Wednesday December 28, 2011

KALW

Published December 28, 2011 at 5:36 AM PST

The Next Full Moon
January 8 @ 11:32pm
Full Wolf Moon
Full Old Moon
Amid the cold and deep snows of midwinter, the wolf packs howled hungrily outside Indian villages. Thus, the name for January’s full Moon. Sometimes it was also referred to as the Old Moon, or the Moon After Yule. Some called it the Full Snow Moon, but most tribes applied that name to the next Moon.

1732 --- The Pennsylvania Gazette, owned by Benjamin Franklin, ran an ad for the first issue of Poor Richard’s Almanack. The ad promised “...Many pleasant and witty verses, jests and sayings ... new fashions, games for kisses ... men and melons ... breakfast in bed, &c.” Poor Richard’s Almanack was published from 1733 to 1757 by Richard Saunders, who was really Ben Franklin. An almanac is a calendar, but Franklin found room on his calendars to include short, witty sayings about daily situations. This unique idea was a popular success and Franklin became very rich.

1832 --- John C. Calhoun became the first vice president of the United States to resign, stepping down over differences with President Andrew Jackson.

1846 --- Exactly one year and one day after the 28th state entered the Union, the United States of America grew one state larger by adding Iowa. The 29th state’s name is derived from an American Indian word meaning ‘the beautiful land’. It is widely thought that Iowa’s nickname, the Hawkeye State, is in honor of Black Hawk, the famous Indian chief who led the Sauk and Fox tribes against the Iowa area settlers in the Black Hawk War of 1832. Iowa City was the first capital of Iowa. 11 years later, Des Moines, the state’s largest city, became the permanent capital. The Iowa state bird is the eastern goldfinch, the state flower, the wild rose, and the state motto: “Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain.”

1897 --- Edmond Rostand's romantic, dramatic play 'Cyarano de Bergerac' premiers in Paris. A unique combination of love, swordplay, comedy, pathos and proboscis.
1937 --- The Irish Free State became the Republic of Ireland when a new constitution established the country as a sovereign state under the name of Eire.

1944 --- The musical "On the Town" opened in New York City and ran for 462 performances. It features the song, "New York, New York."

1945 --- Congress officially recognized the patriotic "Pledge of Allegiance" to the U.S. flag.

1958 --- An exciting football game was played this day. The National Football League championship game saw quarterback Johnny Unitas lead the Baltimore Colts over the New York Giants, 23-17, in an extra sudden-death overtime.

1968 --- The (double) album named The Beatles (called by most, The White Album) was #1 in the U.S. It was the Beatles’ first album on their own Apple label and was #1 for nine weeks. The tracks: Back in the U.S.S.R., Dear Prudence, Glass Onion, Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da, Wild Honey Pie, The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Happiness is a Warm Gun, Martha My Dear, I’m So Tired, Blackbird, Piggies, Rocky Raccoon, Don’t Pass Me By, Why Don’t We Do It in the Road, I Will, Julia, Birthday, Yer Blues, Mother Nature’s Son, Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey, Sexy Sadie, Helter Skelter, Long, Long, Long, Revolution I, Honey Pie, Savoy Truffle, Cry Baby Cry, Revolution 9, and Good Night.

1973 --- Alexander Solzhenitsyn published first volume of his Gulag Archipelago in Paris. It was an expose of the Soviet prison and labor camps. The publication led to his expulsion from the Soviet Union in February of 1974.

1973 --- The Chamber of Commerce of Akron, OH terminated its association with the All-American Soap Box Derby, stating that the race had become “a victim of cheating and fraud.” Overanxious youngsters and their dads were found to be hiding things like heavy lead in secret places in the home-built cars; and they could also do funny things with the wheels to make them spin faster; and some cars were designed like Indy cars instead of soap box cars. “Clever... but unfair,” the folks in Akron said.

1989 --- Alexander Dubcek, who had been expelled from the Communist Party in 1970, was elected speaker of the Czech parliament.

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