Friday, the 9th of December of 2016, is the 344th day of the year; with 23 days remaining.
65% of the waxing moon may be visible through scattered cloud cover and rain showers, rising at 2:02pm
Tides at the Golden Gate:
- Low: 12:17am/1:39pm
- High: 7:13am/8:02pm
Special International Celebrations today…
Constitution Day - Northern Marianas
Independence Day – Tanzania
It’s also…
National Pastry Day
National Handwashing Awareness Week
On this day in…
1625 - The Treaty of the Hague was signed by England and the Netherlands. The agreement was to subsidize Christian IV of Denmark in his campaign in Germany.
1783 - The first executions at Newgate Prison took place.
1793 - "The American Minerva" was published for the first time. It was the first daily newspaper in New York City and was founded by Noah Webster.
1803 - The 12th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed by the U.S. Congress. With the amendment Electors were directed to vote for a President and for a Vice-President rather than for two choices for President.
1848 - American author and creator of "Uncle Remus and Brer Rabbit," Joel Chandler Harris was born.
1854 - Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem, "The Charge of the Light Brigade," was published in England.
1879 - Thomas Edison organized the Edison Ore Milling Company.
1884 - Levant M. Richardson received a patent for the ball-bearing roller skate.
1892 - In London, "Widowers' Houses," George Bernard Shaw's first play, opened at the Royalty Theater.
1907 - Christmas Seals went on sale for the first time, in the Wilmington, DE, post office.
1926 - The United States Golf Association legalized the use of steel-shafted golf clubs.
1914 - The Edison Phonograph Works was destroyed by fire.
1917 - Turkish troops surrendered Jerusalem to British troops led by Viscount Allenby.
1940 - During World War II, British troops opened their first major offensive in North Africa.
1940 - The Longines Watch Company signed for the first FM radio advertising contract with experimental station W2XOR in New York City.
1941 - China declared war on Japan, Germany and Italy.
1942 - The Aram Khachaturian ballet "Gayane" was first performed by the Kirov Ballet.
1955 - Sugar Ray Robinson knocked out Carl Olson and regained his world middleweight boxing title.
1958 - In Indianapolis, IN, Robert H.W. Welch Jr. and 11 other men met to form the anti-Communist John Birch Society.
1960 - Sperry Rand Corporation unveiled a new computer known as "Univac 1107."
1960 - The first episode of "Coronation Street" was screened on ITV.
1962 - "Lawrence of Arabia" by David Lean had its world premiere in London.
1965 – “A Charlie Brown Christmas” premiered on CBS-TV.
1965 - Nikolai V. Podgorny replaced Anastas I. Mikoyan as president of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet.
1975 - U.S. President Gerald R. Ford signed a $2.3 billion seasonal loan authorization to prevent New York City from having to default.
1978 - The first game of the Women's Pro Basketball League (WBL) was played between the Chicago Hustle and the Milwaukee Does.
1983 - NATO foreign ministers called on the Soviet Union to join in a "comprehensive political dialogue" to ease tensions in the world.
1985 - In Argentina, five former military junta members received sentences in prison for their roles in the "dirty war" in which nearly 9,000 people had "disappeared."
1987 - West Bank Palestinians launched an intifada (uprising) against Israeli occupation.
1987 - In the Gaza Strip, an Israeli patrol attacked the Jabliya refugee camp.
1990 - Lech Walesa won Poland's first direct presidential election in the country's history.
1990 - Slobodan Milosovic was elected president in Serbia's first free elections in 50 years.
1990 - The first American hostages to be released by Iran began arriving in the U.S.
1991 - European Community leaders agreed to begin using a single currency in 1999.
1992 - Britain's Prince Charles and Princess Diana announced their separation.
1992 - Clair George, former CIA spy chief, was convicted of lying to the U.S. Congress about the Iran-Contra affair. U.S. President George H.W. Bush later pardoned George.
1992 - U.S. troops arrived in Mogadishu, Somalia, to oversee delivery of international food aid, in operation 'Restore Hope'.
1993 - The U.S. Air Force destroyed the first of 500 Minuteman II missile silos that were marked for elimination under an arms control treaty.
1993 - Astronauts aboard the space shuttle Endeavor completed repairs to the Hubble Space Telescope.
1993 - At Princeton University in New Jersey, scientists produced a controlled fusion reaction equivalent to 3 million watts.
1994 - Representatives of the Irish Republican Army and the British government opened peace talks in Northern Ireland.
1996 - UN Secretary General Boutros-Ghali approved a deal allowing Iraq to resume its exports of oil and easing the UN trade embargo imposed on Iraq in 1990.
1999 - The U.S. announced that it was expelling a Russian diplomat that had been caught gathering information with an eavesdropping device at the U.S. State Department.
2002 - United Airlines filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after losing $4 billion in the previous two years. It was the sixth largest bankruptcy filing.
2003 - In Australia, thieves broke into a home and stole two 300-year-old etchings by Rembrandt. The 4-by-4-inch etchings, a self-portait and a depiction of the artist's mother, were valued around $518,000.
2013 - AMR Corporation and US Airways Group completed a merger and was listed on the NASDAQ as American Airlines Group, Inc.
Today’s birthday celebrants include (or included)
- John Milton 1608- Poet
- Peter Joseph von Lindpaintner 1791 (composer)
- Charles-Emile Waldteufel 1837 (composer)
- Joaquin Turina 1882 (composer)
- Clarence Birdseye 1886
- Emmett Kelly 1898
- Margaret Hamilton 1902
- Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. 1909
- Kirk Douglas 1916 - Actor - HAPPY 100th, KIRK!
- Redd Foxx 1922
- Dina Merrill 1925
- Dick Van Patten 1928- Actor ("Eight is Enough")
- Buck Henry 1930- Actor, writer
- Morton Downey Jr. 1933
- Judi Dench 1934- Actress
- Junior Wells 1934
- Deacon Jones 1938- Football player
- Dan Hicks 1941
- Beau Bridges 1941- Actor
- Dick Butkus 1942- Football player
- Rick Danko 1943 - Musician (The Band)
- George Baker 1944
- Michael Nouri 1945- Actor
- Tom Kite 1949- Golfer
- Joan Armatrading 1950- Singer
- Michael Dorn 1952- Actor
- John Malkovich 1953- Actor
- Sylvia 1956- Singer
- Donny Osmond 1957- Singer
- Nick Seymour 1958- Musician (Crowded House)
- Mario Cantone 1949- Comedian
- Joe Lando 1961- Actor
- Felicity Huffman 1962- Actress ("Desperate Housewives")
- Kat Bjelland 1963 - (Babes In Toyland)
- Jerry Hughes 1965- Musician
- Thomas Flowers (Oleander) 1967- Musician (Yankee Grey)
- Brian Bell 1968- Musician (Weezer)
- Jakob Dylan 1969- Musician (Wallflowers)
- Brian Hayes 1969- Musician
- Allison Smith 1969- Actress
- David Kersh 1970- Singer
- Tre Cool 1972- Musician (Green Day)
- Canibus 1974- Rapper
- Eric Zamora 1976- Musician (Save Ferris)
- Imogen Heap 1977 - Singer
- Jesse Metcalfe 1978 - Actor
- Simon Helberg 1980 - Actor ("The Big Bang Theory")
