<> Tomorrow's food holidays(s):
* 'National Maple Syrup Day'.
- From Wikipedia (Maple syrup):
'Maple syrup is a syrup usually made from the xylem sap of sugar maple, red
maple, or black maple trees, although it can also be made from other maple
species. In cold climates, these trees store starch in their trunks and
roots before the winter the starch is then converted to sugar that rises in
the sap in late winter and early spring. Maple trees are tapped by drilling
holes into their trunks and collecting the exuded sap, which is processed
by heating to evaporate much of the water, leaving the concentrated syrup.
Maple syrup was first collected and used by the indigenous peoples of North
America, and the practice was adopted by European settlers, who gradually
refined production methods. Technological improvements in the 1970s further
refined syrup processing. The Canadian province of Quebec is by far the
largest producer, responsible for 75% of the world's output Canadian
exports of maple syrup in 2014 were C$ 380 million (approximately US$ 300
million), with Quebec accounting for 85% of this total. Vermont is the
largest producer in the United States, generating about 6% of the global
supply.
Maple syrup is graded according to the Canada, United States, or Vermont
scales based on its density and translucency. Sucrose is the most prevalent
sugar in maple syrup. In Canada, syrups must be made exclusively from maple
sap to qualify as maple syrup and must also be at least 66 percent sugar.
In the United States, a syrup must be made almost entirely from maple sap
to be labelled as maple, though states such as Vermont and New York have
more restrictive definition.
Maple syrup is often eaten with pancakes, waffles, French toast, oatmeal or
porridge. It is also used as an ingredient in baking, and as a sweetener or
flavouring agent. Culinary experts have praised its unique flavour,
although the chemistry responsible is not fully understood.
Indigenous peoples living in northeastern North America were the first
groups known to have produced maple syrup and maple sugar. According to
aboriginal oral traditions, as well as archaeological evidence, maple tree
sap was being processed into syrup long before Europeans arrived in the
region. There are no authenticated accounts of how maple syrup production
and consumption began, but various legends exist one of the most popular
involves maple sap being used in place of water to cook venison served to a
chief. Other stories credit the development of maple syrup production to
Nanabozho, Glooskap, or the squirrel. Aboriginal tribes developed rituals
around sugar-making, celebrating the Sugar Moon (the first full moon of
spring) with a Maple Dance. Many aboriginal dishes replaced the salt
traditional in European cuisine with maple sugar or syrup.
The Algonquians recognized maple sap as a source of energy and nutrition.
At the beginning of the spring thaw, they used stone tools to make V-shaped
incisions in tree trunks they then inserted reeds or concave pieces of bark
to run the sap into buckets, which were often made from birch bark. The
maple sap was concentrated either by dropping hot cooking stones into the
buckets or by leaving them exposed to the cold temperatures overnight and
disposing of the layer of ice that formed on top. While there was
widespread agriculture in Mesoamerica and the Southeast and Southwest
regions of the United States, the production of maple syrup is one of only
a few agricultural processes in the Northeast that is not a European
colonial import'.
[The Hankster says] My mother always said I was as slow as mayple syrup. I suppose that she was also saying how sweet I was. She was, wasn't she? If you have ever priced pure maple syrup, you will stick to imitation.
<> Other holidays / celebrations
* 'Wright Brothers Day'.
Since 1963 by a joint resolution of the U.S. Congress. See more in the
history section for 1903.
* 'International Talk with a Fake British Accent Day'.
[The Hankster says] There will be a link to a translator in the Today Is for tomorrow.
* 'National Wreaths Across America Day'.
Third Saturday in December.
- From Wikipedia (Arlington National Cemetery - Wreaths Across America):
'Beginning in 1992, the Morrill Worcester wreath company in Harrington,
Maine, had a surplus at the end of the holiday season. Recalling a boyhood
trip to Arlington National Cemetery, Worcester donated to the cemetery
5,000 wreaths to honor the cemetery's dead, with the help of volunteers and
a local trucking company. After thirteen years of similar donations, in
2005 a photo of snowy gravestones covered with wreaths at the cemetery
received wide-spread circulation on the Internet. Thousands of people
called Worcester, wanting to replicate the wreath-laying service at their
own veteran cemeteries.
In 2006, over 150 different locations simultaneously held ceremonies with
Arlington's. Additionally, the project had its first “Veterans Honor
Parade” with Patriot Guard Riders who escorted the wreaths from Maine to
the cemetery. The parade, which is held each year, now visits schools,
monuments, veterans’ homes and communities along its route.
At the end of 2006, Worcester's company supplied wreaths to over 230 state
and national cemeteries and veterans monuments across the country. Assisted
by veterans and truckers, Worcester established in 2007 a nonprofit
organization named Wreaths Across America In December 2008, the United
States Senate agreed to a resolution that designated December 13, 2008, as
“Wreaths Across America Day”.
In 2014, volunteers placed over 700,000 memorial wreaths at 1,000 locations
in the United States and overseas, including the USS Arizona Memorial at
Pearl Harbor, Bunker Hill, Valley Forge, and the National September 11
Memorial at the World Trade Center site in New York City. During that year,
volunteers were able to place wreaths in all sections of Arlington National
Cemetery for the first time'.
[The Hankster says] Very nice idea.
<> Awareness / Observances:
o Other:
* 'Pan American Aviation Day'.
- From Wikipedia (Pan American Aviation Day):
'Pan American Aviation Day is a United States Federal Observance Day
observed December 17. According to 36 U.S.C. § 134, on Pan American
Aviation Day the president calls on all officials of the United States
Government, the chief executive offices of the States, territories, and
possessions of the United States, and all citizens to participate in the
observance of Pan American Aviation Day to further, and stimulate interest
in, aviation in the American countries as an important stimulus to the
further development of more rapid communications and a cultural development
between the countries of the Western Hemisphere. The date commemorates the
first successful flight of a mechanically propelled heavier-than-air craft,
accomplished on December 17, 1903, by the Wright brothers near Kitty Hawk,
North Carolina'.
<> Historical events on December 17
* 'In 1843, Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is first published. .
- From Wikipedia: 'A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost-Story of
Christmas, commonly known as A Christmas Carol, is a novella by Charles
Dickens, first published in London by Chapman and Hall on 19 December 1843.
The novella met with instant success and critical acclaim. A Christmas
Carol tells the story of a bitter old miser named Ebenezer Scrooge and his
transformation into a gentler, kindlier man after visitations by the ghost
of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas
Past, Present and Yet to Come.
The book was written at a time when the British were examining and
exploring Christmas traditions from the past as well as new customs such as
Christmas cards and Christmas trees. Carol singing took a new lease of life
during this time. Dickens' sources for the tale appear to be many and
varied, but are, principally, the humiliating experiences of his childhood,
his sympathy for the poor, and various Christmas stories and fairy tales.
A Christmas Carol remains popular—having never been out of print—and has
been adapted many times to film, stage, opera, and other media'.
* 'In 1903, Orville Wright took an airplane for a 12-second flight, the
first successful piloted powered flight in history. .
- From Wikipedia: 'The Wright brothers, Orville (August 19, 1871 – January
30, 1948) and Wilbur (April 16, 1867 – May 30, 1912), were two American
brothers, inventors, and aviation pioneers who are generally credited with
inventing, building, and flying the world's first successful airplane. They
made the first controlled, sustained flight of a powered, heavier-than-air
aircraft on December 17, 1903, four miles south of Kitty Hawk, North
Carolina. In 1904–05 the brothers developed their flying machine into the
first practical fixed-wing aircraft. Although not the first to build and
fly experimental aircraft, the Wright brothers were the first to invent
aircraft controls that made fixed-wing powered flight possible.
The brothers' fundamental breakthrough was their invention of three-axis
control, which enabled the pilot to steer the aircraft effectively and to
maintain its equilibrium. This method became and remains standard on
fixed-wing aircraft of all kinds. From the beginning of their aeronautical
work, the Wright brothers focused on developing a reliable method of pilot
control as the key to solving the flying problem This approach differed
significantly from other experimenters of the time who put more emphasis on
developing powerful engines. Using a small homebuilt wind tunnel, the
Wrights also collected more accurate data than any before, enabling them to
design and build wings and propellers that were more efficient than any
before. Their first U.S. patent, 821,393, did not claim invention of a
flying machine, but rather, the invention of a system of aerodynamic
control that manipulated a flying machine's surfaces.
They gained the mechanical skills essential for their success by working
for years in their shop with printing presses, bicycles, motors, and other
machinery. Their work with bicycles in particular influenced their belief
that an unstable vehicle like a flying machine could be controlled and
balanced with practice. From 1900 until their first powered flights in late
1903, they conducted extensive glider tests that also developed their
skills as pilots. Their bicycle shop employee Charlie Taylor became an
important part of the team, building their first airplane engine in close
collaboration with the brothers.
The Wright brothers' status as inventors of the airplane has been subject
to counter-claims by various parties. Much controversy persists over the
many competing claims of early aviators. Edward Roach, historian for the
Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park argues that they were
excellent self-taught engineers who could run a small company, but they did
not have the business skills or temperament to dominate the growing
aviation industry'.
* 'In 1935, First flight of the Douglas DC-3.
- From Wikipedia: 'The Douglas DC-3 is a fixed-wing propeller-driven
airliner. Its cruise speed (207 mph or 333 km/h) and range (1,500 mi or
2,400 km) revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. Its lasting
effect on the airline industry and World War II makes it one of the most
significant transport aircraft ever made.
The DC-3 was a twin-engine metal monoplane, developed as a larger, improved
14-bed sleeper version of the Douglas DC-2. It had many exceptional
qualities compared to previous aircraft. It was fast, had a good range and
could operate from short runways. Its construction was all-metal. It was
reliable, easy to maintain and carried passengers in greater comfort.
Before the war it pioneered many air travel routes. It was able to cross
the continental United States, making transcontinental flights and
worldwide flights possible, and is considered the first airliner that could
make money by carrying passengers alone.
Civil DC-3 production ended in 1942 with 607 aircraft being produced.
However, together with its military derivative, the C-47 Skytrain
(designated the Dakota in RAF Service), and with Russian- and
Japanese-built versions, over 16,000 were built. Following the Second World
War, the airliner market was flooded with surplus C-47s and other transport
aircraft, and attempts to produce an upgraded super DC-3 were a failure.
While the DC-3 was soon made redundant on main routes by more advanced
types such as the Douglas DC-6 and Lockheed Constellation, the design
continued to prove exceptionally adaptable and useful. Large numbers
continue to see service in a wide variety of niche roles well into the 21st
century. Approximately 400 DC-3s and converted C-47s are still flying to
this day as a testament to the durability of the design, many examples
being over 70 years old'.
* 'In 1938, Otto Hahn discovers the nuclear fission of the heavy element
uranium, the scientific and technological basis of nuclear energy. .
- From Wikipedia: 'Otto Hahn, OBE, ForMemRS (8 March 1879 – 28 July 1968)
was a German chemist and pioneer in the fields of radioactivity and
radiochemistry. He was exclusively awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in
1944 for the discovery and the radiochemical proof of nuclear fission. He
is referred to as the father of nuclear chemistry.
Hahn was an opponent of National socialism 1933-1945 and Jewish persecution
by the Nazi Party. Albert Einstein wrote that Hahn was one of the very few
who stood upright and did the best he could in these years of evil After
World War II, Hahn became a passionate campaigner against the use of
nuclear energy as a weapon. He served as the last President of the Kaiser
Wilhelm Society (KWG) in 1946 and as the founding President of the Max
Planck Society (MPG) from 1948 to 1960. Considered by many to be a model
for scholarly excellence and personal integrity, he became one of the most
influential and respected citizens of the new Federal Republic of Germany.
In late 1938 they found evidence of isotopes of an alkaline earth metal in
their sample. The metal was detected by the use of an organic barium salt
constructed by Wilhelm Traube. Finding a group 2 alkaline earth metal was
problematic, because it did not logically fit with the other elements found
thus far. Hahn initially suspected it to be radium, produced by splitting
off two alpha-particles from the uranium nucleus. At the time, the
scientific consensus was that even splitting off two alpha particles via
this process was unlikely. The idea of turning uranium into barium (by
removing around 100 nucleons) was seen as preposterous. On 10 November
during a visit to Copenhagen, where he was invited to lecture in Bohr's
Institute, Hahn discussed these results with Niels Bohr, Lise Meitner, and
Otto Robert Frisch. Further refinements of the technique, leading to the
decisive experiment on 16–17 December 1938 (the celebrated
radium-barium-mesothorium-fractionation), produced puzzling results: the
three isotopes consistently behaved not as radium, but as barium. Hahn, who
did not inform the physicists in his Institute, described the results
exclusively in a letter to Meitner on 19 December'..we are more and more
coming to the awful conclusion that our Ra isotopes behave not like Ra, but
like Ba. ... Perhaps you can suggest some fantastic explanation. We
ourselves realize that it can't really burst into Ba. In her reply, Meitner
concurred that Hahn's conclusion of the bursting of the uranium nucleus was
very difficult to accept, but considered it possible'.
* 'In 1947, The first flight of the Boeing B-47 Stratojet strategic bomber.
- From Wikipedia: 'The B-47 entered service with the United States Air
Force's Strategic Air Command (SAC) in 1951. It never saw combat as a
bomber, but was a mainstay of SAC's bomber strength during the late 1950s
and early 1960s, and remained in use as a bomber until 1965. It was also
adapted to a number of other missions, including photographic
reconnaissance, electronic intelligence and weather reconnaissance,
remaining in service as a reconnaissance aircraft until 1969 and as a
testbed until 1977.'. .
* 'In 1955, Carl Perkins wrote Blue Suede Shoes. He recorded it at the Sun
Studios in Memphis two days later. The idea for the song came from two
occasions. One in which a soldier referred to his boots as blue suede shoes
and another when Carl overheard a boy tel his dancing partner be careful
and not to scuff his blue suede shoes.
- From Wikipedia: 'Blue Suede Shoes is a rock-and-roll standard written and
first recorded by Carl Perkins in 1955. It is considered one of the first
rockabilly (rock-and-roll) records, incorporating elements of blues,
country and pop music of the time. Perkins's original version of the song
was on the Cashbox Best Selling Singles list for 16 weeks and spent two
weeks in the number 2 position. Elvis Presley performed his version of the
song three different times on national television. It was also recorded by
Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran, among many others'.
* 'In 1957. The United States successfully launches the first Atlas
intercontinental ballistic missile at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
- From Wikipedia: 'The SM-65 Atlas was the first intercontinental ballistic
missile (ICBM) developed and deployed by the United States. It was built
for the U.S. Air Force by Convair Division of General Dynamics at the
Kearny Mesa assembly plant north of San Diego, California. Atlas became
operational as an ICBM in October 1959 and was used as a first stage for
satellite launch vehicles for half a century. The Atlas missile's warhead
was over 100 times more powerful than the bomb dropped over Nagasaki in
1945.'. .
* 'In 1965, The first celebrity event of the Houston Astrodome, is Judy
Garland and The Supremes. .
- From Wikipedia: 'The NRG Astrodome, also known as the Houston Astrodome
or simply The Astrodome, is the world's first multi-purpose, domed sports
stadium, located in Houston, Texas. Construction on the stadium began in
1962, and it officially opened in 1965. It served as the second home to the
Houston Astros of Major League Baseball (MLB) from its opening in 1965
until 1999, and the home to the Houston Oilers of the National Football
League (NFL) from 1968 until 1996, and also the part-time home of the
Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1971
until 1975. Additionally, the Astrodome was the primary venue of the
Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo from 1966 until 2002. When opened, it was
named the Harris County Domed Stadium and was nicknamed the Eighth Wonder
of the World
On Opening Day, April 9, 1965, a sold-out crowd of 47,879 watched an
exhibition game between the Houston Astros and the New York Yankees.
President Lyndon B. Johnson and his wife Lady Bird were in attendance, as
well as Texas Governor John Connally and Houston Mayor Louie Welch.
Governor Connally tossed out the first ball for the first game ever played
indoors. Dick Turk Farrell of the Astros threw the first pitch. Mickey
Mantle had both the first hit (a single) and the first home run in the
Astrodome. The Astros beat the Yankees that night, 2-1.
The first artist to play the Astrodome was Judy Garland on December 17,
1965, where she was paid $43,000 for the one show. The Supremes were her
opening act and tickets were priced $1.00 to $7.50. The dome seated 48,000,
with another 12,000 seats added for this show. Garland appeared on stage at
10 p.m. and sang for 40 minutes, with her set of songs including: He's Got
The Whole World In His Hands Just In Time My Kind Of Town, Houston
Is/Houston As Long As He Needs Me Joey, Joey, Joey Do It Again What Now My
Love? By Myself Rock-A-Bye Your Baby San Francisco Chicago and Over The
Rainbow. Mort Lindsey conducted'.
* 'In 1969, USAF closes Project Blue Book, concluding no evidence of
extraterrestrial spaceships behind thousands of UFO sightings.
- From Wikipedia: 'Project Blue Book was one of a series of systematic
studies of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) conducted by the United
States Air Force. It started in 1952, and it was the third study of its
kind (the first two were projects Sign (1947) and Grudge (1949)). A
termination order was given for the study in December 1969, and all
activity under its auspices ceased in January 1970.
Project Blue Book had two goals:
To determine if UFOs were a threat to national security, and
To scientifically analyze UFO-related data.
Thousands of UFO reports were collected, analyzed and filed. As the result
of the Condon Report (1968), which concluded there was nothing anomalous
about UFOs, Project Blue Book was ordered shut down in December 1969 and
the Air Force continues to provide the following summary of its
investigations:
No UFO reported, investigated and evaluated by the Air Force was ever an
indication of threat to our national security
There was no evidence submitted to or discovered by the Air Force that
sightings categorized as unidentified represented technological
developments or principles beyond the range of modern scientific knowledge
and There was no evidence indicating that sightings categorized as
unidentified were extraterrestrial vehicles.
By the time Project Blue Book ended, it had collected 12,618 UFO reports,
and concluded that most of them were misidentifications of natural
phenomena (clouds, stars, etc.) or conventional aircraft. According to the
National Reconnaissance Office a number of the reports could be explained
by flights of the formerly secret reconnaissance planes U-2 and A-12. A
small percentage of UFO reports were classified as unexplained, even after
stringent analysis. The UFO reports were archived and are available under
the Freedom of Information Act, but names and other personal information of
all witnesses have been redacted''.
* 'In 1986, Mrs Davina Thompson makes medical history by having the 1st
heart, lung and liver transplant (Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, England).
She died in August of 1998. .
* 'In 1989, The TV show, The Simpsons, premieres. .
- From Wikipedia: 'The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by
Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical
depiction of working-class life epitomized by the Simpson family, which
consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. The show is set in the
fictional town of Springfield and parodies American culture, society,
television, and the human condition.
The family was conceived by Groening shortly before a solicitation for a
series of animated shorts with producer James L. Brooks. Groening created a
dysfunctional family and named the characters after members of his own
family, substituting Bart for his own name. The shorts became a part of The
Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987. After a three-season run, the sketch
was developed into a half-hour prime time show and became an early hit for
Fox, becoming the network's first series to land in the Top 30 ratings in a
season (1989–90).
Since its debut on December 17, 1989, 606 episodes of The Simpsons have
been broadcast. Its 28th season began on September 25, 2016. It is the
longest-running American sitcom and the longest-running American animated
program, and, in 2009, it surpassed Gunsmoke as the longest-running
American scripted primetime television series. The Simpsons Movie, a
feature-length film, was released in theaters worldwide on July 27, 2007,
and grossed over $527 million. On May 4, 2015, the series was renewed for
seasons 27 (2015–16) and 28 (2016–17), consisting of 22 episodes each. On
November 4, 2016, the series was renewed for seasons 29 (2017–18) and 30
(2018–19), consisting of 22 episodes each.
The Simpsons received widespread critical acclaim throughout its first nine
seasons, which are generally considered its Golden Age Time named it the
20th century's best television series, and The A.V. Club named it
television's crowning achievement regardless of format On January 14, 2000,
the Simpson family was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It has
won dozens of awards since it debuted as a series, including 31 Primetime
Emmy Awards, 30 Annie Awards, and a Peabody Award. Homer's exclamatory
catchphrase D'oh! has been adopted into the English language, while The
Simpsons has influenced many adult-oriented animated sitcoms. Despite this,
the show has also been criticized for what many perceive as a decline in
quality over the years'.
* 'In 2003, SpaceShipOne, piloted by Brian Binnie, makes its first powered
and first supersonic flight.
- From Wikipedia: 'The SpaceShipOne is a suborbital air-launched spaceplane
that completed the first manned private spaceflight in 2004. That same
year, it won the US$10 million Ansari X Prize and was immediately retired
from active service'. .
- From Wikipedia:SpaceShipOne is an experimental air-launched
rocket-powered aircraft with suborbital flight capability that uses a
hybrid rocket motor. The design features a unique feathering atmospheric
reentry system where the rear half of the wing and the twin tail booms
folded upward along a hinge running the length of the wing this increased
drag while remaining stable. SpaceShipOne completed the first manned
private spaceflight in 2004. That same year, it won the US$10 million
Ansari X Prize and was immediately retired from active service. Its mother
ship was named White Knight Both craft were developed and flown by Mojave
Aerospace Ventures, which was a joint venture between Paul Allen and Scaled
Composites, Burt Rutan's aviation company. Allen provided the funding of
approximately US$25 million.
Rutan has indicated that ideas about the project began as early as 1994 and
the full-time development cycle time to the 2004 accomplishments was about
three years. The vehicle first achieved supersonic flight on December 17,
2003, which was also the one-hundredth anniversary of the Wright Brothers'
historic first powered flight. SpaceShipOne's first official spaceflight,
known as flight 15P, was piloted by Mike Melvill. A few days before that
flight, the Mojave Air and Space Port was the first commercial spaceport
licensed in the United States. A few hours after that flight, Melvill
became the first licensed U.S. commercial astronaut. The overall project
name was Tier One which has evolved into Tier 1b with a goal of taking a
successor ship's first passengers into space within the next few days.
The achievements of SpaceShipOne are more comparable to the X-15 than
orbiting spacecraft like the Space Shuttle. Accelerating a spacecraft to
orbital speed requires more than 60 times as much energy as accelerating it
to Mach 3. It would also require an elaborate heat shield to safely
dissipate that energy during re-entry.
SpaceShipOne's official model designation is Scaled Composites Model 316'.
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