers within factories and shipyards were often laboring 6 – 7 days per week, with little rest in between shifts. Because Marseille had a bustling port with a strong labor movement and  growing working class, reformers and unions began to push for a scheduled rest day for leisure and recovery. By the mid 19th century, experiments of giving workers Saturday afternoons off began to spread rapidly, which permitted workers more time for their families, religious observance(s), and day to day community life. This practice gradually evolved into the 2 day weekend, beginning in France and then being disseminated across Europe and North America. World governments and industries permitted this shift to occur because it became understood that rest improved productivity and overall job satisfaction

The Number of Gifts Santa Claus and the Elves Must Build and Deliver Each Christmas Eve

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Assuming Santa Claus delivers at least 1 gift to each child worldwide, this would equate to 2,100,000,000 (2.1 billion) gifts. With an average of 2.5 children per household worldwide, Claus would have to visit 840,000,000 (840 million) homes to accomplish this task. To finish this job in 24 hours (12 for each side of the world), Claus would need to visit 35,000,000 (35 million) homes per hour which would be 580,000 per minute, or nearly 10,000 every second! Because there are so many homes and so very many children, the elves of the North Pole face an equally grueling pace. Assuming each child receives 1 toy, and the build time is spread across 364 days, these elves would need to craft approximately 5,750,000 (5.75 million) toys per day. This would mean 240,000 toys per hour, 4,000 per minute, or nearly 70 every second without a work break for any of them. If the North Pole were to employ 100 elves, each would need to make 0.7 toys per second; and with a large company of 1000 elves, this value drops to 1 toy every 14 seconds which is more manageable; however with a massive company of 10,000 elves, each would only need to craft 1 toy every 2.5 minutes which would be much more probable for a workforce to achieve; if however the North Pole were capable of managing a city sized work force of 100,000 elves, each elf would need only to craft a single toy every 24 minutes which is a pace that a human powered North Pole, theoretically could handle. With that being said, mythologically speaking elves are immortal, or at the very least ageless, and they do possess arcane magic and clandestine knowledge which must be kept in mind when calculating what is theoretically possible

One Person Can Change the World Via the Gift of Charity

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It is often said that one person cannot make a difference, but on December 19, 1843, Charles Dickens released A Christmas Carol, with charitable donations skyrocketing seemingly overnight as the book became a best seller and sold out by Christmas Eve of that same year. A Christmas Carol has gone on to become one of the best selling book publications of all time even during the modern day. Dickens’ publication was not only a story, it was a strong critique of the socioeconomic inequalities which plagued Victorian England, and Europe as a whole, during the 19th century due to the development of the Industrial Revolution during the 18th century. Dickens’ work discusses the moral obligations of the wealthy and was successful at projecting a message of social justice and reformation. After its release, the English public’s attitude toward poverty and charity softened, with many becoming more generous during the holiday season, a tradition which persists into the modern day in the form of holiday gift giving on Christmas and/or Christmas Eve. Dickens deliberately retailed A Christmas Carol affordably in a concerted effort to ensure it would reach as broad of an audience as possible. This decision contributed greatly to the novels rapid success and influence within English culture. The book serves as a strong example of how both literature and art can function as powerful tools for advocacy and reformation, perhaps even upon a global scale

How U.S. Teacher Amos Bronson Alcott Influenced the Educatuonal System of the Modern Day During the 19th Century

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Amos Bronson Alcott, a man once described as the most intelligent person of his era, developed the concept of recess for students as well as the concept of raising ones hand in class. Alcott believed in desegregated classes, mixing both Caucasian and African American students during the 19th century. Alcott fulfilled his dream of opening an adult educational institution in 1879 which he entitled “The Concord School of Philosophy and Literature” in Orchid House which was the Alcott family home in Concord, United States of America

The Origin of Valentine’s Day and Valentine’s Day Cards

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Although the exact origin of Valentine’s Day is unknown during the modern day, the Catholic Church recognizes 3 different individuals named “Valentine” or “Valentinus”, all of whom were martyred, however it is possible these individuals were the same person. The Ancient Roman priest Valentinus, who lived during the 3rd century A.D., was imprisoned, perhaps falsely, by Ancient Roman emperor Claudius II (Claudius Gothicus). Claudius II legally prohibited marriage for young men, as he believed unmarried men without families made better soldiers. Valentinus may have performed wedding ceremonies for these soldiers covertly, until caught and executed on February 14, 269 A.D.. During his detention, Valentinus fell in love with the prison keepers daughter, a woman possibly named “Julia”, allegedly curing her of blindness. Valentinus signed the final letter he wrote to this woman prior to execution “Your Valentine”. It should be noted, this origin point is not supported by strong historical and/or physical evidence and may have been propagandized by medieval writers to romanticize Valentinus as a Catholic saint

The Origin of the Tradition of Bringing Christmas Trees Indoors

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During the Ancient Roman Saturnalia festival near the winter solstice, coniferous branches, boughs, and trees were brought indoors and kept. Although the exact rationale is debated, the concept may have developed as a means to symbolize everlasting life and/or as a method to ensure the god Saturn, the patron deity of time, wealth, and agriculture among other things within Ancient Rome, would prolong summer and shorten winter. In the 4th century A.D. this festival was replaced by the Christian holiday of Christmas which adopted the practice of bringing trees indoors as well. It should be noted, bringing coniferous trees indoors during the winter solstice was a pagan tradition throughout the northern hemisphere, with multiple cultures and empires outside of the Ancient Romans adopting the practice

The Naga Baba Holy Sadhus of India

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Naga babas who are naked holy men, reject the physical world including clothing to be closer to Lord Shiva, one of the most powerful gods in Hinduism. Naga babas live in the Himalayan mountains and smoke incredibly large amounts of cannabis regularly. Naga babas often hand out blessings for a small sum, carrying out the blessing by hitting the person requesting it on the head with a peacock feather wand

The Possibility of Jesus Christ Having a Wife

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There is a fragmented piece of papyrus which clearly indicates that Jesus Christ had a wife. The text is written in Coptic, an Ancient Egyptian form of writing. Coptic is the last form of Egyptian, descended from hieroglyphics, and is essentially Greek with a number of additional letters dependent of the dialect. The fragmented piece abbreviated the name of Christ in the exact same way that virtually all Greek texts write Christ’s name, which includes the first letter “iota”, the last letter “sigma”, and a line over top of both letters. The possessive pronoun “ta” is used in front of the term “sahima” always refers to a wife, never a woman who is known as a friend or a family member. The fragment lists Mary Magdalene as the wife of Christ, the person who was present during Christ’s crucifixion, his burial, and was the first person Christ seen upon his resurrection

The Largest Academic Library in the World

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The library at Harvard University is the largest academic library in the world with 17,000,000 (17 million) books within its collection. The Harvard University library began in 1636 with a collection of 400 books donated by John Harvard, the person whom the university is named after

The Accidental Liberation of the Soviet Union and the Tearing Down of the Berlin Wall

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Prior to Mikael Gorbachev, every decade or two, resentment would foment within the Soviet Union and an uprising would commence with the Soviets clamping down, killing dissidents, and repressing ideology so as to continue to hold power. The reason this did not occur in 1989 is because change came not externally through dissidents, but rather internally, particularly from the center, through Gorbachev. The collapse of the Berlin Wall however, was actually a mistake, as Soviet Press Officer Günter Schabowski did not fully understand the content he was speaking in reference to during a press conference as he had been elsewhere smoking during the meeting which would have briefed him. Schabowski pulled out documents which he was not supposed to read, read them aloud, and read them incorrectly which turned Gorbachev from a reformer into a revolutionary over the course of a few short moments, with the Berlin Wall falling shortly after, liberating and uniting East Germany and West Germany with the ultimate fall of the Soviet Union occurring within short proximity afterward