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Daily Calendar for Sunday, December 29, 2024

Question of the Day

What is the significance of the dreidel game that children play at Chanukah?
In ancient times, Jews living in Syrian lands were prohibited from reading their holy book, “The Torah.” However, many adults continued to do so, but kept a dreidel (a small top-lik toy) nearby. If officials entered their home, they could quickly hide their books and pretend to be playing a game.

Advice of the Day

Don’t forget to fill the bird feeder when winter storms are forecast.

Home Hint of the Day

You can dry woven wool garments on hangers. Knitted wool clothing should be laid flat to dry; it will stretch if hung.

Word of the Day

Heliophobia
Fear of sun/sunshine

Puzzle of the Day

Why does a man paving the streets correct the public morals?
Because he is amending the public ways.

Born

  • Charles Macintosh (chemist & inventor) –
  • Charles Goodyear (inventor) –
  • Andrew Johnson (17th U.S. president) –
  • Ed Flanders (actor) –
  • Mary Tyler Moore (actress) –
  • Ted Danson (actor) –
  • Patricia Clarkson (actress) –
  • Kevin Weisman (actor) –
  • Jude Law (actor) –

Died

  • Earl Hindman (actor) –

Events

  • Saint Thomas Becket was murdered by four knights–
  • Texas admitted to the Union as the 28th state–
  • Gaslights were first used at the White House–
  • American Meteorological Society founded at St. Louis, Missouri–
  • William Lyon Mackenzie King became 10th Prime Minister of Canada–
  • Fred Newton became the first and only person to swim the length of the Mississippi River. It took him about six months to cover the 1,826 miles from Minnesota to New Orleans. He was in the water for 742 hours and was protected from the cold water by a layer of axle grease on his body–
  • The discovery of deuterium was publicly announced–
  • Lake Washington Floating Bridge construction began, Seattle, Washington–
  • Ashrita Furman stood on a Swiss ball for 3 hours, 38 minutes, and 30 seconds–
  • Tom Brady of the New England Patriots broke Peyton Mannings’s single-season touchdown pass record when he threw his 50th of the season against the New York Giants–
  • Randy Moss of the New England Patriots set an NFL record with 23 touchdown catches–
  • The New England Patriots set an NFL record by winning 16 out of 16 games in the regular season–

Weather

  • “Morning silvered by the icicles everywhere shining,” New London, Connecticut–
  • Thirty inches of snow fell on central Illinois–