January 2nd is

National Science Fiction Day *

Cream Puff Day

Weigh-in Day

Personal Trainer Thanks Day

55 MPH Speed Limit Day *
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MORE! Sadie Tanner Mossell, Michael Tippett and Isaac Asimov, click

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WORLD FESTIVALS AND NATIONAL HOLIDAYS

Haiti – Jour des Aïeux
(ancestor/founder’s day)

Liechtenstein – Berchtold’s Day
(nut feast/games)

South Africa – Cape Town:
Kaapse Klopse (minstrel carnival)

Switzerland – Berchtold’s Day
Hallwil: Barzeli (masked figures parade)

United States –Pasadena CA:
128th Rose Parade

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On This Day in HISTORY

1492 – Muhammad XII, leader of the Emirate of Granada, last Arab stronghold in Spain, gives up control of Granada to forces of King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I

1788 – Georgia becomes the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution

1837 – Mily Balakirev, Russian pianist-conductor-composer

1842 – In Fairmount PA,  the first wire suspension bridge is opened to traffic

1859 – Erastus Beadle publishes The Dime Book of Practical Etiquette

1860 – The discovery of the planet Vulcan is announced at a meeting of the French Academy of Sciences in Paris, France

1872 – Brigham Young, the 71-year-old leader of the Mormon Church, was arrested on a charge of bigamy. He had 25 wives at the time

1882 – The Standard Oil Trust agreement was completed and dated. The document transferred the stock and property of more than 40 companies into the control of nine trustees lead by John D. Rockefeller, the first example of a holding company
1890 – Alice Sanger becomes the first female White House staffer

1898 – Sadie Tanner Mossell born, first African-American woman to earn a Ph.D in Economics in the U.S. , also first woman with a law degree from University of Pensylvania Law School, and first black woman to practice law in Pennsylvania; served on President Truman’s Committee on Civil Rights, and President Kennedy’s Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

1900 – American statesman and diplomat John Hay announces the Open Door Policy to promote trade with China on an equal basis for all countries, and accepting Chinese authority to collect tariffs, harbor dues and railroad charges

1905 – Michael Tippett born, English composer and conductor

1910 – The Chicago Canal opens

1914 – Ken “Klook” Clarke born, American drummer-bandleader, Modern Jazz Quartet

1920 – The second Palmer Raid, conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice under Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, using sweeping warrants based on nothing more than Communist Party or Communist Labor Party membership, begin with a series of raids over 30 towns in 23 states, arresting 3,000 persons and seizures without search warrants, detention in overcrowded unsanitary conditions, and what were admitted by members of the department as “clear cases of brutality.”  2,000 warrants  from the first and second wave of raids were cancelled as being illegal

1920 – Isaac Asimov is born, influential American science fiction writer – his birthday has been chosen as National Science Fiction Day *

1921 – The DeYoung Museum in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park opens

1929 – The U.S. and Canada reach agreement on joint action to preserve Niagara Falls

1930 – Julius La Rosa born in Brooklyn, American and Italian Pop singer

1935 – Bruno Richard Hauptmann goes on trial for the kidnap-murder of the Lindbergh baby. Hauptmann would be found guilty and executed

1936 – Roger Miller born, American singer-songwriter-musician

1941 – The Andrews Sisters record “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”

1942 – The F.B.I. convicts 33 members of a German spy ring headed by Fritz Joubert Duquesne in the largest espionage case in U.S. history—the Duquesne Spy Ring

1949 – The Jack Benny Program debuts on CBS-TV

1959 – Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon and to orbit the Sun, is launched by the Soviet Union

1960 – U.S. Sen. John F. Kennedy (D-MA) announces his candidacy for president

1967 – Ronald Reagan sworn in as Governor of California

1970 – Eric Whitacre born, American composer-conductor

1974 – United States President Richard Nixon signs a bill lowering the maximum U.S. speed limit to 55 MPH * in order to conserve gasoline during an OPEC embargo

1991 – Sharon Pratt Dixon is sworn in as mayor of Washington DC, the first black woman to head a city of that size

2004 – Stardust successfully flies past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that are returned to Earth

2008 –  The price of a barrel of oil hits $100 for the first time

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Visuals

• Cream Puff
• National Science Fiction Day poster
• International flags
• The Alhambra at Granada – by James Cavanah Murphy
• Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander with opening doors quote
• Isaac Asimov with anti-intellectual cult quote
• De Young Museum, San Francisco CA

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