Tick Tock, Tic Tock

December 29, 2016 at 12:01 am | Posted in Today's Reasons To Celebrate | Leave a comment

Good morning clock watchers. Today is Thursday, December 29, 2013. The holidays today are:

Tick Tock Day

With only 2 days remaining in this year, Tick Tock Day serves to remind us that time is running out, and if you haven’t completed your “to do” list(s) for this year, it is time to do so. If you haven’t achieved all of the goals you set for yourself, you only have a couple more days to work on them. Don’t become discouraged if you didn’t, or can’t achieve all that you wanted this year. Finish as many as you can, then take an in-depth look at your career, your relationships, your artistic dreams, your physical goals, and your lifestyle. Set realistic, achievable, goals for next year, then when the new year comes, begin to work on them immediately.

YMCA Founded Day

In 1844, twenty-two-year-old George Williams, a farmer-turned-department store worker, was troubled by what he saw around him. Times were tough in London at the time. The streets were plagued with crime and decadence.  He joined 11 friends to organize the first Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), a refuge of Bible study and prayer for young men seeking escape from the hazards of life on the street.
Fast-forward a few years. On this date in 1851, a retired Boston sea captain, Thomas Valentine Sullivan, modeled the first YMCA in the United States after the one started by Williams and his friends a few years earlier in London. He wanted to create a safe “home away from home” for sailors and merchants without the perils of street life.
Today, the YMCA has locations in more than 10,000 neighborhoods across America. They are the nation’s leading nonprofit organization and are committed to helping people and communities to learn, grow and thrive.

Pepper Pot Day

Pepper Pot Day is more than just another food-related holiday. It has historical significance.
Pepper pot is a thick spicy soup first created on December 29, 1777. During the Revolutionary War, the Continental Army experienced an exceptionally harsh winter in Valley Forge. The soldiers were low on food because the farmers in the area sold all their supplies to the British Army for cash rather than the weak currency that the Continental soldiers could offer.
Christopher Ludwick, the baker general of the Continental Army, gathered whatever food he could find to feed the frail soldiers. The chef was able to find scraps of tripe, meat, and some peppercorn. He mixed the ingredients together with some other seasonings and created the hot spicy soup we now know as pepper pot. It became known as “the soup that won the war.”
To celebrate this holiday, try to recreate this historical dish.

On this date in

• 1170 – St. Thomas Becket, the 40th archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered in his own cathedral by four knights acting on Henry II’s orders.
• 1812 – The USS Constitution won a battle with the British ship HMS Java about 30 miles off the coast of Brazil. Before Commodore William Bainbridge ordered the sinking of the Java he had her wheel removed to replace the one the Constitution had lost during the battle.
• 1813 – The British burned Buffalo, NY, during the War of 1812.
• 1837 – Canadian militiamen destroyed the Caroline, a U.S. steamboat docked at Buffalo, NY.
• 1845 – President James Polk signed legislation making Texas the 28th state of the United States.
• 1848 – President James Polk turned on the first gas light at the White House.
• 1860 – The HMS Warrior, Britain’s first seagoing, iron-hulled warship, was launched.
• 1890 – The U.S. Seventh Cavalry massacred over 400 men, women and children at Wounded Knee Creek, SD. This was the last major conflict between Indians and U.S. troops.
• 1911 – Sun Yat-sen became the first president of a republican China.
• 1934 – The first regular-season, college basketball game was played at Madison Square Garden in New York City. New York University defeated Notre Dame 25-18.
• 1934 – Japan renounced the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of 1930.
• 1937 – Babe Ruth returned to baseball as the new manager of the Class D team, the De Land Reds of the Florida State League. Ruth had retired from baseball in 1935.
• 1940 – During World War II, Germany began dropping incendiary bombs on London.
• 1945 – Sheb Wooley recorded the first commercial record made in Nashville, TN.
• 1949 – KC2XAK of Bridgeport, Connecticut became the first ultra high frequency (UHF) television station to begin operating on a regular daily schedule.
• 1952 – The first transistorized hearing aid was offered for sale by Sonotone Corporation.
• 1972 – Following 36 years of publication, the last weekly issue of “LIFE” magazine hit the newsstands. The magazine later became a monthly publication.
• 1975 – A bomb exploded in the main terminal of New York’s LaGuardia Airport. 11 people were killed.
• 1985 – Phil Donahue and a Soviet radio commentator hosted the “Citizens’ Summit” via satellite TV.
• 1986 – The Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, FL reopened for business after eighteen years and $47 million of restoration.
• 1989 – Following Hong Kong’s decision to forcibly repatriate some Vietnamese refugees, thousands of Vietnamese ‘boat people’ battled with riot police.
• 1997 – Hong Kong began killing 1.25 million chickens, the entire population, for fear of the spread of ‘bird flu’.
• 1998 – Khmer Rouge leaders apologized for the 1970’s genocide in Cambodia that claimed 1 million lives.

Noteworthy Birthdays

• Charles Goodyear 1800 – – Inventor. (vulcanized rubber)
• Andrew Johnson 1808 – 17th POTUS
• William Gladstone 1809 – British politician.
• Pablo Casals 1876 – Cellist, conductor.
• Viveca Lindfors 1920 – Actress.
• William Gaddis 1922 – Author.
• Dina Merrill 1928 – Actress.
• Ed Flanders 1934 – Actor.
• Ray Nitschke 1936 – Football middle linebacker.
• Jon Voight 1938 – Actor.
• Mary Tyler Moore 1938 – Actress, comedienne.
• Ed Bruce 1940 – Country singer, songwriter.
• Ray Thomas 1942 – Musician. (The Moody Blues)
• Marianne Faithfull 1946 – Singer.
• Ted Danson 1947 – Actor.
• Cozy Powell 1947 – Drummer. (The Jeff Beck Group)
• Jon Polito 1950 – Actor, voice artist.
• Gelsey Kirkland 1952 – Ballet dancer.
• Yvonne Elliman  1953 – Singer.
• Paula Poundstone 1959 – Comedienne.
• Jason Gould 1966 – Actor.
• Jude Law 1972 – Actor.
• Shawn Hatosy 1975 – Actor.
• Jessica Andrews 1983 – Country singer.

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