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Pharaoh RutinTutin

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  2. Posted · Edited by Pharaoh RutinTutin
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    19 December

    1686 – According to Daniel Defoe, this was the date Robinson Crusoe left his island after 28 years.  Because everyone wants to leave the tropics and return to Britain in December.

    1732 – Benjamin Franklin under the name Richard Saunders begins publication of "Poor Richard's Almanack".  As the publisher, Franklin can take all the credit if the people like the almanack.  And if it is not well received, he can blame the whole thing on "Poor Richard".

    1776 – Although the exact date is disputed, around this time Thomas Paine publishes his first "American Crisis" essay beginning "These are the times that try men's souls".  If he's writing about time, couldn't he be a little more specific about the date?

    1777 – American Revolutionary War: George Washington's Continental Army goes into winter quarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.  A forge is hot.  Right?  This should be a nice warm place for the Army to spend the winter.

    1842 – US recognizes independence of Hawaii.  This does not necessarily mean that the US would always regard Hawaii as independent.

    1843 – God bless us, every one!  "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens is published, but only 6,000 copies are sold.  Bah, humbug! 

    1932 – London Calling.  The BBC Empire Service, today the BBC World Service, begins broadcasting.  Before we continue, please listen to some personal messages.  Jean has a long moustache.  The kennel is cold.  Ivy eats little lambs.  Little sister is lost in the woods.  Don't buy the liverwurst.  Brother John are you sleeping?  The Pharaoh is in denial.

    1972 – Apollo program: The last manned lunar flight, Apollo 17, crewed by Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans, and Harrison Schmitt, returns to Earth.  Are those annoying astronauts gone?  Life can get back to normal for the Moon Men.

    1983 – The original FIFA World Cup trophy, the Jules Rimet Trophy, is stolen from the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  A little less than eight kilograms of gold plated sterling silver on a lapis lazuli base.  The scrap value of the trophy is sure to offset the risk of what would happen to the thieves if they were ever caught by angry soccer fans.

    1984 – The Sino-British Joint Declaration, stating that China would resume the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong and the United Kingdom would restore Hong Kong to China with effect from July 1, 1997 is signed in Beijing, China by Deng Xiaoping and Margaret Thatcher.  By the end of the Twentieth Century, Britain had accepted that their dominions and colonies might become independent nations.  But the thought of turning over a British colony to another country just isn't Cricket.

  3. Posted

    So as of the mugger incident, Grace had only used her telekinetic abilities on objects (other than herself) in moments of great emotional duress?

    It may be possible to imagine that the government scientists raising Shade Tail knew of her telekinesis, but some how managed to convince her that she wasn't as powerful or as accurate with that ability as they actually knew she was (or could be) in an attempt to keep her "under control" until they were convinced she really was the weapon they wanted.

  4. Posted

    18 December

    218 BC – Second Punic War: Battle of the Trebia: Hannibal's Carthaginian forces defeat those of the Roman Republic.  Yes, the defeat was quite humiliating for Rome.  However, Hannibal did not defeat all of Rome's legions, capture or destroy the city of Rome, or establish a colony for Carthage in Italy.  Rome will not make the same mistakes when they go to Carthage in the future.

    1271 – Kublai Khan renames his empire "Yuan" (元 yuán), officially marking the start of the Yuan dynasty of Mongolia and China.  And I thought Kublai Khan ruled a place called Xanadu.  Is it possible that the drug fevered dreams of English romantic poets shouldn't be my primary source for history?

    1655 – The Whitehall Conference ends with the determination that there was no law preventing Jews from re-entering England after the Edict of Expulsion of 1290.  For future reference, if you tell someone to leave you also need to tell them to not return.

    1833 – The national anthem of the Russian Empire, "God Save the Tsar!", is first performed.  Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky would quote this work to represent the struggle of the Russian defenders of Moscow in the 1812 Overture, even though this anthem was written twenty one years after that battle.  Keep a few of those cannons loaded and pointed at the critics.  No one will complain.   

    1892 – Premiere performance of The Nutcracker  (Щелкунчик, Балет-феерия) in Saint Petersburg, Russia.  Score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.  Choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov.  The libretto was adapted from a story by Alexandre Dumas, which itself was adapted from a story by E. T. A. Hoffmann.  This performance was not well received.  This ballet and its score would forever be an obscure footnote.

    1917 – The resolution containing the language of the Eighteenth Amendment to enact Prohibition is passed by the United States Congress.  Certainly nothing could go wrong with this.

    1966 – Dr. Seuss' "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" airs for 1st time on CBS.  This was narrated by Boris Karloff in one of the best performances of his later years.  Thurl Ravenscroft singing "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" remained uncredited, even though his performance was gr-r-reat!

  6. Posted

    17 December

    497 BC – The first Saturnalia festival was celebrated in ancient Rome.  Masters served their slaves.  Gifts, usually small or humorous, were exchanged.  Public gambling was permitted.  And a sober person in Rome was the exception rather than the rule.

    546 – Siege of Rome: The Ostrogoths under king Totila plunder the city, by bribing the Byzantine garrison.  If you underpay your guards while everyone they are supposed to be guarding is partying, some of them just might take that bribe.

    1526 – Pope Clemens VII publishes degree Cum ad zero - forms Inquisition.  I didn't expect this.

    1538 – Pope Paul Excommunicates Henry VIII of England.  Or as Mr VIII calls it, Tuesday.

    1790 – The Aztec calendar stone is discovered at El Zócalo, Mexico City.  This is actually the second time Europeans have discovered the stone.  The first time it was buried next to the Cathedral hoping that people would forget it was there.  Later, American troops would use it for target practice.  So not particularly fond of preserving pre-Christian art in the New World?

    1807 – Napoleonic Wars: France issues the Milan Decree, which confirms the Continental System.  France can't fight Britain, so instead it won't permit anyone in Europe to do business with Britain. This ends up hurting the rest of Europe a lot more than Britain, eventually leading to the rest of Europe rejecting Napoleon's authority.  So blockades and embargos may hurt you and your allies more than the intended target.  I'm sure politicians will bear this in mind well into the future.

    1862 – American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant issues General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from parts of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky.  It seems the General may have overstepped his authority.

    1865 – First performance of the Unfinished Symphony by Franz Schubert.  The elusive end to that Symphony would eventually be found.  Shave_and_a_Haircut_in_G.png

    1903 – The Wright brothers make the first controlled powered, heavier-than-air flight in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.  And they still have not found my luggage.

    1936 – Birth of Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires.  He earns a degree in Chemistry and loses half a lung before taking a job with a religious group.  Eventually, he is transferred to Rome where he works under the name Francis.

    1957 – The United States successfully launches the first Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile at Cape Canaveral, Florida.  Cape Canaveral is on our side.  Usually, at least.  Why is the government launching ICBMs at it?

    1969 – Project Blue Book: The United States Air Force closes its study of UFOs.  Out of over 12,000 investigations, only 701 (less than 6%) can not be explained.  And none of them suggest a level of science or technology unknown to the Air Force, or an extraterrestrial origin.  Of course, that is the OFFICIAL opinion...

    1989 – The Simpsons first premieres on television with the episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire".  George H W Bush was President. The Berlin Wall was down.  And Tracy Ulman was trying to convince anyone in television that her style of comedy could be accepted as funny without cartoon shorts between the sketches.

  8. Posted

    16 December

    1431 – Hundred Years' War: Henry VI of England is crowned King of France at Notre Dame in Paris.  Henry is an 11 year old boy who inherited the crown of both countries when he was less than one year old.  England is dominated by minor nobles on the brink of civil war.  France is tired of these Brits using their country as a proxy war and revenue source.  But having a big ceremony for the kid is sure to make everything better.

    1653 – English Interregnum: The Protectorate: Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland.  See?  England is just fine without a King.

    1689 – Convention Parliament: The Declaration of Right is embodied in the Bill of Rights.  Ok, England really wants a King.  But this time we are setting some limits.

    1770 – Birth of Ludwig van Beethoven.  At age 21, he would go to Joseph Haydn in Vienna to learn composing.  

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qeazGmme1Y

    1773 – American Revolution: Boston Tea Party: Members of the Sons of Liberty disguised as Mohawk Indians dump hundreds of crates of tea into Boston harbor as a protest against the Tea Act.  The rebellious colonists were completely uncivilized.  Not one of them would keep his pinky finger extended while throwing the tea overboard.

    1811 – The first two in a series of four severe earthquakes occur in the vicinity of New Madrid, Missouri.  To the natural philosophers of the early Enlightenment era, earthquakes were phenomena associated with oceanic coastlines and the largest of mountains.  The American Midwest is notably lacking in both.  Darn it.  This means we will actually need to examine what happened and not just talk about it over brandy and cigars.

    1843 – The discovery of octonions by John T. Graves, who denoted them with a boldface O, was announced to his mathematician friend William Hamilton, discoverer of quaternions, in a letter on this date.  The Octonions are a hypercomplex number system.  Not an onion  with eight legs.  Darn it.

    1901 – Beatrix Potter privately publishes The Tale of Peter Rabbit. It goes on to sell over 45 million copies worldwide.  English literature approaches its zenith.

    1907 – The American Great White Fleet begins its circumnavigation of the world.  "White" is not just the color of the ships.  This attempt to demonstrate American Naval power instead highlights the American Navy's logistical limitations.  And by the time the fleet returned to the US, it was obsolete.

    1921 – Camille Saint-Saëns, French pianist and conductor begins decomposing.

    1937 – Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe attempt to escape from the American federal prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay; neither is ever seen again.  According to prison officials, they died.  According to popular legend, they escaped.  Of course what really happened was Alien Abduction.  Who would be a better target than an escaped prisoner?

    1944 – World War II: The Battle of the Bulge begins with the surprise offensive of three German armies through the Ardennes forest.  Even though the war would be over in less than a year, the Battle of the Bulge would continue to be fought, and generally lost, by the aging population around the world.

    1947 – William Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain build the first practical point-contact transistor.  Now millions of people who can't understand the most basic aspects of Quantum Mechanics are able to carry portable electronics that rely on QM.

    1971 – Don McLean's 8+ minute version of "American Pie" released.  In case you were unaware, if you ever hear this version of the song on the radio it means the DJ had to take a restroom break.

    1978 – Cleveland, Ohio becomes the first major American city to default on its financial obligations since the Great Depression, owing $14,000,000 to local banks.  Oh Cleveland.  Whenever the jokes about Detroit grow tired and thin, we always have you.

  12. Posted · Edited by Pharaoh RutinTutin
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    8 minutes ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

    14 December, 1948 – Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann are granted a patent for their cathode-ray tube amusement device, the earliest known interactive electronic game.  It was never manufactured or marketed, so it had no effect on the future video game industry. The device is not generally considered a candidate for the title of the first video game, as while it had an electronic display it did not run on a computing device.  Despite all that, it was still relevant to the early history of video games.  Didn't they realize how close they were to a fully electronic version of Battleship?  

    I realized after posting this in the "History" thread that it actually belongs here.

  13. Posted

    14 December

    557 – Constantinople is severely damaged by a 6.4 magnitude earthquake.  This is clearly divine retribution towards humans daring to inhabit a geologically unstable planet.

    835 – Sweet Dew Incident: Emperor Wenzong of the Tang dynasty conspires to kill the powerful eunuchs of the Tang court, but the plot is foiled.  Why do you want to kill the eunuchs?  Haven't they given enough already?  These men are truly cut out for their jobs.

    1542 – Princess Mary Stuart becomes Queen of Scots at the age of only one week on the death of her father, James V of Scotland.  Would a six day old girl truly be any worse than {Insert any world leader}?

    1782 – A good day to be French.  The Montgolfier brothers first test fly an unmanned hot air balloon in France; it floats nearly 2 km (1.2 mi).

    1812 – A not-so-good day to be French.  The French invasion of Russia comes to an end as the remnants of the Grande Armée are expelled from Russia.

    1836 – The Toledo War unofficially ends.  The causes date back to some badly drawn maps from the period just after the Revolutionary War.  Michigan was forced to accept losing Toledo to Ohio and was given the Upper Peninsula as a conciliation prize.  Today, Michigan is grateful to be rid of Toledo (Detroit alone is bad enough) and enjoys the wildlife, timber, and mineral resources of the Upper Peninsula.

    1896 – The Glasgow Underground Railway is opened.  This has nothing to do with the American Abolitionist Movement or the US Civil War.  This Underground Railway is the Glasgow District Subway Company.  And no Five Dollar Footlongs either.  Well, maybe if you want the haggis...

    1900 – Quantum mechanics: Max Planck presents a theoretical derivation of his black-body radiation law.  Herr Doktor Planck, why did you chose that adjective to name this natural law?  Any humorous comment I might make will sound needlessly racist.

    1911 – Roald Amundsen's team, comprising himself, Olav Bjaaland, Helmer Hanssen, Sverre Hassel, and Oscar Wisting, becomes the first to reach the South Pole.  Considering that this team started in Norway, they effectively gave everyone else attempting to reach the South Pole a head start of thousands of miles.  And they still got there first.

    1918 – The 1918 United Kingdom general election occurred, the first where women were permitted to vote.  It turns out that women and men are equally capable of choosing the wrong candidates.

    1920 – Death of George Gipp, American football player (b. 1895).  "I've got to go, Rock. It's all right. I'm not afraid. Some time, Rock, when the team is up against it, when things are wrong and the breaks are beating the boys, ask them to go in there with all they've got and win just one for the Gipper. I don't know where I'll be then, Rock. But I'll know about it, and I'll be happy."  To be performed by Ronald Reagan in the 1940 film, Knute Rockne, All American.

    1939 – Winter War: The Soviet Union is expelled from the League of Nations for invading Finland.  And there are still people who wonder why a country like Finland would actively ally itself with Nazi Germany.

    1940 – Plutonium (specifically Pu-238) is first isolated at Berkeley, California.  I suppose that isn't the strangest thing with which anyone has experimented in Berkeley.

    1941 – World War II: Japan signs a treaty of alliance with Thailand.  Japan is already controlling significant portions of China.  The British Empire is trying to defend Australia and keep India from exploding in revolution while simultaneously clinging for life in Europe.  And the Americans have just lost most of their Pacific Fleet and are only now reluctantly entering the war.  What was Thailand really supposed to do when the Japanese were already in Bangkok?

    1948 – Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann are granted a patent for their cathode-ray tube amusement device, the earliest known interactive electronic game.  It was never manufactured or marketed, so it had no effect on the future video game industry. The device is not generally considered a candidate for the title of the first video game, as while it had an electronic display it did not run on a computing device.  Despite all that, it was still relevant to the early history of video games.  Didn't they realize how close they were to a fully electronic version of Battleship?  

    1958 – The 3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition becomes the first to reach the southern pole of inaccessibility.  But if they reached it, doesn't that mean that it is actually accessible?

    1962 – NASA's Mariner 2 becomes the first spacecraft to fly by Venus.  This begins a long series of fly-bys, orbiters, and landers from every spacefaring nation on Earth.  Nothing sparks scientific competition like some good old Freudian Venus Envy.

    2017 – The Walt Disney Company announces that it would acquire 21st Century Fox, including the 20th Century Fox movie studio, for $52.4 billion.
    Who's the leader of the club that now owns you and me?
    M-I-C- -K-E-Y- -M-O-U-S-E!

  14. Posted

    13 December

    902 – Battle of the Holme: Anglo-Saxon forces are defeated by Danish Vikings under Æthelwold (a son of Æthelred of Wessex) who is killed in battle.  Are we to be disappointed in the Anglo-Saxons because they were defeated by a dead Viking?  Or should we be impressed that a dead Viking could defeat the Anglo-Saxons?

    1294 – Saint Celestine V resigns the papacy after only five months to return to his previous life as an ascetic hermit.  This plan is ruined when his successor, Boniface VIII, subsequently imprisons him in the castle of Fumone in the Campagna region, in order to prevent his potential installation as antipope.  The next pope to resign of his own accord was Pope Benedict XVI in 2013, 719 years later.  Apparently the Vatican never established a budget for Papal pensions.

    1545 – Pope Paul III begins the Council of Trent.  Bishops assemble to decide once and for all for the nineteenth time what it is to be Christian.

    1577 – Sir Francis Drake sets sail from Plymouth, England, on his round-the-world voyage.  You know Captain Drake had his ducks in a row.

    1636 – The Massachusetts Bay Colony organizes three militia regiments to defend the colony against the Pequot Indians. This organization is recognized today as the founding of the National Guard of the United States.  Minutemen, Rainbow Division, and Weekend Warriors of all eras fall in formation.

    1642 – Abel Tasman is the first recorded European to sight New Zealand.  Initially he calls it Staten Landt and changes it a year later to Nieuw Zeeland.  His initial estimates that this land connected to South America, or at least occupied most of the space between Australia and South America, proved to be somewhat incorrect.

    1862 – American Civil War: At the Battle of Fredericksburg, Confederate General Robert E. Lee defeats Union Major General Ambrose Burnside.  Despite the loss, General Burnside still had the best facial hair of any officer in that war.

    1895 – First complete execution of Gustav Mahler's 2nd Symphony.  Wouldn't an "incomplete" execution actually be a wounding of the Symphony?

    1903 – Italo Marciony (or Marcioni), patents the earliest version of the ice cream cone mound in New Jersey.  Never before have headaches tasted so good.

    1925 – Birth of Dick Van Dyke, American actor, singer, dancer, and last man to fall to the Ottoman Empire.

    1928 – George Gershwin's "An American In Paris" premieres at Carnegie Hall (NYC).  It sounds like a good show, but I get so self conscious at fancy events.  I'm never sure I'm dressed appropriately.  If only there was some way to make the formal aspects of menswear easier to use...

    1928 – Clip-on tie designed.  Thank you.

    1929 – Birth of Christopher Plummer, Canadian actor and producer.  Apparently a 13 December birthday is helpful towards being cast as Julie Andrews' co-star.

    1948 – Happy Birthday to the Rock and Roll Republican.  Ted Nugent is now 70.

    1960 – While Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia visits Brazil, his Imperial Bodyguard seizes the capital and proclaims him deposed and his son, Crown Prince Asfa Wossen, Emperor.  Nothing quite like getting fired while you're on vacation.

    2003 – Iraq War: Operation Red Dawn: Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is captured near his home town of Tikrit.  Hiding in a basement for months without shaving and living off Mars bars?  Why does that sound both disgusting and appealing?

  17. Posted · Edited by Pharaoh RutinTutin
    Spelling

    11 December

    861 – Assassination of the Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil by the Turkish guard, who raise al-Muntasir to the throne. Start of the "Anarchy at Samarra".  Killed by your own guards.  A quite common cause of death among monarchs and other politicians throughout history.

    969 – Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas is assassinated by his wife Theophano and her lover, the later Emperor John I Tzimiskes.  Killed by your relatives and "loved ones".  Practically a requirement for this to show up in every ruling dynasty at least once.

    1282 – Battle of Orewin Bridge: Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, the last native Prince of Wales, is killed at Cilmeri, near Builth Wells, in mid-Wales.  Killed in battle.  It lacks the personal touch found in some other methods of regicide.  But if your side wins despite your death, it practically guarantees you an equestrian statue.

    1792 – French Revolution: King Louis XVI of France is put on trial for treason by the National Convention.  Monsieur Capet, it does not mater how you plead, what kind of deal you may offer, what evidence you may present, or how you may argue your case.  You will soon demonstrate yet another unpleasant way for a king to lose his crown.  (In your case, by losing a place to wear it.)

    1931 – HEY YOU GUYS!!!  It's Rita Moreno's Birthday.

    1931 – Statute of Westminster 1931: The British Parliament establishes legislative equality between the UK and the Dominions of the Commonwealth—Australia, Canada, Newfoundland, New Zealand, South Africa, and Ireland.  Does this mean that the Dominions are now independent and sovereign states or is this a symbolic shift that maintains London's control over the Colonies in a slightly less direct manner?  Yes.  One point that bears stating is that the various Dominions must now agree on matters of royal succession. But how often would that question arise?

    1936 – Abdication Crisis: Edward VIII's abdication as King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, and Emperor of India, becomes effective.  This required signing fifteen separate abdication notices the previous day.  Introduced as "Prince Edward", the former King delivers an address to the people on BBC, then leaves the country.  So it is at least possible for a King to no longer be King, and still remain alive.

    1941 – World War II: Germany and Italy declare war on the United States, following the Americans' declaration of war on the Empire of Japan in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The United States, in turn, declares war on them.  I would ask what Hitler and Mussolini were thinking when they did that, but I really don't want to think like them.

    1964 – Che Guevara speaks at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.  Someone who has never been identified fires a mortar shell at the UN building while he is speaking.  Apparently firing mortar shells is common enough in the Big Apple that no one notices who shoots them.

    1968 – The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, featuring the Rolling Stones, Jethro Tull, the Who, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithfull, and the Dirty Mac with Yoko Ono, is filmed in Wembley, London.  A shame they couldn't book any big names for the gig.

    1972 – Apollo 17 officially becomes the sixth and last Apollo mission to land on the Moon.  The Secret missions to the moon continue with the next

    1978 – The Lufthansa heist is committed by a group led by Lucchese family associate Jimmy Burke. It was the largest cash robbery ever committed on American soil, at that time.  $5 Million in cash, $875,000 in jewelry.  The driver of a van used in the heist leaves it parked in a "No Parking" zone where it is discovered by police.  This leads to the identification, arrest, or deaths of most of the major players.  The problem with being a criminal mastermind is that you must rely on other criminals who are not masterminds.

    Also, in 2003, the UN General Assembly declared 11 December to be International Mountain Day.  So give mountains to all your friends and relatives.

  20. Posted · Edited by Pharaoh RutinTutin
    Spelling

    09 December

    480 – Odoacer, first King of Italy, occupies Dalmatia.  The Western Roman Empire has gone to the dogs.

    1531 – The Virgin of Guadalupe first appears to Juan Diego at Tepeyac, Mexico City.  On a hill that was the site of a shrine to a much loved Aztec mother goddess who was venerated each year on the winter solstice...  Does this seem a bit familiar?

    1793 – New York City's first daily newspaper, the American Minerva, is established by Noah Webster.  Feel pity for any editor who lets a spelling error make it to press.

    1851 – The first YMCA in North America is established in Montreal.  The founding members include a police officer, a construction worker, and an Indian

    1935 – Student protests in Beiping (now Beijing)'s Tiananmen Square, dispersed by government.  Seems harsh for a simple student protest.  I'm sure nothing like this will happen again.

    1946 – The "Subsequent Nuremberg trials" begin with the "Doctors' trial", prosecuting physicians and officers alleged to be involved in Nazi human experimentation and mass murder under the guise of euthanasia.  But they had a prescription...

    1950 – Cold War: Harry Gold is sentenced to 30 years in jail for helping Klaus Fuchs pass information about the Manhattan Project to the Soviet Union. His testimony is later instrumental in the prosecution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.  Eventually he would be paroled 1965.  If you want small offenders to turn against big offenders, you normally need to offer them something more than half off a thirty year sentence.

    1953 – Red Scare: General Electric announces that all communist employees will be discharged from the company.  Because a worker's opinion about politics or the state's role in economic planning and social welfare matters far more than their ability as an engineer or technician.

    1960 – The first episode of Coronation Street, the world's longest-running television soap opera, is broadcast in the United Kingdom.  Still not as entertaining as the real life soap opera in Britain punctuated by actual Coronations.

    1962 – The Petrified Forest National Park is established in Arizona.  Do we need to rake this forest as well?

    1965 – Kecksburg UFO incident: A fireball is seen from Michigan to Pennsylvania; witnesses report something crashing in the woods near Pittsburgh.  Official word from NASA is that it was a Soviet satellite that burned up while reentering the atmosphere at an odd angle, and the other NASA documents related to this were "lost".  There is speculation that NASA never had those documents in the first place because the civilian NASA investigators at the time may have been military investigators in plain clothes presenting themselves as NASA.

    1965 – A Charlie Brown Christmas, first in a series of Peanuts television specials, debuts on CBS.  A simply animated special lamenting the commercialization of Christmas becomes simply the most commercially successful animated Christmas special ever.

    1968 – Douglas Engelbart gave what became known as "The Mother of All Demos", publicly debuting the computer mouse, hypertext, and the bit-mapped graphical user interface using the oN-Line System (NLS).  And he didn't even need to show a funny cat video.

    1973 – British and Irish authorities sign the Sunningdale Agreement in an attempt to establish a power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive and a cross-border Council of Ireland.  A vocal, and potentially violent, faction refuses to accept that the majority in Northern Ireland would rather remain associated with Britain instead of Ireland.  But this should straighten itself out before too long.

    1979 – The eradication of the smallpox virus is certified, making smallpox the first of only two diseases that have been driven to extinction (rinderpest in 2011 being the other).  Of all the species humans have driven to extinction, only two have been diseases?  We weren't even trying to eliminate the Passenger Pigeon.  Thylacine was gone before we realized it was disappearing.  And we can't do the same thing to Escherichia coli?

    2008 – The Governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, is arrested by federal officials for crimes including attempting to sell the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.  And we thought this kind of politics had ended in Illinois with the death of the Capone era.

    Also, 09 December is Anna's Day.  The day to start the preparation process of the lutefisk to be consumed on Christmas Eve, as well as a Swedish name day, celebrating all people named Anna. (Sweden and Finland).  Just in case there are any health concerns, The Wisconsin Employees' Right to Know Law specifically exempts lutefisk in defining "toxic substances".  It may seem fishy, but you can't lye about this kind of tradition.

  21. Posted

    08 December

    877 – Louis the Stammerer (son of Charles the Bald) is crowned king of the West Frankish Kingdom at Compiegne.  Eventually Europe would decide to simply add Roman Numerals to identify monarchs with the same name rather than rely on the comments of a elementary history class.

    1912 – Leaders of the German Empire hold an Imperial War Council to discuss the possibility that war might break out.  Spoiler Alert:  War might break out.

    1914 – World War I: A squadron of Britain's Royal Navy defeats the Imperial German East Asia Squadron in the Battle of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic.   War broke out.

    1922 – Northern Ireland ceases to be part of the Irish Free State.  A vocal, and potentially violent faction, refuses to accept that the majority in Northern Ireland would rather remain associated with Britain instead of Ireland.  But this should straighten itself out before too long.

    1941 – World War II: While attacking Pearl Harbor on December 07, on the other side of the International Date Line Japanese forces simultaneously invade Shanghai International Settlement, Malaya, Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and the Dutch East Indies.

         and

    1941 – World War II: Again east of the International Date Line, Japan declares war against the United States and the British Empire.  This declaration would be reprinted in Japanese newspapers on the 8th of every month until the end of the war.

         and

    1941 – World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares December 7 to be "a date which will live in infamy", after which the U.S. declares war on Japan. 

         later

    Winston Churchill would question the wisdom of Japan when they decided to simultaneously declare war on both the British Empire and the United States.  A good answer to that question has yet to be found.

    2013 – Metallica performs a show in Antarctica, making them the first band to perform on all 7 continents.  So which band will be the first to perform on all 8 planets of the Solar System?  And I do mean PLANETS.  Not asteroids.  Not Moons (the Europa and Enceladus concerts will NOT count).  Not Dwarf worlds (Pluto was always a Mickey Mouse planet anyway).