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Unintentional theme day
There are Yearly Traditions, and then there are unintentional theme days, where a few MeFites band together and Make It A Thing (where "It" is some random topic, generally with no official or formal association with that particular date). While both traditions and one-offs were documented in a shared Google Calendar, this page documents those one-off events. If they are carried forward to a second year, they can be considered a tradition. But by the same token, they can be undesignated a tradition if they aren't performed annually.
There will often be an associated Metatalk where someone demands to know what the heck is going on. ‘Day’ is used loosely- they end when people get bored.
Poop, Jan/Feb 2019
January 24: Pseudo-Scorpion Day
In 2013, there was this pair of posts: Arachnophobes Need Not Apply (about the Tailless Whip Scorpion, not a real scorpion) and Pseudoscorpions In Flight.
February 10: Bad Movie Day
2013 also had a pair of posts on bad movies: When good food...goes bad (Foodfight) and "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to violence." (Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!)
February 21: Zelda Day Alternate
The anniversary of the release date of The Legend of Zelda in the US, there have been a few well-timed posts, and some near-misses.
2011: Feb. 14 - What you need to do is find yourself a new heart container and fill it. The Legend of Zelda as a 1980s teen movie; Feb. 21 - LoZ turns 25! Today is the 25th anniversary of the release of The Legend of Zelda. Feb. 23 - It's a secret to everybody. An interesting look at the live-broadcast Satellaview games in the Zelda series.
2012: Feb. 22 - Saving Zelda -- Tevis Thompson writes about Nintendo's video game series The Legend of Zelda.
2019: Feb. 21 - “COME, LINK…. LET US AWAKEN…TOGETHER!!” The Legend of Zelda: Link’s [re:]Awakening, coming to Nintendo Switch later this year.
February 24: Scorpion Day, Take 2
In 2020, cortex declared FUCK IT, WE'LL DO IT LIVE SCORPIONS, after there were four Scorpion-type posts.
February 26: Pig Day
In 2013, there was a pair of pig posts: "once having given a pig an enema there is no turning back," on Death Of A Pig, E.B. White. Also, Did the piggy have a mens rea? In the Middle Ages, animals that did bad things were tried in court. Maybe that’s not as crazy as it sounds.
March 4-5: Worf Day
In 2014, we pondered What's with Wharf, er Worf?
April 20: Fustian Day
Per Wikipedia, Fustian is a variety of heavy cloth woven from cotton, chiefly prepared for menswear. It is also used figuratively to refer to pompous, inflated or pretentious writing or speech, from at least the time of Shakespeare. This literary use is because the cloth type was often used as padding, hence, the purposeless words are fustian.
Which is to say, April 20, 2006 was a rather Fustian Day:
1. I take my coffee black and white. Developing black and white film at home just got much cheaper. It's possible to develop film using tea, coffee, or even vitamin C. To avoid being called a fustian photography nerd, call it caffenol (or caffeinol, but not that caffeinol).
2. Not for profit bike shops -- Need a bike? Want to avoid the fustian salespeople at the mainstream bike shop and don't want to spend a ridiculous amount to get one? Recycle-a-Bicycle in NYC or Bikes not Bombs in Boston can hook you up with a nice, stylish new (used) ride for a reasonable price. Have too many bikes? Donate 'em.
3. Programming doesn't have to be easy -- Somewhere between theoretical constructs like finite automata and Turing machines and feature-rich programming languages like Perl and C++ lives a world of misfits. These so-called esoteric languages frequently employ obfuscation and fustian as central design goals; but that doesn't mean you can't do some neat (useless) things with them.
April 21/22: Numbers Day
In 2010, there were three, three numeric posts! Let's count them! 1. Prime numbers are just the beginning. 2. John Baez's Favorite Numbers. 3. How to Count.
May, 2002: Backs
May 10: Mad Ape Den Day
2016: May Ten is Mad Ape Den Day!
May 19: Make Your Bed [Post] Day
2016: aka Happy Nappy Day
Jun 2001: Jail
Probably the first theme day. Jun 2001 (Meta)
June 2022: Potatoes
June 16: Enspousening Day
In 2009, St. Alia of the Bunnies posted He ain't Ralph. Thus started the first [Mass Enspousening], which was an annual thing for a few years.
July 19: Rabbit/Flash Day
What is this, RabbitFilter? On July 19, 2002, as of 12:24 EST (9:24 PST, 17:24 GMT), there were 14 threads, 10 of which are related to Flash and/or rabbits.
July 23: Penis Mention Day
2013: is there some kind of MetaFilter penis thing going on here? Is July 23rd annual Penis Mention Day on the Blue for those in the know? Well, it is now. Or, it was.
September: Dune Week
A curtailed Dune Week in 2001 (which was just curious nu, really) lead to a very silly Meta.
September: Bees!
September 21: How Many Day
This is all very amusing in 2011, where MeFites started questioning perception. How many continents are there? How many photographs are there? How many people flew on the Space Shuttle?
October 8: Elephant Day
Elephant Day was recognized in 2006.
November 22, 2023: Pop
A series of pop posts, starting with The popcorn preparation primer on every package of popcorn
December 26: Zelda Day
December 26 has the distinction of being an unintentional theme day that became a yearly tradition, thanks to the dedication of JHarris carrying Zelda Day beyond its start in 2010.
