Tuesday 12/31/24
Celebrate:
Hogmanay - the Scottish New Year celebration.
Make Up Your Mind Day
National Champagne Day
No Interruptions Day
One Voice Day
Universal Hour of Peace Day
Unlucky Day
World Peace Meditation Day
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The star of the sitcom Alice, Linda Lavin has died at 87.
She won two Golden Globes for her performance in Alice in 1979 and 1980, and scored her Tony for her work in 1987's Broadway Bound.
She can be seen now in Netflix's No Good Deed.
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From the Cheddar Need2Know newsletter.
“Turophobia” is a Greek term that refers to the fear of cheese. It’s derived from the Greek words tȳrós meaning "cheese" and -phobia meaning "phobia." People with turophobia, apparently, may experience: disgust, inability to touch cheese, difficulty approaching cheese, and extreme discomfort when seeing cheese. They also need someone to say a different word when they’re posing for photographs, obviously.
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Y2K was 25 years ago. It's all a big joke now, but back in December 1999 we were freaking out!
Many older computer programs had coded dates using only two numbers for the year. At midnight on Dec. 31, a misinterpretation of "00" in the year 2000 might cause widespread errors leading to mass panic.
The bug threatened a cascade of potential disruptions — blackouts, medical equipment failures, banks shutting down, travel screeching to a halt — if the systems and software that helped keep society functioning no longer knew what year it was.
Alfred Lubrano, an essayist for The Philadelphia Inquirer, wrote a letter included in a time capsule to be opened for "Y3K" — the year 3000. Lubrano's letter, which he read on NPR, ended with a question for whoever might find it in the next millennium.
"We're human, same as you — flawed like you, decent like you," Lubrano wrote. "We have not yet figured out this world, this life. Have you?"
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Today's Useless Fact(s) of the Day - New Year's Edition!
from the website signupgenius.com
The earliest recorded festivities in honor of a new year's arrival date back some 4,000 years to ancient Babylon.
Champagne production skyrocketed from 300,000 to 20 million bottles per year between 1800 and 1850, as the world started ordering more for ship christenings and New Year's celebrations.
Kissing someone at midnight is said to come from the idea that doing so will prevent loneliness during the coming year and ward off evil spirits.
The island nation Kiribati in the Central Pacific is the first location to ring in the new year each year.
American Samoa is the second to last place to celebrate the new year behind Baker and Howland Islands, which are both uninhabited.
The most common resolution people make is to get healthier.
Each year, it is estimated that 80 percent of New Year's resolutions are abandoned by February.
Celebrating the first baby of the New Year has been a symbol of the holiday since around 600 B.C., starting in ancient Greece when an infant was paraded around in a basket in celebration of Dionysus, the god of fertility (and wine). The baby represents a rebirth.
Times Square first hosted a New Year's Eve celebration in 1904 with a giant fireworks show but when city leaders banned fireworks a few years later, the ball drop tradition was born in 1907.
The current ball is a 12-foot sphere that weighs 11,875 pounds and is covered with 2,688 Waterford Crystals
The ball is illuminated by 32,256 LEDs and can display a palette of more than 16 million vibrant colors and billions of patterns that create a spectacular kaleidoscope effect.
The first New Year's Eve Ball, made of iron and wood and adorned with one hundred 25-watt light bulbs, was 5 feet in diameter and weighed 700 pounds.
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Other things that drop on New Years Eve
Miami drops a 35' Orange
Eastover North Carolina drops a three-foot-tall, 30-pound ceramic flea. The town used to be known as flea hill because of a flea infestation.
A 300 pound 7' tall Hershey's Kiss in Hershey Pennsylvania
A glowing, three-and-a-half-foot pickle drops in Mount Olive North Carolina.
A 12-foot, 600-pound electric Moon Pie in Mobile Alabama.
The Folly Beach Flip Flop Drop are glittery flip flops.
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There are so many food traditions that people eat on New Year's Day, each region and country having some of their own unique traditions.
Eating black-eyed peas is a southern tradition said to bring economic prosperity in the coming year.
Find a way to include a round food (think donuts, bagels…) into your New Year's meal. The shape symbolizes that the year has come full circle.
In Spain, the tradition is to eat 12 grapes to bring you good luck. Eat one for each month. One for every chime of the clock.
Lobster and chicken are both considered bad luck foods. According to superstition, it's because of a lobster's ability to move backward and a chicken's ability to scratch itself backward.
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Unique and fun celebrations around the world.
In Denmark, the Danes throw unused plates that have been saved up throughout the year at the front doors of family and friends for good luck.
Also in Denmark, Danes stand on chairs just before midnight. An old tradition says they jump into the new year as the clock strikes 12.
In some Latin American countries, people carefully pick the underwear they wear for the holiday. Yellow enhances your chances for abundance and money. Red means you'll likely find love. And if you were sporting white underpants, preferably new and clean, then peace was your top priority for the coming year.
To get into the Sea Goddess's good graces, Brazilians jump over the waves seven times.
In Canada, they do the polar bear plunge to ring in the new year.
Fireworks are also set off because it is thought that noise and lights will scare away any evil spirits for the coming months.
Russians make their wish, write it on a piece of paper and burn the paper. Then, they put the ashes into a glass of champagne and drink it. Cheers!
In the Philippines, roundness is thought to signify prosperity, so on New Year's Eve locals surround themselves with round shapes, by wearing polka dots, filling their pockets with coins, or by eating circular fruits.
In Turkey, it's considered good luck to sprinkle salt on your doorstep as soon as the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Day.
Like many other New Year's Eve traditions around the globe, this one is said to promote both peace and prosperity throughout the new year.
In Ireland, it's customary for single gals to sleep with a mistletoe under their pillow on New Year's Eve. Supposedly, sleeping with the plant helps women to find their future husbands—in their dreams, at least.
In Colombia, people take empty suitcases and run around the block as fast as they can. It's supposed to guarantee a year filled with travel.
It's a common superstition that opening the doors and windows will let the old year out, and the new year in unimpeded
In Hawaii, they celebrate with popping firecrackers (to ward off evil spirits), eating noodles (which symbolize longevity), cleaning (so you don't carry your old life into the new year) and, for some local families, pounding mochi.
In Switzerland, people believe good luck comes from letting a drop of cream land on the floor New Year's Day. This was said to bring a year of overflowing abundance.
In Bolivia, coins are baked into sweets and whoever finds the coins has good luck for the next year.
The French like to keep things simple and delicious. Every new year they consume a stack of pancakes.
In Chile, families spend the night in the company of their deceased loved ones by sleeping at the cemetery.
In Scotland and Greece, they believe the first person who enters your home in the new year will either bring good or bad luck. Make sure you're careful about who it is and that they walk in using their right foot.
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