Be always at WAR with your vices,
at peace with your neighbors, and let each New Year find you a better person.
-Benjamin Franklin |
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Italian Collection |
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Greetings!
Happy New Year to ALL!!
The new year always brings the opportunity to have the proverbial New Year's Resolution. In the past I have resolved to: take computer classes (didn't happen); learn to play the guitar (gave the guitar to my sister); committed to speaking Mandarin Chinese (who was I kidding!). You get the idea. Lots of good intentions but no follow through.
Three weeks ago I tore my plantar fascia ligament in my left foot. It made me realize that I needed to lose weight and get back into athletic shape. So now you have my 2012 New Year's Resolution!!!! My goal is to weigh 185lbs and I am starting at 250lbs. I will keep you posted on my progress.
Companies can have New Year's Resolutions as well. This year Delaney is focusing improvement goals directly related to our DISCOVER DELANEY ~ DISCOVER THE DIFFERENCE initiative. Be on the lookout for a new way to "Discover the Delaney Difference" each month as we work to earn your vote in 2012.
Michael O'Bryan
President |
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Significance of A Ball Drop
Until the mid-19th century and the invention of the telegraph, there was no way to synchronize timekeeping devices. An attempt to partially solve this problem was begun by the Royal Observatory in England. Starting in 1833, the Observatory (visible to all ships in the harbor) dropped a ball at exactly 1 p.m. daily. This would allow captains to synchronize their timepieces. Most people who see the ball come down at midnight have no idea of the origin of this aspect of the tradition. The 2012 Ball was 12 feet in diameter and weighed in at 11,875 lbs. with 2,688 Waterford crystal triangles of various sizes and with different themes like joy, love and friendship. It is said to be 10-20% more energy efficient than last year's already energy-efficient Ball, consuming only the same amount of energy per hour as it would take to operate two traditional home ovens. |
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"Auld Lang Syne"
Always played on New Year's Eve, "Auld Lang Syne" has been called the "most popular song no one knows the words to..." So why do we sing this Scottish folk song on New Year's Eve? Some consider it to be an international  expression of friendship, fellowship and hope. Others perceive it to be a simple song, presented at the conclusion of a social gathering, remembering the past and re-affirming the importance of our future, and those important to us. Of course "Auld Lang Syne"...these three simple words from the old Scots dialect....is ALL of these things! A Caricature poet Robert Burns was the first to bring the song to the attention of the public in 1796. It did not achieve popularity until 1928 when young bandleader Guy Lombardo and his band, the Royal Canadians, began performing the song at midnight on New Year's Eve at the Roosevelt Hotel in midtown Manhattan.
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Let's Synchronize our calendars
While we hang our 2012 calendars, two professors at Johns Hopkins University are proposing one you can keep forever, as each date falls on the same day of the week as it did the year before. Christmas might always be celebrated on a Sunday, for instance, and Memorial Day Monday could always be on May 28. Astrophysicist Richard Conn Henry and applied economist Steve Hanke devised the new calendar after years of research and  planning. Every third month on the new calendar would have 31 days, with the rest of the months having 30, for a total of 364 days. They would drop the quadrennial 366-day leap years entirely in favor of an extra week at the end of December every five or six years. The pair say their calendar is different from other alternative calendars proposed in the past because it keeps each week at seven days. "All of the major (other calendars) have involved breaking the seven-day cycle of the week, which is not acceptable to many people because it violates the Fourth Commandment about keeping the Sabbath Day," Henry says. "Our version never breaks that cycle." People don't realize the time they're wasting simply because of the variable calendar, Hanke said. |
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Twins Born in Different Years
Settling sibling rivalries won't be easy for twins Kylee and John Anthony. Each has a claim on being No. 1. Kylee Kim was born first and biggest at 11:59 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 31, but she was last, too - the last baby born in 2011 at Rapid City Regional Hospital.  Little brother John Joseph was second and smaller, but he was the first baby born in the new year at the hospital, arriving feet first, three minutes into 2012. It's rare enough for twins to have different birthdays. But thanks to timely deliveries flanking midnight across the U.S., some twins will grow up with different birth years.
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Strange New Year's Traditions from Around the World
South America - Residents all wear brightly colored underpants. Those who wear red, are hoping for love in the new year. Those who chose to wear yellow, are wishing for money.
Denmark - People throw their old dishes on their friends' doors on New Year's and the one with the most dishes outside their door, usually has the most friends.
Chile - In the city of Talca in Chili, people participate in a mass on New Year's Eve and then they all go visit the graveyard, to set up their chairs and wait for the year to arrive with the dead.
Ecuador - The fiesta in Ecuador includes all the locals gathering together with pictures from the previous year that represent something they do not want in the new year and burning it.
Belarus - Unmarried women compete at games of skill to determine who will get married first in the new year. One game involves setting piles of corn and a rooster before each of the single ladies. Whichever pile the bird approaches first, is believed to be the one who is to be married first. |
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11 Easy New Year's Resolutions You Can Actually Stick To In 2012
1. Take the stairs instead of the elevator and walk or bike instead of driving
2. Turn your cell phone off and live in the moment without being 'wired."
3. Eat in more than you eat out.
4. Be Better than Punctual! Arrive five minutes early instead of on-time.
5. Bring back the phone call. It's more personal, less prone to miscommunication, and a great way to catch up with someone who is far away.
6. Get out of your comfort zone.
7. Turn off the Internet
8. Make more eye contact
9. Leave your credit cards at home
10.Write handwritten letters. These days they are rare, which is what's making them more special.
11. Cut the gossip. You'll be seen as a trustworthy person, and you'll probably be engaged in much more productive conversations. |
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