Christmas may be over but I hope the spirit is not. We should remember that Jesus, not Santa Claus, is the real reason for the season. It’s my understanding that Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, is observed for eight nights and days to commemorate the rededication of the Holy Temple (the Second Temple) in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BCE; it starts on the 25th day of Kislev (according to the Hebrew calendar) and may occur at any time from late November to late December. I believe this year Hanukkah is from December 20 - 28. Now to a few more stories that occurred in 2011.
Business - The Alamo Drafthouse chain of movie theaters kicked those texting out of their theaters; Per ABC News, Watson the Jeopardy super computer will be used by Wellpoint to help diagnose patients; data has been downloaded to the computer for months and Watson can read 200 million pages in less than 3 seconds; starting next year Watson will serve as a consultant to doctors. Doctors (20) from Stanford’s Children’s Hospital separated twins that were joined at the chest; they had separate hearts and a joined liver. A new drug has been developed for kids with a rare cerebral palsy so they can live normal lives. A 19 ½ ounce baby receives the care needed to survive. MD Anderson Cancer Center found that instead of blasting the body with chemotherapy the combination of drugs in Afinitor are attacking and shrinking tumors. On December 4 it was reported that hundreds of companies (76%) are giving back the money match to people’s 401Ks. On December 13, per the Manpowergroup, employers will hire 9% more people in the next quarter. Help Portrait or El Puente is in 57 countries; photographers, make-up artists and other volunteers provide free photos to those that can’t afford it. Although 40% of Americans said they’d finished their shopping and because Super Saturday falls on Christmas Eve this year, several major chains like Macy, Sears, WalMart and JC Penny gave great deals on the 2 Saturdays preceding Christmas.
People and Government - Taylor Stein went undercover to help the FBI bust a black market baby broker/surrogate ring resulting in 3 San Diego, California women pleading guilty. The women recruited surrogate moms from the US, sent them to the Ukraine to have embryos implanted, and when the moms reached the 2nd trimester they shopped the baby around to desperate, rich, couples paying $100,000 to $150,000 for the babies.
Government – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania’s Westinghouse High gave Fannetta Nelson Gordon (a black woman) the valedictorian honor she earned in 1936 (her sister Sofia received the honor in 1934). The Washington State Department of Transportation put out a tweet to all its workers to look for a little girl’s teddy bear lost on a trip; the bear was given to her by her father when he went to Afghanistan, the bear was found and returned. The First Lady and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel teamed up to bring healthy food to poor neighborhoods. With unemployment so high, poverty and hunger are on the rise and the problem is made worse with fresh and affordable fruits and vegetables hard to find in so many areas. There are food deserts, neighborhoods without local stores; 23.5 million low income Americans live more than a mile from one and fast or processed food is readily available. Emmanuel called summits with mayors across the country to cut red tape to national grocery stores and 36 stores have signed on ranging from traditional stores to mega stores like Walgreens and WalMart. The President signed the Kate Puzey Peace Corp Act that will protect whistleblowers and victims of violent crime coming forward. The White House said the number of young adults without medical coverage has dropped 2.5 million since the Health Care Reform law passed. States said 1 in every 10 people have unclaimed money totaling $32 billion; ABC’s staff in their series called Show Me the Money found and delivered $418,598 as of December 14th and Missouri is about to give $6.1 million to a lady in Kansas City (Wisconsin returned $1.5 million and New York used to hold the record at $4 million); Good Morning America has an unclaimed money guide online if you want to check it out. The White House held a competition for holiday artwork and a 16 year old boy at the DC Duke Ellington Art High School won, his artwork was printed on the holiday invitation (the first time in 30 years) and he got invited to the White House party.
Rachel Beckwood was killed 3 weeks after she made her 9th birthday’s wish to provide clean water to 15 people for a total cost of $300. Charity Water, the foundation started by this little girl, raised $1.2 million and at a ceremony to celebrate they challenged the audience to match the money and the people surpassed the amount in one night. An Arizona man miraculously wakes up right before doctors pull the plug. Music producer Doug Nelson helped blind 12 year old Emmanuelle Lo produce the Christmas song she wrote; she’s donating the proceeds so that poor children can get music lessons even though her family of 8 lives modestly in a 2 bedroom cottage in Michigan, the song Night of Our Lives is available on iTunes.
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