It's Valentine's Day; I Think I'll Stay in Bed Quiz

Answer: Hallmark holiday

While some people observe S.A.D. because they have no partner, others observe it to reject the materialism of a Hallmark holiday. Other Hallmark holidays include Grandparents' Day, Bosses' Day, Secretaries' Day, and even Mothers' Day and Fathers' Day. Hallmark resents this term and denies that it creates such holidays.

The S.A.D. website suggests many non-Hallmark ways to make others, even strangers, feel better on or around V-Day. For example, buy a dozen roses and distribute them randomly to strangers. Go visit a nursing home or a hospital and cheer up the residents. Volunteer at a homeless or battered women's shelter or perhaps at a soup kitchen. Don't sit at home feeling sorry for yourself; make others happy and make yourself happy!

Answer: Quirkyalone

Cagen came up with the word whilst on a subway in Brooklyn in 1999. She wrote an essay about it her award-winning magazine called "To-Do List". When the article was reprinted in "Utne Reader" in 2000, her "quirkyalone" idea became a phenomenon as many readers suddenly found their lifestyle vindicated. Capitalizing on this response, Cagen published a book, "Quirkyalone: A Manifesto for Uncompromising Romantics" (2004) and made "quirkyalone" the domain name for her magazine's website, which offered a fun diagnostic test.

"Utne Reader" calls quirkyalone people "a brave breed to resist the tyranny of coupledom in favor of independent self-expression". International Quirkyalone Day (Feb. 14) is observed in the USA, the UK, Australia, and Canada, as reported on CBS News in 2009, to celebrate "romance, freedom, and individuality".

Answer: SS Cyril and Methodius

In 1969, the Roman Catholic Church in Her wisdom removed St. Valentine from the calendar and put in his place SS. Cyril and Methodius. Before this their feast day was July 7. So celebrate Cyril and Methodius's Day, and tell everyone else that they have been out of date since the 1960s.

They were two brothers born in Thessalonica of the Byzantine Empire (now Thessaloniki, Greece) in A.D. 827 and 826, respectively. Known as the "apostles of the Slavs" for their work among Slavic peoples, they promoted the use of the Slavonic liturgy in addition to Latin. For daring to use the vernacular, Pope Stephen V exiled them, but in later centuries they were vindicated. In 1980, Pope John Paul II declared them co-patron saints of Europe.

Regarding the other choices... Peter & Paul were not brothers; Laurel & Hardy were not saints; and Frederick and Barnabas were not necessarily real people (Fred & Barney - get it?).

Answer: Oregon

If you like Oregon (1859), you could celebrate by decorating your home with a theme based on the state bird (Western Meadowlark), the the state animal (American Beaver), the state insect (Oregon Swallowtail Butterfly), the state tree (Douglas fir). Drink your coffee or tea with hazelnut, the state nut, and eat some Oregon grapes.

Then there's Arizona (1912), the 48th and last contiguous state. How about a motif of the cactus wren, the Arizona trout, the turquoise (the state gem), the two-tailed swallowtail, or the blue palo verde (the state tree)?

My old Kentucky home separated from Virginia and became the 15th state of the Union on June 1, 1792. Alabama was admitted on December 14, 1819. The Wyoming Territory became the State of Wyoming on July 10, 1890.

Answer: Fat Tuesday (the day before Lent)

Carnival takes place from the last Friday to the last Tuesday before Lent, known as Fat Tuesday, among other names. Lent is the 40-day period of fasting and abstinence observed by many Christians, especially Roman Catholics. Indeed the word carnival comes the Latin root "carn-" meaning "flesh" and "levare" meaning "to put away", as observers generally abstain from meat on certain days or during the entire period of Lent.

In Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo especially there are huge official parades, and in smaller cities there are smaller processions, or "blancos".

But everywhere there are fancy costumes, lots of dancing and singing, and masquerades. You will forget about Valentine's Day among this merrymaking!

Answer: China

The name literally means "bare-sticks holiday". It arose in several universities in Nanjing in the 1990s, and its English name comes from the fact that it consists of four ones (11/11), hence Singles' Day. It is mostly a day for hip, upwardly-mobile young people, who hold blind-date parties and eat special food. The typical breakfast consists of four deep-fried sticks of dough, called Youtiao, to represent 11/11. The day has become very commercialized, with lots of retail sales, restaurant specials, and Karaoke at bars.

So you can remind yourself that in November, you will eat Youtiao for breakfast to acknowledge and validate your singleness.

Answer: Black Day

Black Day is held on April 14 in South Korea. On this day, singles gather together and share jajangmyeon, white Korean noodles with black bean sauce. The idea is that those who did not give or receive gifts on Valentine's Day (February 14) or White Day (March 14) can have a day for themselves. (On Valentine's Day in Korea, women give men gifts of dark or milk chocolate, and on White Day, men give women gifts of white chocolate, jewelry, white lingerie, and/or marshmallows.) By the beginning of the 3rd millennium, Black Day was one of the few such holidays that had NOT been commercialized and was still a day of fellowship and feasting.

But if you aren't in South Korea, why not make some noodles with black bean sauce for dinner tonight with your single friends. It never hurts to renew bonds!

Answer: Ferris wheel

February 14 is Ferris Wheel Day, thanks to the birth of one George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr. on this day in 1859. He of course invented the Ferris wheel, a ride found in virtually every carnival, county/state fair, and amusement park in the USA. The Ferris wheel first appeared in the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. It was called the Chicago wheel then, but it wasn't long before the term "Ferris wheel" became the generic for all such rides. Some famous ones outside of the USA include the Grande Roue de Paris, built in 1900 but demolished in 1920, and the London Eye, which at the time of its opening in 2000 was the largest Ferris wheel in the entire world.

So now you have something else to celebrate on February 14!

Answer: Australia

In 2003, the New South Wales Public Libraries Marketing Working Group took an idea from the American Librarian Association and made it their own. That year they received funding for a public awareness campaign for libraries. The first official Library Lovers Day began in 2006 "claiming Feb. 14 for library lovers and renaming it in honor of their passion." It has since become a day celebrated by libraries all over Australia, with various games and activities, from origami to poetry jams.

So wherever you live, maybe February 14 is a good day to remind yourself how lucky you are to have a library in your community. It's an opportunity to visit a great cultural resource. (And treat yourself to a steamy romance or a blood-curdling mystery!)

Quote from Victoria Anderson, "Library Lovers Day in Australia: Advocacy, Fun, and Chocolate Hearts" published in "Marketing Library Services", vol.25, no.5 (Sept/Oct 2011).

Answer: League of Women Voters

This is a fine thing to celebrate on February 14 because it is a reminder of the freedom and the accompanying responsibility to which every person on this Earth is entitled!

Not long after the Nineteenth Amendment gave U.S. women the franchise, the National American Women Suffrage Association held its last meeting. From this emerged the League of Women Voters. Its motto is: "Making Democracy Work. Grassroots Leadership since 1920."

For decades the LWV has on the one hand remained nonpartisan, while on the other hand advocated on various political issues. The LWV decides what position to take on each issue after debate and consensus. The League also has run continuous voter registration drives, has produced educational manuals and pamphlets, and has published voters' guides.

The LWV sponsored the U.S. Presidential debates in 1976, 1980, and 1984. They stopped in 1988. The LWV President Nancy M. Neuman wrote: "It has become clear to us that the [major] candidates' organizations aim to add debates to their list of campaign-trail charades devoid of substance, spontaneity, and answers to tough questions. The League has no intention of becoming an accessory to the hoodwinking of the American public."