Is this just today?? because lately I've been celebrating this day everyday

Duuuuuuuude, seriously??!!? Oooohhhhh, the possibilities.....

Today is Dec. 17th. That means that in the U.S. it's National Maple Syrup Day.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2007: Gov. Jon S. Corzine signed a measure making New Jersey the first state to abolish the death penalty in more than 40 years.

2007: The Republic of Lakotah asserted independence from the United States

2005: Anti-WTO protesters rioted in Wan Chai, Hong Kong

1983: The IRA bombed Harrods Department Store in London, killing six people.

1969: The SALT I (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaties) talks began.

1969: An estimated 50 million viewers watched singer Tiny Tim marry Miss Vicky on NBC's "Tonight Show."

1967: Prime Minister of Australia Harold Holt disappeared while swimming near Portsea, Victoria and was presumed drowned.

1957: The United States successfully launched the first Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

1933: In the first NFL championship game, the Chicago Bears defeated the New York Giants 23-21 at Wrigley Field.

1926: Antanas Smetona assumed power in Lithuania as the “1926 coup d'état” was successful.

1919: Albert Porta, an expert seismographer and meteorologist, predicted that a conjunction of six planets on this date would spell the end of the world.

1892: Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker" was first performed in St. Petersburg.

1834: The Dublin and Kingstown Railway, the first public railway on the island of Ireland, opened in Ireland.

1718: Great Britain declared war on Spain.

1577: Francis Drake set sail from Plymouth, England, on a secret mission to explore the Pacific Coast of the Americas for English Queen Elizabeth I.

1538: Pope Paul III excommunicated Henry VIII of England.

0920: Romanos I was crowned as co-emperor with the underage Emperor Constantine VII.

0546: The Ostrogoths of King Totila conquered Rome by bribing the Byzantine garrison.

Births:
1267: Go-Uda (Emperor of Japan)

1778: Sir Humphry Davy (English chemist/physicist)

1874: William Lyon Mackenzie King (Prime Minister of Canada)

1888: Alexander I (King of Yugoslavia)

Deaths:
0535: Ankan (Emperor of Japan)

1907: William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin (Irish-born physicist/mathematician/engineer)

1909: Léopold II (King of Belgium)

1933: Thubten Gyatso (Dalai Lama)


Word of the Day: pollard \POL-uhrd\
Etymology: From Middle English polle "head".
(noun)
1. A tree cut back to the trunk to encourage a dense growth of new branches. 2. An animal that has its horns or antlers removed or has shed them.
(transitive verb)
2. To cut off the top of a tree.
Usage: "Here because the sidewalks are so narrow, we pollard mulberry trees to keep them small so they don't obstruct passing buses,' Dimitris Papademas said."


Mistfox - who wonders what people put chocolate on yesterday

Today is Dec. 18th. That means that in the U.S. it's National Roast Suckling Pig Day.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2007: An earthquake of 7.2 magnitude hit the Aleutian Islands 125 miles west of Adak, Alaska.

1997: The 15-kilometer (9.3-mile) toll expressway, Tokyo Bay Aqualine bridge and tunnel that spans the narrowest gap of Tokyo Bay, opened to traffic after 31 years of studies.

1987: Larry Wall released the first version of the Perl programming language.

1969: Britain's Parliament abolished the death penalty for murder.

1966: Saturn's moon Epimetheus was discovered by Richard L. Walker.

1965: "Taste Of Honey" by Herb Alpert & Tijuana Brass was #1 on the charts.

1958: The world's first communications satellite, SCORE (Signal Communication by Orbiting Relay Equipment) was launched by the United States aboard an Atlas rocket.

1941: Japan invaded Hong Kong after British governor of Hong Kong, Mark Aitchison Young refused to surrender to Japanese forces.

1936: The first giant panda infant to reach the U.S. alive, was brought back from an expedition in Tibet by Ruth Harkness, a young Manhattan socialite.

1926: In a letter published in Nature, G.N. Lewis coined the word "photon".

1915: President Woodrow Wilson, widowed the year before, married Edith Bolling Galt.

1898: Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat set the new land speed record going 39.245 mph, in a Jeantaud electric car. This is the first recognized land speed record.

1888: Richard Wetherill and his brother in-law discovered the ancient Indian ruins of Mesa Verde.

1620: The Mayflower landed in present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts delivering 102 Pilgrims.

1271: Kublai Khan renamed his empire "Yuan", officially marking the start of the Yuan Dynasty of Mongolia and China.

Births:
1870: Saki [Hector Hugh Munro] (English writer) [The Unbearable Bassington, The Rise of the Russian Empire, The Westminster Alice]

1878: Joseph Stalin [Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin, Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili] (General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee)

1879: Paul Klee (Swiss-born painter)

1913: Willy Brandt (Chancellor of Germany)

1927: Roméo LeBlanc (Governor General of Canada)

Deaths:
1290: Magnus I (King of Sweden)

1495: Alphonso II (King of Naples)

2006: Joseph Barbera (American cartoonist) [Tom and Jerry, The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, The Smurfs, Yogi Bear]


Word of the Day: beatific \bee-uh-TIF-ik\
Etymology: From Latin beatificus, from beatus "blessed" + ficus "making"
(adjective)
1. Exaltedly happy; blissful.
2. Blessing or making exceedingly happy.
Usage: "Behind the New Age grin of beatific self-righteousness with which so many Hollywood celebrities greet the world often lurks a tantrum ready to erupt. "


Mistfox - who doesn't think she's ever had roast suckling pig

Today is Dec. 19th. That means that in the U.S. it's Oatmeal Muffin Day.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2007: Lee Myung-bak was elected President of South Korea with 50% of the vote, defeating rivals Chung Dong-young and Lee Hoi-chang.

2003: Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi agreed to halt his nation's drive to develop nuclear and chemical weapons.

2001: Riots erupted in Buenos Aires after Domingo Cavallo's corralito measures restricted the withdrawal of cash from bank deposits.

1995: The United States Government restored federal recognition to the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi Indian tribe.

1950: Rose Marie Reid of Los Angeles, California, received a U.S. patent for a one-piece bathing suit "embodying a novel construction for causing it to snugly fit the body of a wearer in a flattering manner," using elastic fabric.

1941: Adolf Hitler became Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the German Army.

1932: BBC World Service began broadcasting as the BBC Empire Service

1924: The last Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost was sold in London, England.

1920: King Constantine I was restored as King of the Hellenes after the death of his son Alexander I of Greece and a plebiscite.

1871: Albert L. Jones patented corrugated paper, which could be used to make boxes.

1863: Frederick Walton of London patented Linoleum.

1776: Thomas Paine published his first "American Crisis" essay, writing: "These are the times that try men's souls."

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

0324: Licinius abdicated his position as Roman Emperor.

Births:
1683: Philip V (King of Spain)

1944: Richard Leakey (Kenyan paleontologist/conservationist/politician)

Deaths:
1737: James Sobieski (Crown Prince of Poland)

1915: Alois Alzheimer (German neuroscientist)

1986: V. C. [Cleo Virginia] Andrews (American author) [Flowers in the Attic, Dark Angel] Any book in the Cutler series and beyond were written by ghostwriter Andrew Neiderman.

1998: Masaru Ibuka (Japanese electronics pioneer) Co-founded a small post-war radio-repair company that grew into the giant Sony Corporation.


Word of the Day: cached \kasht\
Etymology: From French Canadian trappers' slang, "hiding place for stores" (c.1669), from French cacher "conceal," from Vulgar Latin coacticare "store up, collect, compress," from Latin coactare "constrain," from cogere "to collect"
(adjective)
1. Stored; hidden.
2. In computing, stored in a part of memory used as a cache.
Usage: "I switch on the Garmin to find my first way point, where I've cached a 2-gallon bag of water. The device's little floating arrow guides me to within 3 feet of the rock under which I hid it."


Mistfox - who wouldn't have minded an oatmeal muffin for breakfast

Today is Dec. 20th. That means that in the U.S. it's National Sangria Day.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2007: The painting Portrait of Suzanne Bloch (1904), by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, was stolen from the São Paulo Museum of Art, along with O Lavrador de Café, by the major Brazilian modernist painter Candido Portinari.

2007: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II became the oldest ever monarch of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years, 7 months and 29 days.

1996: NeXT merged with Apple Computer, starting the path to Mac OS X.

1995: NATO began peacekeeping in Bosnia.

1955: Cardiff was proclaimed the capital city of Wales, United Kingdom.

1951: The EBR-1 in Arco, Idaho became the first nuclear power plant to generate electricity for the first time. The electricity powered four light bulbs.

1946: The Frank Capra film "It's A Wonderful Life" had a preview showing for charity at New York City's Globe Theatre, a day before its official premiere.

1915: The last Australian troops were evacuated from Gallipoli.

1907: The first U.S. scientist to receive the Nobel Prize was Albert Michelson, a German-born American physicist.

1835: The Texas Declaration of Independence was first signed at Goliad, Texas.

1790: The first successful cotton mill in the United States began operating at Pawtucket, R.I.

0069: Vespasian, formerly a general under Nero, entered Rome to claim the title of emperor.

Births:
1537: John III (King of Sweden)

1894: Sir Robert Menzies (Prime Minister of Australia)

1901: Robert Jemison Van de Graaff (American physicist) Inventor of the Van de Graaff generator.

1925: Mahathir bin Mohamad (Prime Minister of Malaysia)

Deaths:
860: Ethelbald (King of Wessex)

1722: Kangxi (Emperor of China)



Word of the Day: dastard \DAS-terd\
Etymology: From Middle English dastard, from dast/dased "dull, stupid," past participle of dasen "to daze".
(noun)
1. A mean coward.
Usage: "Even that notorious dastard and Spanish Political Grafter Juan March, popularly supposed to get his way in any part of Spain with 1,000 peseta notes, bolted like a rabbit for France until things should quiet down."


Mistfox - who is trying to whip this out quickly on her lunch break

Today is Dec. 21st. That means that in the U.S. it's National French Fried Shrimp Day and the winter solstice was today at 7:04 EST (12:04 UT).

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2007: The Schengen Agreement area increased to include 9 European Union member states; the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia on land and sea borders.

1999: The Spanish Civil Guard intercepted a van loaded with 950 kg of explosives that ETA intended to use to blow up Torre Picasso in Madrid.

1996: After two years of denials, House Speaker Newt Gingrich admitted violating House ethics rules.

1988: A bomb exploded on board Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, killing 270.

1967: Louis Washkansky, the first man to undergo a heart transplant, died in Cape Town, South Africa, after living for 18 days.

1962: Rondane National Park was established as Norway's first national park.

1958: Charles de Gaulle was elected President of France as his Union des Démocrates pour la République party gained 78.5% of the vote.

1883: The first Permanent Force cavalry and infantry regiments of the Canadian Army were formed: The Royal Canadian Dragoons and The Royal Canadian Regiment.

1598: The revolting Mapuche, led by cacique Pelentaru, inflicted a major defeat on Spanish troops in southern Chile. The Mapuches eventually took all Spanish cities south of the Biobio River, and all conquest of Mapuche territories by Europeans practically ceased, until the 1870s "Pacification of Araucania".

Births:
1118: Thomas Becket (Lord Chancellor of England/Archbishop of Canterbury)

1804: Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (Prime Minister of the U. K.)

1918: Kurt Waldheim (Austrian United Nations Secretary-General/Federal President of Austria)

1966: Kiefer Sutherland (British-born Canadian actor) [The Lost Boys, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, A Few Good Men, Flatliners, Young Guns, The Vanishing, The Three Musketeers, Stand by Me, Dark City]

Deaths:
1375: Giovanni Boccaccio (Italian writer) [Decameron, On Famous Women]


Word of the Day: calico \KAL-i-co\
Etymology: From Calicut, former name of Kozhikode, a city in southern India from where this cloth was exported.
(noun)
1. A brightly printed coarse cotton cloth.
2. (Mainly British) A plain white cotton cloth.
3. An animal having a spotted coat, especially with red and black patches.
(adjective)
4. Made from such a cloth.
5. Having a spotted pattern.
Usage: "Before Mr. Homer's barefoot urchins and little girls in calico sun-bonnets, straddling beneath a cloudless sky upon the national rail fence, the whole effort of the critic is instinctively to contract himself."


Mistfox - who is probably going to go take a nap after getting this off

Today is Dec. 22nd. That means that in the U.S. it's National Date Nut Bread Day.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2007: The Nepalese legislature agreed to abolish the country's 240-year-old monarchy.

2003: A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hit near San Simeon, California.

1990: Lech Walesa took the oath of office as Poland's first popularly elected president.

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

1985: The largest grouper caught with rod and reel weighed over 436 pounds. It was caught in Destin, Florida.

1984: Subway vigilante Bernhard Hugo Goetz shot four African-American men on an express train in The Bronx borough of New York City.

1974: Grande Comore, Anjouan and Mohéli voted to become the independent nation of Comoros. Mayotte remained under French administration.

1968: The first U.S. live telecast from a manned spacecraft in outer space was transmitted at from Apollo VIII.

1965: In the United Kingdom, a 70mph speed limit was applied to all rural roads including motorways for the first time. Previously, there had been no speed limit.

1944: During the Battle of the Bulge, German troops demanded the surrender of United States troops at Bastogne, Belgium, prompting the famous one word reply by General Anthony McAuliffe: "Nuts!"

1942: Adolf Hitler signed the order to develop the V-2 rocket as a weapon.

1882: Edward H. Johnson, an associate of Thomas Edison, created the first string of electric lights decorating a Christmas tree for his home. Previously, trees had been decorated with wax candles.

1809: The U.S. Congress passed the Non-Intercourse Act, lifting the Embargo Act except for the United Kingdom and France.

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

1790: The Turkish fortress of Izmail was stormed and captured by Suvorov and his Russian armies.

1666: Seven mathematicians and seven physicists meeting in the king’s library founded The French Academy of Sciences.

Births:
1095: Roger II of Sicily (King of Sicily)

1178: Antoku (Emperor of Japan)

1912: "Lady Bird" [Claudia Alta] Johnson (First Lady of the U.S.)

1945: [Lila ] Diane Sawyer (American journalist) [Good Morning America]

Deaths:
1603: Mehmed III (Ottoman Emperor)

1668: Stephen Day (English locksmith) Established the first printing press in England's North American colonies.

1767: John Newbery (English publisher) First made children's literature a sustainable and profitable part of the literary market. ALA's Newbery Award is named for him.

1884: John Simpson Chisum (American cattle rancher) In 1867 he blazed the Chisum Trial from Paris, Texas to New Mexico. He also developed the largest cattle herd in the United States.


Word of the Day: ecclesiastical \i-klee-zee-AS-ti-kuhl\
Etymology: From Late Latin ecclesiasticus, from Greek ekklesiastikos "of the (ancient Athenian) assembly," later, "of the church," from ekklesiastes "speaker in an assembly or church, preacher," from ekkalein "to call out".
(adjective)
1. Of or having to do with the church or clergy.
Usage: "The architecture profession as a whole has a desire to develop and evolve and that gets reflected in church architecture." This innovative approach to ecclesiastical design marries new architecture with the old style in a cost-effective way, he said."


Mistfox - whose schedule is completely thrown off since her dh is taking leave for 2 weeks

Today is Dec. 23rd. That means that in the U.S. it's National Pfeffernuesse Day.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2007: Thailand's People Power Party, led by Samak Sundaravej, won the 2007 general elections.

2005: Chad declared a state of war against Sudan following a December 18 attack on Adré, which left about 100 people dead.

1990: In a referendum, 88% of Slovenia's population voted for independence from Yugoslavia.

1982: The United States Environmental Protection Agency announced it had identified dangerous levels of dioxin in the soil of Times Beach, Missouri.

1972: A 6.5 magnitude earthquake struck the Nicaraguan capital of Managua, killing more than 10,000 people.

1970: The construction of the World Trade Center in New York City reached 1353 feet high (411 m), its highest point.

1958: The world's highest self-supporting iron tower, Tokyo Tower, was dedicated.

1941: American forces on Wake Island surrendered to the Japanese during World War II.

1913: President Woodrow Wilson signed The Federal Reserve Act into law, creating the Federal Reserve.

1893: The opera Hänsel und Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck was first performed.

1854: A tsunami struck the coast of Japan.

1750: Benjamin Franklin was severely shocked while electrocuting a turkey.

1675: Charles II of England issued a proclamation suppressing Coffee Houses. The public response was so negative that he revoked it on January 8, 1676.

1672: Astronomer Giovanni Cassini discovered Saturn's moon Rhea

0962: Under the future Emperor Nicephorus Phocas, Byzantine troops stormed the city of Aleppo, recovering the tattered tunic of John the Baptist.

Births:
0245- Zenobia (Queen of Palmyra)

1537: John III (King of Sweden)

1750: Frederick Augustus I (King of Saxony)

1777: Alexander I (Tsar of Russia)

Deaths:
0679: Dagobert II (King of Austrasia)

0918: Conrad (Duke of Franconia/King of Germany)

1939: Anthony Herman Gerard Fokker (Dutch-American airman/pioneer aircraft manufacturer)

2004: P. V. Narasimha Rao (Prime Minister of India)


Word of the Day: hackneyed \HAK-need\
Etymology: Special sense of "one who writes anything for hire", from "person hired to do routine work," short for hackney "an ordinary horse", probably from place name Hackney (which was pastureland) - led to hackneyed meaning "trite" by 1749. The term "hack" as applied to computers comes from the same origin.
(adjective)
1. Used too often; commonplace.
2. Habituated; experienced.
Usage: "The supply demand dynamics just don't warrant where we are today. It's becoming incredibly hackneyed to say it's all coming from demand in China," he said."


Mistfox - who doesn't need an excuse to break out the pfeffernuesse (and spekulatius, lebkuchen, etc.)

Dude. What?

from: http://jet-chef.blogspot.com/2008/12/today-is-national-pfeffernuesse-day.html

Today is Dec. 24th. That means that in the U.S. it's National Egg Nog Day. Christians celebrate Christmas Eve.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2007: Incumbent Uzbekistani President Islom Karimov won a new term in office following presidential elections.

1997: Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, the aging revolutionary known as Carlos the Jackal, was sentenced by a French court to life in prison for the 1975 murders of two French investigators and a Lebanese national.

1974: Cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin, Australia.

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

1968: The crew of Apollo 8 entered into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so. They performed 10 lunar orbits and broadcast live TV pictures that became the famous Christmas Eve Broadcast, one of the most watched programs in history.

1968: The crew of the USS Pueblo was released by North Korea after being held for 11 months on suspicion of spying.

1948: The first U.S. house to be completely solar heated was occupied in Dover, Mass.

1924: Albania became a republic.

1826: The "Eggnog Riot" at West Point military academy occurred. When informed that their Christmas eggnog would be alcohol free, cadets in North Barrack No. 5 decided to make their own eggnog with alcohol, for a Christmas Eve late night/early morning celebration. Shouting and general disorder developed, some swords were drawn, firewood crashed through windows, and at least one shot was fired. The artillery unit stationed at West Point had to be called in to quell the disturbance. In the aftermath 6 cadets resigned, 19 were court marshaled, and many, including a young Jefferson Davis, were confined to quarters for more than a month.

0563: The Byzantine church Hagia Sophia in Constantinople was dedicated for the second time after being destroyed by earthquakes.

Births:
3 BCE: Galba [Servius Sulpicius Galba Caesar Augustus] (Roman Emperor)

1845: George I (King of Greece)

1818: James Prescott Joule (English physicist) The SI unit of energy or work, the joule (symbol J), is named after him.

1973: Stephenie Meyer (American author) [Twilight ]

Deaths:
1813: Go-Sakuramachi (Empress of Japan)

1863: William Makepeace Thackeray (British writer) [Vanity Fair]

1992: Peyo [Pierre Culliford] (Belgian comics artist/creator of The Smurfs)



Word of the Day: gaffe \gaf\
Etymology: From French gaffe "clumsy remark," originally "boat hook," from Old French gaffe, from Old Provencal gaf, probably from Gothic gafa "hook," but this origin is obscure. It may derive from British slang gaff "to cheat, trick" (1893) or gaff "criticism" (1896), from Scottish dialect sense of "loud, rude talk," which ultimately may be from Old English "blasphemous or ribald speech."
(noun)
1. A blunder; faux pas.
Usage: "The Mountain View company acknowledged the financial gaffe in a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, saying the unintended notes revealed a projection that advertising revenue will grow to $9.5 billion in 2006, up 58 percent from the previous year."


Mistfox - who thinks we've had discussions about pfeffernuesse before

Today is Dec. 25th. That means that in the U.S. it's National Pumpkin Pie Day. Christians celebrate Christmas
Day.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2007: In the San Francisco Zoo, a tiger escaped from its enclosure and attacked three visitors, killing one of the men and mauling two others.

1989: Nicolae Ceausescu, former communist dictator of Romania, and his wife Elena were condemned to death and executed under a wide range of charges.

1974: Marshall Fields drove a vehicle through the gates of the White House, resulting in a four-hour standoff.

1958: "The Chipmunk Song" became the only Christmas song in U.S. in history to be Number #1 on Christmas Day.

1868: U.S. President Andrew Johnson granted an unconditional pardon to all Civil War Confederate soldiers.

1818: The first performance of the carol "Silent Night" took place in the church of St. Nikolaus in Oberndorf, Austria.

1741: Anders Celsius developed the Centigrade temperature scale. Originally he had the freezing point of water at 100 and the boiling point at 0. This was reversed after his death to match the other temperature scales.

1261: John IV Lascaris of the restored Eastern Roman Empire was deposed and blinded by orders of his co-ruler Michael VIII Palaeologus.

1100: Baldwin of Boulogne was crowned as the first King of Jerusalem in the Church of the Nativity

1000: Stephen I of Hungary established Hungary as a Christian kingdom.

0274: Roman Emperor Aurelian dedicated a temple to Sol Invictus on the supposed day of the winter solstice and day of rebirth of the Sun.

Births:
1250: John IV Laskaris (Byzantine Emperor)

1870: Helena Rubinstein (Polish-born American cosmetics industrialist)

1887: Conrad Nicholson Hilton (American hotelier)

1918: Anwar Sadat (President of Egypt)

Deaths:
0820: Leo V (Byzantine Emperor)

1926: Taisho (Emperor of Japan)

1989: Nicolae Ceausescu (Romanian dictator)

1989: Elena Ceausescu (Romanian politician)


Word of the Day: jodhpurs \JOD-puhrz\
Etymology: After Jodhpur, a city in northwestern India, earlier a princely state.
(noun)
1. Riding breeches loose above the knees but close-fitting from the knees to the ankles.
Usage: "Once he packs up his souperman cape and jockey jodhpurs, stories about [Campbell Soup CEO] David Johnson will be traded for years to come."


Mistfox - who got stuck watching the kids play Raving Rabbids on the Wii

Today is Dec. 26th. That means that in the U.S. it's National Candy Cane Day.
Kwanzaa begins.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2007: Record temperatures stoked bushfires in Perth, Western Australia.

1999: Severe weather in France killed over 100 people and caused extensive damage to property, trees and the French national power grid.

1998: Severe gales over Ireland, northern England, and southern Scotland caused widespread disruption and widespread power outages in Northern Ireland and southern Scotland.

1986: The first long-running American television soap opera, Search for Tomorrow, aired its final episode after thirty-five years on the air.

1982: The "Time" magazine Man of the Year was the personal computer.

1967: A patent was issued to the Wham-O Mfg. Co. for their improvement of the Frisbee.

1933: FM radio was patented.

1925: Turkey adopted the Gregorian Calendar.

1919: Owner Harry Frazee sold Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees.

1917: The U.S. government took over operation of the nation's railroads.

1908: Jack Johnson became the first black heavyweight boxing champion when he knocked out Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia.

1906: The world's first full-length feature film, the 70-min Story of the Kelly Gang was presented in the Town Hall at Melbourne, Australia, where it had been filmed at a cost of £450. It preceded D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation by nine years.

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

1865: James H. Mason received the first U.S. patent for a coffee percolator.

1860: The first ever inter-club football match took place between Hallam F.C. and Sheffield F.C. at the Sandygate Road ground in Sheffield, England.

1825: Several Imperial Russia army officers led about 3000 soldiers on the Senate Square in the failed Decembrist uprising.

1792: The final trial of Louis XVI of France began in Paris.

1620: Pilgrim Fathers landed at what became New Plymouth in Massachusetts.

Births:
1194: Frederick II (Holy Roman Emperor)

1542: Tokugawa Ieyasu (First Tokugawa Shogun)

Deaths:
0211: Publius Septimius Geta (Roman Emperor)

1530: Babur (Emperor of the Mogul empire)

1890: Heinrich Schliemann (German archaeologist)

1909: Frederic Remington (American artist)

1931: Melvil Dewey (American librarian/educator) Created the Dewey Decimal Classification system for cataloging library books.

1985: Dian Fossey (American zoologist/gorilla specialist) [Gorillas in the Mist]



Word of the Day: jaded \JEY-did\
Etymology: Probably from "worn-out horse," possibly from Old Norse jalda "mare". Jaded "dulled by continual indulgence" is from 1631.
(adjective)
1. Worn out; tired, weary.
Usage: "Voters in much of the developing world have become jaded about elections, especially those heavily promoted by the United States."


Mistfox - who isn't quite jaded from playing the Wii. Yet.

Today is Dec. 27th. That means that in the U.S. it's National Fruitcake Day.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2007: A suicide bomber assassinated Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

2004: Radiation from an explosion on the magnetar SGR 1806-20 reached Earth. It is the brightest extrasolar event known to have been witnessed on the planet.

2001: The People's Republic of China was granted permanent normal trade relations with the United States.

2001: U.S. officials announced that Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners would be held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

1968: Apollo 8 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, ending the first orbital manned mission to the Moon.

1949: Queen Juliana of the Netherlands granted sovereignty to Indonesia after more than 300 years of Dutch rule.

1922: The Japanese aircraft carrier Hosho became the first purpose built aircraft carrier to be commissioned in the world.

1918: The Great Poland Uprising against the Germans began.

1900: Prohibitionist Carry Nation carried out her first public smashing of a bar, at the Carey Hotel in Wichita, Kan.

1836: The worst ever avalanche in England occurred at Lewes, Sussex, killing 8 people.

1512: The Spanish Crown issued the Laws of Burgos, governing the conduct of settlers with regards to native Indians in the New World.

0537: The Hagia Sophia was completed.

Births:
1823: Sir Mackenzie Bowell (Prime Minister of Canada)

1901: Marlene Dietrich [Marie Magdalene Dietrich] (German-American actress/singer)

1948: Gérard Depardieu (French actor) [Cyrano de Bergerac, Green Card)

Deaths:
1076: Svyatoslav II (Prince of Kiev)

1923: Gustave Eiffel (French engineer/architect)

1972: Lester B. Pearson (Prime Minister of Canada)

1981: "Hoagy" [Hoagland Howard] Carmichael (American composer/singer) ["Stardust", "Heart and Soul"]

2007: Benazir Bhutto (Prime Minister of Pakistan)



Word of the Day: kibbutz \ki-BOOTS\
Plural: kibbutzim.
Etymology: From modern Hebrew qibbus "gathering," from Hebrew "a gathering together," from root of qibbes "he gathered together."
(noun)
1. An Israeli communal settlement, especially a farm co-operative.
Usage: "For this farming collective five miles from the Lebanon border, the attack last week, which killed more than two dozen cows, raised new worries about life ahead for the troubled kibbutz, and others like it in northern Israel."


Mistfox - who doesn’t particularly like fruitcake, but will eat stolle

Today is Dec. 28th. That means that in the U.S. it's National Chocolate Day and Eat Vegetarian Day.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2007: Nepal was declared a federal democratic Republic by the interim parliament, abolishing the monarchy.

2007: The New England Patriots became the first NFL team in 35 years to finish the regular season undefeated when they beat the New York Giants 38-35 to go 16-0.

1999: Saparmurat Niyazov was proclaimed President for Life in Turkmenistan.

1973: The Endangered Species Act was passed in the United States.

1973: Alexander Solzhenitsyn published "Gulag Archipelago," an expose of the Soviet prison system.

1950: The Peak District became the United Kingdom's first National Park.

1944: Maurice Richard became the first player to score 8 points in one game of NHL ice hockey.

1929: : New Zealand colonial police killed 11 unarmed demonstrators, an event which led the Mau movement to demand independence for Samoa ("Black Saturday").

1912: The first municipally owned streetcars took to the streets in San Francisco, California.

1886: Josephine Garis Cochran patented the first commercially successful dish washing machine. It became a huge hit at the 1893 Columbian Exposition. Her company eventually evolved into KitchenAid.

1867: United States claimed the Midway Atoll, the first territory annexed outside Continental limits.

1836: South Australia and Adelaide were founded.

1795: The construction of Yonge Street, the longest street in the world, began in York, Upper Canada (present-day Toronto, Ontario).

1308: The reign of Emperor Hanazono, emperor of Japan, began.

Births:
1164: Rokujo (Emperor of Japan)

1922: Stan Lee [Stanley Martin Lieber] (American comic book writer/former president and chairman of Marvel Comics)

Deaths:
1694: Mary II (Queen of England) Died after five years of joint rule with her husband, King William III.

1703: Mustafa II (Ottoman Sultan)

1947: Victor Emmanuel III (King of Italy)

2004: Susan Sontag (American writer/filmmaker/philosopher/literary theorist/political activist) [Against Interpretation, The Volcano Lover, In America]


Word of the Day: laggard \LAG-erd\
Etymology: From lag, "fail to keep pace," from earlier adjective meaning "last" + pejorative ending -art
(noun)
1. A person or thing that moves too slowly or falls behind.
(adjective)
2. Falling behind; slow.
Usage: "Microsoft claims hundreds of millions of Web e-mail and instant messenger users, but is still seen as a laggard when it comes to understanding the Internet."


Mistfox - who hopes we're not supposed to eat vegetarians today

Today is Dec. 29th. That means that in the U.S. it's National Chocolate Again Day and Pepper Pot Day.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2007: During the Kenyan presidential election, vote counting was delayed for a day with the opposition, led by Raila Odinga, holding a 40,000 vote lead with 90% of votes counted. Violence and looting ensued, especially in the capital Nairobi, with "several" fatalities amidst claims of election fraud from both camps.

1998: Leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologized for the 1970s genocide in Cambodia that claimed over 1 million.

1992: Fernando Collor de Mello, president of Brazil, tried to resign amidst corruption charges, but was then impeached.

1989: Riots broke out after Hong Kong decided to forcibly repatriate Vietnamese refugees.

1987: Cosmonaut Yuri Romanenko ended his record 326-day space flight orbiting Earth in the Mir space station, landing in a Soyuz spacecraft at a snow-covered site in Kazakhstan.

1952: The first transistor hearing aid went on sale.

1937: The Irish Free State was replaced by a new state called the Republic of Ireland with the adoption of a new constitution.

1911: Mongolia gained independence from the Qing dynasty.

1896: "Lava" soap was trademarked by William Waltke & Co. of St. Louis, Missouri.

1860: The first British seagoing ironclad warship, HMS Warrior was launched.

1813: British soldiers burned Buffalo, New York during the War of 1812.

1778: 3,500 British soldiers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell captured Savannah, Georgia without firing a shot.

Births:
1709: Elizabeth (Empress of Russia)

1721: Madame de Pompadour [Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson] (Mistress of King Louis XV of France)

1766: Charles Macintosh (Scottish chemist) Inventor of rubberized waterproof clothing.

1947: "Ted" Danson [Edward Bridge Danson III] (American actor) [Cheers, Becker, Gulliver's Travels, Three Men and a Baby]

Deaths:
0721: Gemmei (Empress of Japan)

1986: Harold Macmillan (British Prime Minister)


Word of the Day: gudgeon \GUJ-uhn\
Etymology: (for 1-3) From Latin gobion, variant of gobius, via Old French and Middle English.
(for 4) From Middle English gudyon, from Old French goujon.
(noun)
1. A small European fresh-water fish (Gobio gobio) or any of the related fishes, often used as bait.
2. A gullible person.
3. A bait.
4. A pivot, usually made of metal, at the end of a beam, axle, etc., on which a wheel or a similar device turns.
Usage: "The premise of the argument is that a majority of the American are gudgeons."


Mistfox - who thinks someone must have known how much chocolate I got for Christmas

Today is Dec. 30th. That means that in the U.S. it's National Bicarbonate of Soda Day.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2007: Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner of an election that opponents and observers alleged was rigged; violence flared in Nairobi slums and coastal resort towns, killing scores in the following days.

2006: Deposed President of Iraq Saddam Hussein, convicted of the executions of 148 Iraqi Shiites, was executed by hanging.

1996: Proposed budget cuts by Benjamin Netanyahu sparked protests from 250,000 workers who shut down services across Israel.

1995: The lowest ever United Kingdom temperature of -27.2°C was recorded at Altnaharra in the Scottish Highlands.

1982: A second full moon of the month was visible. Known as a "blue moon," the name does not refer to its color, but it is a rare event, giving rise to the expression, "once in a blue moon". This blue moon was more special as a total lunar eclipse also occurred in the U.S.

1965: Ferdinand Marcos became President of the Philippines.

1948: The Cole Porter Broadway musical, Kiss Me, Kate opened at the New Century Theatre and became the first show to win the Best Musical Tony Award.

1944: King George II of Greece declared a regency, leaving the throne vacant.

1936: The United Auto Workers union staged its first sit-down strike.

1927: The Ginza Line, the first subway line in Asia, opened in Tokyo, Japan.

1924: Edwin Hubble announced the existence of another galactic system in addition to the Milky Way.

1919: Lincoln's Inn in London admitted its first female bar student.

1911: Sun Yat-sen was elected the first president of the Republic of China.

1862: The USS Monitor sank off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

Births:
0039: Titus [Titus Flavius Vespasianus] (Roman emperor)

1785: Dorothea Lieven (Russian noblewoman/wife of Prince Khristofor Andreyevich Lieven, Russian ambassador to London/patroness of Almack's) She introduced the waltz to England at Almack's.

1884: Hideki Tojo (Prime Minister of Japan)

1942: Michael Nesmith (American singer/musician/songwriter/actor/producer/novelist/businessman/philanthropist) [The Monkees]

Deaths:
1968: Trygve Lie (Norwegian politician/first United Nations Secretary General)

2006: Saddam Hussein (Iraqi President)


Word of the Day: narcissism \NAHR-suh-siz-em\
Etymology: From Greek Narkissos, beautiful youth in mythology (Ovid, "Metamorphosis," iii.370) who fell in love with his own reflection in a spring and was turned to the flower narcissus.
(noun)
1. Excessive love or admiration for oneself.
2. In psychoanalysis, gratification manifested in admiration and love of oneself.
Usage: "They found that the number of 'Friends' on a person's Facebook and the number of 'wallposts' they have there correlated with their narcissism. That figures, Buffardi suggests, as narcissists tend to have lots of shallow relationships rather than a few solid ones."


Mistfox - who ran around hitting sales this morning

Today is Dec. 31st. That means that in the U.S. it's National Champagne Day and New Year's Eve.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2007: The Massive Big Dig construction project in Boston, Massachusetts ended.

2006: The death toll for Americans killed in the Iraq war reached 3,000.

2004: Taipei 101, the current tallest skyscraper in the world, standing at a height of 509 meters (1,670 feet), officially opened.

1999: Boris Yeltsin resigned as President of Russia, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting President.

1994: This date was skipped altogether in Kiribati as the Phoenix Islands and Line Islands changed time zones from UTC-11 to UTC+13 and UTC-10 to UTC+14, respectively.

1993: Entertainer Barbra Streisand performed her first paid concert in 22 years, singing to a sellout crowd at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas.

1993: The last research samples of the smallpox virus were scheduled to be destroyed. However, some scientists who wanted to continue research on the virus stopped the destruction plan.

1983: The United States Government broke up the AT&T Bell System.

1978: Taiwanese diplomats struck their colors for the final time from the embassy flagpole in Washington, D.C., marking the end of diplomatic relations with the United States.

1963: The Central African Federation officially collapsed and split into Zambia, Malawi and Rhodesia.

1955: The General Motors Corporation became the first U.S. Corporation to make over $1 billion USD in a year.

1951: The first battery to convert radioactive energy to electrical was announced.

1944: Hungary declared war on Nazi Germany.

1938: The Harger "Drunkometer", the first alcohol breath-testing device, was introduced in Indiana.

1935: A patent was issued for the game of Monopoly assigned to Parker Brothers, Inc., by Charles Darrow of Pennsylvania.

1917: Sugar rationing began in Britain as a result of WW I.

1909: Manhattan Bridge opened.

1841: Alabama became the first state to issue dental licenses.

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

0535: Byzantine General Belisarius completed the conquest of Sicily, defeating the Ostrogothic garrison of Syracuse, and ending his consulship for the year.

Births:
1572: Go-Yozei (Emperor of Japan)

1908: Simon Wiesenthal (Austrian architectural engineer/Holocaust survivor/Nazi hunter)

1943: John Denver [Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr.] (American singer and songwriter) ["Leaving on a Jet Plane", "Take Me Home, Country Roads", "Rocky Mountain High", "Sunshine on My Shoulders", "Thank God I'm a Country Boy", "Calypso"]

1945: Diane von Fürstenberg (Belgian-born fashion designer)

Deaths:
0192: Commodus [Lucius Aurelius Commodus Antoninus] (Roman Emperor)

1650: Dorgon (Chinese emperor)

1964: Ólafur Thors (Prime Minister of Iceland)

1977: Sabah III Al-Salim Al-Sabah (Emir of Kuwait)


Word of the Day: oblique \oh-BLEEK\
Etymology: From Middle French oblique, from Latin obliquus "slanting, sidelong, indirect," from ob "against" + root of licinus "bent upward," from Proto Indo-European base *lei- "to bend, be movable."
(noun)
1. An oblique thing, such as a line, direction, or muscle.
2. Nautical: The act of changing course by less than 90°.
(adjective)
3. a. Having a slanting or sloping direction, course, or position; inclined.
b. Mathematics Designating geometric lines or planes that are neither parallel nor perpendicular.
4. Botany Having sides of unequal length or form: an oblique leaf.
5. Anatomy Situated in a slanting position; not transverse or longitudinal: oblique muscles or ligaments.
6 a. Indirect or evasive: oblique political maneuvers.
b. Devious, misleading, or dishonest: gave oblique answers to the questions.
7. Not direct in descent; collateral.
8. Grammar: Designating any noun case except the nominative or the vocative.
(adverb)
9. At an angle of 45°.
Usage: "Theodor Geisel's response to Hitler was more oblique than Stauffenberg's, but as effective."


Mistfox - who has to go to work early today because the library's closing early for New Year's Eve

I'm gonna be singing this all day now. Not exactly a New Year song, but hey....

Almost Heaven....West Virginia
Blue Ridge Mountains....Shenandoah River...

Country roads....take me home...
To the place.....I beloooooooong!

Today is Jan. 1st. That means that it's New Year's Day for many countries around the world using the Gregorian calendar, Cuba Liberation Day, Haiti Independence Day, and Sudan Independence Day.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: A New Hampshire law legalizing civil unions for same-sex couples went into effect.

2008: Malta and Cyprus officially adopted the Euro currency and become the fourteenth and fifteenth Eurozone countries.

2008; No-smoking rules went into effect in France, prohibiting people from lighting up in cafes, bars and restaurants.

2002: Euro banknotes and coins became legal tender in twelve of the European Union's member states.

2000: Greenwich Electronic Time - known as GeT - was initiated in Britain to act as an international standard for all electronic commerce.

1999: The Euro currency was introduced.

1985: The Internet's Domain Name System was created.

1980: Victoria was crowned princess of Sweden.

1967; The first fluoridation law in the U.S. went into effect in Connecticut, requiring fluoridation of public water supplies serving 20,000 or more population, to prevent dental caries.

1959: Fidel Castro’s forces overthrew Fulgencio Batista, president of Cuba, during the Cuban Revolution.

1956: The Republic of the Sudan achieved independence from the Egyptian Republic.

1954: NBC made the first coast-to-coast NTSC color broadcast when it telecast the Tournament of Roses Parade , with public demonstrations given across the United States on prototype color receivers.

1934: Alcatraz Island became a United States federal prison.

1915: Aspirin was made available for the first time in tablet form.

1912: The Republic of China was established.

1902: The first American college football bowl game, the Rose Bowl between Michigan and Stanford, was held in Pasadena.

1877: Queen Victoria of Britain was proclaimed Empress of India.

1863: Daniel Freeman made the first claim under the Homestead Act for a farm in Nebraska.

1808: The importation of slaves into the United States was banned.

1806: The French Republican Calendar was abolished.

1804: French rule ended in Haiti. Haiti became the first black republic and first independent country in the West Indies.

1797: Albany became the capital of New York State, replacing New York City.

1788: The first edition of The Times of London, previously The Daily Universal Register, was published.

1651: Charles II was crowned King of Scotland.

1515: King Francis I of France succeeded to the French throne.

1001: Pope Silvester II named Grand Prince Stephen I of Hungary the first King of Hungary.

0630: The Prophet Muhammad set out toward Mecca with the army that captured it bloodlessly.

0404: The last known gladiatorial competition in Rome took place.

Births:
1449: Lorenzo de' Medici (Italian statesman)

1467: Sigismund I the Old (King of Poland/Grand Duke of Lithuania)

1638: Emperor Go-Sai of Japan)

1854: Sir James George Frazer (Scottish anthropologist/folklorist/classical scholar/author) [The Golden Bough, a study in Comparative Religion]

1859: Michael Joseph Owens (American glass manufacturer) Invented the automatic glass bottle making machine that revolutionized the industry.

1864: Alfred Stieglitz (American photographer)

1881: Vajiravudh (King of Thailand)

1895: J. Edgar Hoover (American FBI director)

Deaths:
1204: Haakon III (King of Norway)

1387: Charles II (King of Navarre)

1515: Louis XII (King of France)

1559: Christian III of Denmark and Norway

1766: James Francis Edward Stuart ["The Old Pretender"] (Duke of Cornwall/Duke of Rothesay/Claimant to the British, Scottish, and Irish throne)

1894: Heinrich Hertz (German physicist) The first to broadcast and receive radio waves. The unit of frequency - one cycle per second - is named after him.

1972: Maurice Chevalier (French actor/singer) [Gigi, Love in the Afternoon]



Word of the Day: tope \tope\
Etymology: (for 1) Of uncertain origin, perhaps from obsolete top (to drink) as in "top off".
(for 2) Of unknown origin.
(for 3) From Hindi top, from Prakrit or Pali thupo, from Sanskrit stupa (head).
(verb)
1. To drink (liquor) habitually and copiously.
(noun)
2. A small shark with a long snout (Galeorhinus galeus).
3. A usually dome-shaped monument built by Buddhists. Also known as a stupa.
Usage: "There are the tope strategists, who chartered the brand's repositioning and the agency folks who turned out snappy creative, not to mention a cadre of bottlers pushing Sprite in the retail trenches."


Mistfox - who had to first watch the Rose Parade this morning

Today is Jan. 2nd. That means that it's the second day of the Hogmanay Bank Holiday in Scotland.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: Crude oil prices surged past $100 a barrel briefly in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

2007: Former U.S. President Gerald Ford's state funeral took place at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.

1999: A brutal snowstorm smashed into the Midwestern United States, causing 14 inches (359 mm) of snow in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and 19 inches (487 mm) in Chicago, where temperatures plunged to -13°F (-25°C). Sixty-eight deaths were reported.

1983: The musical play "Annie," based on the "Little Orphan Annie" comic strip, closed on Broadway after 2,377 performances.

1974: President Richard Nixon signed a bill lowering the maximum U.S. speed limit to 55 MPH in order to conserve gasoline during an OPEC embargo.

1946: Unable to resume rule after World War II, King Zog of Albania abdicated but retained his claim to the throne.

1942: The United States Navy opened a blimp base at Lakehurst, New Jersey.

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

1872: Brigham Young was arrested on charges of bigamy for having 25 wives.

1871: Amadeus I became King of Spain.

1870: Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge began.

1860: The discovery of the planet Vulcan was announced at a meeting of the Académie des Sciences in Paris.

1788: Georgia becomes the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution.

1757: The United Kingdom captured Calcutta, India.

1492: The leader of the last Arab stronghold in Spain, the emirate of Granada, surrendered to Spanish forces loyal to King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I.

0366: The Alamanni crossed the frozen Rhine River in large numbers, invading the Roman Empire.

Births:
1642: Mehmed IV (Ottoman Sultan)

1920: Isaac Asimov (Russian-born American author/professor of biochemistry) [Guide to Science, Understanding Physics, Asimov's Chronology of Science and Discovery, the Foundation Series, the Galactic Empire series, the Robot series, Lucky Starr and the Pirates of the Asteroids, The Union Club Mysteries]

1939: Jim Bakker (American televangelist) [The PTL Club]

Deaths:
1861: Frederick William IV (King of Prussia)

1972: Lillian Evelyn Gilbreth (American efficiency expert)

2000: Patrick O'Brian [Richard Patrick Russ)] (British novelist/translator) [The Road to Samarcand, Master and Commander, The Far Side of the World, Blue at the Mizzen, Men-of-War: Life in Nelson's Navy]


Word of the Day: paltry \PAWL-tree\
Etymology: Probably associated with dialectic palt, pelt "trash," cognate with Middle Low German and East Frisian palte "rag," and Middle Dutch palt "broken or torn fragment."
(adjective)
1. Almost worthless; trifling.
2. Of no worth; contemptible, despicable.
Usage: "The Denver defense is in tatters, ranking among the worst in the league, surrendering 31 points to a Raiders team that had been averaging a paltry 12.8 per game."


Mistfox - who has one paltry last day of freedom before an eight hour work day tomorrow

Today is Jan. 3rd. That means that it was the Festival in honor of Pax in the Roman Empire.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: The price of gold reached a new record of $865.35 per troy ounce in the a.m. London Gold Fixing, breaking the previous high of January 21, 1980.

1990: Former leader of Panama Manuel Noriega surrendered to American forces.

1988: Margaret Thatcher became the longest-serving British Prime Minister in the 20th Century.

1957: The Hamilton Watch Company introduced the first electric watch.

1938: President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the March of Dimes.

1925: Benito Mussolini announced he was taking dictatorial powers over Italy.

1899: The first known use of the word automobile, was seen in an editorial in The New York Times.

1868: The Meiji Restoration in Japan began when the Tokugawa shogunate was abolished and agents of Satsuma and Choshu seized power.

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

1848: Joseph Jenkins Roberts was sworn in as the first president of the independent African Republic of Liberia.

1823: Stephen F. Austin received a grant of land in Texas from the government of Mexico.

1815: Austria, the United Kingdom, and France formed a secret defensive alliance treaty against Prussia and Russia.

1749: Benning Wentworth issued the first of the New Hampshire Grants, leading to the establishment of Vermont.

1431: Joan of Arc was handed over to the Bishop Pierre Cauchon.

Births:
106 BCE: [Marcus Tullius] Cicero (Roman statesman/philosopher)

1196: Tsuchimikado (Emperor of Japan)

1909: Victor Borge (Danish entertainer)

1962: Francesca Lia Block (American author) [Weetzie Bat, Witch Baby, Wasteland]

Deaths:
1322: Philip V (King of France)

1701: Louis I (Prince of Monaco)


Word of the Day: pell-mell \pel-mel\
Etymology: From French pêle-mêle, from mesler "to mix", from Latin miscere "to mix".
(adverb)
1. In a confused, jumbled, or reckless manner.
(adjective)
2. Confused, disorderly, or indiscriminate.
Usage: "Instead of converging with the euro zone, Hungary's economy has rushed pell-mell in another direction."


Mistfox - who had to run to the grocery over lunch break, so got this off pell-mell instead of in a timely fashion

Today is Jan. 4th. That means that Burma/Myanmar celebrates Independence Day.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2008: Winter storms in California caused power outages, destruction of property and flight delays in San Francisco.

2006: Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel suffered a second, apparently more serious stroke. His authority was transferred to acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

2004: Spirit, a NASA Mars Rover, landed successfully on Mars at 04:35 UTC.

1999: Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura was sworn in as governor of Minnesota.

1998: A massive ice storm hit eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, continued through January 10, and caused widespread destruction.

1974: President Richard Nixon refused to hand over tape recordings and documents subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.

1972: Rose Heilbron became the first female judge to sit at the Old Bailey in London.

1951: Chinese and North Korean forces captured Seoul.

1948: Burma regained its independence from the United Kingdom.

1912: The closest approach to earth by the moon was 221,441 miles apart center to center.

1896: Utah was admitted as the 45th U.S. state.

1885: William W. Grant performed the first successful appendectomy on Mary Gartside.

1865: The New York Stock Exchange opened its first permanent headquarters at 10-12 Broad near Wall Street in New York City.

1847: Samuel Colt sold his first revolver pistol to the United States government.

1762: England declared war on Spain and Naples.

0871: At the Battle of Reading, Ethelred of Wessex fought, and was defeated by, a Danish invasion army.

Births:
1077: Zhezong (Emperor of China)

1785: Jakob Grimm (German philologist/folklorist)

1809: Louis Braille (French educator) Developed a tactile form of printing and writing for the blind, known as Braille

1848: Katsura Taro (Prime Minister of Japan)

1913: Malietoa Tanumafili II (Sovereign Ruler of Samoa)

Deaths:
1248: Sancho II (King of Portugal)

1825: Ferdinand I (King of the Two Sicilies)

1960: Albert Camus (Algerian-born French philosopher/writer) [The Rebel, The Stranger, The Plague]

1961: Erwin Schrödinger (Austrian physicist)

1965: T. S. [Thomas Stearns] Eliot (American-born British writer) [The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, The Waste Land, The Hollow Men, Murder in the Cathedral, The Cocktail Party, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats]

2006: Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum (Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates/Ruler of Dubai)


Word of the Day: tacit \TAS-it\
Etymology: From French tacite, from Latin tacitus "that is passed over in silence, done without words, assumed, silent," from tacere "to be silent," from Proto Indo-European base *tak- "to be silent."
(adjective)
1. Implied or understood without being openly expressed.
2. Saying nothing; silent.
Usage: "The word on the Hill is that Mr. Waxman enjoys the tacit support of übergreen Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who dislikes Mr. Dingell's independence."


Mistfox - who will be taking down the Christmas tree today

Today is Jan. 5th. That means that it's the feast day of St. John Neumann and St. Simeon Stylites.

See why I used this smilie last year (and had the date wrong) HERE.


2008: Early presidential elections were held in the country of Georgia.

2004: After 14 years of denials, Pete Rose publicly admitted that he'd bet on baseball while manager of the Cincinnati Reds.

1981: Police in England arrested Peter Sutcliffe, a truck driver later convicted of the "Yorkshire Ripper" murders of 13 women.

1972: U.S. President Richard Nixon ordered the development of a space shuttle program.

1948: Warner Brothers-Pathe showed the very first color newsreel, as theatre audiences saw pictures of the Tournament of Roses Parade taken New Years Day and the Rose Bowl football classic.

1933: Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge began on the Marin side of San Francisco Bay.

1914: The Ford Motor Company announced an eight-hour workday and a minimum wage of $5 for a day's labor.

1909: Colombia recognized the independence of Panama.

1896: An Austrian newspaper reported that Wilhelm Roentgen had discovered a type of radiation later known as X-rays.

1895: French officer Alfred Dreyfus was stripped of his rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island.

1781: British naval forces led by Benedict Arnold burned Richmond, Virginia.

1757: Louis XV of France survived an assassination attempt by Robert–François Damiens, the last person to be executed in France by the traditional and gruesome form of capital punishment used for regicides.

1477: Charles the Bold was killed during the Battle of Nancy and Burgundy became part of France.

Births:
1209: Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall (Holy Roman Emperor)

1592: Shah Jahan (Mughal Emperor of India)

1855: King Camp Gillette (American inventor/manufacturer) Founded the Gillette Safety Razor Company to make his invention of the safety razor with disposable blades.

1931: Robert Duvall (American actor) [To Kill a Mockingbird, The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, The Natural, Network, THX 1138, MASH, The Great Santini, Tender Mercies, Lonesome Dove, The Apostle]

1932: Umberto Eco (Italian writer) [The Name of the Rose, Foucault's Pendulum]

1938: Juan Carlos I (King of Spain)

Deaths:
1387: Peter IV (King of Aragon)

1477: Charles (Duke of Burgundy)

1762: Elizabeth (Empress of Russia)

1943: George Washington Carver (American agricultural chemist/agronomist)

1976: John A. Costello (Taoiseach of Ireland)

1995: S. Joseph Begun (German-American inventor) Built the first tape recorder for broadcasting used in the 1936 Olympics.

1998: "Sonny" [Salvatore Phillip] Bono (American record producer/singer/actor/politician) [The Sonny and Cher Show]


Word of the Day: liminal \LIM-uh-nl\
Etymology: From Latin limen "threshold".
(adjective)
1. At an intermediate state.
2. At the threshold of consciousness.
Usage: "And it's written with real love for that fascinating liminal creature called the young teenager, for whom the sky is always just about to fall."


Mistfox - who is trying to get back on schedule after having the dh off for two weeks