Day Tripping: December 31

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At about a minute before midnight in 1899, the SS Warrimoo was completing a run from Vancouver to Australia. The ship’s navigator reported a star fix of its position to Captain John Phillips. At precisely midnight the passenger steamer was straddling the International Date Line.

Because of its direction, the bow of the steamer was in the Southern Hemisphere during summer, and the stern was sitting in the Northern Hemisphere during winter. But that’s not the whole story.

The stern was still in 1899 while the bow sat South of the dateline in 1900. At that moment, the two halves of the SS Warimoo were in two different seasons on two separate days in two different years, two different decades, and two different centuries.

Realizing the phenomenon, Captain Phillips steered the ship so that his passengers could all share the experience at some point. Whether verified or not, it’s a fantastic story. So happy turn of the calendar.

Musical Ride

Rod Stewart played a free concert in Rio de Janeiro for an estimated crowd of 3.5 million people in 1994. Guinness lists the show on Copacabana Beach as the largest free concert in history.

Interesting Notes

Bruce Springsteen is famous for giving his audiences long shows. But in 1980, The Boss outdid himself with a 4-hour, 38-minute concert that covered 38 songs in Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, New York.

Gone But Not Forgotten

Wayne Rogers and William Christopher both starred in the hit TV show M*A*S*H. On the same day in consecutive years, the actors passed away in 2015, and 2016 respectively.

Notable Births

1943 — Ben Kingsley: “Somewhere in your career, your work changes. It becomes less anal, less careful and more spontaneous, more to do with the information that your soul carries.”

1959 — Val Kilmer: “I don’t make any pretense about being normal. I’m not.”

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!

K. Barrett Maria Rattray Maryam Merchant Dr. Mehmet Yildiz Tree Langdon Myriam Ben Salem Phil Truman Chelsea Mandler MAT Terry Mansfield Hollie Petit, Ph.D. Terry Trueman Dr. Preeti Singh John Gruber Bill Abbate James G Brennan ScienceDuuude Marcus Liam Ireland Claire Kelly Noorain Hassan, BMS Amy Pierovich David Acaster Nora Thewriteyard David Perlmutter Joe Luca Holly Kellums Michael Burg, MD Lucy Dan Dave Logan

All previous Day Tripping entries are available at the following links:

The Story Of Day Tripping Through History What’s Past Is Often Present

A comprehensive directory for Day Tripping