18 | January | 2015 | M'chelsMusings

Sunday, the 18th of January, 2015 is the 18th day in 2015 and in the 3rd calendar week.

General Events:

Winnie the Pooh Day
January 18, 2015 in the World

Winnie the Pooh Day takes place on January 18, 2015. Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear, is a fictional anthropomorphic bear created by A. A. Milne. Winnie the Pooh Day day was created to celebrate the birth of A.A .Milne in 1882. Milne named the character Winnie-the-Pooh after a teddy bear owned by his son, Christopher Robin Milne, who was the basis for the character Christopher Robin. Christopher Milne had named his toy bear after Winnie, a Canadian black bear which he often saw at London Zoo, and “Pooh”, a swan they had met while on holiday.

In the Milne books, Pooh is naive and slow-witted, but he is also friendly, thoughtful, and steadfast. Although he and his friends agree that he “has no Brain,” Pooh is occasionally acknowledged to have a clever idea, usually driven by common sense. Pooh is also a talented poet, and the stories are frequently punctuated by his poems and “hums.” Pooh is very fond of food, especially “hunny” but also condensed milk and other items.

Where is Winnie the Pooh Day?
Worldwide

Thesaurus Day 2015
January 18, 2015 in the World

Thesaurus Day is celebrated on January 18, 2015. In general usage, a thesaurus is a reference work that lists words grouped together according to similarity of meaning, in contrast to a dictionary, which provides definitions for words, and generally lists them in alphabetical order. The main purpose of such reference works is to help the user “to find the word, or words, by which [an] idea may be most fitly and aptly expressed” – to quote Peter Roget, architect of the best known thesaurus in the English language.

Although including synonyms, a thesaurus should not be taken as a complete list of all the synonyms for a particular word. The entries are also designed for drawing distinctions between similar words and assisting in choosing exactly the right word. Unlike a dictionary, a thesaurus entry does not give the definition of words.

Where is the event?
Worldwide

World Day of the Snowman
January 18, 2015 in the World

World Day of the Snowman is celebrated on January 18, 2015. The date goes back to the form of the Snowman: “8” symbolizes the snowman and the “1” stands for his stick or broom. Moreover, January is usually cold enough to build snowmen and is therefore a perfect chance to celebrate the snowman. World Day of the Snowman was first held in 2011.

A snowman is an anthropomorphic snow sculpture. In some cases, participants in winter festivals will build large numbers of snowmen. In North America, typical snowmen consist of three large snowballs with some additional accoutrements for facial and other features. Common accessories include branches for arms and a rudimentary smiley face; a carrot can stand in for a nose. Human clothing, such as a hat or scarf, may even be included.

Low-cost and availability are the common issues, since snowmen are usually in a cold and/or wet environment, and abandoned to the elements once completed. Melting is a common end-of-life scenario for most snowmen. Snowmen are a popular theme for Christmas and winter decorations and also in children’s media.

Where is the event?
Worldwide

National Sanctity of Human Life Day
January 18, 2015 in the USA

National Sanctity of Human Life Day is celebrated on January 18, 2015. National Sanctity of Human Life Day is an observance declared by several U.S. Presidents who opposed abortion. President Ronald Reagan designated January 22, 1984 as the first National Sanctity of Human Life Day. The date was chosen to coincide with the 11th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case that first recognized the constitutionally-protected status of abortion in the United States.

Reagan issued the proclamation annually thereafter, designating Sanctity of Human Life Day to be the third Sunday in January, which represents the closest Sunday to the original January 22 date. His successor, George H. W. Bush, continued the annual proclamation throughout his presidency. Bush’s successor, Bill Clinton, discontinued the practice throughout his eight years in office, but Bush’s son and Clinton’s successor, George W. Bush, resumed the proclamation, and did so every year of his presidency.

Where is National Sanctity of Human Life Day?
Nationwide USA

Historical Events on 18th January:

532 – Nika uprising at Constantinople fails, 30-40,000 die

1535 – Francisco Pizarro founds the city of Lima, Peru

1591 – King Naresuan of Siam kills Crown Prince Minchit Sra of Burma in single combat, for which this date is now observed marked as Royal Thai Armed Forces day.

1644 – Perplexed Pilgrims in Boston reported America’s 1st UFO sighting

1671 – Pirate Henry Morgan defeats Spanish defenders, captures Panama

1778 – Capt James Cook stumbles over Sandwich Islands (Hawaiian Islands)

1788 – The first elements of the First Fleet carrying 736 convicts from England to Australia arrives at Botany Bay to set up a penal colony

1817 – José de San Martín leads a revolutionary army over the Andes to attack Spanish royalists in Chile

1871 – 2nd German Empire proclaimed by Kaiser Wilhelm I & Bismarck

1884 – Dr. William Price attempts to cremate the body of his infant son, Iesu Grist (Welsh for Jesus Christ) Price, setting a legal precedent for cremation in the United Kingdom.

1886 – Modern field hockey is born with the formation of The Hockey Association in England.

1896 – 1st demonstration of an X-ray machine in US (NYC)

1915 – Japan issues the “Twenty-One Demands” to the Republic of China in a bid to increase its power in East Asia.

1916 – A 611 gram chondrite type meteorite stikes a house near the village of Baxter in Stone County, Missouri.

1955 – Battle of Yijiangshan Islands between Chinese National Revolutionary Army and the People’s Liberation Army

1960 – US & Japan sign joint defense treaty

1962 – US begins spraying foliage in Vietnam to reveal Viet Cong guerrillas

1972 – The former Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia and his daughter, supporters of black majority rule in the country, are arrested

1977 – Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious Legionnaires’ disease

1985 – US renounces jurisdiction of World Court despite previous promise

1989 – Astronomers discover pulsar in remnants of Supernova 1987A (LMC)

1991 – Iraq launches SCUD missiles against Israel