THIS DAY IN HISTORY ― DECEMBER 8

December 8 is the 342nd day of the year (343rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 23 days remaining until the end of the year. This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday (58 in 400 years each) than on Sunday or Monday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Wednesday or Friday (56).

PRETEND TO BE A TIME TRAVELER DAY 

1854 – In his Apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus, Pope Pius IX proclaims the dogmatic definition of Immaculate Conception, which holds that the Blessed Virgin Mary was conceived free of Original Sin.

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

1927 – The Brookings Institution, one of the United States' oldest think tanks, is founded through the merger of three organizations that had been created by philanthropist Robert S. Brookings.

1941 – World War II: Japanese forces simultaneously invade Shanghai International Settlement, Malaya, Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and the Dutch East Indies. (See December 7 for the concurrent attack on Pearl Harbor in the Western Hemisphere.)

1953 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers his "Atoms for Peace" speech, which leads to an American program to supply equipment and information on nuclear power to schools, hospitals, and research institutions around the world.

1962 – Workers at four New York City newspapers (this later increases to nine) go on strike for 114 days.

1971 – Indo-Pakistani War: The Indian Navy launches an attack on West Pakistan's port city of Karachi.

1980 – John Lennon is murdered by Mark David Chapman in front of The Dakota in New York City. Lennon disengaged himself from the music business in 1975 to raise his infant son Sean, but re-emerged with Yoko Ono in 1980 with the new album Double Fantasy. He was murdered three weeks after its release.

By 2012, Lennon's solo album sales in the United States exceeded 14 million and, as writer, co-writer, or performer, he is responsible for 25 number-one singles on the US Hot 100 chart. In 2002, a BBC poll on the 100 Greatest Britons voted him eighth and, in 2008, Rolling Stone ranked him the fifth-greatest singer of all time. He was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987, and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, as a member of the Beatles in 1988 and as a solo artist in 1994.

1988 – A United States Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II crashes into an apartment complex in Remscheid, Germany, killing 5 people and injuring 50 others.

1991 – The leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine sign an agreement dissolving the Soviet Union and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States.

2004 – The Cusco Declaration is signed in Cusco, Peru, establishing the South American Community of Nations.

2009 – Bombings in Baghdad, Iraq, kill 127 people and injure 448 others.

2010 – With the second launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 and the first launch of the SpaceX Dragon, SpaceX becomes the first private company to successfully launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft.

2010 – The Japanese solar-sail spacecraft IKAROS passes the planet Venus at a distance of about 80,800 km.

2013 – Riots break out in Singapore after a fatal accident in Little India. About 300 migrant labourers from India were involved in the riot which lasted for around two hours. This was the second riot in post-independence Singapore, and the first in over 40 years since the 1969 race riots.

2019 – Fire in an illegal bag factory kills 43 in Dehli, India.

2020 – U.K. Begins vaccinating for COVID using Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

TODAY'S BIRTHS

65 BC – Horace, Roman soldier and poet (d. 8 BC)

1542 – Mary, Queen of Scots (d. 1587)

1765 – Eli Whitney, American engineer, invented the cotton gin (d. 1825)

1861 – William C. Durant, American businessman, founded General Motors and Chevrolet (d. 1947)

1864 – Camille Claudel, French illustrator and sculptor (d. 1943)

1865 – Jean Sibelius, Finnish violinist and composer (d. 1957)

From Wikipedia and Google, ex as noted.

 THIS DAY IN HISTORY ― DECEMBER 7

December 7 is the 341st day of the year (342nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 24 days remaining until the end of the year. This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday (58 in 400 years each) than on Saturday or Sunday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Tuesday or Thursday (56).

NATIONAL PEARL HARBOR REMEMBRANCE DAY 

FEATURED — 1941 

At 7:55 A.M. Hawaii time, a Japanese dive bomber bearing the red symbol of the Rising Sun of Japan on its wings appears out of the clouds above the island of Oahu. A swarm of 360 Japanese warplanes followed, descending on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in a ferocious assault. The surprise attack struck a critical blow against the U.S. Pacific fleet and drew the United States irrevocably into World War II.

1724 – Tumult of Thorn: Religious unrest was followed by the execution of nine Protestant citizens and the mayor of Thorn (Toruń) by Polish authorities.

1787 – Delaware becomes the first state to ratify the Constitution.

1805 – Having spied the Pacific Ocean for the first time a few weeks earlier, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark cross to the south shore of the Columbia River (near modern-day Portland) and begin building the small fort that would be their winter home.

1877 – Thomas Edison demonstrates his phonograph (gramophone) to the editors of "Scientific American".

1891 – The 52nd U.S. Congress (the first to appropriate $1 billion) holds its first session.

1900 – Max Planck, in his house at Grunewald on the outskirts of Berlin, discovers the law of black body radiation.

1907 – The first Egyptian Nationalist Congress meets under the leadership of Mustafa Kamil Pasha.

1917 – The United States becomes the 13th country to declare war on Germany during World War I.

1965 – Pope Paul VI & Orthodox Patriarch Athenagoras I simultaneously lift mutual excommunications that led to split of 2 churches in 1054.

1965 – In a memorandum to President Lyndon B. Johnson, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara states that U.S. troop strength must be substantially augmented.

1972 – Apollo 17, the final manned lunar landing mission, is launched.

1982 – In Texas, Charles Brooks, Jr. becomes the first person to be executed by lethal injection in the United States.

1987 – Despite protests in Washington concerning Soviet human rights abuses, most Americans get swept up in "Gorbymania" as Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev arrives for his summit with President Ronald Reagan. 

1988 – A 6.9 earthquake strikes in Spitak, Armenia (25,000 killed, 5,000,000 homeless).

1995 – The U.S. space probe Galileo begins orbiting Jupiter.

2014 – Typhoon Hagupit hits the central Phillipines; millions flee for shelter.

20015 – Idtiot Time Magazine readers name Bernie Sander as their "Person of the Year."

2017 – Former U.S. Gyrnastics physician Larry  Nasser is sented to 60 years in prison on child pronogaphy charges.

2018 – Court filings by federal "prosecutors" and Special Counsel Robert Meuller against Michael Cohen APPEAR to implicate President Donald Trump on campaign fraud and Russian dealings. After nearly 4  years, the Mueller report is baseless and it all turns out to have been a set up by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama!

2020 – Most of Leftist California begins second COVID lockown.

TODAY'S BIRTHS

1598 – Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Italian sculptor and painter (d. 1680)

1863 – Richard Warren Sears, American businessman, co-founded Sears (d. 1914)

1873 – Willa Cather, American novelist, short story writer, and poet (d. 1947)

1910 – Louis Prima, American singer-songwriter, trumpet player, and actor (d. 1978)

From Wikipedia and Google, ex as noted.

 THIS DAY IN HISTORY ― DECEMBER 6

December 6 is the 340th day of the year (341st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 25 days remaining until the end of the year. This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Tuesday, Thursday or Sunday (58 in 400 years each) than on Friday or Saturday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Monday or Wednesday (56).  

NATIONAL MICROWAVE OVEN DAY  

1240 — Mongols under Batu Khan occupy and destroy Kiev.


1639 — The first predicted transit of Venus (by Johannes Kepler) is observed by the English astronomers Jeremiah Horrocks and his friend and correspondent William Crabtree.

1790 — The U.S. Congress moves from New York City to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.


1825 — President John Quincey Adams suggests establishment of a national observatory.


1865 — On this day in 1865, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, officially ending the institution of slavery, is ratified with Republicans carrying the day.


1877 — The Washington Post publishes it's first edition.


1884 — On this day in 1884, in Washington, D.C., workers place a nine-inch aluminum pyramid atop a tower of white marble, completing the construction of an impressive monument to the city's namesake and the nation's first president, George Washington.


1917 — At 9:05 a.m., in the harbor of Halifax in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, the most devastating man-made explosion in the pre-atomic age occurs when the Mont Blanc, a French munitions ship, explodes 20 minutes after colliding with another vessel.


1923 — The first U.S. Presidential address is broadcast on radio by President Calvin Coolidge.


1941 — President Roosevelt—convinced on the basis of intelligence reports that the Japanese fleet is headed for Thailand, not the United States—telegrams Emperor Hirohito with the request that "for the sake of humanity," the emperor intervene "to prevent further death and destruction in the world."


1956 — Nelson Mandela and 156 others arrested for political activities in South Africa.

1957 - AFL-CIO votes to expel the Teamsters Union (readmitted in October 1987).

1965 - Pakistan's Islamic Ideology Advisory Committee recommends that Islamic Studies be made a compulsory subject for Muslim students from primary to graduate level.


1969 — In August 1969, the massive, three-day Woodstock Music and Art Fair had proved that hundreds of thousands of young people could gather peacefully even in a seemingly chaotic environment rich with sex, drugs and rock and roll. Four months later, it would become clear that Woodstock owed its success not to the inherent peacefulness of the1960s youth culture, but to the organizational acumen of the event's producers. That idea was proven in the violent, uncontrolled chaos of the disastrous Altamont Speedway Free Festival, held on this day in 1969 in the northern California hills 60 miles east of San Francisco.

1972 — Fighting in South Vietnam intensifies as the secret Paris peace talks resume after a 24-hour break. 


1973 — U.S. Representative Gerald Ford is sworn-in as the first un-elected U.S. Vice President, succeeding Spiro T. Agnew who resigned. 


2006 — NASA reveals photographs taken by the Mars Global Surveyor suggesting the presence of liquid water on Mars.


TODAY'S BIRTHS

1876 – Fred Duesenberg, German-American businessman, co-founded the Duesenberg Automobile & Motors Company (d. 1932)

1898 – Alfred Eisenstaedt, German-American photographer and journalist (d. 1995)

1941 – Richard Speck, American mass murderer (d. 1991)

From Wikipedia and Google, except as noted.

 TODAY'S GIFS

 THIS DAY IN HISTORY ― DECEMBER 5

December 5 is the 339th day of the year (340th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 26 days remaining until the end of the year. This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Monday, Wednesday or Saturday (58 in 400 years each) than on Thursday or Friday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Tuesday or Sunday (56). 

BATHTUB PARTY DAY 

771 — Charlemagne becomes the sole King of the Franks after the death of his brother Carloman.

1349 — 500 Jews of Nuremberg, Germany were massacred during the Black Death riots.

1717 — Blackbeard the pirate ransacks the merchant sloop "Margaret" and keeps her captain, Henry Bostock, prisoner for 8 hours before releasing him. Bostock would later provide the first recorded of Blackbeard's appearance, with specific reference to his "very black beard", providing the source for his name.

1776 — On this day in Williamsburg, Virginia, a group of five students at the College of William and Mary gather at Raleigh's Tavern to found a new fraternity, Phi Beta Kappa.

1792 — George Washington re-elected as President.

1804 — Thomas Jefferson re-elected President and George Clinton Vice President.

1832 — Andrew Jackson re-elected President.



1876 — A fire at the Brooklyn Theater in New York kills nearly 300 people and injures hundreds more on this day in 1876. Some victims perished from a combination of burns and smoke inhalation; others were trampled to death in the general panic that ensued.

1912 — The Triple Alliance among Italy, Austria, and Germany (originally signed in 1882) is renewed for six years, beginning in 1914, a move inspired by instability in the Balkans.

1933 — The 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified, repealing the 18th Amendment and bringing an end to the era of national prohibition of alcohol in America. 


1946 — President Harry Truman creates Committee on Civil Rights by Exec Order #9808.


1955 — American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merge forming the AFLCIO, with George Meany as president.


1964 — The first Medal of Honor awarded to a U.S. serviceman for action in Vietnam is presented to Capt. Roger Donlon of Saugerties, New York, for his heroic action earlier in the year.


1974 — The final episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus airs on BBC.


1978 — In an effort to prop up an unpopular pro-Soviet regime in Afghanistan, the Soviet Union signs a "friendship treaty" with the Afghan government agreeing to provide economic and military assistance. 

 
1978 — Free agent Pete Rose signs 4-year, $32 million contract with Phillies becoming, at the time, the highest paid baseball player in MLB history.


1990 — Salman Rushdie, author of THE SATANIC VERSES, ordered to death by Iran for blasphemy, appears in public for the first time in 2 years.


2008 — O.J. Simpson is sentenced to 33 years in prison for kidnapping and armed robbery


2013 - 52 people are killed and 167 are injured in a militant attack on a defense ministry compound in Sana'a, Yemen.


TODAY'S BIRTHS

1666 – Francesco Scarlatti, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1741)

1782 – Martin Van Buren, American lawyer and politician, 8th President of the United Statem, first president born an American citizen (d. 1862)

1839 – George Armstrong Custer, American general (d. 1876)

1901 – Walt Disney, American animator, director, producer, and screenwriter, co-founded The Walt Disney Company (d. 1966)

1906 – Otto Preminger, Austrian-American actor, director, and producer (d. 1986)

From Wikipedia and Google, except as noted.