Showing posts with label Christmas Eve. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas Eve. Show all posts

December 24 – Anniversary of the First Solar-Heated Home!

Posted on December 24, 2020

This is an update of my December 24, 2009 post:



First Solar-Heated Home – 1948

On this day in 1948, the first home heated completely by solar power was completed in Dover, Massachusetts.

(Odd timing, because it was a cloudy day near the beginning of winter, when the days are nearly their shortest.)

The home was named “Dover Sun House.”


The heating system was designed by Dr. Maria Telkes, a Hungarian-born scientist from the MIT Solar Laboratory; the solar-energy experiments were sponsored by Amelia Peabody; and the architect was Eleanor Raymond. (I'm sure some men were involved with the project, too!)

Above, architect Eleanor Raymond
Below, heiress and sculptor Amelia Peabody


Hungarian American scientist and engineer, Maria Telkes


Learn about solar energy here.

Try some solar power experiments.



Aaaannnndddd - it's Christmas Eve!

Many people have feasts, go to church, and exchange gifts. In Finland and Sweden, most of the Christmas festivities, including a visit from Santa to distribute the gifts, happens on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day. (Swedish kids used to get gifts from the Yule Goat, not Santa!) In a lot of countries, children get ready for Father Christmas or Santa Claus by hanging stockings, putting out cookies and milk, and even putting out carrots for the reindeer.



La Noche Buena (Latin America) – Fireworks are common, plus families stay up til midnight for their gift exchange.

Santuranticuy (Saints for Sale) (Peru) This is the largest arts and crafts fair in Peru. Once a time for image carvers to display and sell figures that can be used in Nativity scenes, now other crafts items are included as well.



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November 25 - "Christmas Eve, Sarajevo" Reaches #3

Posted on November 25, 2018

I am not one of those people who jumps into celebrating Christmas immediately after Thanksgiving U.S.A....

But this story is too good NOT to tell!

I love "Wizards of Winter" played by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Like, love-love-love-love-love-love it!

So when I heard that the Trans-Siberian Orchestra had another great Christmas-time song - "Christmas Eve, Sarajevo" - I HAD to hear it. And I was not even a smidge disappointed.



Here is the charming video. Be sure to watch it. I mean, a magical hourglass, a kitten, an orchestra battling it out with a rock band, snow falling on a piano, a conductor twirling a little girl in her nightgown - what's not to LOVE?

This song was first released way back in 1995, and on this date in 2016, the total sales of the digital track stood at 1,300,000 - the third highest number of downloads of all Christmas / holiday songs.


What I didn't realize until recently is that the piece was inspired by a true story. Oh, man, what a story:

There once was a cello player born in Sarajevo, in Bosnia. He left his hometown and country when he was young to seek fame and fortune. Indeed, he was able to do what he loved: he played cello in symphony orchestras throughout Europe, and he became well-respected for his work.

When he returned to his childhood home, unfortunately, the Bosnian War had started, and Sarajevo was in ruins.

Whenever the Serbs shelled Sarajevo, most people hid in bomb shelters. But not the cellist. Instead, he took his cello and climbed onto a pile of rubble and played beautiful music. 




O'Neill thought that "the Cellist of Sarajevo" was very old when he came back to his ruined city and dared to play amid the destruction. But in fact, the cellist, who was named Vedran Smailović, was in his thirties during the Bosnian War and hadn't a white hair on his head.


That just makes the courage to play through battle even more remarkable. If you are, say, 81 years old, and then you die, how many good years have you lost? But if you were to die in your thirties, that is another matter altogether.

When asked why he was doing such an "insane" thing, Smailović said that, even with all the needless death and destruction of war, he wanted to remind everyone that there was also a positive side to humanity. And this spirit of humanity was still alive, even there, among the rubble.

Smailović also played his cello at funerals - and that, too, was a dangerous thing to do, because funerals were often attacked by snipers. The cellist's courage has inspired books, art, and of course music:


To enshrine the story of the Cellist of Sarajevo in a Trans-Siberian piece, O'Neill and the other composers decided to combine two very old Christmas carols, "God Rest, Ye Merry Gentlemen" and "Shchedryk" (better known as "Carol of the Bells"), the latter which was composed near Bosnia, in the Ukraine.

Some parts are played softly, others are played loudly. Some parts are played just by a single cello accompanied by a guitar and flute, and other parts are played by a full orchestra and electric guitars. It's that back-and-forth of two melodies and different styles and volumes and bits and pieces that gives us a beautiful battle that hopefully reminds us not to embroil ourselves in violent battles...

Fireworks are more fun than bombs!
By the way, you may be wondering if Smailović died during the Bosnian War. The answer is: No! As a matter of fact, he is still alive now, living in Northern Ireland, and continuing his musical career by playing, teaching, and composing.

Check out the book Echoes from the Square, by Elizabeth Wellburn. It's illustrated by Deryk Houston. The book is read aloud by the author in a video near the bottom of the screen!



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December 24 – First Radio Broadcast (?)

Posted on December 24, 2013

Check out the crazy-looking
antenna Fessenden built at
Brant Rock!
It may be that the first-ever radio “show” was broadcast on Christmas Eve, 1906, by Reginald Fessenden, a Canadian inventor who experimented with the use of continuous waves and patented a variety of improvements to transmitting and receiving equipment.

Fessenden transmitted his short radio show from Brant Rock, Massachusetts. He played a phonograph record of a piece by Handel, then he played “O Holy Night” on the violin, sang a Christmas carol, and read a passage from the Bible.


Fessenden asked his listeners to write to him telling him about their location when they heard the radio show, and also describing the sound quality (or lack of quality).

The good news was, people heard the short show from several hundred miles away. The bad news was, the show was accompanied by a disturbing noise that was caused by irregularities in the spark gap transmitter.

Reginald Fessenden
The “show” was more about experimentation, feedback, and improving technologies than it was about entertainment. It isn't even certain that it happened in 1906; some historians believe that Fessenden's later writing about the event had been mixed up, and that his short show had been put on in 1909.

However it went, it is certain that the experiments run by Fessenden and others, and the innovations made by the scientists and engineers, resulted in a very big boom by the 1920s. There was a radio craze, and as consumers purchased their first radios at an unprecedented rate, radio stations sprung up to fill the broadcasting needs. Radio-as-entertainment became huge and still is huge!

There are sure to be special holiday broadcasts today (and tonight)! Check one out, if you have time.

Also on this date:



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