As Goldy pointed out earlier, Columbus Day is sorely in need of renovation. The Awl has a story about a man with a quixotic quest to rename Columbus Day "Exploration Day."

The plan is the brainchild of Karl Frank, Jr., a self-proclaimed “IT guy” and impassioned science enthusiast from St. Louis. “I’m one of those people who drive my friends nuts with my Facebook posts about cool science articles,” he says. As the news of Neil Armstrong’s death broke, Frank heard a passing comment from a news broadcast comparing the first man on the Moon with Columbus, and it got him thinking. And status updating. “I nonchalantly posted on Facebook that instead of Columbus Day, we ought to have a Neil Armstrong Day,” he recalls, “and it snowballed from there.”

The thing I like about Exploration Day is that it could be a national holiday devoted to celebrating science. It certainly wouldn't absolve the United States of our bloody history, but it would at least put a more optimistic spin on the holiday. What do you think?