This Day in History

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December 19....

1154 – Henry II of England is crowned at Westminster Abbey.

1606 – The Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery depart England carrying settlers who founded, at Jamestown, Virginia, the first of the thirteen colonies that became the United States.

1776 – Thomas Paine publishes one of a series of pamphlets in The Pennsylvania Journal entitled "The American Crisis".

1777 – American Revolutionary War: George Washington's Continental Army goes into winter quarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

1907 – Two hundred thirty-nine coal miners die in the Darr Mine Disaster in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania.

1912 – William Van Schaick, captain of the steamship General Slocum which caught fire and killed over one thousand people, is pardoned by U.S. President William Howard Taft after three-and-a-half-years in Sing Sing prison.

1924 – The last Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost is sold in London, England.

1932 – BBC World Service begins broadcasting as the BBC Empire Service.

1956 – Irish-born physician John Bodkin Adams is arrested in connection with the suspicious deaths of more than 160 patients. Eventually he is convicted only of minor charges.

1967 – Harold Holt, the Prime Minister of Australia, is officially presumed dead.

1972 – Apollo program: The last manned lunar flight, Apollo 17, crewed by Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans, and Harrison Schmitt, returns to Earth.

1981 – Sixteen lives are lost when the Penlee lifeboat goes to the aid of the stricken coaster Union Star in heavy seas.

1998 – President Bill Clinton is impeached by the United States House of Representatives, becoming the second President of the United States to be impeached.

2001 – A record high barometric pressure of 1085.6 hPa (32.06 inHg) is recorded at Tosontsengel, Khövsgöl, Mongolia.

2013 – Spacecraft Gaia is launched by European Space Agency.

2016 – Russian ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov is assassinated while at an art exhibition in Ankara. The accused assassin, Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş, is shot and killed by Turkish guards. Just hours later, a vehicular attack in Berlin, Germany, kills and injures multiple people.

2016 – More than 270 electors of the Electoral College vote for Donald Trump, confirming his status as President-elect of the United States, marking only the fifth time in US history that the winner of the popular vote did not win the general election.

Births

1899 – Martin Luther King, Sr.; 1906 – Leonid Brezhnev; 1915 – Édith Piaf; 1920 – Little Jimmy Dickens; 1940 – Phil Ochs; 1942 – "Mean Gene" Okerlund; 1944 – Alvin Lee; 1944 – Tim Reid; 1945 – Elaine Joyce; 1945 – John McEuen; 1946 – Robert Urich; 1956 – Phil Harris; 1961 – Reggie White; 1963 – Jennifer Beals; 1967 – Criss Angel; 1970 – Tyson Beckford; 1972 – Alyssa Milano; 1972 – Warren Sapp; 1980 – Jake Gyllenhaal

Deaths

1848 – Emily Brontë; 1915 – Alois Alzheimer; 1986 – V. C. Andrews; 1997 – Jimmy Rogers; 1998 – Mel Fisher; 2003 – Hope Lange; 2005 – Vincent Gigante; 2008 – Dock Ellis

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December 20

There are 11 days remaining in 2016, and this year can not end fast enough.

There are 4 days until Christmas.


Events

69 – Vespasian, formerly a general under Nero, enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor.

1192 – Richard I of England is captured and imprisoned by Leopold V of Austria on his way home to England after the Third Crusade.

1803 – The Louisiana Purchase is completed at a ceremony in New Orleans.

1860 – South Carolina becomes the first state to secede from the United States.

1915 – World War I: The last Australian troops are evacuated from Gallipoli.

1941 – World War II: First battle of the American Volunteer Group, better known as the "Flying Tigers" in Kunming, China.

1946 – The popular Christmas film It's a Wonderful Life is first released in New York City.

1951 – The EBR-1 in Arco, Idaho becomes the first nuclear power plant to generate electricity. The electricity powered four 200 watt light bulbs.

1957 – The initial production version of the Boeing 707 makes its first flight.

1968 – The Zodiac Killer kills Betty Lou Jenson and David Faraday in Vallejo, California.

1984 – The Summit Tunnel fire is the largest underground fire in history, as a freight train carrying over 1 million liters of gasoline derails near the town of Todmorden, England, in the Pennines.

1987 – In the worst peacetime sea disaster, the passenger ferry Doña Paz sinks after colliding with the oil tanker Vector in the Tablas Strait in the Philippines, killing an estimated 4,000 people (1,749 official).

1989 – The United States invasion of Panama deposes Manuel Noriega.

1995 – NATO begins peacekeeping in Bosnia.

2004 – A gang of thieves steal £26.5 million worth of currency from the Donegall Square West headquarters of Northern Bank in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, one of the largest bank robberies in British history.

2007 – Elizabeth II becomes the oldest monarch of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years, 7 months and 29 days.

Births

1868 – Harvey Samuel Firestone; 1898 – Irene Dunne; 1901 – Robert J. Van de Graaff; 1908 – Dennis Morgan; 1927 – Charlie Callas; 1945 – Peter Criss; 1946 – Uri Geller; 1946 – Dick Wolf; 1948 – Alan Parsons; 1954 – Michael Badalucco; 1957 – Billy Bragg; 1961 – Freddie Spencer; 1966 – Chris Robinson; 1983 – Jonah Hill

Deaths

1812 – Sacagawea; 1961 – Moss Hart; 1968 – John Steinbeck; 1973 – Bobby Darin; 1976 – Richard J. Daley; 1994 – Dean Rusk; 1995 – Madge Sinclair; 1996 – Carl Sagan; 1999 – Hank Snow; 2009 – Brittany Murphy

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December 30

There is 1 day remaining in 2016.

Tomorrow, the 366th day of the year, is the last day of 2016.


Events

1066 – Granada massacre: A Muslim mob storms the royal palace in Granada, crucifies Jewish vizier Joseph ibn Naghrela and massacres most of the Jewish population of the city.

1702 – Queen Anne's War: James Moore, Governor of the Province of Carolina, abandons the Siege of St. Augustine.

1813 – War of 1812: British soldiers burn Buffalo, New York (all but four buildings are destroyed).

1816 – The Treaty of St. Louis (1816) between the United States and the united Ottawa, Ojibwa, and Potawatomi Indian tribes is proclaimed.

1825 – The Treaty of St. Louis (1825), between the United States and the Shawnee Nation, is proclaimed.

1853 – Gadsden Purchase: The United States buys land from Mexico to facilitate railroad building in the Southwest.

1903 – In the deadliest single-building fire in United States history, the Iroquois Theatre fire claimed over 600 lives in Chicago.

1916 – Russian mystic and advisor to the Tsar, Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin, was murdered by a loyalist group led by Prince Felix Yusupov. His frozen, partially-trussed body was discovered in a Moscow river three days later.

1919 – Lincoln's Inn in London, England, UK admits its first female bar student.

1922 – The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is formed.

1936 – The United Auto Workers union stages its first sitdown strike.

1962 - Singer Brenda Lee was hurt when she attempted to rescue her poodle, Cee Cee, from her burning house. Cee Cee later died of smoke inhalation.

1965 – Ferdinand Marcos becomes President of the Philippines.

1999 - George Harrison and his wife Olivia were attacked when an intruder broke into their home, Friar Park, in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. Olivia beat off the attacker with a poker and heavy lamp. Harrison who was stabbed in the chest was admitted to hospital and treated for a collapsed lung and various minor stab wounds (over 40 stab wounds). His wife, Olivia, was treated for cuts and bruises she had suffered in the struggle with the intruder. Police later arrested Michael Abram from Liverpool who had nursed an irrational obsession with The Beatles.

2002 - Diana Ross was arrested for drunk driving by the Arizona highway patrol after a motorist called to report a swerving vehicle. When asked to walk in a straight line she fell over, could not count to 30, or balance on one foot. Police said the singer was twice over the drunk driving limit with a blood-alcohol level of 0.20, the legal limit is 0.08.

2005 – Tropical Storm Zeta forms in the open Atlantic Ocean, tying the record for the latest tropical cyclone ever to form in the North Atlantic basin.

2006 – The Indonesian passenger ferry MV Senopati Nusantara sinks in a storm, resulting in at least 400 deaths.

2006 – Former President of Iraq Saddam Hussein is executed. And there was much rejoicing.

Births

39 – Titus; 1851 – Asa Griggs Candler (co-founded Coca-Cola Company); 1865 – Rudyard Kipling; 1911 – Jeanette Nolan(The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Big Heat); 1914 – Bert Parks; 1920 – Jack Lord (Hawaii Five-O (original)); 1925 – Ian MacNaughton (director/producer Monty Python); 1928 – Bo Diddley; 1931 – Skeeter Davis♪ ♫; 1934 – Joseph Bologna; 1934 – Del Shannon♪ ♫; 1935 – Sandy Koufax; 1935 – Jack Riley (The Bob Newhart Show); 1937 – John Hartford; 1937 – Paul Stookey♪ ♫(Peter, Paul, & Mary); 1939 – Felix Pappalardi(Mountain); 1942 – Michael Nesmith♪ ♫(The Monkees)[Interesting note: Nesmith wrote the song "Different Drum" which was a hit for The Stone Poneys, with Linda Ronstadt on lead vocals. I did not know that was Ronstadt singing that song.]; 1945 – Davy Jones♪ ♫(The Monkees); 1946 – Clive Bunker(Jethro Tull); 1946 – Patti Smith♪ ♫; 1947 – Jeff Lynne(Electric Light Orchestra); 1953 – Meredith Vieira; 1956 – Suzy Bogguss♪ ♫; 1956 – Sheryl Lee Ralph (The Distinguished Gentleman); 1957 – Matt Lauer; 1959 – Tracey Ullman; 1961 – Sean Hannity; 1961 – Ben Johnson; 1965 – Heidi Fleiss; 1975 – Tiger Woods; 1977 – Laila Ali; 1978 – Tyrese Gibson♪ ♫; 1980 – Eliza Dushku; 1983 – Kevin Systrom (co-founded Instagram); 1984 – LeBron James; 1992 – Carson Wentz

Deaths

1916 – Grigori Rasputin; 1970 – Sonny Liston; 1979 – Richard Rodgers♪ ♫; 1993 – Irving "Swifty" Lazar; 1996 – Lew Ayres; 2000 – Julius J. Epstein (co-scripted Casablanca); 2004 – Artie Shaw♪ ♫; 2005 – Rona Jaffe; 2006 – Saddam Hussein

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December 31

Today is New Year's Eve.

Today is the first day of Hogmanay.

This is the last day of 2016.


Events

406 – Vandals, Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine, beginning an invasion of Gaul.

1600 – The British East India Company is chartered.

1660 – James II of England is named Duke of Normandy by Louis XIV of France.

1687 – The first Huguenots set sail from France to the Cape of Good Hope.

1759 – Arthur Guinness signs a 9,000 year lease at £45 per annum and starts brewing Guinness.

1796 – The incorporation of Baltimore, Maryland as a city.

1857 – Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa, then a small logging town, as the capital of Canada.

1862 – American Civil War: Abraham Lincoln signs an act that admits West Virginia to the Union, thus dividing Virginia in two.

1878 – Karl Benz, working in Mannheim, Germany, filed for a patent on his first reliable two-stroke gas engine.

1907 – The first New Year's Eve celebration is held in Times Square (then known as Longacre Square) in Manhattan, with the ball drop.

1944 – World War II: Hungary declares war on Nazi Germany.

1944 – World War II: Operation Nordwind, the last major German offensive on the Western Front begins.

1946 – President Harry S Truman officially proclaims the end of hostilities in World War II.

1951 – The Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than US$13.3 billion in foreign aid to rebuild Europe.

1955 – General Motors becomes the first U.S. corporation to make over US$1 billion in a year.

1968 – The first flight of the Tupolev Tu-144, the first civilian supersonic transport.

1991 – All official Soviet Union institutions have ceased operations by this date and the Soviet Union is officially dissolved.

1992 – Czechoslovakia is peacefully dissolved in what is dubbed by media as the Velvet Divorce, resulting in the creation of the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

1994 – This date is skipped altogether in Kiribati as the Phoenix Islands and Line Islands change time zones.

1999 – The first President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, resigns from office, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting President and successor.

1999 – The United States Government hands control of the Panama Canal (as well all the adjacent land to the canal known as the Panama Canal Zone) to Panama. This act complied with the signing of the 1977 Torrijos–Carter Treaties.

2004 – The official opening of Taipei 101, the tallest skyscraper at that time in the world, standing at a height of 509 metres (1,670 ft).

2009 – Both a blue moon and a lunar eclipse occur.

2010 – A total of 36 tornadoes touch down in Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, and Oklahoma resulting in the deaths of nine people and $113 million in damages.

Births

1491 – Jacques Cartier; 1738 – Charles Cornwallis; 1860 – Joseph S. Cullinan (co-founded Texaco); 1869 – Henri Matisse; 1878 – Elizabeth Arden; 1880 – George Marshall (Marshall Plan); 1884 – Bobby Byrne; 1908 – Simon Wiesenthal; 1920 – Rex Allen♪ ♫; 1930 – Odetta♪ ♫; 1937 – Anthony Hopkins; 1938 – Rosalind Cash♪ ♫; 1942 – Andy Summers(The Police); 1943 – John Denver♪ ♫; 1943 – Ben Kingsley; 1944 – Taylor Hackford (director An Officer and a Gentleman); 1946 – Diane von Fürstenberg; 1947 – Tim Matheson; 1948 – Donna Summer♪ ♫; 1951 – Tom Hamilton(Aerosmith); 1958 – Bebe Neuwirth; 1959 – Val Kilmer; 1959 – Paul Westerberg♪ ♫; 1963 – Scott Ian(Anthrax); 1964 – Michael McDonald (MadTV); 1965 – Nicholas Sparks; 1972 – Joey McIntyre♪ ♫(New Kids On The Block); 1974 – Tony Kanaan

Deaths

1948 – Malcolm Campbell; 1964 – Bobby Byrne; 1972 – Roberto Clemente; 1980 – Raoul Walsh; 1985 – Ricky Nelson♪ ♫; 1994 – Woody Strode; 1997 – Floyd Cramer; 2000 – Alan Cranston; 2001 – Eileen Heckart; 2013 – James Avery (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air); 2014 – Edward Herrmann; 2015 – Natalie Cole♪ ♫; 2015 – Wayne Rogers (M*A*S*H); 2015 – Beth Howland (waitress 'Vera' on Alice)

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January 1, 2017

Today is New Year's Day, marking the first day of the new year.<---Get it?

Today is the last day of Kwanzaa.

Today is Global Family Day, "One day of peace and sharing.".

Today, you can celebrate National Bloody Mary Day, if you maybe celebrated New Year's Eve a little too much.

There are 364 days remaining in 2017.

There are 357 days until Christmas.


Events

45 BC – The Julian calendar takes effect as the civil calendar of the Roman Empire, establishing January 1 as the new date of the new year.

42 BC – The Roman Senate posthumously deifies Julius Caesar.

404 – Telemachus, a Christian monk, is killed for attempting to stop a gladiators' fight in the public arena held in Rome.

1001 – Grand Prince Stephen I of Hungary is named the first King of Hungary by Pope Sylvester II.

1068 – Romanos IV Diogenes marries Eudokia Makrembolitissa and is crowned Byzantine Emperor.

1259 – Michael VIII Palaiologos is proclaimed co-emperor of the Empire of Nicaea with his ward John IV Laskaris.

1438 – Albert II of Habsburg is crowned King of Hungary.

1515 – King Francis I of France succeeds to the French throne.

1527 – Croatian nobles elect Ferdinand I of Austria as King of Croatia.

1651 – Charles II is crowned King of Scotland.

1707 – John V is crowned King of Portugal.

1772 – The first traveler's cheques, which can be used in 90 European cities, go on sale in London, England.

1773 – The hymn that became known as "Amazing Grace", then titled "1 Chronicles 17:16–17" is first used to accompany a sermon led by John Newton in the town of Olney, England.

1781 – American Revolutionary War: One thousand five hundred soldiers of the 6th Pennsylvania Regiment under General 'Mad' Anthony Wayne's command rebel against the Continental Army's winter camp in Morristown, New Jersey in the Pennsylvania Line Mutiny of 1781.

1788 – First edition of The Times of London, previously The Daily Universal Register, is published.

1801 – The legislative union of Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland is completed to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

1801 – Ceres, the largest and first known object in the Asteroid belt, is discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi.

1808 – The United States bans the importation of slaves.

1833 – The United Kingdom claims sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.

1847 – The world's first "Mercy" Hospital is founded in Pittsburgh by the Sisters of Mercy; the name will go on to grace over 30 major hospitals throughout the world.

1863 – American Civil War: The Emancipation Proclamation takes effect in Confederate territory.

1881 – Ferdinand de Lesseps begins French construction of the Panama Canal.

1892 – Ellis Island opens to begin processing immigrants into the United States.

1898 – New York, New York annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York. The four initial boroughs, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and The Bronx, are joined on January 25 by Staten Island to create the modern city of five boroughs.

1902 – The first American college football bowl game, the Rose Bowl, is held in Pasadena, California.

1934 – Alcatraz Island becomes a United States federal prison.

1937 – Safety glass in vehicle windscreens becomes mandatory in the United Kingdom.

1942 – The Declaration by United Nations is signed by twenty-six nations. This is the basis for the modern United Nations.

1947 – The American and British occupation zones in Germany, after World War II, merge to form the Bizone, which later (with the French zone) became part of West Germany.

1947 – The Canadian Citizenship Act 1946 comes into effect, converting British subjects into Canadian citizens. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes the first Canadian citizen.

1948 – The British railway network is nationalized to form British Railways.

1953 - American singer-songwriter Hank Williams, Sr. died of a heart attack brought on by a lethal cocktail of pills and alcohol aged 29.

1959 – Fulgencio Batista, dictator of Cuba, is overthrown by Fidel Castro's forces during the Cuban Revolution.

1959 - Johnny Cash played a free concert for the inmates of San Quentin Prison. One of the audience members was 19 year-old Merle Haggard, who was in the midst of a 15 year sentence (he served three years) for grand theft auto and armed robbery.

1971 – Cigarette advertisements are banned on American television.

1983 – The ARPANET officially changes to using the Internet Protocol, creating the Internet.

1984 – The original American Telephone & Telegraph Company is divested of its 22 Bell System companies as a result of the settlement of the 1974 United States Department of Justice antitrust suit against AT&T.

1985 – The first British mobile phone call is made by Michael Harrison to his father Sir Ernest Harrison, chairman of Vodafone.

1989 – The Montreal Protocol comes into force, stopping the use of chemicals contributing to ozone depletion.

1990 – David Dinkins is sworn in as New York City's first black mayor.

1994 – The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) comes into effect.

1995 – The Draupner wave in the North Sea in Norway is detected, confirming the existence of freak waves.

1999 – The Euro currency is introduced in 11 countries - members of the European Union (with the exception of the United Kingdom, Denmark, Greece and Sweden).

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2002 – The Open Skies mutual surveillance treaty, initially signed in 1992, officially comes into force.

2011 - Chuck Berry cut short a concert at Congress Theater, Chicago, Illinois after collapsing on stage an hour into the show. Berry slumped over a keyboard and did not move for a couple of minutes before being helped off stage, he returned 15 minutes later only to be forced off again almost immediately. The 84 year-old later re-emerged on stage but told fans he had no strength to continue performing.

2014 – Asteroid 2014 AA impacts the Earth over the Atlantic Ocean.

2016 – The Address Downtown Dubai burns over midnight as the New Year is rung in. The blaze started on the night of New Year's Eve 2015, by currently unknown causes. There was one fatality, a heart attack.

2017 – A nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey was attacked by gunmen. At least 39 people died from the shooting while attackers' motives are still unknown.

Births

1735 – Paul Revere; 1745 – Mad Anthony Wayne; 1752 – Betsy Ross; 1864 – Alfred Stieglitz; 1888 – John Garand(designed the M1 Garand rifle); 1889 – Charles Bickford; 1895 – J. Edgar Hoover; 1900 – Xavier Cugat; 1919 – Rocky Graziano; 1919 – J. D. Salinger; 1924 – Charlie Munger; 1925 – Matthew Beard ('Stymie' on Our Gang); 1936 – James Sinegal (co-founded Costco); 1937 – Matt Robinson ('Gordon' on Sesame Street); 1938 – Frank Langella; 1942 – Country Joe McDonald♪ ♫(Country Joe and the Fish); 1943 – Don Novello (Father Guido Sarducci from SNL); 1944 – Jimmy Hart 'The Mouth of the South'; 1956 - Diane Warren♪ ♫(writer of over 80 Top 20 hits); 1958 – Grandmaster Flash♪ ♫; 1967 – Spencer Tunick; 1969 – Morris Chestnut; 1969 – Verne Troyer (mini-Me); 1973 – Danny Lloyd (the boy from The Shining)

Deaths

404 – Telemachus; 1748 – Johann Bernoulli; 1953 – Hank Williams, Sr.♪ ♫; 1972 – Maurice Chevalier; 1982 – Victor Buono ('King Tut' on Batman TOS); 1992 – Grace Hopper (co-developed COBOL); 1994 – Cesar Romero ('The Joker' on Batman TOS); 1996 – Arleigh Burke; 1997 – Townes Van Zandt♪ ♫; 2001 – Ray Walston (My Favorite Martian); 2003 – Royce D. Applegate; 2005 – Shirley Chisholm; 2013 – Patti Page♪ ♫; 2014 – Juanita Moore (Imitation of Life, Momdigr's favorite movie); 2015 – Mario Cuomo; 2015 – Donna Douglas

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December 21

Today is the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, with the shortest day and longest night of the year. Those of us in the Southern Hemisphere get their Summer Solstice.

Today, the Heathenry (and other forms of Neopaganism) begin celebrating Yule.

Blue Christmas (or Longest Night) is a day in Western Christianity's Advent season marking the longest night of the year (Winter Solstice).

Plymouth, Massachusetts celebrates Forefathers' Day today. It is a commemoration of the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers in Plymouth, on December 21, 1620.

There are 10 days remaining in 2016.

There are 3 days until Christmas. If haven't finished your shopping yet, you better be finding another gear.


Events

69 – The Roman Senate declares Vespasian emperor of Rome, the last in the Year of the Four Emperors.

1620 – Plymouth Colony: William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims land on what is now known as Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

1826 – American settlers in Nacogdoches, Mexican Texas, declare their independence, starting the Fredonian Rebellion.

1872 – Challenger expedition: HMS Challenger, commanded by Captain George Nares, sails from Portsmouth, England.

1879 – World premiere of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark.

1910 – An underground explosion at the Hulton Bank Colliery No. 3 Pit in Over Hulton, Westhoughton, England, kills 344 miners.

1913 – Arthur Wynne's "word-cross", the first crossword puzzle, is published in the New York World.

1936 – First flight of the Junkers Ju 88 multi-role combat aircraft.

1937 – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the world's first full-length animated feature, premieres at the Carthay Circle Theatre.

1946 – An 8.1 Mw earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Nankaidō, Japan, kills over 1,300 people and destroys over 38,000 homes.

1967 – Louis Washkansky, the first man to undergo a heart transplant, dies in Cape Town, South Africa, having lived for 18 days after the transplant.

1968 – Apollo program: Apollo 8 is launched from the Kennedy Space Center, placing its crew on a lunar trajectory for the first visit to another celestial body by humans.

1970 – First flight of F-14 Tomcat multi-role combat aircraft.

1970 - A stretch limousine carrying Elvis Presley pulled up outside the White House in Washington, D.C. The driver handed over a letter from Elvis addressed to President Nixon requesting a meeting to discuss how the King of Rock and Roll could help Nixon fight drugs. The President agreed to give Presley a Narcotics Bureau badge - but only after learning that the chief of the narcotics bureau had turned down the same request earlier that day and told Presley the only person who could overrule his decision was the President. At Elvis' request, the meeting remained secret for more than a year, until the Washington Post broke the story on January 27th, 1972.

1988 – A bomb explodes on board Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people.

1995 – The city of Bethlehem passes from Israeli to Palestinian control.

2012 - 'Gangnam Style' by South Korean musician Psy became the first YouTube video to reach a billion views.

Births

1795 – Jack Russell (Jack Russell Terrier); 1804 – Benjamin Disraeli; 1915 – Werner von Trapp♪ ♫(of the The Sound Of Music vonn Trapps); 1918 – Donald Regan; 1918 – Kurt Waldheim; 1922 – Paul Winchell; 1926 – Freddie Hart♪ ♫; 1926 – Joe Paterno; 1935 – Phil Donahue; 1937 – Jane Fonda; 1940 – Frank Zappa(The Mothers Of Invention); 1943 – Albert Lee; 1946 – Carl Wilson(The Beach Boys, younger brother of Dennis & Brian); 1948 – Samuel L. Jackson; 1950 – Jeffrey Katzenberg (co-founded Dreamworks); 1951 – Nick Gilder♪ ♫(sang "Hot Child In The City"); 1954 – Chris Evert; 1955 – Jane Kaczmarek (Malcolm In The Middle); 1957 – Ray Romano (Everybody Loves Raymond); 1959 – Florence Griffith Joyner "FloJo"; 1965 – Andy Dick; 1966 – Kiefer Sutherland; 1969 – Julie Delpy; 1974 – Karrie Webb

Deaths

72 – Thomas the Apostle; 1937 – Ted Healy (created The Three Stooges); 1940 – F. Scott Fitzgerald; 1945 – George S. Patton; 1974 – Richard Long (The Big Valley); 1990 – Clarence 'Kelly' Johnson(designed the Lockheed U-2 and Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, and many others); 1992 – Stella Adler; 1992 – Albert King; 2014 – Billie Whitelaw(the nanny in The Omen)

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December 22

There are 9 days remaining in 2016.

There are 2 days until Christmas. Whaddya mean ya didn't get batteries?!?!


Events

856 – Damghan earthquake: An earthquake near the Persian city of Damghan kills an estimated 200,000 people, the sixth deadliest earthquake in recorded history.

1807 – The Embargo Act, forbidding trade with all foreign countries, is passed by the U.S. Congress, at the urging of President Thomas Jefferson.

1808 – Ludwig van Beethoven conducts and performs in concert at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna, with the premiere of his Fifth Symphony, Sixth Symphony, Fourth Piano Concerto (performed by Beethoven himself) and Choral Fantasy (with Beethoven at the piano).

1864 – Savannah, Georgia falls to the forces of General William Tecumseh Sherman.

1891 – Asteroid 323 Brucia becomes the first asteroid discovered using photography.

1894 – The Dreyfus affair begins in France, when Alfred Dreyfus is wrongly convicted of treason.

1937 – The Lincoln Tunnel opens to traffic in New York City.

1944 – World War II: Battle of the Bulge: German troops demand the surrender of United States troops at Bastogne, Belgium, prompting the famous one word reply by General Anthony McAuliffe: "Nuts!"

1964 – The first test flight of the SR-71 (Blackbird) took place at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California.

1965 – In the United Kingdom, a 70 mph speed limit is applied to all rural roads including motorways for the first time.

1974 – The house of former British Prime Minister Edward Heath is attacked by members of the Provisional IRA.

1984 – Bernhard Goetz shoots four would-be muggers on an express train in Manhattan section of New York, New York.

1987 - Nikki Sixx from Mötley Crüe was pronounced 'dead on arrival' in an ambulance when his heart stopped beating for two minutes. Sixx was given two shots of adrenaline in his chest to revive him. Fellow band members were prematurely informed of his death.

1989 – Berlin's Brandenburg Gate re-opens after nearly 30 years, effectively ending the division of East and West Germany.

1990 – Lech Wałęsa is elected President of Poland.

2001 – Richard Reid attempts to destroy a passenger airliner by igniting explosives hidden in his shoes aboard American Airlines Flight 63.

2002, Former Clash singer and guitarist Joe Strummer (John Graham Mellor) died of a suspected heart attack aged 50.

2008 – An ash dike ruptured at a solid waste containment area in Roane County, Tennessee, releasing 1.1 billion US gallons (4,200,000 m3) of coal fly ash slurry.

2010 – The repeal of the Don't ask, don't tell policy, the 17-year-old policy banning homosexuals serving openly in the United States military, is signed into law by President Barack Obama.

2014 - Joe Cocker died of lung cancer in Crawford, Colorado aged 70. The Sheffield-born singer had a career lasting more than 40 years.

Births

244 – Diocletian; 1858 – Giacomo Puccini♪ ♫; 1912 – Lady Bird Johnson (38th FLOTUS); 1915 – Barbara Billingsley (Leave It To Beaver); 1917 – Gene Rayburn (Match Game); 1921 – Hawkshaw Hawkins; 1922 – Ruth Roman (Strangers on a Train); 1934 – David Pearson; 1936 – Héctor Elizondo; 1937 – Charlotte Lamb; 1943 – Paul Wolfowitz; 1944 – Barry Jenkins(The Animals); 1945 – Diane Sawyer; 1948 – Rick Nielsen(Cheap Trick); 1948 – Lynne Thigpen; 1949 – Robin & Maurice Gibb♪ ♫(The Bee Gees); Luke Skywalker aka Luther Campbell♪ ♫(2 Live Crew); 1961 – Andrew Fastow; 1961 – Yuri Malenchenko (Russian cosmonaut, 1st person to marry in while in space); 1962 – Ralph Fiennes; 1968 – Dina Meyer; 1970 – Ted Cruz; 1972 – Vanessa Paradis♪ ♫; 1989 – Jordin Sparks♪ ♫; 1993 – Meghan Trainor♪ ♫

Deaths

1880 – George Eliot (author Adam Bede, Silas Marner); 1939 – Ma Rainey♪ ♫; 1943 – Beatrix Potter (author The Tale of Peter Rabbit); 1979 – Darryl F. Zanuck; 1989 – Samuel Beckett (author Waiting for Godot); 1993 – Don DeFore (The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet); 1995 – Butterfly McQueen (Gone With The Wind); 2002 – Joe Strummer aka John Graham Mellor♪ ♫(The Clash); 2014 – Christine Cavanaugh (voice actress Babe, RugRats, Darkwing Duck, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters); 2014 – Joe Cocker♪ ♫

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December 23

484 – Huneric dies and is succeeded by his nephew Gunthamund, who becomes king of the Vandals. During his reign Christians are protected from persecution.

562 – Hagia Sophia in Constantinople reopened with a rebuilt dome after a series of earthquakes caused the original to collapse.

1688 – As part of the Glorious Revolution, King James II of England flees from England to Paris, France after being deposed in favor of his nephew, William of Orange and his daughter Mary.

1688 – As part of the Glorious Revolution, King James II of England flees from England to Paris, France after being deposed in favor of his nephew, William of Orange and his daughter Mary.

1783 – George Washington resigns as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army.

1893 – The opera Hansel and Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck is first performed.

1913 – The Federal Reserve Act is signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson, creating the Federal Reserve System.

1919 – Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 becomes law in the United Kingdom.

1941 – World War II: After 15 days of fighting, the Imperial Japanese Army occupies Wake Island.

1947 – The transistor is first demonstrated at Bell Laboratories.

1954 – First successful kidney transplant is performed by J. Hartwell Harrison and Joseph Murray.

1968 – The 82 sailors from the USS Pueblo are released after eleven months of internment in North Korea.

1970 – The North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York, New York is topped out at 1,368 feet (417 m), making it the tallest building in the world.

1972 – The 16 survivors of the Andes flight disaster are rescued after 73 days, having reportedly survived by cannibalism.

1986 – Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, lands at Edwards Air Force Base in California becoming the first aircraft to fly non-stop around the world without aerial or ground refueling.

2002 – A U.S. MQ-1 Predator is shot down by an Iraqi MiG-25 in the first combat engagement between a drone and conventional aircraft.

Births

1805 – Joseph Smith; 1867 – Madam C. J. Walker; 1911 – James Gregory; 1918 – Helmut Schmidt; 1935 – Paul Hornung; 1943 – Harry Shearer; 1944 – Wesley Clark; 1945 – Ron Bushy; 1946 – Susan Lucci; 1949 – Reinhold Weege; 1956 – Dave Murray; 1958 – Joan Severance; 1964 – Eddie Vedder; 1967 – Carla Bruni; 1969 – Greg Biffle

Deaths

679 – Dagobert II; 1884 – John Chisum; 1939 – Anthony Fokker; 1972 – Andrei Tupolev; 1973 – Charles Atlas; 1979 – Peggy Guggenheim; 1982 – Jack Webb; 2000 – Billy Barty; 2000 – Victor Borge

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December24

Today is Christmas Eve.

Christmas is tomorrow. If you're not finished shopping, YOU are fucked.

There are 7 days remaining in 2016.


Events

1777 – Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is discovered by James Cook.

1800 – The Plot of the rue Saint-Nicaise fails to kill Napoleon Bonaparte.

1814 – Representatives of Britain and the United States sign the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812.

1826 – The Eggnog Riot at the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY begins that night, wrapping up the following morning.

1851 – Library of Congress burns.

1865 – The Ku Klux Klan is formed.

1871 – Giuseppe Verdi's opera Aida opens in Cairo, Egypt.

1914 – World War I: The "Christmas truce" begins.

1943 – World War II: U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower is named Supreme Allied Commander for the Invasion of Normandy.

1945 – Five of nine children go missing after their home in Fayetteville, West Virginia, is burned down. <--Strange story.

1968 – Astronaut William Anders of the NASA Apollo 8 mission, the first manned voyage to orbit the Moon, took the famous photograph known as "Earthrise", showing the Earth rising above the lunar surface.

1969 – The oil company Phillips Petroleum made the first oil discovery in the Norwegian sector of North Sea.

1973 – District of Columbia Home Rule Act is passed, allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to elect their own local government.

1973 - Tom Johnston of the Doobie Brothers was arrested in Visalia, California and charged with possession of marijuana. His court date is set for January 10th, the same day the band's new LP is to be released. The album is ironically titled "What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits".

1974 – Cyclone Tracy strikes Darwin, Australia, destroying more than 70% of the city.

1980 – Witnesses report the first of several sightings of unexplained lights near RAF Woodbridge, in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom, an incident called "Britain's Roswell".

Births

1166 – John, King of England; 1809 – Kit Carson; 1905 – Howard Hughe$; 1922 – Ava Gardner; 1927 – Mary Higgins Clark; 1930 – Robert Joffrey; 1945 – Lemmy Kilmister♪ ♫(Motörhead); 1953 – Timothy Carhart; 1955 – Clarence Gilyard (Matlock, Walker Texas Ranger); 1961 – Mary Barra (CEO and chairwoman of the General Motors Company); 1962 – Darren Wharton(Thin Lizzy); 1964 – Mark Valley (Boston Legal, Fringe, Human Target); 1965 – Millard Powers(Counting Crows); 1966 – Diedrich Bader (The Drew Carey Show, Office Space); 1968 – Doyle Bramhall II; 1971 – Ricky Martin♪ ♫; 1974 – Ryan Seacrest (white guy); 1974 – J.D. Walsh (a different white guy); 1985 – David Ragan

Deaths

1524 – Vasco da Gama; 1863 – William Makepeace Thackeray; 1873 – Johns Hopkins; 1914 – John Muir (founded Sierra Club); 1931 – Flying Hawk (Oglala Lakota chief); 1967 – Burt Baskin (Baskin-Robbins); 1980 – Karl Dönitz; 1984 – Peter Lawford; 1992 – Peyo (created The Smurfs); 1992 – Bobby LaKind(The Doobie Bros); 1993 – Norman Vincent Peale; 1997 – Toshiro Mifune; 1999 – Bill Bowerman (co-founded Nike, Inc.); 2009 – George Michael (host of The George Michael Sports Machine); 2012 – Charles Durning; 2012 – Jack Klugman (Quincy M.E., The Odd Couple); 2015 – William Guest♪ ♫(one of Gladys Knight's Pips)

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December 25

Today is Christmas Day, a Christian holiday commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ.

There are 6 days remaining in 2016.


Events

333 – Roman Emperor Constantine the Great elevates his youngest son, Constans, to the rank of Caesar.

336 – First documentary sign of Christmas celebration in Rome.

597 – Augustine of Canterbury and his fellow-labourers baptise, in Kent, more than 10,000 Anglo-Saxons.

800 – The Coronation of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor, in Rome.

1000 – The foundation of the Kingdom of Hungary: Hungary is established as a Christian kingdom by Stephen I of Hungary.

1025 – Coronation of Mieszko II Lambert as king of Poland.

1066 – William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, is crowned king of England, at Westminster Abbey, London.

1076 – Coronation of Bolesław II the Generous as king of Poland.

1100 – Baldwin of Boulogne is crowned the first King of Jerusalem in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

1130 – Count Roger II of Sicily is crowned the first king of Sicily.

1492 – The carrack Santa María, commanded by Christopher Columbus, runs onto a reef off the Haitian coast due to an improper watch.

1776 – George Washington and the Continental Army cross the Delaware River at night to attack Hessian forces serving Great Britain at Trenton, New Jersey, the next day.

1815 – The Handel and Haydn Society, oldest continually performing arts organization in the United States, gives its first performance.

1826 – The Eggnog Riot at the United States Military Academy concludes after beginning the previous evening.

1837 – Second Seminole War: American general Zachary Taylor leads 1100 troops against the Seminoles at the Battle of Lake Okeechobee.

1868 – United States President Andrew Johnson grants an unconditional pardon to all Confederate veterans.

1914 – A series of unofficial truces occur across the Western Front to celebrate Christmas.

1941 – Admiral Chester W. Nimitz arrives at Pearl Harbor to assume command of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

1950 – The Stone of Scone, traditional coronation stone of British monarchs, is taken from Westminster Abbey by Scottish nationalist students. It later turns up in Scotland on April 11, 1951.

1954 - Johnny Ace shot himself dead backstage at the City Auditorium in Houston, Texas. The R&B singer was playing with a revolver during a break between sets, someone in the room said "Be careful with that thing’’ and he said ‘It’s OK the gun’s not loaded, see’’ and pointed it at himself with a smile on his face. He was 25.

1968 – Apollo program: Apollo 8 performs the very first successful Trans-Earth injection (TEI) maneuver, sending the crew and spacecraft on a trajectory back to Earth from Lunar orbit.

1991 – Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as President of the Soviet Union (the union itself is dissolved the next day).

1991 – Ukraine's referendum is finalized and Ukraine officially leaves the Soviet Union.

2003 – The ill-fated Beagle 2 probe, released from the Mars Express spacecraft on December 19, stops transmitting shortly before its scheduled landing.

2004 – The Cassini orbiter releases the Huygens probe which successfully landed on Saturn's moon Titan on January 14, 2005.

2006 - James Brown the ‘Godfather of Soul’, died at the age of 73 after being diagnosed with severe pneumonia. Brown went to his dentist in Atlanta the previous day who told him something was wrong, and sent him to a doctor immediately.

Births

1642 (OS) – Isaac Newton; 1821 – Clara Barton (founded the American Red Cross); 1878 – Louis Chevrolet (yeah, that one); 1886 – Kid Ory♪ ♫; 1887 – Conrad Hilton (Hilton Hotels & Resorts); 1889 – Lila Bell Wallace (co-founded Readers' Digest); 1890 – Robert Ripley (believe it, or not); 1899 – Humphrey Bogart; 1907 – Cab Calloway♪ ♫; 1907 – Mike Mazurki; 1909 – Zora Arkus-Duntov (considered The Father of the Corvette); 1913 – Tony Martin♪ ♫; 1918 – Anwar Sadat; 1924 – Rod Serling (hosted The Twilight Zone); 1937 – O'Kelly Isley Jr.♪ ♫(Isley Bros); 1939 – Bob James♪ ♫(wrote theme song for tv series Taxi); 1940 – Pete Brown♪ ♫; 1945 – Noel Redding(The Jimi Hendrix Experience); 1945 – Ken Stabler; 1946 – Jimmy Buffett♪ ♫:devil); 1946 – Larry Csonka; 1948 – Barbara Mandrell; 1949 – Sissy Spacek; 1950 – Karl Rove; 1952 – C. C. H. Pounder (NCIS: New Orleans); 1954 – Annie Lennox♪ ♫(The Eurythmics); 1954 – Steve Wariner♪ ♫; 1958 – Rickey 'The Man of Steal' Henderson (holds MLB records for most stolen bases, runs, unintentional walks, & lead off home runs); 1958 – Alannah Myles♪ ♫(sang "Black Velvet"); 1971 – Dido♪ ♫; 1971 – Justin Trudeau

Deaths

1635 – Samuel de Champlain (namesake of Lake Champlain); 1946 – W. C. Fields; 1957 – Charles Pathé (Pathé records); 1977 – Charlie Chaplin; 1979 – Joan Blondell; 1989 – Benny Binion (Binion's Horseshoe Casino); 1989 – Nicolae & Elena Ceaușescu; 1989 – Billy Martin; 1997 – Denver Pyle ('Uncle Jesse' on The Dukes of Hazzard); 2006 – James Brown 'The Godfather of Soul'♪ ♫; 2008 – Eartha Kitt♪ ♫; 2009 – Vic Chesnutt♪ ♫; 2015 – George Clayton Johnson (co-wrote the novel Logan's Run, wrote scripts for The Twilight Zone, wrote script for the first televised episode (The Man Trap)of Star Trek TOS, wrote the story that became Ocean's Eleven)


Merry Christmas Urrbody!!!!

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December 26

Today our friends in the UK celebrate Boxing Day.

Ireland and the Isle of Man celebrate Wren Day. <--Interesting read.

Today is the first day of Kwanzaa.

Fencing Texans in Houston mark today as Mauro Hamza Day.

There are 5 days remaining in 2016.


Events

1776 – American Revolutionary War: In the Battle of Trenton, having crossed the Delaware River during the previous night, George Washington and the Continental Army attack and successfully defeat a garrison of Hessian forces.

1799 – Four thousand people attend George Washington's funeral where Henry Lee III declares him as "first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen".

1862 – Four nuns serving as volunteer nurses on board USS Red Rover are the first female nurses on a U.S. Navy hospital ship.

1862 – The largest mass-hanging in U.S. history took place in Mankato, Minnesota, 38 Dakota warriors died.

1871 – Gilbert and Sullivan collaborate for the first time, on their lost opera, Thespis. It does modestly well, but the two would not collaborate again for four years.

1898 – Marie and Pierre Curie announce the isolation of radium.

1919 – Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox is sold to the New York Yankees by owner Harry Frazee, allegedly establishing the Curse of the Bambino superstition.

1941 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the United States.

1944 – World War II: George S. Patton's Third Army breaks the encirclement of surrounded U.S. forces at Bastogne, Belgium.

1963 – The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "I Saw Her Standing There" are released in the United States, marking the beginning of Beatlemania on an international level.

1965 - While spending Christmas at his father's home in Cheshire, Paul McCartney crashed the moped he was riding and suffered a five-inch cut to his mouth.

1966 - Jimi Hendrix plays an afternoon show at The Uppercut Club in London, and pens the lyrics to 'Purple Haze' in the dressing room.

1966 – The first Kwanzaa is celebrated by Maulana Karenga, the chair of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach.

1972 – Vietnam War: As part of Operation Linebacker II, 120 American B-52 Stratofortress bombers attacked Hanoi, including 78 launched from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, the largest single combat launch in Strategic Air Command history.

1975 – Tu-144, the world's first commercial supersonic aircraft, surpassing Mach 2, went into service.

1979 - Pink Floyd’s The Wall was at No.1 on the US album chart. (The album spent a total of 15 weeks at No.1 during a 35-week stay on the chart). The Wall also spent a total of 5 weeks at No.1 on the UK chart.

1981 - AC/DC started a three-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with 'For Those About To Rock We Salute You' the follow-up to their highly successful album 'Back In Black'. The name of the album was inspired by a book Angus Young read, entitled 'For Those About to Die, We Salute You', about Roman gladiators.

2003 – The 6.6 Mw Bam earthquake shakes southeastern Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving more than 26,000 dead and 30,000 injured.

2004 – The 9.1–9.3 Mw Indian Ocean earthquake shakes northern Sumatra with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). One of the largest observed tsunamis follows, affecting the coastal areas of Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Indonesia; death toll is between 230,000–280,000.

2006 – An oil pipeline in Lagos, Nigeria explodes, killing at least 260 people.

2012 - Fontella Bass, who had the 1965 U.S. No.4 and UK No.11 single 'Rescue Me' died of complications following a heart attack aged 72.

Births

1791 – Charles Babbage (invented the Difference engine); 1863 – Charles Pathé (co-founded Pathé Records); 1891 – Henry Miller (author Tropic of Cancer & Tropic of Capricorn); 1903 – Elisha Cook, Jr.; 1907 – Albert Gore, Sr.; 1914 – Richard Widmark; 1921 – Steve Allen; 1927 – Alan King; 1930 – Donald Moffat (that guy who was in that thing); 1935 - Abdul 'Duke' Fakir♪ ♫(The Four Tops); 1939 – Phil Spector♪ ♫; 1942 – Catherine Coulter; 1942 – Gray Davis; 1945 – John Walsh (created America's Most Wanted); 1949 – Bob Hartman♪ ♫(Petra); 1961 – John Lynch; 1963 – Lars Ulrich(Metallica); 1966 – Jay Farrar♪ ♫(Uncle Tupelo); 1970 – James Mercer♪ ♫(The Shins); 1971 – Jared Leto♪ ♫(Thirty Seconds To Mars); 1979 – Chris Daughtry♪ ♫(Daughtry); 1985 – Beth Behrs (2 Broke Girls); 1986 – Kit Harington (Game Of Thrones); 1991 – Eden Sher ('Sue' on The Middle)

Deaths

1909 – Frederic Remington; 1931 – Melvil Dewey (created the Dewey Decimal Classification); 1963 – Gorgeous George; 1972 – Harry S Truman (33rd POTUS); 1974 – Jack Benny; 1977 – Howard Hawks; 1986 – Elsa Lanchester (Bride of Frankenstein); 1996 – JonBenét Ramsey; 1999 – Curtis Mayfield♪ ♫; 2000 – Jason Robards (The Night They Raided Minsky's, Once Upon a Time in the West); 2004 – Reggie White; 2005 – Vincent Schiavelli; 2006 – Gerald Ford (40th VPOTUS, 38th POTUS); 2010 – Teena Marie♪ ♫; 2012 - Fontella Bass♪ ♫

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December 27

There are 4 days remaining in 2016.


Events

537 – The Hagia Sophia, in Constantinople, is completed.

1521 – The Zwickau prophets arrive in Wittenberg disturbing the peace and preaching the Apocalypse. Philip Melanchthon cannot silence them. Martin Luther is being held in protective custody at the Wartburg castle at this time. He is later released and is able, by his preaching, to regain the peace.

1814 – War of 1812: The American schooner USS Carolina is destroyed. It was the last of Commodore Daniel Patterson's makeshift fleet that fought a series of delaying actions that contributed to Andrew Jackson's victory at the Battle of New Orleans.

1831 – Charles Darwin embarks on his journey aboard the HMS Beagle, during which he will begin to formulate his theory of evolution.

1845 – Ether anesthetic is used for childbirth for the first time by Dr. Crawford Long in Jefferson, Georgia.

1922 – Japanese aircraft carrier Hōshō becomes the first purpose built aircraft carrier to be commissioned in the world.

1927 – Show Boat, considered to be the first true American musical play, opens at the Ziegfeld Theatre on Broadway.

1932 – Radio City Music Hall, "Showplace of the Nation", opens in New York City.

1966 – The Cave of Swallows, the largest known cave shaft in the world, is "discovered" in Aquismón, San Luis Potosí, Mexico.

1979 – The Soviet Union invades the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.

1997 – Protestant paramilitary leader Billy Wright is assassinated in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.

2004 – Radiation from an explosion on the magnetar SGR 1806-20 reaches Earth. It is the brightest extrasolar event known to have been witnessed on the planet. SGR 1806-20's magnetic field is 1-2 quadrillion times stronger than Earth's. It is the most highly magnetized object ever observed.

Births

1571 – Johannes Kepler; 1822 – Louis Pasteur ("Nevermind that shit, here comes Mongo!"); 1879 – Sydney Greenstreet; 1901 – Marlene Dietrich; 1915 – William Masters (of Masters and Johnson); 1931 – Scotty Moore♪ ♫; 1939 – John Amos; 1943 – Cokie Roberts; 1944 – Mick Jones; 1948 – Gérard Depardieu; 1950 – Terry Bozzio; 1952 – David Knopfler; 1957 – Greg Mortenson; 1960 – Maryam d'Abo; 1966 – Bill Goldberg; 1970 – Chyna; 1975 – Heather O'Rourke

Deaths

1834 – Charles Lamb; 1836 – Stephen F. Austin; 1923 – Gustave Eiffel; 1958 – Harry Warner; 1981 – Hoagy Carmichael; 1997 – Billy Wright; 2007 – Benazir Bhutto; 2012 – Harry Carey, Jr.; 2012 – Stormin' Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr.; 2015 – Meadowlark Lemon

[BigV]

A quadrillion is a *lot*

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December 28

There are 3 days remaining in 2016.


Events

1065 – Westminster Abbey is consecrated.

1795 – Construction of Yonge Street, formerly recognized as the longest street in the world, begins in York, Upper Canada (present-day Toronto).

1832 – John C. Calhoun becomes the first Vice President of the United States to resign.

1835 – Osceola leads his Seminole warriors in Florida into the Second Seminole War against the United States Army.

1836 – South Australia and Adelaide are founded.

1846 – Iowa is admitted as the 29th U.S. state.

1867 – United States claims Midway Atoll, the first territory annexed outside Continental limits.

1879 – Tay Bridge disaster: The central part of the Tay Rail Bridge in Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom collapses as a train passes over it, killing 75.

1895 – The Lumière brothers perform for their first paying audience at the Grand Cafe in Boulevard des Capucines.

1895 – Wilhelm Röntgen publishes a paper detailing his discovery of a new type of radiation, which later will be known as x-rays.

1908 – The 7.1 Mw Messina earthquake shakes Southern Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing between 75,000 and 200,000.

1912 – The first municipally owned streetcars take to the streets in San Francisco.

1918 – Constance Markievicz, while detained in Holloway prison, became the first woman to be elected MP to the British House of Commons.

1948 – The DC-3 airliner NC16002 disappears 50 miles south of Miami.

1958 – "Greatest Game Ever Played": Baltimore Colts defeat the New York Giants in the first ever National Football League sudden death overtime game at New York's Yankee Stadium.

1972 – Kim Il-sung, already Prime Minister of North Korea and First Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, becomes the first President of North Korea.

1973 – The Endangered Species Act is passed in the United States.

2010 – Arab Spring: Popular protests begin in Algeria against the government.

2015 - Lemmy, lead vocalist and bassist with Motörhead, died at his home in Los Angeles, California, four days after his 70th birthday following a short battle with an extremely aggressive cancer. Lemmy played in several rock groups in the 1960s, including the Rockin' Vickers and worked as a roadie for Jimi Hendrix and The Nice, before joining the space rock band Hawkwind in 1971, singing lead on their hit 'Silver Machine'.

Births

1763 – John Molson (Molson Brewery); 1856 – Woodrow Wilson (28th POTUS); 1903 – Earl Hines; 1908 – Lew Ayres; 1914 – 'Pops' Roebuck Staples♪ ♫(The Staple Singers); 1922 – Stan Lee; 1931 – Martin Milner (Route 66, Adam-12); 1932 – Nichelle Nichols ('Uhura' on Star Trek TOS); 1933 – John Y. Brown Jr.; 1934 – Maggie Smith (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Downton Abbey, Harry Potter movies); 1938 - Charles Neville♪ ♫(The Neville Bros); 1946 – Mike Beebe; 1946 – Edgar Winter♪ ♫; 1953 - Richard Clayderman; 1953 – Martha Wash♪ ♫(The Weather Girls); 1954 – Gayle King; 1954 – Denzel Washington; 1960 – Melvin Turpin (with Sam Bowie, one of University Of Kentucky basketball's 'Twin Towers'); 1969 – Linus Torvalds (developed Linux kernel); 1970 – Elaine Hendrix; 1973 – Seth Meyers; 1978 – John Legend; 1981 – Sienna Miller

Deaths

1734 – Rob Roy MacGregor; 1937 – Maurice Ravel♪ ♫; 1983 – William Demarest ('Uncle Charley' on My Three Sons); 1983 – Dennis Wilson(The Beach Boys); 1984 – Sam Peckinpah; 1999 – Clayton Moore (The Lone Ranger); 2004 – Jerry Orbach (Law & Order); 2004 – Susan Sontag; 2012 – Mark Crispin (designed the IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol); 2015 – Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister(Motörhead)