The rabbit statue is one of the 12 Chinese Zodiac portrayed in the Kowloon Walled City Park in Kowloon City, Hong Kong. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Well, 2010 is over and 2011 has arrived. Lets hope this year is an improvement on the past couple of years. Anyway here are some fun facts to see in the new year:

• The United Nations has designated 2011 the International Year of Forests and International Year of Chemistry.
• 2011 (MMXI) is a common year starting on Saturday in the Gregorian Calendar. It is the 2011th year of the Common Era or the Anno Domini designation; the 11th year of the 3rd millennium and of the 21st century, and the 2nd of 2010s decade.
• On March 18, NASA’s Pluto probe New Horizons will cross the orbit of Uranus, after a five-year journey. This will be faster than Voyager 2, which took eight years.
• Neptune completes its first full orbit since 1846 on July 10, 2011.
• In the television series Flash Forward’s episode “Future Shock”, the date March 14, 2011 is seen on a note during a blackout.
• The “Heroes” television series visits 2011 in several different potential futures.
• In the Aeon Flux film, 99% of the world’s population is wiped out by a mysterious virus in the year 2011.
• In K. A. Applegate’s Remnants book series, 2011 is the year life on Earth becomes extinct after a 73-mile-wide asteroid nicknamed “The Rock” impacts Portugal. Eighty other humans are placed in a shuttle named the Mayflower mere hours before impact and put into artificial hibernation, while a handful of humans in shelters survive the impact on Earth.
• In the Chinese zodiac, the rabbit is fourth in a cycle of 12 animals that represent each Chinese New Year. 2011 is the Year of the Rabbit and occurs from February 3, 2011 to January 22, 2012. The Year of the Rabbit should be a peaceful year, much welcomed after the Year of the Tiger. Rules and regulations will not be as strictly enforced and people will have fun and relax. Overall, it should be a moderate year with an easygoing pace. People born under the Year of the Rabbit possess characteristics similar to a rabbit, while aspects of their lives also reflect a rabbit’s tendencies.
• New Year’s Day is the 1-1-11.
• The 2011 calendar is exactly the same as the 2005 calendar.
• According to the Buddhist Calendar it is actually the year 2554.
• Several countries will cease broadcasts on analogue television this year.
• Qld, Australia has begun the year with massive flooding, resulting in the isolation and evacuation of several towns. Those of us living in Gracemere are likely to be cut off from Rockhampton for around 10 days (meaning no access to supermarkets).Thankfully our house is unlikely to go under.

I hope 2011 brings you everything you desire. I hope the hard times are short and the good times long. Be safe.

Related articles

• Love and Loathing During Chinese New Year (americantaitai.com)
• Our Year of the Rabbit (eatingasia.typepad.com)
• Hello Rabbit, Goodbye Tiger (neolane.com)
• In celebration of the house rabbit (boingboing.net)
• Chinese New Year inspiration (brittanywesterberg.com)

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Tags: Chinese, ChineseNewYear, chinesezodiac, International Year of Forests, New Year's Day, new years, Rabbit, Tiger, Year of the Rabbit