<> Tomorrow's food holidays(s):
* 'National Gazpacho Day'.
- From Wikipedia (Gazpacho):
'Gazpacho (Spanish pronunciation: Andalusian: ) is a soup made of raw
vegetables and served cold, originating in the southern Spanish region of
Andalusia. Gazpacho is widely eaten in Spain and neighbouring Portugal
(Portuguese: , gaspacho), particularly during the hot summers, as it is
refreshing and cool.
Gazpacho has ancient roots. There are a number of theories of its origin,
including as a soup of bread, olive oil, water and garlic that arrived in
Spain and Portugal with the Romans and also with the addition of vinegar.
Once in Spain, it became a part of Andalusian cuisine, particularly Córdoba
and Seville, using stale bread, garlic, olive oil, salt, and vinegar,
similar to ajoblanco.
During the 19th century, the red gazpacho evolved when tomatoes were added
among the ingredients. This version was spread internationally.
There are many modern variations of gazpacho, often in different colors and
omitting the tomatoes and bread in favor of avocados, cucumbers, parsley,
watermelon, grapes, meat stock, seafood, and other ingredients.
In Andalusia, most gazpacho recipes typically include stale bread, tomato,
cucumber, bell pepper, onion and garlic, olive oil, wine vinegar, water,
and salt'.
[The Hankster says] A cold soup day in winter? Great for the summer, but I'll take a hot soup this time of the year. I consider Tex-Mex chili as a soup. With beans in the chilli and Beano on the side.
<> Other holidays / celebrations
* 'Microwave Oven Day'.
- From Wikipedia (Microwave oven):
'A microwave oven (commonly referred to as a microwave) is a kitchen
appliance that heats and cooks food by exposing it to microwave radiation
in the electromagnetic spectrum. This induces polar molecules in the food
to rotate and produce thermal energy in a process known as dielectric
heating. Microwave ovens heat foods quickly and efficiently because
excitation is fairly uniform in the outer 25–38 mm (1–1.5 inches) of a
homogeneous, high water content food item food is more evenly heated
throughout (except in heterogeneous, dense objects) than generally occurs
in other cooking techniques.
Percy Spencer is generally credited with inventing the modern microwave
oven after World War II from radar technology developed during the war.
Named the Radarange, it was first sold in 1946. Raytheon later licensed its
patents for a home-use microwave oven that was first introduced by Tappan
in 1955, but these units were still too large and expensive for general
home use. The countertop microwave oven was first introduced in 1967 by the
Amana Corporation, and their use has spread into commercial and residential
kitchens around the world.
Microwave ovens are popular for reheating previously cooked foods and
cooking a variety of foods. They are also useful for rapid heating of
otherwise slowly prepared cooking items, such as hot butter, fats, and
chocolate. Unlike conventional ovens, microwave ovens usually do not
directly brown or caramelize food, since they rarely attain the necessary
temperatures to produce Maillard reactions. Exceptions occur in rare cases
where the oven is used to heat frying-oil and other very oily items (such
as bacon), which attain far higher temperatures than that of boiling water.
Microwave ovens have a limited role in professional cooking, because the
boiling-range temperatures produced in especially hydrous foods impede
flavors produced by the higher temperatures of frying, browning, or baking.
However, additional heat sources can be added to microwave ovens, or into
combination microwave ovens, to produce these other heating effects, and
microwave heating may cut the overall time needed to prepare such dishes.
Some modern microwave ovens are part of over-the-range units with built-in
extractor hoods'.
[The Hankster says] A student or bachelor's best friend.
* 'National Pawnbrokers Day'.
The word pawn comes from Latin 'patinum' meaning cloth or clothing.
[The Hankster says] I remember the scene from 'Scrooge', where is clothes and bedding were pawned.
* 'World Trick Shot Day'.
First Tuesday in December.
[The Hankster says] A simple shot was always a trick to me, since I could never explain how I managed to luck-out and make a basket.
* 'Mitten Tree Day'.
This may be a celebration of colder weather and the mitten trees that are
used to hang up snow laden mittens and such. Another idea is that it
celebrates a time of giving as is told in the book, The Mitten Tree, by
Candace Christiansen. In the story a lady makes mittens for needy children
and hangs them on a tree for them to take.
* 'St. Nicholas Day'.
On the anniversary of his death, December 6.
<> Awareness / Observances:
o Health
* 'National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women in
Canada'. aka: White Ribbon Day..
- From Wikipedia (National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence
Against Women):
'The National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, also
known informally as White Ribbon Day, is a day commemorated in Canada each
December 6, the anniversary of the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre, in
which armed student Marc Lépine murdered fourteen women and injured ten
others in the name of fighting feminism The commemoration date was
established by the Parliament of Canada in 1991. The legislation was
introduced in the House of Commons as a private member's bill by Dawn
Black, Member of Parliament for New Westminster-Burnaby, British Columbia,
and received all-party support.
Canadian flags on all federal buildings – including the Peace Tower on
Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario – are flown at half-mast on December 6.
Canadians are encouraged to observe a minute of silence on December 6 and
to wear a white ribbon (or a purple ribbon) as a commitment to end violence
against women'.
o Other:
* 'Miners' Day'. Proclaimed in 2009 by the U.S. Congress to commemorate the
1907 Monogah, West Virginia mine disaster, in which there were 362 deaths.
See more in the history section.
<> Historical events on December 6
* 'In 1768, The first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica is published.
- From Wikipedia: 'The Encyclopædia Britannica (Latin for 'British
Encyclopaedia'), published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., is a general
knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is written by about 100
full-time editors and more than 4,000 contributors, who have included 110
Nobel Prize winners and five American presidents. In 2012 it was announced
that the 2010 edition—the 15th, spanning 32 volumes and 32,640 pages—would
be the last printed edition, with digital content and distribution
continuing after that'. .
* 'In 1865, The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified,
banning slavery. .
- From Wikipedia: 'The Thirteenth Amendment (Amendment XIII) to the United
States Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as
punishment for a crime. In Congress, it was passed by the Senate on April
8, 1864, and by the House on January 31, 1865. The amendment was ratified
by the required number of states on December 6, 1865. On December 18, 1865,
Secretary of State William H. Seward proclaimed its adoption. It was the
first of the three Reconstruction Amendments adopted following the American
Civil War.
Since the American Revolution, states had divided into states that allowed
and states that prohibited slavery. Slavery had been tacitly enshrined in
the original Constitution through provisions such as Article I, Section 2,
Clause 3, commonly known as the Three-Fifths Compromise, which detailed how
each slave state's enslaved population would be factored into its total
population count for the purposes of apportioning seats in the United
States House of Representatives and direct taxes among the states. Though
many slaves had been declared free by President Abraham Lincoln's 1863
Emancipation Proclamation, their post-war status was uncertain. On April 8,
1864, the Senate passed an amendment to abolish slavery. After one
unsuccessful vote and extensive legislative maneuvering by the Lincoln
administration, the House followed suit on January 31, 1865. The measure
was swiftly ratified by nearly all Northern states, along with a sufficient
number of border and reconstructed Southern states, to cause it to be
adopted before the end of the year.
Though the amendment formally abolished slavery throughout the United
States, factors such as Black Codes, white supremacist violence, and
selective enforcement of statutes continued to subject some black Americans
to involuntary labor, particularly in the South. In contrast to the other
Reconstruction Amendments, the Thirteenth Amendment was rarely cited in
later case law, but has been used to strike down peonage and some
race-based discrimination as badges and incidents of slavery The Thirteenth
Amendment applies to the actions of private citizens, while the Fourteenth
and Fifteenth Amendments apply only to state actors. The amendment also
enables Congress to pass laws against sex trafficking and other modern
forms of slavery'.
* 'In 1883, The magazine, Ladies' Home Journal, was published for the first
time. .
- From Wikipedia: 'Ladies' Home Journal is an American magazine published
by the Meredith Corporation. It first appeared on February 16, 1883, and
eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th century
in the United States. It was the first American magazine to reach 1 million
subscribers in 1903. On April 24, 2014, Meredith announced it would stop
publishing the magazine as a monthly with the July issue, stating it was
transitioning Ladies' Home Journal to a special interest publication It is
now available quarterly on newsstands only, though its website remains in
operation.
Ladies' Home Journal was one of the Seven Sisters, a group of women's
service magazines.
The Ladies' Home Journal arose from a popular double-page supplement in the
American magazine Tribune and Farmer titled Women at Home. Women at Home
was written by Louisa Knapp Curtis, wife of the magazine's publisher Cyrus
H. K. Curtis. After a year it became an independent publication with Knapp
as editor for the first six years. Its original name was The Ladies Home
Journal and Practical Housekeeper, but she dropped the last three words in
1886. It rapidly became the leading American magazine of its type, reaching
a circulation of more than one million copies in ten years. Edward W. Bok
took over the editorship in late 1889 until 1919. Among features he
introduced was the popular Ruth Ashmore advice column written by Isabel
Mallon. At the turn of the 20th century, the magazine published the work of
muckrakers and social reformers such as Jane Addams. In 1901 it published
two articles highlighting the early architectural designs of Frank Lloyd
Wright.
During World War II, it was a particularly favored venue of the government
for messages intended for homemakers.
In March 1970, feminists held an 11-hour sit-in at the Ladies' Home
Journal's office, which resulted in them getting the opportunity to produce
a section of the magazine that August.
The Journal, along with its major rivals, Better Homes and Gardens, Family
Circle, Good Housekeeping, McCall's, Redbook and Woman's Day were long
known as the seven sisters For decades, the Journal had the greatest
circulation of this group, but it fell behind McCall's in 1961. In 1968,
its circulation was 6.8 million compared to McCall's 8.5 million. That
year, Curtis Publishing sold the Ladies' Home Journal, along with the
magazine The American Home, to Downe Communications for $5.4 million in
stock. Between 1969 and 1974 Downe was acquired by Charter Company, which
sold the magazine to Family Media Inc., publishers of Health magazine, in
1982 when the company decided to divest its publishing interests. In 1986,
the Meredith Corporation acquired the magazine from Family Media for $96
million. By 1998, the Journal's circulation had dropped to 4.5 million.
The Ladies' Home Journal's low subscription rates, inclusion of advertising
to off-set costs, and reliance on popular content contributed to the
publication's success. This operating structure was adopted by men's
magazines like McClure's and Munsey's roughly a decade after it had become
the standard practice of American women's magazines. Scholars argue that
women's magazines, like the Ladies' Home Journal, pioneered these
strategies magazine revolution
The magazine debuted an extensive visual and editorial redesign in its
March 2012 issue. Photographer Brigitte Lacombe was hired to shoot cover
photos, with Kate Winslet appearing on the first revamped issue. The
Journal announced that portions of its editorial content would be
crowdsourced from readers, who would be fairly compensated for their work.
The arrangement was one of the first of its kind among major consumer
magazines.
Although the magazine remained very popular, it ran into increasing
difficulty attracting advertising. Despite its high subscriber base (3.2
million), it was not a leader in the women's service category, and its
relatively old readership was not in a demographic favored by advertisers.
These factors prompted the decision to end monthly publication. The
magazine was relaunched as a quarterly. At the same time, the headquarters
of the magazine moved from New York City to Des Moines, Iowa. Meredith
offered its subscribers the chance to transfer their subscriptions to
Meredith's sister publications'.
* 'In 1884, The Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., is completed. .
- From Wikipedia: 'The Washington Monument is an obelisk on the National
Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate George Washington, once
commander-in-chief of the Continental Army and the first American
president. Located almost due east of the Reflecting Pool and the Lincoln
Memorial, the monument, made of marble, granite, and bluestone gneiss, is
both the world's tallest stone structure and the world's tallest obelisk,
standing 554 feet 7 11/32 inches (169.046 m) tall according to the National
Geodetic Survey (measured 2013–14) or 555 feet 5 1/8 inches (169.294 m)
tall according to the National Park Service (measured 1884). In 1975, a
ramp covered a step at the entrance to the monument, so the ground next to
the ramp was raised to match its height, reducing the remaining height to
the monument's apex. The obelisk was originally intended by its designer to
stand 600 feet (183 m) tall, but questions regarding the design of the
foundations caused the height to be set lower by the time the building was
eventually completed. It is the tallest monumental column in the world if
all are measured above their pedestrian entrances, but two are taller when
measured above ground, though they are neither all stone nor true obelisks.
Construction of the monument began in 1848, and was halted from 1854 to
1877 due to a lack of funds, a struggle for control over the Washington
National Monument Society, and the intervention of the American Civil War.
Although the stone structure was completed in 1884, internal ironwork, the
knoll, and other finishing touches were not completed until 1888. A
difference in shading of the marble, visible approximately 150 feet (46 m)
or 27% up, shows where construction was halted and later resumed with
marble from a different source. The original design was by Robert Mills,
but he did not include his proposed colonnade due to a lack of funds,
proceeding only with a bare obelisk. Despite many proposals to embellish
the obelisk, only its original flat top was altered to a pointed marble
pyramidion, in 1884. The cornerstone was laid on July 4, 1848 the first
stone was laid atop the unfinished stump on August 7, 1880 the capstone was
set on December 6, 1884 the completed monument was dedicated on February
21, 1885 and officially opened October 9, 1888. Upon completion, it became
the world's tallest structure, a title previously held by the Cologne
Cathedral. The monument held this designation until 1889, when the Eiffel
Tower was completed in Paris, France.
The monument was damaged during the 2011 Virginia earthquake and Hurricane
Irene in the same year and remained closed to the public while the
structure was assessed and repaired. After 32 months of repairs, the
National Park Service and the Trust for the National Mall reopened the
Washington Monument to visitors on May 12, 2014.
As of September 2016, the monument has been closed indefinitely due to
reliability issues with the current elevator system.
On December 2, 2016, the National Park Service announced that the monument
would be closed until 2019 in order to modernize the elevator. The $2 to 3
million project will correct the elevator’s ongoing mechanical, electrical
and computer issues, which have shuttered the monument since August 17. The
National Park Service has also requested funding in its FY 2017 President’s
Budget Request to construct a permanent screening facility for the
Washington Monument. The Washington Monument is expected to re-open to
visitors in 2019'.
* 'In 1907, A coal mine explosion at Monongah, West Virginia, kills 362
workers. The accident left approximately 250 widows and 1,000 fatherless
children. .
- From Wikipedia: 'The Monongah mining disaster of Monongah, West Virginia,
occurred on December 6, 1907, and has been described as the worst mining
disaster in American History The explosion occurred in Fairmont Coal
Company’s No. 6 and No. 8 mines.
On Friday December 6, 1907 there were officially 367 men in the two mines,
although the actual number was much higher as officially registered workers
often took their children and other relatives into the mine to help. At
10:28 AM an explosion occurred that killed most of the men inside the mine
instantly. The blast caused considerable damage to both the mine and the
surface. The ventilation systems, necessary to keep fresh air supplied to
the mine, were destroyed along with many railcars and other equipment.
Inside the mine the timbers supporting the roof were blown down which
caused further issues as the roof collapsed. An official cause of the
explosion was not determined, but investigators at the time believed that
an electrical spark or one of the miners' open flame lamps ignited coal
dust or methane gas.
Officially, the lives of 362 workers including children were lost in the
underground explosion, leaving 250 widows and more than 1,000 children
fatherless. In October 1964 Reverend Everett Francis Briggs stated that a
fairer estimate of the victims of the Monongah Disaster would be upward of
500 This estimate was developed by averaging selected estimates - an
unorthodox methodology. This estimate is corroborated by the research of
Davitt McAteer, Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health
Administration at the United States Department of Labor during the Clinton
administration. The exact death toll remains unknown.
day a granite marker in the Mt. Calvary Cemetery commemorates those who
died in the blast, most of which were Italian immigrants.
In 2003, to commemorate the explosion, the Italian commune of San Giovanni
in Fiore, from which many of the miners emigrated, erected a memorial with
the inscription Per non dimenticare minatori calabresi morti nel West
Virginia (Usa). Il sacrificio di quegli uomini forti tempri le nuove
generazioni. Monongah, 6 dicembre 1907 San Giovanni in Fiore, 6 dicembre
2003 (Lest we forget the Calabrian miners dead in West Virginia (USA). The
sacrifice of those strong men shall bolster new generations. Monongah,
December 6, 1907, San Giovanni in Fiore, December 6, 2003)
In 2007, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the explosion, the Italian
region of Molise presented a bell to the town of Monongah. Today the bell
sits in the Monongah town square.
On May 1, 2009, the President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano,
conferred the honor of Stella al Merito del Lavoro (Star of Reward of Work)
upon the victims of the disaster'.
* 'In 1947, The Everglades National Park in Florida is dedicated.
- From Wikipedia: 'Everglades National Park is a U.S. National Park in
Florida that protects the southern 20 percent of the original Everglades.
In the United States, it is the largest tropical wilderness, the largest
wilderness of any kind east of the Mississippi River, and is visited on
average by one million people each year. It is the third-largest national
park in the lower 48 states after Death Valley and Yellowstone. It has been
declared an International Biosphere Reserve, a World Heritage Site, and a
Wetland of International Importance, one of only three locations in the
world to appear on all three lists.
Although most U.S. national parks preserve unique geographic features,
Everglades National Park was the first created to protect a fragile
ecosystem. The Everglades are a network of wetlands and forests fed by a
river flowing .25 miles (0.40 km) per day out of Lake Okeechobee, southwest
into Florida Bay. The Park is the most significant breeding ground for
tropical wading birds in North America, contains the largest mangrove
ecosystem in the western hemisphere, is home to 36 threatened or protected
species including the Florida panther, the American crocodile, and the West
Indian manatee, and supports 350 species of birds, 300 species of fresh and
saltwater fish, 40 species of mammals, and 50 species of reptiles. The
majority of South Florida's fresh water, which is stored in the Biscayne
Aquifer, is recharged in the park.
Humans have lived for thousands of years in or around the Everglades until
plans arose in 1882, to drain the wetlands and develop the recovered land
for agricultural and residential use. As the 20th century progressed, water
flow from Lake Okeechobee was increasingly controlled and diverted to
enable explosive growth of the South Florida metropolitan area. The park
was established in 1934, to protect the quickly vanishing Everglades, and
dedicated in 1947, as massive canal building projects were initiated across
South Florida. The ecosystems in Everglades National Park have suffered
significantly from human activity, and restoration of the Everglades is a
politically charged issue in South Florida'.
* 'In 1957, A launchpad explosion of Vanguard TV3 thwarts the first United
States attempt to launch a satellite into Earth orbit. .
- From Wikipedia: 'Project Vanguard was a program managed by the United
States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), which intended to launch the first
artificial satellite into Earth orbit using a Vanguard rocket as the launch
vehicle from Cape Canaveral Missile Annex, Florida.
In response to the surprise launch of Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957, the
U.S. restarted the Explorer program, which had been proposed earlier by the
Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA). Privately, however, the CIA and
President Dwight D. Eisenhower were aware of progress being made by the
Soviets on Sputnik from secret spy plane imagery. Together with the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), ABMA built Explorer 1 and launched it on
January 31, 1958. Before work was completed, however, the Soviet Union
launched a second satellite, Sputnik 2, on November 3, 1957. Meanwhile, the
spectacular televised failure of Vanguard TV3 on December 6, 1957 deepened
American dismay over the country's position in the Space Race.
On March 17, 1958, Vanguard 1 became the second artificial satellite
successfully placed in Earth orbit by the United States. It was the first
solar-powered satellite. Just 152 mm (6 in) in diameter and weighing just
1.4 kg (3 lb), Vanguard 1 was described by then-Soviet Premier Nikita
Khrushchev as, The grapefruit satellite.
Vanguard 1 is the oldest artificial satellite still in space, as Vanguard's
predecessors, Sputnik 1, Sputnik 2, and Explorer 1, have decayed from
orbit.
The original schedule called for the TV3 to be launched during the month of
September 1957, but because of delays this did not happen. On October 4,
1957, the Vanguard team learned of the launch of Sputnik 1 by the USSR
while still working on a test vehicle (TV-2) designed to test the first
stage of their launcher rocket. While demoralizing to the Vanguard team,
Minitrack was successful in tracking Sputnik, a major success for NRL. At
11:45 a.m. on December 6, an attempt was made to launch TV-3. The Vanguard
rocket rose about four feet (1.2 m) into the air when the engine lost
thrust, and the rocket immediately sank back down to the launch pad and
exploded. The payload nosecone detached and landed free of the exploding
rocket, the small satellite's radio beacon still beeping. The satellite was
too damaged for further use it now resides in the National Air and Space
Museum. The failure was widely and creatively derided in the press, being
called a kaputnik in the Daily Express, a flopnik in the Daily Herald, a
puffnik in the Daily Mail and a stayputnik in the News Chronicle'.
* 'In 1964, The first TV presentation of 'Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer'
airs. .
- From Wikipedia: 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a 1964 Christmas stop
motion animated television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions and
currently distributed by Universal Television. It first aired Sunday,
December 6, 1964, on the NBC television network in the United States, and
was sponsored by General Electric under the umbrella title of The General
Electric Fantasy Hour. The special was based on the Johnny Marks song
6Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer6 which was itself based on the 1939 poem
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer written by Marks' brother-in-law, Robert L.
May. Since 1972, the special has aired on CBS, with the network unveiling a
high-definition, digitally remastered version of the program in 2005. As
with A Charlie Brown Christmas and How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Rudolph
no longer airs just once annually, but several times during the Christmas
and holiday season on CBS. Unlike other specials that also air on several
cable channels (including Freeform), Rudolph only airs on CBS. It has been
telecast every year since 1964, making it the longest running Christmas TV
special in history. 2014 marked the 50th anniversary of the television
special and a series of postage stamps featuring Rudolph was issued by the
United States Postal Service on November 6, 2014'.
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
Best selling books of 1966 More
Sites for downloading or reading free Public Domain eBooks. Available in various formats. More