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OBSCURE JANUARY HOLIDAYS & OBSERVANCES |
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This 19th century character was known for his pipe smoking, violin playing & even cocaine use |
Sherlock Holmes
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January 4 is the national day to toss this type of dense Christmas goodie made with dried raisins, nuts & other stuff |
fruitcake
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Hamid Karzai became the first elected president of this Central Asian country in 2004 |
Afghanistan
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The current $2 bill features him on the front |
Jefferson
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Bedford Falls is the setting of this classic 1946 Christmas film |
It's a Wonderful Life
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6 points on the gridiron |
a touchdown
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You can find this Mickey Spillane tough guy in "The Big Kill" & "My Gun Is Quick" |
(Mariann: Who is Sam Spade?) ... (Alex: Sam Spade was Dashiell Hammett.)
Mike Hammer
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Call your friends: January 20 is national awareness day for these Antarctic birds |
penguins
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After being jailed for 28 years, he was elected president of South Africa in 1994 |
Nelson Mandela
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This building had to appear on a note--it's on the back of the $10 bill |
the U.S. Treasury
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2-word name of the imaginary hometown of radio host Garrison Keillor, who grew up in Anoka, Minnesota |
Lake Wobegon
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Street where you'll find Prime Minister Gordon Brown at home |
Downing
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"G" is for this bestselling novelist who came on the (crime) scene in 1982 with a female detective |
Sue Grafton
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January 17 doesn't come soon enough, as it's the designated day to ditch these annual promises made 2 1/2 weeks before |
New Year's resolutions
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Morgan Tsvangirai is an opposition leader in this troubled African country |
Zimbabwe
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This man with a strong military background gazes out from the front of the $50 bill |
(Ulysses) Grant
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Harper Lee grew up in Monroeville, Alabama & set this novel in the similar-but-made-up town of Maycomb |
To Kill a Mockingbird
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To transfer a file or program from the Internet to your home computer |
download
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This elderly Englishwoman was in 1930's "The Murder at the Vicarage" & 1971's "Nemesis" |
Miss Marple
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Mmmmmmmmmm, January 23 is a chance to show off your baking skills as it's the day for this; shoofly, anyone? |
pie
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Raised in Mexico City, this New Mexico governor was the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. in 1999 |
(Bill) Richardson
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This Pennsylvania building graces the reverse of the $100 bill |
Independence Hall
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Gopher Prairie is the imaginary setting of this Sinclair Lewis novel |
Main Street
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A hostile face-to-face confrontation, like a gunfight at high noon in the Old West |
a showdown
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Robert B. Parker introduced this one-named P.I. in 1974's "The Godwulf Manuscript" |
Spenser
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On January 28 all of us can celebrate the day for this humming noisemaker invented in the 1840s |
a kazoo
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Michelle Bachelet is the first female elected leader of this South American country |
Chile
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The back of the $1 bill has the Latin phrases Annuit coeptis & Novus ordo seclorum, both from this Roman epic poet |
(Jennie: Who is Homer?) (Jason: Who is Ovid?)
Virgil
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Bearing a close resemblance to William Randolph Hearst's San Simeon, it's Citizen Kane's mansion |
Xanadu
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Yeehaw! It's a boisterous social gathering featuring square dancing |
a hoedown
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