<> Tomorrow's food holidays(s):
* 'National Cotton Candy Day'.
- From Wikipedia (Cotton candy):
'Cotton candy (also known as candy floss, tooth floss, sugar clouds or
fairy floss) is a form of spun sugar. According to the New York Times, the
confection is almost 99.999 percent sugar, with dashes of flavoring and
food coloring.
Made by heating and liquefying sugar and spinning it out through minute
holes, where it re-solidifies in minutely thin strands of sugar glass, the
final cotton candy contains mostly air, with a typical serving weighing
approximately 1 ounce or 30 grams. Often served at fairs, circuses,
carnivals, and Japanese festivals, cotton candy is sold on a stick or in a
plastic bag. Food coloring can be used to change the natural white color,
and numerous flavorings are available to change the taste.
Similar confections include the Indian Sohan papdi, the Persian Pashmak,
and the Turkish Pismaniye, although the latter is made with flour and water
in addition to sugar.
There are several claims for the origin of cotton candy, with some sources
tracing it to a form of spun sugar found in Europe in the 19th century. At
that time, spun sugar was an expensive, labor-intensive endeavor and was
not generally available to the average person. Others suggest versions of
spun sugar originated in Italy as early as the 15th century.
Machine-spun cotton candy was invented in 1897 by the dentist William
Morrison and confectioner John C. Wharton and first introduced to a wide
audience at the 1904 World's Fair as Fairy Floss with great success,
selling 68,655 boxes at 25¢ per box (equivalent to $7 per box today).
Joseph Lascaux, a dentist from New Orleans, Louisiana, invented a similar
cotton candy machine in 1921. In fact, the Lascaux patent named the sweet
confection “cotton candy” and the fairy floss name faded away, although it
retains this name in Australia. In the 1970s an automatic cotton candy
machine was created which made the product and packaged it. This made it
easier to produce and available to sell at carnivals, fairs, and stores in
the 1970s and on.
Tootsie Roll of Canada Ltd., the world's largest cotton-candy manufacturer,
makes a bagged, fruit-flavored version called Fluffy Stuff.
The United States celebrates National Cotton Candy Day on December 7'.
[The Hankster says] I am a cotton candy weevil. I can clean out a crop of cotton candy in nothing flat.
<> Other holidays / celebrations
* 'National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day'.
The flag should be flown at half-staff.
- From Wikipedia (National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day):
'National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, also referred to as Pearl Harbor
Remembrance Day or Pearl Harbor Day, is observed annually in the United
States on December 7, to remember and honor the 2,403 citizens of the
United States who were killed in the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl
Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941.
On August 23, 1994, the United States Congress, by Pub.L. 103–308,
designated December 7 of each year as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance
Day. On Pearl Harbor Day, the American flag should be flown at half-staff
until sunset to honor those who died as a result of the attack on U.S.
Military and naval forces in Hawaii.
Pearl Harbor Day is not a federal holiday - government offices, schools,
and businesses do not close. Some organizations may hold special events in
memory of those killed or injured at Pearl Harbor'.
* 'Letter Writing Day'.
Created by Richard Simpkin. Promoting the hand written letter.
[The Hankster says] I was always one of those, ' .. I'll finish this letter tomorrow' guys. In most cases, tomorrow, never came..
<> Awareness / Observances:
o Health
* 'World TTTS Awareness Day'.
- From Wikipedia (Twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome):
'Twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS), also known as Feto-Fetal
Transfusion Syndrome (FFTS) and Twin Oligohydramnios-Polyhydramnios
Sequence (TOPS) is a complication of disproportionate blood supply,
resulting in high morbidity and mortality. It can affect monochorionic
multiples, that is, multiple pregnancies where two or more fetuses share a
chorion and hence a single placenta. Severe TTTS has a 60–100% mortality
rate'.
o Other:
* 'International Civil Aviation Day'. Started in 1994 by the International
Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). In 1996 it was recognized as an
official United Nations observance.
- From Wikipedia (International Civil Aviation Day):
'In 1996 the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed that 7 December was
to be the International Civil Aviation Day
The day has been celebrated by the International Civil Aviation
Organization since 7 December 1994, the 50th anniversary of the signing the
Convention on International Civil Aviation. The day is still celebrated
around the world for the people of the aviation community like ATC (air
traffic control), airport management, airlines and of course the aircraft
themselves. This day also celebrates dangerous flights like QF32 and others
that were in disaster but the pilots and crew managed to save the
passengers and most of the plane. But then also the terror of the event 911
and the worlds worst plane to plane collision with a KLM 747 and a Pan Am
747 at Schiphol airport, Amsterdam. We need to celebrate for CASA, FAA,
NTSB, ASTB and other aviation safety and investigators around the world so
that today's aviation stays much safer than it was'.
<> Historical events on December 7
* 'In 1787, Delaware becomes the first state ratifying the U.S.
constitution. .
- From Wikipedia: 'Delaware is a state located in the Mid-Atlantic and/or
Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered to the south and
west by Maryland, to the northeast by New Jersey, and to the north by
Pennsylvania. The state takes its name from Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La
Warr, an English nobleman and Virginia's first colonial governor.
Delaware occupies the northeastern portion of the Delmarva Peninsula and is
the second smallest, the sixth least populous, but the sixth most densely
populated of the 50 United States. Delaware is divided into three counties,
the lowest number of counties of any state. From north to south, the three
counties are New Castle, Kent, and Sussex. While the southern two counties
have historically been predominantly agricultural, New Castle County has
been more industrialized.
Before its coastline was explored by Europeans in the 16th century,
Delaware was inhabited by several groups of Native Americans, including the
Lenape in the north and Nanticoke in the south. It was initially colonized
by Dutch traders at Zwaanendael, near the present town of Lewes, in 1631.
Delaware was one of the 13 colonies participating in the American
Revolution. On December 7, 1787, Delaware became the first state to ratify
the Constitution of the United States, and has since promoted itself as The
First State'.
* 'In 1909, Leo Baekeland patents the first thermosetting plastic,
Bakelite.
- From Wikipedia: 'Bakelite, sometimes spelled Baekelite, or
polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride, is an early plastic. It is a
thermosetting phenol formaldehyde resin, formed from a condensation
reaction of phenol with formaldehyde. It was developed by Belgian-born
chemist Leo Baekeland in New York in 1907'. .
- From Wikipedia: 'Leo Henricus Arthur Baekeland FRSE(Hon) (November 14,
1863 – February 23, 1944) was a Belgian-American chemist. He is best known
for the inventions of Velox photographic paper in 1893 and Bakelite in
1907. He has been called The Father of the Plastics Industry:13 for his
invention of Bakelite, an inexpensive, nonflammable and versatile plastic,
which marked the beginning of the modern plastics industry.
Having been successful with Velox, Baekeland set out to find another
promising area for chemical development. As he had done with Velox, he
looked for a problem that offered the best chance for the quickest possible
results Asked why he entered the field of synthetic resins, Baekeland
answered that his intention was to make money. By the 1900s, chemists had
begun to recognize that many of the natural resins and fibers were
polymeric, a term introduced in 1833 by Jöns Jacob Berzelius. Adolf von
Baeyer had experimented with phenols and aldehydes in 1872, particularly
Pyrogallol and benzaldehyde. He created a black guck which he considered
useless and irrelevant to his search for synthetic dyes.:115 Baeyer's
student, Werner Kleeberg, experimented with phenol and formaldehyde in
1891, but as Baekeland noted could not crystallize this mess, nor purify it
to constant composition, nor in fact do anything with it once produced
Baekeland began to investigate the reactions of phenol and formaldehyde. He
familiarized himself with previous work and approached the field
systematically, carefully controlling and examining the effects of
temperature, pressure and the types and proportions of materials
used.:144–145
The first application that appeared promising was the development of a
synthetic replacement for shellac (made from the excretion of lac beetles).
Baekeland produced a soluble phenol-formaldehyde shellac called Novolak but
concluded that its properties were inferior. It never became a market
success, but still exists as Novolac. The first semi-commercial Bakelizer,
from Baekeland's laboratory
Baekeland continued to explore possible combinations of phenol and
formaldehyde, intrigued by the possibility that such materials could be
used in molding. By controlling the pressure and temperature applied to
phenol and formaldehyde, he produced his dreamed-of hard moldable plastic:
Bakelite. Bakelite was made from phenol, then known as carbolic acid, and
formaldehyde. The chemical name of Bakelite is
polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride. In compression molding, the resin is
generally combined with fillers such as wood or asbestos, before pressing
it directly into the final shape of the product. Baekeland's process patent
for making insoluble products of phenol and formaldehyde was filed in July
1907, and granted on December 7, 1909. In February 1909 Baekeland
officially announced his achievement at a meeting of the New York section
of the American Chemical Society.
In 1917 Baekeland became a professor by special appointment at Columbia
University.:87 The Smithsonian contains documents from the County of West
Chester Court House in White Plains, NY, indicating that he was admitted to
U. S. Citizenship on December 16, 1919'.
* 'In 1930, TV station W1XAV in Boston, Massachusetts telecasts video from
the CBS radio orchestra program, The Fox Trappers. The telecast also
includes the first television commercial in the United States, an
advertisement for I.J. Fox Furriers, who sponsored the radio show. The
first designed for TV commercial came in 1941 and was a Bulova watch
commercial.
* 'In 1941, The Attack on Pearl Harbor. The Imperial Japanese Navy carries
out a surprise attack on the United States Pacific Fleet and its defending
Army and Marine air forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. .
- From Wikipedia: 'W1WX is Boston's second television station (the first
being W1XAY). This station started up in April 1929, and was owned by
Shortwave and Television Laboratory, Inc., (which was founded on December
5, 1928 by A.M. Vic Morgan, Hollis Baird, and Butler Perry).
The station started off broadcasting on 2120 kHz, alternating between 48
and 60 vertical lines and 15 frames per second. In 1930, it moved over to
2.1-2.2 kHz and broadcast at 48 lines only, still at 15 frames per second.
In 1934, the station switched back to 60 vertical lines only, running at 20
frames per second until it shut down.
December 7, 1930: W1XAV Boston broadcasts a video portion of a CBS Radio
program, The Fox Trappers orchestra program, sponsored by I. J. Fox
Furriers. Included was what is sometimes called the first television
commercial, which was prohibited by FRC regulations, however, other
experimental television stations such as W1XAY may have done so before
W1XAV signed on the air. Regardless, the FRC advised against this, since
there was no agreement on whether experimental stations could air
commercials, or sponsored network programming'.
* 'In 1963, 'Instant replay' makes its debut during an American Army-Navy
football game. .
- From Wikipedia: 'Instant replay is a video reproduction of something that
recently occurred which was both shot and broadcast live. The video, having
already been shown live, is replayed in order for viewers to see again and
analyze what had just taken place. Some sports allow officiating calls to
be overturned after the review of a play. Instant replay is most commonly
used in sports, but is also used in other fields of live TV. While the
first near-instant replay system was developed and used in Canada, the
first instant replay was developed and deployed in the United States.
During a 1955 Hockey Night in Canada broadcast on CBC Television, producer
George Retzlaff used a wet-film (kinescope) replay, which aired several
minutes later. Videotape was introduced in 1956 with the Ampex Quadruplex
system. However, it was incapable of displaying slow motion, instant
replay, or freeze-frames, and it was difficult to rewind and set index
points.
CBS Sports Director Tony Verna invented a system to enable a standard
videotape machine to instantly replay on December 7, 1963, for the
network's coverage of the US military's Army–Navy Game. The instant replay
machine weighed 1,300 pounds (590 kg). After technical hitches, the only
replay broadcast was Rollie Stichweh's touchdown. It was replayed at the
original speed, with commentator Lindsey Nelson advising viewers Ladies and
gentlemen, Army did not score again! The problem with older technology was
the difficulty of finding the desired starting point Verna's system used
audio tones activated as an interesting event unfolded, which technicians
could hear during the rewinding process.
Replay from analog disk storage was tried out by CBS in 1965, and
commercialized in 1967 by the Ampex HS-100, which had a 30-second capacity
and freeze frame capability.
Instant replay has been credited as a primary factor in the rise of
televised American football, although it was popular on television even
before then. While one camera was set up to show the overall “live” action,
other cameras, which were linked to a separate videotape machine, framed
close-ups of key players. Within a few seconds of a crucial play, the
videotape machine would replay the action from various, close-up angles, in
slow motion.
Prior to instant replay, it was almost impossible to portray the essence of
an American football game on television. Viewers struggled to assimilate
the action from a wide shot of the field, on a small black-and-white
television screen. However, with replay technology, “brutal collisions
became ballets, and end runs and forward passes became miracles of human
coordination.” Thanks in large part to instant replay, televised football
became evening entertainment, perfected by ABC-TV’s Monday Night Football,
and enjoyed by a wide audience
Marshall McLuhan, the noted communication theorist, famously said that any
new medium contains all prior media within it. McLuhan gave Tony Verna's
invention of instant replay as a good example. Until the advent of the
instant replay, televised football had served simply as a substitute for
physically attending the game the advent of instant replay – which is
possible only with the television – marks a post-convergent moment in the
medium of television.'
* 'In 1972, Apollo 17, the last Apollo moon mission is launched. On this
mission, the 'Blue Marble' photograph is taken. .
- From Wikipedia: 'Apollo 17 was the final mission of NASA's Apollo
program, the enterprise that landed the first humans on the Moon. Launched
at 12:33 am Eastern Standard Time (EST) on December 7, 1972, with a crew
made up of Commander Eugene Cernan, Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans, and
Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt, it was the last use of Apollo hardware
for its original purpose after Apollo 17, extra Apollo spacecraft were used
in the Skylab and Apollo–Soyuz programs.
Apollo 17 was the first night launch of a U.S. human spaceflight and the
final manned launch of a Saturn V rocket. It was a J-type mission which
included three days on the lunar surface, extended scientific capability,
and the third Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV). While Evans remained in lunar
orbit in the Command/Service Module (CSM), Cernan and Schmitt spent just
over three days on the moon in the Taurus–Littrow valley and completed
three moonwalks, taking lunar samples and deploying scientific instruments.
Evans took scientific measurements and photographs from orbit using a
Scientific Instruments Module mounted in the Service Module.
The landing site was chosen with the primary objectives of Apollo 17 in
mind: to sample lunar highland material older than the impact that formed
Mare Imbrium, and investigate the possibility of relatively new volcanic
activity in the same area. Cernan, Evans and Schmitt returned to Earth on
December 19 after a 12-day mission.
Apollo 17 is the most recent manned Moon landing and was the last time
humans travelled beyond low Earth orbit. It was also the first mission to
be commanded by a person with no background as a test pilot, and the first
to have no one on board who had been a test pilot X-15 test pilot Joe Engle
lost the lunar module pilot assignment to Schmitt, a scientist. The mission
broke several records: the longest moon landing, longest total
extravehicular activities (moonwalks), largest lunar sample, and longest
time in lunar orbit'.
* 'In 1995, The Galileo spacecraft arrives at Jupiter, a little more than
six years after it was launched by Space Shuttle Atlantis during Mission
STS-34. .
- From Wikipedia: 'Galileo was an American unmanned spacecraft that studied
the planet Jupiter and its moons, as well as several other Solar System
bodies. Named after the astronomer Galileo Galilei, it consisted of an
orbiter and entry probe. It was launched on October 18, 1989, carried by
Space Shuttle Atlantis, on the STS-34 mission. Galileo arrived at Jupiter
on December 7, 1995, after gravitational assist flybys of Venus and Earth,
and became the first spacecraft to orbit Jupiter. It launched the first
probe into Jupiter, directly measuring its atmosphere. Despite suffering
major antenna problems, Galileo achieved the first asteroid flyby, of 951
Gaspra, and discovered the first asteroid moon, Dactyl, around 243 Ida. In
1994, Galileo observed Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9's collision with Jupiter.
Jupiter's atmospheric composition and ammonia clouds were recorded, the
clouds possibly created by outflows from the lower depths of the
atmosphere. Io's volcanism and plasma interactions with Jupiter's
atmosphere were also recorded. The data Galileo collected supported the
theory of a liquid ocean under the icy surface of Europa, and there were
indications of similar liquid-saltwater layers under the surfaces of
Ganymede and Callisto. Ganymede was shown to possess a magnetic field and
the spacecraft found new evidence for exospheres around Europa, Ganymede,
and Callisto. Galileo also discovered that Jupiter's faint ring system
consists of dust from impacts on the four small inner moons. The extent and
structure of Jupiter's magnetosphere was also mapped.
On September 21, 2003, after 14 years in space and 8 years in the Jovian
system, Galileo's mission was terminated by sending it into Jupiter's
atmosphere at a speed of over 48 kilometers (30 mi) per second, eliminating
the possibility of contaminating local moons with terrestrial bacteria'.
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
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