Strange Days

[jseal]

1605 ~ A plot to blow up the English Houses of Parliament (http://www.gunpowder-plot.org/) was foiled when Guy Fawkes was discovered in a cellar below the building.

1872 ~ Suffragist Susan B. Anthony voted for the first time. She was fined $100 for the privilege.

1892 ~ Birthday of J. B. S. Haldane, Geneticist.

1911 ~ Birthday of Roy Rogers (http://www.royrogers.com/), American actor.

1930 ~ Sinclair Lewis (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1930/lewis-autobio.html) was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

1942 ~ The Second Battle of El Alamein (http://www.youtube.com/channel/HCMn0K6a33z4s) was won by the British in El Alamein, Egypt.

1977 ~ Birthday of Brittney Skye (http://www.brittneyskyexxx.com/tours/?nats=MTUuMy4xLjEuMS4wLjAuMC4w), Porn actress.

1979 ~ Ayatollah Khomeini (http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/religion/ayatollah-khomeni/) declares the USA to be "the great Satan".

1989 ~ Death of Vladimir Horowitz (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Horowitz-Vladimir.htm), Pianist.

1999 ~ Federal Judge Thomas Jackson declared Microsoft Corp. a monopoly, saying the software giant's aggressive actions were ''stifling innovation'' and hurting consumers.

[jseal]

1789 ~ Pope Pius VI appointed Father John Carroll as the first Roman Catholic bishop in the United States.

1854 ~ Birthday of John Philip Sousa (http://www.dws.org/sousa/learn/timeline), composer of the official march of the U.S., The Stars and Stripes Forever

1861 ~ Jefferson Davis was elected president of the Confederate States of America.

1869 ~ Rutgers University (http://ruweb.rutgers.edu/about-the-university.shtml) defeated Princeton University (http://www.princeton.edu/main/), 6-4, in the first official intercollegiate American football game (http://www.answers.com/topic/football).

1893 ~ Death of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/education/tchaikovsky.html), Composer.

1913 ~ Mahatma Gandhi (http://www.mkgandhi.org/) was arrested while leading a march of Indian miners in South Africa.

1962 ~ The UN General Assembly passed a resolution condemning South Africa's racist apartheid policies[/URL] and called for all member states to cease military and economic relations with the nation.

1975 ~ Birthday of Anastasia Blue (http://www.anastasiablue.com/), former Porn Actress.

1999 ~ Australians voted to keep the British queen as their head of state (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/6/newsid_2514000/2514833.stm).

2000 ~ Death of L. Sprague De Camp (http://www.lspraguedecamp.com/index.php), Science Fiction writer.

[jseal]

1665 ~ The London Gazette, the oldest surviving English language journal, was first published.

1867 ~ Birthday of Marie Curie, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1903 (http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/1903/marie-curie-bio.html), and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1911 (http://nobelprize.org/chemistry/laureates/1911/).

1886 ~ Birthday of Aron Nimzowitsch (http://www.chess.com/article/view/aron-nimzowitsch---the-greatest-opening-innovator?page=2), chess grandmaster.

1913 ~ Birthday of Albert Camus (http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/1957/camus-bio.html), writer, awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature 1957.

1917 ~ Bolshevik leaders Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky lead revolutionaries (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1107.html#article) in overthrowing the Provisional Government of Alexander Kerensky.

1934 ~ Premiere of Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" at Baltimore, Maryland.

1940 ~ The middle section of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsed (http://www.ketchum.org/tacomacollapse.html) in a windstorm.

1980 ~ Death of Steve McQueen, Actor.

1986 ~ Birthday of Yurizan Beltran (http://tour.yuriluv.com/), Porn Actress.

1989 ~ Protests force the resignation (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/7/newsid_2539000/2539301.stm) of East Germany’s Communist government.

[jseal]

1674 ~ Death of John Milton, English poet.

1847 ~ Birthday of Bram Stoker (http://bramstoker.org/info.html), Irish novelist.

1884 ~ Birthday of Hermann Rorschach (http://www.crystalinks.com/rorschach.html), psychiatrist.

1895 ~ Wilhelm Röntgen discovered x-rays.

1942 ~ World War II: Operation Torch (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWtorch.htm) – U.S. and UK forces landed in French North Africa.

1950 ~ The first dog fight between jet aircraft (http://cnnews.wordpress.com/2007/10/08/fighter-planes-mig-15/).

1957 ~ The UK conducted its first successful hydrogen bomb test.

1986 ~ Death of Vyacheslav Molotov (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUSmolotov.htm), Soviet politician.

1987 ~ An IRA bomb killed 11 people (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/8/newsid_2515000/2515113.stm) during a Remembrance Day service at Enniskillen, County Fermanagh.

2002 ~ Iraq disarmament crisis: UN Security Council Resolution 1441 (http://2001-2009.state.gov/p/nea/rls/15016.htm) – The United Nations Security Council unanimously approved a resolution on Iraq, requiring Saddam Hussein to disarm or face "serious consequences".

[jseal]

1888 ~ Jack the Ripper killed Mary Jane Kelly (http://www.casebook.org/victims/), his last known victim.

1921 ~ Albert Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.

1934 ~ Birthday of Carl Sagan (http://www.planetary.org/about/founders/carl_sagan.html), American Astronomer & Writer.

1936 ~ Birthday of Mikhail Tal (http://www.chessbase.com/post/mikhail-tal-the-all-time-winner), World Chess Champion.

1938 ~ Nazi Germany's first large-scale act of physical anti-Jewish violence, Kristallnacht (http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/knacht.htm), began.

1953 ~ Death of Dylan Thomas (http://www.dylanthomas.com/), Welsh poet.

1953 ~ Death of Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, first King of Saudi Arabia.

1965 ~ Several U.S. states and parts of Canada were hit by blackouts (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1109.html#article).

1970 ~ Death of Charles de Gaulle (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/9/newsid_4275000/4275206.stm), French general and politician.

1989 ~ Fall of the Berlin Wall. East Germany opened checkpoints in the Berlin Wall allowing its citizens to travel to West Germany.

[jseal]

1775 ~ The Continental Congress passed a resolution creating the Continental Marines, later renamed the United States Marine Corps (http://www.marines.com/page/usmc.jsp).

1871 ~ Henry Morton Stanley (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/stanley_sir_henry_morton.shtml) located missing explorer and missionary, Dr. David Livingstone (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/livingstone_david.shtml) in Ujiji, near Lake Tanganyika saying "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"

1919 ~ Birthday of Mikhail Kalashnikov, Soviet inventor, AK-47.

1925 ~ Birthday of Richard Burton (http://www.richardburton.com/life/), Actor.

1951 ~ Direct-dial coast-to-coast telephone service began in the United States.

1975 ~ The SS Edmund Fitzgerald (http://www.ssefo.com/) sank during a storm on Lake Superior. Gordon Lightfoot's "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vST6hVRj2A)" is a song about the tragedy.

1982 ~ The Vietnam Veterans Memorial (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1110.html#article) in Washington D.C. opened to public.

1983 ~ Birthday of Sammie Rhodes, Porn Actress (http://www.clubsammierhodes.com/).

1995 ~ Execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa (http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/s/ken_sarowiwa/index.html), Nigerian writer and human rights activist.

2007 ~ Death of Norman Mailer (http://www.normanmailersociety.com/), American author.

[jseal]

1880 ~ Australian bushranger and bank robber Ned Kelly was hung in Melbourne (http://www.ripefruit.com/melbourne/sights/old_melbourne_gaol.htm).

1918 ~ Death of Henry Gunther (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=16204809), the last American to die in World War I.

1918 ~ The end of World War I (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1111.html#article): Germany signed an armistice agreement with the Allies.

1922 ~ Birthday of Kurt Vonnegut, American novelist.

1938 ~ Death of Mary Mallon, aka "Typhoid Mary", carrier of the typhoid disease.

1965 ~ Rhodesia proclaimed its independence (http://www.rhodesia.nl/mztosm.html) from Britain.

1976 ~ Death of Alexander Calder, Artist.

1992 ~ The Church of England (http://www.cofe.anglican.org/) voted to allow women to become priests (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/11/newsid_2518000/2518183.stm).

2000 ~ A cable car full of skiers and snowboarders (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/11/newsid_4418000/4418498.stm), many of them children, caught fire in Austria, killing 155 people.

2004 ~ Death of Yasser Arafat (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1994/arafat-bio.html), President of the Palestinian Authority.

[jseal]

1833 ~ Birthday of Alexander Borodin, Russian composer.

1840 ~ Birthday of Auguste Rodin (http://www.rodinmuseum.org/), French sculptor.

1942 ~ The Battle of Guadalcanal began (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1112.html#article).

1944 ~ The German battleship Tirpitz was sunk off the coast of Norway.

1954 ~ Ellis Island closed (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/12/newsid_3963000/3963251.stm).

1970 ~ The famous exploding whale incident (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vmnq5dBF7Y).

1982 ~ Birthday of Anne Hathaway, Actress.

1990 ~ Tim Berners-Lee published a formal proposal for the World Wide Web (http://www.w3.org/Proposal.html).

2001 ~ Taliban forces abandoned Kabul ahead of advancing Afghan Northern Alliance (http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/northern_alliance.htm) troops.

2011 ~ jseal first posted "Strange Days" from deep in the wilds of Broad Creek Memorial Scout Reservation (http://www.broadcreekbsa.org/openrosters/view_homepage.asp?orgkey=2527)! Ah, the wonders of wireless technology! I used to have to prepare these pages ahead of time and email them to dicksbro. :)

[jseal]

1850 ~ Birthday of Robert Louis Stevenson, Novelist.

1868 ~ Death of Gioacchino Rossini, Composer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJMH4ZnGIWs&feature=list_related&playnext=1&list=AVGxdCwVVULXebIz9vAGtdcM8e_ZVXf7N0).

1940 ~ The animated film Fantasia (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4qq30_fantasia_fun) was released.

1955 ~ Birthday of Whoopi Goldberg (http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Whoopi_Goldberg), American actress.

1956 ~ U.S. Supreme Court declared Alabama laws requiring segregated buses illegal (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1113.html#article).

1982 ~ The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated.

1985 ~ A mudslide triggered by the Nevado del Ruiz volcano buried the city of Armero, Colombia (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/13/newsid_2539000/2539731.stm), killing some 23,000 people.

1990 ~ Tim Berners-Lee wrote the first known World Wide Web page (http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/FAQ.html#Examples).

1998 ~ President Bill Clinton agreed to pay Paula Jones $850,000 (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/pjones/pjones.htm), ending the four-year legal battle over her sexual harassment lawsuit that spurred impeachment proceedings against him. Clinton did not admit guilt or apologize.

2002 ~ Saddam Hussein's government agreed to the return of international weapons inspectors to Iraq.

[jseal]

1719 ~ Birthday of Leopold Mozart (http://telasiado.suite101.com/leopold-mozart-biography-a33955), Austrian musician, father of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (http://www.studio-mozart.com/mozart/index.htm).

1832 ~ Death of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Declaration of Independence signer.

1851 ~ Herman Melville's novel “Moby-Dick” was first published in the U.S.

1922 ~ The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/)) began radio service in the UK.

1948 ~ Birthday of Charles, Prince of Wales (http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/).

1954 ~ Birthday of Condoleezza Rice, former U.S. Secretary of State.

1968 ~ Birthday of Janine Lindemulder (http://www.freejanine.com/), Porn Actress.

1972 ~ The Dow Jones industrial average closed above the 1,000 mark (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1114.html#article) yesterday for the first time.

1991 ~ Indictments handed down against two Libyan intelligence officials (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/14/newsid_2518000/2518895.stm) in connection with the downing of the Pan Am Flight 103.

2001 ~ Northern Alliance fighters (http://www.guardian.co.uk/gall/0,,592758,00.html) entered Kabul.

[jseal]

1887 ~ Birthday of Georgia O'Keeffe (http://www.okeeffemuseum.org/about-georgia-okeeffe.html), Painter.

1920 ~ First assembly of the League of Nations (http://www.indiana.edu/~league/index.htm) was held in Geneva.

1940 ~ The Luftwaffe destroyed most of the English city of Coventry (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/15/newsid_3522000/3522785.stm) during World War II.

1960 ~ The Polaris missile became operational (http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/m-27.html) on the USS George Washington (SSBN-598).

1969 ~ The Soviet submarine K-19 collided with the American submarine USS Gato.

1971 ~ Intel released the first commercial single-chip microprocessor (http://www.intel.com/about/companyinfo/museum/exhibits/4004/facts.htm), the 4004.

1978 ~ Death of Margaret Mead, American anthropologist.

1996 ~ Death of Alger Hiss, American government official & convicted spy.

1998 ~ Death of Stokely Carmichael (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAcarmichael.htm), American Black Power activist.

2006 ~ Al Jazeera English (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Jazeera_English) worldwide launch.

[jseal]

1885 ~ Louis Riel (http://www.danielnpaul.com/LouisRiel.html), Canadian rebel leader and "Father of Manitoba", executed for high treason.

1920 ~ Qantas was registered under the name of “Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited”.

1922 ~ Birthday of Gene Amdahl, computer scientist (http://coverclock.blogspot.com/2006/10/gene-amdahl-and-albert-einstein.html).

1933 ~ The U.S. and the USSR (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1116.html#article) established diplomatic relations.

1945 ~ Operation Paperclip (http://www.conspiracyarchive.com/NWO/project_paperclip.htm): The U.S. Army secretly admited 88 German scientists and engineers to help in the development of rocket technology.

1959 ~ The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "The Sound of Music" opened on Broadway.

1960 ~ Death of Clark Gable, Actor.

1979 ~ Sir Anthony Blunt (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/16/newsid_3907000/3907233.stm), a former security service officer, identified as the fourth man in the "Philby affair (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/SSphilby.htm)".

2006 ~ Death of Milton Friedman (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/1976/friedman-autobio.html), American economist.

1992 ~ The Hoxne Hoard (http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_prb/t/the_hoxne_hoard.aspx) is discovered by Eric Lawes in Hoxne, Suffolk.

[jseal]

1871 ~ The National Rifle Association (http://home.nra.org/#/home) was granted a charter by the state of New York.

1887 ~ Birthday of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery (http://ww2db.com/person_bio.php?person_id=7).

1929 ~ Death of Herman Hollerith, Statistician.

1960 ~ Birthday of RuPaul (http://www.rupaul.com/biography), American drag entertainer.

1968 ~ Birthday of Amber Michaels (http://www.ambermichaels.com/user/about.php), German Porn Actress.

1970 ~ In one of the greatest successes of the Soviet lunar exploration program (http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/lunarussr.html), The USSR landed an unmanned, remote-controlled vehicle on the moon, the Lunokhod 1 (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990109.html).

1970 ~ Douglas Engelbart received a patent for the first computer mouse (http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bl_computer_mouse_patent.htm).

1979 ~ Death of John Glascock, British bassist (Jethro Tull).

1997 ~ An Islamic extremist group killed 60 tourists (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/17/newsid_2519000/2519581.stm) at Luxor, Egypt.

2003 ~ Arnold Schwarzenegger was sworn in as the 38th governor of California.

[jseal]

1786 ~ Birthday of Carl Maria von Weber, Composer.

1836 ~ Birthday of Sir William S. Gilbert (http://math.boisestate.edu/gas/gilbert/gilbert_home.html), Dramatist.

1916 ~ World War I (http://www.firstworldwar.com/): First Battle of the Somme, (http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/somme.htm) which started on July 1, ended in stalemate – Approx. 1,120,000 casualties, 310,000 killed or missing.

1926 ~ George Bernard Shaw refused to accept the money for his Nobel Prize (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1925/shaw-bio.html), saying, "I can forgive Alfred Nobel for inventing dynamite, but only a fiend in human form could have invented the Nobel Prize."

1928 ~ The animated short Steamboat Willie (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBgghnQF6E4), the first fully synchronized sound cartoon, was released.

1968 ~ Death of Niels Bohr (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1922/bohr-bio.html), Danish physicist, awarded the The Nobel Prize in Physics 1922.

1976 ~ Spain's parliament approved a bill to establish a democracy (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1118.html#article) after the dictatorship of General Franco.

1978 ~ Jonestown, Guyana mass suicide (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/18/newsid_2540000/2540209.stm): 914 die, including 276 children.

2003 ~ The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled 4-3 that the state constitution guarantees gay couples the right to marry.

2004 ~ Fox hunting outlawed in England and Wales.

[jseal]

1805 ~ Birthday of Ferdinand de Lesseps, Suez Canal engineer.

1828 ~ Death of Franz Schubert (http://home1.swipnet.se/~w-18046/slife.html), Austrian Composer.

1863 ~ U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address (http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/gadd/gadrft.html) at the military cemetery dedication ceremony (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1119.html#article) in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

1884 ~ Birthday of José Raúl Capablanca (http://www.chesscorner.com/worldchamps/capablanca/capablanca.htm), Cuban Chess Grand Master.

1917 ~ Birthday of Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India.

1941 ~ World War II: The Royal Australian Navy cruiser HMAS Sydney and the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran sank each other (http://www.hmassydney.com.au/) off the coast of Western Australia.

1969 ~ The second Apollo mission, Apollo 12 (http://www.astronomytoday.com/exploration/apollo.html), landed on the Moon – in “the Ocean of Storms”.

1977 ~ Egyptian President Anwar Sadat became the first Arab leader to officially visit Israel (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/19/newsid_2520000/2520467.stm) and spoke before the Knesset in Jerusalem, seeking a permanent peace settlement.

1990 ~ Pop group Milli Vanilli were stripped of their Grammy Award because they did not sing at all on the "Girl You Know It’s True" album.

1998 ~ Lewinsky scandal (http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/resources/lewinsky/timeline/): The U.S. House of Representatives' Judiciary Committee began impeachment hearings against President Clinton.

[jseal]

1924 ~ Birthday of Benoît Mandelbrot (http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Mandelbrot.html), Mathematician.

1945 ~ Nuremberg Trials (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1120.html#article) began: Trials of 20 German Nazi leaders charged with war crimes during World War II started at the Nuremberg Palace of Justice.

1947 ~ The Princess Elizabeth (http://www.britainexpress.com/royals/queen.htm) married Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten (http://www.britainexpress.com/royals/philip.htm) at Westminster Abbey in London.

1975 ~ Death of Francisco Franco, Spanish Head of State (1936-1975).

1976 ~ Death of Trofim Lysenko (http://hplusmagazine.com/2013/05/22/trofim-lysenko-soviet-ideology-and-pseudo-science/), Russian biologist.

1979 ~ Grand Mosque Seizure: About 200 Sunni Muslims revolt in Saudi Arabia at the site of the Kaaba in Mecca during the hajj and took about 6,000 hostages. Pakistani special forces were brought in to help put down the uprising.

1995 ~ Diana, Princess of Wales, admitted to adultery (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/20/newsid_4341000/4341436.stm) during a television interview.

1998 ~ The first module of the International Space Station, Zarya (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html), was launched.

1998 ~ A court in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan declared accused terrorist Osama bin Laden "a man without a sin (http://mideastnews.com/laden20.htm)" in regards to the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

2007 ~ Death of Ian Smith, Rhodesian politician.

[jseal]

1898 ~ Birthday of René Magritte, Belgian painter (http://www.magrittemuseum.be/).

1953 ~ Authorities at the British Natural History Museum announced that the skull of the "Piltdown Man" was a hoax.

1964 ~ Verrazano Narrows Bridge (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1121.html#article) opened.

1969 ~ The first ARPANET link was established.

1976 ~ Birthday of Dasha, Czech Porn actress.

1979 ~ The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/21/newsid_4187000/4187184.stm) was attacked by a mob and razed.

1980 ~ Lake Peigneur drained (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8p82uGXUUTA) into an underlying salt deposit.

1985 ~ U.S. Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Pollard was arrested (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/venona/dece_pollard.html) for giving Israel classified information on Arab nations and was eventually sentenced to life in prison.

1995 ~ Toy Story (http://www.pixar.com/features_films/TOY-STORY) was released as the first feature-length film created using only computer-generated imagery.

1996 ~ Death of Abdus Salam (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1979/salam-bio.html), awarded one third of the Nobel Prize in Physics 1979.

[jseal]

1718 ~ English pirate Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, was killed in battle off the coast of Virginia.

1890 ~ Birthday of Charles de Gaulle, General, President of France.

1963 ~ Death of C. S. Lewis (http://cslewis.drzeus.net/bio/), Author.

1963 ~ Death of Aldous Huxley, Author. (Brave New World (http://www.huxley.net/))

1963 ~ President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1122.html#article).

1968 ~ The Beatles released The White Album.

1977 ~ British Airways began London to New York City supersonic Concorde service (http://www.concordesst.com/).

1981 ~ Death of Hans Adolf Krebs (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1953/krebs-bio.html), German physician and biochemist, awarded one half The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1953.

1990 ~ UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher resigned (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/22/newsid_2549000/2549189.stm).

2005 ~ Angela Merkel (http://www.biography.com/people/angela-merkel-9406424) became the first female Chancellor of Germany.

[jseal]

1860 ~ Birthday of Billy the Kid (http://www.aboutbillythekid.com/), Outlaw.

1869 ~ The "Cutty Sark (http://www.rmg.co.uk/cuttysark/)" was launched. It is the last example of a Clipper ship.

1887 ~ Birthday of Boris Karloff, Actor.

1888 ~ Birthday of Harpo Marx, Comedian.

1943 ~ U.S. Marines seized control of the Tarawa and Makin atolls (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1123.html#article) from the Japanese.

1955 ~ Death of Shemp Howard, actor, comedian (The Three Stooges)

1963 ~ The first episode of the science fiction TV series "Doctor Who (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056751/)" aired on the BBC.

2001 ~ Convention on Cybercrime (http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/EN/Treaties/Html/185.htm) is signed in Budapest, Hungary.

2002 ~ Sectarian violence force the Miss World contest to move to London from Nigeria (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/23/newsid_3226000/3226740.stm).

2007 ~ A cruise liner carrying 154 people, the MS Explorer, sank in the Antarctic Ocean (http://www.audreygonzalez.org/2007/11/serious-day-and-rescue.html) south of Argentina after hitting an iceberg near the South Shetland Islands. .

[jseal]

1642 ~ Abel Tasman (http://gutenberg.net.au/dictbiog/0-dict-biogT-V.html#tasman1) became the first European to discover the island of Tasmania.

1859 ~ British naturalist Charles Darwin published "The Origin of Species (http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/origin.html)", a book which argues that organisms gradually evolve through natural selection.

1868 ~ Birthday of Scott Joplin (http://www.scottjoplin.org/biography.htm), Musician.

1941 ~ Birthday of Pete Best, original drummer of The Beatles.

1963 ~ Death of Lee Harvey Oswald (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1124.html#article), assassination suspect.

1973 ~ A national speed limit is imposed on the Autobahn (http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/motors/a/-/motors/18958067/fun-fun-fun-on-the-autobahn/) in Germany because of the oil crisis. It lasted four months.

1984 ~ Birthday of Wolf Hudson (http://wolfhudsonisbad.com/), Porn Actor and director.

1989 ~ The Velvet Revolution: The leadership of Communist Party in Czechoslovakia resigned.

1991 ~ Death of Freddie Mercury, musician (Queen (http://queenonline.com/)).

1998 ~ America Online announced it would acquire Netscape Communications.

[jseal]

1867 ~ Alfred Nobel (http://www.nobelprize.org/alfred_nobel/) patented dynamite.

1913 ~ Birthday of Lewis Thomas, Physician & Essayist (http://www.cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/Thomas/mahlers-ninth.html).

1940 ~ Woody Woodpecker first appeared in the film "Knock Knock"

1952 ~ Birthday of Imran Khan, Pakistani test cricketer.

1968 ~ Death of Upton Sinclair, Journalist, Politician, Writer.

1974 ~ Death of U Thant (http://www.un.org/Overview/SG/sg3bio.html), Burmese UN Secretary-General.

1986 ~ The Iran-Contra affair (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1125.html#article) became public knowledge.

1998 ~ The Turkish government led by PM Mesut Yilmaz (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/25/newsid_4141000/4141566.stm) collapsed after losing a no-confidence motion over corruption allegations.

1999 ~ Six-year-old Cuban refugee Elian Gonzalez was rescued (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/elian/etc/eliancron.html) by a pair of sport fishermen off the coast of Florida.

2009 ~ The 2009 Saudi Arabian Floods (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvCgCJCHwD4)

[dicksbro]

Somehow, after yesterday's news about Kerry and they planned easing of sanctions on Iran, the Iran-Contra affair doesn't seem like much of a deal. :(

[Oldfart]

The agreement won't last because without onshore enrichment, Iran still doesn't have energy security. I give it five months.

[jseal]

1939 ~ Birthday of Tina Turner, the Queen of Rock & Roll (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIitgkc4Iwk).

1942 ~ President Roosevelt ordered nationwide gasoline rationing (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1126.html#article), beginning in December.

1950 ~ Birthday of Honey Wilder (http://www.honeywilderonline.com/Honey_Wilder_Bio.asp), Porn Actress.

1968 ~ Cream played their farewell concert.

1977 ~ A hijacker named 'Vrillon', claiming to be the representative of the 'Ashtar Galactic Command', commandeered Britain's Southern Television for six minutes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vrillon).

1981 ~ Death of Max Euwe, World Chess Master.

1983 ~ £25m in gold was stolen (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/26/newsid_2529000/2529235.stm) from a warehouse near Heathrow airport.

1985 ~ Death of Vivien Thomas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivien_Thomas), an interesting Surgeon.

2003 ~ Last ever flight by Concorde.

2008 ~ Ten coordinated attacks by Pakistan-based terrorists (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/episodes/mumbai-massacre-watch-the-full-episode/536/) killed 164 and injured more than 250 people in Mumbai (Bombay), India.

[jseal]

8 BC ~ Death of Horace (http://www.crystalinks.com/horace.html), poet. Remembered for, among other things, “Carpe Diem” (seize the day).

1095 ~ Pope Urban II preached the First Crusade (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/urban2-5vers.html) at the Council of Clermont.

1895 ~ Alfred Nobel signed his last will and testament, setting aside his estate to establish the Nobel Prize after he died.

1942 ~ Birthday of Jimi Hendrix, musician.

1946 ~ Indian P.M. Jawaharlal Nehru appealed to the U.S. and the USSR to start nuclear disarmament, stating that such an action would "save humanity from the ultimate disaster".

India would later develop its indigenous nuclear WMD.

1973 ~ The U.S. Senate confirmed President-to-be Gerald Ford (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1127.html#article) as vice president, succeeding Spiro Agnew, who'd resigned.

1978 ~ Birthday of Shy Love (http://www.club-shylove.com/biography/), Porn actress.

1979 ~ Birthday of Danielle Foxxx (http://www.clubdaniellefoxxx.com/), Porn actress.

1979 ~ Birthday of Hilary Hahn (http://hilaryhahn.com/), American violinist.

1990 ~ John Major (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/27/newsid_2528000/2528847.stm) followed Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister of the UK.

[jseal]

1811 ~ Beethoven's Piano Concerto #5 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yftk_cnbwKQ&feature=related), the "Emperor Concerto," premiered at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig.

1943 ~ President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin met in Tehran during World War II (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1128.html#article).

1954 ~ Death of Enrico Fermi (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1938/fermi-bio.html), Physicist.

1969 ~ The Rolling Stones released the classic album "Let It Bleed".

1969 ~ Birthday of Lexington Steele (http://www.lexsteele.com/home.php), Porn Actor.

1994 ~ Death of Jeffrey Dahmer, serial killer.

1994 ~ Death of Jerry Rubin, social activist.

1994 ~ Norway voted to reject membership (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/28/newsid_4208000/4208314.stm) in the European Union for the second time.

2000 ~ The eighth tar drop fell in the University of Queensland pitch drop experiment (http://atlasobscura.com/place/pitch-drop-experiment).

2013 ~ Comet c/2012 S1, populrly known as ISON (http://www.universetoday.com/106707/waiting-for-ison-a-post-perihelion-viewing-guide/), reaches perihelion, 1.2 million kilometres from the surface of the Sun.

[jseal]

1832 ~ Birthday of Louisa May Alcott (http://www.louisamayalcott.org/), Writer.

1890 ~ At West Point, New York, the U.S. Naval Academy defeated the U.S. Military Academy 24-0 in the first Army–Navy football game (http://armynavygame.com/).

1898 ~ Birthday of C. S. Lewis (http://cslewis.drzeus.net/), Writer.

1944 ~ The first surgery (on a human) to correct blue baby syndrome is performed by Alfred Blalock (http://www.medicalarchives.jhmi.edu/blbio.htm) and Vivien Thomas (http://www.medicalarchives.jhmi.edu/vthomas.htm).

1947 ~ The UN passed a resolution calling for Palestine to be partitioned between Arabs and Jews (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1129.html#article).

1975 ~ The name "Micro-soft" (for "microcomputer software") is first used in a letter from Bill Gates to Paul Allen.

1981 ~ Death of Natalie Wood, Actress.

1986 ~ Death of Cary Grant, British-born American actor.

1990 ~ The UN Security Council passed Security Council Resolution 678 (http://www.fas.org/news/un/iraq/sres/sres0678.htm), authorizing military intervention in Iraq if that nation did not withdraw its forces from Kuwait and free all foreign hostages by January 15, 1991.

2001 ~ Death of George Harrison (http://www.georgeharrison.com/), musician.

[jseal]

1667 ~ Birthday of Jonathan Swift, Writer & Satirist.

1835 ~ Birthday of Mark Twain (http://www.cmgww.com/historic/twain/about/bio.htm), Writer (Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Prince and the Pauper, and A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court).

1872 ~ First international soccer match played at Hamilton Crescent, Scotland.

1874 ~ Birthday of Sir Winston Churchill (http://www.winstonchurchill.org/learn/biography/biography), British political leader & Writer.

1900 ~ Death of Oscar Wilde (http://cmgww.com/historic/wilde/bio1.htm), Writer.

1936 ~ In London, the Crystal Palace was destroyed in a fire. It had been built for the 1851 Great Exhibition (http://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/victorians/exhibition/greatexhibition.html).

1939 ~ Soviet forces crossed the Finnish border in several places and bombed Helsinki and several other Finnish cities, starting the Winter War (http://www.winterwar.com/).

1994 ~ The burning Achille Lauro abandoned (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/30/newsid_2525000/2525643.stm) off east Africa.

1995 ~ President Clinton became the first U.S. chief executive to visit Northern Ireland (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1130.html#article).

1999 ~ The anti-globalization movement caught police unprepared and forced the cancellation of opening ceremonies of a WTO meeting.

[jseal]

1083 ~ Birthday of Anna Comnena (http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/heroine5.html), Byzantine historian.

1824 ~ U.S. presidential election, 1824: Since no candidate received a majority of the total electoral college votes in the election, the House of Representatives was given the task to decide the winner, as stipulated by the Twelfth Amendment.

1835 ~ Hans Christian Andersen published his first book of fairy tales.

1954 ~ Birthday of Annette Haven (http://www.annettehavenonline.com/annette_haven_biography.html), Porn actress.

1955 ~ Rosa Parks refused to give her bus seat (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/1/newsid_4398000/4398912.stm) to a white man and was arrested for violating the city's racial segregation laws.

1959 ~ The Antarctic Treaty (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1201.html#article) signed, which set aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and banned military activity.

1964 ~ Death of J. B. S. Haldane (http://www.cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/reviews/causes-of-evolution/), Scottish geneticist.

1985 ~ Birthday of Chanel Preston (http://www.chanelpreston.com/chanelpreston.php), Porn Actress.

1990 ~ English and French Channel Tunnel workers met (http://www.history.co.uk/this-day-in-history/December/01/about.html;jsessionid=A89257236450367A41DF85D2189DD790.public2) beneath the English Channel.

1991 ~ Ukrainian voters overwhelmingly approved a referendum for independence from the Soviet Union.

[jseal]

1814 ~ Death of Marquis de Sade, Writer.

1942 ~ Manhattan Project: A team led by Enrico Fermi initiate the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/dp42fe.html).

1954 ~ Senator McCarthy was censured (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1202.html#article) for conduct unbecoming to a senator.

1961 ~ Cuban leader Fidel Castro (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/244974.stm) declared that he was a Marxist-Leninist and that Cuba was going to adopt Communism.

1981 ~ Birthday of Britney Spears, singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress.

1981 ~ Birthday of Isabella Soprano, Porn Actress.

1983 ~ Birthday of Sarah Vandella (http://www.clubsarahvandella.com/), Porn Actress.

1990 ~ Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar (http://cocaine.org/colombia/pablo-escobar.html) was shot and killed in Medellín.

1991 ~ Apple release the first version of QuickTime (http://developer.apple.com/quicktime/).

2001 ~ Enron (http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,2021097,00.html) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

[jseal]

1815 ~ Death of John Carroll (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03381b.htm) - First Roman Catholic Archbishop in the U.S.

1857 ~ Birthday of Joseph Conrad (http://www.online-literature.com/conrad/), Writer.

1894 ~ Death of Robert Louis Stevenson, Writer.

1919 ~ Death of Pierre-Auguste Renoir (http://www.artchive.com/artchive/R/renoir.html), Painter.

1947 ~ ''A Streetcar Named Desire (http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/patc/streetcar/index.html)'' by Tennessee Williams opened on Broadway.

1967 ~ At Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, Lewis Washkansky became the first human to receive a heart transplant. The transplant team was headed by Christiaan Barnard (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/bmbarn.html).

1984 ~ Bhopal Disaster (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1203.html#article): A leak from a pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, killed nearly 3,000 people in one of the worst industrial disasters in history.

1989 ~ Formal end of the Cold War (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/3/newsid_4119000/4119950.stm).

1999 ~ NASA lost contact with the Mars Polar Lander just before it entered the Martian atmosphere.

1999 ~ Death of Madeline Kahn, Actress & Comedian.

[jseal]

1110 ~ The Crusaders captured Sidon.

1642 ~ Death of Cardinal Richelieu, French statesman.

1674 ~ Father Jacques Marquette founded a mission on the shores of Lake Michigan which would later grow into the city of Chicago, Illinois.

1679 ~ Death of Thomas Hobbes (http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/philosophers/hobbes.html), political philosopher.

1849 ~ Birthday of Crazy Horse (http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/a_c/crazyhorse.htm), American Indian leader.

1872 ~ The Mary Celeste (http://www.fortogden.com/maryceleste.html) was found by the British brig Dei Gratia. The ship had been abandoned for 9 days but was only slightly damaged.

1945 ~ The U.S. Senate approved United States participation in the United Nations (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1204.html#article).

1976 ~ Death of Benjamin Britten (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/4/newsid_2519000/2519877.stm), Composer.

1980 ~ Led Zeppelin (http://www.led-zeppelin.com/) announced its breakup.

1981 ~ Birthday of Courtney Cummz (http://www.courtneycummz.net/tour1/?nats=ODozOjM,0,0,0,0), Porn actress.

[jseal]

1791 ~ Death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (http://www.mozartproject.org/chronology/ch_86_91.html), Composer.

1847 ~ Jefferson Davis was elected to the U.S. Senate.

1890 ~ Birthday of Fritz Lang, film director.

1901 ~ Birthday of Werner Heisenberg (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1932/heisenberg-bio.html), awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, 1932.

1926 ~ Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin (http://www.film.u-net.com/Movies/Reviews/Potemkin.html), debuted.

1933 ~ Prohibition ended (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1205.html#article): The Twenty-first Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. This overturned the 18th Amendment, which had outlawed the inter-state sale of alcohol.

1969 ~ Life Magazine reported the My Lai Massacre (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/trenches/my_lai.html).

1995 ~ The Sri Lankan armed forces took Jaffna (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/5/newsid_4618000/4618661.stm) from the Tamil Tigers.

2006 ~ Death of David Bronstein (http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3525), Ukrainian-born chess grandmaster.

2010 ~ Death of John Leslie, Porn Actor and filmmaker.

[jseal]

1884 ~ The Thirteenth Amendment (http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment13/) to the U. S. Constitution, banning slavery, was ratified.

1889 ~ Death of Jefferson Davis, the first and only president of the Confederate States of America.

1917 ~ A munitions explosion (http://www.halifaxexplosion.org/intro.html) killed more than 1,900 people and destroyed part of the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia.

1920 ~ Birthday of Dave Brubeck (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzpnWuk3RjU), jazz musician (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc34Uj8wlmE&feature=related).

1929 ~ Birthday of Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Conductor.

1947 ~ Everglades National Park (http://www.nps.gov/ever/) in Florida was dedicated by President Truman.

1957 ~ The first U.S. attempt to launch a satellite into Earth orbit, Vanguard TV3, was renamed 'Flopnik (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK6a6Hkp94o)'.

1989 ~ Marc Lépine killed 14 women (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89cole_Polytechnique_massacre) in Montreal, Quebec.

1992 ~ In Ayodhya, India, Hindus demolished the Babri Masjid, a 16th century mosque (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/6/newsid_3712000/3712777.stm).

2002 ~ Death of Philip Berrigan, civil rights activist.

[jseal]

1787 ~ Delaware became the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1928 ~ Birthday of Noam Chomsky (http://www.chomsky.info/), Linguist.

1941 ~ The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1207.html#article) brought the U.S. into World War II.

1963 ~ Instant replay is used for the first time in a Army-Navy game.

1970 ~ Death of Rube Goldberg, best known for his cartoons depicting Rube Goldberg machines (http://www.rubegoldberg.com/).

1971 ~ Birthday of Chasey Lain, Porn Actress.

1972 ~ Launch of Apollo 17 (http://www.nasm.si.edu/collections/imagery/apollo/AS17/a17.htm), the last manned lunar landing mission.

1975 ~ Indonesia invaded East Timor (http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Blum/EastTimor_KH.html).

1993 ~ Death of Wolfgang Paul (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1989/paul-autobio.html), Physicist, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1989.

2006 ~ A tornado struck Kensal Green (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/6217514.stm), North West London.

[jseal]

1864 ~ Death of George Boole, Mathematician.

1925 ~ Birthday of Sammy Davis Jr. (http://www.sammydavis-jr.com/), Actor & Singer.

1939 ~ Birthday of James Galway (http://www.jamesgalway.com/), Irish flutist.

1941 ~ The U.S. entered World War II when Congress declared war against Japan (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1208.html#article).

1953 ~ President Eisenhower gave the "Atoms for Peace (http://web.archive.org/web/20070524054513/http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/atoms.htm)" speech.

1978 ~ Death of Golda Meir (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/meir.html), former Prime Minister of Israel.

1980 ~ Mark Chapman murdered former Beatle John Lennon (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/8/newsid_2536000/2536321.stm).

1991 ~ Leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine signed an agreement ending the U.S.S.R. and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0813056.html).

1993 ~ President Clinton signed U.S. participation in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

2010 ~ The Japanese solar-sail demonstration spacecraft IKAROS passed Venus at a distance of about 80,800 km.

[jseal]

1608 ~ Birthday of John Milton (http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/milton/), Poet & Writer.

1868 ~ Birthday of Fritz Haber (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1918/haber-bio.html), German chemist, Nobel prize winner in 1918.

1906 ~ Birthday of Grace Murray Hopper (http://gracehopper.osuosl.org/), American computer pioneer.

1961 ~ Tanganyika became independent from the UK.

1961 ~ Adolf Eichmann found guilty of war crimes (http://www.theguardian.com/law/war-crimes) in Israel.

1968 ~ First demonstration of the computer mouse. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7768481.stm)

1992 ~ Britain's Prince Charles and Princess Diana announced their separation (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1209.html#article).

1993 ~ The Hubble Space Telescope was repaired (http://www.stsci.edu/hst/HST_overview/) by astronauts of STS-61.

2004 ~ Canada's Supreme Court ruled that homosexual marriage was constitutional.

2012 ~ Death of Riccardo Schicchi, Italian porn producer.

[jseal]

1815 ~ Birthday of Ada Lovelace, first computer programmer.

1830 ~ Birthday of Emily Dickinson, Poet.

1896 ~ Death of Alfred Nobel (http://www.nobelprize.org/alfred_nobel/biographical/timeline/), chemist, founder of the Nobel Prize.

1907 ~ President Theodore Roosevelt was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

1941 ~ Japanese forces landed in the Philippines, captured Guam and sank the HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse (http://www.forcez-survivors.org.uk/).

1948 ~ the U.N. General Assembly adopted its Universal Declaration on Human Rights (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1210.html#article).

1953 ~ Dr. Albert Schweitzer (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1952/schweitzer-bio.html) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

1978 ~ Prime Minister Menachem Begin and President Anwar Sadat (http://nobelprize.org/peace/laureates/1978/index.html) were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

2002 ~ The High Court of Australia handed down its judgment in the internet defamation case of Gutnick v Dow Jones (http://www.murdoch.edu.au/elaw/issues/v8n4/nicholson84.html).

2005 ~ Death of Richard Pryor (http://richardpryor.com/welcome.php), comedian & actor.

[jseal]

1725 ~ Birthday of George Mason (http://www.let.rug.nl/~usa/B/gmason/mason.htm), "Father of the Bill of Rights (http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html)".

1803 ~ Birthday of Hector Berlioz, Composer.

1882 ~ Birthday of Max Born, physicist and 1954 Nobel laureate.

1931 ~ The Statute of Westminster (http://www.solon.org/Constitutions/Canada/English/StatuteofWestminster.html) gave legislative independence to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland and Newfoundland.

1941 ~ Germany and Italy declared war on the United States (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1211.html#article).

1969 ~ Birthday of Vishwanathan Anand (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Championship_2013), former World Chess Champion.

1981 ~ Birthday of Nikki Benz, Porn Actress.

1994 ~ Russian President Boris Yeltsin ordered Russian troops into Chechnya (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/11/newsid_2801000/2801807.stm).

1997 ~ The Kyoto Protocol (http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was made available for signature.

2001 ~ The People's Republic of China joined the World Trade Organization (http://www.wto.org/).

[jseal]

1531 ~ Apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico City.

1911 ~ The capital of India moved from Calcutta to New Delhi.

1927 ~ Birthday of Robert Noyce (http://www.pbs.org/transistor/album1/addlbios/noyce.html), one of the men credited with the invention of the integrated circuit.

1963 ~ Kenya gained its independence (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1212.html#article) from the UK. Uhuru!

1967 ~ Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones avoided a prison term (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/12/newsid_3237000/3237849.stm) for narcotics.

1979 ~ Rhodesia changed its name to Zimbabwe.

1999 ~ Death of Joseph Heller (http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/heller.htm), Author.

2000 ~ The U.S.Supreme Court released its decision in Bush v. Gore (http://www.oyez.org/cases/2000-2009/2000/2000_00_949/).

2006 ~ Death of Peter Boyle (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001967/), Actor.

2006 ~ Death of Al Shugart (http://www.computerhistory.org/fellowawards/hall/bios/Alan,Shugart/), Computer engineer and co-founder of Seagate Technology.

[jseal]

1642 ~ Abel Janszoon Tasman (http://www.southaustralianhistory.com.au/tasman.htm) reached New Zealand.

1784 ~ Death of Samuel Johnson (http://www.samueljohnson.com/briefbio.html), Essayist.

1818 ~ Birthday of Mary Todd Lincoln, First Lady.

1939 ~ The Admiral Graf Spee engaged Royal Navy cruisers HMS Exeter, HMS Ajax and HMNZS Achilles in the Battle of the River Plate (http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/battle_of_the_river_plate.htm).

1945 ~ Execution of Irma Grese (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irma_Grese), Nazi war criminal.

1972 ~ Eugene Cernan & Harrison Schmitt begin the third and final EVA of Apollo 17. They are, to date, the last men to walk on the Moon.

1981 ~ Martial law imposed in Poland (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1213.html#article) to try to control the Solidarity labor movement.

1996 ~ Kofi Annan elected as Secretary-General of the United Nations.

2002 ~ Death of Zal Yanovsky, Canadian musician (The Lovin' Spoonful (http://www.lovinspoonful.com/history.html)).

2003 ~ Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was captured (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3317429.stm) near Tikrit.

[jseal]

1546 ~ Birthday of Tycho Brahe (http://www.nada.kth.se/~fred/tycho/index.html), Astronomer.

1900 ~ Max Planck published his study of the quantum theory (http://www.spaceandmotion.com/Physics-Max-Planck.htm).

1911 ~ First expedition reached the South Pole (http://www.south-pole.com/p0000101.htm), led by Roald Amundsen.

1939 ~ The USSR was expelled from the League of Nations.

1946 ~ The United Nations General Assembly voted to establish the U.N. headquarters in New York City.

1962 ~ Birthday of Ginger Lynn Allen (http://www.gingerlynn.com/), Porn Actress.

1981 ~ Israel annexed the Golan Heights (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1214.html#article).

1985 ~ Death of Roger Maris (http://www.rogermarismuseum.com/), NYY Home Run King.

1989 ~ Death of Andrei Sakharov (http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1975/sakharov-bio.html), Russian physicist, awarded the 1975 Nobel Peace Prize.

1995 ~ The Dayton Agreement (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/14/newsid_2559000/2559699.stm) was signed in Paris to end the Yugoslav wars.

[jseal]

1791 ~ The U.S. Bill of Rights (http://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/document.html?doc=4) ratified.

1890 ~ Death of Sitting Bull (http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/s_z/sittingbull.htm), leader of Lakota tribe.

1916 ~ France defeated Germany (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1215.html#article) in Battle of Verdun.

1916 ~ Birthday of Maurice Wilkins (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1962/wilkins-bio.html), New Zealand-born physicist, co-recipient of the 1962 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his contribution to the elucidation of the structure of DNA.

1958 ~ Death of Wolfgang Pauli (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1945/pauli-bio.html), Physicist.

1961 ~ An Israeli war crimes tribunal sentenced Adolph Eichmann to death.

1966 ~ Death of Walt Disney, Animator & Cartoonist.

1982 ~ Spain reopened the border with Gibraltar (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/15/newsid_2559000/2559887.stm).

1991 ~ Death of Vasily Grigoryevich Zaitsev (http://russiapedia.rt.com/prominent-russians/military/vasily-zaitsev/), Soviet sniper.

1994 ~ Netscape Navigator 1.0 first released.

[jseal]

1689 ~ The English Bill of Rights (http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/england.asp) adopted.

1770 ~ Birthday of Ludwig van Beethoven (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beethoven), Composer.

1775 ~ Birthday of Jane Austen (http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/jausten.htm), Writer.

1893 ~ World premiere of Antonin Dvorak's "New World Symphony".

1901 ~ Birthday of Margaret Mead, Anthropologist.

1917 ~ Birthday of Sir Arthur C. Clarke, Science Fiction Writer.

1944 ~ The Battle of the Bulge (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/17/newsid_3515000/3515538.stm) began.

1944 ~ A V-2 rocket hit the Rex Cinema (http://www.v2rocket.com/start/chapters/antwerp.html) in Antwerp killing 567 people.

1950 ~ President Truman proclaimed a national state of emergency (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1216.html#article) in order to fight “Communist imperialism”.

1998 ~ President Clinton ordered a sustained series of air strikes against Iraq by American and British forces in response to Saddam Hussein's continued defiance of UN weapons inspectors.

2007 ~ Death of Dan Fogelberg (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qRRp-CnkDc), Singer & Songwriter.

[jseal]

1778 ~ Birthday of Sir Humphry Davy, English chemist & physicist.

1830 ~ Death of Simón Bolívar (http://www.carpenoctem.tv/military-leaders/simon-bolivar/), South American Liberator.

1843 ~ A Christmas Carol (http://www.stormfax.com/1dickens.htm), by Charles Dickens, was first published.

1903 ~ The first controlled, powered heavier-than-air flight (http://grin.hq.nasa.gov/ABSTRACTS/GPN-2002-000128.html) occurred when the Wright brothers took to the air, both of them twice at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

1961 ~ India seized Goa from Portugal. (http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/History/1960s/Goa01.html)

1969 ~ The USAF, in closing Project Blue Book (http://www.ufoevidence.org/topics/projectbluebook.htm), announced that its UFO investigations found no evidence of extraterrestrial spacecraft.

1976 ~ Birthday of Zsanett Égerházi, Hungarian-born Porn Actress.

1979 ~ Birthday of Jaimee Foxworth, mainstrean & Porn Actress.

1982 ~ ”Tootsie (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084805/)” opened in theaters.

1989 ~ The pilot episode of The Simpsons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Simpsons) aired.

[jseal]

1737 ~ Death of Antonio Stradivari (http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/strd/hd_strd.htm), Italian violin maker.

1786 ~ Birthday of Carl Maria von Weber, Composer.

1912 ~ Official presentation of the discovery of Piltdown Man (http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/piltdown.html).

1936 ~ Death of Andrija Mohorovičić (http://istrianet.org/istria/illustri/mohorovicic/), Croatian seismologist.

1957 ~ The first U.S. civilian nuclear facility to generate electricity (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1218.html#article) went online.

1989 ~ The British Labour Party (http://www.labour.org.uk/home) under Neil Kinnock dropped its policy on trade union closed shops (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/18/newsid_2538000/2538439.stm).

1996 ~ "Ebonics" was declared a language or dialect by the outgoing school board of Oakland, California, whose vote was overturned by the incoming board. The Clinton administration declared "black English" a form of slang that did not belong in the classroom (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/govt/admin/stories/riley122596.htm).

2002 ~ California Governor Grey Davis announced that the state would face a budget deficit of $35 billion, roughly double the figure reported during his reelection campaign one month earlier. The budget issue was used to support his 2003 recall from office.

2006 ~ Death of Joseph Barbera, of Hanna-Barbera, creators of The Flintstones, The Huckleberry Hound Show, The Jetsons, Scooby-Doo, The Smurfs, and Yogi Bear.

2010 ~ Governmental protests begin in Tunisia, which brought about the Arab Spring (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010-2011_Middle_East_and_North_Africa_protests)!

[jseal]

1733 ~ Benjamin Franklin first published Poor Richard's Almanack.

1848 ~ Death of Emily Brontë (http://www.classicreader.com/author/13/about/), Author.

1888 ~ Birthday of Fritz Reiner, Conductor.

1906 ~ Birthday of Leonid Brezhnev, Soviet politician.

1971 ~ Birthday of Tiffany Towers, Porn Actress (http://www.tnaflix.com/view_video.php?viewkey=ca822d98e539754dae9c).

1979 ~ ”Kramer vs. Kramer (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079417/)”, starring Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep, opened in theaters.

1984 ~ The UK and People's Republic of China signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1219.html#article), which returned Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.

1997 ~ "Titanic (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120338/)" the highest-grossing movie of all-time, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, opened in theaters.

1988 ~ The House of Representatives passed articles of impeachment against President Clinton (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/housevote/housevote.htm) over the Lewinsky scandal.

2003 ~ Libya announced that it would begin to destroy its weapons of mass destruction (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/19/newsid_4002000/4002441.stm).

[jseal]

1833 ~ Birthday of Samuel Mudd (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USACWmudd.htm), physician, convicted conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

1860 ~ South Carolina became the first state to secede (http://www.civilwarhome.com/scordinance.htm) from the US.

1951 ~ Birthday of Joey Silvera (http://www.joeysilvera.com/en), Porn Actor and director.

1968 ~ Death of John Steinbeck (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1962/steinbeck-bio.html), awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, 1962.

1989 ~ American troops invaded Panama to remove dictator Manuel Noriega (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1220.html#article).

1991 ~ Paul Keating became the 24th Prime Minister of Australia.

1995 ~ IFOR (Implementation Force), a NATO-led multinational force, began peacekeeping in Bosnia. The task of IFOR was transfered to SFOR (Stabilisation Force) on 21-DEC-96, and transfered to EUFOR (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXbHkkD1jh4) on 02-DEC-05.

1996 ~ Death of Carl Sagan (http://www.planetary.org/about/founders/carl_sagan.html), Astronomer & Writer.

1999 ~ Vermont's Supreme Court ruled that homosexual couples are entitled to the same benefits and protections as married heterosexual couples.

1999 ~ Macau was returned to the People's Republic of China by Portugal.

[jseal]

1898 ~ Marie and Pierre Curie discovered radium (http://nobelprize.org/physics/articles/curie/).

1913 ~ The first crossword puzzle (http://www.crosswordtournament.com/more/wynne.html) was published, in the New York World.

1918 ~ Birthday of Kurt Waldheim, U.N. Secretary-General & Federal President of Austria.

1937 ~ Premiere of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the world's first full-length animated feature.

1940 ~ Death of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Writer.

1945 ~ Death of George S. Patton (http://www.generalpatton.com/quotes/index.html), U.S. General.

1958 ~ Charles de Gaulle became the first leader of the Fifth Republic (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/21/newsid_3285000/3285109.stm).

1979 ~ Apollo 8 (http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo8info.html) was launched on a mission to orbit the moon.

1988 ~ A terrorist bomb exploded in Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1221.html#article) killing 270, including 11 on the ground.

1990 ~ Death of Clarence Johnson (http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/100years/stories/johnson.html), Aeronautical engineer, led the design of the Lockheed U-2 (http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/100years/stories/u2.html) and Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird (http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/100years/stories/blackbird.html).

[jseal]

1858 ~ Birthday of Giacomo Puccini, Composer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3kpbPv2vPo).

1864 ~ Savannah, Georgia fell to the Union (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1222.html#article) army of General Sherman.

1942 ~ Adolf Hitler signed the order to develop the V-2 (Vergeltungswaffe 2 (http://www.v2rocket.com/index.html))rocket as a weapon.

1944 ~ Battle of the Bulge – German troops under the command of General Heinrich Freiherr von Lüttwitz demand the surrender of U.S. troops at Bastogne, Belgium, prompting the famous one word reply by General Anthony McAuliffe: "Nuts!"

1949 ~ Birthday of Maurice & Robin Gibb, English musicianS (The Bee Gees) .

1989 ~ Berlin's Brandenburg Gate re-opened (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/22/newsid_2539000/2539765.stm), ending the division of East and West Germany.

1989 ~ Death of Samuel Beckett, Irish author, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate.

2001 ~ The Afghan Northern Alliance (http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/northern_alliance.htm), handed over power in Afghanistan to the government headed by President Hamid Karzai.

2001 ~ Richard Reid (http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/01/31/reid.transcript/) tried to destroy a passenger airliner by igniting explosives hidden in his shoes.

2001 ~ Cc the cat (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/02/0214_021402copycat.html), the first cloned pet, was born.

[jseal]

1783 ~ George Washington resigned as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army at the Maryland State House in Annapolis, Maryland.

1790 ~ Birthday of Jean François Champollion, Egyptologist. He deciphered the Rosetta Stone (http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/writing/rosetta.html).

1823 ~ “A Visit From St. Nicholas (http://holyjoe.net/poetry/moore.htm)”, by Clement Clarke Moore, was first published.

1834 ~ Death of Thomas Malthus (http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/malthus.html), Demographer and Economist.

1947 ~ The transistor was first demonstrated (http://www.pbs.org/transistor/background1/events/miraclemo.html) at Bell Laboratories.

1953 ~ Death of Lavrenty Beria, Soviet Communist leader.

1956 ~ British and French forces withdrawn from Suez (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/23/newsid_3294000/3294305.stm), Egypt.

1975 ~ Birthday of Sky Lopez, Porn Actress.

1986 ~ Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, completed the first non-stop, around-the-world flight without refueling (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1223.html#article).


Feastdays & Holidays

Fans of Seinfeld - Festivus (http://www.festivusbook.com/) (for the restofus) held.

[jseal]

1818 ~ "Silent Night (http://www.carols.org.uk/silent_night.htm)" composed by Franz Xaver Gruber.

1873 ~ Death of Johns Hopkins (http://www.library.jhu.edu/collections/specialcollections/archives/jacob.html/), Baltimore philanthropist and businessman.

1910 ~ Birthday of Fritz Leiber, Science Fiction writer.

1914 ~ World War I: The "Christmas truce (http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/christmastruce.htm)" begins.

1914 ~ Death of John Muir, Naturalist.

1951 ~ Gian Carlo Menotti's "Amahl and the Night Visitors (http://www.nauticom.net/www/planet/files/singersAmahl1.htm)", the first opera written specifically for TV, was first broadcast

1957 ~ Birthday of Hamid Karzai, first democratically elected President of Afghanistan.

1968 ~ The Apollo 8 astronauts, orbiting the moon (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/24/newsid_4083000/4083587.stm), read passages from the Old Testament Book of Genesis during a Christmas Eve TV broadcast.

1974 ~ Cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin (http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/cdview?pi=nla.pic-vn3110758), Australia.

1992 ~ President Bush pardoned 6 people involved in the Iran-Contra scandal (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1224.html#article).

[jseal]

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

1066 ~ Coronation of William the Conqueror (http://www.britannia.com/history/monarchs/mon22.html) as king of England, at Westminster Abbey (http://www.westminster-abbey.org/), London.

1223 ~ Saint Francis of Assisi assembled the first Nativity scene (http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0238.html).

1868 ~ President Johnson granted unconditional pardon to all Civil War Confederate soldiers.

1938 ~ Birthday of Karel Čapek, Czech author, inventor of the word robot.

1974 ~ Cyclone Tracy (http://artsandmuseums.nt.gov.au/northern-territory-library/the-territorys-story/cyclone_tracy) devastated Darwin, Northern Territory Australia.

1977 ~ Death of Charlie Chaplin (http://www.charliechaplin.com/en/infos), Entertainer.

1977 ~ Birthday of Priya Rai (http://www.priyaanjalirai.com/v5/?nats=NTkzMS4xNC43Ni43Ni4xMTUuMC4wLjAuMA), Porn Actress.

1989 ~ Death of Nicolae Ceauşescu (http://www.ceausescu.org/), Romanian dictator (executed).

1991 ~ Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev went on TV to announce his resignation (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1225.html#article) as the eighth and final leader of the Soviet Union (the union itself is dissolved the next day).


Feastdays & Holidays

The Nativity of Jesus (http://www.christmasarchives.com/quran.html).

[jseal]

1610 ~ Elizabeth Bathory (http://www.abacom.com/~jkrause/bathory.html)'s crimes were uncovered.

1791 ~ Birthday of Charles Babbage, Mathematician and designer of computing machines.

1890 ~ Death of Heinrich Schliemann, German archaeologist.

1893 ~ Birthday of Mao Zedong (http://www.china.org.cn/english/Life/52253.htm), Chinese Politician.

1941 ~ Winston Churchill became the first British prime minister to address a joint session of the U.S. Congress (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1226.html#article).

1948 ~ Cardinal Mindszenty arrested in Hungary.

1957 ~ Birthday of Mike South (http://www.mikesouth.com/), Porn Actor and Director.

1966 ~ The first Kwanzaa (http://www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org/origins1.shtml) was celebrated.

1991 ~ Supreme Soviet meets and formally dissolved the USSR (http://www.marxists.org/history/ussr/index.htm).

2004 ~ A tsunami triggered by an earthquake beneath the Indian Ocean (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/26/newsid_4631000/4631713.stm) left more than 216,000 people dead or missing, mostly in southern Asia.

Feastdays & Holidays

Boxing Day (http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/boxingday.asp).

[jseal]

1571 ~ Birthday of Johannes Kepler (http://www.space.com/15787-johannes-kepler.html), astronomer.

1822 ~ Birthday of Louis Pasteur (http://php.pasteur.net/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=14), Scientist.

1831 ~ Charles Darwin (http://www.aboutdarwin.com/) embarked on his journey aboard the HMS Beagle.

1871 ~ The world's first cat show was held at the Crystal Palace in London.

1932 ~ Radio City Music Hall opened in New York City.

1945 ~ The World Bank (http://www.worldbank.org/) was created with an agreement signed by 28 nations.

1945 ~ Queen Juliana of the Netherlands granted Indonesia (http://www.indonesia.travel/) sovereignty.

1979 ~ The Soviet Union invaded the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.

1985 ~ Naturalist Dian Fossey (http://gorillafund.org/page.aspx?pid=379) was found murdered in Rwanda.

2001 ~ The U.S. announced plans to hold Taliban and al-Qaeda prisoners at Guantanamo Bay (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/guantanamo-bay), Cuba.

[jseal]

1065 ~ Westminster Abbey (http://www.castles-abbeys.co.uk/Westminster-Abbey.html) consecrated.

1869 ~ William F. Semple patented chewing gum.

1895 ~ The Lumiere Brothers gave birth to Cinema at the Grand Cafe in Paris.

1937 ~ Death of Maurice Ravel (http://www.maurice-ravel.net/), French composer.

1951 ~ The Peak District (http://www.cressbrook.co.uk/visits/) became the UK’s first National Park.

1969 ~ Birthday of Linus Torvalds (http://www.linfo.org/linus.html), Benevolent Dictator for Life of Linux.

1970 ~ Birthday of Francesca Le (http://www.francescalive.com/tour.html), Porn Actress.

1973 ~ Alexander Solzhenitsyn (http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1970/solzhenitsyn-bio.html) published Gulag Archipelago.

1989 ~ Death of Hermann Oberth (http://www.nso.lt/history/hermann.htm), German physicist.

2010 ~ The Arab Spring began with popular protests begin in Algeria against the government.

[jseal]

1170 ~ Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered by knights acting under the orders of Henry II.

1851 ~ The first Young Men's Christian Association (http://ymca.net/history) (YMCA) in the U.S. opened in Boston.

1890 ~ Defeat at the Battle of Wounded Knee (http://www.lastoftheindependents.com/wounded.htm) effectively ended American Indian resistance to European settlement of the U.S.

1916 ~ Death of Grigori Rasputin, Russian monk.

1937 ~ The Constitution of Ireland, changing the Irish Free State into Eire (http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?groupid=322&HistoryID=aa31), went into effect.

1940 ~ The Luftwaffe began dropping incendiary bombs on London (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1229.html#article).

1951 ~ Birthday of Stanley Tookie Williams (http://crime.about.com/od/deathrow/a/tookie2.htm), Gang Leader, Author, & Racist Murderer.

1975 ~ The UK's Sex Discrimination Act (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/29/newsid_2547000/2547249.stm) went into effect.

1845 ~ Birthday of Alexis Amore (http://www.clubalexisamore.com/home.html), Peruvian Porn Actress.

1989 ~ Vaclav Havel was elected president of Czechoslovakia.

[jseal]

1853 ~ The U.S. bought 45,000 sq miles of land from Mexico in the Gadsden Purchase.

1879 ~ The Pirates of Penzance (http://math.boisestate.edu/gas/pirates/html/index.html) was first performed.

1911 ~ Sun Yat-sen (http://acc6.its.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~phalsall/texts/sunyat.html) was elected the first president of the Republic of China.

1922 ~ The Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was formed (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ussr-established) by the confederation of Russia, Byelorussia, Ukraine, and Transcaucasian Federation.

1924 ~ Edwin Hubble (http://www.edwinhubble.com/hubble_bio_001.htm) announced the existence of other galaxies.

1937 ~ Birthday of Gordon Banks, the best Goalkeeper ever.

1973 ~ Birthday of Nacho Vidal (http://www.nachovidalhardcore.com/en?s=1&utm_source=211350&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=nacho), Spanish Porn Actor.

1981 ~ Birthday of Haley Paige (http://www.haleyxxx.com/haley_paige_bio.asp), Porn Actress.

1993 ~ Israel and the Vatican established diplomatic relations.

2006 ~ Saddam Hussein hanged (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAErkIORcQQ) for crimes committed during his brutal reign.

[jseal]

1879 ~ Thomas Edison gave the first public demonstration of an electric incandescent lamp.

1880 ~ Birthday of George Marshall, U.S. Secretary of State, recipient of 1953 Nobel Peace Prize.

1937 ~ Birthday of Sir Anthony Hopkins, Actor.

1943 ~ Birthday of Sir Ben Kingsley (http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/nov/09/ben-kingsley-interview-rosanna-greenstreet), Actor.

1960 ~ The farthing coin (http://www.treasurerealm.com/coinpapers/england/farthing.html) ceased to be legal tender.

1964 ~ One of my boyhood heroes, Donald Campbell set the world water speed record (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/31/newsid_3243000/3243010.stm), the only man to set both the world land and water speed records in the same year.

1980 ~ Death of Marshall McLuhan (http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/mcluhan.html), Canadian writer.

1995 ~ The last new Calvin and Hobbes (http://calvinethobbes.free.fr/english/c_der.html) cartoon strip was published.

1999 ~ Control of the Panama Canal and the Panama Canal Zone (http://www.pancanal.com/eng/index.html) passed to Panama from the U.S.A.

1999 ~ Russian President Boris Yeltsin resigned (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/31/newsid_4102000/4102107.stm). Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was designated acting president.

[Oldfart]

I have one of these coins. They were legal tender in Oz, but the numbers in circulation were so low that we used the Brit coin. It was not cost-effective to mint our own. I can't remember how mine came into my possession.

[jseal]

1752 ~ Birthday of Betsy Ross, American seamstress.

1801 ~ Discovery of 1 Ceres (http://www.solarviews.com/eng/ceres.htm), first known asteroid.

1879 ~ Birthday of E. M. Forster (http://musicandmeaning.com/forster/whois.html), English novelist.

1895 ~ Birthday of J. Edgar Hoover, FBI director.

1901 ~ Establishment of the Commonwealth of Australia (Federation).

1983 ~ The ARPANET (http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa091598.htm) officially changed to use the Internet Protocol, creating the Internet.

1985 ~ The Internet's Domain Name System (http://www.livinginternet.com/i/iw_dns_history.htm) created.

1995 ~ The World Trade Organization (http://www.wto.int/) came into existence.

1997 ~ Kofi Annan was appointed Secretary General of the United Nations.

2002 ~ Euro banknotes and coins (http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/euro/cash/index_en.htm) became legal tender.

[jseal]

1492 ~ The end of the Reconquista: Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, surrenders.

1727 ~ Birthday of James Wolfe (http://www.militaryheritage.com/wolfe.htm), British general in French and Indian War.

1872 ~ Brigham Young (http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/s_z/young.htm) was arrested for bigamy (25 wives).

1882 ~ John D. Rockefeller united his oil holdings into the Standard Oil trust (http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h957.html).

1904 ~ Death of James Longstreet (http://www.civilwarhome.com/longbio.htm), Confederate general.

1905 ~ The Russian fleet surrender at Port Arthur, China brought the Russo-Japanese War to a close (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0102.html#article).

1920 ~ Birthday of Isaac Asimov (http://www.asimovonline.com/), Russian-born American science fiction author.

1929 ~ Canada and the United States agreed on a plan to preserve Niagara Falls.

1994 ~ Death of Dixy Lee Ray. She had been the governor of Washington State & she chaired the Atomic Energy Commission.

1996 ~ U.S. peacekeepers arrive in Bosnia (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/2/newsid_2547000/2547285.stm).

[jseal]

106 BC ~ Birthday of Cicero (http://www.iep.utm.edu/c/cicero.htm), Roman Statesman & Philosopher.

1521 ~ Pope Leo X excommunicated Martin Luther (http://www.pbs.org/empires/martinluther/).

1795 ~ Birthday of Josiah Wedgwood (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/REwedgwood.htm), British potter.

1861 ~ Delaware voted to not secede from the United States.

1892 ~ Birthday of J. R. R. Tolkien (http://www.tolkiensociety.org/index.html), South African-born Writer (http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings) & Philologist.

1956 ~ Birthday of Mel Gibson, Australian Actor & Director.

1977 ~ Apple Computer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc.) was incorporated.

1979 ~ Death of Conrad Hilton, American hotelier.

1959 ~ Alaska was admitted as the 49th U.S. state (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0103.html#article).

1993 ~ Presidents George Bush and Boris Yeltsin (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/3/newsid_4114000/4114673.stm) signed the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in Moscow. (START).

[jseal]

1785 ~ Birthday of Jakob Grimm, German philologist, elder half of the Grimm Brothers (http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm.html).

1948 ~ Burma gained its independence from the UK.

1958 ~ Sputnik 1 burned up on reentry into Earth's atmosphere (launched 4 October, 1957).

1960 ~ Death of Albert Camus, French Philosopher & Writer.

1961 ~ Death of Erwin Schrödinger (http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/1933/schrodinger-bio.html), Austrian Physicist, awarderd the Nobel Prize in Physics 1933.

1965 ~ Death of T.S. Eliot (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1948/eliot-bio.html), awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature 1948.

1965 ~ In his State of the Union address, President Johnson outlined his ''Great Society'' goals (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0104.html#article).

1967 ~ Donald Campbell died (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/4/newsid_2728000/2728987.stm) while trying to break the water speed record.

1980 ~ Birthday of Bobbi Eden (http://www.bobbiedenlive.com/tour.html), Dutch Porn Actress.

2004 ~ The first of two NASA Mars Rovers, Spirit, landed successfully on Mars (http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/newsroom/pressreleases/20040104a.html).

[jseal]

1914 ~ Ford Motor Company (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0105.html#article) announced a $10,000,000 employee give away, and the eight-hour workday.

1929 ~ Birthday of Walter Mondale, American Politician

1933 ~ Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge (http://goldengatebridge.org/research/dates.php) began in San Francisco Bay.

1952 ~ PM Churchill began his last visit to the U.S. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/5/newsid_3304000/3304505.stm)

1970 ~ Death of Max Born (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1954/born-bio.html), German physicist, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1954.

1972 ~ President Nixon funded the Space Shuttle (http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/President_Nixon's_Announcement_on_the_Development_of_the_Space_Shuttle) program development .

1981 ~ Death of Harold C. Urey (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1934/urey-bio.html), American chemist, awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1934.

1997 ~ Withdrawal of Russian forces from Chechnya.

2003 ~ Death of Roy Jenkins, British Politician.

2005 ~ Eris (http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~mbrown/planetlila/), the largest known dwarf planet in the solar system, was discovered using images taken in 2003.

[jseal]

1822 ~ Birthday of Heinrich Schliemann, Archaeologist.

1838 ~ Samuel Morse first publicly demonstrated his telegraph, in Morristown, NJ.

1884 ~ Death of Gregor Mendel (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10180b.htm), the father of genetics.

1918 ~ Death of Georg Cantor, German mathematician.

1942 ~ The Pan American Airways “Pacific Clipper (http://www.flyingclippers.com/panam.html)” returned to New York after making the first round-the-world trip by a commercial airplane.

1946 ~ William Joyce (http://www.heretical.com/British/joyce.html) (Lord Haw-Haw) hanged for treason.

1993 ~ Death of Rudolf Nureyev (http://www.nureyev.org/biographie_russie.php), Russian ballet dancer.

1993 ~ Death of Dizzy Gillespie, jazz trumpet player.

1994 ~ Figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was attacked (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/6/newsid_4095000/4095661.stm) at Cobo Arena in Detroit. Four men, including the ex-husband of Kerrigan's rival, Tonya Harding, were later sentenced to prison.

2006 ~ Death of Lou Rawls, Singer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2ijL2tljdI&playnext=1&list=AL94UKMTqg-9B8BR41wMU7CYQinZ1zjtAO).


Feastdays & Holidays

Latin Christianity - Epiphany (http://www.cresourcei.org/cyepiph.html).

[jseal]

1610 ~ The astronomer Galileo Galilei sighted the four moons of Jupiter which are now known as the “Galilean moons (http://www.solarviews.com/eng/galdisc.htm)”.

1899 ~ Birthday of Francis Poulenc, French composer.

1916 ~ Birthday of Paul Keres (http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=21922), Estonian chess player.

1922 ~ Birthday of Jean-Pierre Rampal, French flutist.

1943 ~ Death of Nikola Tesla (http://www.teslasociety.com/biography.htm), Inventor & Electrical Engineer.

1953 ~ President Truman, in his State of the Union address, announced that the U.S. had developed a hydrogen bomb (http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Library/Teller.html).

1979 ~ Vietnamese forces captured Phnom Penh (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0107.html#article), the Cambodian capital, overthrowing the Khmer Rouge government.

1980 ~ The Carter Administration authorized giving a $1.5 billion loan to bail out the Chrysler Corporation (http://www.chrysler.com/en/).

1990 ~ The Leaning Tower of Pisa (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/pisa/) was closed to the public.

1999 ~ President Clinton's impeachment trial began in the Senate. (He was later acquitted on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.)

[jseal]

1642 ~ Death of Galileo Galilei (http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Galileo.html), Astronomer.

1918 ~ President Wilson announced his "Fourteen Points (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0108.html#article)" for the aftermath of World War I.

1925 ~ Birthday of Gerald Durrell (http://www.durrell.org/about/gerald-durrell), Naturalist & Writer.

1942 ~ Birthday of Stephen Hawking (http://www.hawking.org.uk/about-stephen.html), English theoretical physicist.

1958 ~ Bobby Fischer (http://www.bobby-fischer.net/Bobby_Fischer_Biography.html) won the U.S. Chess Championship.

1981 ~ The Trans-en-Provence UFO (http://www.ufoevidence.org/cases/case110.htm) case.

1983 ~ Birthday of Kim Jong-un, the supreme leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

1994 ~ Valeri Polyakov (http://www.nmspacemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.php?id=132) began his record setting 437 days in space.

1996 ~ Death of Francois Mitterrand, French president.

2002 ~ President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act into law.

[jseal]

1839 ~ The Daguerreotype photography (http://www.daguerre.org/home.php) process publicly demonstrated.

1861 ~ The "Star of the West" was fired upon as it attempted to deliver supplies to Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. This was the "Casus belli" of the American Civil War.

1903 ~ Hallam Tennyson, son of the poet Alfred Tennyson, became the second Governor-General of Australia.

1913 ~ Birthday of Richard Nixon (http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/richardnixon), U.S. President.

1941 ~ Birthday of Joan Baez (http://www.joanbaez.com/), Singer & Activist.

1951 ~ United Nations headquarters (http://visit.un.org/wcm/content/) officially opened.

1951 ~ Birthday of Crystal Gayle, Singer, songwriter and producer.

1968 ~ The Surveyor 7 space probe (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0109.html#article) made a soft landing on the moon,.

2005 ~ Mahmoud Abbas won (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/9/newsid_4514000/4514342.stm) the election for a successor to Yasser Arafat.

2007 ~ Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveils the original IPhone (http://mashable.com/2012/09/12/watch-steve-jobs-announce-the-original-iphone/).

[jseal]

1776 ~ Thomas Paine published Common Sense (http://www.ushistory.org/paine/commonsense/).

1862 ~ Death of Samuel Colt (http://www.coltsmfg.com/Company/History.aspx), Inventor.

1927 ~ The film Metropolis (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j92E9J8uafc) by Fritz Lang premiered.

1929 ~ Tintin, a comic book character created by Hergé, made his debut.

1945 ~ Birthday of Rod Stewart (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfTGxpTdyN0&feature=related), English Rocker.

1946 ~ The first General Assembly of the United Nations (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0110.html#article) convened in London.

1949 ~ Birthday of Linda Lovelace (http://web.archive.org/web/20060205122958/completelindalovelace.com/html/intro.html), Pornographic Actress.

1951 ~ Death of Sinclair Lewis, Author.

1994 ~ Lorena Bobbitt went on trial (http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/sexual_assault/severed_penis/) for cutting off the penis of her husband, John.

2003 ~ North Korea withdrew from a global treaty barring it from making nuclear weapons.

[jseal]

1693 ~ Eruption of Mt. Etna (http://www.volcanolive.com/etna.html).

1787 ~ William Herschel discovered the first two moons of Uranus, Titania & Oberon (http://www.solarviews.com/eng/uranus.htm).

1801 ~ Death of Domenico Cimarosa, Italian Composer.

1843 ~ Death of Francis Scott Key, Lawyer.

1935 ~ Amelia Earhart (http://www.ameliaearhart.com/about/bio.html) began a trip from Honolulu to Oakland, Calif., becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0111.html#article).

1938 ~ Birthday of Arthur Scargill (http://www.minersadvice.co.uk/yourview21_scargill_fantasy.htm), Union Leader.

1962 ~ An avalanche in Peru (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/11/newsid_3306000/3306665.stm) killed some 4,000 people.

1973 ~ American League baseball teams voted to adopt the designated-hitter rule on a trial basis.

1980 ~ Nigel Short (http://www.chessgames.com/player/nigel_short.html) became the youngest chess player, at 14 years old, to be awarded the degree of International Master.

2008 ~ Death of Sir Edmund Hillary, the 1st man to reach the top of Mount Everest (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/everest/).

[dicksbro]

1843 ~ Death of Francis Scott Key, Lawyer.
Less known as a lawyer ... better known as the man who wrote a poem that became the lyrics to the Star-Spangled banner during the bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore. (The tune, chosen later, was actually an old English drinking song ... or so I understand. :) )

It's always surprised me that a lot of folks I know born and bred in the Midwest don't really know about Ft. McHenry or Francis Scott Key. Kind of sad, I think. :shrug:

[jseal]

1893 ~ Birthday of Hermann Göring (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWgoring.htm), Nazi official.

1915 ~ The U.S. House of Representatives defeated (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0112.html#article) a proposal to give women the right to vote.

1969 ~ On a day that will be long remembered in infamy, Joe Namath and the New York Jets defeated the Baltimore Colts 16-7 in Super Bowl III (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eMy_HzueMU), and became the first team from the American Football League to win American Football's championship.

1976 ~ Death of Agatha Christie, Mystery Writer.

1991 ~ U.S. Congress authorized the use of military force (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/12/newsid_4534000/4534588.stm) to drive Iraq out of Kuwait.

1990 ~ Birthday of Sergey Karjakin, Ukrainian chess Grandmaster.

1992 ~ In the film ”2001: A Space Odyssey”, the computer HAL 9000 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/quotes) was activated on this date.

2003 ~ Death of Maurice Gibb (http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/72712/bee-gees-maurice-gibb-dies-at-53), Bee Gee.

2003 ~ Death of Leopoldo Galtieri, Dictator of Argentina.

2006 ~ A stampede broke out during the Hajj pilgrimage (http://www.islam101.com/hajj/index.htm) in Saudi Arabia, killing 363 people.

[jseal]

1898 ~ Émile Zola's J'accuse (http://www.law.uga.edu/dwilkes_more/his9_jaccuse.html) exposes the Dreyfus affair.

1929 ~ Death of Wyatt Earp.

1939 ~ The Black Friday (http://www.abc.net.au/blackfriday/home/default.htm) bush fires burn 20,000 square kilometres in Australia, killing 71 people.

1941 ~ Death of James Joyce, Irish novelist (Dubliners, Ulysses, Finnegans Wake).

1942 ~ The United States began Japanese American internment (http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/anthropology74/index.htm).

1978 ~ Death of Hubert H. Humphrey (http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=h000953), U.S. Vice President & Minnesota Senator.

1990 ~ Douglas Wilder took office as the first elected African American governor (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0113.html#article).

1992 ~ Japan apologized for forcing tens of thousands of Korean women to serve as sex slaves (http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~soh/cw-links.htm) for Japanese soldiers during World War II.

1993 ~ American, British and French (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/13/newsid_2554000/2554275.stm) fighter jets bomb Iraq.

2009 ~ Death of Patrick McGoohan, Actor (The Prisoner).

[jseal]

2005 ~ The Huygens probe (http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm) landed on Saturn's moon Titan.

Hard to believe it's been 9 years already. :faint:

What a remarkable mission! :thumbs:

[jseal]

1892 ~ James Naismith published the rules for basketball.

1908 ~ Birthday of Edward Teller (http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/tel0bio-1), Physicist.

1918 ~ Birth of Gamal Abdal Nasser, President of Egypt.

1929 ~ Birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. (http://nobelprize.org/peace/laureates/1964/king-bio.html), Civil Rights leader, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 1964.

1953 ~ East German authorities began a purge of senior Jewish officials (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/15/newsid_4094000/4094899.stm).

1967 ~ The first Super Bowl (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0115.html#article) was played.

1972 ~ Birthday of Kobe Tai (http://www.kobetai.com/), Porn actress.

1973 ~ President Nixon announced the suspension of all U.S. offensive action in North Vietnam, citing progress in peace negotiations.

1989 ~ Birthday of Tasha Reign (http://www.tashareign.com/tashareign.php), Porn actress.

2001 ~ Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia), a free encyclopedia, formally put online.

[jseal]

1605 ~ The first edition of “Don Quixote (http://www.quixote-quest.org/op_ed_parentpg.html)” by Miguel de Cervantes was published in Madrid.

1794 ~ Death of Edward Gibbon, Historian.

1909 ~ Ernest Shackleton's expedition (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/shackleton/surviving/quest.html) found the magnetic South Pole.

1920 ~ Prohibition began in the U.S. (http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/prohibition/) as the 18th Amendment to the Constitution took effect.

1923 ~ Birthday of Dian Fossey, American zoologist.

1970 ~ Muammar al-Qaddafi (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/16/newsid_3359000/3359461.stm) was proclaimed premier of Libya.

1977 ~ The Marx Brothers were inducted into the Motion Picture Hall of Fame (http://www.filmfame.com/).

1979 ~ The Shah of Iran went into exile in Egypt.

1991 ~ The White House announced the start of Operation Desert Storm (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0116.html#article).

2003 ~ The Space Shuttle Columbia took off on its final mission, STS-107 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVoHb_aqw_o).

[jseal]

1893 ~ Hawaii's monarchy was overthrown when Queen Liliuokalani was forced to abdicate (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0117.html#article).

1929 ~ Popeye the Sailor Man (http://www.math.pitt.edu/~bard/bardware/popeye/popeye.html) first appeared in the "Thimble Theatre" comic strip.

1942 ~ Birthday of Muhammad Ali (http://www.ali.com/), the world's greatest heavyweight Boxer.

1964 ~ Death of T.H. White, author.

1977 ~ Convicted murderer Gary Gilmore was executed (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/17/newsid_2530000/2530413.stm) at Utah State Prison in the first U.S. execution in a decade.

1984 ~ Birthday of Sophie Dee (http://www.clubsophiedee.com/?page=Home), Porn Actress.

1995 ~ A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck the city of Kobe, Japan; more than 6,000 people were killed.

1997 ~ Death of Clyde Tombaugh (http://www.klx.com/clyde/), discoverer of Pluto.

2001 ~ Faced with an electricity crisis, California used rolling blackouts to cut off power to hundreds of thousands of people.

2008 ~ Death of Bobby Fischer (http://www.bobby-fischer.net/), chess player extraordinaire.

[BIBI]

U.S. 1938 U.S.A. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Thursday, 4th February, 1938 : The animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released and had major success in the box-office, making more money than any other motion picture up till that point .

U.S.
1959 U.S.A. Barbie Doll Wednesday, 4th February, 1959 : Today was the first day of the invention of the Barbie Doll. This doll was created by Ruth Handler, who was one of the founders of the Mattel Company. Barbie was named after Ruth’s daughter. Later on, when the Ken doll was made, it was named after Ruth’s son.

U.S. 1920 U.S.A. Prohibition Wednesday, Feb. 4th, 1920 : Someone had stolen 21 barrels of whiskey which was held at a Pennsylvania brewery. The person who had taken this liquor was sentenced a fine of $7,000. This particular crime had taken place during the Prohibition Era, during a time when the sale of alcohol was not allowed.
By the way, liquor licenses were still being granted during this time. However, beverages could not contain more than one-half percent of alcohol in them.

U.S. 1922 U.S.A. Lincoln / Ford Saturday, Feb. 4th, 1922 : Lincoln purchased the Ford Company for $8 million dollars on this day. During the time of this transition, Henry Ford had assumed position of president of Lincoln.

U.S. 1931 U.S.A. Banks Go Bust Wednesday, Feb. 4th, 1931 : As banks continue to close across the US when depositors ask for their deposits back, the problems continue to escalate as most small banks had large amounts invested in the stock market and with the crash of wall street in late 1929 many banks do not have sufficient funds left to meet current members deposits. Many are going into receivership with little help for investors. The government is looking at schemes to bail the banks out and help consumer confidence

U.S. 1932 U.S.A. Winter Olympics Thursday, Feb. 4th, 1932 : The first Winter Olympics was held in the United States. These games took place in Lake Placid, New York.

U.S. 1937 U.S.A. Floods Thursday, Feb. 4th, 1937 : Restrictions were lifted from flood quarantine areas on this day. People could return to these areas that were originally prohibited from entering without any further threat of disease or sickness.
A main concern regarding the possible spread of disease epidemic applied to those unregistered refugees who had not yet been immunized. They had been confined to one specific area for as long as was decided was necessary.

U.S. 1943 U.S.A. Olds Thursday, 4th February, 1943 : Ransom Eli Olds, the creator of one of the first internal combustion engine designs, received his last patent on this day. Olds was noted for creating the first automobile production line, through a company that has made cars such as the Olds Runabout.

Sri Lanka 1948 Ceylon Independence Wednesday, Feb. 4th, 1948 : Ceylon now Sri Lanka gains independence from British rule and becomes an independent dominion within the British Commonwealth.

UK 1950 UK British Atomic Scientist Saturday, Feb. 4th, 1950 : On this day a British Atomic scientist was arrested and charge of gathering information that would be useful to enemy forces. He was the holder of some of the most classified (top secret) information regarding the A-bomb. He was found out by American FBI agents, and these agents reported the info to the Scotland Yard.

U.S. 1957 U.S.A. Smith-Corona Monday, Feb. 4th, 1957 : This was the first day of the sale of Smith-Corona portable typewriters. This company had been producing typewriters since 1886, when it created the first upper and lower-case typing model.

U.S. 1964 U.S.A. Poll Tax Tuesday, 4th February, 1964 : As of this date, it was no longer legal to charge a poll tax for voting. This action was repealed upon the passing of the 24th Amendment.

Kenya 1968 Kenya Sunday, Feb. 4th, 1968 : The continued persecution of Asians in Kenya is forcing many thousands to leave the country and many are choosing Britain for their future . Kenya has introduced new tough immigration laws which only allow work permits to Kenyan Citizens.

Palestine 1969 Palestine PLO Formed Tuesday, Feb. 4th, 1969 : The Palestine Liberation Organization was founded on this day. It was an organization that was established to represent the Palestinian people while Yasir Arafat was in office.

UK 1974 UK Bombing Sunday, Feb. 4th, 1974 : A bomb believed to have been set by the IRA kills 11 including soldiers and children when the coach they were travelling in is blown up by a bomb.


U.S. 1974 U.S.A. Patricia Hearst 4th February, 1974 : Newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst is kidnapped in Berkeley, California by the Symbionese Liberation Army

Honduras 1976 Guatemala Earthquake Wednesday, 5th February, 1976: In Guatemala and Honduras a 7.5 magnitude earthquake centered about 160 km northeast of Guatemala City kills more than 22,000. The quake caused major landslides which blocked transport routes leaving food and water supplies were severely reduced. Some of the areas were without electricity and communication for up to 1 week and the main shock was followed by thousands of aftershocks, some of the larger ones causing additional loss of life and damage.

UK 1988 UK Seamen Strike Thursday, Feb. 4th, 1988 : Ferry ports in the UK are causing major congestion on roads on the south coast as British Seamen continue their strike without union backing. The strike is because of the increase of cheaper low-cost Third World crews, while making British Seamen redundant .

U.S. 1997 U.S.A. O.J. Simpson Tuesday, Feb. 4th, 1997 : A civil jury panel in Santa Monica, California had determined that O.J. Simpson was guilty of the deaths of both his ex-wife Nicole Brown-Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. He had originally been acquitted in the year 1995.

Afghanistan 1998 Afghanistan Earthquake Wednesday, Feb. 4th, 1998 : An earthquake in northern Afghanistan has left up to 4000 dead, and tens of thousands more injured or 4th homeless. The earthquake epicenter was close to the city of Rostaq in the remote province of Takhar, close to the border with Tajikistan.

Yugoslavia 2003 Yugoslavia Country Dissolved Tuesday, Feb. 4th, 2003 : Lawmakers formally dissolve Yugoslavia and replace it with a loose union of Serbia and Montenegro.

U.S. 2004 U.S.A. Gay Marriage Wednesday, Feb. 4th, 2004 : The Massachusetts high court declare that gays are entitled to get married.

U.S. 2004 U.S.A. Facebook 4th February, 2004 : Facebook, a mainstream online social network is founded by Mark Zuckerberg.

Syria 2006 Syria Danish and Norwegian Embassies Destroyed Saturday, 4th February, 2006 : Following the publishing of caricatures of the prophet Muhammad Muslim protesters torched and destroyed the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus. And in Gaza, Palestinians marched through the streets, storming European buildings and burning German and Danish flags.

United States 2007 United States U.S. generals warn against a military strike on Iran Sunday, Feb. 4th, 2007 : Three former military officers have warned against a military strike on Iran, and said that such action would have 'disastrous consequences' for the security in the Middle-east, and for coalition forces in Iraq. They agree that the crisis over Iran's nuclear program should be resolved through diplomacy, and urge Washington to start direct talks with that country. These warnings were published in Britain's Sunday Times newspaper, and signed by: Lieutenant-General Robert Gard, a former military assistant to the U.S. Defense Secretary, General Joseph Hoar, a former Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Central Command and Vice Admiral Jack Shanahan, a former Director of the Center for Defense Information.

China 2008 China Snow Storm Monday, 4th February, 2008 : China has been hit by the worst snow storms in 50 years and some of the worst affected are the poorest in China. The Chinese rural population of farmers do not have the high tech farm machinery needed to weather these type of conditions and are living very close to poverty so when a natural disaster occurs like this which ruins the crops many are forced into near starvation.

[BIBI]

February 8, 1604 - Pierre de Gua de Monts forms the de Monts Trading Company with Champlain and Gravé du Pont; Canada's First chartered company; with capital from Rouen, St. Malo and La Rochelle merchants. Paris, France

February 8, 1631 - King Charles I grants Cape Breton Island to Robert Gordon of Lochinvar and his son Robert. London, England

February 8, 1631 - King Louis XIII names Charles de La Tour Governor and Lieutenant-General of New France and Acadia; commission partly restored after peace treaty in 1632; La Tour builds Fort Ste-Marie at the mouth of the Saint John River, rich fur region. Paris, France

February 8, 1690 - Louis de Buade et de Palluau, Comte de Frontenac organizes an attack on the Mohawks to retaliate for the Lachine massacre; sends Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville with more than 160 French Canadians and 100 Iroquois warriors to Schenectady, New York; 60 people killed, 30 captured, and the village put to the torch. Schenectady, New York

February 8, 1839 - American and Canadian loggers clash in Aroostook lumber war over undefined boundary with Maine along the St. Croix River; Maine and New Brunswick call out the militia; Nova Scotia passes an appropriation for defense, and British troops are called from Halifax to guard the border; the US Congress votes $10 million to raise a force of 50,000 men if needed; a truce is struck on March 25 and the border eventually settled by the Webster-Ashburton Treaty signed signed August 9, 1842. Aroostook, New Brunswick

February 8, 1853 - Place Name - J. B. Turgeon, the Mayor of Bytown, petitions town Council to change name of Bytown to Ottawa. Ottawa, Ontario

February 8, 1853 - Oregon Territory split into Oregon and Washington Territories. Isaac Ingalls Stevens appointed governor of the latter, John P. Gaines remains as the elected governor of the former. Oregon

February 8, 1858 - Railway opens to Truro and Windsor. Halifax, Nova Scotia

February 8, 1879 - Sandford Fleming First proposes adoption of Universal Standard Time, by dividing the world into 24 equal time zones, with standard time within each zone; in lecture at the Canadian Institute in Toronto; idea adopted by North American railways four years later, and by 24 countries at a conference in 1884. Toronto, Ontario (CBC Archives)

February 8, 1887 - Hugh Nelson commissioned lieutenant-governor of British Columbia

February 8, 1895 - Daniel Greene resigns as Liberal Prime Minister of Newfoundland; replaced by former PM William Whiteway. St. John's, Newfoundland

February 8, 1905 - James Whitney takes office as Premier of Ontario, replacing George Ross; first Conservative government in Ontario since 1872. Toronto, Ontario

February 8, 1911 - Kettle Valley Railway track-laying crews westbound from Midway, BC, arrive at Rock Creek, BC.

February 8, 1913 - Last game of the NHA (National Hockey Association) played with a seven man team between the Toronto Blueshirts and the Montréal Canadiens. Toronto, Ontario

February 8, 1918 - George Eulas Foster chairs new War Trade Board. Ottawa, Ontario

February 8, 1918 - Lieutenant-Governor Roberta MacAdams becomes the First woman in the British Empire to introduce a piece of legislation. Edmonton, Alberta

February 8, 1923 - First hockey game broadcast on the radio from Toronto's Mutual Street Arena; hosted by Norman Albert; Foster Hewitt took over the job, on the Toronto Star's own radio station, CFCA, on March 22. Toronto, Ontario
February 8, 1934 - Hart House Glee Club gives its First concert in Hart House at the University of Toronto; will perform in the Hart House Sunday evening concert series until 1970; disband in 1972. Toronto, Ontario

February 8, 1936 - Hockey - Charlie Conacher notches the First successful Toronto Maple Leaf penalty shot, against the New York Rangers. Toronto, Ontario

February 8, 1943 - World War II - HMCS Regina sinks the Italian submarine Avorio in the Mediterranean. Mediterranean Sea

February 8, 1944 - World War II - Sgt Tommy Prince of the 1st Canadian Special Service Battalion successfully poses as an Italian farmer tending his crops while fixing Army communication lines as Germans troops look on.

February 8, 1945 - World War II - Battle of the Rhineland - Gen Harry Crerar leads the First Canadian Army in attacking German positions in the Rhineland area of Holland and the German Reichswald, on the west bank of the Rhine; part of Operation Veritable to February 21, a joint amphibious offensive by the 1st Canadian Army and with XXX British Corps under command
.
February 8 - World War II - Royal Winnipeg Rifles take part in Operation Veritable, the invasion of Nazi Germany.

February 8, 1948 - Fifth Winter Olympic games close at St Moritz. The RCAF Flyers defeat Switzerland 3-0 for the Gold, Ottawa's Barbara Ann Scott takes home the Gold Medal in Figure Skating, and Suzanne Morrow & Wallace Diestalmeyer win the Bronze in Pairs Figure Skating. St. Moritz, Switzerland

February 8, 1952 - Queen Elizabeth II takes the Oath of Accession to the Throne, following the death two days earlier of her father, King George the Sixth. London, England

February 8, 1958 - Lucile Wheeler of St-Jovite, Québec, wins downhill and giant slalom titles at the World Ski championships; started skiing at Mont Tremblant at age 2; 1956 won Canada's First Olympic ski medal, a bronze in the downhill. Kitzbuhel, Austria

February 8, 1959 - Hillcrest Miners' Literary and Athletic Association's hall burns down. Hillcrest, Alberta

February 8, 1959 - Music - Cantata Singers make their debut in Christ Church Cathedral, singing Bach's Mass in B-Minor; 40-voice mixed choir under Hugh McLean, founding conductor 1958-67. Vancouver, BC

February 8, 1960 - Federal-provincial conference on the Centennial backs Montréal bid for 1967 World's Fair. Montréal, Québec

February 8, 1967 - Hockey - Toronto Maple Leaf mired in their longest losing streak in team history (10 games). Toronto, Ontario

February 8, 1969 - FLQ terrorists explode bomb on McGill St. in Montréal. Montréal, Québec

February 8, 1979 - French Premier Raymond Barre visits Québec. Québec

February 8, 1980 - Former NHL president Clarence Campbell found guilty of conspiring to give Senator Louis Giguère a benefit in connection with a contract for airport duty-free shops; the Sky Shop affair. Montréal, Québec

February 8, 1983 - Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers scores all-star record four goals, all in the third period, as the Campbell Conference beats the Wales 9-3 at Nassau Coliseum. Uniondale, New York

February 8, 1984 - Canadian team attends ceremony of lighting the Olympic flame to open the 14th Olympic Winter Games in Kosevo Stadium, Sarajevo, Yugoslavia; with 1, 579 athletes representing 49 other countries. Nearly all the Olympic facilities will be destroyed during the civil war in Bosnia. Sarajevo, Bosnia

February 8, 1985 - Frank Miller becomes premier of Ontario, replacing Bill Davis after the Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership election. Toronto, Ontario

February 8, 1986 - Disaster - Nine-car VIA Rail passenger train collides head-on with a CN freight, killing 29, injuring 93. Hinton, Alberta

February 8, 1987 - Trial of Québec's Levesque sisters begins in Rome; charged with possession of heroin for the purpose of trafficking; acquitted
Feb. 12 Rome, Italy

February 8, 1990 - Daniel Lanois ends his 9-country European tour with a concert at London's Royal Festival Hall; the singer and record producer plays from his First album, Acadie; in the audience are clients and friends composer Brian Eno, U2 guitarist Dave Evans and singer Peter Gabriel. London, England

February 8, 1990 - Jean Chrétien announces he will run for the Leadership of the federal Liberal party; on resignation of John Turner Ottawa, Ontario

February 8, 1992 - Albertville Olympics - Canadian team attends opening of the 16th Winter Olympic Games in Albertville; to February 23. Canada finishes ninth in the medal count. Albertville, France

February 8, 1994 - Ottawa slashes tobacco taxes to reduce rampant cigarette smuggling; Québec, Ontario and the Maritime provinces follow; failure to control smuggling. Ottawa, Ontario

February 8, 1995 - Romeo LeBlanc sworn in as Canada's 25th Governor General; former teacher, journalist, federal Cabinet Minister; First native Acadian to hold the position. Ottawa, Ontario

February 8, 1996 - US bookstore chain Borders says it will invest in a chain of bookstores in Canada; Ottawa's Investment Review Division will block the plan in May under the cultural exemption of NAFTA. New York, New York
February 8, 1997 - Jean-Luc Brassard wins gold medal in free-style skiing at the World Championships in Nagano. Nagano, Japan

February 8, 1998 - NHL stops season until Feb. 24th to accommodate the Nagano Olympic games. North America

February 8, 1998 - Olympics - Ross Reblagliati wins the Olympic gold medal at Nagano in the first-ever Snowboarding event held at a Winter Games. Nagano, Japan

February 8, 2000 - BC government says province's film and TV production industry earned over $1 billion in 1999, ranking British Columbia third in North America after Los Angeles and New York. Victoria, BC


February 8, 2001 - Lorne Calvert becomes premier of Saskatchewan, replacing Roy Romanow

February 8, 2005 - Edmonton police chief Fred Rayner is fired after news of a police sting targeting a journalist and the chair of the city's police board comes to light. Edmonton, Alberta

February 8, 2005 - Julian Fantino is appointed Ontario's new commissioner of emergency management; former Toronto police chief

February 8, 2010 - Justice - CFB Trenton Base Commander Colonel Russell Williams charged with two counts of murder against two women and two counts of sexual assault of another two women. Belleville, Ontario

[jseal]

1840 ~ Queen Victoria (http://www.royal.gov.uk/HistoryoftheMonarchy/KingsandQueensoftheUnitedKingdom/TheHanoverians/Victoria.aspx) of the United Kingdom married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (http://www.biographybase.com/biography/Albert_of_Saxe_Coburg_Gotha.html).

1898 ~ Birthday of Bertolt Brecht, Author.

1927 ~ Birthday of Leontyne Price (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Price-Leontyn.htm), Soprano.

1933 ~ The first singing telegram was introduced by the Postal Telegram Co. in New York. Sic transit gloria mundi (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4674782.stm).

1954 ~ President Eisenhower warned against United States intervention in Vietnam.

1962 ~ Captured American spy pilot Francis Gary Powers was exchanged for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0210.html#article).

1984 ~ Birthday of Brent Everett (http://http://www.brenteverett.com/) , Canadian porn actor and director.

1996 ~ Deep Blue defeated Garry Kasparov (http://azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/33_folder/33_articles/33_kasparovibm.html) for the first time. :(

2005 ~ Death of Arthur Miller (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/miller_a.html), playwright .

2007 ~ Sen. Barack Obama announced his bid for president.

[jseal]

1650 ~ Death of René Descartes (http://www.iep.utm.edu/d/descarte.htm), Philosopher.

1898 ~ Birthday of Leó Szilárd, Physicist & Peace Activist.

1938 ~ BBC Television produced the first science fiction television program, an adaptation of the Karel Capek play R.U.R. (http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/RUR-Capek-1920.htm) (This play coined the term 'robot.')

1941 ~ Birthday of Sergio Mendes (http://sergiomendesmusic.com/about), Brazilian musician (Brazil '66).

1945 ~ President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Premier Stalin signed the Yalta Agreement (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0211.html#article).

1961 ~ The trial of Adolf Eichmann (http://www.remember.org/eichmann/) began in Jerusalem.

1979 ~ Followers of Ayatollah Khomeini seized power in Iran, after the religious leader returned to his home after his exile.

1986 ~ Death of Frank Herbert (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEWM7zIIF9c), Science Fiction author.

1990 ~ South African black activist Nelson Mandela was freed after 27 years in captivity (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/11/newsid_2539000/2539947.stm).

2011 ~ Arab Spring: Hosni Mubarak resigned as President of Egypt.

[jseal]

1809 ~ Birthday of Charles Darwin (http://www.scientificamerican.com/report/darwin/), Naturalist.

1924 ~ George Gershwin's ''Rhapsody in Blue (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U40xBSz6Dc)'' premiered in New York City.

1938 ~ Anschluss: German troops enter Austria (http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/triumph/tr-austria.htm).

1942 ~ Birthday of Ehud Barak, Prime Minister of Israel.

1976 ~ Birthday of Silvia Saint (http://www.silviasaint.com/en?s=1), Czech Porn Actress.

1984 ~ Birthday of Lolly Badcock, former Porn Actress.

1994 ~ Edvard Munch's "The Scream" was stolen (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/12/newsid_3591000/3591994.stm) from a museum in Norway.

1999 ~ The U.S. Senate voted to acquit President Clinton (http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/williamjclinton) on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.

2000 ~ Death of Charles M. Schulz (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1126.html), creator of the “Peanuts” comic strip.

2002 ~ The war crimes trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic began in The Hague.

[jseal]

1883 ~ Death of Richard Wagner, Composer.

1923 ~ Birthday of Chuck Yeager (http://www.chuckyeager.com/), pilot of first supersonic flight.

1935 ~ A jury found Bruno Hauptmann guilty (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0213.html#article) of the 1932 kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby, the son of Charles Lindbergh.

1945 ~ The RAF & USAAF created a firestorm in Dresden (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWdresden.htm), Germany which killed tens of thousands of civilians.

1960 ~ France tested its first nuclear weapon.

1974 ~ Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1970/solzhenitsyn-autobio.html), winner of the 1970 Nobel Prize in literature, was exiled from the Soviet Union.

1997 ~ Birthday of Jayden Jaymes (http://www.jaydenjaymesxxx.com/tour/index.php?nats=MC4wLjI5LjQwLjAuMC4wLjAuMA), Porn Actress.

1988 ~ Winter Olympic Games opened in Calgary (http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Feb&day=13), Alberta.

1991 ~ Hundreds of Iraqi civilians were killed when a pair of laser-guided bombs destroyed an underground facility in Baghdad (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/13/newsid_2541000/2541107.stm) identified by U.S. officials as a military installation, but which Iraqi officials said was a bomb shelter.

2002 ~ Death of Waylon Jennings, American musician.

[jseal]

1895 ~ First performance of Oscar Wilde's last play "The Importance of Being Earnest (http://www.hoboes.com/html/FireBlade/Wilde/earnest/)”.

1929 ~ The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0214.html#article) took place in a Chicago garage.

1943 ~ Death of David Hilbert, Mathematician & Physicist. Interestingly, one of his doctoral students was Emanuel Lasker, who was World Chess Champion for 27 years.

1945 ~ U.S. President Roosevelt met with King Ibn Saud (http://www.islc.net/~billychaplin/test/pic11.jpg) of Saudi Arabia aboard the USS Quincy, officially starting the US-Saudi diplomatic relationship.

1950 ~ Death of Karl Jansky, Discoverer of cosmic radio waves.

1962 ~ Birthday of Porsche Lynn (http://doiaz.com/dungeon/) , Dominatrix and Porn Actress.

1989 ~ The first of the 24 Global Positioning System satellites was placed into orbit.

1989 ~ Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini called on Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/14/newsid_2541000/2541149.stm), author of ''The Satanic Verses,'' a novel Khomeini condemned as blasphemous.

2003 ~ Death of Dolly the sheep (http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/antenna/dolly/index.asp), the world's first cloned mammal.

Feastdays & Holidays

Catholicism ~ Feast day of Saint Valentine (http://www.infoplease.com/spot/valentinesdayhistory.html).