Table of Contents January 2nd History, Trivia, and Fun Facts |
January 2nd History Highlights |
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January 2nd is… |
| Happy Mew Year (for cats) Day National Buffet Day National Cream Puff Day National Motivation and Inspiration Day National Personal Trainer Awareness Day |
National Creme Puff Day |
| January 2nd is National Creme Puff Day, aka National Cremepuff Day! It’s a day to celebrate these unusual pastries and eat as many of them as you can. Cream puffs originated in the 1540s when Catherine de Medici’s pastry chef created the baked puffed shells for her husband, Henry II of France. Although both the pastry and its name profiterole initially came from France, they are now considered one of Gibraltar’s main national dishes. In America, they have been found in menus since 1851. There are all sorts of ways to make cream puffs. You can fill them with whipped cream, custard, or ice cream. Or you could eat them plain! No matter how you choose to enjoy them, National Creme Puff Day is the perfect excuse to indulge in these delicious pastries. |
National Science Fiction Day |
If you can quote the Three Laws of Robotics or have dutifully practiced the Vulcan salute, you probably also know what January 2nd is. No, this isn’t National Taye Diggs Day or the beginning of Tia Carerrakah… It is a day to celebrate Science Fiction in honor of the birth of famed Sci-Fi writer and father of Science Fiction, Isaac Asimov. HistoryThe Epic of Gilgamesh, written in… well, a long time ago, is thought to be the beginning of science fiction for some, but most think sci-fi started along with modern science, around the 16th and 17th centuries. Fast forward to today and Science Fiction has become a huge part of popular culture. Books, movies and television shows abound, filled with every advancement in technology or species of life the human mind can conceive. This infectious genre has taken us to the flying island of Laputa with Gulliver, into the electrifying laboratory of Victor Frankenstein, and 20,00 Leagues Under the Sea on the Nautilus with the daring Captain Nemo. There seems to be no end to the imagination when applied to science. Utopian worlds have been created and explored along with dystopian worlds. Gene Roddenberry gave us Star Trek and George Lucas gave us Star Wars. It hasn’t been a one-way street, science led to science fiction but more than once, science fiction has led to science. Cell phones and drones, are just to name two examples. How To CelebrateUse your imagination just like the authors you are honoring. You can get together with friends and reenact a favorite scene. Do you happen to own a lightsaber? Maybe you can fuel up the DeLorean and travel back a long, long, time ago. Perhaps you can while the day away in a nice, cozy chair and crack open a classic favorite or explore a brand new adventure you’ve been meaning to get to. Either way, enjoy this gift we’ve been given and, of course, live long and prosper. |
January 2nd Quotes |
| How often do people speak of art and science as though they were two entirely different things, with no interconnection…That is all wrong. The true artist is quite rational as well as imaginative and knows what he is doing; if he does not, his art suffers. The true scientist is quite imaginative as well as rational, and sometimes leaps to solutions where reason can follow only slowly; if he does not, his science suffers. – Isaac Asimov The world is the true classroom. The most rewarding and important type of learning is through experience, seeing something with our own eyes. Obviously (positive) results are what we’re looking for. To me, the process is what’s more important. I think if we take care of the process then the results will come. It is better to go to defeat with free will than to live in a meaningless security as a cog in a machine. Beauty lasts five minutes. Maybe longer if you have a good plastic surgeon. It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is but the world as it will be. Don’t let people disrespect you. My mom says don’t open the door to the devil. Surround yourself with positive people. |
January 2nd Birthdays |
| 1857 – Martha Carey Thomas, American suffragette, and educator (died in 1935) 1909 – Barry Goldwater, American politician, businessman, and author (died in 1998) 1920 – Isaac Asimov, American Science Fiction writer (died in 1992) 1928 – Dan Rostenkowski, American politician (died in 2010) 1936 – Roger Miller, American singer-songwriter, musician, and actor (died in 1992) 1940 – Jim Bakker, American televangelist 1947 – Jack Hanna, American zoologist, and author 1967 – Tia Carrere, American actress 1968 – Cuba Gooding, Jr., American actor and producer 1969 – Christy Turlington, American model 1975 – Dax Shepard. American actor 1977 – Brian Boucher, American ice hockey player, and sportscaster 1983 – Kate Bosworth, American actress |
January 2nd History |
1788 – Georgia became the 4th state to ratify the US Constitution. 1818 – The British Institution of Civil Engineers was founded. 1839 – First known picture of the moon was taken by Louis Daguerre. 1834 – Pennsylvania opened its state liquor stores. 1870 – Construction began on the Brooklyn Bridge to cross the East River, in New York City. 1938 – Book publisher Simon and Schuster was founded. January 2, 1940 Birthday (fictional) Lenny Brisco, Law & Order, TV 1947 – Mahatma Gandhi’s March for Peace in East Bengali. 1954 – #1 Hit January 2, 1954 – February 26, 1954: Eddie Fisher – Oh! My Pa-pa (O Mein Papa) 1959 – U.S.S.R. launched Mechta, Luna 1, for first lunar fly-by and first solar orbit. 1960 – John Reynolds set the age of the solar system at 4,950,000,000 years (so in 2025, it becomes 4,950,000,065 years old) 1967 – Ronald Reagan, movie actor and future President of the United States, was sworn in as Governor of California. 1970 – Official US population was 203,302,031 people. 2010 – #1 Hit January 2, 2010 – March 5, 2010: Kesha – Tik Tok #1 Hit January 2, 2021 – January 8, 2021: All I Want for Christmas Is You – Mariah Carey |
Today’s Random Trivia and Shower Thoughts |
There are less than 30 estimated people in the United States bearing the first name “Milhouse”. TV Quotes… “Holy crap!” (Frank Barone) on “Everybody Loves Raymond” If people listened to themselves more often, they’d talk less. Geoffrey the giraffe stood tall for Toy’R’Us. “In the end only kindness matters.” – Jewel The final explosion from Krakatoa measured 310 dB, loud enough to be heard perfectly clearly 3,100 miles away. The biggest film of 1991: Beauty and the Beast (Musical) earned ~ $219,000,000 That one kid who always yelled out “present” instead of “here” during roll call… I wonder how he’s doing. Stan Lee’s use of alliterative names in his comics (e.g., Peter Parker, Bruce Banner, Matt Murdock, etc.) was due to his poor memory. He thought that using names that started with the same letter would help him remember the character’s whole name. In 1980, Detroit presented Saddam Hussein with a key to the city. “Work here is done. I’m needed elsewhere now. I’m needed wherever outlaws rule the West, wherever innocent women and children are afraid to walk the streets, wherever a man cannot live in simple dignity, wherever a people cry out for justice.” -Bart Zeppo Marx – Real Name: Herbert Marx My wife recommended I do some light reading to relax at the end of the day… The first Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise restaurant was opened in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1952. |
