Entry bubble Happy Birthday, Abe!

By: Jess | February 12, 2009 | Category: Fun

Abe Lincoln in birthday hatI can't imagine being 200 years old!

Not many people live that long, and you have to be pretty special to have your 200th birthday celebrated long after you're gone. But Abraham Lincoln was that kind of guy.

So to celebrate his 200th birthday in style, the U.S. Mint is releasing four new pennies at three-month intervals throughout the year. The first goes into circulation today, so be on the lookout for it over the next few weeks as you dig into your pockets for spare change.

If you want a sneak peek at the new penny designs and to learn more about the designers you can check them out here.

Each scene depicts something memorable from Lincoln's life

First new penny

The first shows his childhood in Kentucky.

second penny

The second is school-age years in Indiana.

third new penny

The third, his professional life in the Senate in Illinois.

fourth new penny

And the fourth, his presidency in D.C.

Are you looking forward to the new pennies or will you miss the classic Lincoln penny?

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Entry bubble Your Special Day

By: Nancy | October 16, 2008 | Category: Fun

Being the Thursday blogger is the best! Not only do I get to share Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year's Day with you in the coming months (and I KNOW you'll be reading Gov Gab on those days, right?) but I get to hang out with you today, on my birthday.

birthday girl and her candlesAs I'm writing, I'm devouring a piece of birthday pie baked by our apple pie expert, Arlene, the manager of Kids.gov. I wish I could send you a slice, but the crust keeps getting stuck in our fax machine. So in lieu of that, how about I share some birthday-related sites that I found today?

Is someone special in your life getting ready to celebrate a BIG birthday? If they're 80 or better, the White House can send them a birthday greeting. Greetings can also be sent for births, weddings and 50th+ anniversaries. You can also get birthday greetings from past presidents Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter. Be sure to request presidential greetings at least six weeks ahead of the big day.

Know a birthday person, veteran or patriot who'd appreciate a flag that was flown over the US Capitol? You can order one from your Senator or Member of Congress and you can specify which date you'd like the flag flown.

About three months before each birthday, you're mailed your Social Security Benefits Statement calculating the amount of money you've earned over the years and estimating the amount of Social Security benefits you and your family may receive. When you can collect your benefits depends on when you were born. The Social Security Administration's full retirement age calculator can help you figure it out. As of today, I am exactly 26 years from full retirement age. I'm not sure if that sounds alarmingly close or too far away right now. Either way, I'd better console myself with another little slice of pie.

Every day, the Library of Congress features a significant event that happened each date in history. Wonder what else happened on your birthdate over the years? Wander over to Wikipedia and search your birthdate. I'm sharing my birthday with dictionary creator Noah Webster, playwright Oscar Wilde and musician John Mayer. On this date, Desmond Tutu won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, John Paul II was elected pope in 1978, and both the Walt Disney Company (1923) and the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) got their start. What a busy date!

Take a peek and let me know: what happened and who was born on your birthdate?

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Entry bubble When I Turned One...Happy Birthday, Gov Gab!

By: Colleen | September 24, 2008 | Category: Fun

baby colleenThe year was 1984...there was something strange in your neighborhood. Who were you calling? Ghostbusters! Bruce Springsteen and a teenage Courtney Cox were "Dancing in the Dark" and everyone was tuned in to Dynasty.

In 1984 (the year, not the Orwell novel), the average movie ticket was $2.50 and a gallon of gas ran you $1.10. The first Apple MacIntosh went on sale and widespread famine in Ethiopia inspired musicians to record, "Do They Know It's Christmas?" under the name "Band Aid." In politics, Geraldine Ferraro was a Vice Presidential nominee.

Fast-forward to 2008: our neighborhoods are still strange. Bruce Springsteen continues to tour, and Dynasty is a work of genius compared to the reality tv we watch today.

While the cost of movies and gas have us saving our pennies, Mac has us wired to iPods and iPhones. "Do They Know It's Christmas" is in heavy radio rotation the day after Halloween, and once again a woman is a Vice Presidential nominee.

I suppose it's accurate to say, "everything old is new again." However, considering my current Internet and cell phone addictions, I'm not willing to go back to the 80's. Plus, the hair? Just bad.

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Entry bubble Happy Birthday, GovGab! When I was One…

By: Joanne | September 23, 2008 | Category: General

Baby Joanne holding a teddy bear, sitting on her father's lap.Light your incense and get out your love beads, because we’re getting into the way-back machine to travel to 1968. Our country was at war in Vietnam, there was unrest on our college campuses, Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. were assassinated, and Richard Nixon was elected president.

“Hey Jude” by The Beatles and “Love Child” by Diana Ross & The Supremes and “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” by Marvin Gaye all made it to #1 on the Billboard chart. “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” by Iron Butterfly was in the top 40 and Oliver!, based on the Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

When I look back, I see that there are many things in government that happened that we take for granted today. The Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination in the sale and rental of housing, became law. Apollo 8’s three man crew was the first to orbit the moon (we didn’t land on the moon until Apollo 11 in 1969). And the network of scenic, historic, and recreation trails was created by the National Trails System Act of 1968.

Back in 1968, if you wanted to contact the government, you had to physically go to the specific office, write a letter, or make a telephone call—probably long distance. If you didn't know which federal agency to contact, you just had to take a guess and hope whoever you reached would be helpful, and know something about which agency did what. That is, unless you were lucky enough to live in one of the seven cities that had a Federal Information Center. Then you could make a local call, or visit the Center in person, and a trained Information Specialist would help you get to the right office. In 2008, the Federal Information Center program has grown into a nationwide government information service that you can reach by calling 1 (800) FED INFO. That's 1 (800) 333-4636, and information agents are available to answer your questions in English or Spanish from 8 AM to 8 PM EST.

So much has changed since I was one. Many things have changed for the better, I think. As we look forward to our second year of blogging, we want to hear from you and get your ideas for how our blog can serve you in the present and the future.

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Entry bubble GovGab Birthday Week!

By: Jake | September 22, 2008 | Category: Fun

Happy Birthday to us! Happy Birthday to us! Happy Birthday dear us! Happy Birthday to us!

Baby JakeGov Gab is now a Year Old. Technically today is not Gov Gab's first birthday (it was Saturday), but we decided to make our first b-day a week-long event. Each Govgabber will talk about what was going down in the U.S. when he or she turned the big numero uno. As you can see from the adorable whippersnapper on the swing (aka me), we're also including pics of ourselves circa 12 months. We've also released a Gov Gab's First Birthday Social Media Release, which we think is the first U.S. government example of a social media release.

Even though I was just swinging around, 1980 was a busssssy year. There was a United States presidential election, Olympics and the U.S. Census Bureau did its thing (conducted a census). Mother Nature showed her fury with the Mount St. Helens explosion and a major heat wave.

Ordinary People won the Academy Award for Best Picture and Robert De Niro won Best Actor for playing a Raging Bull named Jake (no relation). Of course Star Wars fans know 1980 as the year that Luke learned who his father was. Music lost icons John Lennon and John Bonham and was well on its way to becoming 80's music with releases by the Talking Heads, U2 and (sigh) Loverboy.

I think the most notable occurrence in 1980 that relates to Gov Gab was the passing of Canadian communications theorist Marshall McLuhan. McLuhan was best known for the phrase "the medium is the message" but he also wrote extensively about the term "global village," which today is synonymous with the Internet.

McLuhan's interpretation of the global village was negative, but he never lived to see the Internet. It's no secret that the Internet has changed our lives. From paying bills or even finding a date, you can do just about anything on the web (even conduct government transactions!).

So how do you think the global village has changed your life? Also, feel free to suggest on any post this week what we can do here at Gov Gab to improve as we work toward our terrible twos.

| View Comments [10] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: 1980   1980's   birthday   global_village   govgab_birthday   jake   social_media   social_media_release