Today is Columbus Day here in the USA, a public holiday to celebrate the arrival of Christopher Columbus in America.

He spotted land (the Bahamas) on 12 October 1492 (actually 21 October in the modern Gregorian calendar). This is celebrated as a Federal holiday on the second Monday in October every year.

Unfortunately for children here in Houston this is just another school day as they have to make up the time missed during Hurricane Ike’s visit here.

Of course not everyone thinks it was a good idea that Columbus discovered the Americas on behalf of the Europeans. There’s some folks in Colorado (see www.transformcolumbusday.org) who will be marching today to protest against the celebration because they believe Columbus was responsible for the the theft of land from and the murder of the indigenous population.

Columbus might have found it easier to find America if there’d been the kind of advertising that exists today.

Take for instance Goode’s Armadillo Palace here in Houston. If you want to tell someone how to find it you just have to say “look for the 20ft long armadillo” and chances are they’ll get to the right place.

The most common form of advertising, though, is the “wacky waiving inflatable arm flailing tube man”:

Made famous here:

Who wouldn’t want to stop at a shop who uses one of those?

Now if you have a shop or restaurant but can’t afford a wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube man you don’t have to worry; you can get a nutty real arm waving mexican with sombrero for much less: