<> Tomorrow's food holidays(s):
* 'National Fruitcake Day'.
- From Wikipedia (Fruitcake):
'Fruitcake (or fruit cake) is a cake made with chopped candied fruit and/or
dried fruit, nuts, and spices, and (occasionally) soaked in spirits. A cake
that simply has fruit in it as an ingredient can also be colloquially
called a fruit cake. In the United Kingdom, certain rich versions may be
iced and decorated.
Fruit cakes are typically served in celebration of weddings and Christmas.
Given their rich nature, fruit cake is most often consumed on its own, as
opposed to with condiments (such as butter or cream).
The earliest recipe from ancient Rome lists pomegranate seeds, pine nuts,
and raisins that were mixed into barley mash. In the Middle Ages, honey,
spices, and preserved fruits were added.
Fruit cakes soon proliferated all over Europe. Recipes varied greatly in
different countries throughout the ages, depending on the available
ingredients as well as (in some instances) church regulations forbidding
the use of butter, regarding the observance of fast. Pope Innocent VIII
(1432–1492) finally granted the use of butter, in a written permission
known as the ‘Butter Letter' or Butterbrief in 1490, giving permission to
Saxony to use milk and butter in the North German Stollen fruit cakes.
Starting in the 16th century, sugar from the American Colonies (and the
discovery that high concentrations of sugar could preserve fruits) created
an excess of candied fruit, thus making fruit cakes more affordable and
popular.
United States
Typical American fruit cakes are rich in fruit and nuts.
Mail-order fruit cakes in America began in 1913. Some well-known American
bakers of fruit cake include Collin Street Bakery in Corsicana, Texas, and
The Claxton Bakery in Claxton, Georgia. Both Collin Street and Claxton are
Southern companies with inexpensive access to large nut quantities, for
which the expression nutty as a fruitcake was derived in 1935. Commercial
fruit cakes are often sold from catalogs by charities as a fund raiser.
Most American mass-produced fruit cakes are alcohol-free, but traditional
recipes are saturated with liqueurs or brandy and covered in powdered
sugar, both of which prevent mold. Brandy (or wine) soaked linens can be
used to store the fruit cakes, and some people feel that fruit cakes
improve with age.
In the United States, the fruit cake has become a ridiculed dessert, in
part due to the mass-produced inexpensive cakes of questionable age. Some
attribute the beginning of this trend with The Tonight Show host Johnny
Carson. He would joke that there really is only one fruitcake in the world,
passed from family to family. After Carson's death, the tradition continued
with The Fruitcake Lady (Marie Rudisill), who made appearances on the show
and offered her fruitcake opinions. In fact, the fruitcake had been a butt
of jokes on television programs such as Father Knows Best and The Donna
Reed Show years before The Tonight Show debuted and appears to have first
become a vilified confection in the early 20th century, as evidenced by
Warner Brothers cartoons.
Since 1995, Manitou Springs, Colorado, has hosted the Great Fruitcake Toss
on the first Saturday of every January. We encourage the use of recycled
fruitcakes, says Leslie Lewis of the Manitou Springs Chamber of Commerce.
The all-time Great Fruitcake Toss record is 1,420 feet, set in January 2007
by a group of eight Boeing engineers who built the Omega 380, a mock
artillery piece fueled by compressed air pumped by an exercise bike'.
[The Hankster says] My name is Henry, and I love fruitcake. My favorite is made by Collin Street Bakery in Corsicana, Texas. It is really a 'candied fruit with cake' and not 'dry cake with a little fruit'. It's more like candy with some cake to hold it together. And again this year, I have marked a bulls eye in my backyard for those who participate in the annual fruitcake toss. You may request map coordinates and GPS data.
<> Other holidays / celebrations
* 'Make Cut-out Snowflakes Day'.
[The Hankster says] Learned how to do this in elementary school for a Christmas party. You can really spend some fun time making them. Kids love it since you can't really make a mistake. They all look good.
* 'Visit The Zoo Day'.
- From Wikipedia (Zoo):
'London Zoo, which opened in 1826, first called itself a menagerie or
zoological forest, which is short for Gardens and Menagerie of the
Zoological Society of London. The abbreviation 'zoo' first appeared in
print in the United Kingdom around 1847, when it was used for the Clifton
Zoo, but it was not until some 20 years later that the shortened form
became popular in the song Walking in the Zoo on Sunday by music-hall
artist Alfred Vance. The term zoological park was used for more expansive
facilities in Washington, D.C., and the Bronx in New York, which opened in
1891 and 1899 respectively.
Relatively new te rms for zoos coined in the late 20th century are
conservation park or 'biopark'. Adopting a new name is a strategy used by
some zoo professionals to distance their institutions from the
stereotypical and nowadays criticized zoo concept of the 19th century. The
term 'biopark' was first coined and developed by the National Zoo in
Washington D.C. in the late 1980s. In 1993, the New York Zoological Society
changed its name to the Wildlife Conservation Society and rebranded the
zoos under its jurisdiction as wildlife conservation parks.
The predecessor of the zoological garden is the menagerie, which has a long
history from the ancient world to modern times. The oldest known zoological
collection was revealed during excavations at Hierakonpolis, Egypt in 2009,
of a ca. 3500 BCE menagerie. The exotic animals included hippopotami,
hartebeest, elephants, baboons and wildcats. King Ashur-bel-kala of the
Middle Assyrian Empire created zoological and botanical gardens in the 11th
century BCE. In the 2nd century BCE, the Chinese Empress Tanki had a house
of deer built, and King Wen of Zhou kept a 1,500-acre (6.1 km2) zoo called
Ling-Yu, or the Garden of Intelligence. Other well-known collectors of
animals included King Solomon of the Kingdom of Israel and Judah, queen
Semiramis and King Ashurbanipal of Assyria, and King Nebuchadnezzar of
Babylonia. By the 4th century BCE, zoos existed in most of the Greek city
states Alexander the Great is known to have sent animals that he found on
his military expeditions back to Greece. The Roman emperors kept private
collections of animals for study or for use in the arena, the latter faring
notoriously poorly.
Henry I of England kept a collection of animals at his palace in Woodstock,
which reportedly included lions, leopards, and camels. The most prominent
collection in medieval England was in the Tower of London, created as early
as 1204 by King John I.
Henry III received a wedding gift in 1235 of three leopards from Frederick
II, Holy Roman Emperor, and in 1264, the animals were moved to the Bulwark,
renamed the Lion Tower, near the main western entrance of the Tower. It was
opened to the public during the reign of Elizabeth I in the 16th century.
During the 18th century, the price of admission was three half-pence, or
the supply of a cat or dog for feeding to the lions. The animals were moved
to the London Zoo when it opened.
The oldest zoo in the world still in existence is the Tiergarten Schönbrunn
in Vienna, Austria. It was constructed by Adrian van Stekhoven in 1752 at
the order of the Holy Roman Emperor Francis I, husband of Maria Theresa of
Austria, to serve as an imperial menagerie as part of Schönbrunn Palace.
The menagerie was initially reserved for the viewing pleasure of the
imperial family and the court, but was made accessible to the public in
1765.
In 1775, a zoo was founded in Madrid, and in 1795, the zoo inside the
Jardin des Plantes in Paris was founded by Jacques-Henri Bernardin, with
animals from the royal menagerie at Versailles, primarily for scientific
research and education. The Kazan Zoo, the first zoo in Russia was founded
in 1806 by the Professor of Kazan State University Karl Fuchs
Until the early 19th century, the function of the zoo was often to
symbolize royal power, like King Louis XIV's menagerie at Versailles. The
modern zoo that emerged in the early 19th century at London, Paris and
Dublin, was focused on providing educational exhibits to the public for
entertainment and inspiration.
A growing fascination for natural history and zoology, coupled with the
tremendous expansion in the urbanization of London, led to a heightened
demand for a greater variety of public forms of entertainment to be made
available. The need for public entertainment, as well as the requirements
of scholarly research, came together in the founding of the first modern
zoos'.
[The Hankster says] It's in the low 80's in Texas this December. Great time to find a lot of animals out just waiting for you to take another picture. You have to do it for them. Only the monkeys can take Selfies.
<> Awareness / Observances:
<> Historical events on December 27
* 'In 1831, Charles Darwin embarks on his journey aboard the HMS Beagle,
during which he will begin to formulate the theory of evolution.
- 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 1903, In New York City, the barbershop quartet favorite, Sweet
Adeline, was sung for the first time'.
- From Wikipedia: (You're the Flower of My Heart,) Sweet Adeline, is a
ballad best known as a barbershop standard. It was first published in 1903,
with lyrics by Richard H. Gerard to music by Harry Armstrong, from a tune
he had written in 1896 at the age of 18. According to a 1928 newspaper
story, the lyrics were inspired, by a girl who worked at the music counter
of a New York department store. After failing to find a publisher with the
initial title, You're the Flower of My Heart, Sweet Rosalie, according to a
story the two decided a new title was in order and were inspired by a
poster advertising the farewell tour of opera singer Adelina Patti. It did
not become a hit until it was performed in 1904 by the group The Quaker
City Four'.
* 'In 1922, Japanese aircraft carrier Hosho becomes the first purpose built
aircraft carrier to be commissioned in the world'.
- From Wikipedia: 'Hosho (literally phoenix in flight) was the world's
first commissioned ship that was designed and built as an aircraft carrier,
and the first aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN).
Commissioned in 1922, the ship was used for testing carrier aircraft
operations equipment, techniques, such as take-offs and landings, and
carrier aircraft operational methods and tactics. The ship provided
valuable lessons and experience for the IJN in early carrier air
operations. Hosho's superstructure and other obstructions to the flight
deck were removed in 1924 on the advice of experienced aircrews.
Hosho and her aircraft group participated in the Shanghai Incident in 1932
and in the opening stages of the Sino-Japanese War in late 1937. During
those two conflicts, the carrier's aircraft supported Imperial Japanese
Army ground operations and engaged in aerial combat with aircraft of the
Nationalist Chinese Air Force. The small size of the ship and her assigned
airgroups (usually around 15 aircraft) limited the effectiveness of her
contributions to combat operations. As a result, the carrier was placed in
reserve after her return to Japan from China and she became a training
carrier in 1939.
During World War II, Hosho participated in the Battle of Midway in June
1942 in a secondary role. After the battle, the carrier resumed her
training role in Japanese home waters for the duration of the conflict and
survived the war with only minor damage from air attacks. She was used as a
repatriation transport after the war, making nine trips to bring some
40,000 Japanese soldiers and civilians to Japan from overseas locations.
Hosho was scrapped in Japan beginning in 1946'.
* 'In 1927, Show Boat, considered to be the first true American musical
play, opens at the Ziegfeld Theatre on Broadway. .
- From Wikipedia: 'Show Boat is a 1927 musical in two acts, with music by
Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. Based on Edna
Ferber's bestselling novel of the same name, the musical follows the lives
of the performers, stagehands, and dock workers on the Cotton Blossom, a
Mississippi River show boat, over forty years, from 1887 to 1927. Its
themes include racial prejudice and tragic, enduring love. The musical
contributed such classic songs as, Ol' Man River, Make Believe, and Can't
Help Lovin' Dat Man'. .
* 'In 1932, Radio City Music Hall opens in New York City.
- From Wikipedia: 'Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located
in Rockefeller Center in New York City. Its nickname is the Showplace of
the Nation, and it was for a time the leading tourist destination in the
city. Its interior was declared a city landmark in 1978.
The 12-acre (4.9 ha) complex in Midtown Manhattan known as Rockefeller
Center was developed between 1929 and 1940 by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., on
land leased from Columbia University. The Radio City Music Hall was
designed by architect Edward Durell Stone and interior designer Donald
Deskey in the Art Deco style.
Its originally planned name was International Music Hall. The names Radio
City and Radio City Music Hall derive from one of the complex's first
tenants, the Radio Corporation of America. Radio City Music Hall was a
project of Rockefeller Samuel Roxy Rothafel, who previously opened the Roxy
Theatre in 1927 and RCA chairman David Sarnoff. RCA had developed numerous
studios for NBC at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, just to the south of the Music
Hall, and the radio-TV complex that lent the Music Hall its name is still
known as the NBC Radio City Studios.
The Music Hall opened to the public on December 27, 1932 with a lavish
stage show featuring Ray Bolger, Doc Rockwell and Martha Graham. The
opening was meant to be a return to high-class variety entertainment. The
new format was not a success. The program was very long, and individual
acts were lost in the cavernous hall. On January 11, 1933, the Music Hall
converted to the then-familiar format of a feature film, with a spectacular
stage show perfected by Rothafel at the Roxy Theatre in New York City. The
first film shown on the giant screen was Frank Capra's The Bitter Tea of
General Yen, starring Barbara Stanwyck, and the Music Hall became the
premiere showcase for films from the RKO-Radio Studio. The
film-plus-stage-spectacle format continued at the Music Hall until 1979,
with four complete performances presented every day'.
* 'In 1947, The TV show 'Howdy Doody Show' (Puppet Playhouse), is first
telecast on NBC.
- From Wikipedia: 'Howdy Doody is an American children's television program
(with circus and Western frontier themes) that was created and produced by
E. Roger Muir and telecast on the NBC network in the United States from
December 27, 1947 until September 24, 1960. It was a pioneer in children's
television programming and set the pattern for many similar shows. One of
the first television series produced at NBC in Rockefeller Center, in
Studio 3A, it was also a pioneer in early color production as NBC (at the
time owned by TV maker RCA) used the show in part to sell color television
sets in the 1950s.
Bob Smith created Howdy Doody during his days as a radio announcer on WNBC.
At that time, Howdy Doody was only a voice Smith performed on the radio.
When Smith made an appearance on NBC's television program Puppet Playhouse
on December 27, 1947, the reception for the character was great enough to
begin a demand for a visual character for television. Frank Paris, a
puppeteer whose puppets appeared on the program, was asked to create a
Howdy Doody puppet.
Bob Smith, the show's host, was dubbed Buffalo Bob early in the show's run
(a reference to the historical Buffalo Bill and Smith's hometown of
Buffalo, New York). At first the set was supposed to be a circus tent, but
soon was changed, during the show, to a western town. Smith wore cowboy
garb, and the name of the puppet star was derived from the American
expression howdy doody/howdy do, a commonplace corruption of the phrase How
do you do? used in the western United States (The straightforward use of
that expression was also in the theme song's lyrics.) Smith, who had gotten
his start as a singing radio personality in Buffalo, used music frequently
in the program. Cast members Lew Anderson and Robert Nick Nicholson were
both experienced jazz musicians.
As both the character and television program grew in popularity, demand for
Howdy Doody related merchandise began to surface. By 1948, toymakers and
department stores had been approached with requests for Howdy Doody dolls
and similar items. Macy's department store contacted Frank Paris, the
creator of the puppet, to ask about rights for a Howdy Doody doll. While
Paris had created the puppet, it was Bob Smith who owned the rights to the
Howdy Doody character an argument ensued between the two men, as Paris felt
he was being cheated out of any financial benefits from having made the
puppet. After one such disagreement, Paris took the Howdy Doody puppet and
angrily left the NBC studios with it about four hours before the show was
to air live it was not the first time Paris had taken his puppet and left,
leaving the live television program with no star
With Paris' past disappearances, impromptu excuses regarding the
whereabouts of Howdy Doody had been hastily concocted. This time, an
elaborate explanation was offered—that Howdy was busy with the elections on
the campaign trail. NBC hurriedly constructed a map of the United States,
which allowed viewers, with the help of Smith, to learn where Howdy was on
the road. The explanation continued that while on the campaign trail, Howdy
decided to improve his appearance with some plastic surgery. This made it
possible for the network to hire Velma Dawson to create a more handsome and
appealing visual character than Paris' original, which had been called the
ugliest puppet imaginable by Bob Smith. Since Paris did not provide the
voice of the character, Howdy's voice would stay the same after his
appearance changed. The puppet which is remembered as the original Howdy
Doody replaced the actual original made by Frank Paris. The original Dawson
Howdy Doody at Detroit Institute of Arts
Howdy Doody himself is a freckle-faced boy marionette with 48 freckles, one
for each state of the union (up until January 3, 1959, when Alaska was
admitted as the 49th state), and was originally voiced by Buffalo Bob
Smith. The Howdy Doody show's various marionettes were created and built by
puppeteers Velma Wayne Dawson, Scott Brinker (the show's prop man) and
Rufus Rose throughout the show's run. The redheaded Howdy marionette on the
original show was operated with 11 strings: two heads, one mouth, one eye,
two shoulders, one back, two hands and two knees. Three strings were added
when the show returned—two elbows and one nose. The original Howdy Doody
marionette now resides at the Detroit Institute of Arts. There were
duplicate Howdy Doody puppets, designed to be used expressly for
off-the-air purposes (lighting rehearsals, personal appearances, etc.),
although surviving kinescope recordings clearly show that these duplicate
puppets were indeed used on the air occasionally. Double Doody, the Howdy
stand-in puppet, is now in the collection of the Division of Culture and
the Arts at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
Photo Doody is the near-stringless marionette that was used in personal
appearances, photos, parades, and the famed NBC test pattern. He was sold
by Leland's Sports Auction House in 1997 for more than $113,000 to a
private art collector, TJ Fisher'.
* 'In 1968, Apollo 8 returns to Earth. .
- From Wikipedia: 'Apollo 8, the second human spaceflight mission in the
United States Apollo space program, was launched on December 21, 1968, and
became the first manned spacecraft to leave Earth orbit, reach the Earth's
Moon, orbit it and return safely to Earth. The three-astronaut
crew—Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell, and Lunar
Module Pilot William Anders—became the first humans to travel beyond low
Earth orbit, the first to see Earth as a whole planet, the first to
directly see the far side of the Moon, and then the first to witness
Earthrise. The 1968 mission, the third flight of the Saturn V rocket and
that rocket's first manned launch, was also the first human spaceflight
launch from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, located adjacent to Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station.
The mission was originally planned as Apollo 9, to be performed in early
1969 as the second test of the complete Apollo spacecraft, including the
Lunar Module and the Command/Service Module in an elliptical medium Earth
orbit. But when the Lunar Module proved unready to make its first test in a
lower Earth orbit in December 1968, it was decided in August to fly Apollo
8 in December as a more ambitious lunar orbital flight without the Lunar
Module. This meant Borman's crew was scheduled to fly two to three months
sooner than originally planned, leaving them a shorter time for training
and preparation, thus placing more demands than usual on their time and
discipline.
Apollo 8 took three days to travel to the Moon. It orbited ten times over
the course of 20 hours, during which the crew made a Christmas Eve
television broadcast where they read the first 10 verses from the Book of
Genesis. At the time, the broadcast was the most watched TV program ever.
Apollo 8's successful mission paved the way for Apollo 11 to fulfill U.S.
President John F. Kennedy's goal of landing a man on the Moon before the
end of the 1960s. The Apollo 8 astronauts returned to Earth on December 27,
1968, when their spacecraft splashed down in the Northern Pacific Ocean.
The crew was named Time magazine's Men of the Year for 1968 upon their
return'.
* 'In 1968, Don McNeill's Breakfast Club, signed off for the last time on
ABC radio, after 35 years on the air.
- From Wikipedia: 'Don McNeill's Breakfast Club is a long-run morning
variety show on NBC Blue Network/ABC radio (and briefly on television)
originating in Chicago, Illinois. Hosted by Don McNeill, the radio program
ran from June 23, 1933 through December 27, 1968. McNeil's 35½-year run as
host remains the longest tenure for an M.C. of a network entertainment
program, surpassing Johnny Carson (29½ years) on The Tonight Show and Bob
Barker (34? years) on The Price Is Right'. .
* 'In 1970, Hello, Dolly!, closed on Broadway after a run of 2,844
performances.
- From Wikipedia: 'The musical, directed and choreographed by Gower
Champion and produced by David Merrick, opened on January 16, 1964, at the
St. James Theatre and closed on December 27, 1970, after 2,844
performances. Carol Channing starred as Dolly, with a supporting cast that
included David Burns as Horace, Charles Nelson Reilly as Cornelius, Eileen
Brennan as Irene, Jerry Dodge as Barnaby, Sondra Lee as Minnie Fay, Alice
Playten as Ermengarde, and Igors Gavon as Ambrose. Although facing
competition from Funny Girl with Barbra Streisand, Hello, Dolly! swept the
Tony Awards that year, winning awards in ten categories (out of eleven
nominations) that tied the musical with the previous record keeper South
Pacific, a record that remained unbroken for 37 years until The Producers
won twelve Tonys in 2001'.
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