Today is January 25 2014

Robert Burns Day: More
So let's have some Haggis, Stovied tatties and Black Bun.

• Seed Swap Day: More
  
• Opposite Day: More

• In 1776, The first national memorial, , is ordered by Congress.
  From Wikipedia: 'Richard Montgomery (December 2, 1738 – December 31, 1775) was an Irish-born soldier who first served in the British Army. He later became a major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and he is most famous for leading the failed 1775 invasion of Canada.'
  'On January 25, 1776, Congress approved the establishment of a monument in memory of Montgomery. A state memorial service was also scheduled and carried out on February 19, 1776. Throughout the colonies, Montgomery was viewed as a hero, and Patriots tried to use his death to promote their cause in the war. Montgomery's name was used very often in literature; among the authors who used his name was Thomas Paine'. More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1858, Mendelssohn's 'Wedding March' is first played at a wedding in 1847, becomes a standard after being played at the wedding of Queen Victoria's daughter Princess Victoria, to crown prince of Prussia. More
  On YouTube: More
• In 1890, Nellie Bly completes her round-the-world journey in 72 days.
  From Wikipedia: 'Nellie Bly (May 5, 1864 – January 27, 1922) was the pen name of American journalist Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman. She was also a writer, industrialist, inventor, and a charity worker who was widely known for her record-breaking trip around the world in 72 days, in emulation of Jules Verne's fictional character Phileas Fogg, and an exposé in which she faked insanity to study a mental institution from within. She was a pioneer in her field, and launched a new kind of investigative journalism.'
  
  'In 1888 Bly suggested to her editor at the New York World that she take a trip around the world, attempting to turn the fictional Around the World in Eighty Days into fact for the first time. A year later, at 9:40 a.m. on November 14, 1889, and with two days' notice, she boarded the Augusta Victoria, a steamer of the Hamburg America Line, and began her 24,899-mile journey.'
  
  'As a result of rough weather on her Pacific crossing, she arrived in San Francisco on the White Star Line ship RMS Oceanic on January 21, two days behind schedule.[24][28] However, after World owner Pulitzer chartered a private train to bring her home, she arrived back in New Jersey on January 25, 1890, at 3:51 p.m'.. More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1915, Alexander Graham Bell inaugurates U.S. transcontinental telephone service.
  From Wikipedia: 'In January 1915, Bell made the first ceremonial transcontinental telephone call. Calling from the AT&T head office at 15 Dey Street in New York City, Bell was heard by Thomas Watson at 333 Grant Avenue in San Francisco'. More
  - On YouTube: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1924, First Winter Olympics.
  From Wikipedia: 'The Winter Olympic Games is a major international sporting event that occurs once every four years. Unlike the Summer Olympics, the Winter Olympics feature sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympics, the 1924 Winter Olympics, was held in Chamonix, France. The original five sports (broken into nine disciplines) were bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, Nordic skiing (consisting of the disciplines military patrol, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, and ski jumping), and skating (consisting of the disciplines figure skating and speed skating)'. More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1937, The Guiding Light debuts on NBC radio from Chicago. In 1952 it moves to CBS television, where it remains until Sept. 18, 2009.
  From Wikipedia: 'Guiding Light (known as The Guiding Light before 1975) is an American television soap opera that is listed in Guinness World Records as the longest-running drama in television in American history, broadcast on CBS for 57 years from June 30, 1952 until September 18, 2009, preceded by a 15-year broadcast on radio. Guiding Light is the longest running soap opera and the fifth longest running program in all of broadcast history'. More
  - On YouTube (radio): More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1947, Thomas Goldsmith Jr. files a patent for a 'Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device', the first ever electronic game.
  From Wikipedia: 'It was inspired by the radar displays used in World War II. Goldsmith and Mann were granted their patent in 1948 making it the first ever patent for an electronic game. Entitled "Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device", the patent describes a game in which a player controls the CRT's electron gun much like an Etch A Sketch. The beam from the gun is focused at a single point on the screen to form a dot representing a missile, and the player tries to control the dot to hit paper targets put on the screen, with all hits detected mechanically. '
  
  'However, due to the equipment costs and various circumstances, the Cathode-Ray Tube Amusement Device was never released to the marketplace. Only handmade prototypes were ever created'. More
  - On YouTube: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1945, During World War II, The Battle of the Bulge ends.
  From Wikipedia: 'The Battle of the Bulge (16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945) was a major German offensive campaign launched through the densely forested Ardennes region of Wallonia in Belgium, France, and Luxembourg on the Western Front toward the end of World War II in Europe. The surprise attack caught the Allied forces completely off guard. United States forces bore the brunt of the attack and incurred their highest casualties for any operation during the war. The battle also severely depleted Germany's armored forces on the western front, and Germany was largely unable to replace them. German personnel, and later Luftwaffe aircraft (in the concluding stages of the engagement), also sustained heavy losses'. More
  - On YouTube: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1949, At the Hollywood Athletic Club the first Emmy Awards are presented.
  From Wikipedia: 'The Los Angeles-based Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS) established the Emmy Award as part of an image-building and public relations opportunity. The first Emmy Awards ceremony were presented on January 25, 1949, at the Hollywood Athletic Club, but solely to honor shows produced and aired locally in the Los Angeles area. Shirley Dinsdale has the distinction of receiving the very first Emmy, for Most Outstanding Television Personality, during that first awards ceremony'. More
  - On YouTube (6th): More
• In 1955, Columbia University scientists develop an atomic clock accurate to within one second in 300 years.
  From Wikipedia: 'The first accurate atomic clock, a caesium standard based on a certain transition of the caesium-133 atom, was built by Louis Essen and Jack Parry in 1955 at the National Physical Laboratory in the UK. Calibration of the caesium standard atomic clock was carried out by the use of the astronomical time scale ephemeris time (ET). This led to the internationally agreed definition of the latest SI second being based on atomic time. Equality of the ET second with the (atomic clock) SI second has been verified to within 1 part in 1010. The SI second thus inherits the effect of decisions by the original designers of the ephemeris time scale, determining the length of the ET second'. More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1979, The first documented case of a robot killing a human in U.S. occurs Robert Williams died when a robot arm, retrieving parts, hit him while he was also gathering parts in a storage room. More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1995, The Norwegian rocket incident: Russia almost launches a nuclear attack after it mistakes Black Brant XII, a Norwegian research rocket, for a US Trident missile.
  From Wikipedia: 'The Norwegian rocket incident, also known as the Black Brant scare, occurred on January 25, 1995, when a team of Norwegian and American scientists launched a Black Brant XII four-stage sounding rocket from the Andøya Rocket Range off the northwestern coast of Norway. The rocket, which carried scientific equipment to study the aurora borealis over Svalbard, flew on a high northbound trajectory, which included an air corridor that stretches from Minuteman III nuclear missile silos in North Dakota, all the way to the Russian capital city of Moscow.
  
  During its flight, the rocket eventually reached an altitude of 1,453 kilometers (903 mi), resembling a U.S. Navy submarine-launched Trident missile. As a result, fearing a high altitude nuclear attack that could blind Russian radar, Russian nuclear forces were put on high alert, and the nuclear weapons command suitcase was brought to Russian president Boris Yeltsin, who then had to decide whether or not to launch a retaliatory nuclear strike against the United States.'
  
  'As a result of the alert, Russian submarine commanders were ordered to go into a state of combat readiness and prepare for nuclear retaliation.'
  
  'After a while, Russian observers were able to determine that the rocket was heading away from Russian airspace and was not a threat. The rocket fell to earth as planned, near Spitsbergen, 24 minutes after launch.'
  
  'The Norwegian and American scientists had notified thirty countries including Russia of their intention to launch a high-altitude scientific experiment aboard a rocket; however, the information was not passed on to the radar technicians. Following the incident, notification and disclosure protocols were re-evaluated and redesigned'' More
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• In 2004, Opportunity rover (MER-B) lands on the surface of Mars.
  From Wikipedia: 'Opportunity, also known as MER-B (Mars Exploration Rover – B) or MER-1, is a robotic rover active on Mars since 2004. Launched on July 7, 2003 as part of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover program, it landed in Meridiani Planum on January 25, 2004, three weeks after its twin Spirit (MER-A) touched down on the other side of the planet. With a planned 90 sol duration of activity, Spirit functioned until getting stuck in 2009 and ceased communications in 2010, while Opportunity remains active as of 2016, having already exceeded its operating plan by 11 years, 272 days (in Earth time). Opportunity has continued to move, gather scientific observations, and report back to Earth for over 47 times its designed lifespan'. More
  - On YouTube: More
  - On YouTube: More

Nothing. Looks like I was lazy on this day.

No. 1 song

• I Want To Hold Your Hand: More
  The Beatles have hit the No. 1 song spot in the US.Some sources have it anywhere from the 24th to Feb. 1, depending on which country, chart, rating system, what day the chart was compiled and released and so on. Out of twelve resources, I found two that placed it on the 25th.

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 25 Birthdays More
• FamousDaily.com: January 25 History More
• History.com: Historical Events on 25th January More
• HistoryOrb.com: Famous Deaths on 25th January More
• On-This-day.com history 25th January More
• On-This-day.com music history 25th January More
• Wikipedia.com: History January 25 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