| Rhea is the largest airless satellite of Saturn. It is an icy body with a density of 1.33 gm/cm3. The low density indicates that it is composed of a rocky core taking up less than one-third of the moon's mass, with the rest composed of water-ice. |  |
Close this window | |
| The Crisis is a collection of articles written by Thomas Paine during the American Revolutionary War. In the first "American Crisis" essay, in which he wrote, "These are the times that try men's souls." Paine wrote "Common Sense", an extremely popular and successful pamphlet arguing for Independence from England. |  |
Close this window | |
| In his early 30s, Arnold gave up his successful commercial pursuits to enter the military service of America's Revolutionary Army. He was a brilliant strategist and covered himself with battlefield glory at Ticonderoga, Quebec, and Saratoga. A national hero, Arnold was put in command of the Philadelphia area in 1778 by George Washington. Arnold was charged with issuing a military pass to Robert Shewell, a businessman of alleged Tory sympathies; of closing Philadelphia shops to the public, while buying from them for himself; of imposing menial chores on the sons of free men; and of using State wagons to transport private property. |
 |
Close this window |
| Washington disbanded his army and, on November 2, gave an eloquent farewell address to his soldiers. A few days later, the British evacuated New York City, and Washington and the governor took possession of the city; at Fraunces Tavern in the city on December 4, he formally bade his officers farewell. On December 23, 1783, Washington resigned his commission as commander-in-chief to the Congress of the Confederation. |
 |
Close this window |
| “He had a broad face and a little round belly, that shook when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.” These words were published for the first time on this day in the Troy (N.Y.) "Record" (now the "Sentinel"). The poem we know as “The Night Before Christmas” or "A Visit from St. Nicholas" by Clement C. Moore, was published anonymously under the newspaper editor’s title, "Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas". |  |
Close this window | |
| Hansom Cabs were low, two-wheeled, closed carriages patented in 1834, whose distinctive feature
was the elevated driver's seat in the rear. It was entered from the front through a folding door and had one seat
above the axle with room for two passengers. The driver spoke to the passengers through a trapdoor on top. Though named for its original designer, Joseph Hansom, the cab was redesigned and patented by John Chapman in 1836, after which it became the most popular cab in London. |
 |
Close this window |
| A key feature of the Edison dynamo was its large bipolar magnets, which gave the generator its nickname, the "long-legged Mary-Ann". In arriving at this design, Edison drew in part on Michael Faraday's half-century-old work regarding the electromagnetic generation of current by a conductor (the armature) moving through the magnetic lines of force generated by a field magnet. |  |
Close this window | |
| Van Gogh became enthusiastic for the idea of founding an artists' co-operative at Arles and towards the end of the year he was joined by Gauguin. But as a result of a quarrel between them van Gogh cut off his left ear (or part of it), an event commemorated in his "Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear." |  |
Close this window | |
| Engelbert Humperdinck wrote Hansel and Gretel. In the 1890s, his sister, Adelheid Wette, had written a libretto based on the Grimm fairy tale, and asked her brother to set it to music as a Christmas entertainment for her children. Later, Engelbert and Adelheid decided to turn this modest home project into a full-scale opera. Hansel and Gretel premiered on December 23, 1893 at Weimar. It was an instant hit and remains an everlasting masterpiece. The composer Richard Strauss, who was the assistant conductor for the premiere, called it "a masterwork of the first rank." |
 |
Close this window |
| In 1907, the first U.S. all-steel passenger railroad coach was completed in Altoona, Pa. by the Pennsylvania Railroad Co. in its shop at Altoona, Pa. A previous design built there (1902-03) had a steel underframe and superstructure, a composite roof, and wooden window frames and sills. |
Close this window |
| The Keystone Kops was a series of silent film comedies featuring an incompetent group of policemen produced by Mack Sennett for his Keystone Film Company between 1912 and 1917. Their first film was “Hoffmeyer's Legacy” (1912) but their popularity came from the 1913 feature “The Bangville Police.” However as early as 1914 they were being pushed out by Sennett in favor of comedians like Charlie Chaplin and Fatty Arbuckle. |
 |
Close this window |
| The Nile had to be controlled if there was to be agricultural stability along its banks. Harnessing the power of the Nile would also yield the hydroelectric power necessary for industry. The British began construction of the first dam in 1899 and it was completed in 1902. A gravity dam, it was 1,900 m long and 54 m high. The initial design was soon found to be inadequate and the height of the dam was raised in two phases, 19071912 and 19291933. |
 |
Close this window |
| The Federal Reserve Act provided for the establishment of Federal reserve banks, to furnish an elastic currency, to afford means of rediscounting commercial paper, to establish a more effective supervision of banking in the United States, and for other purposes. |
Close this window |
| In August 1916, Congress authorized the construction of the hospital ship the U.S.S. Relief. It was launched in 1919 and delivered to the navy in December 1920. |  |
Close this window | |
| On 14 November 1922 the BBC went on the air from 2LO a transmitting station atop the Selfridge building in Oxford Street, London. A day later it was joined on air by 2ZY in Manchester and 51T in Birmingham. By the following October all eight of the planned stations were in operation, each producing its own programmes, and about half the population could pick up a signal strong enough to operate a crystal set. It was licensed by the British Government through its General Post Office which had original control of the airwaves because they had been interpreted under law as an extension of the Post Office services. |
Close this window |
| NBC was formed July 7, 1926, owned by RCA, GE , Westinghouse, leased telephone lines from AT&T, bought WEAF from AT&T for its "red" network of popular music to complement "blue" network from WJZ and the Pacific network, for a total of 48 affiliate stations; sold "sustaining" programs to affiliates and broadcast "sponsored" programs produced by advertisers such as American Tobacco Co. In January 1928 NBC produced a 47-station coast-to-coast program The Dodge Victory Hour with Al Jolson in New Orleans, Fred Stone in Chicago and Paul Whiteman in New York and Will Rogers from his home in Beverly Hills. |
Close this window |
| Her Broadway debut in 1929 was in "Broken Dishes" and she also appeared in "Solid South." Late in 1930 she was hired by Universal. When she arrived in Hollywood, the studio representative who went to meet her train left without her because he could find no one who looked like a movie star. |  |
Close this window | |
| Considered to be the first superstar of hockey, Howie Morenz (1902-1937) electrified crowds with his speed and hockey skills. He added to his legendary status when he died of complications from a broken leg sustained during a game at the Montreal Forum in 1937. |  |
Close this window | |
| Margaret Hamilton experienced some very severe injuries during the Munchkinland scene when it was time for The Wicked Witch of the West to disappear. Basically what happened was during the fourth shoot of this scene, the smoke and flames came too quickly causing her hat and broomstraw to catch fire. As a result, Margaret Hamilton suffered several burns about the face and a very bad burn to her hand. This was made even worse by the fact that she was wearing green makeup which contained copper oxide. On December 23, 1938, Margaret Hamilton left the studio and didn't return for six weeks |
 |
Close this window |
| Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch from the novel by Alice Hegan Rice. The program was about life in a Kentucky shanty town. It had been on the air for three years. |  |
Close this window | |
| It was the first of his many famous Christmas shows for American armed forces around the world. En route to Anchorage on a USO tour, the Air Force Lockheed Lodestar carrying Hope iced up at 14,000 feet and lost an engine. The radio went out, and the plane landed with the aid of a single beam from a searchlight at Elmendorf Air Force Base. Hope's quip, 50 years later: "I had a laundry problem, I don't mind telling you." |
 |
Close this window |
| WRGB was named after GE engineer Dr. W.R.G. Baker. It was not named, as many have thought over the years, for red, blue and green, the three primary colors of a TV picture tube. Humperdinck’s "Hansel and Gretel" was the opera presented. |
Close this window |
| In 1947, the transistor was first demonstrated by Walter H. Brattain and Bardeen to their higher-ups at Bell Laboratories. A microphone and headphones were connected to the transistor, and the device was actually spoken over "with no noticeable change in quality" as Brattain wrote in his notes about that day. The name transistor came from its electrical property known as trans-resistance. The original device, which the researchers first had working on Dec 16, 1947 was a point-contact version, which was later improved by William Schockley as a junction transistor. The inventors shared the 1956 Nobel prize in physics for their work. The transistor replaced the bulkier vacuum tube, and was referred to as the electronic engineer's dream. |
 |
Close this window |
| Her first hit, "Confess," made her the first pop artist to overdub harmony vocals onto her own lead. After a few more successes, Page gained her first million-seller in 1950 for "With My Eyes Wide Open I'm Dreaming," which cashed in on the novelty effect of overdubbing (the added touch came with listing it as "the Patti Page Quartet"). Also in 1950, "All My Love" became her first number one hit and spent several weeks at the top. That same year produced the biggest hit of her career, "The Tennessee Waltz." Notched at number one for months, it eventually became one of the best-selling singles of all time and prompted no less than six Top 40 covers during the following year. |
 |
Close this window |
| Dumont paid $75,000 for the rights as Los Angeles Rams beat Cleveland Browns 24-17 in the NFL championship game. On September 22, the first live sporting event seen coast-to-coast, a college football game between Duke and the University of Pittsburgh, was televised on NBC. |
Close this window |
| As Dodger second baseman in 1953, Gilliam set a league rookie record with 100 walks, led the NL with 17 triples, scored a career-high 125 runs, and was named Rookie of the Year. He also switch-hit homers in the 1953 World Series. |  |
Close this window | |
| The Jules Verne story of adventure under the sea was Walt Disney's magnificent debut into live-action films. A professor (Paul Lukas) seeks the truth about a legendary sea monster in the years just after the Civil War. When his ship is sunk, he, his aide (Peter Lorre), and a harpoon master (Kirk Douglas) survive to discover that the monster is actually a metal submarine run by Captain Nemo (James Mason). |
 |
Close this window |
| The original title was "Mbube," which means "lion." It was a hunting song originally sung in Zulu in what is now Swaziland. Influential disc jockey Murray the K pushed "Tina," but once a New England DJ started playing the B-side on the air, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" started its climb to the #1 position, hitting the top of the charts in the Christmas holidays of 1961-62. |  |
Close this window | |
| The captured Brigade members remained in captivity for 20 months, as the United States negotiated a deal with Fidel Castro. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy made personal pleas to pharmaceutical companies and baby-food manufacturers, and Castro eventually settled on 53 million dollars worth of baby food and drugs. On December 23, 1962, just two months after the resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis, a plane containing the first batch of freed prisoners landed in the US. |
Close this window |
| Shindig was a prime-time rock music show that featured live performances by the top acts of the early Sixties. It captured some of the finest live performances by the best rock bands and soul performers coming up in the mid sixties, including Diana Ross and the Supremes, Otis Redding, the Beach Boys, and James Brown. |  |
Close this window | |
| "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" was adapted to television in 1966 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as an animated TV special. The special starred Boris Karloff as narrator and Grinch, and (unusual for adaptations) included the actual text of the book in spoken form. |  |
Close this window | |
| "Daydream Believer" was the Monkees' last #1 single before they drifted apart. It was soon knocked out of #1 by The Beatles "Hello Goodbye." A Folk singer named John Stewart wrote this. Stewart was a member of The Kingston Trio from 1961 to 1967. He wrote this shortly after leaving the group and teaming up with John Denver. |  |
Close this window | |
| On January 23, 1968, the USS Pueblo was attacked by North Korean naval vessels and MiG jets. One man was killed and several were wounded. The Eighty-two surviving crew members were captured and held prisoner for 11 months. On December 23rd, 11 months to the day of their capture, the crew of the Pueblo walked, one every 15 seconds, across the Bridge of No Return at Panmumjon. Each man was identified by Cdr. Bucher and greeted by General Charles H. Bonesteel, III. |
 |
Close this window |
| A safe distance away from the S-IVB, the three Apollo 8 crewmen left their couches to take off their pressure suits and met with a surprise - motion sickness. Rapid body movements brought on nausea. Borman suffered the most. There had been a rash of gastroenteritis cases at the Cape just before launch. This "24-hour intestinal flu" might have caused Borman's illness, but there was another possibility. Because it had taken longer to get away from the S-IVB than had been planned, he was late getting to his rest period. To make sure he went to sleep quickly, he had taken a Seconal tablet. During preflight testing of the medical supplies Borman had a slight reaction to this sleep-inducing pill, so he blamed the medication for at least part of his distress. |
Close this window |
| In 1968, American astronauts on Apollo 8 became the first men to orbit the Moon. The three-man crew was Frank Borman (Commander), James A. Lovell, Jr. (Command Module Pilot) and William Anders (Lunar Module Pilot). Not only was this the first manned flight to and from the Moon, but Apollo 8 served to validate many of the technical procedures necessary to support upcoming lunar missions. During ten lunar orbits, the astronauts took star sightings to pinpoint landmarks, surveyed landing sites, took both still and motion pictures and made two television transmissions to Earth. It was also the world's first manned flight to escape the influence of Earth's gravity. |
 |
Close this window |
| Burt Bacharach and Hal David wrote this for the film "Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid," starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. It was the first million-seller for the legendary songwriters. Thomas was recording for Scepter Records, which was also home of Dionne Warwick, who recorded many Bacharach/David hits. She took a copy of Thomas' song "Hooked On A Feeling" to Bacharach, who was working on a score for the film. She convinced him to consider Thomas, and although he was reluctant at first, Burt asked Thomas to sing the main theme. |
 |
Close this window |
| Agatha Christie’s most famous murder mystery focuses on a group of strangers standed during a snowstorm, one of whom is a murderer, staying at Monkswell Manor, a recently-opened boarding house. "The Mousetrap," which opened at the Ambassador Theatre in London in November 1952 and never closed, celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2002 and is still going strong. |  |
Close this window | |
| In 1970, the construction of the World Trade Center in New York City reached 1353 feet high (411 m), its highest point. This was a complex of 7 buildings including twin 110-story towers, with 9 million sq.ft. of office space. The towers' design by architect Minoru Yamasaki used a steel frame with glass curtain walls. Observation decks at the top of the towers gave a view of 45 miles. The building had three vertical zones served by express elevators to skylobbies at the 41st and 74th floors and local elevators within the three zones. |
 |
Close this window |
| The Pittsburgh Steelers snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in one of the NFL's most memorable moments. With a fortunate bounce, Franco Harris found himself on the end of an unlikely reception that changed the outcome of a fantastic defensive struggle with the Oakland Raiders in the first-ever playoff game at Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium. The catch reversed a 7-6 defeat to a 13-7 victory. |  |
Close this window | |
| A hint about this song's subject matter is cleverly "hidden" in its intro: the saxophone is playing the first line from a 1954 Doris Day hit entitled "Secret Love." This was written by Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff and Carey Gilbert. Gamble and Huff formed a famous songwriting team that helped define the Philadelphia Soul sound of the '70s. |  |
Close this window | |
| The Metric Conversion Act of 1975 designated the metric system as the preferred system of weights and measures for US trade and commerce, and directed federal agencies to convert to the metric system, to the extent feasible, including the use of metric in construction of federal facilities. |
Close this window |
| Messersmith is most famous for his role in the historic 1975 Seitz decision which led to the downfall of Major League Baseball's reserve clause and ushered in the current era of free agency. Messersmith and Dave McNally were the only two players in 1975 playing on the one year reserve clause in effect at the time. Neither had signed a contract at the time but both were held with their team under the rule. The two challenged the rule and won their free agency. | |
 |
 |
Close this window | |
| This was #1 in the US for 6 weeks. After a while, they stopped distributing it as a single to encourage people to buy the album. Bernard Rodgers and Nile Edwards wrote this after they were not allowed to enter a nightclub. It was New Year's Eve, 1977, and they were invited to Studio 54, a very popular club in New York City where many celebrities and trendsetters were known to hang out. |
 |
Close this window |
| With a student body of only 850 students, Chaminade beat #1 ranked Virginia 77-72 in a Honolulu holiday basketball classic. Virginia was led by three-time MVP Ralph Sampson. Called “the greatest upset in college basketball history,” the win put host Chaminade on the map nationwide and led to the creation of the Maui Classic. |
Close this window |
| Nuclear winter is a hypothetical global climate condition that is predicted to be a possible outcome of a large-scale nuclear war. It is thought that severely cold weather can be caused by detonating large numbers of nuclear weapons, especially over flammable targets such as cities, where large amounts of smoke and soot would be injected into the Earth's stratosphere. |
Close this window |
| In 1986, the experimental airplane Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, completed the first non-stop, round- the- world flight without refueling which began 14 Dec. It returned safely to Edwards Air Force Base in California after travelling 24,986 miles in 216 hours, at an average speed of 115.8 mph. For nine days they piloted the aircraft from a cramped 7.5-ft tall , 3.3-ft wide and under 3-ft. tall cockpit. Voyager's takeoff weight was more than 10 times the structural weight, but its drag was lower than almost any other powered aircraft. The aircraft's design and light-weight structural materials allowed it to carry an unprecedented amount of fuel. Their flight nearly doubled the previous distance record set in 1962 by a USAF Boeing B-52H. |
 |
Close this window |
| This song addresses the problem of ignoring the needy and homeless. David Crosby of Crosby, Stills, and Nash, sings on this. |  |
Close this window | |
| Owners demanded a salary cap in response to the worsening financial situation in baseball (i.e. keep expenditure down). Ownership claimed that unless teams agreed to share local broadcasting revenues (to increase equity amongst the teams) and enact a salary cap, small-market clubs would fall by the wayside, a proposal that the players adamantly opposed. |
Close this window |
| Jackson's career NBA record stands at 832 wins and 316 losses during the regular season, 171-67 in the playoffs. His winning percentages of .724 and .718, respectively, are both records. |  |
Close this window | |
 |
|||
1672 Giovanni Cassini discovers
Rhea, a satellite of Saturn
More ...
1776 Thomas Paine published his first "American
Crisis" essay
More ...
1779 Benedict Arnold court-martialed for improper
conduct
More ...
1783 Washington resigns his military commission
as US Army's commander-in-chief
More ...
1823“The Night Before Christmas”
published anonymously
More ...
1834 Joseph Hansom of London receives patent for
Hansom cabs
More ...
1879 Thomas Edison patented a magneto-electric
machine
More ...
1888 Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh cuts off his
left ear
More ...
1893 Engelbert Humperdinck opera "Hansel
und Gretel" first performed, in Weimar, Germany
More ...
1907 First all-steel passenger railroad coach
completed, Altoona PA
More ...
1912 First "Keystone Kops" film, titled
"Hoffmeyer's Legacy"
More ...
1912 Aswan Dam in Nile begins operation
More ...
1913 President Woodrow Wilson signs Federal Reserve
Act into law
More ...
1919 First hospital ship built to move wounded
naval personnel launched
More ...
1919 Alice H Parker patents gas heating furnace
1922 BBC Radio began daily newscasts
More ...
1928 NBC sets up a permanent, coast-to-coast radio
network
More ...
1930 Bette Davis arrives in Hollywood under contract
to Universal Studios
More ...
1933 Howie Morenz takes over NHL career goal lead
at 251
More ...
1938 Margaret Hamilton's costume catches fire in
filming of "Wizard of Oz"
More ...
1938 "Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch"
was heard for the final time on the radio
More ...
1942 Bob Hope agreed to entertain U.S. airmen
in Alaska
More ...
1943 First complete opera to be televised
was aired on WRBG in Schenectady, NY
More ...
1946 Highest ridership in NYC subway history (8.8
million passengers)
1947 Transistor invented by Bardeen, Brattain
& Shockley in Bell Labs
More ...
1950 “The Tennessee Waltz" by Patti
Page topped the charts
More ...
1951 First coast-to-coast televised Pro football
game
More ...
1953 Dodgers Jim "Junior"
Gilliam wins NL Rookie of Year
More ...
1954 The classic movie, "20,000 Leagues Under
the Sea", was released
More ...
1962 Cuba starts returning US prisoners from the
Bay of Pigs invasion
More ...
1961 "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" by The
Tokens topped the charts
More ...
1963 Beach Boys first appearance on "Shindig"
More ...
1966 Dr Seuss' "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"
airs for first time on CBS
More ...
1967 "Daydream Believer" by the Monkees
topped the charts
More ...
1968 82 crew members of the U.S. intelligence
ship Pueblo released by North Korea
More ...
1968 Borman, Lovell & Anders become first
men to orbit Moon
More ...
1968 First documented US case of space motion
sickness
More ...
1969 B.J. Thomas earns a gold record for
"Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head"
More ...
1970 7,511th performance of Agatha Christie's
"Mousetrap" (record)
More ...
1970 New York World Trade Center reaches highest
point (411 m)
More ...
1972 "Immaculate Reception" Steelers
top the Raiders
More ...
1972 "Me and Mrs. Jones" by Billy Paul
topped the charts
More ...
1975 Congress passes Metric Conversion Act
More ...
1975 Peter Seitz makes Andy Messersmith &
Dave McNally free agents
More ...
1978 "Le Freak" by Chic topped the charts
More ...
1982 Chaminade beats #1 ranked Virginia 77-72
More ...
1983 Journal Science publishes first report on
nuclear winter
More ...
1986 Voyager traveled around the world without
refueling
More ...
1989 "Another Day in Paradise" by Phil
Collins topped the charts
More ...
1994 Baseball owners impose salary cap, fiercely
opposed by players
More ...
1997 Chicago Bull coach Phil Jackson is quickest
to reach 500 wins (682 games)
More ...
1997 US Agriculture Department estimates it costs
$149,820 to raise a child to 18