January 2023: The Strange Files Newsletter
Happy New Year! Let's Resolve to Make 2023 the Best Ever
Welcome to 2023.
Which means it's time to make our new year's resolutions. Why? Psychologists have studied this question, and it's called the "fresh start effect."
A new year feels like a new beginning. It helps motivate us.
And studies also show that people who make resolutions for the coming twelve months will be ten times more likely to change their behavior than people who don't create any goals for themselves.
Still, most people feel like they fall short. So, what's the best strategy for crafting the perfect set of resolutions you can actually achieve?
Here's a distillation of the best tips I've found:
Be Specific. For example, don't just resolve to "lose weight." Make a concrete goal: Lose ten pounds by your birthday. Go to the gym three days a week. Knock off those deserts. Break a big goal into achievable smaller goals.
No Laundry Lists. Limit your goals to a few resolutions. And make sure those goals aren't out of your reach.
Walk Don't Run. Literally. If your goal is to get in shape to compete in a long-distance race, build up to it. Pace yourself.
Focus On One Resolution At A Time. Part of achieving your goals is to build on your successes. Each small step builds faith in yourself, your confidence that you can achieve your goal.
Don't Be Afraid of Failure. Learn from mistakes and keep going.
Write Them Down. Make a list and...
Revisit Your Goals Every Day. You are the navigator of your own destination. Make an appointment with yourself every day to track how you're doing.
Welcome the New Year with a Falling Opossum
Sure, they dropped a six ton crystal ball in Times Square to usher in 2023, but that's not all that gets dropped on New Year's Eve around the country.
For example, in Tallapoosa, Ga., they lowered a (taxidermied) opossum. For the record, Tallapoosa used to be known as Possum Snout. The opossum is named Spencer.
Other new year's eve drops include the moon pie drop in Mobile, the flea drop in Eastover, N.C., the meteorite drop in Wetumpka, Ala., the buzzard drop in Perry, Ga., and the bologna drop in Lebanon, Penn.
January is a Big Month for Football
Mark your calendar for Monday, Jan. 9, for the college football championship game between the University of Georgia and Texas Christian University. The lineup for this game was settled on New Year's Eve when Georgia beat Ohio State 42-41 and TCU beat Michigan 51-45. The championship game will be played at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. Kickoff time is 7:30 p.m. ET. It will be broadcast on ESPN.
The NFL playoffs begin on Saturday, Jan. 14 and conclude with Super Bowl LVI on Feb. 12. At the time this was written, not all the teams had been determined. The Super Bowl will be played at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. It will be broadcast on FOX at 6:30 p.m. ET.
January Events, Milestones, and Holidays
Time for a new Congress. The Constitution mandates that a new Congress assembles on Jan. 3 on every odd year. The highlight of the opening of Congress will be the contest to see who is elected the next Speaker of the House of Representatives to succeed Nancy Pelosi now that Republicans have regained control. Democrats continue to rule the Senate.
Okay Boomers! The Baby Boomer generation officially began at midnight on Jan. 1, 1946, and the first newborn was Kathleen Casey-Kirschling who arrived one second after midnight in Philadelphia. She's the official first of 78.3 million Baby Boomers born between the years 1946 to 1964. Boomers today comprise about 70 million people, second to Millennials (1981-1996) at 72 million. Gen Z (1997-2012) is next at 68.6 million followed by Gen X (1965-1980) at 65.8 million.
Jan. 1 is International Z Day. No, this isn't about celebrating zombies. Rather, the idea is to recognize people whose name begins with Z and make them, for once, first instead of last. I suppose it applies to zebras too. Okay, and zombies.
On Jan. 4 the Earth reaches perihelion, the point in our planet's orbit where we are closest to the Sun. While the average distance between the Earth and the Sun is about 93 million miles, on this day we will be 91.4 million miles away. Why? Because our orbit is not precisely circular, but elliptical. And yes, that means we are closest to the Sun in the dead of winter, which seems odd, but only because most people reading this live in the northern hemisphere. No surprise in Australia where it's summer.
Want to blow people's minds? Start introducing yourself in Morse Code.
Actually, don't. Guys in the white coats and nets might come looking for you.
Still, Jan. 11 is officially Learn Your Name in Morse Code Day. So here's your hand-dandy Morse Code secret decoder chart so you can play telegraph operator for a day.
Now don't turn your nose up at this. Sure, it's incredibly old fashioned. Even Ham radio operators don't have to learn Morse Code anymore. Still, we all know a little Morse Code, right? Like SOS?
Give it a try.
The first Friday the 13th falls on January 13. The number 13 is considered unlucky, and people who superstitiously believe that Friday the 13th is especially unlucky can be said to be suffering from paraskevidekatriaphobia, a subset of the overall fear of the number 13 known as triskaidekaphobia.
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday is a federal holiday celebrated this year on Monday, Jan. 18. President Ronald Reagan signed the holiday into law in 1983, and it was first observed three years later. At first, some states resisted observing the holiday as such, giving it alternative names or combining it with other holidays. It was officially observed in all 50 states for the first time in 2000. MLK delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech on Aug. 28, 1963. You can watch it here.
Jumping back to Jan. 1, A Wrinkle in Time was published on this day in 1962. The book, written by Madeleine L'Engle, tells the story of Meg Murry and her family and friends who travel through time to save Earth from evil. It is among the most popular young adult novels ever published selling more than ten million copies. While arriving in the world in 1962, the book was actually written in the year 2067, some people believe, and sent back in time via a tesseract.
Wacky "Official Days" in January that you should mark on your calendar include:
January 1. National Hangover Day.
January 2. Science Fiction Day and World Introvert Day.
January 4. Trivia Day.
January 8. Bubble Bath Day.
January 10. Houseplant Appreciation Day.
January 12. Stick to Your Resolutions Day.
January 16. Appreciate a Dragon Day.
January 17. Ditch Your Resolutions Day.
January 19. National Popcorn Day.
January 20. Penguin Awareness Day.
January 23. Measure Your Feet Day.
January 31. Backward Day.
Lest we forget, January 23 is also National Pie Day. In honor of this important celebration, here's a poll you can participate in. Click on the pie below you would be least likely to try. I'll publish the results in the next newsletter. Oh, and I'm not making these up. Here's where I got them.
PICK THE PIE YOU WOULD BE LEAST LIKELY TO TRY
Pickle and Peanut Butter Pie with Yogurt
Top Ten Moments in January History
The Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves in the states rebelling against the Union on Jan. 1, 1863.
Amnesty for Polygamists was declared by President Benjamin Harrison on Jan. 4, 1893. The small print required would-be polygamists to knock it off so Utah could be admitted to the Union.
The first woman governor in the U.S. was inaugurated on Jan. 5, 1925, in Wyoming. Her name was Nellie T. Ross.
Jan. 6 is a day that will live in infamy, and this year marks the second anniversary of a plot led by former President Donald J. Trump to overthrow the government that resulted in an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol after Trump urged an armed mob to "fight like hell."
U.S. forces led by Gen. Andrew Jackson with help from the pirate Jean Lafitte crushed the British attempt to invade New Orleans on Jan. 8, 1815. The redcoats suffered 2,000 casualties in a battle that was totally unnecessary. The war had ended two weeks earlier, but word hadn't made its way down the Mississippi.
Donald Trump was impeached for the second time on Jan. 13, 2021. He is the only U.S. president (so far) to be impeached more than once.
Hill Street Blues, the greatest cop drama to ever air on television -- arguably the greatest TV show ever -- broadcast for the first time on Jan. 15, 1981.
The Gulf War's Operation Desert Storm was launched on Jan. 17, 1991. It was America's response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. CNN covered the attack on Baghdad live, a television first.
The Famous California Gold Rush began on Jan. 24, 1848, when some of the precious metal was discovered during construction of a sawmill in Coloma. Efforts to keep it a secret failed and the rush was on.
Three American Astronauts -- Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee -- died when a fire broke out on Apollo 1 on Jan. 27, 1967, while being tested for launch. They were the first American astronauts to die aboard a spacecraft. But not the last.
Reading, Watching, Listening
The new year wouldn't be complete without Dave Barry's annual year in review.
"The best thing we can say about 2022," he writes, "is: It could have been worse. For example, we could have had a nuclear Armageddon..."
See the complete article here.
Emily St. John Mandel's Sea of Tranquility landed in my Christmas stocking and I tore through it in two days. I've had her Station Eleven on my To Be Read stack for a while, but I couldn't wait to dive into this. How to classify it? Technically, it's science fiction, as it does deal with time travel. But it is so much more. It raises fascinating questions about the nature of reality, love, loyalty, duty, and humanity. If there is such a category, I'd call it literary sci-fi. Brilliantly plotted, it's a provocative and very fun read.
A slew of movies premier in January including the new Tom Hanks vehicle A Man Called Otto and Nicolas Cage's The Old Way. See the complete list here.
Night Dreams Talk Radio podcast host Gary Anderson will have yours truly on for a live conversation about asteroids, books, and other strange things. Tune in January 18 at 10:20 p.m. (And if this looks familiar, that's because it is a rescheduled appearance as December's podcast was canceled due to a power failure of all things.)
Best Quotes from 2022
"I need ammunition, not a ride."
--Volodymyr Zelenskyy
on offer to be flown from Ukraine
"Massive fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution."
--Donald Trump
on his election loss alleging
(again and again) fraud
"Will Smith just smacked the s**t out of me."
--Comedian Chris Rock
at Academy Awards banquet
"African-American voters are voting at just as high a percentage as Americans."
--Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell
"You can't trust anyone. You can only trust me."
--Vladimir Putin
Stranger Than Fiction
Would a Dino's Tail Break the Sound Barrier?
Scientists actually decided to try to answer this question. If a whip can crack the sound barrier, why not the long tail of, say, a diplodocid? The computer modeling involved in testing this (using crocodile hide as a model for a dino's skin, for instance), was elaborate. But in the end, the answer was no. A tail moving faster than the speed of sound would shatter the tail. But the creativity that went into this study is nothing less than amazing. You can read about it here.
The Big Chill
Russian men called up to fight in Ukraine will be able to have their sperm frozen and stored at a cryobank free of charge, according to the Times of London. Imagine the recruitment poster.
Reindeer Eyes Change Color
We all know the color of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer's snout. But what about his eyes? Well, the answer is blue. That's the color reindeer eyes are in winter, the better to see in the dark of winter. Blue eyes are 1,000 times more sensitive to light. In the summer, Rudolph's -- and the eyes of other reindeer -- turn golden.
Moon Shine
The moon is about 27 percent the size of the Earth. Still it's bigger than Pluto (1,080 miles in diameter versus 715). So no wonder Pluto is no longer considered a planet.
Readers Write...
Dear J.C.
That bit earlier in the newsletter about A Wrinkle in Time being sent back to 1962 via a tesseract -- you just made that up, right?
H. Wells
Did I?
Dear J.C.
Those pies you listed in your poll -- I clicked on the link and I guess they are real, but have you actually eaten one of them?
J. Child
Gag a maggot! No!
Dear J.C.
Is it true that the incredibly low prices of your ebooks are about to go up and that if we want to order them now's the time? And why the price increase?
R. Nader
Yes. I blame supply chain issues, the winter storm, and the rising cost of ferret food.
Dear J.C.
Is it true that you will be one of the guest speakers at the annual Sunshine State Book Festival to be held in Gainesville, Fla., on Saturday, Jan. 28? And that you will be autographing your books? And that the event is open to the public? And that this is the link for more information?
C. Cussler
Why, yes, that's all true!
Parting Shot
