Today is January 8 2014

National English Toffee Day.: More
From the Wikipedia article: 'A popular variant in the US is English toffee, which is a very buttery toffee often made with almonds. It is available in both chewy and hard versions. Heath bars are a type of candy made with an English toffee core. Although named English toffee it bears little resemblance to the wide range of confectionery known as toffee.'

• Bubble Bath Day: More
  
• National Man Watcher's Day.: More
  To help facilitate this day, I will make myself available from noon until 4pm , for any outward expression of admiration, such as hoots, hollers, whistles and such.

• In 1815, The Battle of New Orleans was fought durig the War of 1812, between the U.S. and Britain. The war had ended on December 24, 1814 but none of the combatants were aware of it's end. More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1835, The U.S. national debt is zero for the only time. More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1889, Herman Hollerith is issued U.S. patent for the 'Art of Applying Statistics'. This was his punched card calculator.
  From Wikipedia: 'Herman Hollerith (February 29, 1860 – November 17, 1929) was an American inventor who developed an electromechanical punched card tabulator to assist in summarizing information and, later, accounting. He was the founder of The Tabulating Machine Company that was consolidated in 1911 with three other companies to form the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company, later renamed IBM. Hollerith is regarded as one of the seminal figures in the development of data processing. His invention of the punched card tabulating machine marks the beginning of the era of semiautomatic data processing systems, and his concept dominated that landscape for nearly a century'. More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1935, Birthday of Elvis Presley.
  From Wikipedia: 'Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century, he is often referred to as "the King of Rock and Roll", or simply, "the King"'. More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1952, The TV comedy, My Friend Irma, premiers.
  From Wikipedia: 'My Friend Irma, created by writer-director-producer Cy Howard, is a top-rated, long-run radio situation comedy that spawned a media franchise. It was so popular in the late 1940s that its success escalated to films, television, a comic strip and a comic book. Marie Wilson portrayed the title character, Irma Peterson, on radio, in two films and the television series. The radio series was broadcast on the Columbia network from April 11, 1947 to August 23, 1954.' 'The TV version, seen on CBS from January 8, 1952 until June 1954, was the first series telecast from the CBS Television City facility in Hollywood on November 16, 1952.
  The film My Friend Irma (1949) starred Marie Wilson and Diana Lynn, but is mainly remembered today for introducing Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis to moviegoers, resulting in even more screen time for Martin and Lewis in the sequel, My Friend Irma Goes West (1950)'. More
  - On YouTube (TV): More
  - On YouTube (radio): More
  - On YouTube (movie trailer): More
• In 1964, President Johnson announces the War On Poverty outlining several initiatives including increasing the mandatory overtime pay rate.
  From Wikipedia: 'This legislation was proposed by Johnson in response to a national poverty rate of around nineteen percent. The speech led the United States Congress to pass the Economic Opportunity Act, which established the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) to administer the local application of federal funds targeted against poverty'. More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1968, Jacques Cousteau's first undersea special airs. From Wikipedia: 'The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau is a nonfiction documentary television series focusing on marine biodiversity, hosted by French filmmaker, researcher and marine explorer, Jacques Cousteau. The first episodes of the series aired from 1968 until 1975. English narration was by Richard Johnson (BBC version) and Rod Serling (US edition). It also featured his family including sons Jean -Michel and Philippe-Pierre, along with grandson Fabian Cousteau'. More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1994, Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov on Soyuz TM-18 leaves for Mir. He would stay on the space station until March 22, 1995, for a record 437 days in space. More
  - On YouTube: More
  - On YouTube (space firsts): More

Nothing. Looks like I was lazy on this day.

No. 1 song

• There I've Said It Again - Bobby Vinton: More
  This song will stay no. 1 until Jan. 25, when the Beatles hit the no. 1 US charts with, I Want To Hold Your Hand.
• There are differences in the number one song by country, rating category (top 10, 40 , 100) and chart. The Cash Box 100 has the no. 1 pop hit as:
  Louie Louie More
  For those who, 50 yrs later still can't understand the words, this has the lyrics.

Top movie

• The Sword in the Stone More
  It will stay on top until the weekend box office ratings of February 2, 1964, when Dr. Strangelove takes over

• FamousBirthdays.com: January 8 Birthdays More
• FamousDaily.com: January 8 History More
• History.com: Historical Events on 8th January More
• HistoryOrb.com: Famous Deaths on 8th January More
• On-This-day.com history 8th January More
• On-This-day.com music history 8th January More
• Wikipedia.com: History January 8 More

National: Egg Month, Hot Tea Month, Oatmeal Month, Soup Month.

January is:

January origin (from Wikipedia): 'January is named after Janus, the God of beginnings and transitions; the name has its beginnings in Roman mythology, coming from the Latin word for door since January is the door to the year.'

'January is the first month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and one of seven months with the length of 31 days. The first day of the month is known as New Year's Day. It is, on average, the coldest month of the year within most of the Northern Hemisphere (where it is the second month of winter) and the warmest month of the year within most of the Southern Hemisphere (where it is the second month of summer). In the Southern hemisphere, January is the seasonal equivalent of July in the Northern hemisphere and vice versa.'

January at Wikipedia: More

If you couldn't afford 90 cents for a movie ticket, 50 years ago, or your 45 RPM record player was broke, you might watch one of these shows on TV.
From this Wikipedia article: More

Best selling books of 1964 More

• Astronomy Picture of the Day: More
• NOAA: - National Hurricane Center - Atlantic Graphical Tropical Weather Outlook: More
• Listen to Old Radio Shows: (streaming mp3 with schedule) More
• NASA TV: (video feed) More
  NASA TV schedule: More
• Public Domain eBook Links

  Sites for downloading or reading free Public Domain eBooks. Available in various formats. More

• Podcast: A Moment of Science. Approximately 1 minute general science facts.
  Home page: More
  RSS: More
• Podcast: The Naked Scientists. Current science, medicine, space and other science
  Home page: More
  RSS: More
• Podcast: Quirks & Quarks. Current science news.
  Home page: More
  RSS: More
• Articles and videos: Universe Today. Current space and astronomy news.
  Home page: More
  RSS: More
• Old Picture of the Day - "Each day we bring you one stunning little glimpse of history in the form of a historical photograph."
  Home page: More
  RSS: More

Below, are listed several holiday sites that I reference in addition to other holiday researches.

US Government Holidays

• 2014 Postal Holidays More
• 2014 Official Federal Holidays More

Holidays Worldwide

• List of holidays by country More
• Holidays and Observances around the World More