DECEMBER 2007

DECEMBER 2007 REGULAR POSTINGS
SUN	MON	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT
25	26	27	28	29	30	1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30	31	1	2	3	4	5

2007 NASA ASTRONOMY PICTURE OF THE DAY TOP 12 GALLERY

2007 NASA ASTRONOMY PICTURE OF THE DAY TOP 12 GALLERY


NASA ASTRONOMY YEARS' TOP 12 PICTURE OF THE DAY—1

The Magnificent Tail of Comet McNaught


Credit & Copyright: Robert H. McNaught
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


NASA ASTRONOMY YEARS' TOP 12 PICTURE OF THE DAY—2

Alborz Mountains in Moonlight


Credit & Copyright: Babak Tafreshi
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


NASA ASTRONOMY YEARS' TOP 12 PICTURE OF THE DAY—3

Eclipsing the Rings


Credit & Copyright: Pete Lawrence (Digital-Astronomy)
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


NASA ASTRONOMY YEARS' TOP 12 PICTURE OF THE DAY—4

Seven Dusty Sisters


Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, J. Stauffer (SSC, Caltech)
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


NASA ASTRONOMY YEARS' TOP 12 PICTURE OF THE DAY—5

Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1672


Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage Team (STScI / AURA) Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA); Acknowledgment: L. Jenkins (GSFC/U. Leicester)
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


NASA ASTRONOMY YEARS' TOP 12 PICTURE OF THE DAY—6

A Dark Sky Over Death Valley


Credit: Dan Duriscoe, U.S. National Park Service
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


NASA ASTRONOMY YEARS' TOP 12 PICTURE OF THE DAY—7

Markarian's Eyes


Credit & Copyright: Ken Crawford (Rancho Del Sol Observatory)
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


NASA ASTRONOMY YEARS' TOP 12 PICTURE OF THE DAY—8

The International Space Station Expands Again


Credit: STS-117 Shuttle Crew, NASA
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


NASA ASTRONOMY YEARS' TOP 12 PICTURE OF THE DAY—9

Northern Cygnus


Credit & Copyright: Robert Gendler
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


NASA ASTRONOMY YEARS' TOP 12 PICTURE OF THE DAY—10

The Strange Trailing Side of Saturn's Iapetus


Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


NASA ASTRONOMY YEARS' TOP 12 PICTURE OF THE DAY—11

Victoria Crater on Mars


Credit: Mars Exploration Rover Mission, Cornell, JPL, NASA
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


NASA ASTRONOMY YEARS' TOP 12 PICTURE OF THE DAY—12

A Tale of Comet Holmes


Credit & Copyright: Ivan Eder and (inset) Paolo Berardi
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation

DECEMBER 2007 NASA ASTRONOMY PICTURE OF THE DAY GALLERY

DECEMBER 2007 NASA ASTRONOMY PICTURE OF THE DAY GALLERY



M74: The Perfect Spiral


Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage (STScI / AURA)- ESA / Hubble Collaboration Acknowledgment: R. Chandar (Univ. Toledo) and J. Miller (Univ. Michigan)
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Gibbous Europa


Credit: Galileo Project, JPL, NASA; reprocessed by Ted Stryk
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


A Complete Solar Cycle from SOHO


Credit: SOHO - EIT Consortium, ESA, NASA
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Movie: Analemma Over New Jersey


Credit & Copyright: Tom Matheson (Guidescope.net)
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Comet Holmes Over Hungary


Credit & Copyright: Tamas Ladanyi
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Mars in View


Credit & Copyright: Jean-Luc Dauvergne, Francois Colas
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Double Cluster in Perseus


Credit & Copyright: Volker Wendel, Josef Popsel, Stefan Binnewies
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Star Trails at Dawn


Credit & Copyright: Koen van Gorp
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


The Fairy of Eagle Nebula


Credit: The Hubble Heritage Team, (STScI/AURA), ESA, NASA
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


A Jet from the Sun


Credit & Copyright: Hinode, JAXA, NASA
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


The Universe Nearby


Credit & Copyright: 2MASS, T. H. Jarrett, J. Carpenter, & R. Hurt
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Mars Rover Races to Survive


Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, USGS, UNM, HiRise
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


T Tauri and Hind's Variable Nebula


Credit & Copyright: Don Goldman
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Apollo 17: Shorty Crater Panorama


Credit: Apollo 17 Crew, NASA; Panorama Assembly: Mike Constantine
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Mountains of Creation


Credit: Lori Allen (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA) et al., JPL-Caltech, NASA
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


The Holographic Principle


Image Credit & Copyright: E. Winfree, K. Fleischer, A. Barr et al. (Caltech)
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Saturn's Ancient Rings


Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Unusual Silica Rich Soil Discovered on Mars


Credit: Mars Exploration Rover Mission, Cornell, JPL, NASA
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Stars and Dust through Baade's Window


Credit & Copyright: Stephane Guisard
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Reflections on the 1970s


Credit & Copyright: Martin Pugh
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Horizon to Horizon


Credit & Copyright: Laurent Laveder (PixHeaven.net)
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Tyrrhenian Sea and Solstice Sky


Credit & Copyright: Danilo Pivato
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Moon and Mars Tonight


Credit & Copyright: John Harms
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Emission Nebula IC 1396


Credit & Copyright: Kent Wood
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Mars and Orion Over Monument Valley


Credit & Copyright: Wally Pacholka (Astropics.com)
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Trifid Pillars and Jets


Credit: J. Hester (Arizona St. U) et al., WFPC2, HST, NASA
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Earth at Twilight


Credit: ISS Crew, Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Lab, JSC, NASA
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


A Beautiful Boomerang Nebula


Credit: Hubble Heritage Team, J. Biretta (STScI) et al., (STScI/AURA), ESA, NASA
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Saturn's Infrared Glow


Credit: VIMS Team, U. Arizona, ESA, NASA
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


Mammatus Clouds Over Mexico


Credit & Copyright: Raymundo Aguirre
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


A Year of Spectacular Comets


Credit & Copyright: Bob Nanz (San Diego Astronomy Association)
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation

December 31......

December 31 is the 365th (366th in leap years) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are no days remaining in the year on this date.

Day of the week in surrounding years:
1979,1984,1990,. . . .,2001—MON—2007
. . . .,1985,1991,1996,2002—TUE—. . . .
1980,1986,. . . .,1997,2003—WED—2008
1981,1987,1992,1998,. . . .—THU—2009
1982,. . . .,1993,1999,2004—FRI—2010
1983,1988,1994,. . . .,2005—SAT—2011
. . . .,1989,1995,2000,2006—SUN—. . . .

Best Liberal Quote of the Day: On Teaching "Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost tradition." — Jacques Barzun

Stupidest and/or Scariest Quote from the Right for the Day: On Free Speech for Me (But Not for Thee) "I'll say this about the war protesters: At least most of them are only putting duct tape across their mouths so I can still tell the rest of them to blow it out their ass." — Dennis Miller, "Tonight Show," 4-3-03.

Dumbest Thing Said for the Day: From the world of Sports "He must have made that [movie] before he died."—a reference to movie star Steve McQueen — Few sports figures—and indeed, few figures of any endeavor—have achieved the verbal notoriety of Lawrence "Yogi" Berra, former catcher of the New York Yankees. This is one of the indescribable utterances of Hall of Shame member #6.

{Disclaimer: I have attempted to give credit to the many different sources that I get entries. Any failure to do so is unintentional. Any statement enclosed by brackets like these are the opinion of the blogger, A Proud Liberal.}

NASA ASTRONOMY PICTURE OF THE DAY

A Year of Spectacular Comets


Credit & Copyright: Bob Nanz (San Diego Astronomy Association)
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation


EVENTS

● 406 - Vandals, Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine, beginning an invasion of Gallia.

● 535 - Byzantine General Belisarius completes the conquest of Sicily, defeating the Ostrogothic garrison of Syracuse, and ending his consulship for the year.

● 1229 - James I of Aragon the Conqueror enters Medina Mayurqa (nowadays Palma de Mallorca, Spain) thus consummating the Christian conquest of the island of Mallorca.

● 1599 - British East India Company is chartered.

● 1660 - James II of England is created Duke of Normandy by King Louis XIV.

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

● 1695 - A window tax is imposed in England, causing many shopkeepers to brick up their windows to avoid the tax.

● 1775 - American attack on city of Quebec launched during a blinding snowstorm. General Montgomery, one of the two American leaders, was killed, and the second, General Benedict Arnold, was wounded during the opening encounter. The attack failed, the Canadians having killed or wounded fully half the American troops.

● 1831 - Gramercy Park is deeded to New York City.

● 1846 - Birth of Domela Ferdinand Nieuwenhuis, Amsterdam. Protestant pastor, elected to Dutch office as a socialist in 1891, then abandoned politics for the anarchism of Bakunin. One of the organizers of the antimilitarist congress of Amsterdam in June 1904, as well as in August 1907, and an ardent propagandist of the general strike. In 1914, opposed the "Manifesto of the 16" (siding with the allies during WWI). A signatory, with Emma Goldman, Malatesta, et al., of the anti-war manifesto, "L'internationale et la guerre."

● 1857 - Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa, Ontario, as the capital of Canada.

● 1862 - American Civil War: Abraham Lincoln signs an act that admits West Virginia to the Union (thus dividing Virginia in two).

● 1862 - American Civil War: The Battle of Stones River is fought near Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

● 1871 - Ellen Horup, anti-militarist feminist, born, Denmark.

● 1877 - Gustave Courbet dies. French painter, revolutionary socialist, man of independent character. Leader of the realist school. Courbet was placed in charge of all art museums under the revolutionary 1871 Commune of Paris and saved the city's collections from looters. With the fall of the Commune he was accused of allowing the destruction of Napoleon's triumphal column in the Place Vendôme; he was imprisoned and condemned to pay for its reconstruction, but fled to Vevey, Switzerland,where he died.

● 1879 - Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time.

● 1891 - Ellis Island opens, replacing Castle Garden as the U.S. immigration depot.

● 1901 - Worst year in the 20th century for lynching in the U.S. ends with a tally of 130 of them (105 blacks, 25 whites).

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

● 1909 - Manhattan Bridge opens.

● 1915 - U.S. branch of Fellowship of Reconciliation founded.

● 1929 - Guy Lombardo performs Auld Lang Syne at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City for the first time.

● 1930 - Troops of the Sandinista head Miguel Angel Ortez ambushes a patrol of marines in Achuapa, El Salvador.

● 1933 - American socialist leader Morris Hillquit dies.

● 1944 - World War II: Hungary declares war on Germany.

● 1946 - President Harry Truman officially proclaims the end of hostilities in World War II.

● 1948 - Sixty thousand Puerto Rican men refuse to register for the draft. Eight are prosecuted.

● 1958 - The Cuban guerrilla columns of Camilo Cienfuegos and Che Guevara take Yaguajay and the city of Santa Clara. The next day, Cuban dictator Juan Batista would flee the island, and on Jan. 2 Fidel Castro's victorious revolutionary forces would march into Havana.

● 1960 - The farthing coin ceases to be legal tender in the United Kingdom.

● 1961 - The Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than USD $12 billion in foreign aid to rebuild Europe.

● 1963 - The Central African Federation officially collapses and splits into Zambia, Malawi and Rhodesia.

● 1967 - Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Paul Krassner, Dick Gregory, and friends pronounce themselves "Yippies."

● 1970 - U.S. Congress repeals the entirely fictitious Gulf of Tonkin resolution, which in 1964 authorized a dramatic increase in U.S. military involvement in Vietnam in response to an attack on U.S. forces that later turned out to not have happened.

● 1978 - Indian Claims Commission is terminated, ending the U.S. process of "repaying" tribes for lands stolen by U.S. government.

● 1981 - Coup d'état in Ghana removes President Hilla Limann's PNP government and replaces it with the Provisional National Defence Council led by Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings.

● 1981 - Military coup d'etat, Ghana.

● 1983 - The AT&T Bell System is broken up by the United States Government.

● 1986 - A fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, kills 97 and injures 140.

● 1991 - The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is officially dissolved.

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

● 1997 - Quaker Oats settles a lawsuit involving the immoral use of child subjects in radioactivity experiments circa 1945-1956.

● 1998 - Exchange rates between the euro and legacy currencies in the Eurozone become fixed.

● 1999 - Boris Yeltsin resigns as President of Russia, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting President.

● 1999 - Five hijackers, who had been holding 155 hostages on an Indian Airlines plane, leave the plane with two Islamic clerics that they had demanded be freed.

● 1999 - The United States Government handed Panama Canal control over to Panama as well all the adjacent land to the canal known as the Panama Canal Zone. This act complied with the signing of the 1977 Torrijos-Carter Treaties

● 2004 - The official opening of Taipei 101, the current tallest skyscraper in the world, standing at a height of 509 metres (1,670 feet).

● 2005 - The Greek BBC radio service ends.

● 2006 - The United Kingdom pays final installment of Second World War debt to the United States.

BIRTHS

● 1378 - Pope Callixtus III (d. 1458)

● 1491 - Jacques Cartier, French explorer (d. 1557)

● 1514 - Andreas Vesalius, Flemish anatomist (d. 1564)

● 1572 - Emperor Go-Yozei of Japan, (d. 1617)

● 1668 - Herman Boerhaave, Dutch humanist and physician (d. 1738)

● 1720 - Charles Edward Stuart, pretender to the British throne (d. 1788)

● 1738 - Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, British general (d. 1805)

● 1741 - Isabella Maria of Parma, empress of Germany (d. 1763)

● 1763 - Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, French admiral (d. 1806)

● 1815 - George G. Meade, American Civil War general (d. 1872)

● 1830 - Isma'il Pasha, Governor of Egypt (d. 1895)

● 1860 - Joseph S. Cullinan, American oil industrialist (d. 1937)

● 1869 - Henri Matisse, French painter (d. 1954)

● 1877 - Lawrence Beesley, English journalist and author (d. 1967)

● 1878 - Elizabeth Arden, Canadian businesswoman (d. 1966)

● 1880 - George C. Marshall, United States Secretary of State, Nobel Laureate (d. 1959)

● 1880 - Fred Beebe, American baseball player (d. 1957)

● 1881 - Max Pechstein, German painter (d. 1955)

● 1882 - Martin O'Meara, Australian soldier (d. 1935)

● 1884 - Bobby Byrne, American baseball player (d. 1964)

● 1885 - Princess Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein (d. 1970)

● 1894 - Pola Negri, Polish actress (d. 1987)

● 1899 - Silvestre Revueltas, Mexican composer (d. 1940)

● 1902 - Lionel Daunais, Quebec singer and composer (d. 1982)

● 1903 - Nathan Milstein, Ukrainian violinist (d. 1992)

● 1905 - Jule Styne, English-born composer (d. 1994)

● 1908 - Simon Wiesenthal, Austrian Holocaust survivor (d. 2005)

● 1909 - Jonah Jones, American jazz trumpeter (d. 2000

● 1910 - Carl Dudley, American film director (d. 1973)

● 1919 - Tommy Byrne, American baseball player

● 1920 - Rex Allen, American actor and singer (d. 1999)

● 1924 - Taylor Mead, American actor

● 1928 - Siné, French cartoonist

● 1930 - Odetta, American singer

● 1931 - Bob Shaw, Irish writer (d. 1996)

● 1933 - Edward Bunker, American author and actor (d. 2005)

● 1934 - Akram Awan, Islamic scholar

● 1937 - Avram Hershko, Israeli biologist, Nobel laureate

● 1937 - Sir Anthony Hopkins, Welsh actor

● 1938 - Rosalind Cash, American actress (d. 1995)

● 1940 - Mani Neumeier, German musician (Guru Guru)

● 1941 - Sir Alex Ferguson, Scottish football manager

● 1941 - Sarah Miles, English actress

● 1942 - Andy Summers, British guitarist (The Police)

● 1943 - John Denver, American singer and songwriter (d. 1997)

● 1943 - Sir Ben Kingsley, English actor

● 1943 - Pete Quaife, English bassist (The Kinks)

● 1944 - Taylor Hackford, American producer and director

● 1945 - Diane von Fürstenberg, Belgian-born fashion designer

● 1945 - Connie Willis, American writer

● 1946 - Pius Ncube, Zimbabwean human rights advocate

● 1947 - Burton Cummings, Canadian keyboardist (The Guess Who)

● 1947 - Tim Matheson, American actor

● 1947 - Rita Lee, Brazilian Rock Star

● 1948 - Donna Summer, American singer

● 1948 - René Robert, National Hockey League player

● 1949 - Ellen Datlow, American editor

● 1949 - Susan Shwartz, American writer

● 1951 - George Thorogood, American musician

● 1951 - Tom Hamilton, American bassist (Aerosmith)

● 1953 - James Remar, American actor

● 1953 - Jane Badler, American actress

● 1954 - Alex Salmond, Scottish politician

● 1955 - Dawood Ibrahim, Terrorist

● 1956 - Steve Rude, American comics artist

● 1958 - Bebe Neuwirth, American actress

● 1959 - Phill Kline, American politician

● 1959 - Val Kilmer, American actor

● 1959 - Paul Westerberg, American musician (The Replacements)

● 1960 - John Allen Muhammad, American serial killer

● 1960 - Steve Bruce, English football player & manager

● 1961 - Rick Aguilera, American baseball player

● 1961 - Nina Li Chi, Chinese actress

● 1962 - Heather McCartney, British activist

● 1963 - Scott Ian, American guitarist (Anthrax)

● 1963 - Konishiki, American sumo wrestler

● 1964 - Michael McDonald, American actor-comedian

● 1964 - Allen D'Nulderf, American stuntman

● 1964 - Lowri Turner, British TV presenter

● 1965 - Gong Li, Chinese actress

● 1965 - Nicholas Sparks, American author

● 1966 - Lisa Joyner, American entertainment reporter

● 1968 - Gerry Dee, Canadian comedian and actor

● 1970 - Carlos Morales Quintana, husband of Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark

● 1970 - Bryon Russell, American basketball player

● 1971 - Brent Barry, American basketball player

● 1971 - Esteban Loaiza, Mexican Major League Baseball player

● 1972 - Joe McIntyre, American singer (New Kids on the Block)

● 1973 - Shandon Anderson, American basketball player

● 1973 - Malcolm Middleton, Scottish musician (Arab Strap)

● 1974 - Ryan Sakoda, Japanese American professional wrestler

● 1974 - Tony Kanaan, Brazilian racing driver

● 1975 - Toni Kuivasto, Finnish footballer

● 1976 - Vanessa Kerry, daughter of John Kerry

● 1977 - Wardy Alfaro, Costa Rican footballer

● 1977 - Donald Trump Jr., son of Donald Trump

● 1978 - Papoose, American rapper

● 1979 - Bob Bryar, American drummer (My Chemical Romance, Gerardolopoly)

● 1979 - Elaine Cassidy, Irish actress

● 1980 - Richie McCaw, New Zealand rugby player

● 1980 - Matt Cross, American professional wrestler

● 1981 - Jason Campbell, American football player

● 1981 - Matthew Pavlich, Australian football player

● 1982 - Craig Gordon, Scottish footballer

● 1982 - Luke Schenscher, Australian basketball player

● 1982 - Julio DePaula, baseball player in the United States

● 1987 - Javaris Crittenton, American basketball player

● 1987 - Émilie Le Pennec, French gymnast

DEATHS

● 192 - Commodus, Roman Emperor (b. 161)

● 335 - St. Silvester, Pope

● 1164 - Margrave Ottokar III of Styria (b. 1124)

● 1194 - Duke Leopold V of Austria (killed at a tournament) (b. 1157)

● 1297 - Humphrey de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford, English soldier (b. 1249)

● 1302 - Frederick III, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1238)

● 1384 - John Wycliffe, English theologian and Bible translator

● 1424 - Thomas Beaufort, 1st Duke of Exeter, English military leader

● 1460 - Edmund, Earl of Rutland, brother of Kings Edward IV of England and Richard III of England (executed) (b. 1443)

● 1460 - Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury, English politician (b. 1400)

● 1510 - Bianca Maria Sforza, wife of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1472)

● 1535 - William Skeffington, Lord Deputy of Ireland (b. 1465)

● 1568 - Shimazu Tadayoshi, Japanese warlord (b. 1493)

● 1575 - Pierino Belli, Italian soldier and jurist (b. 1502)

● 1583 - Thomas Erastus, Swiss theologian (b. 1524)

● 1610 - Ludolph van Ceulen, German mathematician (b. 1540)

● 1650 - Dorgon, Chinese emperor (b. 1612)

● 1673 - Oliver St John, English statesman and judge

● 1679 - Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, Italian physiologist and physicist (b. 1608)

● 1691 - Dudley North, English economist (b. 1641)

● 1719 - John Flamsteed, English astronomer (b. 1646)

● 1742 - Karl III Philip, Elector Palatine (b. 1661)

● 1799 - Jean-François Marmontel, French historian and writer (b. 1723)

● 1872 - Aleksis Kivi, Finnish author (b. 1834)

● 1877 - Gustave Courbet, French painter (b. 1819)

● 1888 - Samson Raphael Hirsch, German rabbi (b. 1808)

● 1889 - Ion Creangă, Romanian writer (b. 1837 or 1839)

● 1894 - Thomas Joannes Stieltjes, Dutch mathematician (b. 1856)

● 1905 - Alexander Popov, Russian physicist (b. 1859)

● 1910 - John Moisant, American aviator (b. 1868)

● 1910 - Arch Hoxsey, American aviator (b. 1884)

● 1921 - Boies Penrose, U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania (b. 1860)

● 1936 - Miguel de Unamuno, Spanish writer and philosopher (b. 1864)

● 1948 - Malcolm Campbell, English race car driver (b. 1885)

● 1953 - Albert Plesman, Dutch aviation pioneer (b. 1889)

● 1964 - Ólafur Thors, Prime Minister of Iceland (b. 1892)

● 1964 - Bobby Byrne, baseball player (b. 1884)

● 1969 - George Lewis, American clarinetist (b. 1900)

● 1971 - Pete Duel American actor (b. 1940)

● 1971 - Marin Sais, American actress (b. 1890)

● 1971 - Vikram Sarabhai, Indian physicist (b. 1919)

● 1972 - Roberto Clemente, Puerto Rican baseball player (b. 1934)

● 1977 - Sabah III Al-Salim Al-Sabah, ruler of Kuwait (b. 1924)

● 1980 - Marshall McLuhan, Canadian writer (b. 1911)

● 1980 - Raoul Walsh, American film director (b. 1887)

● 1985 - Rick Nelson, American singer (b. 1940)

● 1986 - Lloyd Haynes, American actor (b. 1934)

● 1990 - Vasili Lazarev, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1928)

● 1990 - George Allen, American football coach

● 1993 - Zviad Gamsakhurdia, first President of Georgia (b. 1939)

● 1993 - Brandon Teena Transsexual murdered

● 1994 - Woody Strode, American actor and decathlete (b. 1914)

● 1997 - Floyd Cramer, American musician (b. 1933)

● 1997 - Billie Dove, American actress (b. 1903)

● 1997 - Michael Kennedy, American politician (b. 1958)

● 1999 - Elliot Richardson, American politician (b. 1920)

● 2000 - Alan Cranston, American politician (b. 1914)

● 2000 - José Greco, Italian-born American flamenco dancer and choreographer (b. 1918)

● 2001 - Eileen Heckart, American actress (b. 1919)

● 2002 - Kevin MacMichael, American guitarist (Cutting Crew) (b. 1951)

● 2003 - Arthur R. von Hippel German-born physicist (b. 1898)

● 2004 - Gerard Debreu, French-born economist, Bank of Sweden Prize laureate (b. 1921)

● 2005 - Phillip Whitehead, British politician (b. 1937)

● 2005 - Enrico di Giuseppe, American tenor (b. 1932)

● 2006 - George Sisler, Jr., baseball executive (b. 1917)

HOLIDAYS AND OBSERVANCES

● Roman Catholic:
● St. Barbatian
● St. Columba of Sens
● St. Donata
● St. Hermes
● St. Melania
● St. Offa
● Sts. Sabinian & Potentian
● St. Slyvester
● St. Zoticus

● Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar for December 18 (Civil Date: December 31)
● Nativity Fast.
● Martyr Sebastian at Rome and his companions: Martyrs Nicostratus, Zoe, Castorius, Tranquillinus, Marcellinus, Mark, Claudius, Symphorian, Victorinus, Tiburtius, and Castulus.
● St. Modestus, Archbishop of Jerusalem.
● St. Florus, Bishop of Amisus.
● St. Micahel the Confessor at Constantinople.
● Martyr Eubotius at Cyzicus.
● St. Sebastian, abbot of Poshekhonye Monastery (Vologda).
● Righteous Simeon, Wonderworker of Verkhoturye.

● Greek Calendar:
● Hieromartyr Zacchaeus the Deacon and St. Alphaeus the Reader, of Caesarea.
● St. Sophia the Wonderworker.

● Last Day of the Year Celebration, special non-working holiday in the Philippines.


THIS IS AN ABBREVIATED POST FOR THIS DATE USING ONLY THE FOLLOWING SEVEN SOURCES. A COMPLETE POST IS PLANNED AS SOON AS TIME ALLOWS.

Click on this LINK to see original Wikipedia list with many having links with details.

Geov Parrish's this Day in Radical History, things that happened on this day that you never had to memorize in school.

Roman Catholic Saint of the Day

Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar

Liberal Quotes of the Day taken from The Best Liberal Quotes Ever: Why the Left Is Right Compiled by William P. Martin ©2004

Quotes from the Right of the Day taken from Take Them at Their Words: Startling, Amusing and Baffling Quotations from the GOP and Their Friends, 1994-2004 Compiled by Bruce J. Miller with Diana Maio ©2004

Dumbest Thing Said for the Day taken from 1001 Dumbest Things Ever Said Edited by Steven D. Price ©2004


Permanent Backlink to Post

December 30......

December 30 is the 364th (365th in leap years) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There is 1 day remaining in the year on this date.

Day of the week in surrounding years:
. . . .,1985,1991,1996,2002—MON—. . . .
1980,1986,. . . .,1997,2003—TUE—2008
1981,1987,1992,1998,. . . .—WED—2009
1982,. . . .,1993,1999,2004—THU—2010
1983,1988,1994,. . . .,2005—FRI—2011
. . . .,1989,1995,2000,2006—SAT—. . . .
1984,1990,. . . .,2001,2007—SUN—2012

Best Liberal Quote of the Day: On Success "It isn't success after all, is it, if it isn't an expression of your deepest energies?" — Marilyn French

Stupidest and/or Scariest Quote from the Right for the Day: On Do As I Say, Not As I Do "If [Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders] wants to legalize drugs, send the want to do drugs to London and Zurich, and let's be rid of them." — Rush Limbaugh, 12-9-93. Scott Loughrey, "Limbaugh Demagoguery on Drugs," Baltimore Independent Media Center, 10-10-03.

Dumbest Thing Said for the Day: From the world of Sports "You can observe a lot just by watching." — Few sports figures—and indeed, few figures of any endeavor—have achieved the verbal notoriety of Lawrence "Yogi" Berra, former catcher of the New York Yankees. This is one of the indescribable utterances of Hall of Shame member #6.

{Disclaimer: I have attempted to give credit to the many different sources that I get entries. Any failure to do so is unintentional. Any statement enclosed by brackets like these are the opinion of the blogger, A Proud Liberal.}

NASA ASTRONOMY PICTURE OF THE DAY

Mammatus Clouds Over Mexico


Credit & Copyright: Raymundo Aguirre
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation

EVENTS

● 1460 - Wars of the Roses: Battle of Wakefield

● 1703 - Earthquake in Tokyo responsible for the deaths of approximately 200,000 people.

● 1813 - Iroquois warriors and British troops capture Buffalo, New York.

● 1816 - The Treaty of St. Louis is proclaimed.

● 1847 - Birth of John Peter Altgeld, Niederselters, Prussia [now in Germany]. Reformist Democratic governor of Illinois (1893-97) known principally for his pardon (June 26, 1893) of German-American anarchists "involved" in the Haymarket Riot, where seven police were killed.

● 1853 - A dinner party is held inside a life-size model of an Iguanodon created by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins and Sir Richard Owen in south London.

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

● 1862 - USS Monitor sinks off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

● 1865 - Birth of Rudyard Kipling, famed British celebrator and apologist for imperialism, Bombay, India.

● 1880 - The Transvaal becomes a republic and Paul Kruger, its first president.

● 1890 - Birth of Victor Serge, Brussels, Belgium. Novelist, poet, historian, and militant activist. As he grew older, his politics moved increasingly leftward, leading him later in life to espouse a hybrid of anarchism and Marxism. Went to Russia in 1918 and joined the Communist Party. Critical of the direction of the party, he was kicked out in 1928, then imprisoned. Released in 1935 through the appeals of French intellectuals. Lived in Belgium, then France, barely escaping from the Nazis to Mexico in 1940.

● 1894 - Amelia Jenks Bloomer suffragist dies, Council Bluffs, Iowa. (Bloomers named for her).

● 1896 - José Rizal was executed by firing squad in Manila.

● 1897 - Natal annexes Zululand.

● 1903 - A fire at the Iroquois Theater in Chicago, Illinois kills 600.

● 1905 - Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg assassinated by a bomb explosion during period of many labor disputes in the state.

● 1906 - The All India Muslim League is founded in Dacca, East Bengal, British India Empire, which later laid down the foundations of Pakistan.

● 1919 - Lincoln's Inn in London admits its first female bar student.

● 1922 - In post-revolutionary Russia, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.) is established, comprising a confederation of Russia, Byelorussia, the Ukraine, and the Transcaucasian Federation. Also known as the Soviet Union, the new republic was the successor to the Russian Empire and the first state in the world to be based on Marxist communism.

● 1924 - Edwin Hubble announces the existence of other galaxies.

● 1927 - The Ginza Line, the first subway line in Asia, opens in Tokyo.

● 1930 - Birth of Odetta, leftist folksinger.

● 1933 - Romania - Ion Duca, a liberal premier, assassinated by a member of the Iron Guard, an extreme rightist local movement sympathetic to Nazism. After Duca's assassination, the Iron Guard was outlawed in Romania. However, its members carry on as the "All for the Fatherland" political party.

● 1935 - Italian bombers destroy Swedish Red Cross unit in Ethiopia.

● 1936 - G.M. sit-down strike spreads to Flint, Michigan. The strike had begun two days earlier in Cleveland.

● 1940 - California opens its first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway.

● 1941 - Nazis require Dutch physicians to join Nazi organization.

● 1943 - Subhash Chandra Bose raises the flag of Indian independence at Port Blair.

● 1944 - France - Romain Rolland, author and pacifist, dies. Won 1915 Nobel Prize.

● 1944 - King George II of Greece declares a regency, leaving his throne vacant.

● 1946 - Birth of singer/poet Patti Smith.

● 1947 - King Michael of Romania forced to abdicate by the Soviet-backed Communist government of Romania.

● 1952 - Tuskegee Institute reports this is first year in 71 years with no reported lynchings in the country.

● 1965 - Ferdinand Marcos becomes President of the Philippines.

● 1971 - Daniel Ellsberg indicted by a federal grand jury for releasing Pentagon Papers to news media.

● 1972 - Pres. Richard Nixon orders end to North Vietnamese bombing. The campaign was a last attempt to get North Vietnam to submit to the U.S. - eighteen days of "carpet" bombing of homes, hospitals, and civilians of Hanoi and Haiphong through Christmas. For the first time, B-52 pilots refuse to fly missions.

● 1977 - Ted Bundy escapes from his cell in Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

● 1978 - House Select Committee on Assassinations concludes conspiracies were likely in the assassinations of both John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but with no further evidence for further prosecutions.

● 1982 - Cow Creek band of Umpqua tribe (Oregon) gains federal recognition.

● 1993 - Israel and the Vatican establish diplomatic relations.

● 1994 - An anti-abortion gunman kills Shannon Lowney of Planned Parenthood and Lee Ann Nichols of Preterm, women's health care clinics in Brookline, Massachusetts.

● 1995 - The lowest ever UK temperature of -27.2°C was recorded at Altnaharra in the Scottish Highlands. This equalled the record set at Braemar, Aberdeenshire on February 11, 1895 and January 10, 1982.

● 1996 - Chilean guerrillas whisk four comrades from jail with rope lowered from a helicopter.

● 1996 - In the Indian state of Assam, a passenger train is bombed by Bodo separatists, killing 26.

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

● 1997 - Death of Danilo Dolci, nonviolent social revolutionary, Sicily.

● 1997 - In the worst incident in Algeria's insurgency, the Wilaya of Relizane massacres, 400 people are killed from four villages.

● 2000 - Rizal Day Bombings: A series of bombs explode in various places in Metro Manila, Philippines within a span of a few hours, killing 22 and injuring about a hundred.

● 2003 - U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft recuses himself and his office from the Plame affair.

● 2004 - A fire in the República Cromagnon nightclub in Buenos Aires, Argentina kills 194.

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

● 2006 - Madrid Barajas International Airport is bombed.

● 2006 - Saddam Hussein is executed by hanging.

BIRTHS

● 39 - Roman Emperor Titus (d. 81)

● 1204 - Abû 'Uthmân Sa'îd Hakam al Qurashi, ruler of Minorca (d. 1282)

● 1552 - Simon Forman, English occultist and astrologer (d. 1611)

● 1642 - Vicenzo da Filicaja, Italian poet (d. 1707)

● 1673 - Ahmed III, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1736)

● 1678 - William Croft, English composer (d. 1727)

● 1722 - Charles Yorke, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (d. 1770)

● 1724 - Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée, French painter (d. 1805)

● 1740 - Princess Elizabeth Caroline of Wales (d. 1759)

● 1785 - Dorothea Lieven, Russian noblewoman (d. 1857)

● 1819 - Theodor Fontane, German writer (d. 1898)

● 1838 - Émile Loubet, 7th President of France (d.1929)

● 1851 - Asa Griggs Candler, American businessman and politician (d. 1929)

● 1853 - André Messager, French composer (d. 1929)

● 1865 - Rudyard Kipling, British writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1936)

● 1869 - Stephen Butler Leacock, British-born, Canadian writer and economist (d. 1944)

● 1873 - Al Smith, American politician (d. 1944)

● 1878 - William Aberhart, Canadian politician (d. 1943)

● 1879 - Sri Ramana Maharshi, Indian philosopher (d. 1950)

● 1883 - Lester Patrick, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1960)

● 1884 - Hideki Tojo, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1948)

● 1890 - Adolfo Ruiz Cortines, President of Mexico (d. 1973)

● 1897 - Alfredo Bracchi, Italian author (d. 1976)

● 1899 - Helge Ingstad, Norwegian explorer (d. 2001)

● 1904 - Dmitri Kabalevsky, Russian composer (d. 1987)

● 1906 - Carol Reed, English film director (d. 1976)

● 1910 - Paul Bowles, American composer and author (d. 1999)

● 1911 - Jeanette Nolan, American actress (d. 1998)

● 1913 - Elyne Mitchell, Australian author (d. 2002)

● 1913 - Lucio Agostini, Italian-born Canadian conductor and composer (d. 1996)

● 1914 - Bert Parks, American television host (d. 1992)

● 1914 - Jo Van Fleet, American actress (d. 1996)

● 1917 - Seymour Melman, American industrial engineer (d. 2004)

● 1920 - Jack Lord, American actor (d. 1998)

● 1921 - Rashid Karami, Lebanese statesman (d. 1987)

● 1927 - Bernard Barrow, American actor (d. 1993)

● 1928 - Bo Diddley, American singer and musician

● 1929 - Barbara Nichols, American actress (d. 1976)

● 1931 - Skeeter Davis, American singer (d. 2004)

● 1934 - John Norris Bahcall, American physicist (d. 2005)

● 1934 - Joseph Bologna, American actor

● 1934 - Joseph P. Hoar, American general

● 1934 - Del Shannon, American singer (d. 1990)

● 1934 - Russ Tamblyn, American actor, dancer, and singer

● 1935 - Omar Bongo, President of Gabon

● 1935 - Sandy Koufax, American baseball player

● 1935 - Jack Riley, American actor

● 1937 - Gordon Banks, English footballer and World Cup winner

● 1937 - John Hartford, American musician (d. 2001)

● 1937 - Jim Marshall, American football player

● 1937 - Noel Paul Stookey, American folk singer (Peter, Paul & Mary)

● 1940 - James Burrows, American television director

● 1941 - Mel Renfro, American football player

● 1942 - Vladimir Bukovsky, Russian author and dissident

● 1942 - Michael Nesmith, American singer and musician (The Monkees)

● 1942 - Janko Prunk, Slovenian historian

● 1942 - Fred Ward, American actor

● 1942 - Guy Edwards, British racing driver

● 1945 - Davy Jones, English singer (The Monkees)

● 1945 - Concetta Tomei, American actress

● 1945 - Vernon Wells, Australian actor

● 1946 - Patti Smith, American singer

● 1947 - Michael Burns, American historian

● 1947 - Jeff Lynne, English musician (ELO)

● 1949 - Jim Flaherty, Canadian politician

● 1950 - Lewis Shiner, American sci-fi/fantasy author

● 1951 - Doug Allder, English footballer

● 1952 - June Anderson, American soprano

● 1953 - Bill Kazmaier, American powerlifter

● 1953 - Harald Schmautz, German-born journalist

● 1953 - Meredith Vieira, American television journalist

● 1955 - Dindo Yogo, Congolese musician (d. 2000)

● 1956 - Suzy Bogguss, American singer

● 1956 - Sheryl Lee Ralph, American actress

● 1957 - Matt Lauer, American newscaster

● 1958 - Rod Harrington, English darts player

● 1958 - Steven L. Smith, American astronaut

● 1959 - Tracey Ullman, English actress and singer

● 1961 - Douglas Coupland, Canadian author

● 1961 - Sean Hannity, American talk radio host

● 1961 - Ben Johnson, Canadian athlete

● 1962 - Henry Cho, Korean-American comedian

● 1963 - Chandler Burr, American author

● 1963 - Michelle Douglas, Canadian human rights activist

● 1963 - Milan Šrejber, Czech tennis player

● 1964 - Sylvie Moreau, Quebec television and film actress

● 1964 - Duglas T. Stewart, Scottish musician (BMX Bandits)

● 1965 - Heidi Fleiss, American madam

● 1967 - Carl Ouellet, Canadian professional wrestler

● 1969 - Dave England, American television personality

● 1969 - Jay Kay, English musician (Jamiroquai)

● 1971 - Daniel Sunjata, American actor

● 1972 - Kerry Collins, American football player

● 1972 - Paul Keegan, Irish footballer

● 1972 - Steven Wiig, American actor and musician

● 1973 - Jason Behr, American actor

● 1973 - Ato Boldon, Trinidadian athlete

● 1973 - Nacho Vidal, Spanish porn star

● 1974 - Johanna Sällström, Swedish actress (d. 2007)

● 1975 - Scott Chipperfield, Australian soccer player

● 1975 - Tiger Woods, American golfer

● 1976 - Meredith Monroe, American actress

● 1976 - Alex A. Quinn, American actor

● 1976 - A.J. Pierzynski, American baseball player

● 1977 - Kenyon Martin, American basketball player

● 1977 - Scott Lucas, Australian rules footballer

● 1977 - Laila Ali, American boxer

● 1977 - Grant Balfour, Australian baseball player

● 1978 - Tyrese, American singer and actor

● 1978 - Zbigniew Robert Promiński, Polish drummer

● 1979 - Flávio Amado, Angolan footballer

● 1980 - Eliza Dushku, American actress

● 1980 - Kenny Kwan, Hong Kong singer

● 1981 - Ali Al Habsi, Omani footballer

● 1981 - Michael Rodríguez, Costa Rican footballer

● 1981 - Haley Paige, American pornstar

● 1982 - Kristin Kreuk, Canadian actress

● 1982 - Dathan Ritzenhein, American runner

● 1984 - LeBron James, American basketball player

● 1984 - Randall Azofeifa, Costa Rican footballer

● 1985 - Lars Boom, Dutch cyclist

● 1989 - Ryan Sheckler, American professional skateboarder.

DEATHS

● 1218 - Richard de Clare, 4th Earl of Hertford, English politician (b. 1162)

● 1460 - Richard, Duke of York, claimant to the English throne (killed in battle) (b. 1411)

● 1525 - Jacob Fugger, German banker (b. 1459)

● 1572 - Galeazzo Alessi, Italian architect (b. 1512)

● 1573 - Giovanni Battista Giraldi, Italian writer (b. 1504)

● 1591 - Pope Innocent IX (b. 1519)

● 1621 - Saint Job of Maniava, Ukrainian Orthodox Saint (b. 1550)

● 1640 - John Francis Regis, French saint (b. 1597)

● 1644 - Jan Baptist van Helmont, Flemish chemist (b. 1577)

● 1662 - Archduke Ferdinand Charles of Austria (b. 1628)

● 1691 - Robert Boyle, Irish scientist (b. 1627)

● 1769 - Nicholas Taaffe, 6th Viscount Taaffe, Austrian soldier (b. 1685)

● 1803 - Francis Lewis, signer of the American Declaration of Independence (b. 1713)

● 1896 - José Rizal, national hero of the Philippines (b. 1861) (executed)

● 1908 - Thomas-Alfred Bernier, Canadian lawyer, journalist and senator (b. 1844)

● 1941 - El Lissitzky, Russian artist and architect (b. 1890)

● 1944 - Romain Rolland, French writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1866)

● 1954 - Archduke Eugen of Austria, Austrian field marshal (b. 1863)

● 1955 - Rex Ingamells, Australian poet (b. 1913)

● 1967 - Vincent Massey, Governor-General of Canada (b. 1887)

● 1968 - Trygve Lie, Norwegian politician, first United Nations Secretary General (b. 1896)

● 1970 - Sonny Liston, American boxer (b. 1932)

● 1971 - Melba Rae, American actress (Search for Tomorrow) (b. 1922)

● 1979 - Richard Rodgers, American composer (b. 1902)

● 1981 - Alfie Anido, Filipino actor (b. 1959)

● 1984 - Massa (gorilla), oldest gorilla on record (b. 1930)

● 1986 - Era Bell Thompson, American journalist (b. 1905)

● 1988 - Yuli Daniel, Russian writer (b. 1925)

● 1989 - Lenore Lemmon, wife of George Reeves (b. 1923)

● 1992 - Ling-Ling, panda given to the USA by China (b. 1969)

● 1993 - Mack David, American lyricist and songwriter (b. 1912)

● 1993 - Irving "Swifty" Lazar, American Hollywood talent agent (b. 1907)

● 1993 - Giuseppe Occhialini, Italian physicist (b. 1907)

● 1994 - Dmitri Ivanenko, Russian physicist (b. 1904)

● 1994 - Maureen Starkey, wife of Ringo Starr (b. 1946)

● 1995 - Doris Grau, American actress (b. 1924)

● 1996 - Lew Ayres, American actor (b. 1908)

● 1996 - Jack Nance, American actor (b. 1943)

● 1997 - Shinichi Hoshi, Japanese novelist (b. 1926)

● 1998 - George Webb, English actor (b. 1911)

● 1998 - Johnny Moore, American singer (The Drifters) (b. 1934)

● 1999 - Fritz Leonhardt, German structural engineer (b. 1909)

● 1999 - Sarah Knauss, American, once considered the world's oldest living person (b. 1880)

● 2000 - Julius J. Epstein, American screenwriter (b. 1909)

● 2002 - Mary Brian, American actress (b. 1906)

● 2002 - Mary Wesley, English novelist (b. 1912)

● 2003 - David Bale, South African-born activist (cancer) (b. 1941)

● 2003 - John Gregory Dunne, American writer (b. 1932)

● 2003 - Anita Mui, Hong Kong singer and actress (b. 1963)

● 2004 - Artie Shaw, American jazz clarinetist, composer, and bandleader (b. 1910)

● 2005 - Rona Jaffe, American author (b. 1932)

● 2006 - Saddam Hussein, former Iraqi President (b. 1937) (executed)

● 2006 - Terry Peck, Falkland Islander (b. 1938) who acted as a scout for 3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment in the Falklands War

HOLIDAYS AND OBSERVANCES

● Roman Catholic:
● St. Anysia
● St. Egwin
● St. Eugene
● St. Felix I, Pope
● St. Liberius
● St. Mansuetus
● St. Raynerius
● St. Sabinus
● Bl. John Alcober

● Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar for December 17 (Civil Date: December 30)
● Nativity Fast.
● Prophet Daniel and the Three Holy Youths Ananias, Azarias and Misael
● St. Daniel the Confessor (in schema Stephen) of Spain and Egypt.
● St. Dionysius of Zakynthos, Bishop of Aegina.

● Greek Calendar:
● Martyr Bacchus.
● New Martyr Nicetas.
● Blessed Deacon Abbacum of Serbia.

● Philippines - Rizal Day

● Freedom Day for Scientologists.


THIS IS AN ABBREVIATED POST FOR THIS DATE USING ONLY THE FOLLOWING SEVEN SOURCES. A COMPLETE POST IS PLANNED AS SOON AS TIME ALLOWS.

Click on this LINK to see original Wikipedia list with many having links with details.

Geov Parrish's this Day in Radical History, things that happened on this day that you never had to memorize in school.

Roman Catholic Saint of the Day

Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar

Liberal Quotes of the Day taken from The Best Liberal Quotes Ever: Why the Left Is Right Compiled by William P. Martin ©2004

Quotes from the Right of the Day taken from Take Them at Their Words: Startling, Amusing and Baffling Quotations from the GOP and Their Friends, 1994-2004 Compiled by Bruce J. Miller with Diana Maio ©2004

Dumbest Thing Said for the Day taken from 1001 Dumbest Things Ever Said Edited by Steven D. Price ©2004


Permanent Backlink to Post

December 29......

December 29 is the 363rd (364th in leap years) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 2 days remaining in the year on this date.

Day of the week in surrounding years:
1980,1986,. . . .,1997,2003—MON—2008
1981,1987,1992,1998,. . . .—TUE—2009
1982,. . . .,1993,1999,2004—WED—2010
1983,1988,1994,. . . .,2005—THU—2011
. . . .,1989,1995,2000,2006—FRI—. . . .
1984,1990,. . . .,2001,2007—SAT—2012
1985,1991,1996,2002,. . . .—SUN—2013

Best Liberal Quote of the Day: On Spirituality "The life of sensation is the life of greed; it requires more and more. The life of the spirit requires less and less; time is ample and its passage sweet." — Annie Dillard

Stupidest and/or Scariest Quote from the Right for the Day: On Beat the Press "Seymour Hersh is a liar." — George W. "War Criminal" Bush at a press conference with Gen. Pervez Mausharraf of Pakistan. Mike Allen, "CIA's Cash Toppled Taliban," Washington Post, 11-16-02.

Dumbest Thing Said for the Day: From the world of Sports "This is like déjà vu all over again." — Few sports figures—and indeed, few figures of any endeavor—have achieved the verbal notoriety of Lawrence "Yogi" Berra, former catcher of the New York Yankees. This is one of the indescribable utterances of Hall of Shame member #6.

{Disclaimer: I have attempted to give credit to the many different sources that I get entries. Any failure to do so is unintentional. Any statement enclosed by brackets like these are the opinion of the blogger, A Proud Liberal.}

NASA ASTRONOMY PICTURE OF THE DAY

Saturn's Infrared Glow


Credit: VIMS Team, U. Arizona, ESA, NASA
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation

EVENTS

● 1812 - USS Constitution (Captain William Bainbridge) captures HMS Java off Brazil after a three hour battle.

● 1813 - British soldiers burn Buffalo, New York during the War of 1812.

● 1835 - Treaty of New Echota signed by Cherokee, agreeing to move beyond the Mississippi River. Leads to Trail of Tears and several thousand Cherokee deaths.

● 1837 - Canadian authorities seize the American ship "Caroline" near Buffalo, NY, for running supplies to Canadian revolutionaries. The Canadian militia destroy the docked steamboat, while singing "Caroline On My Mind."

● 1845 - Texas is admitted as the 28th U.S. state.

● 1851 - The first American YMCA opens in Boston, Massachusetts.

● 1860 - The first British seagoing iron-clad warship, the HMS Warrior is launched.

● 1876 - The Ashtabula Plunge. 92 die as an Ashtabula, Ohio railroad bridge collapses under the weight of a passenger train.

● 1890 - Wounded Knee Massacre of Oglala Sioux, Pine Ridge, in the new state of South Dakota. Three hundred mostly unarmed Indians killed when the 7th Cavalry (Custer's old command) discharges artillery amidst women, children, and fleeing men. 29 soldiers killed in this final major military battle in genocide against Native Americans. 18 soldiers get Congressional Medals of Honor for their "bravery."

● 1893 - Birth of Vera Brittain. British pacifist and feminist.

● 1910 - The anarchist Praxedis Gilberto Guerrero is killed after leading a small band in capturing the town of Janos, Mexico.

● 1911 - Mongolia gains independence from the Qing dynasty.

● 1911 - Sun Yat-sen becomes the first President of the Republic of China.

● 1916 - Russian crackpot monk Rasputin assassinated.

● 1920 - Paul Hoffman, German radical, shot by police.

● 1930 - Sir Muhammad Iqbal's presidential address in Allahabad introduces the Two-Nation Theory and outlines a vision for the creation of Pakistan.

● 1934 - Japan renounces the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of 1930.

● 1937 - The Irish Free State is replaced by a new state called Ireland with the adoption of a new constitution.

● 1939 - First flight of the Consolidated B-24

● 1939 - Madeleine Pelletier dies. French doctor and feminist, member of the Socialist Party, later a Communist, then an anarchist. A pioneer of abortion rights, she was condemned in 1939 for practicing abortions -- declared irresponsible for her acts and committed to a mental asylum, where she died. Ironically, she had begun her career as psychiatrist.

● 1940 - London suffers its most devastating air raid, and approximately 1,500 fires threatened to destroy the ancient city. Largely evacuated, the few who remained fought hard to contain the fires. Often called The Second Great Fire of London.

● 1963 - The Weavers, America's preeminent folk music group, give their farewell concert at Orchestra Hall in Chicago.

● 1970 - U.S. Congress passes Occupational Health & Safety Act (OSHA).

● 1972 - An Eastern Air Lines Lockheed "Tristar" crashes on approach to Miami International Airport, Florida, killing 101.

● 1975 - Eleven people killed, 75 injured when a bomb explodes at TWA terminal at New York's La Guardia airport.

● 1989 - On the final day of trading for the year and decade, the Japanese Nikkei 225 Average closes at an all-time high of 38,915.87.

● 1989 - Riots break-out after Hong Kong decides to forcibly repatriate Vietnamese refugees.

● 1989 - Vaclav Havel becomes president of Czechoslovakia.

● 1992 - Fernando Collor de Mello, president of Brazil, tried to resign amidst corruption charges, but ended up being impeached.

● 1994 - A state court rejects property rights advocates and reaffirms the fishing harvest rights of fifteen Indian tribes in Washington state.

● 1996 - Guatemala and leaders of Guatemalan National Revolutionary Union sign a peace accord ending a 36-year civil war.

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

● 1998 - Leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologize for the 1970s genocide in Cambodia that claimed over 1 million. {Apology rejected as inadequate.}

● 2001 - A massive fire in the historic district of downtown Lima, Peru kills at least 274 people.

BIRTHS

● 1709 - Empress Elizabeth of Russia (d. 1762)

● 1721 - Madame de Pompadour, mistress of King Louis XV of France (d. 1764)

● 1796 - Johann Christian Poggendorff, German physicist (d. 1877)

● 1800 - Charles Goodyear, American inventor (d. 1860)

● 1808 - Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States (d. 1875)

● 1809 - William Ewart Gladstone, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1898)

● 1816 - Carl Ludwig, German physician (d. 1895)

● 1843 - Elisabeth of Wied a.k.a. Carmen Sylva, queen of Romania and writer (d. 1916)

● 1856 - Thomas Joannes Stieltjes, Dutch mathematician (d. 1894)

● 1859 - Venustiano Carranza, 54th President of Mexico (d. 1920)

● 1876 - Pablo Casals, Catalan musician (d. 1973)

● 1881 - Jess Willard, American boxer (d. 1968)

● 1896 - David Alfaro Siqueiros, Mexican painter (d. 1974)

● 1899 - Nie Rongzhen, Chinese Communist military leader (d. 1992)

● 1902 - Nels Stewart, National Hockey League player (d. 1957)

● 1908 - Helmut Gollwitzer, German theologian (d. 1993)

● 1910 - Ronald Coase, British economist, Nobel Prize laureate

● 1914 - Billy Tipton, American musician (d. 1989)

● 1914 - Albert Tucker, Australian artist (d. 1999)

● 1915 - Bill Osmanski, American football player (d. 1996)

● 1917 - Tom Bradley, American politician (d. 1998)

● 1917 - Ramanand Sagar, Indian film director (d. 2005)

● 1920 - Viveca Lindfors, Swedish-American actress (d. 1995)

● 1922 - William Gaddis, American writer (d. 1998)

● 1927 - Andy Stanfield, American athlete (d. 1985)

● 1928 - Bernard Cribbins, British actor

● 1931 - Prince Gu of Korea, Korean royalty (d. 2005)

● 1932 - Inga Swenson, American actress

● 1934 - Ed Flanders, American actor (d. 1995)

● 1936 - Mary Tyler Moore, American actress

● 1936 - Ray Nitschke, American football player (d. 1998)

● 1937 - Barbara Steele, British actress

● 1937 - Wayne Huizenga, American football team owner

● 1938 - Jon Voight, American actor

● 1941 - Ray Thomas, British musician (The Moody Blues)

● 1942 - Rick Danko, Canadian musician (The Band) (d. 1999)

● 1942 - Rajesh Khanna, Indian actor

● 1946 - Marianne Faithfull, British singer

● 1947 - Ted Danson, American actor

● 1947 - Cozy Powell, English rock drummer (d. 1998)

● 1947 - Vincent Winter, British actor (d. 1998)

● 1949 - Syed Kirmani, Indian cricket player

● 1951 - Yvonne Elliman, American disco singer

● 1952 - Gelsey Kirkland, American dancer

● 1953 - Stanley Tookie Williams, American author (d. 2005)

● 1953 - Gali Atari, Israeli singer and actress

● 1954 - Roger Voudouris, American singer

● 1954 - Prince Takamado of Japan (d. 2002)

● 1956 - Fred MacAulay, Scottish comedian

● 1957 - Brad Grey, American film producer

● 1957 - Paul Rudnick, American screenwriter/playwright

● 1958 - Nancy J. Currie, American astronaut

● 1959 - Patricia Clarkson, American actress

● 1959 - Paula Poundstone, American comedian

● 1960 - Thomas Lubanga, founder and leader of Union of Congolese Patriots

● 1960 - David Boon, Australian Cricketer

● 1961 - Kevin Granata, American associate professor at Virginia Tech, victim of the Virginia Tech massacre (d. 2007)

● 1961 - Jim Reid, Scottish singer (The Jesus and Mary Chain, Freeheat)

● 1962 - Devon White, Jamaican baseball player

● 1962 - Blake Mitchell, American adult actress

● 1963 - Francisco Bustamante, Filipino billiard player

● 1963 - Dave McKean, British artist and filmmaker

● 1963 - Sean Payton, American football coach

● 1965 - Dexter Holland, American musician (The Offspring)

● 1966 - Stefano Eranio, Italian footballer

● 1967 - Andy Wachowski, American director

● 1967 - Ashleigh Banfield, Canadian journalist

● 1967 - Chris Barnes, American singer

● 1969 - Jennifer Ehle, American actress

● 1969 - Allan McNish, Scottish race car driver

● 1970 - Aled Jones, Welsh singer

● 1970 - Kevin Weisman, American actor

● 1970 - Glen Phillips, American musician (Toad The Wet Sprocket)

● 1970 - Hidetoshi Mitsusada, Japanese racing driver

● 1972 - Evan Seinfeld, American musician (Biohazard) and actor

● 1972 - Jason Kreis, American soccer player

● 1972 - Jude Law, British actor

● 1973 - Pimp C, American rapper (d. 2007)

● 1973 - Theo Epstein, American baseball general manager

● 1974 - Richie Sexson, American baseball player

● 1974 - Mekhi Phifer, American actor

● 1975 - Jaret Wright, American baseball player

● 1976 - Danny R. McBride, American actor, writer, and producer

● 1976 - Katherine Moennig, American actress

● 1977 - Jimmy Journell, American baseball player

● 1978 - Alexis Amore, Peruvian pornographic actress

● 1978 - Kieron Dyer, English footballer

● 1978 - LaToya London, American singer

● 1979 - Diego Luna, Mexican actor

● 1981 - Shizuka Arakawa, Japanese figure skater

● 1989 - Nathan Forbes, British footballer

● 1994 - Princess Kako of Akishino of Japan

DEATHS

● 721 - Empress Gemmei of Japan (b. 661)

● 1170 - Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury (assassinated) (b. 1118)

● 1563 - Sebastian Castellio, French theologian (b. 1515)

● 1634 - John Albert Vasa, Polish bishop (b. 1612)

● 1661 - Antoine Gérard de Saint-Amant, French poet (b. 1594)

● 1689 - Thomas Sydenham, English physician (b. 1624)

● 1731 - Brook Taylor, English mathematician (b. 1685)

● 1737 - Joseph Saurin, French mathematician (b. 1659)

● 1785 - Johan Herman Wessel, Norwegian poet (b. 1742)

● 1825 - Jacques-Louis David, French painter (b. 1748)

● 1891 - Leopold Kronecker, mathematician (b. 1823)

● 1894 - Christina Rossetti, English poet (b. 1830)

● 1897 - William James Linton, American wood engraver and political reformer. (b. 1812)

● 1916 - Grigori Rasputin, Russian monk (b. 1869)

● 1924 - Carl Spitteler, Swiss writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1845)

● 1926 - Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian writer (b. 1875)

● 1929 - Wilhelm Maybach, German automobile designer (b. 1846)

● 1937 - Don Marquis, American author (b. 1878)

● 1960 - Eden Phillpotts, British writer (b. 1862)

● 1960 - Philippe Panneton, Quebec physician, diplomat and writer (b. 1895)

● 1967 - Paul Whiteman, American musician and conductor (b. 1890)

● 1976 - Ivo Van Damme, Belgian athlete (b. 1954)

● 1980 - Tim Hardin, American musician (b. 1941)

● 1980 - Nadezhda Mandelstam, Russian writer (b. 1899)

● 1981 - Miroslav Krleža, Croatian writer (b. 1893)

● 1986 - Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1894)

● 1988 - Mike Beuttler, British racing driver (b. 1940)

● 1993 - Frunzik Mkrtchyan, Soviet Armenian actor (b. 1930)

● 1996 - Mireille Hartuch, French singer and actress (b. 1906)

● 1998 - Jean-Claude Forest, writer and illustrator of comics (Barbarella) (b. 1930)

● 1999 - Leon Radzinowicz, British criminologist (b. 1906)

● 2003 - Earl Hindman, American actor (lung cancer) (b. 1942)

● 2003 - Dinsdale Landen, English actor (cancer) (b. 1932)

● 2003 - Bob Monkhouse, English comedian and game show host (b. 1928)

● 2004 - Julius Axelrod, American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1912)

● 2004 - Liddy Holloway, New Zealand actress (b. 1947)

● 2004 - Ken Burkhart, American baseball player (b. 1915)

● 2005 - Gerda Boyesen, Norwegian-born body psychotherapist (b. 1922)

HOLIDAYS AND OBSERVANCES

● Roman Catholic:
● St. Aileran
● St. Albert of Gambron
● Sts. Callistus, Felix & Boniface
● St. Dominic
● St. Ebrulf
● St. Thomas Becket
● St. Trophimus of Arles
● Bl. William Howard

● Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar for December 16 (Civil Date: December 29)
● Nativity Fast.
● Prophet Haggai (Aggaeus).
● Martyr Marinus of Rome.
● Blessed Empress Theophania.
● St. Memnon, Archbishop Ephesus.
● St. Nicholas Chrysoberges, Patriarch of Constantinople.
● St. Sophia, nun (in the world Solomonia), wife of Grand duke Basil III.

● Greek Calendar:
● Martyrs Promus and Hilarion.
● St. Modestus, Archbishop of Jerusalem.


THIS IS AN ABBREVIATED POST FOR THIS DATE USING ONLY THE FOLLOWING SEVEN SOURCES. A COMPLETE POST IS PLANNED AS SOON AS TIME ALLOWS.

Click on this LINK to see original Wikipedia list with many having links with details.

Geov Parrish's this Day in Radical History, things that happened on this day that you never had to memorize in school.

Roman Catholic Saint of the Day

Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar

Liberal Quotes of the Day taken from The Best Liberal Quotes Ever: Why the Left Is Right Compiled by William P. Martin ©2004

Quotes from the Right of the Day taken from Take Them at Their Words: Startling, Amusing and Baffling Quotations from the GOP and Their Friends, 1994-2004 Compiled by Bruce J. Miller with Diana Maio ©2004

Dumbest Thing Said for the Day taken from 1001 Dumbest Things Ever Said Edited by Steven D. Price ©2004


Permanent Backlink to Post

December 28......

December 28 is the 362nd (363rd in leap years) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 3 days remaining in the year on this date.

Day of the week in surrounding years:
1981,1987,1992,1998,. . . .—MON—2009
1982,. . . .,1993,1999,2004—TUE—2010
1983,1988,1994,. . . .,2005—WED—2011
. . . .,1989,1995,2000,2006—THU—. . . .
1984,1990,. . . .,2001,2007—FRI—2012
1985,1991,1996,2002,. . . .—SAT—2013
1986,. . . .,1997,2003,2008—SUN—2014

Best Liberal Quote of the Day: On Soul "To dispose a soul to action we must upset its equilibrium." — Eric Hoffer

Stupidest and/or Scariest Quote from the Right for the Day: On All Hail King George "Even the president is not omnipotent. Would that he were. He often says that life would be easier if it were a dictatorship. But it's not, and he's glad it's a democracy." — Josuha B. Bolten, White House budget Director. Elisabeth Bumiller, "Bush 'Compassion' Agenda: An '04 Liability?" New York Times, 8-26-03.

Dumbest Thing Said for the Day: From Politics "The progress of the times . . . [is] . . . . such that little children, who can neither walk nor talk, may be seen cursing their Maker!" — Sir Boyle Roche was an eighteenth-century Irish member of Parliament noted for malapropisms and other gaffes, Sir Boyle is Hall of Shame member #5

{Disclaimer: I have attempted to give credit to the many different sources that I get entries. Any failure to do so is unintentional. Any statement enclosed by brackets like these are the opinion of the blogger, A Proud Liberal.}

NASA ASTRONOMY PICTURE OF THE DAY

A Beautiful Boomerang Nebula


Credit: Hubble Heritage Team, J. Biretta (STScI) et al., (STScI/AURA), ESA, NASA
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation

EVENTS

● 1065 - Westminster Abbey is consecrated.

● 1308 - The reign of Emperor Hanazono, emperor of Japan, begins.

● 1612 - Galileo Galilei becomes the first astronomer to observe the planet Neptune, although he mistakenly catalogued it as a fixed star.

● 1831 - Thirty thousand slaves in Jamaica begin armed insurrection.

● 1832 - Vice President John C. Calhoun of South Carolina resigns in order to lead the South's fight for slavery, a cause he called "a perfect good."

● 1835 - Seminoles destroy a column of 110 invading soldiers.

● 1836 - South Australia and Adelaide are founded.

● 1836 - Spain recognizes independence of Mexico.

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

● 1863 - Russia - Nihilists annihilate Chief of Police.

● 1867 - United States claims Midway Island, first territory annexed outside Continental limits.

● 1869 - Knights of Labor hold their first meeting, Philadelphia.

● 1869 - William E. Semple of Mount Vernon, Ohio patents chewing gum.

● 1879 - Birth of long-time Seattle labor leader Jimmy Duncan.

● 1879 - The Tay Bridge Disaster: The central part of the Tay Rail Bridge in Dundee, Scotland collapses as a train passed over it, killing 75.

● 1882 - Arthur Eddington, pacifist astronomer, born, Britain.

● 1895 - The Lumière brothers have their first paying audience at the Grand Cafe in Boulevard des Capucines marking the debut of the cinema.

● 1903 - Electric lamp sets fire to Iroquois Theater in Chicago; 602 die, many trampled to death as a result of defective provisions for safety and exit.

● 1908 - Earthquake strikes Messina, Italy; 80,000 die.

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

● 1935 - Pravda publishes a letter by Pavel Postyshev, who revives New Year tree tradition in the Soviet Union.

● 1936 - Sit-down strike against General Motors begins at Fisher Body plant in Cleveland.

● 1939 - First flight of the Consolidated XB-24 Liberator" bomber prototype.

● 1943 - All inhabitants of Kalmukkie deported, about 70,000 killed.

● 1944 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the Army to seize the executive offices of Montgomery Ward & Company after the patriotic corporation fails to comply with a National War Labor Board directive regarding union shops.

● 1945 - The U.S. Congress officially recognizes the Pledge of Allegiance.

● 1948 - The DC-3 airliner NC16002 disappears 50 miles south of Miami, Florida.

● 1950 - Chinese troops cross 38th Parallel, into South Korea.

● 1950 - The Peak District becomes the United Kingdom's first National Park.

● 1959 - Jazz pianist Bill Evans records the album Portrait in Jazz with his newly formed Bill Evans Trio.

● 1962 - Government outlaws 36 organizations under "Suppression of Communism Act," South Africa.

● 1968 - Anti-draft conference launches "Don't Register" campaign, Australia.

● 1969 - ACLU charges police in nine cities are illegally harassing members of the Black Panther Party.

● 1971 - Eighty-eight Vietnam Veterans Against the War are arrested at a White House protest.

● 1971 - Vietnam veteran antiwar protesters peacefully end their occupation of the Statue of Liberty.

● 1973 - Alexander Solzhenitsyn publishes "Gulag Archipelago."

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

● 1974 - Senegalese marxist group Reenu-Rew founds the political movement And-Jëf at a clandestine congress.

● 1981 - Peace camp set up at Molesworth cruise missile base, Britain.

● 1981 - The first American test-tube baby, Elizabeth Jordan Carr, is born in Norfolk, Virginia.

● 1984 - Accidental launch of U.S.S.R. missile toward Germany destroyed in flight.

● 1989 - A magnitude 5.6 earthquake hits Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, killing 13 people.

● 1995 - Ten activists are arrested for trespass at the Strategic Nuclear Command Center near Omaha, Nebraska.

● 1996 - Three arrested at Capitol Hill post office in Seattle for refusing to leave after attempting to mail humanitarian supplies to Iraq in defiance of U.S.-led embargo.

● 1999 - Saparmurat Niyazov is proclaimed President for Life in Turkmenistan.

● 2000 - U.S. retail giant Montgomery Ward announces it is going out of business after 128 years.

● 2005 - A U.S. immigration judge orders John Demjanjuk deported to Ukraine for crimes against humanity committed during World War II

BIRTHS

● 1164 - Emperor Rokujō of Japan (d. 1176)

● 1522 - Margaret of Austria, regent of the Netherlands (d. 1583)

● 1619 - Antoine Furetière, French writer (d. 1688)

● 1635 - Princess Elizabeth of England (d. 1650)

● 1655 - Charles Cornwallis, 3rd Baron Cornwallis, First Lord of the British Admiralty (d. 1698)

● 1665 - George FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Northumberland, British general (d. 1716)

● 1763 - John Molson, English-born Canadian brewer (d. 1836)

● 1778 - Franciszek Ksawery Drucki-Lubecki, Polish politician (d. 1846)

● 1842 - Calixa Lavallée, French-Canadian composer (O Canada) (d. 1891)

● 1856 - Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States, Nobel laureate (d. 1924)

● 1866 - Szymon Askenazy, Polish diplomat (d. 1935)

● 1879 - Billy Mitchell, American military aviation pioneer (d. 1936)

● 1882 - Arthur Stanley Eddington, British astronomer (d. 1944)

● 1888 - Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, German film director (d. 1931)

● 1898 - Carl-Gustaf Rossby, Swedish meteorologist (d. 1957)

● 1898 - Shigematsu Sakaibara, Japanese admiral (d. 1947)

● 1899 - Eugeniusz Bodo, Polish actor (d. 1943)

● 1902 - Mortimer Adler, American philosopher (d. 2001)

● 1902 - Shen Congwen, Chinese writer (d. 1988)

● 1903 - Earl Hines, American musician (d. 1983)

● 1903 - John von Neumann, Hungarian-born mathematician (d. 1957)

● 1905 - Cliff Arquette, American actor (d. 1974)

● 1908 - Lew Ayres, American actor (d. 1996)

● 1913 - Lou Jacobi, Canadian actor

● 1915 - Pops Staples, American musician (The Staple Singers) (d. 2000)

● 1922 - Stan Lee, American comic book writer

● 1924 - Milton Obote, President of Uganda (d. 2005)

● 1925 - Hildegard Knef, German actress (d. 2002)

● 1928 - Moe Koffman, Canadian musician (d. 2001)

● 1929 - Brian Redhead, British journalist (d. 1994)

● 1929 - Terry Sawchuk, Canadian hockey player (d. 1970)

● 1931 - Guy Debord, French writer (d. 1994)

● 1932 - Dhirubhai Ambani, Indian businessman (d. 2002)

● 1932 - Manuel Puig, Argentine writer (d. 1990)

● 1932 - Roy Hattersley, British politician

● 1932 - Dorsey Burnette, American singer (d. 1979)

● 1932 - Harry Howell, Canadian hockey player

● 1933 - Nichelle Nichols, American actress

● 1933 - John Y. Brown, Jr., American politician

● 1934 - Dame Maggie Smith, British actress

● 1934 - Yujiro Ishihara, Japanese actor (d. 1987)

● 1936 - Jacques Mesrine, French criminal (d. 1979)

● 1937 - Ratan Tata, Indian industrialist

● 1939 - Philip Anschutz, American businessman

● 1940 - Don Francisco, Chilean television host

● 1943 - Richard Whiteley, British television presenter (d. 2005)

● 1943 - David Peterson, Canadian politician

● 1944 - Johnny Isakson, American politician

● 1944 - Kary Mullis, American chemist, Nobel laureate

● 1946 - Edgar Winter, American musician

● 1946 - Pierre Falardeau, Quebec film director

● 1947 - Aurelio Rodríguez, Mexican baseball player (d. 2000)

● 1950 - Alex Chilton, American musician (Box Tops)

● 1950 - Øivind Blunck, Norwegian comedian and actor

● 1951 - Ian Buruma, Anglo-Dutch scholar and writer on Japan and the Far East.

● 1953 - Richard Clayderman, French pianist

● 1954 - Denzel Washington, American actor

● 1956 - Nigel Kennedy, British violinist

● 1957 - Anne Sargeant, Australian netballer

● 1959 - Ana Torroja, Spanish singer (Mecano)

● 1959 - Phil Abrams, American actor

● 1960 - Raymond Bourque, Canadian hockey player

● 1962 - Rachel Z, American pianist

● 1962 - Michel Petrucciani, French pianist (d. 1999)

● 1962 - Melissa R. Kelly, former Maryland politician

● 1967 - Chris Ware, American cartoonist

● 1969 - Linus Torvalds, Finnish computer programmer

● 1970 - Francesca Le, American porn star

● 1971 - Frank Sepe, American bodybuilder

● 1971 - Benny Agbayani, American baseball player

● 1972 - Patrick Rafter, Australian tennis player

● 1972 - Adam Vinatieri, American football player

● 1973 - Herborg Kråkevik, Norwegian singer and actress

● 1973 - Seth Meyers, American actor

● 1974 - Jason Ridge, American porn actor

● 1975 - B.J. Ryan, American baseball player

● 1977 - Shane Elford, Australian sportsman

● 1978 - John Legend, American musician

● 1979 - James Blake, American tennis player

● 1979 - Bill Hall, American baseball player

● 1980 - Lomana LuaLua, Congo footballer

● 1980 - Vanessa Ferlito, American actress

● 1981 - Sienna Miller, British actress

● 1981 - Mika Väyrynen, Finnish footballer

● 1982 - Cedric Benson, American football player

● 1982 - Kevin Pereira, American television host

● 1982 - Quinton Porter, American football player

● 1983 - Mike He, Taiwanese actor

● 1984 - Leroy Lita, English footballer

● 1984 - Alex Lloyd, British racing driver

● 1986 - Tom Huddlestone, English footballer

● 1987 - Thomas Dekker, American actor

DEATHS

● 300 - Theonas, Patriarch of Alexandria

● 1367 - Ashikaga Yoshiakira, Japanese shogun (b. 1330)

● 1446 - Antipope Clement VIII

● 1503 - Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici, ruler of Florence (b. 1471)

● 1558 - Hermann Finck, German composer (b. 1527)

● 1622 - Francis de Sales, Bishop of Geneva and saint (b. 1567)

● 1663 - Francesco Maria Grimaldi, Italian mathematician and physicist (b. 1618)

● 1671 - Johann Friedrich Gronovius, German classical scholar (b. 1611)

● 1694 - Queen Mary II of England (b. 1662), of the famed joint monarchy William and Mary.

● 1703 - Mustafa II, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1664)

● 1706 - Pierre Bayle, French philosopher (b. 1647)

● 1708 - Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, French botanist (b. 1656)

● 1715 - William Carstares, Scottish minister (b. 1649)

● 1734 - Robert Roy MacGregor, Scottish folk hero (b. 1671)

● 1736 - Antonio Caldara, Italian composer (b. 1670)

● 1795 - Eugenio Espejo, Ecuadorian scientist (b. 1747)

● 1859 - Thomas Macaulay, British poet (b. 1800)

● 1872 - James Van Ness, Mayor of San Francisco (1855-1856) (b. 1808)

● 1877 - Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov, Russian poet (b. 1821)

● 1900 - Alexandre Alberto da Rocha de Serpa Pinto, Portuguese explorer (b. 1846)

● 1916 - Eduard Strauss, Austrian composer (b. 1835)

● 1917 - Alfred Edwin McKay, Canadian World War One flying ace (b. 1892)

● 1918 - Olavo Bilac, Brazilian poet (b. 1865)

● 1919 - Johannes Rydberg, Swedish physicist (b. 1854)

● 1924 - Léon Bakst, Russian artist (b. 1866)

● 1925 - Sergei Yesenin, Russian poet (b. 1895)

● 1932 - Jack Blackham, Australian cricketer (b. 1854)

● 1937 - Maurice Ravel, French composer (b. 1875)

● 1938 - Florence Lawrence, American actress (b. 1886)

● 1943 - Steve Evans, American baseball player (b. 1885)

● 1945 - Theodore Dreiser, American author (b. 1871)

● 1947 - King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy (b. 1869)

● 1949 - Jack Lovelock, New Zealand athlete (b. 1910)

● 1952 - Fletcher Henderson, American musician (b. 1897)

● 1962 - Kathleen Clifford, American actress (b. 1887)

● 1963 - Paul Hindemith, German composer (b. 1895)

● 1967 - Katharine McCormick, American women's rights activist (b. 1875)

● 1971 - Max Steiner, Austrian-born American film music composer (b. 1888)

● 1976 - Katharine Byron, American politician (b. 1903)

● 1976 - Freddie King, American musician (b. 1934)

● 1981 - Allan Dwan, Canadian-born film director (b. 1885)

● 1983 - William Demarest, American actor (b. 1892)

● 1983 - Jimmy Demaret, American golfer (b. 1910)

● 1983 - Dennis Wilson, American musician (The Beach Boys) (b. 1944)

● 1984 - Sam Peckinpah, American film director (b. 1925)

● 1986 - Andrei Tarkovsky, Russian film director (b. 1932)

● 1989 - Hermann Oberth, German physicist (b. 1894)

● 1991 - Cassandra Harris, Australian actress (b. 1952)

● 1992 - Sal Maglie, American baseball player (b. 1917)

● 1994 - Jean-Louis Lévesque, French Canadian entrepreneur (b. 1911)

● 1999 - Clayton Moore, American actor (b. 1914)

● 2001 - Samuel A. Goldblith, American food scientist (b. 1919)

● 2001 - William X. Kienzle, American novelist (b. 1928)

● 2003 - Benjamin Hacker, American admiral (b. 1935)

● 2004 - Jerry Orbach, American actor (b. 1935)

● 2004 - Susan Sontag, American writer (b. 1933)

● 2006 - Jamal Karimi-Rad, Iranian Minister of Justice (b. 1956)

HOLIDAYS AND OBSERVANCES

● Roman Catholic:
● Feast of the Holy Innocents, commemorating the Massacre of the Innocents on order of King Herod the Great.
● St. Anthony the Hermit
● St. Caesarius
● St. Castor
● St. Domnio
● Sts. Eutychius & Domitian
● St. Maughold
● Sts. Romulus and Conindrus
● St. Troadius

● Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar for December 15 (Civil Date: December 28)
● Nativity Fast.
● Hieromartyr Eleutherius, Bishop of Illyria, and his mother Martyr Anthia.
● St. Paul of Latros.
● St. Stephen the confessor, Archbishop Surozha in the Crimea.
● Martyr Eleutherius at Constantinople.
● St. Pardus, hermit of Palestine.
● Martyr Bacchus the New.
● Martyr Susanna the deaconess of Palestine.
● St. Tryphon, abbot of Pechenga or Kolsk, and his martyred disciple Jonah.
● NEW HIEROMARTYR Joseph, Metropolitan of Petrograd (1938)
● NEW HIEROMARTYR Ilarion (Troitsky) (1929).
● New Martyr Paul (Florensky).

● Greek Calendar:
● Martyr Koremon the Epatch and two executioners martyred with him.

● Coptic Church:
● St. Abel

● Feast of the Holy Innocents, also known as Childermas, commemorating the Massacre of the Innocents on order of King Herod the Great. In Spain and Latin American countries the festival is celebrated in a manner similar to April Fool's Day.

● Proclamation Day in South Australia


THIS IS AN ABBREVIATED POST FOR THIS DATE USING ONLY THE FOLLOWING SEVEN SOURCES. A COMPLETE POST IS PLANNED AS SOON AS TIME ALLOWS.

Click on this LINK to see original Wikipedia list with many having links with details.

Geov Parrish's this Day in Radical History, things that happened on this day that you never had to memorize in school.

Roman Catholic Saint of the Day

Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar

Liberal Quotes of the Day taken from The Best Liberal Quotes Ever: Why the Left Is Right Compiled by William P. Martin ©2004

Quotes from the Right of the Day taken from Take Them at Their Words: Startling, Amusing and Baffling Quotations from the GOP and Their Friends, 1994-2004 Compiled by Bruce J. Miller with Diana Maio ©2004

Dumbest Thing Said for the Day taken from 1001 Dumbest Things Ever Said Edited by Steven D. Price ©2004


Permanent Backlink to Post