MONDAY 12th JANUARY 09:18 GMT

Read my book - ENLIGHTENMENT FOR ORDINARY FOLK

Also available - EMOTIONAL MANAGEMENT FOR ORDINARY FOLK

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1. THIS DAY IN WORLD WAR 2 (12th January 1945)
On the Russian Front...
Soviet 1st Ukrainian Front opens a new offensive on the Oder-Vistula sector, attacking German 17th Army and 4th Panzer Army. Soviet 4th Tank Army rapidly breaks through German lines

Relief attacks by German IV SS Panzer Korps halted twelve miles north of Budapest
Soviet 2nd Ukrainian Front is still fighting house-to-house in Budapest 


On the Western Front:
The Battle Of The Bulge:
US 1st Army attacks around Laroche and Langlir on the northern flank of the Bulge
US 3rd Army continues attacking on the southern flank of the Bulge as German forces continue to withdraw

Operation Nordwind:
US 7th Army remains heavily engaged around Bitche, Hatten, Rittershoffen, and Gambsheim

In the Mediterranean...
British vessel Treern is sunk by a mine in the Aegean Sea
RN minesweeper Regulus is sunk by a mine off Corfu

Italy...
Co-belligerent Italian Cremona Infantry Combat Group enters the line around Sant' Alberto under the command of British 8th Army 

In the Pacific...
The Japanese launch manned suicide Kaiten torpedoes at numerous targets across the Pacific, sinking no ships at all

USN destroyer Evans and destroyer escort McCoy Reynolds bombard Yap Island

US 6th Army expands and consolidates the Lingayen Gulf beachhead on Luzon. Heavy kamikaze attacks on offshore shipping result in several ships damaged but none sunk. All remaining Japanese aircraft on Luzon are withdrawn to Formosa

Burma...
British 14th Army expands its bridgeheads on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River at Kyaukmyaung and Thabeikkying
RN Task Force 64 lands British 3rd Commando Brigade near Myebon with air support
Japanese aircraft intercept Allied transport operations at Onbauk airstrip near Shwebo and attack aircraft on the ground

India...
The first US-Chinese truck convoy begins moving along the Ledo Road toward China via Burma 

Today's Air Raids...
Bergen Harbour, Norway by RAF Bomber Command - a minesweeper and cargo ship are sunk
Antwerp, Belgium by four V-2 rockets
Halmahera Island by RAAF aircraft
Indochina on shipping by USN aircraft from Task Force 38. 33 ships are sunk and many others damaged
Iwo Jima by US 7th Air Force
Japanese positions, supply depots, and other targets around Namsa-lap, Longmao, Hsaihkao, Mangpu, Pangnim, Lashio, Hsipaw, and Hsenwi, Burma by US 10th Air Force 
Muse and Wan Mai-Lo, Burma by US 14th Air Force 

2. TODAY IN MY LIFE
Blogging
The Milk Run
Housework
Making Supper
Meditation
Missus Time

Twitter Followers = 1,845 (down 4) 
Non-followed Tweeps unfollowing = 0
Unfollowers eliminated = 4    
@kwaters23, @xaloaaron, @xangoaaron, @patrickallmond
New Followers followed back = 0
Spammers not followed back = 0
 
3. TODAY'S SELF-OBSERVATION
With Wedding Anniversary Weekend a complete success, I can move my focus happily back onto the "old routine", self-development and self-promotion. I am convinced that success and the overcoming of challenges boil down to concentration. What I am struggling with is the very high levels of concentration needed. There isn't a shortcut - it's a case of dogged persistence until concentration in the face of all distractions, either internal or external, is absolute.

4. TODAY'S QUESTION FOR YOU
Are you focused on THIS moment?

5. TODAY'S WEATHER IN BRADFORD
Wet and windy in the morning
By noon both strong wind and rain will pass and it will be dry and cloudy thereafter
The initially strong westerly after easing to moderate will swing south-westerly in the late afternoon
Max Temp = 9 degC at 9am
Min Temp = 3 degC at 10pm
Sunrise at 08:20
Sunset at 16:11

Weathertrack: A series of weather fronts and troughs will sweep across Britain from the north-west
Air Pressure: 1000 millibars and static

6. TODAY'S ONELINER
I told the doctor I'd swallowed a roll of film - he told me to wait and see what developed :D

7. NOW THAT'S FUNNY!
The Graham Norton Show - Jim Carrey & Tamsin Greig Impersonate A Pig & A Dog, and deathbed advice

8. TRIVIA
Not just an African problem, an estimated 1,000 children in India die every day due to disease caused by polluted water. 

9. ZEN WISDOM
Courage and compassion are two sides of the same coin. Compassion without courage is not genuine. You may have a compassionate thought or impulse, but if you don’t do or say anything, it’s not real compassion.