<> Tomorrow's food holidays(s):
* 'National Candy Cane Day'.
- From Wikipedia (Candy cane):
'A candy cane or peppermint stick is a cane-shaped stick candy often
associated with Christmastide, as well as Saint Nicholas Day. It is
traditionally white with red stripes and flavored with peppermint, but is
also made in a variety of other flavors and colors.
According to folklore, in 1670, in Cologne, Germany, the choirmaster at
Cologne Cathedral, wishing to remedy the noise caused by children in his
church during the Living Crèche tradition of Christmas Eve, asked a local
candy maker for some sweet sticks for them. In order to justify the
practice of giving candy to children during worship services, he asked the
candy maker to add a crook to the top of each stick, which would help
children remember the shepherds who visited the infant Jesus. In addition,
he used the white colour of the converted sticks to teach children about
the Christian belief in the sinless life of Jesus. From Germany, candy
canes spread to other parts of Europe, where they were handed out during
plays reenacting the Nativity. As such, according to this legend, the candy
cane became associated with Christmastide.
A recipe for straight peppermint candy sticks, white with coloured stripes,
was published in 1844. The candy cane has been mentioned in literature
since 1866. It was first mentioned in association with Christmas in 1874,
and only as recently as 1882 was hung on Christmas trees.
Chicago confectioners the Bunte Brothers filed one of the earliest patents
for candy cane making machines in the early 1920s. Meanwhile, in 1919 in
Albany, Georgia, Bob McCormack began making candy canes for local children.
By the middle of the century his company (originally the Famous Candy
Company, then the Mills-McCormack Candy Company, and later Bobs Candies)
had become one of the world's leading candy cane producers. Candy cane
manufacturing initially required a fair bit of labor that limited
production quantities. The canes had to be bent manually as they came off
the assembly line to create their 'J' shape and breakage often ran over 20
percent. McCormack's brother-in-law, Gregory Harding Keller, was a seminary
student in Rome who spent his summers working in the candy factory back
home. In 1957, Keller, as an ordained Roman Catholic priest of the Diocese
of Little Rock, patented his invention, the Keller Machine, which automated
the process of twisting soft candy into spiral striping and cutting it into
precise lengths as candy canes'.
[The Hankster says] They are always around on Christmas, but actually , I hardly ever eat one.
<> Other holidays / celebrations
* 'Boxing Day'.
- From Wikipedia (Boxing Day):
'Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated on the day following Christmas Day in
the United Kingdom and Commonwealth nations. Boxing Day occurs on 26
December, although the attached bank holiday or public holiday may take
place either on that day or a day later.
In the liturgical calendar of Western Christianity, Boxing Day is the
second day of Christmastide, and also St. Stephen's Day. In some European
countries, notably Germany, Poland, the Netherlands and the Nordic
countries, 26 December is celebrated as a Second Christmas Day.
There are competing theories for the origins of the term, none of which are
definitive. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the earliest attestations
from England in the 1830s, defining it as the first week-day after
Christmas-day, observed as a holiday on which post-men, errand-boys, and
servants of various kinds expect to receive a Christmas-box
The term Christmas-box dates back to the 17th century, and among other
things meant:
A present or gratuity given at Christmas: in Great Britain, usually
confined to gratuities given to those who are supposed to have a vague
claim upon the donor for services rendered to him as one of the general
public by whom they are employed and paid, or as a customer of their legal
employer the undefined theory being that as they have done offices for this
person, for which he has not directly paid them, some direct
acknowledgement is becoming at Christmas.
In Britain, it was a custom for tradespeople to collect Christmas boxes of
money or presents on the first weekday after Christmas as thanks for good
service throughout the year. This is mentioned in Samuel Pepys' diary entry
for 19 December 1663. This custom is linked to an older English tradition:
since they would have to wait on their masters on Christmas Day, the
servants of the wealthy were allowed the next day to visit their families.
The employers would give each servant a box to take home containing gifts,
bonuses and sometimes leftover food.
The European tradition, which has long included giving money and other
gifts to those who were needy and in service positions, has been dated to
the Middle Ages, but the exact origin is unknown. It is believed to be in
reference to the Alms Box placed in areas of worship to collect donations
to the poor. Also, it may come from a custom in the late Roman/early
Christian era, wherein metal boxes placed outside churches were used to
collect special offerings tied to the Feast of Saint Stephen, which in the
Western Church falls on the same day as Boxing Day'.
* 'National Thank-you Note Day'.
[The Hankster says] The gift giving is not over. Remember to to give the gift of a thank you for what you received.
* 'National Whiner’s Day'.
Created in 1986 by Kevin Zaborney created, as a day to get the negative out
of your system and to focus on the positive things for which you should be
thankful.
[The Hankster says] Be careful not to whine on the day after Christmas. Santa's fiscal year may begin on December 26th. We don't want any black marks against us on his new naughty and nice list, now, do we.
<> Awareness / Observances:
o Other:
* 'Kwanzaa'.
- From Wikipedia (Kwanzaa):
'Kwanzaa is a week-long celebration held in the United States and in other
nations of the Western African diaspora in the Americas. The celebration
honors African heritage in African-American culture, and is observed from
December 26 to January 1, culminating in a feast and gift-giving. Kwanzaa
has seven core principles (Nguzo Saba). It was created by Maulana Karenga
and was first celebrated in 1966–67.
Maulana Karenga created Kwanzaa in 1966, as the first specifically
African-American holiday, (but see also Juneteenth). According to Karenga,
the name Kwanzaa derives from the Swahili phrase matunda ya kwanza, meaning
first fruits of the harvest, although a more conventional translation would
simply be first fruits The choice of Swahili, an East African language,
reflects its status as a symbol of Pan-Africanism, especially in the 1960s,
although most of the Atlantic slave trade that brought African people to
America originated in West Africa.
Kwanzaa is a celebration that has its roots in the black nationalist
movement of the 1960s and was established as a means to help African
Americans reconnect with their African cultural and historical heritage by
uniting in meditation and study of African traditions and Nguzo Saba, the
seven principles of African Heritage which Karenga said is a communitarian
African philosophy For Karenga, a major figure in the Black Power movement
of the 1960s and 1970s, the creation of such holidays also underscored an
essential premise that you must have a cultural revolution before the
violent revolution. The cultural revolution gives identity, purpose and
direction.
During the early years of Kwanzaa, Karenga said that it was meant to be an
oppositional alternative to Christmas. However, as Kwanzaa gained
mainstream adherents, Karenga altered his position so that practicing
Christians would not be alienated, then stating in the 1997, Kwanzaa: A
Celebration of Family, Community, and Culture, Kwanzaa was not created to
give people an alternative to their own religion or religious holiday.
Many African Americans who celebrate Kwanzaa do so in addition to observing
Christmas'.
<> Historical events on December 26
* 'In 1846, Trapped in snow in the Sierra Nevadas and without food, members
of the Donner Party resort to cannibalism.
- From Wikipedia: 'The Donner Party (sometimes called the Donner-Reed
Party) was a group of American pioneers led by George Donner and James F.
Reed who set out for California in a wagon train. Delayed by a series of
mishaps and mistakes, they spent the winter of 1846–47 snowbound in the
Sierra Nevada. Some of the migrants resorted to cannibalism to survive.'. .
* 'In 1862, Four nuns serving as volunteer nurses on board USS Red Rover
become the first female nurses on a U.S. Navy hospital ship.
- From Wikipedia: 'USS Red Rover (1861) was a 650-ton Confederate States of
America steamer that the United States Navy captured. After refitting the
vessel, the Union used it as a hospital ship during the American Civil War.
Red Rover became the U.S. Navy’s first hospital ship, serving the
Mississippi Squadron until the end of the American Civil War. Her medical
complement included nurses from the Catholic order Sisters of the Holy
Cross, the first female nurses to serve on board a Navy ship. In addition
to caring for and transporting sick and wounded men, she provided medical
supplies to Navy ships along the Western Rivers.
In September 1862, Red Rover — still legally under the jurisdiction of an
Illinois prize court — was sent to Cairo, Illinois, to be winterized. The
Navy purchased her on the 30th. The next day, the Union transferred the
vessels of the Western Flotilla, with their officers and men, to the Navy
Department to serve as the Mississippi Squadron under acting Rear Adm.
David Dixon Porter. The Navy Medical Department of Western Waters was
organized at the same time under Fleet Surg. Edward Gilchrist.
In December Red Rover, used during the fall to alleviate crowded medical
facilities ashore, was ready for service on the river. On the 26th, she was
commissioned under the command of Acting Master William R. Wells, USN. Her
complement was 47, while her medical department, remaining under Assistant
Surgeon Bixby, was initially about 30. Of that number, three were Sisters
of the Order of the Holy Cross, later joined by a fourth member of their
order and assisted by lay nurses' aides. These women were the forerunners
of the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps. The Western Sanitation Commission, which also
donated over $3,000 worth of equipment to the ship, coordinated the work of
these and other volunteers.
In December 1862, Fleet Surg. Ninian A. Pinckney relieved Fleet Surg.
Gilchrist. Pinckney imposed such strict standards on the department's
day-to-day activities and ran them so well run from his headquarters in Red
Rover that by 1865, he was able to claim
there is less ... sickness in the Fleet than in the healthiest portion of
the globe'.
* 'In 1865, The coffee percolator patented by James H. Nason of Franklin,
MA.
- From Wikipedia: 'A coffee percolator is a type of pot used for complex
brewing of coffee by continually cycling the boiling or nearly boiling brew
through the grounds using gravity until the required strength is reached.
Coffee percolators once enjoyed great popularity but were supplanted in the
early 1970s by automatic drip coffee makers. Percolators often expose the
grounds to higher temperatures than other brewing methods, and may
recirculate already brewed coffee through the beans. As a result, coffee
brewed with a percolator is susceptible to over-extraction. Percolation may
remove some of the volatile compounds in the beans, resulting in a pleasant
aroma during brewing, but a less flavoursome cup. However, percolator
enthusiasts praise the percolator's hotter, more 'robust' coffee, and
maintain that the potential pitfalls of this brewing method can be
eliminated by careful control of the brewing process.
The percolating coffee pot was invented by the American-born British
physicist and soldier Count Rumford, otherwise known as Sir Benjamin
Thompson (1753–1814). He invented a percolating coffee pot between 1810 and
1814 following his pioneering work with the Bavarian Army, where he
improved the soldiers' diet as well as their clothing. It was his
abhorrence of alcohol and his dislike for tea that led him to promote the
use of coffee for its stimulating benefits. For his efforts, in 1791, he
was named a Count of the Holy Roman Empire, and granted the formal title of
Reichsgraf von Rumford. His pot did not use the rising of boiling water
through a tube to form a continuous cycle.
The first modern percolator incorporating these features and capable of
being heated on a kitchen stove was invented a few years later, in 1819, by
the Parisian tinsmith Laurens. Its principle was then often copied and
modified. There were also attempts to produce closed systems, in other
words pressure cookers
The first US patent for a coffee percolator, which however still used a
downflow method without rising steam and water, was issued to James Nason
of Franklin, Massachusetts, in 1865.
Finally, an Illinois farmer named Hanson Goodrich patented the modern U.S.
stove-top percolator as it is known today, and he was granted patent 408707
on August 16, 1889. It has the key elements, the broad base for boiling,
the upflow central tube and a perforated basket hanging on it. He still
describes the downflow as being the percolating. Goodrich's design could
transform any standard coffee pot of the day into a stove-top percolator.
Subsequent patents have added very little'.
* 'In 1878, John Wanamaker installed electric lights in his department
store in Philadelphia.
- From Wikipedia: 'Innovation and 'firsts' marked Wanamaker's. The store
was the first department store with electrical illumination (1878), first
store with a telephone (1879), and the first store to install pneumatic
tubes to transport cash and documents (1880)'. .
* 'In 1933, The FM radio is patented. .
- From Wikipedia: 'Edwin Howard Armstrong (December 18, 1890 – January 31,
1954) was an American electrical engineer and inventor, best known for
developing FM (frequency modulation) radio. He held 42 patents and received
numerous awards, including the first Medal of Honor awarded by the
Institute of Radio Engineers (now IEEE), the French Legion of Honor, the
1941 Franklin Medal and the 1942 Edison Medal. He was inducted into the
National Inventors Hall of Fame and included in the International
Telecommunication Union's roster of great inventors.
Static interference — extraneous noises caused by sources such as
thunderstorms and electrical equipment — bedeviled early radio
communication using amplitude modulation (AM) and perplexed numerous
inventors attempting to eliminate it. Many ideas for static elimination
were investigated, with little success. In the mid-1920s, Armstrong began
researching whether he could come up with a solution. He Initially, and
unsuccessfully, attempted to resolve the problem by modifying the
characteristics of existing AM transmissions.
One approach considered as a potential solution had been the use of
frequency modulation (FM) transmissions, where, in order to encode audio,
instead of varying (technically known as modulating) the amplitude
(strength) of a radio signal, as was done for AM transmissions, the
frequency was varied. However, in 1922 John Renshaw Carson of AT and T,
inventor of Single-sideband modulation (SSB), had published a Proceedings
of the IRE paper which included a detailed mathematical analysis which
showed that FM transmissions did not provide any improvement over AM.
Although the Carson bandwidth rule for FM is still important today, this
review turned out to be incomplete, because it only analyzed what is now
known as narrow-band FM.
In early 1928 Armstrong began researching the capabilities of frequency
modulation. Although there were few others involved in FM research at this
time, he did have knowledge of a project being conducted by RCA engineers,
who were investigating whether FM shortwave transmissions were less
susceptible to fading than AM. In 1931 these engineers conducted a
successful FM shortwave link transmitting the Schmeling-Stribling fight
broadcast from California to Hawaii, and noted at the time that the signals
seemed to be less affected by static, but the project made little further
progress.
Working in secret in the basement laboratory of Columbia's Philosophy Hall,
Armstrong slowly developed what eventually resulted in wide-band FM, in the
process discovering significant advantages over the earlier narrow-band FM
transmissions. He was granted five U.S. patents covering the basic features
of new system on December 26, 1933. Initially, the primary claim was that
his FM system was effective at filtering out the noises produced in
receivers by vacuum-tubes.
Armstrong had a standing agreement to give RCA the right of first refusal
to his patents. In 1934 he made a presentation of his new system to RCA
president Sarnoff. Sarnoff was somewhat taken aback by its complexity, as
he had hoped it would be possible to eliminate static merely by adding a
simple device to existing receivers. From May 1934 until October 1935
Armstrong conducted field tests of his FM technology from an RCA laboratory
located on the 85th floor of the Empire State Building in New York City. An
antenna attached to the building's spire transmitted signals for distances
up to 80 miles (130 km). These tests helped demonstrate FM's
static-reduction and high-fidelity capabilities. However RCA, which was
heavily invested in perfecting television broadcasting, chose not to invest
in FM, and instructed Armstrong to remove his equipment.
Denied the marketing and financial clout that RCA would have brought,
Armstrong decided to finance his own development and form ties with smaller
members of the radio industry, including Zenith and General Electric, to
promote his invention. Armstrong thought that FM had the potential to
replace AM stations within 5 years, which he promoted as a boost for the
radio manufacturing industry, then suffering from the effects of the Great
Depression, since making existing AM radio transmitters and receivers
obsolete would necessitate that stations buy replacement transmitters and
listeners purchase FM-capable receivers. In 1936 he published a landmark
paper in the Proceedings of the IRE that documented the superior
capabilities of using wide-band FM. (This paper would be reprinted in the
August 1984 issue of Proceedings of the IEEE.) A year later, a paper by
Murray G. Crosby (inventor of Crosby system for FM Stereo) in the same
journal provided further analysis of the wide-band FM characteristics, and
introduced the concept of threshold, demonstrating that there is a superior
signal to noise ratio when the signal is stronger than a certain level'.
* 'In 1941, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill establishing
the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the United States. .
- From Wikipedia: 'On October 6, 1941, both houses of the U.S. Congress
passed a joint resolution fixing the traditional last-Thursday date for the
holiday beginning in 1942. However, in December of that year the Senate
passed an amendment to the resolution that split the difference by
requiring that Thanksgiving be observed annually on the fourth Thursday of
November, which was usually the last Thursday and sometimes (two years out
of seven, on average) the next to last. The amendment also passed the
House, and on December 26, 1941, President Roosevelt signed this bill, for
the first time making the date of Thanksgiving a matter of federal law and
fixing the day as the fourth Thursday of November'.
* 'In 1944, During World War II, George S. Patton's Third Army breaks the
encirclement of surrounded U.S. forces at Bastogne, Belgium. .
- From Wikipedia: 'Liberated by the Allies in September 1944, Bastogne was
attacked by German forces a few months later. Hitler's idea was to regain
control of the Ardennes, splitting British from American forces, then
advance to and reoccupy the strategic port of Antwerp and cut off the key
Allied supply line. On December 16, taking advantage of cold and fog,
German artillery initiated the Battle of the Bulge attacking the American
divisions deployed sparsely around Bastogne. A few days later, Brigadier
General McAuliffe and the 101st Airborne Division along with elements of
the 10th Armored Division (United States) and the 82nd Airborne Division,
arrived to counter-attack but, after heavy fighting, became encircled
within the town. On December 22, German emissaries asked for the American
surrender, to which the General answered tersely, “Nuts!” The next day the
skies cleared, allowing Allied air forces to retaliate and to drop much
needed food, medicine, and weaponry to ground forces. On December 26, the
Third U.S. Army under the command of General Patton arrived and broke the
deadlock. The official end of the Battle of Bastogne occurred three weeks
later, when all fighting in the area ceased.
Bastogne is the terminus of the Liberty Road (France), the commemorative
way that marks the path of liberating Allied forces, and of the Third Army
that subsequently relieved Bastogne'.
* 'In 1954, The Shadow, airs for the last time on radio.
- From Wikipedia: 'Street and Smith entered into a new broadcasting
agreement with Blue Coal in 1937, and that summer Gibson teamed with
scriptwriter Edward Hale Bierstadt to develop the new series. The Shadow
returned to network airwaves on September 26, 1937, over the new Mutual
Broadcasting System. Thus began the 'official' radio drama, with
22-year-old Orson Welles starring as Lamont Cranston, a 'wealthy young man
about town'. Once The Shadow joined Mutual as a half-hour series on Sunday
evenings, the program did not leave the air until December 26, 1954'. .
* 'In 1963, The Beatles' 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' and 'I Saw Her Standing
There' are released in the United States, marking the beginning of
Beatlemania on an international level. .
- From Wikipedia: 'I Want to Hold Your Hand is a song by the English rock
band the Beatles. Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and recorded
in October 1963, it was the first Beatles record to be made using
four-track equipment.
With advance orders exceeding one million copies in the United Kingdom, I
Want to Hold Your Hand would have gone straight to the top of the British
record charts on its day of release (29 November 1963) had it not been
blocked by the group's first million seller She Loves You, their previous
UK single, which was having a resurgence of popularity following intense
media coverage of the group. Taking two weeks to dislodge its predecessor,
I Want to Hold Your Hand stayed at number one for five weeks and remained
in the UK top fifty for twenty-one weeks in total.
It was also the group's first American number one, entering the Billboard
Hot 100 chart on 18 January 1964 at number forty-five and starting the
British invasion of the American music industry. By 1 February it held the
number-one spot, and stayed there for seven weeks before being replaced by
She Loves You, a reverse scenario of what had occurred in Britain. It
remained on the US charts for a total of fifteen weeks. I Want to Hold Your
Hand became the Beatles' best-selling single worldwide. In 2013, Billboard
magazine named it the 44th biggest hit of all-time on the Billboard Hot 100
charts'.
* 'In 1982, Time's Man of the Year is for the first time a non-human, the
personal computer. .
- From Wikipedia: 'Person of the Year (called Man of the Year until 1999)
is an annual issue of the United States news magazine Time that features
and profiles a person, a group, an idea, or an object that for better or
for worse...has done the most to influence the events of the year
Despite the name, the title is not just granted to individuals. Pairs of
people such as married couples and political opponents, classes of people,
the computer (Machine of the Year in 1982), and Endangered Earth (Planet of
the Year in 1988) have all been selected for the special year-end issue'.
* 'In 1986, The TV soap opera, Search for Tomorrow, was seen for the last
time on CBS-TV. The show had been on the air for 35-years.
- From Wikipedia: 'Search for Tomorrow is an American soap opera that aired
on CBS from September 3, 1951 to March 26, 1982, and on NBC from March 29,
1982 to December 26, 1986. At the time of its final broadcast, it was the
longest-running non-news program on television.'. .
* 'In 1991, The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union meets and formally
dissolves the Soviet Union.
- From Wikipedia: 'Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union on 26
December 1991, Russia was internationally recognized as its legal successor
on the international stage. To that end, Russia voluntarily accepted all
Soviet foreign debt and claimed overseas Soviet properties as its own.
Under the 1992 Lisbon Protocol, Russia also agreed to receive all nuclear
weapons remaining in the territory of other former Soviet republics. Since
then, the Russian Federation has assumed the Soviet Union's rights and
obligations'.
* 'In 2004, A 9.3 magnitude earthquake creates a tsunami causing
devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the
Maldives and many other areas around the rim of the Indian Ocean, killing
over 230,000. .
- From Wikipedia: 'The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake occurred at 00:58:53
UTC on 26 December with the epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra,
Indonesia. The shock had a moment magnitude of 9.1–9.3 and a maximum
Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). The undersea megathrust earthquake was
caused when the Indian Plate was subducted by the Burma Plate and triggered
a series of devastating tsunamis along the coasts of most landmasses
bordering the Indian Ocean, killing 230,000–280,000 people in 14 countries,
and inundating coastal communities with waves up to 30 metres (100 ft)
high. It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history.
Indonesia was the hardest-hit country, followed by Sri Lanka, India, and
Thailand.
It is the third-largest earthquake ever recorded on a seismograph and had
the longest duration of faulting ever observed, between 8.3 and 10 minutes.
It caused the entire planet to vibrate as much as 1 centimetre (0.4 inches)
and triggered other earthquakes as far away as Alaska. Its epicentre was
between Simeulue and mainland Indonesia. The plight of the affected people
and countries prompted a worldwide humanitarian response. In all, the
worldwide community donated more than US$14 billion (2004) in humanitarian
aid. The event is known by the scientific community as the Sumatra–Andaman
earthquake. The resulting tsunami was given various names, including the
2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, South Asian tsunami, Indonesian tsunami, the
Christmas tsunami and the Boxing Day tsunami'.
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