<> Tomorrow's food holidays(s):
* 'National Cookie Day'. . Called biscuits in many English and Commonwealth
countries.
- From Wikipedia (Cookie):
'Cookies appear to have their origins in 7th century AD Persia, shortly
after the use of sugar became relatively common in the region. They spread
to Europe through the Muslim conquest of Spain. By the 14th century, they
were common in all levels of society throughout Europe, from royal cuisine
to street vendors'. 'Cookies came to America through the Dutch in New
Amsterdam in the late 1620s. The Dutch word 'koekje' was Anglicized to
'cookie' or cooky. The earliest reference to cookies in America is in 1703,
when 'The Dutch in New York provided...'in 1703...at a funeral 800
cookies...'. The most common modern cookie, given its style by the creaming
of butter and sugar, was not common until the 18th century.'
[The Hankster says] Never met a cookie I didn't like, even though the acquaintance was brief, very brief. They just seemed to disappear.
<> Other holidays / celebrations
* 'National Dice Day'.
The oldest dice discovered are about 5,000 years old.
- From Wikipedia (Dice):
'Dice (singular die or dice from Old French dé from Latin datum something
which is given or played) are small throwable objects with multiple resting
positions, used for generating random numbers. Dice are suitable as
gambling devices for games like craps and are also used in non-gambling
tabletop games.
A traditional die is a cube, with each of its six faces showing a different
number of dots (pips) from 1 to 6. When thrown or rolled, the die comes to
rest showing on its upper surface a random integer from one to six, each
value being equally likely. A variety of similar devices are also described
as dice such specialized dice may have polyhedral or irregular shapes and
may have faces marked with symbols instead of numbers. They may be used to
produce results other than one through six. Loaded and crooked dice are
designed to favor some results over others for purposes of cheating or
amusement.
Dice likely originated in the ancient Middle East. One of the oldest known
dice games was excavated from a Mesopotamian tomb, dating to the 24th
century BC. British archaeologist Leonard Woolley discovered the dice in
the Royal Cemetery at Ur with a board game known as the Royal Game of Ur.
Two types of dice, stick dice and tetrahedral dice (dice with four
triangular surfaces), were found with the board game. Unlike modern dice,
the numbers on the opposite sides of Mesopotamian dice were consecutive
numbers rather than numbers that add up to seven.
The Egyptian game of Senet was played with dice. Senet was played before
3000 BC and up to the 2nd century AD. It was likely a racing game, but
there is no scholarly consensus on the rules of Senet. Dicing is mentioned
as an Indian game in the Rigveda, Atharvaveda and the early Buddhist games
list. There are several biblical references to casting lots, as in Psalm
22, indicating that dicing (or a related activity) was commonplace when the
psalm was composed. It is theorized that dice developed from the practice
of fortunetelling with the talus of hoofed animals, colloquially known as
knucklebones, but knucklebones is not the oldest divination technique that
incorporates randomness. Knucklebones was a game of skill played by women
and children a derivative form had the four sides of the bone receive
different values and count as modern dice.
Although gambling was illegal, many Romans were passionate gamblers who
enjoyed dicing, which was known as aleam ludere (to play at dice). Dicing
was even a popular pastime of emperors. Letters by Augustus to Tacitus and
his daughter recount his hobby of dicing. There were two sizes of Roman
dice. Tali were large dice inscribed with one, three, four, and six on four
sides. Tesserae were smaller dice with sides
numbered from one to six. Twenty-sided dice date back to the 2nd century AD
and from Ptolemaic Egypt as early as the 2nd century BC.
Dominoes and playing cards originated in China as developments from dice.
The transition from dice to playing cards occurred in China around the Tang
dynasty, and coincides with the technological transition from rolls of
manuscripts to block printed books. In Japan, dice were used to play a
popular game called sugoroku. There are two types of sugoroku. Ban-sugoroku
is similar to backgammon and dates to the Heian period, while e-sugoroku is
a racing game'.
[The Hankster says] OK, here it comes. Gambling is a dicey subject. Sorry you waited, right?
* 'Wear Brown Shoes Day'.
A day to be daring.
[The Hankster says] Not sure that is all that daring, but maybe with black socks.
* 'Santa's List Day'.
Time to make those lists to help out Santa and the gift givers in your
life. Celebrates the 1954 final curtain fell on the first revival of the
Broadway musical 'On Your Toes'.
[The Hankster says] Let's get those wish list done. As of 2016 there are about 7.6 Billion people in the world. Santa is a busy boy.
<> Awareness / Observances:
o Health
* 'National Influenza Vaccination Week'. In the U.S.A., December 4-10.
- From Wikipedia (Influenza vaccine):
'Influenza vaccines, also known as flu shots, are vaccines that protect
against influenza. A new version of the vaccine is developed twice a year
as the influenza virus rapidly changes. While their effectiveness varies
from year to year, most provide modest to high protection against
influenza. They decrease the number of missed days of work by a half day on
average. Vaccinating children may protect those around them but the
effectiveness of the vaccine in those over 65 years old is unknown because
the evidence for this group is poor.
Both the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention recommends nearly all people over the age of 6 months get the
vaccine yearly. This is especially true for pregnant women, children
between six months and five years of age, those with other health problems,
Native Americans, and those who work in healthcare.
The vaccines are generally safe. In children fever occurs in between 5 and
10%, as may muscle pains or feeling tired. In certain years, the vaccine
causes Guillain–Barré syndrome in older people in about one per million
doses. It should not be given to those with severe allergies to eggs or to
previous versions of the vaccine. The vaccines come in both inactive and
weakened viral forms. The inactive version should be used for those who are
pregnant. They come in forms that are injected into a muscle, sprayed into
the nose, or injected into the middle layer of the skin.
Vaccination against influenza began in the 1930s with large scale
availability in the United States beginning in 1945. It is on the World
Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines, the most important
medications recommended for a basic health system. The wholesale price in
the developing world is about 5.25 USD per dose as of 2014. In the United
States it costs less than 25 USD'.
o Animal and Pet:
* 'World Wildlife Conservation Day'.
- From Wikipedia (Wildlife conservation):
'Wildlife Conservation is the practice of protecting wild plant and animal
species and their habitats. The goal of wildlife conservation is to ensure
that nature will be around for future generations to enjoy and also to
recognize the importance of wildlife and wilderness for humans and other
species alike. Many nations have government agencies and NGO's dedicated to
wildlife conservation, which help to implement policies designed to protect
wildlife. Numerous independent non-profit organizations also promote
various wildlife conservation causes.
According to the National Wildlife Federation, wildlife in the United
States gets a majority of their funding through appropriations from the
federal budget, annual federal and state grants, and financial efforts from
programs such as the Conservation Reserve Program, Wetlands Reserve Program
and Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program. Furthermore, a substantial amount
of funding comes from the state through the sale of hunting/fishing
licenses, game tags, stamps, and excise taxes from the purchase of hunting
equipment and ammunition, which collects around $200 million annually.
Wildlife conservation has become an increasingly important practice due to
the negative effects of human activity on wildlife. An endangered species
is defined as a population of a living species that is in the danger of
becoming extinct because of several reasons.Some of The reasons can be,
that 1. the species have a very low population, or 2. they are threatened
by the varying environmental or prepositional parameters'.
<> Historical events on December 4
* 'In 1619, America's first Thanksgiving Day, at Berkeley plantation,
Virginia. One year before the traditional American date. .
- From Wikipedia: 'Setting aside time to give thanks for one's blessings,
along with holding feasts to celebrate a harvest, are both practices that
long predate the European settlement of North America. The first documented
thanksgiving services in territory currently belonging to the United States
were conducted by Spaniards and the French in the 16th century.
Thanksgiving services were routine in what became the Commonwealth of
Virginia as early as 1607, with the first permanent settlement of
Jamestown, Virginia holding a thanksgiving in 1610. In 1619, 38 English
settlers arrived at Berkeley Hundred in Charles City County, Virginia. The
group's London Company charter specifically required that the day of our
ships arrival at the place assigned... in the land of Virginia shall be
yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God.
Three years later, after the Indian massacre of 1622, the Berkeley Hundred
site and other outlying locations were abandoned and colonists moved their
celebration to Jamestown and other more secure spots'.
* 'In 1791, Britain's Observer, the oldest Sunday newspaper in the world,
is first published. .
- From Wikipedia: 'The Observer is a British newspaper, published on
Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its sister papers
The Guardian and The Guardian Weekly, whose parent company Guardian Media
Group Limited acquired it in 1993, it claims to take a social liberal or
social democratic line on most issues. First published in 1791, it is the
world's oldest Sunday newspaper.
The first issue, published on 4 December 1791 by W.S. Bourne, was the
world's first Sunday newspaper. Believing that the paper would be a means
of wealth, Bourne instead soon found himself facing debts of nearly £1,600.
Though early editions purported editorial independence, Bourne attempted to
cut his losses and sell the title to the government. When this failed,
Bourne's brother (a wealthy businessman) made an offer to the government,
which also refused to buy the paper but agreed to subsidise it in return
for influence over its editorial content. As a result, the paper soon took
a strong line against radicals such as Thomas Paine, Francis Burdett and
Joseph Priestley'.
* 'In 1872, The ship Mary Celeste is found by the British brig Dei Gratia.
The ship had been abandoned for nine days but was only slightly damaged.
What happened to the ship, remains a mystery. .
- From Wikipedia: 'Mary Celeste (often misreported as Marie Celeste) was an
American merchant brigantine, discovered adrift and deserted in the
Atlantic Ocean, off the Azores Islands, on December 5, 1872. The Canadian
brigantine Dei Gratia found her in a dishevelled but seaworthy condition,
under partial sail, and with her lifeboat missing. The last entry in her
log was dated ten days earlier. She had left New York City for Genoa on
November 7, and on discovery was still amply provisioned. Her cargo of
denatured alcohol was intact, and the captain's and crew's personal
belongings were undisturbed. None of those who had been on board were ever
seen or heard from again.
Mary Celeste was built in Spencer's Island, Nova Scotia and launched under
British registration as Amazon, in 1861. She transferred to American
ownership and registration in 1868, when she acquired her new name, and
thereafter sailed uneventfully until her 1872 voyage. At the salvage
hearings in Gibraltar, following her recovery, the court's officers
considered various possibilities of foul play, including mutiny by Mary
Celeste's crew, piracy by the Dei Gratia crew or others, and conspiracy to
carry out insurance or salvage fraud. No convincing evidence was found to
support these theories, but unresolved suspicions led to a relatively low
salvage award.
The inconclusive nature of the hearings helped to foster continued
speculation as to the nature of the mystery, and the story has repeatedly
been complicated by false detail and fantasy. Hypotheses that have been
advanced include the effects on the crew of alcohol fumes rising from the
cargo, submarine earthquakes (seaquakes), waterspouts, attacks by giant
squid, and paranormal intervention.
After the Gibraltar hearings, Mary Celeste continued in service under new
owners. In 1885, her captain deliberately wrecked her off the coast of
Haiti, as part of an attempted insurance fraud. The story of her 1872
abandonment has been recounted and dramatized many times, in documentaries,
novels, plays and films, and the name of the ship has become a byword for
unexplained desertion'.
* 'In 1945, U.S. Senate approves U.S. participation in UN. .
- From Wikipedia: 'The United Nations was formulated and negotiated among
the delegations from the Allied Big Four (the Soviet Union, the UK, the US
and China) at the Dumbarton Oaks Conference in 1944. After months of
planning, the UN Conference on International Organization opened in San
Francisco, 25 April 1945, attended by 50 governments and a number of
non-governmental organizations involved in drafting the United Nations
Charter. The heads of the delegations of the sponsoring countries took
turns as chairman of the plenary meetings: Anthony Eden, of Britain, Edward
Stettinius, of the United States, T. V. Soong, of China, and Vyacheslav
Molotov, of the Soviet Union. At the later meetings, Lord Halifax deputized
for Mr. Eden, Wellington Koo for T. V. Soong, and Mr Gromyko for Mr.
Molotov. The UN officially came into existence 24 October 1945, upon
ratification of the Charter by the five permanent members of the Security
Council—France, the Republic of China, the Soviet Union, the UK and the
US—and by a majority of the other 46 signatories.
The first meetings of the General Assembly, with 51 nations represented,
and the Security Council took place in London beginning 6 January 1946. The
General Assembly selected New York City as the site for the headquarters of
the United Nations, and the facility was completed in 1952. Its site—like
UN headquarters buildings in Geneva, Vienna, and Nairobi—is designated as
international territory. The Norwegian Foreign Minister, Trygve Lie, was
elected as the first UN Secretary-General'.
* 'In 1954,– The first Burger King is opened in Miami. .
- From Wikipedia: Burger King (often abbreviated as BK) is an American
global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, headquartered in the
unincorporated area of Miami-Dade County, Florida. The company was founded
in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida-based restaurant
chain. After Insta-Burger King ran into financial difficulties in 1954, its
two Miami-based franchisees David Edgerton and James McLamore purchased the
company and renamed it as Burger King. Over the next half century, the
company would change hands four times, with its third set of owners, a
partnership of TPG Capital, Bain Capital, and Goldman Sachs Capital
Partners, taking it public in 2002.
'The predecessor to Burger King was founded in 1953 in Jacksonville,
Florida, as Insta-Burger King. After visiting the McDonald brothers'
original store location in San Bernardino, California, the founders and
owners (Keith J. Kramer and his wife's uncle Matthew Burns), who had
purchased the rights to two pieces of equipment called Insta-machines,
opened their first restaurants. Their production model was based on one of
the machines they had acquired, an oven called the Insta-Broiler This
strategy proved to be so successful that they later required all of their
franchises to use the device. After the company faltered in 1959, it was
purchased by its Miami, Florida, franchisees, James McLamore and David R.
Edgerton. They initiated a corporate restructuring of the chain, first
renaming the company Burger King. They ran the company as an independent
entity for eight years (eventually expanding to over 250 locations in the
United States), before selling it to the Pillsbury Company in 1967'.
* 'In 1959, Sam, the space monkey returns to Earth safely. His mate, Miss
Sam did the same a month later. .
- From Wikipedia: 'The first ever primate astronaut was Albert, a rhesus
monkey, who on June 11, 1948, rode to over 63 km (39 mi) on a V2 rocket.
Albert died of suffocation during the flight.
Albert was followed by Albert II who survived the V2 flight but died on
impact on June 14, 1949, after a parachute failure. Albert II became the
first monkey in space as his flight reached 134 km (83 mi) - past the
Kármán line of 100 km taken to designate the beginning of space. Albert III
died at 35,000 feet (10.7 km) in an explosion of his V2 on September 16,
1949. Albert IV on the last monkey V2 flight died on impact on December 8
that year after another parachute failure. His flight reached 130.6 km.
Alberts I, II, and IV were rhesus monkeys while Albert III was a cynomolgus
monkey.
Monkeys later flew on Aerobee rockets. On April 18, 1951, a monkey,
possibly called Albert V, died due to parachute failure. Yorick, also
called Albert VI, along with 11 mouse crewmates, reached 236,000 ft (72 km)
and survived the landing, on September 20, 1951, the first monkey to do so
(the dogs Dezik and Tsygan had survived a trip to space in July of that
year), although he died 2 hours later. Two of the mice also died after
recovery all of the deaths were thought to be related to stress from
overheating in the sealed capsule in the New Mexico sun while awaiting the
recovery team. Albert VI's flight surpassed the 50 mile boundary the U.S.
used for spaceflight but was below the international definition of space.
Patricia and Mike, two cynomolgus monkeys, flew on May 21, 1952, and
survived, but their flight was only to 26 kilometers.
On December 13, 1958, Gordo, also called Old Reliable, a squirrel monkey,
survived being launched aboard Jupiter AM-13 by the US Army. He was killed
due to mechanical failure of the parachute recovery system in the rocket
nose cone. Able on display at the National Air and Space museum
On May 28, 1959, aboard the JUPITER AM-18, Able, a rhesus monkey, and Miss
Baker, a squirrel monkey flew a successful mission. Able was born at the
Ralph Mitchell Zoo in Independence, Kansas. They travelled in excess of
16,000 km/h, and withstood 38 g (373 m/s2). Able died June 1, 1959, while
undergoing surgery to remove an infected medical electrode, from a reaction
to the anesthesia. Baker became the first monkey to survive the stresses of
spaceflight and the related medical procedures. Baker died November 29,
1984, at the age of 27 and is buried on the grounds of the United States
Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Able was preserved, and is
now on display at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space
Museum. Their names were taken from the US military phonetic alphabet.
On December 4, 1959, Sam, a rhesus monkey, flew on the Little Joe 2 in the
Mercury program to 53 miles high. Miss Sam, also a rhesus monkey, followed
in 1960, on Little Joe 1B although her flight was only to 8 mi (13 km) in a
test of emergency procedures. Ham and Enos also flew in the Mercury program
but they were chimpanzees. The names 'Sam' and 'Ham' were acronyms. Sam was
named in homage to the School of Aerospace Medicine at Brooks Air Force
Base in San Antonio, Texas. The name 'Ham' was taken from Holloman
Aerospace Medicine at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico.
Goliath, a squirrel monkey, died in the explosion of his Atlas rocket on
November 10, 1961. A rhesus monkey called Scatback flew a sub-orbital
flight on December 20, 1961, but was lost at sea after landing.
Bonny, a pig-tailed macaque, flew on Biosatellite 3, a mission which lasted
from June 29 to July 8, 1969. This was the first multi-day monkey flight,
but came after longer human spaceflights were common. He died within a day
of landing.
Spacelab 3 on the Space Shuttle flight STS-51-B featured two squirrel
monkeys named No. 3165 and No. 384-80. The flight was from April 29 to May
6, 1985'.
* 'In 1988, Roy Orbison gave his final concert in Akron, OH. He died two
days later, from a heart attack at age 52. .
- From Wikipedia: 'Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988),
nicknamed the Big O, was an American singer-songwriter and musician, known
for his distinctive, impassioned voice, complex compositions and dark
emotional ballads. The combination led many critics to describe his music
as operatic, giving him the sobriquet the Caruso of Rock Between 1960 and
1964, 22 of his songs placed on the Billboard Top 40, including Only the
Lonely (1960), Crying (1961), and Oh, Pretty Woman (1964).
Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly and country and
western band in high school. He was signed by Sun Records in 1956, but his
greatest success came with Monument Records in the early 1960s. His career
stagnated in the 1970s, but was revived by several cover versions of his
songs and the use of In Dreams in David Lynch's film Blue Velvet (1986). In
1988, he was a member of the Traveling Wilburys supergroup, along with
George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne. He recorded his last
solo album, Mystery Girl, the same year but died of a heart attack shortly
thereafter.
While most male rock and roll performers in the 1950s and 1960s projected a
defiant masculinity, many of Orbison's songs instead conveyed a quiet,
almost desperate, vulnerability. His voice ranged from baritone to tenor,
and music scholars have suggested that he had a three- or four-octave
range. During performances, he was known for standing still and solitary,
and for wearing black clothes and dark sunglasses, which lent an air of
mystery to his persona.
His honors include inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987,
the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in the same year, and the
Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1989. Rolling Stone placed him at number 37 on
their list of the Greatest Artists of All Time and number 13 on their list
of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time'. In 2002, Billboard magazine
listed Orbison at number 74 in the Top 600 recording artists'.
* 'In 1998, The Unity Module, the second module of the International Space
Station, is launched. .
- From Wikipedia: 'The Unity connecting module was the first U.S.-built
component of the International Space Station. It is cylindrical in shape,
with six berthing locations (forward, aft, port, starboard, zenith, and
nadir) facilitating connections to other modules. Unity measures 4.57
metres (15.0 ft) in diameter, is 5.47 metres (17.9 ft) long, and was built
for NASA by Boeing in a manufacturing facility at the Marshall Space Flight
Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Sometimes referred to as Node 1, Unity was
the first of the three connecting modules the other two are Harmony and
Tranquility.
Unity was carried into orbit as the primary cargo of the Space Shuttle
Endeavour on STS-88, the first Space Shuttle mission dedicated to assembly
of the station. On December 6, 1998, the STS-88 crew mated the aft berthing
port of Unity with the forward hatch of the already orbiting Zarya module.
(Zarya was a mixed Russian-US funded and Russian-built component launched
earlier aboard a Russian Proton rocket from Baikonur, Kazakhstan.) This was
the first connection made between two station modules'.
No. 1 song
Top movie
Monthly holiday / awareness days in December
Food
Buckwheat Month
Worldwide Food Service Safety Month
Health
Aids Awareness Month
National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month
National Impaired Driving Prevention Month
Safe Toys and Gifts Month
Animal and Pet
Operation Santa Paws
Other
National Tie Month
National Write A Business Plan Month
Universal Human Rights Month
Youngsters on The Air 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
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Sites for downloading or reading free Public Domain eBooks. Available in various formats. More