360th th Day of 2011 / 5 Remaining
85 Days Until Spring Begins Sunrise:7:23
Sunset: 4:58
9 Hr 35 Min Moon Rise:8:49am
Moon Set: 7:30pm
Moon’s Phase: 5 % The Next Full Moon
January 8 @ 11:32pm
Full Wolf Moon
Full Old Moon
Amid the cold and deep snows of midwinter, the wolf packs howled hungrily outside Indian
villages.Thus, the name for January’s full Moon. Sometimes it was also referred to as
the Old Moon, or the Moon After Yule. Some called it the Full Snow Moon, but most tribes
applied that name to the next Moon. Tides
High:12:22am/11:04am
Low:5:16am/6:01pm Rainfall
This Year:3.35
Last Year:9.17
Year To Date Average:7.09
Annual Average: 22.28 Holidays
2nd Day Of Christmas
National Whiners' Day-Dedicated to people who return Christmas gifts.
National Thank You Note Day
National Candy Cane Day
Kwanzaa begins today. "Kwanzaa" means "first fruit" in Swahili. Day Of Goodwill-South Africa
Family Day-Namibia
Independence Day-Slovenia
Junkanoo-British Virgin Islands/Bahamas
Day of the Wren-Ireland
Boxing Day-U.K. & Canada
No one seems to know whether the celebration of Boxing Day began in the middle of the 19th century or the middle of the ninth century. What we do know is that it definitely had its origins in England and is always celebrated on this day (except when December 26th falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the official holiday is moved to Monday) with government offices and many businesses closed. Although folks throughout Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada celebrate Boxing Day, most don’t seem to know where the name originated or what Boxing Day signifies. All the theories of origin have the same theme: Those who considered themselves of a higher social class, gave to those beneath them. The wealthy landowners of the Middle Ages celebrated Christmas on Christmas Day, and their servants who worked for them on Christmas Day were given boxes of food and fruit on December 26th. Leftovers? Another theory states that, in England, servants would carry boxes to their employers to receive coins, or their employers would leave small earthenware boxes for them filled with money on the day after Christmas. These were special year-end gifts. The first Christmas bonuses? Still another theory: Church alms boxes were opened on Christmas Day and the contents distributed on December 26th. The first annual holiday-donation solicitation? Today, Boxing Day is celebrated with family, friends, food, fun and friendship. The boxes involved are more likely to be filled with gifts being exchanged or after-Christmas sale items. Charles Dickens wrote that Boxing Day was a holiday “… on which postmen, errand boys, and servants of various kinds received a Christmas box of contributions from those whom they serve.” On This Day In History
1865 --- James H. Mason of Franklin, MA patented the coffee percolator that makes coffee good to the last drop! Mason would have loved all the coffee houses that have popped up throughout the world over the past few years. He’d probably be sitting at home inventing an espressolator or a cap-perc-uccino for next Christmas. 1908 --- Jack Johnson becomes the first African American to win the world heavyweight itle when he knocks out Canadian Tommy Burns in the 14th round in a championship bout near Sydney, Australia. Johnson, who held the heavyweight title until 1915, was reviled by whites for his defiance of the "Jim Crow" racial conventions of early 20th-century America. 1939 --- W.C. Handy of Memphis, TN one of the legendary blues composers of all time, recorded the classic St. Louis Blues. W.C. and his band recorded in New York for Varsity Records. Handy was one of the first to use the flat third and seventh notes in his compositions, known in the music world as ‘blue’ notes. On another note, the music awards for blues artists’ are called the W.C. Handy National Blues Awards. Now you know where they got that title. 1941 --- Winston Churchill became the first British prime minister to address a joint meeting of the United States Congress. 1944 --- Tennessee Williams' play "The Glass Menagerie" was first performed publicly, at the Civic Theatre in Chicago. 1947 --- A monster snowstorm hit New York City, dumping up to 26 inches of snow on the Big Apple. It became the worst snowstorm in the city’s history, surpassing the snowfall totals from the Blizzard of 1888, which had 22 inches of the white stuff. 1956 --- Fidel Castro attempted a secret landing in Cuba to overthrow the Batista regime. All but 11 of his supporters were killed. 1963 --- Capitol Records rushed to release its first single by the Fab Four, otherwise known as The Beatles. I Want to Hold Your Hand, backed with I Saw Her Standing There, reached #1 on February 1, 1964. The flood of music by John, Paul, George and Ringo had started the British Invasion; changing contemporary music forever. 1966 --- The first day of the first Kwanzaa is celebrated in Los Angeles under the direction of Maulana Karenga, the chair of Black Studies at California State University at Long Beach. The seven-day holiday, which has strong African roots, was designed by Dr. Karenga as a celebration of African American family, community, and culture. 1982 --- The Man of the Year in TIME magazine was a non-human for the first time. A computer received the honors as 1982’s “greatest influence for good or evil.” 2004 --- Under the Indian Ocean, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake sent 500-mph waves across the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal. The tsunami killed at least 283,000 people in a dozen countries, including Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Sumatra, Thailand and India.
Birthdays
David Sedaris
Phil Spector
Carlton Fisk
Ozzie Smith
Charles Babbage(inventor of the adding machine)
Sen Evan Bayh
Lars Ulrich
Mao Tse Tung
Henry Miller
George Dewey
Steve Allen
Alan King
Richard Widmark
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