Today is December 31 2015

I declare this as Eat as Much as You Can Before Midnight, Day:
Any calories consumed will go on next years diet calculations.

• New Year's Eve: More
  From Wikipedia: 'In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve (also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries), the last day of the year, is on December 31.'
  Other Names:
  - Hogmanay (Scotland)
  - Calennig (Wales)
  - Silvester (Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland)
  - Réveillon (Belgium, Brazil, France, Portugal, Romania, and French-speaking locations in North America)
  - Novyy God (Belarus, Russia, Ukraine)
  
  'Samoa and parts of Kiribati are the first places to welcome the New Year while Baker Island, in the United States, is among the last.'
  - When Year 2016 Starts Around the World: More
  - Samoa: '... is a sovereign state in Polynesia, encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean.' Coordinates: 14°16'S 171°12'W
  - 'Baker Island is an uninhabited atoll located just north of the equator in the central Pacific Ocean about 3,090 km (1,920 mi) southwest of Honolulu' Coordinates: 0°11'41?N 176°28'46?W
• Make Up Your Mind Day: More
• No Interruptions Day: More
• World Peace Meditation Day: More

• Other
  • First Night in the USA: More
    Since 1975 as a night to replace the traditional New Year's party night with one of the arts.

• In 1862, Abraham Lincoln signs an act that admits West Virginia to the Union, thus dividing Virginia in two. It became the 35th state on June 20 1863.
  From Wikipedia: 'West Virginia is a state located in the Appalachian region of the Southern United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the north (and, slightly, east), and Maryland to the northeast. West Virginia is the 41st largest by area, the 38th most populous, and has the second lowest household income of the 50 United States. The capital and largest city is Charleston.
  
  West Virginia became a state following the Wheeling Conventions of 1861, in which delegates from some Unionist counties of northwestern Virginia decided to break away from Virginia during the American Civil War, although they included many secessionist counties in the new state. West Virginia was admitted to the Union on June 20, 1863, and was a key Civil War border state. West Virginia was the only state to form by separating from a Confederate state, the first to separate from any state since Maine separated from Massachusetts, and was one of two states formed during the American Civil War (the other being Nevada).
  
  The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States. The northern panhandle extends adjacent to Pennsylvania and Ohio, with the West Virginia cities of Wheeling and Weirton just across the border from the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, while Bluefield is less than 70 miles (110 km) from North Carolina. Huntington in the southwest is close to the states of Ohio and Kentucky, while Martinsburg and Harpers Ferry in the Eastern Panhandle region are considered part of the Washington metropolitan area, in between the states of Maryland and Virginia. The unique position of West Virginia means that it is often included in several geographical regions, including the Mid-Atlantic, the Upland South, and the Southeastern United States. It is the only state that is entirely within the area served by the Appalachian Regional Commission; the area is commonly defined as "Appalachia".
  
  The state is noted for its mountains and rolling hills, its historically significant logging and coal mining industries, and its political and labor history. It is one of the most densely karstic areas in the world, making it a choice area for recreational caving and scientific research. The karst lands contribute to much of the state's cool trout waters. It is also known for a wide range of outdoor recreational opportunities, including skiing, whitewater rafting, fishing, hiking, backpacking, mountain biking, and hunting'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1878, Karl Benz, working in Mannheim, Germany, filed for a patent on his first reliable two-stroke gas engine, and he was granted the patent in 1879.
  From Wikipedia: 'Karl Benz showed his real genius, however, through his successive inventions registered while designing what would become the production standard for his two-stroke engine. Benz soon patented the speed regulation system, the ignition using sparks with battery, the spark plug, the carburetor, the clutch, the gear shift, and the water radiator.'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube (18876 engine): More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1879, Thomas Edison gives his first public demonstration of his incandescent lamp.
  From Wikipedia: 'In 1878 Edison began working on a system of electrical illumination, something he hoped could compete with gas and oil based lighting. He began by tackling the problem of creating a long-lasting incandescent lamp, something that would be needed for indoor use. Many earlier inventors had previously devised incandescent lamps, including Alessandro Volta's demonstration of a glowing wire in 1800 and inventions by Henry Woodward and Mathew Evans. Others who developed early and commercially impractical incandescent electric lamps included Humphry Davy, James Bowman Lindsay, Moses G. Farmer, William E. Sawyer, Joseph Swan and Heinrich Göbel. Some of these early bulbs had such flaws as an extremely short life, high expense to produce, and high electric current drawn, making them difficult to apply on a large scale commercially.:217–218 Edison realized that in order to keep the thickness of the copper wire needed to connect a series of electric lights to an economically manageable size he would have to come up with a lamp that would draw a low amount of current. This meant the lamp would have to have a high resistance and run at a relatively low voltage (around 110 volts).
  
  After many experiments, first with carbon filaments and then with platinum and other metals, in the end, Edison returned to a carbon filament. The first successful test was on October 22, 1879;:186 it lasted 13.5 hours. Edison continued to improve this design and by November 4, 1879, filed for U.S. patent 223,898 (granted on January 27, 1880) for an electric lamp using "a carbon filament or strip coiled and connected to platina contact wires". This was the first commercially practical incandescent light.
  
  Although the patent described several ways of creating the carbon filament including "cotton and linen thread, wood splints, papers coiled in various ways", it was not until several months after the patent was granted that Edison and his team discovered a carbonized bamboo filament that could last over 1,200 hours. The idea of using this particular raw material originated from Edison's recalling his examination of a few threads from a bamboo fishing pole while relaxing on the shore of Battle Lake in the present-day state of Wyoming, where he and other members of a scientific team had traveled so that they could clearly observe a total eclipse of the sun on July 29, 1878, from the Continental Divide. U.S. Patent#223898: Electric-Lamp. Issued January 27, 1880.
  
  In 1878, Edison formed the Edison Electric Light Company in New York City with several financiers, including J. P. Morgan, Spencer Trask, and the members of the Vanderbilt family. Edison made the first public demonstration of his incandescent light bulb on December 31, 1879, in Menlo Park. It was during this time that he said: "We will make electricity so cheap that only the rich will burn candles."
  
  Henry Villard, president of the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company, had attended Edison's 1879 demonstration. Villard quickly became impressed and requested Edison install his electric lighting system aboard his company's new steamer, the Columbia. Although hesitant at first, Edison relented and agreed to Villard's request. Following most of its completion in May 1880, the Columbia was sent to New York City, where Edison and his personnel installed Columbia's new lighting system. Due to this, the Columbia became Edison's first commercial application for his incandescent light bulb. The Edison equipment was eventually removed from Columbia in 1895.
  
  Lewis Latimer joined the Edison Electric Light Company in 1884. Latimer had received a patent in January 1881 for the "Process of Manufacturing Carbons", an improved method for the production of carbon filaments for light bulbs. Latimer worked as an engineer, a draftsman and an expert witness in patent litigation on electric lights.
  
  George Westinghouse's company bought Philip Diehl's competing induction lamp patent rights (1882) for $25,000, forcing the holders of the Edison patent to charge a more reasonable rate for the use of the Edison patent rights and lowering the price of the electric lamp.
  
  On October 8, 1883, the US patent office ruled that Edison's patent was based on the work of William E. Sawyer and was, therefore, invalid. Litigation continued for nearly six years, until October 6, 1889, when a judge ruled that Edison's electric light improvement claim for "a filament of carbon of high resistance" was valid. To avoid a possible court battle with Joseph Swan, whose British patent had been awarded a year before Edison's, he and Swan formed a joint company called Ediswan to manufacture and market the invention in Britain.
  
  Mahen Theatre in Brno (in what is now the Czech Republic), which opened in 1882, was the first public building in the world to use Edison's electric lamps, with the installation supervised by Edison's assistant in the invention of the lamp, Francis Jehl. In September 2010, a sculpture of three giant light bulbs was erected in Brno, in front of the theatre'.
  - At FamousDaily: More
  - At Americas History: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1907, The first New Year's Eve celebration is held in Times Square (then known as Longacre Square) in New York, New York.
  From Wikipedia; 'In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve (also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries), the last day of the year, is on December 31 which is six days after Christmas.
  
  Samoa and parts of Kiribati are the first places to welcome the New Year while American Samoa and Baker Island in the United States, are among the last.
  
  In the United States, New Year's Eve is celebrated with formal parties, family-oriented activities, and other large public events.
  
  One of the most prominent celebrations in the country is the "ball drop" held in New York City's Times Square. Inspired by the time balls that were formally used as a time signal, at 11:59 p.m. ET, an 11,875-pound (5,386 kg), 12-foot (3.7 m) diameter Waterford crystal ball located on the roof of One Times Square is lowered down a pole that is 70 feet high, reaching the roof of the building 60 seconds later to signal the start of the New Year. The Ball Drop has been held since 1907, and in recent years has averaged around a million spectators annually. The popularity of the spectacle also inspired similar "drop" events outside of New York City, which often use objects that represent a region's culture, geography, or history—such as Atlanta's "Peach Drop", representing Georgia's identity as the "Peach State". Alongside the festivities in Times Square, New York's Central Park hosts a "Midnight Run" event organized by the New York Road Runners, which culminates in a fireworks show and a race around the park that begins at midnight.
  
  Radio and television broadcasts from festivities in New York helped to ingrain aspects of them in American pop culture; beginning on the radio in 1928, and on CBS television from 1956 to 1976 with ball drop coverage, Guy Lombardo and his band, The Royal Canadians, presented an annual New Year's Eve broadcast from the ballroom of New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The broadcasts were best known for the Royal Canadians' signature performance of "Auld Lang Syne" at midnight, which made the standard synonymous with New Year's in the United States. Following Lombardo's death in 1977, ABC's competing program New Year's Rockin' Eve succeeded the Royal Canadians as the dominant New Year's Eve special on U.S. television. Its creator and host Dick Clark intended the program to be a modern and youthful alternative to Lombardo's big band music. Including ABC's special coverage of the year 2000, Clark would host New Year's Eve coverage on ABC for 33 straight years. After suffering a stroke, Clark ceded hosting duties in 2005 to talk show host Regis Philbin, and retired as full-time host in 2006 in favor of Ryan Seacrest due to a speech impediment caused by the stroke. Clark continued to make appearances from a studio on the program annually until his death in 2012.
  
  Notable celebrations occur in other U.S. cities as well. On the Las Vegas Strip, the streets are closed to vehicle traffic on the evening of New Year's Eve, and a large fireworks show is held at midnight which spans across multiple resort buildings. Major theme parks may also hold New Year's celebrations; Disney theme parks, such as Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and Disneyland in Anaheim, California, are traditionally the busiest during the days up to and including New Year's Eve. Los Angeles, a city long without a major public New Year celebration, held an inaugural gathering in Downtown's newly completed Grand Park to celebrate the beginning of 2014. The event included food trucks, art installations, and light shows, culminating with a projection mapping show on the side of Los Angeles City Hall near midnight. The inaugural event drew over 25,000 spectators and participants. In 2015, Chicago held Chi-Town Rising, the city's first ever outdoor New Year's Eve festival on the Magnificent Mile. The event was hosted by Mario Lopez with musical guests American Authors and Chicago. Nearly 100,000 people attended the inaugural event'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1946, President Truman officially proclaims end of WW-II.
  - At FamousDaily: More
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube (Truman - end WW II): More
  - On YouTube (Truman - German surrender): More
  - On YouTube (Japanese surrender): More
  - On YouTube (Hirihito's speech): More
• In 1962, The TV game show, Match Game, debuts on NBC with host Gene Rayburn.
  From Wikipedia: 'Match Game is an American television panel game show that premiered on NBC in 1962 and was revived several times over the course of the next few decades. The game featured contestants trying to come up with answers to fill-in-the-blank questions, with the object being to match answers given by celebrity panelists'
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1963, Dear Abby show premieres on CBS radio (runs 11 years). 'Pauline Esther 'Popo' Phillips (née Friedman; July 4, 1918 – January 16, 2013), also known as Abigail Van Buren, was an American advice columnist and radio show host who began the Dear Abby column in 1956. During her decades writing the column, it became the most widely-syndicated newspaper column in the world, syndicated in 1,400 newspapers with 110 million readers'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1966, The Monkee's, I'm a Believer, hits #1 and stays there for 7 weeks.
  From Wikipedia: 'I'm a Believer' is a song composed by Neil Diamond and recorded by The Monkees in 1966 with the lead vocals by Micky Dolenz. The single, produced by Jeff Barry, hit the number one spot on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart for the week ending December 31, 1966 and remained there for seven weeks, becoming the last No. 1 hit of 1966 and the biggest-selling record for all of 1967. Billboard ranked the record as the No. 5 song for 1967. Because of 1,051,280 advance orders, it went gold within two days of release. It is one of the fewer than forty all-time singles to have sold 10 million (or more) physical copies worldwide.'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1999, The United States Government hands control of the Panama Canal (as well all the adjacent land to the canal known as the Panama Canal Zone) to Panama. This act complied with the signing of the 1977 Torrijos–Carter Treaties.
  From Wikipedia: 'On February 26, 1904, the Isthmian Canal Convention was proclaimed. In it, the Republic of Panama granted to the United States in perpetuity the use, occupation, and control of a zone of land and land under water for the construction, maintenance, operation, sanitation, and protection of the canal. From 1903 to 1979 the territory was controlled by the United States, which had built the canal and financed its construction. The Canal Zone was abolished on October 1, 1979, as a term of the Torrijos–Carter Treaties of 1977; the canal itself was under joint U.S.–Panamanian control from 1979 until it was fully turned over to Panama on December 31, 1999'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1999, Businesses across the world prepare for the rumored Y2k disaster -whereby computer systems around the world would stop working at midnight.
  From Wikipedia: 'The Year 2000 problem is also known as the Y2K problem, the Millennium bug, the Y2K bug, or Y2K. Problems arose because programmers represented the four-digit year with only the final two digits. This made the year 2000 indistinguishable from 1900. The assumption that a twentieth-century date was always understood caused various errors, such as the incorrect display of dates, and the inaccurate ordering of automated dated records or real-time events.
  
  In 1997, the British Standards Institute (BSI) developed a standard, DISC PD2000-1, which defines "Year 2000 Conformity requirements" as four rules: 1) No valid date will cause any interruption in operations. 2) Calculation of durations between, or the sequence of, pairs of dates will be correct whether any dates are in different centuries. 3) In all interfaces and in all storage, the century must be unambiguous, either specified, or calculable by algorithm. 4) Year 2000 must be recognised as a leap year.
  
  It identifies two problems that may exist in many computer programs. First, the practice of representing the year with two digits became problematic with logical error(s) arising upon "rollover" from x99 to x00. This had caused some date-related processing to operate incorrectly for dates and times on and after 1 January 2000, and on other critical dates which were billed "event horizons". Without corrective action, long-working systems would break down when the "... 97, 98, 99, 00 ..." ascending numbering assumption suddenly became invalid.
  
  Secondly, some programmers had misunderstood the Gregorian calendar rule that determines whether years that are exactly divisible by 100 are not leap years, and assumed the year 2000 would not be a leap year. Years divisible by 100 are not leap years, except for years that are divisible by 400. Thus the year 2000 was a leap year.
  
  Companies and organisations worldwide checked, fixed, and upgraded their computer systems.
  
  The number of computer failures that occurred when the clocks rolled over into 2000 in spite of remedial work is not known; among other reasons is the reluctance of organisations to report problems.
  
  The total cost of the work done in preparation for Y2K is estimated at over US$300 billion ($413 billion today, once inflation is taken into account). IDC calculated that the US spent an estimated $134 billion ($184 billion) preparing for Y2K, and another $13 billion ($18 billion) fixing problems in 2000 and 2001. Worldwide, $308 billion ($424 billion) was estimated to have been spent on Y2K remediation. There are two ways to view the events of 2000 from the perspective of its aftermath:
  
  This view holds that the vast majority of problems had been fixed correctly, and the money was well spent. The situation was essentially one of preemptive alarm. Those who hold this view claim that the lack of problems at the date change reflects the completeness of the project, and that many computer applications would not have continued to function into the 21st century without correction or remediation'.
  - At FamousDaily: More
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More

Tomorrow's food holiday will be 'I declare this as Eat as Much as You Can Before Midnight, Day:
[The Hankster says] Couldn't find any food holiday for tomorrow. So I made up my own. Eat all you want, up to midnight. Any calories consumed will go on next year's diet calculations.


Other celebrations/observances today:

Tomorrow is 'New Year's Eve'. From Wikipedia: 'In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve (also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries), the last day of the year, is on December 31.' Other Names: - Hogmanay (Scotland) - Calennig (Wales) - Silvester (Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland) - Réveillon (Belgium, Brazil, France, Portugal, Romania, and French-speaking locations in North America) - Novyy God (Belarus, Russia, Ukraine) 'Samoa and parts of Kiribati are the first places to welcome the New Year while Baker Island, in the United States, is among the last.' - Samoa: '... is a sovereign state in Polynesia, encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean.' Coordinates: 14°16'S 171°12'W - 'Baker Island is an uninhabited atoll located just north of the equator in the central Pacific Ocean about 3,090 km (1,920 mi) southwest of Honolulu' Coordinates: 0°11'41?N 176°28'46?W


Get our your coin. Tomorrow is 'Make Up Your Mind Day'.
[The Hankster says] You have had a full year to make those critical decisions. If you still can't make up your mind, toss for it.

Are you the only one working in the office on the 31st? Don't worry, it will be 'No Interruptions Day'.
[The Hankster says] Those noisy co-workers might be off having fun, but now you can get some work done.


Awareness / Observance Days on: December 31
o Other
- 'First Night in the USA'. Since 1975 as a night OT replace the traditional New Year's party night with one of the arts.


Historical events in the past on: December 31

In 1862, Abraham Lincoln signs an act that admits West Virginia to the Union, thus dividing Virginia in two. It became the 35th state on June 20 1863. From Wikipedia: 'An application for admission to the Union was made to Congress, and on December 31, 1862, an enabling act was approved by President Abraham Lincoln admitting West Virginia, on the condition that a provision for the gradual abolition of slavery be inserted in its constitution'.

In 1878, Karl Benz, working in Mannheim, Germany, filed for a patent on his first reliable two-stroke gas engine, and he was granted the patent in 1879. From Wikipedia: 'Karl Benz showed his real genius, however, through his successive inventions registered while designing what would become the production standard for his two-stroke engine. Benz soon patented the speed regulation system, the ignition using sparks with battery, the spark plug, the carburetor, the clutch, the gear shift, and the water radiato

r.'. In 1879, Thomas Edison gives his first public demonstration of his incandescent lamp.

In 1890, Ellis Island, New York NY, opens as a U.S. immigration depot. From Wikipedia: 'Ellis Island is an island that is located in Upper New York Bay in the Port of New York and New Jersey, United States. It was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States as the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 until 1954.'.

In 1907, The first New Year's Eve celebration is held in Times Square (then known as Longacre Square) in New York, New York.

In 1946, President Truman officially proclaims end of WW-II.

In 1962, The TV game show, Match Game, debuts on NBC with host Gene Rayburn. From Wikipedia: 'Match Game is an American television panel game show that premiered on NBC in 1962 and was revived several times over the course of the next few decades. The game featured contestants trying to come up with answers to fill-in-the-blank questions, with the object being to match answers given by celebrity panelists'

In 1963, Dear Abby show premieres on CBS radio (runs 11 years). 'Pauline Esther 'Popo' Phillips (née Friedman; July 4, 1918 – January 16, 2013), also known as Abigail Van Buren, was an American advice columnist and radio show host who began the Dear Abby column in 1956. During her decades writing the column, it became the most widely-syndicated newspaper column in the world, syndicated in 1,400 newspapers with 110 million readers'.

In 1966, The Monkee's, I'm a Believer, hits #1 and stays there for 7 weeks. From Wikipedia: 'I'm a Believer' is a song composed by Neil Diamond and recorded by The Monkees in 1966 with the lead vocals by Micky Dolenz. The single, produced by Jeff Barry, hit the number one spot on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart for the week ending December 31, 1966 and remained there for seven weeks, becoming the last No. 1 hit of 1966 and the biggest-selling record for all of 1967. Billboard ranked the record as the No. 5 song for 1967. Because of 1,051,280 advance orders, it went gold within two days of release. It is one of the fewer than forty all-time singles to have sold 10 million (or more) physical copies worldwide.'.

In 1999, The United States Government hands control of the Panama Canal (as well all the adjacent land to the canal known as the Panama Canal Zone) to Panama. This act complied with the signing of the 1977 Torrijos–Carter Treaties. From Wikipedia: 'On February 26, 1904, the Isthmian Canal Convention was proclaimed. In it, the Republic of Panama granted to the United States in perpetuity the use, occupation, and control of a zone of land and land under water for the construction, maintenance, operation, sani tation, and protection of the canal. From 1903 to 1979 the territory was controlled by the United States, which had built the canal and financed its construction. The Canal Zone was abolished on October 1, 1979, as a term of the Torrijos–Carter Treaties of 1977; the canal itself was under joint U.S.–Panamanian control from 1979 until it was fully turned over to Panama on December 31, 1999'.

In 1999, Businesses across the world prepare for the rumored Y2k disaster -whereby computer systems around the world would stop working at midnight. From Wikipedia: 'The Year 2000 problem (also known as the Y2K problem, the Millennium bug, the Y2K bug, or simply Y2K) was a problem for both digital (computer-related) and non-digital documentation and data storage situations that resulted from the practice of truncating a four-digit year to two digits. This made year 2000 indistinguishable from 1900. The former assumption that a twentieth-century date was always understood caused various errors concerning, in particular, the display of dates and the automated ordering of dated records or real-time events.'

No. 1 song

• Over and Over - The Dave Clark Five: More
  'Taste of Honey' has been displaced by 'Over and Over', which will hold the no. 1 spot until January 1 1965, when 'We Can Work It Out - The Beatles', takes over.

Top movie

• Thunderball More
  Having displaced 'A Patch of Blue', it will be there until the weekend box office of January 2 1965 when, 'Doctor Zhivago', takes over.

• FamousBirthdays.com: December 31 Birthdays More
• FamousDaily.com: December 31 History More
• History.com: Historical Events on 31st December More
• HistoryOrb.com: Famous Deaths on 31st December More
• On-This-day.com history 31st December More
• On-This-day.com music history 31st December More
• Wikipedia.com: History December 31 More

Monthly holiday / awareness days in December

Food
Buckwheat Month
Worldwide Food Service Safety Month

Health
Aids Awareness Month
Take a New Year's Resolution to Stop Smoking (TANYRSS) (12/17 - 2/7)

Other
Bingo's Birthday Month
National Drunk and Drugged Driving (3D) Prevention Month
National Impaired Driving Prevention Month
National Tie Month
National Write A Business Plan Month
Operation Santa Paws (1-19)
Safe Toys and Gifts Month
Universal Human Rights Month

December is:

December origin (from Wikipedia): ' December gets its name from the Latin word decem (meaning ten) because it was originally the tenth month of the year in the Roman calendar, which began in March. The winter days following December were not included as part of any month. Later, the months of January and February were created out of the monthless period and added to the beginning of the calendar, but December retained its name. '

' December is the first month of meteorological winter in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, December is the seasonal equivalent to June in the Northern hemisphere, which is the first month of summer. D ecember is the month with the shortest daylight hours of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and the longest daylight hours of the year in the Southern Hemisphere. '

December 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 1965 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

• 2015 Postal Holidays More
• 2015 Official Federal Holidays More

Holidays Worldwide

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