Thursday 12/26/24
Celebrate:
Boxing Day - primarily observed in the United Kingdom/
One theory on how it started says it was inspired by Christmas boxes. In seventeenth-century Great Britain, boxes holding a present or gratuity were given to tradesman and workers in service industries for their previous year's work. This went back to an even earlier tradition where servants would wait on and serve their rich masters on Christmas Day and would visit and celebrate with their own families on the day after Christmas. Their rich masters would sometimes give them a box with leftover food, a bonus, or another type of gift.
National Candy Cane Day
National Thank You Note Day
National Whiner's Day
Hanukkah continues and is a minor holiday symbolizing faith, resilience, and pride in Jewish heritage.
In the 20th century, it has become more prominent as it happens during the Christmas and New Year holidays.
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Kwanzaa starts today and is a weeklong holiday celebration of African American culture held annually from December 26 to January 1, culminating in a communal feast.
Fundamentally, Kwanzaa celebrates family, culture, community, and the harvest during the dark days of winter. The word Kwanzaa comes from the Kiswahili phrase matunda ya kwanza, meaning “first fruits [of the harvest].”
The 7-day festival focuses on seven essential principles, known as the Nguzo Saba, each represented by 1 day of the 7-day celebration. These principles are:
unity (umoja),
self-determination (kujichagulia),
collective work and responsibility (ujima),
cooperative economics (ujamaa),
purpose (nia),
creativity (kuumba), and
faith (imani).
Enjoy if you celebrate!
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There always seems to be a Christmas celebrity death. This year, the record producer Richard Perry died Tuesday at 82.
Perry was a onetime drummer, oboist, and doo-wop singer who proved at home with a wide variety of musical styles, the rare producer to have No. 1 hits on the pop, R&B, dance, and country charts. He was on hand for Harry Nilsson’s “Without You” and The Pointer Sisters’ “I’m So Excited,” Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain, Tiny Tim’s novelty smash “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” and the Willie Nelson-Julio Iglesias lounge standard “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before.” Perry was widely known as a “musician’s producer,” treating artists like peers rather than vehicles for his own tastes.
Read more from the AP here.
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No one won the Mega Millions drawing on Christmas Eve so Friday's drawing is worth $1.15 Billion! That's a $516.1 Million cash option.
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The Department of Agriculture announced this week that they've officially been eradicated in the U.S.
They showed up in Washington state in 2019, and everyone panicked. They're much bigger than normal hornets . . . up to two inches long. And as the name suggests, they're more dangerous.
Their sting hurts more, and their venom is more potent. But the bigger issue was they can slaughter a whole hive of honey bees in 90 minutes.
Officials say they haven't been spotted in the U.S. since 2021. So they're now confident saying they're officially gone. But they'll keep a lookout, just in case.
One bug expert in Washington state said it's a pretty big win, because bugs tend to be very tough to take down. Quote, "It is a rare day when the humans actually get to win one against the insects."
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Your grandma is gonna feel so hip and cool now . . .
ChatGPT just launched its own 1-800 number, so you can call in and ask questions instead of using it online.
If you call 1-800-CHATGPT, (1-800-242-8478) an A.I. woman answers and asks how she can help.
You only get 15 minutes of free talk-time a month. You can also use WhatsApp to text the number and ask questions that way.
(I'm sure Grandma doesn't know how to do that though)
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NASA made history Tuesday with its Parker Solar Probe having the closest-ever flyby of the sun to date. At its nearest, the spacecraft will reach 3.8 million miles of the solar surface—about 4.5 times the diameter of the sun. For comparison, the moon sits at a distance from Earth roughly 30 times our planet’s diameter.
In addition to studying the sun’s atmosphere, the probe is expected to shed light on our understanding of solar wind —streams of fast-moving particles that sweep throughout the solar system, creating auroras and interfering with electronics on Earth. The spacecraft, which launched in 2018, now travels at approximately 430,000 miles per hour and is designed to withstand temperatures around 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit.
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Earlier this week Kilauea volcano erupted on Hawaii’s Big Island following elevated earthquake activity beneath the volcano's summit; and it includes volcanic smog who wanted this for Christmas??? Actually, if it hits the ocean it makes more parts of the island.
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A man pretended to have a knee injury so that he could pre-board a flight, but then he lost his special exit row seat . . . because they said that his injury would prevent him from helping in the event of an emergency.
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Today's Useless Fact of the Day - The original title of "1984" was . . . "1980". But George Orwell got sick while he was writing it, the book got delayed, and he wanted a large enough gap between when it was published and the future he was writing about.
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