Every year on July 23, environmentalists and human rights activists draw the world's attention to the important issue of extinction of ocean and marine mammals through World Whale and Dolphin Day. The date coincides with the events of 1982, when the International Whaling Commission introduced a ban on industrial production, officially in force since the 1985-1986 season. Starting in the 30s, special control was introduced and even a commission was formed in 1946, but this did not help save some species from extinction. Initially, it was planned to limit commercial production for 10 years, but further developments showed that such measures cannot help: the ban is still indefinite. The only exception is made for some indigenous peoples inhabiting the coastal regions of Russia, Canada, and Oceania, where this type of meat is the main diet, formed over centuries, and there are no plans to increase catching more than historically. As it turned out, a person does not have to eat whales in order to exterminate them: the natural habitat has changed greatly with the development of shipping and tourism. It is not only poachers, as was thought back in the 50s, who destroy populations. Climate change and the negative impact of oil production, which has been actively progressing in recent decades, pose a serious threat. And although the first whalers appeared before our era, mass extermination took on commercial proportions by the beginning of the 18th century: for the sake of many exclusive things (whalebone, blubber). But whales began to be viewed as a giant source of food by the 20th century. The rapid development of shipbuilding, the improvement of tools for capture and killing, in contrast to the harpoons and boats of ancient whalers, gave its sad result. Due to such a huge number of problems, humanity almost lost gray whales, namely the Okhotsk-Korean population. In 1974, their extinction was even announced, but a few years later it was established that all was not lost. Some herds, and whales live in large families, arrive on the shores of Sakhalin in the summer. Russia contributes to the conservation of species by passing laws, monitoring, and financing projects, because the count is in the tens of heads, and just a couple of hundred years ago the number was tens of thousands. But Japan took a different, almost poaching path. Under the pretext of scientific research, this country set a catching quota for itself, but left control over execution in its own hands. Japanese actions cause certain controversy and indignation. Whale meat is considered a delicacy, with independent international inspections often finding it in high-end restaurants rather than research centers. There is the only huge floating whaling base in the world, which, according to human rights activists, disguises its production under the auspices of scientific research. There are versions that Japan is not limited to the seasonal official quota, for example, 300 animals, catching much more. Even the UN international courts are unable to influence the problem. The cruel hunt does not stop at whales - driven hunts for dolphins are carried out every year, killing hundreds of them. And of course, justification by long-standing ancient Japanese traditions is unacceptable in the face of such brutal destruction, which, by the way, was documented. Scientists and environmental specialists consider it their duty on July 23 to gather as many as possible (which is about 88 countries of the world) and discuss a general strategy, focusing on species close to total destruction. World Day does not limit the protection of only the largest mammals on the planet: cetaceans include dolphins and some other species. Activists of the environmental movement try to involve the maximum number of people on a special date, holding various events. You can not just love animals, but through your social behavior you can support the ideas of full protection and the most natural habitat possible. For example, the problem of dolphins is raised annually through all kinds of demonstrations and flash mobs. Such targeted actions work quite effectively: in recent years, more than 60 dolphinariums have been closed. In Russia, activists hold no less impressive thematic presentations dedicated to rescuing smart animals from a chlorinated prison, because the life expectancy in freedom is 25-40 years, and in the terrible conditions of dolphinariums and swimming pools - only 6. This is how to ruin the lives of dolphins, depriving them of freedom and sea space , for the sake of entertaining people for money, is simply inhumane. Dolphins are very affectionate, they are able to get to know a person in natural conditions. The inability to watch it live is fully compensated, according to human rights activists, by good documentaries. They are offered for viewing on a special day by local libraries and public foundations. The future of the planet will not be decided in the best way if you take a passive position: on July 23 there is a good reason to make life better.

The dacha is an original Russian phenomenon that has become an integral part of our mentality. And although the treasured 6 acres outside the city are associated with outdoor recreation, most owners work tirelessly on their plots. It is possible that this is why in the middle of summer - July 23, during the harvest of the first harvest from the beds, Summer Resident Day is celebrated. City dwellers have always been drawn to the land and outdoor recreation. State advisers, staff captains and collegiate registrars who served at the court of Peter I went to their family estates for the summer. In order to ensure that his subordinates were always at hand, the tsar began to grant them plots of land located near St. Petersburg. At the dacha (from the ancient form of the verb “dati”, i.e. to give), officials were obliged to build a house and improve the surrounding area within several years. Peter I could personally come with an inspection and monitor the implementation of his decree. The first dachas appeared in the suburbs of the capital - on lands along the road to Peterhof. Later, plots were developed in Gatchina, Krasnoye Selo and Dudergof. This is interesting: A.P. Chekhov can be called a chronicler of country life. One of his literary heroes argued that “dacha life was invented by devils and women.” Zaikin, a member of the district court, complained that outside the city it was stuffy, hot and boring, and in the apartment there was melancholy: there were no servants, no furniture, no dishes, because... Everything was taken to the dacha. At the beginning of the 19th century. this type of recreation began to gain popularity. Dachas began to be built for the townspeople to enjoy their time - feasts in nature, dances and concerts. Those who could not afford to have their own house rented it for the summer. Dachas appeared in the vicinity of Moscow - in Ostankino, Kuntsevo, Perovo, Sokolniki. Most country houses were located near railway stations. After the opening of new directions and the laying of railway tracks to them, dachas began to be built in places remote from the center of Moscow - in Khimki, Pushkino, Tomilino, Malakhovka. The rise in rents at the beginning of the 20th century led to people moving en masse to the suburbs. Villages appeared in which "Zimogors" lived - this is the name given to those who lived in the country all year round. After the 1917 revolution, most houses, if you do not take into account the estates of the landowners, looked like temporary buildings. But from their delivery, the peasants received, albeit small, additional income. This is interesting. Ilya Efimovich Repin had a dacha near St. Petersburg. The famous artist’s wife was a vegetarian, so guests of the house (Serov, Chaliapin, Korovin, Chukovsky and others) were treated to dishes made from vegetables, fruits and hay. The owners of the house tried to make even their pets - cats and dogs - vegetarians. One-story panel buildings outside the city were erected, as in Tsarist Russia, near railway stations. The main difference between a dacha and a village house was the veranda - a place for intimate feasts, games of cards and lotto. In the 20s of the twentieth century. The first gardening cooperatives appeared. Soviet citizens were engaged in growing plants on 6 acres leased from the state. Dachas were still “given”, only now it was no longer the tsar, but the heads of organizations and enterprises. Under N. Khrushchev, the concept of collective gardening appeared. This is interesting: Stalin was an avid summer resident. The leader of the peoples owned 18 country houses located in the Moscow region, Abkhazia, Crimea, Sochi and Georgia. The party nomenklatura and creative intelligentsia lived in mansions in closed communities - in Peredelkino, Kratovo, on Nikolina Gora. The dachas of ordinary citizens, although located in picturesque places, were perceived as a place for growing fruits and vegetables for storing them for the winter. Many families survived the harsh 90s thanks to suburban plots of land. This is interesting: On Russian television in 1997-1998, the soap opera “Slave Isaura” was shown. After watching the series, plots of 6 acres began to be jokingly called haciendas in honor of the plantations of wealthy farmers in Brazil. Today, the dacha is a place where townspeople take a break from the bustle of the metropolis. Some of them regard growing fruit and berry crops on the site as a hobby. Others cannot imagine their life without the annual harvest of a rich harvest. No matter how the townspeople feel about relaxing on a site with beds and greenhouses, they all happily celebrate July 23 as Summer Resident Day.

The next leaf of the summer calendar is turned over, and July 23 arrives - the Day of Aspic Melancholy. What kind of strange holiday is this? A day when people are sad? In fact, everyone can choose for themselves exactly how to spend this holiday. Some will give the fight to melancholy and will prefer to forget about boredom in order to fully experience all the positive things of summer. The heat is at its peak, so there is simply no time to be sad. And others, on the contrary, will happily indulge in melancholy and sad thoughts, because even a sad mood has its advantages. Both the first and the second will be right. Don't believe me? And we will prove it. Let's start, perhaps, with those who sometimes like to get bored, dive into the depths of the subconscious, pull out the saddest thoughts from there and savor them with masochistic satisfaction. The key word here is "sometimes". If this happens regularly, then we are talking about some kind of psychological pathology. Sometimes it is not only possible to be sad, but even necessary. Melancholy is a special human state in which mental anxiety is caused by a combination of boredom and sadness. Many people do not know the exact definition of this word, but it is always associated with negativity. Psychologists have long found out that two completely different types of people are most susceptible to melancholy. The first are active individuals who constantly take risks and seek new experiences. When they stop for a while and life freezes, then everything begins to seem incredibly boring and dreary to them. The second are people who are afraid of others, lock themselves in their small little world and are sad because of the inability to get everything from this life. Scientists have long been concerned with the question of why a person needs melancholy at all. As you know, any emotions are a gift from evolution that helps us interact with the environment, develop and grow. They always have some practical benefit. Anger helps to avoid repetition of unpleasant situations, fear helps to recognize danger, but what does melancholy do? If this state is useless for a person, then it is strange that it is still inherent in us at all. The answer to this question was found by American psychologist Sandi Mann. According to the scientist, who conducted many experiments on volunteers, melancholy stimulates a person to learn new things, make discoveries, and move forward. This state is associated with stagnation, which sooner or later becomes unbearable for a person. Because of melancholy, he has a burning desire to change the world around him in order to move forward and develop, so this emotion is beneficial. The destruction of personality from the inside is an extreme degree of chronic blues. Sometimes there are failures in evolutionary mechanisms and what should help a person kills him. Melancholy can lead to sad consequences for an emotionally healthy person if it strikes at the most inopportune moment. Self-destruction during blues is usually carried out with the help of bad habits - from smoking to alcoholism. A person is looking for a way to get rid of melancholy, but due to some circumstances he cannot find the right way out of the situation and chooses the easiest path - self-deception. He acquires bad habits that create for him the illusion of salvation from melancholy. Escaping reality is never a good decision. As for the “treatment” of melancholy, here the opinions of scientists differ. Some suggest not to dwell on this condition, which will certainly pass with time. Others recommend moving on to convincing yourself that your life has meaning. According to the results of numerous tests, it is the awareness of the value of one’s existence that most effectively helps a person cope with melancholy.

We all have friends who talk incessantly. Uninteresting and not particularly important details of a conversation with them are often ignored. This verbosity, which is denoted in Russian by the idiom “pouring water,” received the humorous name “yada, yada, yada” in English. The phrase originates from the American sitcom Seinfeld. In honor of the popular expression, a funny holiday was invented. July 23rd is International Blah Blah Blah Day. The first episodes of the popular NBC sitcom aired in 1989, and episode 153, entitled “The Yada Yada,” aired in April 1997. However, long before that, in vaudeville in the 1940s. and stand-up comedian Lenny Bruce, the phrase "blah blah blah" has already been used to refer to irrelevant and uninteresting details of a conversation. "Seinfeld", which the Writers Guild of America recognized as the second most important series for American culture after "The Sopranos", has become the source of many catchphrases. In honor of one of them, the humorous International Yada, Yada, Yada Day was established. The funny expression has other regalia. In 2009, the Paley Media Center, which stores audio and video content from radio and television, ranked "yada, yada, yada" number one in the top 50 funniest phrases introduced into the language through TV shows and films. . The rating also contains other phrases from the comedy sitcom, which has become an integral part of American pop culture. An unusual holiday is not only an occasion for jokes and chatter, but also a warning to anyone who is not attentive to details. Episode 153 of Seinfeld is about George's new girlfriend, who turns out to be a kleptomaniac who shoplifts to kill time, and Jerry's new friend is a racist and anti-Semitic. The heroes could have learned about all this much earlier if they had paid attention to the information, which they perceived as chatter from the “yada, yada, yada” series. Therefore, according to the initiators of the funny celebration on July 23, sometimes you need to pay attention to the details of the conversation, which at first glance seem insignificant. In English we use "yada, yada, yada" to indicate verbosity; in other languages ​​we use "blah blah blah". In 2006, this phrase was adopted by the Frenchman F. Mazzella, the founder of the international service for finding car travel companions "BlaBlaCar". The platform received its name as a result of an analysis of the talkativeness scale of car drivers. According to her, the "BlaBla" category includes motorists who like to talk with passengers. The playful name of the platform makes sense - on the road, fellow travelers really often chat, talking about various topics. International Blah Blah Blah Day encourages all talkative people to speak out. Many celebrities possessed the talent of unsurpassed orators. Thus, Fidel Castro is famous for giving a speech to the UN without stopping for 4 hours and 29 minutes. This longest speech, included in the Guinness Book of Records, for all its semantic load, contained a lot of “water”. Just like the speech of the Cuban leader in 1986 at the Communist Party Congress for 7 hours and 10 minutes. However, this is not a reason to deny talkers the pleasure of showing their talents. In honor of the holiday, they are invited to guests or cafes to enjoy the ability of some people to talk a lot and about nothing.

Russian Holidays - Day of the Special Accounting Worker of the Penitentiary System of the Russian Federation

Holidays of South Ossetia - Media Workers Day

Holidays in Kazakhstan - Trade Workers Day

Catholic holidays - World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly

Holidays of Abkhazia - National Flag Day

According to the folk calendar, Anthony the Thunderbearer is celebrated on July 23 (July 10, old style). So the date is named in honor of Saint Anthony of the Kiev-Pechersk, whose memory is revered by Orthodox believers on this day. The saint was born in the 10th century in the Ukrainian village of Lyubeche in the Chernigov region. From his youth he became a monk at Mount Athos and was distinguished among the brethren for his humility and obedience. Years later, the abbot of the monastery ordered Anthony to return to his homeland and there maintain faith in the Lord among the population. Anthony settled in a cave not far from Kyiv, other monks began to gravitate towards him, and subsequently a monastery grew in that place, which in the future was one of the parts of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. Anthony himself, wanting privacy, left the monastery and settled in a nearby cave. The Lord honored the elder with the gift of miracles and foresight, and therefore residents flocked to him for blessings. The saint died after living for more than ninety years. And among the people, Anthony was nicknamed the Thunderbearer, because on that day thunderclaps were often heard. It was by them that the inhabitants determined the future. If a sharp rumble was heard, then a strong thunderstorm was expected, but a dull sound foreshadowed a light drizzle. If Anthony the Thunder-Bearer fell on Wednesday or Friday, and thunderclaps were heard, then one could prepare for a generous fishing trip. Since the times of paganism, the Slavs believed that thunderclaps were caused by the heavenly gods, supposedly they traveled through the heavens and, with the help of thunder and lightning, exterminated devils on earth hiding under trees or in reservoirs. Therefore, it was not worth taking shelter from the rain under lonely trees and in the water during a thunderstorm. There was a belief that lightning avoided trees on which storks nested. And if lightning struck a person, it was not by chance, because they believed that evil spirits had settled in him. They also thought about housing that caught fire from a lightning strike. The second name of the date was Ryasochnik. On this day, people went to the reservoir to get duckweed, a plant that covers the water surface of lakes. It was caught with pitchforks, thrown into baskets and carried into the yard to be fed to chickens and ducks. In addition, duckweed was used as fertilizer for garden crops. If the absence of morning dew was observed on Anthony the Thunderbearer, then they prepared for evening precipitation. The fog on the pond promised clear days. Toads crawling out of the swamp onto the shore warned of imminent rain. The annoying flies also signaled precipitation.

Egypt Holidays - Anniversary of the 1952 Revolution

Orthodox holidays on July 23:

Celebration in honor of the position of the honorable robe of our Lord Jesus Christ in Moscow

Memorial Day of St. Anthony of Kiev-Pechersk

Day of the Konevskaya Icon of the Mother of God