Day of the week in surrounding years:
1977,1983,. . . .,1994,2000—MON—2005
1978,1984,1989,1995,. . . .—TUE—2006
1979,. . . .,1990,1996,2001—WED—2007
1980,1985,1991,. . . .,2002—THU—2008
. . . .,1986,1992,1997,2003—FRI—. . . .
1981,1987,. . . .,1998,2004—SAT—2009
1982,1988,1993,1999,. . . .—SUN—2010
Best Liberal Quote of the Day: On Thought "With our thoughts we make the world." — Buddha
Stupidest and/or Scariest Quote from the Right for the Day: On Public Enemy: Public Schools "Uncle Sam darkened our doorway and began to dictate to us how to raise our children. The public education system that was established by our founding fathers as a means for teaching every child the word of God became a vehicle for the federal government to turn our children from God and from his law. Our children are taught to tolerate homosexuality, but to frown upon Christianity. To trust teachers and government more than parents and God. Instead of affirming what is taught in the home, our schools have become the enemy of the family." — Carmen Pate, President of Concerned Women for America, 2-98. PFAW.org. {This homophobic bigot misses the point that the founding fathers she refers to are the Puritans NOT the framers of the Constitution who firmly rejected the intermingling of religion and government with the First Amendment. Christ talked about sin throughout the New Testament and never once mentioned homosexuality, but repeatedly preached tolerance and acceptance. Maybe if she truly became more Christ like and less fundamental Christian, she would discover homosexuals in no way threaten her marriage and family.}
Dumbest Thing Said for the Day: From the world of Sports "You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might no get there." — 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.}
MOON PHASE
Berkeley, California—Times are Pacific Standard Time (PST)
Jan 3, 2008 2:00 AM Name: Waning Crescent Percent of Full: 22% Age: 84% Rise: 3:22 AM Set: 1:10 PM
Surprise, Arizona—Times are Mountain Standard Time (MST)
Jan 3, 2008 2:00 AM Name: Waning Crescent Percent of Full: 23% Age: 84% Rise: 3:30 AM Set: 1:41 PM
Iowa City, Iowa—Times are Central Standard Time (CST)
Jan 3, 2008 2:00 AM Name: Waning Crescent Percent of Full: 23% Age: 84% Rise: 3:25 AM Set: 12:52 PM
Cambridge, Massachusetts—Times are Eastern Standard Time (EST)
Jan 3, 2008 2:00 AM Name: Waning Crescent Percent of Full: 23% Age: 84% Rise: 3:02 AM Set: 12:26 PM
NASA ASTRONOMY PICTURE OF THE DAY
Geminids in 2007
Credit & Copyright: Erno Berko
Click picture to go to NASA APOD site for full explanation
EVENTS
● 1431 - Joan of Arc is handed over to the Bishop Pierre Cauchon.
● 1496 - Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tests a flying machine.
● 1521 - Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther from Roman Catholic Church in the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem.
● 1749 - Benning Wentworth issues the first of the New Hampshire Grants, leading to the establishment of Vermont.
● 1777 - American general George Washington defeats British general Charles Cornwallis at the Battle of Princeton.
● 1781 - Inca Rebellion. Inca beseige Cuzco (Peru) in attempt to dislodge Spanish.
● 1793 - Birth of Lucretia Mott, abolitionist and feminist. Nantucket, Mass.
● 1815 - Austria, Britain, and France form a secret defensive alliance treaty against Prussia and Russia.
● 1823 - Stephen F. Austin receives a grant of land in Texas from the government of Mexico.
● 1825 - Rensselaer School, the first engineering college in the U.S. is opened in Troy, New York. It is now known as Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
● 1825 - Scottish factory owner Robert Owen buys 30,000 acres in Indiana as site for New Harmony utopian community.
● 1833 - Britain seizes control of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic.
● 1834 - The government of Mexico imprisons Stephen F. Austin in Mexico City.
● 1848 - Joseph Jenkins Roberts is sworn in as the first president of the independent African Republic of Liberia.
● 1861 - American Civil War: Delaware votes not to secede from the United States.
● 1867 - Joshua Norton I, "Dei Gratia" Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico, abolishes Congress and calls out the Army to clear out the riff-raff and crooks.
● 1868 - Meiji Restoration in Japan: The Tokugawa shogunate is abolished; agents of Satsuma and Chōshū seize power.
● 1870 - The construction of the Brooklyn Bridge begins.
● 1871 - Henry W. Bradley patents oleomargarine.
● 1888 - Marvin C. Stone patents the drinking straw.
● 1888 - The 91 cm refracting telescope at Lick Observatory is used for the first time. It was the largest telescope in the world at the time.
● 1892 - J. R. R. Tolkien, British author of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and Christian apologist, is born.
● 1899 - The first known use of the word automobile, in an editorial in The New York Times.
● 1917 - Tom Mooney trial begins in San Francisco.
● 1921 - Turkey makes peace with Armenia.
● 1924 - English explorer Howard Carter discovers the sarcophagus of Tutankhamen in the Valley of the Kings, near Luxor, Egypt.
● 1925 - Mussolini puts an end to the parliamentary system, and issues a decree ordering the dissolution of the U.S.I. (Unione Sindacala Italiana) anarcho-syndicalist union. Essentially taking dictatorial powers over Italy.
● 1932 - Martial law declared in Honduras to stop revolt by banana workers fired by United Fruit.
● 1933 - Minnie D. Craig becomes the first woman to be elected Speaker of a legislative body in the USA.
● 1938 - The March of Dimes is established by Franklin D. Roosevelt.
● 1944 - World War II: Top Ace Major Greg "Pappy" Boyington {leader of the "Black Sheep"} is shot down in his Corsair by Captain Masajiro Kawato flying a Zero.
● 1945 - Admiral Chester W Nimitz is placed in command of all U.S. Naval forces in preparation for planned assaults against Iwo Jima, Okinawa and Japan itself.
● 1947 - Proceedings of the U.S. Congress are televised for the first time.
● 1953 - Frances Bolton and her son, Oliver from Ohio, become the first mother and son to serve simultaneously in the U.S. Congress.
● 1955 - U.S. government announces that over 3,000 persons designated security risks had been discharged from federal employment between June of 1953 and October of 1954. The witchhunt for commies turned up mostly suspected homosexuals.
● 1958 - The West Indies Federation is formed.
● 1959 - Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state.
● 1960 - U.S. severs diplomatic and consular ties with Cuba after disputes over the nationalization of U.S. firms, the U.S. military presence at Guantanamo Base (in Cuba), and other "concerns."
● 1961 - The SL-1, nuclear reactor explodes at the National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho Falls, Idaho, killing three military technicians, and releases a surge of radioactivity which, in the words of John A. McCone, Director of the Atomic Energy Commission, was "largely confined" to the reactor building. One technician was blown to the ceiling of the containment dome and impaled on a control rod. His body remained there until it was taken down six days later. The men were so heavily exposed to radiation that their hands and heads had to be buried separately with other radioactive waste.
● 1962 - Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro.
● 1964 - Five hundred thousand New York pupils stay at home in protest against racial segregation.
● 1967 - Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys is indicted for draft evasion.
● 1967 - Jack Ruby, assassin who killed assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, dies in prison of natural causes while awaiting retrial.
● 1968 - Police at New Jersey's Newark Airport confiscate 30,000 copies of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's "Two Virgins" album, saying the cover photo of the nude John and Yoko is "pornographic." In Chicago, vice squad officers close down a record shop for displaying the cover.
● 1970 - African nationalist guerrillas based in Zambia stage their first infiltration raid on white-ruled Rhodesia since mid-1968. They are routed by Rhodesian security forces. But, in 1972, guerrillas of one faction, the Zimbabwean African National Union, infiltrates the country with much greater success, and maintain an insurgent war that ousts Ian Smith's white regime in 1979.
● 1983 - CiTV launches on ITV in the UK.
● 1983 - Times Beach, Missouri, declared disaster area due to dioxin contamination.
● 1988 - Margaret Thatcher becomes the longest-serving British Prime Minister in the 20th Century.
● 1990 - Former leader of Panama Manuel Noriega surrenders to American forces.
● 1993 - In Moscow, George H. W. Bush and Boris Yeltsin sign the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START II).
● 1994 - An Aeroflot Tupolev TU-154 crashes and explodes after takeoff from Irkutsk, Russia, killing 125 people including one on the ground.
● 1995 - Cease-fire agreement between government and Tamil rebels in Sri Lanka.
● 1997 - The People's Republic of China announces it will spend $27.7 billion to fight erosion and pollution in the Yangtze and Yellow river valleys.
● 1999 - Israel detains, later to expel, 14 members of Concerned Christians.
● 1999 - The Mars Polar Lander launches.
● 2000 - Festival celebrating unity, national reconciliation, and peace. Angkor, Cambodia.
● 2000 - In Amador Hernandez, Chiapas, the "Zapatista Air Force" bombards the Mexican Army's barracks with paper airplanes to protest the army's incursion into indigenous villages and communities.
● 2004 - Flight 604, a Boeing 737 owned by Flash Airlines, an Egyptian airliner, plunges into the Red Sea, killing all 148 people aboard.
● 2007 - National Express has its worst ever coach crash just outside Heathrow Airport when it was travelling to Glasgow.
BIRTHS
● 106 B.C.E. - Cicero, Roman statesman and philosopher (d. 43 B.C.E.)
● 1196 - Emperor Tsuchimikado of Japan (d. 1231)
● 1710 - Richard Gridley, American Revolutionary soldier (d. 1796)
● 1719 - Francisco José Freire, Portuguese historian (d. 1773)
● 1722 - Fredric Hasselquist, Swedish naturalist (d. 1752)
● 1760 - John Storm, American Revolutionary soldier (d. 1835)
● 1778 - Antoni Melchior Fijałkowski, Polish bishop (d. 1861)
● 1793 - Lucretia Mott, American women's rights activist (d. 1880)
● 1802 - Charles Pelham Villiers, British House of Commons member (d. 1898)
● 1803 - Douglas William Jerrold, British playwright (d. 1857)
● 1810 - Antoine Thomson d'Abbadie, French geographer (d. 1897)
● 1836 - Sakamoto Ryoma, Japanese revolutionary (d. 1867)
● 1840 - Father Damien, Flemish missionary (d. 1889)
● 1855 - Hubert Bland, English socialist (d. 1914)
● 1865 - Henry Lytton, British actor and opera singer (d. 1936)
● 1870 - Henry Handel Richardson, Australian author (d. 1946)
● 1876 - Wilhelm Pieck, first President of East Germany (d. 1960)
● 1879 - Grace Coolidge, First Lady of the United States (d. 1957)
● 1883 - Clement Attlee, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1967)
● 1886 - Josephine Hull, American actress (d. 1957)
● 1887 - August Macke, German painter (d. 1914)
● 1892 - J. R. R. Tolkien, British writer (d. 1973)
● 1894 - ZaSu Pitts, American actress (d. 1963)
● 1895 - Hudson Fysh, Australian aviator and businessman (d. 1974)
● 1897 - Marion Davies, American actress (d. 1961)
● 1898 - Carlos Keller, Chilean fascist politician (d. 1974)
● 1901 - Ngô Đình Diệm, President of South Vietnam (d. 1963)
● 1905 - Ray Milland, Welsh actor (d. 1986)
● 1905 - Anna May Wong, American actress (d. 1961)
● 1909 - Victor Borge, Danish entertainer (d. 2000)
● 1910 - Frenchy Bordagaray, American baseball player (d. 2000)
● 1911 - John Sturges, American director (d. 1982)
● 1912 - Renaude Lapointe, Canadian journalist and senator (d. 2002)
● 1912 - Armand Lohikoski, Finnish director (d. 2005)
● 1916 - Maxene Andrews, American singer (The Andrews Sisters) (d. 1995)
● 1916 - Betty Furness, American actress (d. 1994)
● 1917 - Roger W. Straus, Jr., American publisher (d. 2004)
● 1920 - Renato Carosone, Italian musician (d. 2001)
● 1921 - John Russell, American actor (d. 1991)
● 1922 - Bill Travers, English actor and director (d. 1994)
● 1923 - Hank Stram, American football coach (d. 2005)
● 1924 - Doug Ellis, British entrepreneur
● 1924 - André Franquin, Belgian cartoonist (Gaston Lagaffe) (d. 1997)
● 1924 - Nell Rankin, American singer (d. 2005)
● 1926 - George Martin, British producer
● 1929 - Sergio Leone, Italian director (d. 1989)
● 1929 - Ernst Mahle, Brazilian composer
● 1930 - Marcel Dubé, Quebec playwright
● 1930 - Robert Loggia, American actor
● 1932 - Dabney Coleman, American actor
● 1932 - Coo Coo Marlin, American race car driver (d. 2005)
● 1935 - Raymond Garneau, French Canadian politician and businessman
● 1937 - Seri Wangnaitham, Thai dancer and choreographer (d. 2007)
● 1939 - Nikos Alefantos, Greek football manager
● 1939 - Bobby Hull, Canadian hockey player
● 1941 - Van Dyke Parks, American musician
● 1942 - John Thaw, British actor (d. 2002)
● 1944 - David Atherton, English conductor
● 1945 - Stephen Stills, American musician
● 1946 - John Paul Jones, British musician (Led Zeppelin)
● 1946 - Cissy King, American entertainer
● 1949 - Sylvia Likens, American torture victim (d. 1965)
● 1950 - Victoria Principal, American actress
● 1954 - Dean Hart, Canadian wrestler (d. 1990)
● 1954 - Ned Lamont, American businessman
● 1954 - Jim Ross, American wrestling announcer
● 1955 - Palmolive, English musician (The Slits, The Raincoats)
● 1956 - Mel Gibson, Australian actor
● 1956 - Willy T. Ribbs, American race car driver
● 1957 - Bojan Križај, Slovenian skier
● 1958 - Shim Hyung-rae, South Korean filmmaker
● 1959 - Rafael Arráiz Lucca Venezuelan writer
● 1960 - Sandeep Marwah Founder of Film City, Noida, India
● 1962 - Francesca Lia Block, American author
● 1963 - Vic Grimes, American professional wrestler
● 1963 - Jerome Young, American professional wrestler
● 1964 - Bruce LaBruce, Canadian film-maker
● 1966 - Martin Galway, Northern Ireland composer
● 1969 - Michael Schumacher, German race car driver
● 1970 - Mahaya Petrosian, Iranian actress
● 1971 - Cory Cross, Canadian ice hockey player
● 1972 - Yoon Chan, South Korean actor
● 1972 - Nichole Nordeman, American singer
● 1974 - Alessandro Petacchi, Italian cyclist
● 1975 - Thomas Bangalter, French DJ (Daft Punk)
● 1975 - Jason Marsden, American actor
● 1975 - Danica McKellar, American actress
● 1976 - Angelos Basinas, Greek footballer
● 1976 - Dinara Drukarova, Russian actress
● 1976 - Nicholas Gonzalez, American actor
● 1977 - Lee Bowyer, English footballer
● 1977 - A.J. Burnett, American baseball player
● 1977 - Mayumi Iizuka, Japanese voice actress (seiyū)
● 1977 - Michelle Stephenson, English singer (The Spice Girls)
● 1978 - Kimberley Locke, American singer
● 1978 - Park Sol-mi, South Korean actress
● 1978 - Dominic Wood, English children's television presenter and magician
● 1978 - Mike York, American ice hockey player
● 1979 - Francesco Bellissimo, Italian mangaka
● 1980 - Rob Arnold, American guitarist (Chimaira)
● 1980 - Liya Kebede, Ethiopian model
● 1980 - Angela Ruggiero, American ice hockey player
● 1980 - David Tyree, American football player
● 1981 - Eli Manning, American football player
● 1985 - John David Booty, American football player
● 1986 - Jacob Timpano, Australian soccer player
● 1986 - Lloyd Polite, R&B Singer
● 1987 - Anchal Joseph, Indian-American fashion model and reality show contestant
● 1989 - Alex D. Linz, American actor
DEATHS
● 1098 - Walkelin, first Norman bishop of Winchester (b. unknown)
● 1322 - King Philip V of France (b. 1293)
● 1437 - Catherine of Valois, wife of Henry V of England (b. 1401)
● 1543 - Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, Portuguese explorer (b. 1499)
● 1641 - Jeremiah Horrocks, English astronomer (b. 1618)
● 1656 - Mathieu Molé, French statesman (b. 1584)
● 1670 - George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, English soldier (b. 1608)
● 1690 - Hillel ben Naphtali Zevi, Lithuanian rabbi (b. 1615)
● 1743 - Ferdinando Galli-Bibiena, Italian architect and designer (b. 1657)
● 1779 - Claude Bourgelat, French veterinary surgeon (b. 1712)
● 1785 - Baldassare Galuppi, Italian composer (b. 1706)
● 1795 - Josiah Wedgwood, English potter (b. 1730)
● 1826 - Louis Gabriel Suchet, French marshal (b. 1770)
● 1875 - Pierre Larousse, French editor (b. 1817)
● 1882 - William Harrison Ainsworth, English novelist (b. 1805)
● 1903 - Alois Hitler, father of Adolf Hilter (b. 1837)
● 1911 - Alexandros Papadiamantis, Greek author (b. 1851)
● 1915 - James Elroy Flecker, English author (b. 1884)
● 1916 - Grenville M. Dodge, American Civil War Union Army Major General (b. 1831)
● 1923 - Jaroslav Hasek, Czech novelist (b. 1883)
● 1927 - Carle David Tolmé Runge, German physicist (b. 1856)
● 1931 - Joseph Joffre, French general (b. 1852)
● 1933 - Wilhelm Cuno, 6th Chancellor of the Weimar Republic (Germany) (b. 1876)
● 1933 - Jack Pickford, Canadian actor (b. 1896)
● 1944 - Jurgis Baltrušaitis, Lithuanian poet (b. 1873)
● 1945 - Edgar Cayce, American psychic (b. 1877)
● 1945 - Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski, Polish writer (b. 1879)
● 1946 - William Joyce, American Nazi propagandist (executed) (b. 1906)
● 1950 - Emil Jannings, Swiss actor (b. 1884)
● 1956 - Alexander Gretchaninov, Russian composer (b. 1864)
● 1956 - Joseph Wirth, 5th Chancellor of the Weimar Republic (Germany) (b. 1876)
● 1963 - Jack Carson, Canadian actor (b. 1910)
● 1967 - Mary Garden, Scottish singer (b. 1874)
● 1967 - Jack Ruby, American killer of Lee Harvey Oswald (b. 1911)
● 1969 - Jean Focas, Greco-French astronomer (b. 1909)
● 1969 - Howard McNear, American actor (b. 1905)
● 1974 - Gino Cervi, Italian actor (b. 1901)
● 1979 - Conrad Hilton, American hotelier (b. 1887)
● 1980 - Joy Adamson, Czech conservationist (b. 1910)
● 1980 - Lucien Buysse, Belgian cyclist (b. 1892)
● 1981 - Princess Alice of Albany (b. 1883)
● 1988 - Rose Ausländer, German poet (b. 1901)
● 1988 - Joie Chitwood, American racedriver & Daredevil (b. 1912)
● 1989 - Sergei Lvovich Sobolev, Russian mathematician (b. 1909)
● 1992 - Dame Judith Anderson, Australian actress (b. 1897)
● 1993 - Johnny Most, American sports announcer (b. 1923)
● 2002 - Juan García Esquivel, Mexican band leader (b. 1918)
● 2002 - Freddy Heineken, Dutch beer executive (b. 1923)
● 2003 - Sid Gillman, American football coach (b. 1911)
● 2004 - Leon Wagner, American baseball player (b. 1934)
● 2005 - Koo Chen-fu, Chinese negotiator (b. 1917)
● 2005 - JN Dixit, Indian government official (b. 1936)
● 2005 - Will Eisner, American comic book artist (b. 1917)
● 2006 - Steve Rogers, Australian rugby league footballer (b. 1954)
● 2006 - Bill Skate, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea (b. 1954)
● 2007 - Janos Furst, Hungarian-born orchestral conductor (b. 1935)
● 2007 - Earl Reibel, Canadian ice hockey forward Detroit Red Wings (b. 1930)
● 2007 - William Verity Jr., United States Secretary of Commerce 1987-1989 (b. 1917)
● 2007 - Sir Cecil Walker, Ulster Unionist Member of Parliament for North Belfast 1983–2001 (b. 1924)
● 2007 - Michael Yeats, Irish Fianna Fáil senator 1961–1981 and son of W.B. Yeats (b. 1921)
HOLIDAYS AND OBSERVANCES
● Roman Catholic:
● St. Bertilia
● St. Blitmund
● St. Cyrinus
● St. Daniel
● St. Finlugh
● St. Fintan
● St. Florentius of Vienne
● St. Genevieve
● St. Narses
● Sts. Theopemptus and Theonas
● St. Wenog
● Sts. Zosimus & Athanasius
● Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar for December 21 (Civil Date: January 3)
● Nativity Fast.
● Forefeast of the Nativity of Christ.
● Virgin Martyr Juliana of Nicomedia, and with her 500 men and 130 women.
● Repose of St. Peter, Metropolitan of All Russia.
● Martyr Theomistocles of Myra in Lycia.
● St. Juliana, princess of Vyazma.
● Blessed Procopius of Vyatka, fool for Christ.
● St. Paisius Velichkovsky.
● Repose of Schemamonk Michael of Harbin (1939).
● Blessed Peter "the Nose" of Kama (1938?).
● Roman Empire - Festival in honour of Pax
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
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