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Almanac - Wednesday 12/18/19

stuck on you Magnus with a sink plunger. Tenuous Link- stuck? By flickr user DurhamDundee

Today is Wear-A-Plunger-On-Your-Head Day!

Today is Wednesday December 18, 2019...

It is the 352nd day of the year.

13 days remain until the end of the year, and the decade.

3 days until winter begins

Winter solstice 2019 in Northern Hemisphere will be at 8:19 PM on Saturday, December 21

76 days until California primaries

Tuesday March 3, 2020

(2 months and 14 days from today)

321 days until presidential elections

Tuesday November 3, 2020

(10 months and 16 days from today)

The sun rises at 7:20 am

and sunset will be at 4:54 pm.

We will have 9 hours and 34 minutes of daylight, today.

The solar transit will be at 12:07 pm.

The first high tide was at 4:58 am 

and the next high tide at 4:02 pm.

The first low tide will be at 10:28 am 

and the next low tide at 10:26 pm.

The Moon is 57.4% visible

A Waning Gibbous

Moon Direction:176.00° S↑

Moon Altitude:61.02°

Moon Distance:230083 mi

Next New Moon: Christmas Day Wednesday December 25, 2019 at 9:13 pm

Next Full Moon: Friday January 10, 2020 at 11:21 am

Next Moonset: Today at 12:23 pm

Today is…

Answer the Phone Like Buddy the Elf Day

Bake Cookies Day

Flake Appreciation Day

International Migrants Day

National Ham Salad Day

National Roast Suckling Pig Day

National Twin Day

National Wear a Plunger on Your Head Day

Today is also…

International Migrants Day

National Day in Qatar

Republic Day in Niger

UN Arabic Language Day

On this day in history….

1271 – Kublai Khan renames his empire "Yuan" (元 yuán), officially marking the start of the Yuan dynasty of Mongolia and China.

1787 – New Jersey becomes the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1865 – US Secretary of State William Seward proclaims the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment, prohibiting slavery throughout the USA.

1892 – Premiere performance of The Nutcracker by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

1958 – Project SCORE, the world's first communications satellite, is launched.

1966 – Saturn's moon Epimetheus is discovered by astronomer Richard Walker.

2002 – California gubernatorial recall: Then Governor of California Gray Davis announces that the state would face a record budget deficit of $35 billion, roughly double the figure reported during his reelection campaign one month earlier.

2006 – United Arab Emirates holds its first-ever elections.

…and if today is your birthday, Happy Birthday To You!  You share this special day with…

1800 – James Watney, English brewer and businessman (d. 1884)

1863 – Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (d. 1914)

1878 – Joseph Stalin, Georgian-Russian marshal and politician, 4th Premier of the Soviet Union (d. 1953)

1879 – Paul Klee, Swiss-German painter and educator (d. 1940)

1886 – Ty Cobb, American baseball player and manager (d. 1961)

1888 – Gladys Cooper, English actress and singer (d. 1971)

1888 – Robert Moses, American urban planner (d. 1981)

1890 – Edwin Howard Armstrong, American engineer, invented FM radio (d. 1954)

1897 – Fletcher Henderson, American pianist and composer (d. 1952)

1912 – Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., American general and pilot (d. 2002)

1913 – Willy Brandt, German politician, 4th Chancellor of GermanyNobel Prize laureate (d. 1992)

1916 – Betty Grable, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 1973)

1917 – Ossie Davis, American actor and activist (d. 2005)

1927 – Ramsey Clark, American lawyer and politician, 66th United States Attorney General

1928 – Harold Land, American tenor saxophonist (d. 2001)

1933 – Lonnie Brooks, American blues singer and guitarist (d. 2017)

1935 – Jacques Pépin, French-American chef and author

1943 – Keith Richards, English singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer

1946 – Steve Biko, South African activist, founded the Black Consciousness Movement (d. 1977)

1946 – Steven Spielberg, American director, producer, and screenwriter, co-founded DreamWorks

1950 – Leonard Maltin, American historian, author, and critic

1963 – Brad Pitt, American actor and producer

1970 – DMX, American rapper and actor

1980 – Christina Aguilera, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress

2001 – Billie Eilish, American pop singer