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Community Corner

Five Things to Know Today, Dec. 30

Guaranteed to tell you something you didn't know yesterday.

There's only one day left of 2011. Make it count! Learn something new today.

The weather: The National Weather Service reported a patchy fog before 9 a.m. with partly sunny skies onward. The high should be near 58 with a low around 42.

Gas prices: Patch's Traffic and Gas page says many places still have fuel prices under $3.

Find out what's happening in Lilburn-Mountain Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Dec. 30, 2011 doesn't exist for Samoa. Because the time zone has been problematic to them for more than a hundred years, the South Pacific nation of Samoa is skipping Friday altogether. According to The Christian Science Monitor and CNBC, at midnight last night, the country completely skipped the day and have jumped ahead to Saturday, Dec. 31. In 1892, Samoa had actually done the opposite (gone back a day) in order to be closer in tune with California time. Now, the nation decided to undo the dateline because it conducts more business with New Zealand, Australia and China.

Make it a bicarbonates day. Determined to have a cleaner house in 2012? Get a headstart on National Bicarbonate of Soda Day, AKA Baking Soda Day. Today's holiday celebrates all the different things you can do with baking soda: from polishing silver to cleaning carpets to unclogging drains.

Find out what's happening in Lilburn-Mountain Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Let freedom ring. According to the church of Scientology, the United States officially recognized the religion on this day in 1974, which prompted the church to call it Freedom Day.

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