The Catholic Church has since the 5th century commemorated the Feast of the Holy Innocents, either today, December 29, or December 28, depending on where you lived.  Herod the Great was a Roman Jewish king of Judea.  He was born around 72BC, named King of the Jews by the Roman Senate in 40BC.  Most likely died at the age of 70 in 4BC, but maybe not until 1BC, shortly after Jesus was born. Now   after Jesus was born in   Bethlehem of Judea   in the days of Herod the king,  behold, wise men [ a ]   from   the east came to Jerusalem,   2  saying, “Where is he who has been born   king of the Jews? For we saw   his star when it rose [ b ]   and have come to   worship him.”   3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him;   4  and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where   the Christ was to be born.   5  They told...

Winning $1.22 billion Mega Millions ticket sold in California Someone in Northern California just got a $1.22 billion holiday gift in the form of a winning Mega Millions ticket. A single ticket purchased at Sunshine Food and Gas in Cottonwood — a community of around 6,000 people, south of Redding — matched all numbers in last night’s drawing. The jackpot, the fifth-largest in the history of the game,   has been building since September . The above from MSNBC.   Further, here is a look back at the year's biggest stories through photos and illustrations.   About this graphic, brain rot was selected as Oxford University Press' word of the year. I first began watching  Squid Game  on Netflix a long time ago when it first came out in 2021.  It went on to become the most-watched show of all time on Netflix.  However, after two episodes, I abandoned the series, mostly because I was too busy, and there were better productions, I thought, on Prime and Netf...

Incoming president Donald Trump has loudly blared that global warming will not get in the way of making America greater, and that he will deport 11 million undocumented immigrants. About Planet Earth. 2024 is poised to become the hottest on record, surpassing the previous high year, 2023. In 2024, for the first time, average global temperatures will exceed the 2.7F above pre-industrial levels from 1850-1900, the upper limit set by the Paris Agreement. Can you believe the following three graphics? Hurricane Beryl was the EARLIEST RECORDED CATEGORY 5 HURRICANE. Read the entire article.  Stunning . From early indications, Trump will continue to expand fossil fuel consumption, perhaps abandon the Department of Energy and worse. About his promise on mass deportation of immigrants, did you know that  in his first term he kicked out 1.5 million of them?   This time, only one million.  So what is the big deal?  But that is in his first year, and there are 11 million und...

Twenty years ago today, the deadliest tsunami in recorded history inundated Asian countries and killed about 230,000 people.  The  Sumatra-Andaman Earthquake, also called the Boxing Day Earthquake  ( Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, mostly in Europe and Commonwealth nations ): Was caused by a subsea earthquake possibly as high as  9.3 magnitude  ( this was #2 to the largest, which was the 1960 Chile earthquake at 9.5 ) off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Waves were as high as  167 feet  in Aceh province, and two hours later, Sri Lanka saw 20 feet ( with run-ups as high as 41 feet--there is a difference in these two terms ), and  Thailand had run-ups of up to 64 feet.   At Phuket, Thailand, the second wave was the largest at 20 feet.  Also two hours after the earthquake, India saw heights as much as 33 feet.   3100 miles away in Somalia, there was a run-up of 30 feet. The maximum height above sea lev...