Saturday, the 3rd of January, 2015 is the 3th day in 2015 and in the 1st calendar week.
General Events:
J.R.R. Tolkien Day
January 3, 2015 in the World
Jan. 3 was J.R.R. Tolkien’s birthday, and is now celebrated as J.R.R. Tolkien Day by his enthusiasts. Tolkien was the author of the famous book series, The Lord of the Rings, and it’s precursor The Hobbit.
J.R.R. Tolkien Day calls for you to have a toast to the professor (Mr. Tolkien). So raise a glass of your favorite brew and pick up one of his tales at the library or a bookstore and sit down for a great read.
“The world is indeed full of peril and in it there are many dark places. But still there is much that is fair. And though in all lands, love is now mingled with grief, it still grows, perhaps, the greater.”
– J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
Where is J.R.R. Tolkien Day?
Worldwide
Festival of Sleep Day
January 3, 2015 in the World
January 3rd is Festival of Sleep Day. This obscure holiday is becoming better known with each passing year. Little is known of its origins or when it was first celebrated. It’s assumed that this unofficial Holiday was created for people seeking rest and relaxation after Christmas shopping and New Year celebrations.
Unlike most holidays centering on gatherings or celebrations, Festival of Sleep Day revolves around rest and relaxation. It is an opportunity to sleep in, be lazy, doze, or nap for 20 minutes, 8 hours or the entire day. Sleep alone, with teddy or a favorite. Even cuddle up with a friend if you wish. The idea is to get recharged for the new year.
Sleep allows your brain a chance to sort things out. Scientists think that this is the time when the brain sorts and stores information, replaces chemicals, and solves problems. Sleep is important for concentration, memory formation and the repair of damage to your body’s cells during the day. Chronic lack of sleep increases the risk for developing obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and infections.
Caution: Sleeping at work is not recommended, today, or any day. The only exception is for mattress testers.
Where is Festival of Sleep Day?
Worldwide
Fruitcake Toss Day
January 3, 2015 in the World
Let’s be honest: nobody really likes fruitcake (I do), and nobody ever really eats it, either. Heavy, flavorless and always too sweet, fruitcake is one of our century’s biggest holiday jokes. So when Christmas is over, and you’ve taken the tinsel down, and thrown out the tree, what should you do with that old fruitcake that you’ve been using to prop open the door/to replace a missing limb/as a headrest? Fruitcake Toss Day has a “fruitful” answer (see what we did there?). The event, which is reported as having originated in Manitou Springs, Colorado, was created in order to help people get rid of unwanted fruitcake after Christmas.
The earliest known fruitcake recipe from ancient Rome lists pomegranate seeds, pine nuts, and raisins that were then mixed with barley. In the Middle Ages, honey, spices, and preserved fruits were added. Fruit cakes soon became popular all over Europe. Recipes varied greatly from country to country, depending on what ingredients were available as well as church regulations.In the 16th century, sugar from the American Colonies, paired with the discovery that it could help preserve fruits, created an excess of candied fruit, which further contributed to fruitcakes’ affordability and popularity. However, fruitcakes later became a bit of a joke due to their excessive sweetness and heaviness, as well as their lack of any real flavor. Nevertheless, giving fruitcakes during the holiday season has remained a tradition in many parts of the world.
Where is Fruitcake Toss Day?
Worldwide
Humiliation Day
January 3, 2015 in the World
Humiliation Day is not a day to humiliate someone but to bestow humiliation, reduce humiliation from someone or a group of people and to those around you and most of all a day to be humble. Humiliation Day is your opportunity to help make the world a nicer, better place.
The origins of this annual holiday are neither unknown, nor the reason for Humiliation Day on January 3rd. but analytically it is believed by many wise people to bring awareness to the negative statements created by humiliation.
With a brand new year underway, let Humiliation Day be a day to remind us to avoid humiliating anyone for anything. Let Humiliation Day be a day to apologize to that special friend, beloved family member or managing to keep cool not to annoy any one.
Where is Humiliation Day?
Worldwide
National Chocolate Covered Cherry Day
January 3, 2015 in the USA
Recognized by the National Confectioners Association and celebrated by millions of people across the country, January 3rd is National Chocolate Covered Cherry Day.
It is almost impossible to eat just one of these chocolate covered cherry candies that have combined two favorite flavors into one delicious treat. The candy often times is made with a sweet liquid center and in some cases has a liquor filling center.
Known to many as a “mid winter pick-me-up” chocolate covered cherries, also called chocolate cordials, can be either store-bought or homemade. There are also many recipes that mimic the flavor of the long known and well loved candy.
In the 1700’s in England, cherries were enclosed in chocolate with a little kirsch (cordial) liqueur. After finding their way to America, they were well accepted with the little bit of alcoholic cordial surrounding the fruit that had been dipped in chocolate. Although originally made with the liqueur, cordials/chocolate covered cherries are more commonly made with a sugar syrup flavored with cherries. The pitted cherries that are used have been cooked in sugar syrup and jarred.
Where is National Chocolate Covered Cherry Day?
Nationwide USA
Natural Events:
Peak of Quadrantid meteor shower
January 3, 2015 in the World
he maximum of the Quadrantid activity in 2015 is expected during the night of the 3rd January 2015. The Quadrantids are an easily visible January meteor shower.
The peak intensity is exceedingly sharp: the meteor rates exceed one-half of their highest value for only about 8 hours (compared to two days for the August Perseids). This means that the stream of particles that produces this shower is narrow – and apparently deriving from and within the last 500-years from some orbiting body. The parent body of the Quadrantids was recently tentatively identified as the minor planet 2003 EH1, which in turn may be the same object as the comet C/1490 Y1 which was observed by Chinese, Japanese and Korean astronomers 500 years ago.
The radiant of this shower is an area inside the constellation Boötes. The name comes from Quadrans Muralis, an obsolete constellation that is now part of Boötes. It lies between the end of the handle of the Big Dipper and the quadrilateral of stars marking the head of the constellation Draco.
Where is Peak of Quadrantid meteor shower?
The sky World
Historical Events on 3rd January:
1431 – Joan of Arc handed over to Bishop Pierre Cauchon
1496 – Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tests a flying machine.
1521 – Martin Luther excommunicated by Pope Leo X from the Roman Catholic Church
1667 – Resistance of Androsovo in Russia-Poland
1780 – Danish national anthem “Kong Kristian…,” 1st sung
1825 – Scottish factory owner Robert Owen buys 30,000 acres in Indiana as site for New Harmony utopian community
1833 – Britain seizes control of Falkland Islands in South Atlantic
1868 – Meiji Restoration returns authority to Japan’s emperors
1899 – The first known use of the word automobile, was seen in an editorial in The New York Times
1921 – Turkey makes peace with Armenia
1925 – Benito Mussolini dissolves Italian parliament/becomes dictator
1932 – Martial law is declared in Honduras to stop revolt by banana workers fired by United Fruit.
1938 – March of Dimes established to fight polio
1956 – A fire damages the top part of the Eiffel Tower.
1958 – Edmund Hillary reaches South Pole overland
1974 – Burma accepts its constitution
1977 – Apple Computer, Inc incorporates
1990 – Panama’s leader Gen Manuel Noriega surrenders to US authorities
1997 – The People’s Republic of China announces it will spend $27.7 billion USD to fight erosion and pollution in the Yangtze and Yellow river valleys.
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