By Annabella Ramirez
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Sia Kate Isobelle Furler (/ˈsiːə/ SEE-ə; born 18 December 1975) is an Australian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Adelaide, she started her career as a singer in the acid jazz band Crisp in the mid-1990s. When Crisp disbanded in 1997, she released her debut studio album, OnlySee, in Australia. Sia moved to London and provided vocals for the British duo Zero 7. She released her second studio album, Healing Is Difficult, in 2001 and her third, Colour the Small One, in 2004.
Sia moved to New York City in 2005 and toured the United States. Her fourth and fifth studio albums, Some People Have Real Problems and We Are Born, were released in 2008 and 2010 respectively, and both were certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association and attracted wider notice than her earlier albums. Uncomfortable with her growing fame, she took a hiatus from performing and focused on songwriting for other artists, producing successful collaborations “Titanium” (with David Guetta), “Diamonds” (for Rihanna), “Wild Ones” (with Flo Rida) and “Pretty Hurts” (for Beyoncé).
In 2014, Sia broke through as a solo recording artist when her sixth studio album, 1000 Forms of Fear, debuted at No. 1 in the U.S. Billboard 200 and generated the top-ten single “Chandelier” and a trilogy of music videos she co-directed, starring child dancer Maddie Ziegler. Since then, she has usually worn a wig that obscures her face to protect her privacy. Sia’s seventh studio album, This Is Acting (2016), spawned her first Billboard Hot 100 number one single, “Cheap Thrills“. That year she also began her Nostalgic for the Present Tour, which incorporated dancing by Ziegler and others, and other performance art elements. Sia’s eighth studio album, Everyday Is Christmas, was released in 2017. In 2019, Labrinth, Sia and Diplo released an album, LSD. Sia has written many songs for films. She released her feature film directorial debut, Music, in 2021 to generally negative reviews, alongside an album, Music – Songs from and Inspired by the Motion Picture. Her tenth album, Reasonable Woman, was released in May 2024.
Sia is an advocate for animal rights. Among her accolades are nearly a dozen ARIA Awards, nine Grammy Award nominations and an MTV Video Music Award.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Ember Days happen four times a year at the start of each season. Traditionally observed by some Christian denominations, each set of Ember Days is three days, kept on a successive Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.
Ember Days for 2023
September: 20, 22, 23
December: 20, 22, 23
Ember Days for 2024
February 21, 23, 24
May 22, 24, 25
September 18, 20, 21
December 18, 20, 21
These three days are set apart for fasting, abstinence, and prayer. The first of these four times comes in winter, after the Feast of St. Lucia, December 13; the second set comes with the First Sunday in Lent; the third set comes after Whitsunday/Pentecost Sunday; the four and last set comes after the Feast of the Holy Cross. Their dates can be remembered by this old mnemonic:
“Sant Crux, Lucia, Cineres, Charismata Dia Ut sit in angaria quarta sequens feria.”
Which means:
“Holy Cross, Lucy, Ash Wednesday, Pentecost, are when the quarter holidays follow.”
In Latin, Ember Days are known as the quattuor anni tempora (the “four seasons of the year”). Folklore has it that the weather on each of the three days foretells the weather for three successive months.
As with much folklore, this is grounded in some common sense since the beginning of the four seasons cue the changes in weather as well as a shift in how we keep harmony with the Earth and respect our stewardship of the Earth, our “garden of Eden.”“
Question of the Day
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Born
- Edward MacDowell (composer) –
- Ty Cobb (baseball player) –
- Betty Grable (actress) –
- Steven Spielberg (director) –
- Ray Liotta (actor ) –
- Brad Pitt (actor) –
- Sia (singer) –
- Katie Holmes (actress) –
- Christina Aguilera (singer) –
- Billie Eilish (singer) –
Died
- Chris Farley (actor) –
- Joe Barbera (half of the Hanna-Barbera animation team that made cartoon characters such as Tom and Jerry, Yogi Bear, and the Flintstones) –
- Majel Barrett-Roddenberry (actress and producer) –
- Connie Hines (actress) –
- Zsa Zsa Gabor (actress and socialite) –
Events
- The Great Comet reached perihelion –
- New Jersey became the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution –
- John William Draper took the first photo of the Moon –
- The 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, prohibiting slavery, went into effect –
- National Anti-Saloon League was founded –
- U.S. President Woodrow Wilson married Edith B. Galt, a descendent of Pocahontas –
- Civil rights activist Rosa McCauley married Raymond Parks –
- Giant panda, Basi, celebrated her 25th birthday at China’s Fuzhou Zoo. (She far surpassed the normal panda life expectancy of 12 years!) –
Weather
- Central Park in New York City experienced a record low temperature of 10 degrees below zero F –
- A sudden gale of wind of almost cyclonic force blew through Howe, Indiana, and caused snowballs to form spontaneously and roll along the ground like tumbleweeds –
- Freezing rain in the Memphis, Tennessee, area caused 170 evening auto accidents –
COURTESY www.almanac.com
