Today is December 8th. That means that Bulgaria observes the Day of the Student (studentski praznik) and Romania observes Constitution Day.


2004: The Cuzco Declaration was signed in Cuzco, Peru, establishing the South American Community of Nations, a regional parliament, a common market and a common currency for South American nations.

2000: The Florida Supreme Court ordered an immediate hand count of about 45,000 disputed presidential ballots.

1995: The Grateful Dead announced it was breaking up after 30 years, just four months after the death of lead guitarist Jerry Garcia.

1993: President Bill Clinton signed into U.S. law the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

1991: The leaders of Russia, Byelorussia, and the Ukraine signed an agreement forming a Commonwealth of Independent States to replace the USSR; President Mikhail Gorbachev denounced the decision as unconstitutional.

1976: The Eagles released one of the biggest-selling albums of all time, Hotel California

1941: The United States entered World War II as Congress declared war on Japan, a day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Britain and Australia also declared war on Japan.

1940: During the Battle of Britain, the Luftwaffe (German air force) launched a massive attack on London.

1879: Louisiana ratified a new state constitution and moved the capital from New Orleans to Baton Rouge.

1854: Pope Pius IX declared the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary to be an article of faith.

1776: George Washington's retreating army in the American Revolution crossed the Delaware River from New Jersey to Pennsylvania.

Births:
65 BCE: Horace [Quintus Horatius Flaccus] (Roman poet)

1542: Mary Stuart (Queen of Scots)

1939: James Galway (Irish flutist)

1943: Jim Morrison (American singer) [The Doors]

Deaths:
1978: Golda Meir (Israeli politician/prime minister)

1980: John Lennon (British singer/composer) [The Beatles] Shot to death outside his New York City apartment building by a deranged fan.


Word of the day: benighted \bi-NAHY-tid\
Etymology: From be- + night in a figurative sense of "in intellectual or moral darkness"
(adjective)
1. Overtaken by night or darkness.
2. Being in a state of moral or intellectual darkness; unenlightened.


Mistfox - who won't be posting for a week since she's leaving on a cruise tomorrow morning

Today is December 17th. That means that Bhutan observes National Day, it's Pan American Aviation Day, and Wright Brothers Day.


2005: President George W. Bush acknowledged he'd personally authorized a secret eavesdropping program in the U.S. following Sept. 11, calling it "crucial to our national security."

2003: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was the third and final Lord of the Rings movie to open in theaters.

1996: Kofi Annan of Ghana was appointed United Nations Secretary-General.

1989: Brazil held its first free election in 25 years.

1989: The first half-hour length episode of The Simpsons debuted with their Christmas special, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire".

1977: Elvis Costello & The Attractions made their first US TV appearance on Saturday Night Live.

1973: The American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses.

1969: The U.S. Air Force closed its Project "Blue Book" by concluding there was no evidence of extraterrestrial spaceships behind thousands of UFO sightings.

1903: Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright went on the first successful manned and self-propelled airplane flights, at Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

1843: A Christmas Carol, a fictional short story by Charles Dickens, was first published.

1777: France recognized American independence.

1586: The reign of Emperor Go-Yozei, the 107th imperial ruler of Japan, began.

Births:
1770: Ludwig van Beethoven (German composer)

1807: John Greenleaf Whittier (American poet/abolitionist/reformer/founder of the Liberal Party)

1908: Willard Frank Libby (American chemist) He won a Nobel Prize for his part in creating the carbon-14 method of dating artifacts.

1938: Gordon Lightfoot (Canadian folk singer/composer/lyricist) ["The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", "If You Could Read My Mind", "Me and Bobby McGee"]

Deaths:
1830: Simón Bolívar (South American revolutionary leader/statesman)

1957: Dorothy L. Sayers (British author/translator/Christian humanist) [Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries]


Word of the day: unfledged \uhn-FLEJD\
Etymology: From obsolete English fledge, "capable of flying; feathered," from Middle English flegge, from Old English -flycge.
(adjective)
1. Lacking the feathers necessary for flight.
2. Not fully developed; immature.


Mistfox - who has a ton of laundry to do after a week of cruising in the Caribbean

Today is December 18th. That means that Niger observes Republic Day.


2003: A judge in Seattle sentenced confessed Green River killer Gary Ridgeway to 48 consecutive life terms.

2002: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was the second Lord of the Rings movie to open in theaters.

2002: California Governor Gray Davis announced that the state would face a record 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.

1997: The World Wide Web Consortium released HTML 4.0.

1996: "Ebonics" was declared a language or dialect by the school board of Oakland, California.

1979: Stanley Barrett, driving at 739.6 mph, in California, broke the sound barrier on land for the first time.

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

1966: Dr. Seuss' "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" aired for the first time on CBS.

1964: "The Pink Panther" cartoon series premiered (Pink Phink).

1961: Indonesia invaded New Guinea to annex West Papua, formerly known as Netherlands New Guinea.

1957: The Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania, the first civilian nuclear facility to generate electricity in the United States, went online.

1956: Japan was admitted to the United Nations.

1892: The Russian Imperial Ballet first performed Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker”, in St. Petersburg.

1865: The 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, abolishing slavery, went into effect.

1787: New Jersey became the third state to ratify the Constitution of the United States of America.

1719: Thomas Fleet published "Mother Goose's Melodies For Children".

1642: Abel Tasman landed at Mohua Golden Bay, becoming the first European in New Zealand.

218 BCE: During the Battle of the Trebia, Hannibal had his first great victory over the Roman Republic.

Births:
1886: [Tyrus Raymond] “Ty” Cobb (American baseball star) He was the first man to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

1890: Edwin Armstrong (American inventor) He invented FM (frequency modulation), which eliminated radio static.

1913: [Elizabeth Ruth] "Betty" Grable (American actress) [Coney Island; Sweet Rosie O'Grady; How to Be Very, Very Popular]

1943: Keith Richards (British guitarist/songwriter) [The Rolling Stones]

1947: Stephen Spielberg (American director) [Catch Me If You Can; Minority Report; Saving Private Ryan; Schindler's List; Jurassic Park; E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial; Raiders of the Lost Ark; Close Encounters of the Third Kind; Jaws]


1963: [William Bradley] "Brad" Pitt (American actor) [Troy, Ocean's Eleven, Meet Joe Black, Interview with the Vampire, Thelma & Louise]

Deaths:
1737: Antonio Stradivari (Italian violin maker)

1971: Bobby Jones (American golfer) He was the first player to win the Grand Slam (winning the four major tournaments of the time in a single year) in golf.


Word of the day: draconian \dray-KOHN-ee-uhn; druh-\
Etymology: Refers to a code of laws made by Draco. Their measures were so severe that they were said to be written in blood.
(adjective)
1. Pertaining to Draco, a lawgiver of Athens, 621 B.C.
2. Excessively harsh; severe.


Mistfox - who always thought draconian referred to dragons

Funny, it makes me think of the Harry Potter books.

Misty!

I'm so glad you're back! I had to look up my own daily happenings while you were off crusin' around!

Today is December 19th. That means that the U.S. observes National Oatmeal Muffin Day


2005: Afghanistan's first democratically elected parliament in more than three decades convened.

2001: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was the first Lord of the Rings movie to open in theaters.

2000: The U.N. Security Council voted to impose broad sanctions on Afghanistan's Taliban rulers unless they closed terrorist training camps and surrendered U.S. embassy bombing suspect Osama bin Laden.

1998: U.S. President Bill Clinton was impeached by the Republican-controlled House for perjury and obstruction of justice, becoming only the second chief executive to be ordered to stand trial in the Senate. Andrew Johnson, like Clinton, was impeached and acquitted.

1997: The epic movie "Titanic," the highest grossing film ever made, opened in American movie theaters.

1984: Britain and China signed an accord to return Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty on July 1, 1997.

1980: Anguilla was made a dependency of the United Kingdom separate from St. Kitt's.

1978: John Wayne Gacy was arrested for the killings of 33 boys and young men.

1974: The Altair 8800, the first personal computer, went on sale.

1972: Apollo 17, the sixth and last of the Apollo landing missions, safely returned to Earth.

1963: Zanzibar received its independence from the United Kingdom to become a constitutional monarchy under the sultan.

1946: Ho Chi Minh attacked the French in Hanoi.

1945: Austria became a republic for the second time, the first having been founded in 1918 and interrupted by the Austro-fascist dictatorship from 1934 onwards and the Nazi invasion of Austria in 1938.

1920: The first U.S. indoor curling rink opened in Brookline, Massachusetts.

1918: Robert Ripley began his "Believe It or Not" column in the New York Globe.

1910: Rayon was first commercially produced,

1904: The Dawson City hockey team began a 9-day walk to get a boat to Seattle to catch a train to Ottawa to play in the Stanley Cup on Jan 13, 1905.

1842: Hawaii's independence was recognized by the United States.

1823: Georgia passed the first U.S. state birth registration law.

1777: General George Washington led his army of about 11,000 men to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, to camp for the winter. Nearly 3000 died during the very severe winter.

1732: Benjamin Franklin began publishing "Poor Richard's Almanac."

1562: The French Wars of Religion between the Huguenots and the Catholics began with the Battle of Dreux.

1154: Henry II was crowned king of England.

Births:
1906: Leonid Brezhnev {Leader of the Russian Communist Party)

Deaths:
1848: Emily Brontë (English poet/novelist) [Wuthering Heights]


Word of the day: complement \KOM-pluh-muhnt\
Etymology: From Latin complementum, from complere, "to fill up," from com- (intensive prefix) + plere, "to fill."
(noun)
1. Something that fills up or completes.
2. The quantity or number required to make up a whole or to make something complete.
3. One of two parts that complete a whole or mutually complete each other; a counterpart.
4. To supply what is lacking; to serve as a complement to; to supplement.


Mistfox - who likes to think this thread complements at least part of the "board" (Thanks, Suz!)

Today is December 20th. I couldn’t find any official observances of anything today.


2006: Acknowledging deepening frustration over Iraq, President George W. Bush told a news conference he was considering an increase in American forces and warned that the next year would bring more painful U.S. losses.

2005: A federal judge ruled that "intelligent design" could not be mentioned in biology classes in a Pennsylvania public school district.

1999: Macau reverted to Chinese rule; it had been a Portuguese colony since 1557.

1999: The Vermont Supreme Court ruled that homosexual couples were entitled to the same benefits and protections as wedded couples of the opposite sex.

1989: U.S. armed forces invaded Panama to overthrow military dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega, who had been indicted in the United States on drug trafficking charges and accused of suppressing democracy in Panama.

1967: "The Graduate," starring Dustin Hoffman & Anne Bancroft, premiered.

1965: "The Dating Game" premiered on television.

1963: The Berlin Wall was opened for the first time to West Berliners, who were allowed one-day visits to relatives in the Eastern sector for the holidays.

1957: Elvis Presley was given draft notice to join U.S. Army for National Service.

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.

1938: Russian immigrant Vladimir Zworykin patented the kinescope, now known as the cathode-ray tube.

1928: The first international dogsled mail left Minot, Maine for Montreal, Quebec.

1924: Adolf Hitler was released from prison after serving less than one year of a five-year sentence for treason.

1922: The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was formed when 15 eastern European republics merged to form the USSR.

1880: Electric lights were installed throughout Broadway's theater section in New York City, which then became known as "the Great White Way".

1879: Thomas A. Edison privately demonstrated his incandescent light at Menlo Park, New Jersey.

1864: Confederate forces evacuated Savannah, Ga., as Union Gen. William T. Sherman continued his "March to the Sea."

1860: South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union.

1820: Missouri imposed a $1 bachelor tax on unmarried men between 21 and 50.

1803: The Louisiana Purchase was completed as ownership of the territory was formally transferred from France to the United States during ceremonies in New Orleans. The massive land purchase, nearly doubled the size of the young republic, and was Thomas Jefferson's most notable achievement as President.

1522: Suleiman the Magnificent accepted the surrender of the surviving Knights of Rhodes, who were allowed to evacuate. They eventually re-settled on Malta and became known as the Knights of Malta.

1192: Richard the Lionhearted was captured and imprisoned by Leopold V of Austria on his way home to England after signing a treaty with Saladin ending the crusade.

Births:
1894: Sir Robert Menzies (Prime Minister of Australia)

1901: Robert Van de Graaff (American physicist/inventor/professor) Designed the Van de Graaff generator, developed tandem generator technology, and invented the insulating core transformer (producing high voltage direct current).

Deaths:
1812: Sacagawea (Native American translator for the Lewis and Clark Expedition)

1954: James Hilton (English author) [Lost Horizon; Goodbye, Mr. Chips; Random Harvest]

1968: John Steinbeck (American author) [The Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden]

1973: Bobby Darin [Walden Robert Cassotto] (American singer/teen idol) ["Splish Splash" , Dream Lover", "Mack the Knife"]

1982: Artur Rubenstein (Polish pianist)

1996: Carl Sagan (American astronomer/science writer) [Cosmos, The Dragons of Eden, Contact]



Word of the day: palimpsest \PAL-imp-sest\
Etymology: From Latin palimpsestus, from Greek palimpsestos, "scraped or rubbed again," from palin, "again" + psen, "to rub (away)."
(noun)
1. A manuscript, usually of papyrus or parchment, on which more than one text has been written with the earlier writing incompletely erased and still visible.
2. An object or place whose older layers or aspects are apparent beneath its surface.


Mistfox - who has used palimpsest before, but had to look it up again because she couldn't remember what it meant

Today is December 21st. That means that in the United States, New England observes Forefathers' Day.


2006: Four Marines were charged with murder in the killings of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha, and four Marine officers were accused of failures in investigating and reporting the deaths. (Charges were later dropped against two of the Marines accused of murder and two of the officers accused of dereliction of duty.)

1995: The city of Bethlehem passed from Israeli to Palestinian control.

1991: Eleven of the 12 former Soviet Union republics proclaimed the birth of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

1988: A terrorist bomb exploded aboard a Pam Am Boeing 747 over Lockerbie, Scotland, sending wreckage crashing to the ground and killing 270 people.

1978: Police in Des Plaines, Ill., arrested John W. Gacy Jr. and began unearthing the remains of 33 men and boys whom Gacy was later convicted of murdering.

1975: In Vienna, Austria, Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, known as "Carlos the Jackal," led Arab terrorists on a raid of a meeting of oil ministers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The terrorists killed three people, and took 70 people hostage, including 11 OPEC ministers. Sanchez evaded authorities until 1994, when French agents captured him hiding in the Sudan. A French jury sentenced him to life imprisonment.

1970: Elvis Presley met with President Richard M. Nixon in the Oval Office to discuss fighting drugs.

1968: David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash premiered together in California.

1968: Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the Moon, was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell, Jr., and William Anders aboard.

1948: The state of Eire (formerly the Irish Free State) declared its independence.

1937: Walt Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was shown in Los Angeles. It was the first full-length animated talking picture.

1933: Newfoundland became a crown colony.

1923: Nepal gained independence from Great Britain.

1913: The first crossword puzzle, compiled by Arthur Wynne, was published, appearing in the "New York World."

1898: Marie and Pierre Curie discovered radium.

1880: The Isle of Man became the first political entity that allowed women to vote.

1872: HMS Challenger sailed from Portsmouth on the four-year scientific expedition that would lay the foundation for the science of oceanography.

1620: The Pilgrims of the Mayflower went ashore for the first time at present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts.

0068: Vespian, a general, entered Rome and was named emperor by the Senate.

Births:
1879: Joseph Stalin [Josef Dzhugashvili] (Russian dictator)

1937: Jane Fonda (American actress/exercise guru/activist) Daughter of actor Henry Fonda.

1940: Frank Zappa (American composer/guitarist/singer/film director/satirist)

Deaths:
1940: F. Scott Fitzgerald (American author)[The Great Gatsby]

1945: George S. Patton (American military leader)


Word of the day: pari passu \PAIR-ee-PASS-oo; PAIR-ih-PASS-oo\
Etymology: Literally means "with equal step," from Latin pari, ablative of par, "equal" + passu, ablative of passus, "step." (adverb)
1. At an equal pace or rate.


Mistfox - who will probably be late getting this out for a while, since the dh has taken the week off and we're sleeping in

Today is December 22nd. That means that Japan observes Toji or the Winter Solstice. The Winter Solstice (in the Northern Hemisphere, it's the Summer Solstice in the Southern) occurred at 1:08 a.m. EST (06:08 UT). Happy Yule!


2005: Astronomers announced the discovery of two more rings encircling the planet Uranus.

2001: Richard C. Reid, a passenger on a flight from Paris to Miami, tried to ignite explosives in his shoes, but was subdued by flight attendants and fellow passengers.

1989: Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausçescu was overthrown in a revolutionary coup.

1961: James Davis became the first U.S. soldier to die in Vietnam.

1956: The first gorilla was born in captivity, "Colo" in Columbus Ohio.

1938: The first coelacanth to be identified was caught in the Bay of Chalumna off South Africa. The fish, thought extinct for 50 million years, was later named Latimeria-Chalumnae.

1937: The Lincoln Tunnel opened to traffic

1895: German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen made the first X-ray.

1894: The United States Golf Association (USGA) was founded.

1894: French army officer Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of treason in a court-martial that triggered worldwide charges of anti-Semitism. He was sent to Devil's Island but was later vindicated.

1885: Ito Hirobumi, a samurai, became the first Prime Minister of Japan.

1849: The execution of Fyodor Dostoevsky is canceled at the last second

1775: A Continental naval fleet was organized in the rebellious American colonies.

Births:
1858: Giacomo Puccini (Italian musician/opera composer) [Madame Butterfly, Tosca, La Boheme]

1949: Robin and Maurice Gibb (English-born musicians) [the Bee Gees]

2001: Cc the cat (the first cloned pet)

Deaths:
1880: George Eliot [Mary Ann Evans] (English novelist) [Middlemarch]

1943: Beatrix Potter (English author/artist) [The Tale of Two Bad Mice, The Tale of Peter Rabbit]


Word of the day: artifice \AR-tuh-fis\
Etymology: From artificium, from artifex, artific-, "artificer, craftsman," from Latin ars, art-, "art" + facere, "to make." It is related to artificial.
(noun)
1. Cleverness or skill; ingenuity; inventiveness.
2. An ingenious or artful device or expedient.
3. An artful trick or stratagem.
4. Trickery; craftiness; insincere or deceptive behavior.


Mistfox - who is whipping this off fast on her lunch hour

Today is December 23rd. That means that Japan observes The Emperor's Birthday, Sweden observes the Birthday of Queen Silvia, Mexico observes the Night of the Radishes/Feast of the Radishes, and Festivus is held.


2012: The Mayan calendar will come to an end (this may also be December 21). This day was predicted by the Mayans to be when life on Earth is going to end.

2004: Former Connecticut Gov. John G. Rowland pleaded guilty to a corruption charge. (He was later sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison.)

2003: The government announced the first suspected case of mad cow disease in United States. (It was later confirmed.)

1997: A Denver federal court jury convicted Terry Nichols of involuntary manslaughter and conspiracy for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.

1986: The experimental airplane Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, completed the first non-stop, round-the-world flight without refueling as it landed safely at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

1975: Congress passed the Metric Conversion Act declaring that the SI (International System of Units) would be the country's basic system of measurement.

1972: The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Oakland Raiders 13-7 in an NFL playoff game on a last-second touchdown catch by Franco Harris that was dubbed the "immaculate reception."

1963: The Beach Boys made their first appearance on "Shindig".

1954: Doctors Murray and Harrison at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston performed the first human organ transplant, of a kidney.

1947: The transistor (invented by John Bardeen, Walter H. Brattain, and William Shockley) was first demonstrated at Bell Telephone Laboratories in New Jersey. They won the Nobel Prize for their discovery.

1944: General Dwight D. Eisenhower confirmed the death sentence of Private Eddie Slovik, the only American shot for desertion since the Civil War.

1938: Margaret Hamilton's costume caught fire in filming of "Wizard of Oz".

1922: The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) began daily news broadcasts.

1888: Following a quarrel with Paul Gauguin, Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh cut off part of his own earlobe.

1823: Clement Clarke Moore first published the poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas”.

1788: Maryland voted to cede a 100-square-mile area for the seat of the national government; about two-thirds of the area became the District of Columbia.

1783: George Washington resigned as commander-in-chief of the Army and retired to his home at Mount Vernon, Virginia.

Births:
1790: Jean-François Champollion (French founder of Egyptology) Deciphered the Rosetta Stone.

1933: Akihito (Emperor of Japan)

1943: Silvia [Silvia Renate Sommerlath] Queen of Sweden

1947: Susan Lucci (American actress) [All My Children,]

1965: Eddie Vedder [Edward Louis Seversen III] (American lead singer/lyricist) [Pearl Jam]


Deaths:
1982: "Jack" [John Randolph] Webb (American actor/producer/director) [Dragnet]

2000: Victor Borge (Danish humorist/entertainer/world-class pianist)


Word of the day: fiasco /fee-AS-koh or, esp. for 2, -AH-skoh/
Etymology: Theater slang for "a failure," acquired the general sense of any dismal flop, on or off the stage. Via French phrase fiare fiasco "turn out a failure," from Italian far fiasco "suffer a complete breakdown in performance," literally "make a bottle," from fiasco "bottle," from Late Latin flasco, flasconem.
(noun)
1. A complete and ignominious failure.
2. A round-bottomed glass flask for wine, esp. Chianti, fitted with a woven, protective raffia basket that also enables the bottle to stand upright.


Mistfox - who hopes no one's Christmas is a fiasco

Today is December 24th. That means that Libya observes Independence Day and the Christian world celebrates Christmas Eve.


2004: The international Cassini spacecraft launched a probe on a three-week free-fall toward Saturn's moon Titan.

2003: The Spanish police thwarted an attempt by ETA to detonate 50 kg of explosives at 3:55 PM inside Madrid's busy Chamartin Station. Another bomb with over 20 kg of explosives was then found inside a second train passing near Burgos, already several hundred kilometers on its way to Madrid.

2002: Laci Peterson was reported missing from her Modesto, California home by her husband, Scott, who was later convicted of murdering her and their unborn son.

1992: President Bush pardoned former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and five others in the Iran-Contra scandal.

1979: Afghanistan was invaded by Soviet Union troops as the Kabul government fell.

1963: New York's Idlewild Airport was renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport in honor of the assassinated President John F. Kennedy.

1954: Laos became independent.

1951: Libya achieved independence as the United Kingdom of Libya, under King Idris I.

1942: German rocket engineer Wernher von Braun launched the first surface-to-surface guided missile.'

1920: Enrico Caruso gave his last public performance, singing in Jacques Halevy's "La Juive" at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

1919: John D. Rockefeller, thought to be the world's richest man, gave away $100 million dollars.

1914: In World War I, the first air raid on Britain was made when a German airplane dropped a bomb on the grounds of a rectory in Dover.

1906: The first radio program (a poetry reading, a violin solo, and a speech) was broadcast by Canadian physicist Reginald A. Fessenden from Brant Rock, Mass.

1889: Daniel Stover and William Hance patented a bicycle with a back pedal brake.

1871: Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Aida" had its world premiere in Cairo, Egypt, to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal.

1865: Some veterans of the Confederate Army formed a private social club in Pulaski, Tennessee, called the Ku Klux Klan. The name of the Ku Klux Klan is derived from the Greek word kuklos, meaning circle, and clann, a Scottish Gaelic word for the traditional tribal units of Scotland that reflects the Scottish ancestry of many of the KKK's founding members.

1851: Fire devastated the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., destroying around 2/3 of its collection, including 2/3 of Thomas Jefferson's personal library, sold to the institution in 1815.

1814: The War of 1812 officially ended as the United States and Britain signed the Treaty of Ghent in Belgium.

1777: James Cook discovered Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island.

Births:
1166: John (King of England)

1809: "Kit" [Christopher Houston] Carson (American frontiersman,/fur trapper/guide/American Indian agent/Union general)

1905: Howard Hughes (American industrialist/pilot/Hollywood producer/director)

1910: Fritz Leiber (American science fiction writer) [The Big Time, Conjure Wife, the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories]

1929: Mary Higgins Clark (American author) [Where are the Children?, Santa Cruise, I Heard that Song Before, Two Little Girls in Blue]

Deaths:
1524: Vasco da Gama (Portuguese explorer)

1914: John Muir (Scottish-American environmentalist/naturalist/writer/scientist)

1997: Toshiro Mifune (Japanese actor) [Rashomon, The Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Shogun]


Word of the day: amity \AM-uh-tee\
Etymology: From Old French-Medieval French amistié, amisté, ultimately from Latin amicus, "friendly, a friend," from amare, "to love."
(noun)
1. Friendship; friendly relations, especially between nations.

Mistfox - who wishes there could be amity between nations as a celebration of Christmas

Today is December 25th. That means that the Christian world celebrates Christmas Day.


2002: Katie Hnida became the first woman to play in a Division I football game when she attempted an extra point for New Mexico against UCLA in the Las Vegas Bowl.

1991: Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev went on TV to announce his resignation as the eighth and final leader of a Communist superpower that had already gone out of existence.

1989: Dissident playwright Vaclav Havel was elected president of Czechoslovakia.

1974: Cyclone Tracy virtually destroyed Darwin, Australia.

1973: The ARPANET crashed when a programming bug caused all ARPANET traffic to be routed through the server at Harvard University, causing the server to freeze.

1972: The Nicaraguan capital Managua was devastated by an earthquake, which killed over 10,000 people.

1950: Coronation Stone, taken from Scone in Scotland by Edward I in 1296, was stolen from Westminster Abbey and smuggled back to Scotland.

1939: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was introduced by Montgomery Ward stores.

1926: Hirohito became Emperor of Japan, succeeding the Taisho Emperor.

1914: Just after midnight on Christmas morning, German troops on the Western Front ceased firing their guns and artillery and started singing Christmas carols. Crossing the No man's land, they traded gifts with the enemy forces that faced them. The Christmas truce lasted for several days, depending on the location.

1830: The first regularly scheduled passenger train in the United States began operation, the South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company.

1776: General George Washington and his troops crossed the Delaware River for a surprise attack against Hessian forces at Trenton, New Jersey.

1651: Massachusetts General Court ordered a fine (five shillings) for "observing any such day as Christmas"

1223: St. Francis of Assisi assembled one of the first Nativity scenes, in Greccio, Italy.

1066: William the Conqueror was crowned king of England at Westminster Abbey.

0800: Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne first Holy Roman Emperor in Rome.

0336: The first recorded celebration of Christmas on December 25 took place in Rome. Church fathers designated December 25th, the birthday of the popular pagan god Mithras, as Jesus's official birth date. The celebration of the birth of Christ also took over the pagan winter solstice holiday, which like the birthday of the sun god Mithras, fell in late December. From thereon, December 25 was to be observed at a holy mass, or "Christ's Mass."

Births:
1642: Sir Isaac Newton (British mathematician/physicist)

1821: Clara Barton (American nurse) Founder of American Red Cross.

1899: Humphrey Bogart (American actor) [The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, The Big Sleep, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The African Queen]

1946: Jimmy Buffett (American singer/songwriter/author) ["Margaritaville," "Cheeseburger in Paradise"]

Deaths:
1977: Charlie Chaplin (English comedian/actor/director/producer) [The Great Dictator, The Circus]

1996: JonBenet Ramsey (American murder victim)

2006: James Brown [James Joseph Brown, Jr.] ["The Godfather of Soul”, “The Hardest Working Man in Show Business"] (American entertainer)


Word of the day: benefaction \BEN-uh-fak-shuhn; ben-uh-FAK-shuhn\
Etymology: From Late Latin benefactio, from Latin benefacere, "to do well, to do good to," from bene, "well" + facere, "to do."
(noun)
1. The act of conferring a benefit.
2. A benefit conferred; especially, a charitable donation.

Mistfox - who is getting a lot of requests for benefactions in the mail lately

Today is December 26th. That means that South Africa observes a Day of Goodwill, Bahamas observes Junkanoo, Scotland observes Handsel Day, it is Boxing Day in the UK and the Commonwealth, and Kwanzaa starts.



2004: A tsunami triggered by the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake beneath the Indian Ocean, left more than 275,000 people dead or missing, while inundating coastal communities across South and Southeast Asia.

1995: Israel turned dozens of West Bank villages over to the Palestinian Authority in a smooth transfer of power.

1979: The Soviet Union began a massive airlift of men into Kabul, Afghanistan, in an effort to reinstate Communist rule in the nation.

1973: "The Exorcist," starring Linda Blair (rated X) premiered.

1966: The first Kwanzaa celebration was organized in Los Angeles, California, by Dr. Maulana Karenga, chairman of Black Studies at California State University at Long Beach.

1963: The Beatles released "I Want To Hold Your Hand"/"I Saw Her Standing There".

1947: Heavy snow blanketed the Northeast and buried New York City under 25.8" of snow in 16 hours. That same day, Los Angeles set a record high of 84ø F.

1944: The play The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams was first publicly performed.

1933: The Nissan Motor Company was organized in Tokyo, Japan

1898: Scientists Pierre Curie and Marie Curie announced their discovery of the radioactive element radium.

1854: Wood-pulp paper was first exhibited in Buffalo, New York

1799: Col. Henry Lee eulogized George Washington as "first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen."

1492: Christopher Columbus established the first Spanish settlement in the Americas on the island of Hispaniola, now Haiti.

Births:
1791: Charles Babbage (English mathematician) Inventor of computing machines.

1893: Mao Zedong (Chinese Communist leader)

1921: Steve Allen (American comedian/author/musician/composer/TV host)

1956: David Sedaris (American essayist) [Me Talk Pretty One Day, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim]

Deaths:
1972: Harry S Truman (President of the U.S.)

2006: Gerald R. Ford (President of the U.S.)


Word of the day: yare \YAIR or, esp. for 1, 2, YAHR\
Etymology: From Middle English, from Old English gearo "ready," from Proto-Germanic prefix *ga- + *arw-; related to gearwe "clothing, dress".
1. Quick; agile; lively.
2. (of a ship) Quick to the helm; easily handled or maneuvered.
3. Archaic.
a. Ready; prepared.
b. Nimble; quick.

Mistfox - who isn’t feeling yare enough to hit the sales today

Today is December 27th. That means that Hong Kong observes Ta Chiu.


2005: Indonesia's Aceh rebels formally abolished their 30-year armed struggle for independence under a peace deal born out of the 2004 tsunami.

2004: In a run-off election, opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko declared victory in Ukraine's fiercely contested presidential election.

2002: North Korea ordered U.N. nuclear inspectors to leave the country and said it would restart a laboratory capable of producing plutonium for nuclear weapons.

1985: Naturalist Dian Fossey, who had studied gorillas in the wild, was found hacked to death at a research station in Rwanda.

1979: Soviet forces seized control of Afghanistan. Babrak Karmal replaced President Hafizullah Amin, who was overthrown and executed.

1978: King Juan Carlos ratified Spain's first democratic constitution in nearly five decades.

1970: "Hello, Dolly!" closed on Broadway after a run of 2,844 performances.

1947: The children's television program "Howdy Doody" made its debut.

1945: After World War II, the former Allied nations of the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain agreed to divide Korea into two occupation zones and govern them for five years. The country was split along the 38th parallel, with Soviet forces occupying the northern zone, and Americans stationed to the south. In 1948 self-rule was granted with the establishment of two separate regimes in North Korea and South Korea.

1945: Twenty-eight nations signed an agreement to create the World Bank. The International Monetary Fund and the Bank for Reconstruction and Development were created.

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

1927: "Show Boat," with music by Jerome Kern and libretto by Oscar Hammerstein II, opened at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York City.

1904: James Barrie's play Peter Pan premiered in London.

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

1845: Dr. Crawford Williamson Long in Jefferson, Georgia used ether anesthetic for childbirth for the first time.

1831: British naturalist Charles Darwin set out from Plymouth, England, aboard the HMS Beagle, on a five-year surveying expedition of the southern Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean.

1703: Portugal and England signed the Methuen Treaty, which gave preference to Portuguese imported wines into England.

Births:
1571: Johannes Kepler (German astronomer)

1822: Louis Pasteur (French scientist) Developed the pasteurization process and rabies vaccination.

Deaths:
1836: Stephen F. Austin (American pioneer)


Word of the day: enswathe \en-SWOTH, -sweyth\
Etymology: From Old English swa_ian "to swathe," from swadu "track, trace, band"
(verb)
1.To swathe; to envelop, as in swaddling clothes.

Mistfox - who is not looking forward to going back to work tonight

Today is December 28th. That means that Australia observes Proclamation Day and Nepal observes the King's Birthday.


2005: A U.S. immigration judge ordered retired autoworker John Demjanjuk, accused of being a Nazi concentration camp guard, deported to his native Ukraine.

2000: U.S. retail giant Montgomery Ward announced it was going out of business after 128 years.

1995: CompuServe set a precedent by blocking access to sex-oriented newsgroups after being pressured by German prosecutors.

1991: Sonic the Hedgehog Game Gear version was released in Japan.

1961: Tennessee Williams' "Night of the Iguana," premiered in New York City.

1945: Congress officially recognized the "Pledge of Allegiance."

1908: The most destructive earthquake in European history struck Messina, Italy, flattening the city and killing more than 80,000 people. The earthquake registered 7.5 on the Richter scale.

1897: The play Cyrano de Bergerac, by Edmond Rostand, premiered in Paris.

1895: The Lumiere brothers had their first paying audience at the Grand Cafe in Boulevard des Capucines -- this date is commonly considered the debut of the cinema.

1869: William F. Semple of Mount Vernon, Ohio patented chewing gum.

1849: M. Jolly-Bellin discovered dry-cleaning, when he accidentally upset a lamp containing turpentine and oil onto his clothing and saw a cleaning effect.

1846: Iowa became the 29th state to be admitted to the Union.

1836: Mexico's independence was recognized by Spain.

1835: Osceola led his Seminole warriors in Florida into the Second Seminole War against the U.S. Army.

1832: John C. Calhoun became the first vice president of the United States to resign, stepping down over differences with President Andrew Jackson.

1612: Galileo Galilei was the first astronomer to observe the planet Neptune when it was in conjunction with Jupiter, yet he mistakenly catalogued it as a fixed star because of its extremely slow motion along the ecliptic at that time. Neptune was not truly discovered until 1846, about 234 years after Galileo first sighted it with his telescope.

1065: Westminster Abbey was consecrated under Edward the Confessor.

Births:
1856: [Thomas] Woodrow Wilson (President of the U.S.A.) Despite suffering from dyslexia and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Wilson remains the only American president to have earned a doctoral degree.

1954: Denzel Washington (American actor) [St. Elsewhere., Malcolm X, Training Day]

1981: Elizabeth Jordan Carr (The first official American test-tube baby)

Deaths:
1734: Rob Roy [Robert MacGregor] (Scottish outlaw)

1937: Maurice Ravel (French composer/pianist) [Bolero]

1983: Dennis Wilson (American musician) [The Beach Boys]

1999: Clayton Moore (American television actor) [The Lone Ranger]

2004: "Jerry" [Jerome Bernard] Orbach (American actor) [Law & Order]


Word of the day: wamble \WOM-buhl, -uhl, WAM-\
Etymology: From Middle English wamelen, to feel nausea; see wem- in Indo-European roots.
(intransitive verb)
1. To move unsteadily.
2. To feel nausea.
3. (of the stomach) To rumble; growl.
(noun)
4. An unsteady or rolling movement.
5. A feeling of nausea.

Mistfox - who bets all the holiday goodies caused some wambling

Today is December 29th. That means that Poland observes Kulig.


1999: The Nasdaq composite index closed above 4,000 for the first time, ending the day at 4,041.46.

1997: Hong Kong began to kill all the nation's chickens (1.25 million) to stop the spread of a potentially deadly influenza strain.

1996: The Guatemalan government and leaders of the leftist Guatemalan National Revolutionary Union signed a peace accord in Guatemala City, ending a war that lasted 36 years.

1989: Playwright Vaclav Havel was elected president of Czechoslovakia by the country's Federal Assembly, becoming the first non-Communist to attain the post in more than four decades.

1967: Star Trek's "Trouble With Tribbles" first aired.

1940: London suffered its most devastating air raid, and approximately 1,500 fires were started, when Germany started dropping incendiary bombs on it during World War II.

1930: Fred P. Newton completed the longest swim ever (1826 miles), when he swam in the Mississippi River from Ford Dam, Minn, to New Orleans.

1911: Sun Yat-sen became the first President of the Republic of China

1890: The Wounded Knee massacre took place in South Dakota as some 300 Sioux Indians were killed by U.S. troops. It was the last major battle between Native Americans and U.S. troops.

1862: The bowling ball was invented.

1851: The first U.S. branch Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) was established, in Boston. The organization started in London in 1844.

1848: Gaslights were first installed at the White House during the Polk administration.

1845: Texas (comprised of the present state of Texas and part of New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming) was admitted as the 28th state of the Union, with the provision that the area should be divided into no more than five states.

1607: Indian chief Powhatan spared John Smith's life because of the pleas of Powhatan's daughter, Pocahontas.

Births:
1808: Andrew Johnson (President of the U.S.A.)

1809: William Gladstone (English statesman/Prime Minister)

1876: Pablo Casals (Spanish cellist)

1937: Mary Tyler Moore (American actress/comedian) [The Dick Van Dyke Show, Ordinary People, The Mary Tyler Moore Show]

1972: Jude Law (British actor) [The Aviator, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Cold Mountain, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil]

Deaths:
1170: Thomas Becket [Thomas á Becket] (British archbishop) Murdered in Canterbury Cathedral in England by four knights of King Henry II, apparently on orders of the king.


Word of the day: jactation \JAK-tey-shuhn\
Etymology: From Latin jactation- "bragging", equivalent to jactat(us) (participle of jactare, of jacere "to throw") + -ion
(noun)
1. Boasting; bragging.
2. Pathology. A restless tossing of the body.

Mistfox - who tries not to demonstrate jactation, by either definition

My all-time-favorite Star Trek episode!

Mine too! Loved when they all fell on Captain Kirk! lol

Today is December 30th. That means that the Philippines observe Rizal Day.


2003: The federal government announced it would ban the sale of ephedra, an herbal stimulant linked to 155 deaths and dozens of heart attacks and strokes.

1993: Israel and the Vatican established diplomatic relations.

1980: "The Wonderful World of Disney," had its last performance on NBC-TV.

1972: The United States halted its heavy bombing of North Vietnam.

1953: The first color television sets went on sale for about USD $1,175.

1947: King Michael of Romania agreed to abdicate, but charged Communists were forcing him off the throne

1940: California's first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway connecting Los Angeles and Pasadena, was officially opened.

1922: Vladimir I. Lenin proclaimed the establishment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, comprising a confederation of Russia, Byelorussia, the Ukraine, and the Transcaucasian Federation.

1880: In British South Africa, the Transvaal province was declared an independent Boer republic, which set off an armed conflict with Britain.

1879: Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Pirates of Penzance" was first performed, in England.

1853: A 20-strong dinner party was held, in south London, inside a life-size model of an Iguanodon created by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins and Sir Richard Owen.

1853: The United States bought 45,000 square miles of land from Mexico in the Gadsden Purchase. The treaty established the final boundaries of the southern United States.

1817: The first coffee was planted in Hawaii in the Kona region.

1809: Wearing masks at balls was forbidden in Boston

1460: During the Wars of the Roses, the Duke of York was defeated at the Battle of Wakefield

Births:
1865: [Joseph] Rudyard Kipling (English author/poet) [The Jungle Book, Kim, "Gunga Din"]

1975: Tiger Woods (American pro golfer)

Deaths:
1460: Richard [Plantagenet] (Duke of York)

1979: Richard Rodgers (American composer of musical theater) [Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, The Sound of Music]

2004: Artie Shaw [Arthur Arshawsky] (American jazz clarinetist, composer, bandleader, and writer) ["Begin the Beguine", "Lady Be Good"]


Word of the day: gaumless \GAWM-lis\ Also, gormless.
Etymology: From Scots gaum "heed, attention" from Middle English gome (Old Norse gaumr; akin to Goth gaumjan "to observe") + -less
(adjective) Chiefly British Informal
1. Lacking in vitality or intelligence; stupid, dull, or clumsy.

Mistfox - who definitely has days where she feels gaumless

Today is December 31st. That means that Japan observes Omisoka/ Grand Last Day, and First Night, Hogmanay, and New Year's Eve are observed.


2004: Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych resigned, acknowledging that he had little hope of reversing the presidential election victory of his Western-leaning rival, Viktor Yushchenko.

1999: Panama assumed control of the Panama Canal, according to the treaty of 1979.

1995: Bill Watterson's comic strip "Calvin and Hobbes" ended syndication, which started on November 18, 1985.

1990: Sci-Fi Channel on cable TV began transmitting.

1974: Private U.S. citizens were allowed to buy and own gold for the first time in more than 40 years.

1966: The Monkee's "I'm a Believer" hit #1 and stayed there for 7 weeks.

1960: The farthing coin, which had been in use in Great Britain since the 13th century, ceased to be legal tender.

1946: President Harry S. Truman officially proclaimed the end of hostilities in World War II.

1929: Guy Lombardo played Auld Lang Syne for the first time.

1923: In London, the BBC broadcast the chimes of Big Ben for the first time.

1911: Marie Sklodowska Curie received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her isolation of the element of metallic radium and other earlier discoveries in the field of chemistry. She was the first person to be awarded a second Nobel Prize, eight years after she became the first woman ever to be honored with a Nobel Prize.

1904: The first New Year's Eve celebration was held in Times Square, then known as Longacre Square, in New York, New York.

1897: Brooklyn, New York, spent its last day as a separate entity before becoming part of New York City.

1890: New York's Ellis Island opened its doors to what would be millions of immigrants to the United States.

1879: Thomas Edison first demonstrated his electric incandescent light bulb to the public, in Menlo Park, New Jersey.

1879: Gilbert and Sullivan's "Pirates of Penzance," had its U.S. premiere in NYC.

1862: President Abraham Lincoln signed an act admitting West Virginia to the Union.

1857: Queen Victoria chose Ottawa, Ontario, as the capital of Canada.

1781: The first modern bank in the U.S., the Bank of North America, was organized by Robert Morris and received its charter from the Confederation Congress. It began operating in Philadelphia.

1695: A window tax was imposed in England, causing many shopkeepers to brick up their windows to avoid the tax.

1600: Queen Elizabeth I of England granted a formal charter to the London merchants trading to the East Indies, hoping to break the Dutch monopoly of the spice trade.

0406: Vandals, Alans and Suebians crossed the Rhine, beginning an invasion of Gallia.

Births:
1720: Charles Edward Stuart [Bonnie Prince Charlie] (The "Young Pretender" to the British throne)

1869: Henri Matisse (French painter/designer)

1884: Elizabeth Arden [Florence Nightingale Graham] (Canadian-born American cosmetic executive)

Deaths:
1985: Rick Nelson (American actor/singer) Died in an airplane crash. [The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet]


Word of the day: absquatulate \ab-SKWOCH-uh-leyt\
Etymology: Pseudo-Latinism, from ab-, squat, and -ulate, paralleling Latin-derived words with initial abs- (e.g., abscond, abstention) and final -tulate.
(intransitive verb) Slang
1. To flee; abscond.

Mistfox - who wonders why Lord John Grey would think this word when it wasn't used until 1837 in the U.S. (tsk, tsk, Diane Gabaldon)

Today is January 1st. That means that it’s New Year's Day, National Bloody Mary Day, Oatmeal Day, and the UK observes National Hangover Day.

Last year's entry can be found HERE.


1999: The euro became the official currency of 11 European countries.

1998: Smoking was banned in California restaurants and bars.

1996: The last Polynesian tree snail, species Partula turgida, died at the London Zoo.

1993: Czechoslovakia peacefully split into two new countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

1984: AT&T was broken up into twenty-two independent units.

1983: The ARPANET officially changed to using the Internet Protocol, creating the Internet.

1971: Cigarette advertisements were banned on American television.

1962: The United States Navy SEALs were established.

1948: British railways were nationalized to form British Rail.

1908: For the first time, a ball was dropped in New York City's Times Square to signify the start of the New Year at midnight.

1901: The British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia federated as the Commonwealth of Australia; Edmund Barton was appointed the first Prime Minister.

1901: The French rugby team played their first Test against the New Zealand All Blacks.

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

1895: C.W. Post of Battle Creek, Michigan introduced Postum Food Coffee, a coffee substitute made from wheat, bran and molasses.

1818: Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus was published.

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

1801: Dwarf planet Ceres was discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi.

1800: The Dutch East India Company ceased to exist.

1772: The London Credit Exchange Company issued the first traveler’s checks.

45 BCE: New Year's Day was celebrated for the first time on January 1 when the Julian calendar took effect.

Births:
1735: Paul Revere (American patriot/silversmith)

1940: Frank Langella (American actor) [Dracula, Masters of the Universe, Cutthroat Island, Superman Returns]

Deaths:
898: Odo (Count of Paris)

1782: Johann Christian Bach (German composer)

1992: Grace Hopper (American computer pioneer/United States Navy officer)


Word of the day: Zeitgeist \TSYT-guyst; ZYT-guyst\
Etymology: From the German: Zeit, "time" + Geist, "spirit."
(noun)
1. [Often capitalized] The spirit of the time; the general intellectual and moral state or temper characteristic of any period of time.

Mistfox - who was watching the Rose Parade again

Today is January 2nd. That means that it's National Cream Puff Day and Switzerland observes Berchtoldstag (Berchtold's Day)

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2006: A methane gas explosion at the Sago Mine in West Virginia killed one miner and trapped 12 others underground for more than 40 hours. Randal McCloy Jr. was the only survivor; the others succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning.

2004: Stardust successfully flew past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that it would return to Earth two years later.

1991: Sharon Pratt Dixon was sworn in as mayor of Washington, DC, becoming the first African American woman to lead a US city of that size and importance.

1990: Campbell's Soup introduced Cream of Broccoli soup. It became their most successful new soup in 55 years.

1975: Working with Canadian zoologist Freud Urquhart, amateur naturalist Kenneth C. Brugger discovered the winter home of the Monarch butterfly in the mountains of central Mexico. The refuge he found was only about 200 square meters and contained about 20 million butterflies.

1905: Japanese Gen. Nogi received from Russian Gen. Stoessel at 9 o'clock P.M. a letter formally offering to surrender, ending the Russo-Japanese War.

1882: John D. Rockefeller united his oil holdings into the Standard Oil trust.

1818: The British Institution of Civil Engineers was founded.

1191: The city of Bern was founded by Duke Berchtold V. Legend claims that he went hunting and said he would name the city for the first animal he killed, which was a bear (bern).

0533: Mercurius became Pope John II, the first pope to adopt a new name upon elevation to the papacy.

Births:
1947: Jack Hanna (American zoologist)

1968: Cuba Gooding Jr. (American actor) [American Gangster, Jerry Maguire]

Deaths:
1990: Alan Hale Jr. (American actor) [Gilligan's Island, Up Periscope, Hang 'Em High]


Word of the day: jaculiferous \jak-yuh-LIF-er-uhs\
Etymology: From Latin jaculifer "dart-bearing" + -ous
(adjective)
1. Having dartlike spines.

Mistfox - whose dd likes to draw little jaculiferous beasties (hedgehogs)

Today is January 3rd. That means that it's National Chocolate Covered Cherry Day.

See what turned up last year HERE.


2006: Lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to conspiracy, mail fraud and tax evasion and agreed to cooperate in investigations of corruption in Congress. In a plea agreement, he admitted he had provided gifts to officials in exchange for favorable treatment.

1987: Aretha Franklin became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

1977: Apple Computer was incorporated.

1961: The United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba.

1959: President Eisenhower signed a proclamation admitting Alaska to the Union as the 49th state.

1953: Frances Bolton and her son, Oliver (from Ohio), become the first mother and son to serve simultaneously in the U.S. Congress.

1947: Proceedings of the U.S. Congress were televised for the first time.

1945: Admiral Chester W. Nimitz was placed in command of all U.S. Naval forces in preparation for planned assaults against Iwo Jima, Okinawa and Japan itself.

1924: English explorer Howard Carter discovered the sarcophagus of Tutankhamen in the Valley of the Kings, near Luxor, Egypt.

1921: Studebaker announced that it would stop making farm wagons. Studebaker began making horse drawn wagons in 1852, and started experimenting with the new 'horseless carriage' in 1897.

1888: The 91 cm refracting telescope at Lick Observatory was used for the first time. It was the largest telescope in the world at the time.

1888: The first patent for wax coated paper drinking straws (made by a spiral winding process) was issued to Marvin C. Stone of Washington, D.C.

1871: Henry Bradley of Binghamton, New York patented Oleomargarine.

1870: The construction of the Brooklyn Bridge began.

1825: Rensselaer School, the first engineering college in the U.S. was opened in Troy, New York. It is now known as Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

1521: Pope Leo X excommunicated Martin Luther in the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem.

Births:
1793: Lucretia Mott (American women's rights activist)

1892: J.R.R. [John Ronald Reuel] Tolkein (South African born British author) [The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings]

1894: ZaSu Pitts (American actress) [Greed, The Wedding March, Ruggles of Red Gap]

1945: Stephen Stills (American guitarist/singer/songwriter ) [Buffalo Springfield; Crosby, Stills & Nash (and Young)]

1946: John Paul Jones [John Baldwin] (British musician/producer) [Led Zeppelin]

Deaths:
1795: Josiah Wedgwood (English inventor/artist/pottery designer and manufacturer) His daughter, Susannah, was the mother of Charles Darwin.

2002: Alfred Heineken (President of Heineken Brewery) Grandson of Gerard Adriaan Heineken, the founder of the brewery.

2005: Will Eisner (American comics writer/artist/author/entrepreneur) [The Spirit, Comics and Sequential Art, Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative]


Word of the day: arcanum \ar-KAY-nuhm\
plural arcana \-nuh\
Etymology: From the Latin, from arcanus "closed, secret," from arca, "chest, box," from arcere, "to shut in."
(noun )
1. A secret; a mystery.
2. Specialized or mysterious knowledge, language, or information that is not accessible to the average person (generally used in the plural).

Mistfox - whose doesn't want to go out in the cold (22) to take out the trash

Today is January 4th. That means that it's National Spaghetti Day.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2007: The 110th United States Congress convened, electing Nancy Pelosi as the first female Speaker of the House in U.S. history.

2004: Georgians overwhelmingly elected Mikhail Saakashvili president, two months after he'd led protests that forced Eduard Shevardnadze to step down.

1965: President Lyndon B. Johnson outlined the goals of his ''Great Society'' in his State of the Union address.

1962: New York City introduced a train that operated without a crew on-board.

1941: The animated short Elmer's Pet Rabbit was released. It marked the second appearance of Bugs Bunny and the first to have his name on a title card.

1936: Mickey's Polo Team, a short animated film featuring Charlie Chaplin, Oliver Hardy, Stan Laurel, and Harpo Marx in a polo match against various Disney characters, was first released.

1863: James Plimpton of New York patented 4-wheeled roller skates.

1698: Most of the Palace of Whitehall in London, the main residence of the English monarchs, was destroyed by fire.

1642: King Charles I of England sent soldiers to arrest members of Parliament, commencing England's slide into civil war.

1493: Columbus returned from his first voyage to the New World.

46 BC: Titus Labienus defeated Julius Caesar in the Battle of Ruspina.

Births:
1643: Sir Isaac Newton (English mathematician/natural philosopher)

1813: Isaac Pitman (British inventor) [Pitman shorthand]

1905: Sterling Holloway (American actor/voice actor) [Winnie The Pooh, The Jungle Book, Alice in Wonderland, Cheers for Miss Bishop, Little Men]

1920: William Colby (American CIA director)

Deaths:
1066: Edward the Confessor (English king)

2004: Joan Aiken (English author) [The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Escaped Black Mamba, A Harp of Fishbones]


Word of the day: librocubicularist \li-bro-kew-BIK-yu-lê-rist\
Etymology: A fanciful combination from Latin liber "book" and cubiculum "bed chamber," so the actual meaning would be "book-bedroomist."
(noun)
1. One who does something with books in the bedroom—not someone who necessarily reads in bed. (This word could be used as appropriately to refer to some who publishes books from his bedroom or eats them there.)


Mistfox - who could be considered a librocubicularist (part of my personal library is in my bedroom)

Today is January 4th. That means that it's National Whipped Cream Day.

See why I used this smilie last year HERE.


2007: Taiwan High Speed Rail opened between Taipei and Kaohsiung.

2005: Eris, the largest known dwarf planet in the solar system, was discovered by the team of Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David L. Rabinowitz using images originally taken on October 21, 2003, at the Palomar Observatory.

2000: INS Commissioner Doris Meissner ruled that 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez "belongs with his father" and must be returned to Cuba.

1976: Cambodia was renamed Democratic Kampuchea by the Khmer Rouge.

1973: Bruce Springsteen's debut album, "Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.," was released.

1925: Nellie Tayloe Ross became the first female governor (Wyoming) in the United States.

1919: The Free Committee for a German Workers Peace, which would become the Nazi party, was founded.

1909: Colombia recognized the independence of Panama.

1889: According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word 'hamburger' first appeared in print on this day in a Walla Walla, Washington newspaper.

1846: The United States House of Representatives voted to stop sharing the Oregon Territory with the United Kingdom.

1759: George Washington married Martha Dandridge Custis.

Births:
1904: Jeane Dixon (American astrologer)

1914: Aaron 'Bunny' Lapin (American entrepreneur) He was the inventor of whipped cream in an aerosol can (Reddi-Wip) in 1947.

Deaths:
1589: Catherine de Medici (Queen of France) She is sometimes called the 'mother of French haute cuisine' because the Italian chefs she brought with her from Florence had a strong influence on the development of French cuisine. One of the things they brought with them was ice cream.

1933: [John] Calvin Coolidge, Jr. (President of the U.S.)


Word of the day: jetsam \JET-suhm\
Etymology: From earlier jetson, alteration of Middle English jetteson, a throwing overboard.
(noun)
1. Goods cast overboard deliberately, as to lighten a vessel or improve its stability in an emergency, which sink where jettisoned or are washed ashore.


Mistfox - who is trying to whip this off fast on her lunch hour