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Almanac - Thursday 12/26/19

Wren, by flickr user Hamish Irvine

It's Wren Day!

Today is Thursday, the 26th of December of 2019...

It is the 360th day of the year.

Five days remain until the end of the year.

84 days until spring begins

68 days until primaries Tuesday March 03 2020

(2 months and 6 days from today)

313 days until presidential elections Tuesday November 03 2020

(10 months and 8 days from today)

The sun rises at 7:24 am 

and the sun sets at 4:58 pm.

In the high tide and low tide chart, we can see that t

the next high tide at 10:48 am.

and the final low tide at the Golden Gate rolls in at 5:40 pm.

We will have 9 hours and 34 minutes of daylight.

The solar transit will be at 12:11 pm.

The Moon is 0.1% visible; a New Moon

Next Moonrise: Today 7:51 am

The new moon came into being at 9:13 last night

Moon Direction: 92.57° E↑

Moon Altitude: -37.30°

Moon Distance: 239486 mi

First Quarter Moon of the year will be in 7 days

on Thursday, the 2nd of January of 2020 at 8:45 pm

We’ll have a Full Moon in 15 days on a Friday, the 10th of January of 2020 at 11:21 am

Also a Penumbral Lunar Eclipse

Last Quarter Moon in 22 days on a Friday the 17th of January of 2020 at 4:58 am

and the next New Moon in 29 days on a Friday the 24th of January of 2020 at 1:42 pm

Today is…

Today is The first day of Kwanzaa, celebrated until January 1.  Today’s principle is Umoja, Unity.

Tonight is the fifth night of Hannukah.

The second day of the Twelve Days of Christmas

Boxing Day

National Candy Cane Day

National Thank You Note Day

National Whiner's Day

Today is also…

Wren Day in Ireland and the Isle of Man

Mummer's Day in PadstowCornwall

St. Stephen's Day (public holiday in Alsace, Austria, CataloniaCroatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, IrelandLuxembourg, Poland, Slovakia and Switzerland),

Day of Good Will in South Africa and Namibia

Family Day in Vanuatu

Thanksgiving in Solomon Islands

Independence and Unity Day in Slovenia

Mauro Hamza Day in Houston, Texas

Father's Day in Bulgaria

The first day of Junkanoo street parade, the second day is on the New Year's Day in The Bahamas

On this day in history…

1862 – Four nuns serving as volunteer nurses on board USS Red Rover are the first female nurses on a U.S. Navy hospital ship.

1862 – The largest mass-hanging in U.S. history took place in Mankato, Minnesota, where 38 Native Americans died.

1871 – Gilbert and Sullivan collaborate for the first time, on their lost opera, Thespis. It does modestly well, but the two would not collaborate again for four years.

1898 – Marie and Pierre Curie announce the isolation of radium.

1919 – Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox is sold to the New York Yankees by owner Harry Frazee, allegedly establishing the Curse of the Bambino superstition.

1941 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the United States.

1963 – The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "I Saw Her Standing There" are released in the United States, marking the beginning of Beatlemania on an international level.

1966 – The first Kwanzaa is celebrated by Maulana Karenga, the chair of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach.

1991 – The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union meets and formally dissolves the Soviet Union, ending the Cold War.

2004 – Orange Revolution: The final run-off election in Ukraine is held under heavy international scrutiny.

2009 – China opens the world's longest high-speed rail route, which links Beijing and Guangzhou.

If today is your birthday, Happy Birthday To You!  You share this special day with…

1723 – Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm, German-French author and playwright (d. 1807)

1791 – Charles Babbage, English mathematician and engineer, invented the Difference engine (d. 1871)

1854 – José Yves Limantour, Mexican financier and politician, Mexican Secretary of Finance (d. 1935)

1859 – William Stephens, American lawyer and politician, 24th Governor of California (d. 1944)

1863 – Charles Pathé, French record producer, co-founded Pathé Records (d. 1957)

1891 – Henry Miller, American author and painter (d. 1980)

1893 – Mao Zedong, Chinese politician, Chairman of the Communist Party of China (d. 1976)

1907 – Albert Gore, Sr., American lawyer and politician (d. 1998)

1921 – Steve Allen, American actor, singer, talk show host, and screenwriter (d. 2000)

1921 – John Severin, American illustrator (d. 2012)

1933 – Caroll Spinney, American puppeteer and voice actor (d. 2019)

1939 – Phil Spector, American singer-songwriter and producer

1942 – Gray Davis, American captain, lawyer, and politician, 37th Governor of California

1944 – William Ayers, American academic and activist

1949 – José Ramos-Horta, East Timorese lawyer and politician, 2nd President of East TimorNobel Prize laureate

1955 – Evan Bayh, American lawyer and politician, 46th Governor of Indiana

1956 – David Sedaris, American comedian, author, and radio host

1966 – Jay Farrar, American singer-songwriter and guitarist