IOTD

it’s late…. but I hit the ground running and this is just pretty enough for me to slow down and focus on. 😉

Calendar day; December 31, 2015

Thursday, the 31st of December, 2015 is the 365th day in 2015 and in the 53rd calendar week.

General Events:

New Year’s Eve
December 31, 2015 in the World

New Year’s Eve or Old Year’s Night is on 31 December, the final day of the Gregorian year, and the day before New Year’s Day. New Year’s Eve is a separate observance from the observance of New Year’s Day. In modern Western practice, New Year’s Eve is celebrated with parties and social gatherings spanning the transition of the year at midnight.

Many cultures use fireworks and other forms of noise making in part of the celebration. New Year’s Eve is observed universally on 31 December according to the year numbering of the Common Era, or A.D. Anno Domini convention, even in non-Christian nations. New Year’s Eve is also the seventh day of Christmas in western Christianity. Traditional and religious celebrations for e.g. the Chinese, Muslim and Jewish new year, which occur on different dates, are still celebrated separately in the cultures that observe them, on the appropriate dates each year.

While many people go to parties to celebrate New Year’s Eve, according to a recent survey, 62% stay at home. Seven percent do not celebrate New Year’s Eve at all, though a proportion of those may well tune in to the live tv broadcasts from the comfort of their homes.

Where is New Year’s Eve 2016?
Worldwide

Universal Hour of Peace Day
December 31, 2015 in the World

Created as a simple step toward a war-free world,  the Universal Hour of Peace is observed from 11:30 p.m. December 31st to 12:30 a.m.January 1st.

Conceived by Dr. Barbara Condron at the School of Metaphysics, the first Universal Hour of Peace was celebrated October 24, 1995. It coincided with the 50th anniversary of the United Nations and the autumnal equinox. It is now celebrated from 11:30 p.m. December 31st to 12:30 a. m. January 1st.

Where is Universal Hour of Peace Day?
Worldwide

First Night 2015
December 31, 2015 in North America

First Night is observed on December 31, 2015. First Night is a North American artistic and cultural celebration on New Year’s Eve, taking place from afternoon until midnight. Some cities have all their events during the celebration outside, but some cities have events that are hosted indoors by organizations in the city, such as churches and theaters. Since it happens on New Year’s Eve, First Night celebrations are actually held on the last night of the old year. First Night celebrates a community’s local culture, often featuring music, dance, comedy, art, fireworks and, in some cities, ice sculptures and parades.

Where is First Night?
Nationwide North America

La Guiannee 2015
December 31, 2015 in the USA

La Guiannee takes place on December 31, 2015. La Guiannée or La Guignolée is a French medieval New Year’s Eve tradition that is still practiced in two towns in the United States. The tradition related to poor people being able to ask the more wealthy for food and drink at the celebrations of winter. Customarily a troupe of traveling male singers went from door to door to entertain and ring in the new year. Hosts were expected to give them food and drink. Other sources say the young men were seeking donations for Twelfth Night. Begun as a way for the poor to be given gratuities by the rich, it also became a community social event for young men to visit with the families of young women.

Where is La Guiannee?
Nationwide USA

Historical Events on 31st December:

406 – 80,000 Vandals, Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine at Mainz, beginning an invasion of Gallia

765 – Coffin of Ho-tse Shen-hui interred in a stupa built in China

1229 – James I of Aragon the Conqueror enters Medina Mayurqa (now known as Palma, Spain) thus consummating the Christian conquest of the island of Majorca

1564 – Willem van Orange demands freedom of conscience/religion

1600 – British East India Company chartered

1695 – A window tax is imposed in England, causing many shopkeepers to brick up their windows to avoid the tax

1744 – English astronomer James Bradley announces discovery of Earth’s nutation motion (wobble)

1775 – Battle of Quebec in American Revolutionary War; Americans defeated trying to take British stronghold

1783 – Import of African slaves banned by all of the Northern US states

1857 – Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa as new capital of Canada

1859 – Dutch colony in Dutch Indies counts 4,800 slaves

1901 – In the first election under their new constitution, Cuba elects a Congress and their first president, Tomas Estrada Palma

1904 – The first New Year’s Eve celebration is held in Times Square, then known as Longacre Square, in New York, New York

1914 – As the year ends, the world finds itself engulfed in a war that would have seemed like and unimaginable nightmare only six months before

1935 – Charles Darrow patents Monopoly

1938 – Dr R N Harger’s “drunkometer”, 1st breath test, introduced in Indiana

1945 – Ratification of United Nations Charter completed

1955 – The General Motors Corporation becomes the first U.S. corporation to make over $1 billion USD in a year.

1970 – Paul McCartney files a lawsuit to disolve the Beatles

1974 – Popular Electronics displays Altair 8800 computer

1997 – More Swedes died than were born in 1997, 1st time since 1809

1999 – Control of Panama Canal reverts to Panama

1999 – Boris Yeltsin resigns as President of Russia, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting President

Thank you, Lisa, I did decide to add an image of the day related to the post. 😉 you’re awesome! 

 

2015 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 7,900 times in 2015. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 7 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Evening image

Every so often, a thing will happen and I get an image in my mind. I have located something that matches it on the net. You’ve got to love the internet for searching for images. 😉

and viola, this is the image that has popped in my mind. Hope ya’ll find it as lovely as I do.

had a thought…

😀

I left a reply to a comment this morning on today’s IOTD. Most of the time, these images are geared towards the COTD aka the Calendar of the Day. But some days, I really need an image that I choose for me. Today is one of those days. I have had a split between the IOTD and IOTD Special Edition. I think I’m going to keep those two separate; making the Special Edition to go with the COTD or a birthday and keeping the IOTD for stuff that I really use throughout the day to focus on. When I first started the IOTD, it was with the purpose of an image that I would pick to focus on, or simply view the beauty and use it in a Mindfulness exercise. So starting 1/1/2016, there might be two separate IOTD. 😉 Or I might change the name of the Special Edition to something else entirely. I’m still thinking. lol

xoxo

IOTD

Calendar day: December 30, 2015

Wednesday, the 30th of December, 2015 is the 364th day in 2015 and in the 53rd calendar week.

General Events:

Falling Needles Family Fest Day
December 30, 2015 in the World

If you have had a real “evergreen” tree slowly dying in your living room for almost a month, you may have noticed the soft sounds of needles falling onto your carpet and your tree skirt of fake snow.

This day is a reminder for those of us who enjoyed a live Christmas tree over the holidays to clean it up and recycle it.

Where is the event?
Worldwide

National Bicarbonate of Soda Day
December 30, 2015 in the USA

National Bicarbonate of Soda Day is celebrated on December 30, 2015. Sodium bicarbonate is the chemical compound with the formula NaHCO3. Sodium bicarbonate is a white solid that is crystalline but often appears as a fine powder. It has a slightly salty, alkaline taste resembling that of washing soda.

It is a component of the mineral natron and is found dissolved in many mineral springs. It is among the food additives encoded by European Union, identified by the initials E 500. Since it has long been known and is widely used, the salt has many related names such as baking soda, bread soda, cooking soda, and bicarbonate of soda.

In colloquial usage, its name is shortened to sodium bicarb, bicarb soda, or simply bicarb. The word saleratus, from Latin sal æratus meaning aerated salt, was widely used in the 19th century for both sodium bicarbonate and potassium bicarbonate. The term has now fallen out of common usage.

Where is the event?
Nationwide USA
Historical Events on 30th December:

1666 – Abraham Crijnssen departs to Suriname

1703 – Tokyo hit by Earthquake; about 37,000 die

1809 – Wearing masks at balls forbidden in Boston

1835 – After gold discovery in Ga, Cherokees forced to move across Miss R

1853 – A dinner party is held inside a life-size model of an Iguanodon (ornithopod dinosaur) created by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins and Sir Richard Owen in south London

1875 – Andrassy Note calls for Christian-Muslim religious freedoms

1903 – Electric arc lamp sets fire to Iroquois theater in Chicago leaving 602 dead in one of the deadliest blazes in American history

1906 – The All India Muslim League is founded in Dacca, East Bengal, British India Empire, which later laid down the foundations of Pakistan

1911 – Sun Yat-sen elected 1st pres of Republic of China

1922 – Creation of the USSR formally proclaimed in Moscow from the Bolshoi Theatre

1924 – Astronomer Edwin Hubble formally announces existence of other galactic systems at meeting of the American Astronomical Society

1943 – Subhash Chandra Bose raises the flag of Indian independence at Port Blair

1947 – King Michael of Romania, forced by communists abdicates his throne
1947 – Romanian republic proclaimed

1966 – The cult classic “One Million Years B.C.”, starring Raquel Welch, is released

1972 – Pres Nixon halts bombing of North Vietnam & announces peace talks

1997 – In the worst incident in Algeria’s insurgency, the Wilaya of Relizane massacres, 400 people are killed from four villages

IOTD

Calendar day; December 29, 2015

Tuesday, the 29th of December, 2015 is the 363th day in 2015 and in the 53rd calendar week.

General Events:

National Pepper Pot Day
December 29, 2015 in the USA

Pepper Pot Day is observed on December 29, 2015. Pepper Pot is a thick stew of beef tripe, vegetables, pepper and other seasonings. The origins of the stew are steeped in legend, with one story attributing the dish to Christopher Ludwick, baker general of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.

According to this story, the winter of 1777–1778 in Valley Forge was exceptionally harsh. Farmers in the area sold their food to the British for pounds rather than the weak continental currency offered by George Washington’s soldiers. The Continental Army was running low on food, and survived on a stew made of tripe, vegetables, and whatever else they could find to stay alive.

Where is the event?
Nationwide USA

Tick Tock Day
December 29, 2015 in the World

And so another year is almost done and dusted; it’s 29 December – after today there will be only 2 more days to go before 2016 arrives. That time of year when you start seriously contemplating everything you thought you were going to do and achieve this year. And of course, with this comes the regrets of all the opportunities missed, all the targets not achieved…

Well, today is Tick Tock Day, an unofficial holiday – specially created to give you one last chance to pick some of those goals that have not been realised; to see if you cannot cram one or two more achievements into the year before everything starts over again with a new set of resolutions.

Think about it this way – after today you have 2 more days to your disposal. That’s 48 hours. Or 2880 minutes. Or if you prefer, 172 800 seconds. That’s hundreds of thousands of seconds! Imagine how much you can achieve in that time!

But you better hurry – time is ticking… Tick tock, tick tock…

Where is the event?
Worldwide

Historical Events on 29th December:

1170 – Assassination inside Canterbury Cathedral of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury by followers of King Henry II; he subsequently becomes a saint and martyr in the Anglican Church and the Roman Catholic Church

1835 – The Treaty of New Echota is signed, ceding all the lands of the Cherokee east of the Mississippi River to the United States

1852 – Emma Snodgrass arrested in Boston for wearing pants

1860 – The first British seagoing ironclad warship, HMS Warrior is launched

1911 – Sun Yat-sen becomes the first President of the Republic of China

1911 – Mongolia gains independence from the Qing dynasty

1922 – Dutch Constitution proclaimed

1922 – Revised Netherlands Law proclaims suffrage

1931 – Identification of heavy water publicly announced, HC Urey

1948 – US State Dept announces work on placing objects into Earth orbit

1954 – the Kingdom of Netherlands, with Netherlands & Netherlands Antilles as autonomous parts, comes into being

1967 – Turkish-Cypriot government forms in Cyprus

1982 – Bob Marley postage stamp issued in Jamaica

1989 – Riots break out after Hong Kong decides to forcibly repatriate Vietnamese refugees

1998 – Leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologize for the 1970s genocide in Cambodia that claimed over a million people

 

IOTD