\u27a2Canadians still holding on to old paper money have until midnight tonight to spend it, as stores will stop accepting certain denominations in the new year.\u00a0Some bank notes made between 1935 and 1986 will lose the government’s legal tender status at midnight.\u00a0The Bank of Canada’s website says the affected notes can still be redeemed or deposited for their face value at a bank or by the central bank, but may not be spent at stores.<\/p>\n
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\u27a2 Dawn Wells best known for playing the girl-next-door castaway Mary Ann on the series\u00a0Gilligan\u2019s Island<\/em>, died Wednesday morning in Los Angeles of complications due to Covid-19. She was 82.<\/p>\n Tina Louise who played Ginger is now the only surviving cast member from the show.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u27a2 A small Nunavut community of about 1,500 was hit with a record-breaking blizzard Sunday shaking houses and crushing cabins.<\/p>\n Environment and Climate Change Canada says Sunday’s storm brought record wind gusts and heavy snow to communities across Nunavut. In Pangnirtung, winds reached 135 km\/h that day.<\/p>\n It destroyed roofs and the storm’s damage affected Government of Nunavut housing.<\/p>\n The Mayor says it’s not unusual for Pangnirtung to see high winds, but they usually hit the community in the summer and fall months when the weather is warmer.<\/p>\n Pangnirtung set a new record Sunday for the highest recorded temperature in the community on Dec. 27, with a high of 4 C. The last record of -3.5 C was set in 2000.<\/p>\n Pangnirtung, which is nestled in a fiord and surrounded by mountains, is the ideal place for a blizzard to brew.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u27a2 DONALD TRUMP’s\u00a0<\/strong>former Trump Plaza casino in Atlantic City is being blown up on January 29th, and the city is auctioning off the opportunity to press the button that demolishes it.<\/p>\n Trump opened the casino in 1984.\u00a0 It closed in 2014 and it’s been falling apart ever since.<\/p>\n The auction will raise money for the Boys & Girls Club of Atlantic City.<\/p>\n Mayor Marty Small says, quote, “On his way out, Donald Trump openly mocked Atlantic City, saying he made a lot of money and then got out.\u00a0 I wanted to use the demolition of this place to raise money for charity.”<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u27a2 If you\u2019re curious about your heart health, you can test yourself on the nearest staircase. Researchers at the European Society of Cardiology say that if you can climb four flights of stairs (or 60 individual stairs) in under a minute, your heart and cardiovascular system are in great shape. However, if it takes you longer than a minute and a half, you may want to consider some lifestyle changes. (http:\/\/bit.ly\/3gQVVLv<\/strong><\/a>)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u27a2 ABC has unveiled the contestant list for \u201cCelebrity Wheel of Fortune\u201d, which premieres Jan. 7th. Stars include: Grey\u2019s Anatomy\u2019s Chandra Wilson, This Is Us\u2019 Chrissy Metz, Community alums Joel McHale and Yvette Nicole Brown, plus \u2018Pee-wee Herman\u2019 Paul Reubens, Saturday Night Live vets Kevin Nealon, Leslie Jones and Rob Riggle, Teri Hatcher of Desperate Housewives, Beverly Hills 90210\u2019s Jennie Garth and Bachelor host Chris Harrison, plus others. Wheel of Fortune duo Pat Sajak and Vanna White will host the spinoff, where the celebs compete for the chance to win $1 million for the charity of their choice.<\/p>\n TODAY IS\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026.<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n NEW YEAR\u2019S EVE\u2026..<\/strong><\/p>\n New Year\u2019s Eve has been celebrated for millennia. \u00a0Honoring the end of one year goes hand in hand with celebrating new beginnings in the new one.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n 2010<\/strong>\u00a0Post-apocalyptic zombie TV series “The Walking Dead” premieres<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 2017<\/strong>\u00a0Cleveland Browns lost 28-24 to Pittsburgh to become only the 2nd team in NFL history to finish season with 0-16 record<\/p>\n _____________________________________________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n COUNTRY MUSIC NOTE<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n 1977\u00a0\u00a0 Dolly Parton’s “Here You Come Again” spent its fifth week at #1. It would be the last song to spend that long atop the chart until 1990’s “Love Without End, Amen” by George Strait.<\/p>\n ________________________________________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n That\u2019s Why a Ball Drops in Times Square on New Year\u2019s<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n A giant ball dropping on a pole was an important measure of time not too long ago. It all started when ship captains needed a good way to track time in order to navigate. Delicate machines called chronometers would do so, but they would often get out of sync.<\/p>\n So Captain Robert Wauchope had the idea of dropping a giant ball from an elevated position near the shore. The first dropped in 1829, at Portsmouth, England, marking noon. The idea caught on. Eventually inspired by this tradition, businesses in cities began having their own ball drops. It became a point of prestige for companies to demonstrate that they could keep time, then still a universal challenge. City dwellers apparently became fond of the practice and would actually use the drop to set their own clocks.<\/p>\n Wanting to create a new New Year\u2019s tradition, Adolph Ochs \u2015 publisher of The New York Times and the man responsible for getting the city to name Times Square after his paper \u2015 decided to have fireworks at his Times Square building in 1904. Not being able to secure a fireworks permit three years later, he affixed a lighted time ball to the building that lowered for midnight. The tradition stuck and has continued far past when most people know what a time ball was used for.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n FOUR RANDOM FACTS <\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n GOOD NEWS <\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n After finding childhood journals in the crawlspace of his parents\u2019 home, a Toronto Man tracked down their author, who had hid them there 37 years earlier.<\/p>\n The man, Nick Gunz, says that his parents had found the two notebooks in the crawlspace of their home in Etobicoke. He used social media to track down their author, Alison Jenkins, posting photos of the notebooks on Twitter. Alison had filled the pages with her thoughts when she was about 9- or 10-years-old. After people who knew Jenkins came across the tweet, it went viral.<\/p>\n Jenkins, who currently resides in Vancouver, teaches music and is active on YouTube. She started to receive messages from strangers on Facebook, sharing links to the tweet. Initially skeptical, she eventually checked out the link and realized that the notebooks were hers after seeing the writing on them.<\/p>\n The two are currently coordinating the return of the books to Jenkins.<\/p>\n _________________________________________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n BIRTHDAYS <\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n Ben Johnson 59\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Best remembered as the fastest man in the world at 100 meters who won gold medal in the Olympics in 1988, but after failing a urine drug. [36] LeBron James, pro basketball player<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Moments That May Have Actually Made You Smile in 2020<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n 2020 has been a very rough year for pretty much everyone worldwide, with the possible exceptions of:\u00a0 Amazon CEO\u00a0Jeff Bezos<\/strong>\u00a0. . . L.A. sports fans . . . and\u00a0BEAVERS<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0in England, which have been successfully reintroduced into the wild there.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So\u00a0“Rolling Stone”<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0put together a list of “33 Moments That Made Us Smile in 2020,” and it covers everything from entertainment and social media to good news stories and politics.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It’s worth pointing out that not EVERYONE would smile at ALL these things . . . because we’re all different people, and that’s fine.\u00a0 But nevertheless, here are highlights:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n (<\/strong><\/em>RollingStone.com<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0has the whole list.)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n (What’s the one moment from 2020 that sticks out to YOU as a moment you smiled . . . and it’s okay if it isn’t a pop culture, nationwide moment.\u00a0 Maybe it was something local or\u00a0personal?)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n _________________________________________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n SCREEN DREAM:<\/u><\/strong> The team from the Korea Institute of Science and Technology say \u201ccolorless polymide\u201d is as transparent as glass but has the strength to resist scratches even after being folded thousands of times. Their screen coating, made by adding oil-filled microcapsules to a mix of silicone and a coating of colorless polymides, can repair 95% of a screen\u2019s damage in just 20 minutes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ‘Memory Cop’ Spots More Than 2K Suspects<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n Who needs RoboCop when you have Andy Pope? The Birmingham, England, police officer is a “super recognizer” who has now spotted more than 2,000 suspects.<\/p>\n The 43-year-old officer, nicknamed “memory man” spends most of his time patrolling transport hubs. Pope, who has an uncanny ability to recognize faces from CCTV footage, still photos, and police briefings, received an award in 2018 after he had identified 1,000 suspects, sometimes years after they were first sought.<\/p>\n He says he once recognized a suspect sitting in a restaurant when his car was stopped at a traffic light. Pope says this has been “a year like no other \u201cbut he can still recognize suspects when they are wearing masks. “<\/em>I\u2019ve<\/em> made sure <\/em>I\u2019m<\/em> fully updated on the images of people wanted by the force, and <\/em>its<\/em> paid off, I\u2019ve even been able to spot some in Birmingham city center while <\/em>they\u2019ve<\/em> been wearing face coverings.” <\/em>He adds: “I have been asked many times how, but <\/em>its<\/em> impossible to explain. <\/em>It\u2019s<\/em> just an instinct that is the person and thankfully <\/em>its<\/em> proven right.”<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n THURSDAY DECEMBER 31ST<\/sup> \u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n In the post, Chara says the Bruins informed him that “they plan to move forward with their many younger and talented players” and that he respected their decision.<\/p>\n Chara will turn 44 in March and is coming off a deal that paid him $3.75 million last season but had a $2-million cap hit. As a result of the NHL’s realignment for the 2021 season, the Bruins and Capitals will play against each other in the East Division and face off eight times during the 56-game season.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n [36] LeBron James, pro basketball player<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n THOMAS RHETT \u20182020 HAD SEVERAL SILVER LININGS\u2019 <\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n Thomas Rhett\u00a0knows that 2020 has been a challenging year for a lot of people, but he\u2019s finding some bright spots to look back on. He explains: [\u201cYou know, 2020 has definitely been hard in many ways, especially for a lot of different families who have either lost work or people that have been on the front lines working in hospitals, or teachers trying to teach three year old\u2019s how to learn their letters and their numbers.\u00a0But for us, I think 2020 has had several silver linings, and for me, I think I was going at such a rapid pace that 2020 definitely forced me to slow down.\u00a0 And so I hope I can take that mindset back into 2021.\u201d]<\/strong><\/p>\n FAST FACTS<\/p>\n Thomas Rhett\u2019s rescheduled 2020 tour is set to kick off on June 3, 2021.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n RASCAL FLATTS\u2019 GARY LEVOX CREATES CONTROVERSY ABOUT NASHVILLE BOMBING –<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n Rascal Flatts\u2019 Gary LeVox<\/strong>\u00a0stirred up controversy over a post about the devastating bombing that occurred on Christmas morning in Nashville.<\/p>\n He had shared an image that conspiracy theorists claim shows that Nashville was hit by a missile instead of a bomb. Along with it, he wrote: \u201cHMMMMM???? It will be interesting to see what cover up happens with this crap! Let’s see what they come up with. What are your thoughts?\u201d<\/p>\n In a radio interview following his post, he said, he was simply asking questions.<\/p>\n While he stops short of endorsing any conspiracy theory about the bombing, he expresses repeated doubts about the official story that’s been released.<\/p>\n The complete footage, with a clear shot of the explosion has been released by the\u00a0Nashville Police Department<\/em>\u00a0and is available to view online. According to multiple fact-checkers, the image that Gary was referring to had been altered to look like the original.<\/p>\n\n
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\n[45] \u201cTiger\u201d Woods, pro golfer (over 100 Tour victories)<\/p>\n\n
\n<\/u><\/strong>We\u2019ve all been there. One moment of distraction or inattention, and the next thing you know, you\u2019re staring at a cracked smartphone screen. And not only can that give you a headache, you\u2019re probably looking at a hefty repair bill too. But now, researchers in South Korea say that\u2019s about to become a thing of the past, because they\u2019ve created a self-repairing electronic material that will seal cracks in damaged phone screens.<\/p>\n\n
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\n[45] \u201cTiger\u201d Woods, pro golfer (over 100 Tour victories)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n