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[IceWizard]

Saturday 17 Dec 2016

Wright Brothers Day



Show your appreciation for the current airline system and the freedom to travel to all parts of the planet by celebrating Wright Brothers Day.

The brothers Orville and Wilbur, tenacious American inventors, recorded the first manned, powered flight in 1903 at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. They were not the first to build experimental aircraft, and news of fatal glider crashes involving other aviation trailblazers influenced the direction of their research and development.

The Wright brothers focused their efforts on pilot-activated flight-stabilizing controls. Their discoveries form the basis of modern flight. In 1903 when aviation was in its infancy, sustained flight was measured in seconds and piloting was a developing skill, and although early flight lacked sophistication, it threw open the doors for the evolution of the aviation industry, and set the stage for the global travel system that we take for granted today.



And



National Maple Syrup Day



Oh, hey! Did you know that maple syrup had its own holiday? No? Neither did we!

So, before we delve into the history of and the most popular thing to put on pancakes, waffles, French toast and more, let us take a moment to thank the maple trees for the sap that becomes the sweet syrup we know and love today!

That’s the whole focus of Maple Syrup Day!

The History of Maple Syrup Day

Maple Syrup Day was created to celebrate the amber substance we have all come to know and love. While the maple syrup that we all know today is almost always manufactured in Canada, but even the United States has its own maple syrup production area, and that area is in Vermont.

Maple syrup is a syrup that’s usually made from the xylem sap of a sugar maple, red maple, or black maple tree, although it can be made from other species of maple.

In cold climates, these trees store starch in their trunks and roots before the winter; the starch is then converted to sugar that rises in the sap in late winter and early spring.

Maple trees are tapped by drilling holes into their trunks and collecting the exuded sap, which is processed by heating to evaporate much of the water, leaving the concentrated syrup. In earlier times, maple syrup was first collected and used by the indigenous people of North America and according to aboriginal oral traditions, as well as archaeological evidence, maple tree sap was being processed into syrup long before the Europeans arrived in the region.

Legends exist of when maple syrup was first created, one of the more popular legends tells of how maple sap was used in place of water to cook venison served to the chief of the tribe.

Skip ahead to the future and you have the Canadian province of Quebec, which is by far the largest producer of maple syrup, contributing to more than seventy five percent of the world’s output.

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Paul Rodgers - 66



Mike Mills - 58



Pope Francis - 80



Manny Pacquiao - 38



Sarah Paulson - 42



Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell - 47



Eugene Levy - 70




December 17th

1999: Keith Richards stole a guitar from a fan outside of Richards’ party at the Russian Tea Room in New York City. The fan never pressed charges.

1995: Sting’s wife Trudie Styler gave birth to their fourth child, a son named Giacomo Luke was born at a London hospital.

1987: Robert Plant performed Led Zeppelin songs for the first time as a solo artist at a concert in Folkstone, U.K. He performed “Misty Mountain Hop” and “Trampled Underfoot”.

1982: The Who performed their first farewell concert at the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. The concert was filmed for an HBO special and recorded for a live album, titled Who’s Last.

1973: Aerosmith began recording their second album Get Your Wings at New York City’s Record Plant Studios. The album was released the following March.

1971: David Bowie released his fourth album Hunky Dory which was his first album for RCA Records. Bowie himself considers it one of the most important albums of his career.

1970: The Beach Boys gave a Royal Command Performance for Princess Margaret at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

1968: The Who performed their Christmas party at London’s Marquee Club. Yes were also on the bill, performing one of their first concerts.

1968: Pink Floyd released “Point Me at the Sky” which was the last single they released in the U.K. for eleven years. The song wasn’t released in the U.S. and some members of Pink Floyd declared the song to be one of their most embarrassing moments.



Birthdays:

Paul Rodgers - Singer for Free and Bad Company born in 1949

Mike Mills - Bassist for R.E.M. born in 1958