Monday Open Thread: December 31 is the first day of Hogmany

December 31 is the 365th day of the year It is also Setting Orange, The Aftermath 73, 3184 YOLD   (discordian) And let us not forget 13.0.6.2.1 by the Mayan Long Count

For many of us, Hogmany is foreign and unknown. Luckily (or not) the USA population has an alternative. in 1975 somebody invented First Night. Running from "afternoon to midnight" this "holiday", where celebrated or practiced as the case may be, is a celebration of local culture. Not that the local culture in many parts of the US isn't also foreign and unknown. In fact, I, for one, am not at all comfortable with the idea of celebrating all of the nation's local cultures and can only imagine what might transpire at Confederate sacred sites, certain Yee Haw locales, assorted cults and the like, but a chacun son gout as they say. Twenty years of schooling and they put you on the day shift, look out kid, ... On this day in history: 1600 – The British East India Company was chartered, making this a truly dark day in history. 1759 – Arthur Guinness scored a 9,000 year lease at £45 per year and began making Guinness. 1878 – Karl Benz, filed for a patent on the first reliable two-stroke gas engine. He eventually got it 1879 – Edison first demonstrated incandescent lighting in public 1946 – Truman anticlimacticlly declared WWII over 1963 – The Central African Federation officially collapsed 1968 – The Tupolev Tu-144 became the first civilian supersonic transport. 1983 – The AT&T Bell System was broken up by the US government. Ah, those were the days. 1999 – Yeltsin, resigned, leaving Putin in charge. 1999 – The US gave control of the Panama Canal and the Panama Canal Zone to Panama until we invade them again Born this day in: 1491 – Jacques Cartier, an "explorer", famous for "claiming" Canada for France. 1720 – Charles Edward Stuart, Bonnie Prince Charlie". "the Young Pretender" 1763 – Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, Admiral in command of the combined fleets Nelson destroyed at Trafalgar 1830 – Isma'il Pasha, Khedive who modernized Egypt but lost the canal to Britain which had him deposed 1869 – Henri Matisse, painter and sculptor 1880 – George Marshall, general and Secretary of State 1905 – Helen Dodson Prince, astronomer 1909 – Jonah Jones, sax and trumpet player 1917 – Evelyn Knight, singer 1928 – Ross Barbour, pop singer, freshman 1930 – Odetta, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actress 1942 – Andy Summers, guitarist, songwriter, and producer 1943 – John Denver, confused artist who got a Rocky Mountain high on a West Virginia country road 1943 – Pete Quaife, bassist, author, and artist 1947 – Rita Lee, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actress 1948 – Donna Summer, singer and songwriter 1951 – Tom Hamilton, bass player and songwriter 1977 – Psy, singer-, ongwriter, producer, and dancer Died this day in: 1691 – Robert Boyle, chemist and physicist, pv=k. 1719 – John Flamsteed, asonomer 1877 – Gustave Courbet, painter and sculptor 1948 – Malcolm Campbell, speed freak and journalist 1968 – George Lewis, clarinettist and composer 1980 – Marshall McLuhan, media maven who was yet neither medium nor message 1985 – Ricky Nelson, singer, songwriter, guitarist, party-goer, and actor 1997 – Floyd Cramer, singer, songwriter, and pianist 2006 – Seymour Martin Lipset, sociologist and author 2008 – Donald E. Westlake, author 2015 – Natalie Cole, singer, songwriter, and actress

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Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such: 7th day of Christmas 6th day of Kwanzaa 1st day of Hogmany First Night

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Music goes here, iirc, well,

First Night? What About Last Night?

Bonnie Prince Charlie

Jonah Jones

Odetta

Peter Quaife

Rita Lee

Donna Summer

Tom Hamilton

Ricky Nelson

Floyd Cramer

Almost forgot Hogmany

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Image is Fireworks by jdmoar and is public domain It's an open thread, so do your thing

Crossposted from http://caucus99percent.com