°°°What happened today?°°°

[Supafly]

30. November

1786 – Peter Leopold Joseph of Habsburg-Lorraine, Grand Duke of Tuscany, promulgates a penal reform making his country the first state to abolish the death penalty. Consequently, November 30 is commemorated by 300 cities around the world as Cities for Life Day.

1872 – The first-ever international football match takes place at Hamilton Crescent, Glasgow, between Scotland and England.

1886 – The Folies Bergère stages its first revue.

1934 – The steam locomotive Flying Scotsman becomes the first to officially exceed 100mph.

1936 – In London, the Crystal Palace is destroyed by fire.

1947 – 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine begins on this day, leading up to the creation of the state of Israel.

1982 – Michael Jackson's Thriller, the best-selling album of all time, is released.

1998 – Exxon and Mobil sign a $73.7 billion USD agreement to merge, thus creating Exxon-Mobil, the world's largest company.

2005 – John Sentamu becomes the first black archbishop in the Church of England with his enthronement as the 97th Archbishop of York.

Birthdays

1667 – Jonathan Swift, Irish writer and satirist (d. 1745)

1835 – Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), American writer (d. 1910)

1874 – Sir Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Nobel laureate (d. 1965)

1926 – Richard Crenna, American actor (d. 2003)

1929 – Dick Clark, American television host

1937 – Ridley Scott, British film director

1955 – Billy Idol (born William Michael Albert Broad), British musician

1960 – Gary Lineker, English footballer

1977 – Kazumi Saito, Japanese baseball player

Deceased

1900 – Oscar Wilde, Irish writer (b. 1854)

2007 – Evel Knievel, American motorcycle daredevil (b. 1938)

Andrés Bonifacio Day (the Philippines)

Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Barbados from the United Kingdom in 1966.

Independence Day, celebrates the independence of South Yemen from the United Kingdom in 1967.

 

[Rane1071]

December 1st

1640
Portugal becomes independent of Spain.

1835
Hans Christian Andersen published his first book of fairy tales.

1913
Ford Motor Co. began using a new movable assembly line that ushered in the era of mass production.

1925
The Locarno Pact finalized the treaties between World War I protagonists.

1952
In Denmark, it was announced that the first successful sex-change operation had been performed.

1959
12 countries, including the U.S. and USSR, signed a treaty that set aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, which would be free from military activity.

1987
NASA announced four companies had been given contracts to help build a space station. The companies were Boeing Aerospace, G. E.'s Astro-Space Division, McDonnell Douglas Aeronautics, and Rocketdyne Division of Rockwell International.

1990
British and French workers digging the Channel Tunnel finally met under the English Channel.

1998
Exxon announced that it was buying Mobil for $73.7 billion creating the largest company in the world to date.




Silly Quote of The Day


"Ladies are requested not to have children at the bar."
Sign in a Norwegian cocktail lounge.


Quick Fact of the Day

If you flip a coin ten times, the odds against its coming up with the same side showing each time are 1,023 to 1.


Quick Article of the Day


The Achaemenid Empire,
At its height, the Achaemenid Empire reached from Macedonia to northern India and from the Caucasus Mountains to the Persian Gulf. It derives its name from Achaemenes, who is thought to have lived in the early 7th century BCE. Its greatest rulers were Cyrus II, who established the Persian Empire and from whose reign it is dated; Darius I, who secured the borders from external threats; and Xerxes I, who completed many of Darius's public works.

 

[larss]

1761
Birth of Madame Marie Tussaud (Grosholz), Swiss-born French waxworks modeller. During the French Revolution she made death masks from the severed heads of the famous. In 1800, separated from her husband, she toured Britain with her waxworks, eventually setting up a permanent exhibition in London.

 

[Supafly]

2. December

1409 – The University of Leipzig opens.

1804 – At Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte crowns himself Emperor of the French, the first French Emperor in a thousand years.

1908 – Child Emperor Pu Yi ascends the Chinese throne at the age of two

1927 – Following 19 years of Ford Model T production, the Ford Motor Company unveils the Ford Model A as its new automobile.

1942 – Manhattan Project: A team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.

1956 – The Granma yacht reaches the shores of Cuba's Oriente province and Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and 80 other members of the 26th of July Movement disembark to initiate the Cuban Revolution.

1971 – Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah, Sharjah, Dubai, and Umm Al Quwain form the United Arab Emirates.

1988 – Benazir Bhutto is sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of an Islam-dominated state.

Birthdays

1923 – Maria Callas, Greek soprano (d. 1977)

1924 – Alexander Haig, American Soldier & Civil servant, 7th Supreme Allied Commander Europe, 5th White House Chief of Staff and 59th United States Secretary of State (d. 2010)

1946 – Gianni Versace, Italian fashion designer (d. 1997)

1960 – Nicholas Dingley alias Razzle, British drummer (Hanoi Rocks) (d. 1984)

1960 – Rick Savage, British bassist (Def Leppard)

1968 – Lucy Liu, American actress

1968 – Nate Mendel, American bassist (Foo Fighters)

1973 – Monica Seles, Yugoslavian-born tennis player

1973 – Jan Ullrich, German cyclist

1981 – Britney Spears, American singer, dancer and entertainer

National Day, celebrates the independence of United Arab Emirates from United Kingdom in 1971.

World Thread Bump Day, where users bump old threads from the past.

From the FreeOnes 'What's New' page:

Abby Bright, Alicia Hall, Amy Starz, Ashley Marie, Brianna StJames, Chandler Steele, Cher Tenbush, Daniela Ruah, Harley Spencer, Hitomi Kitagawa, Holly Hollywood, Isabella Soprano, Kat, Kitty Langdon, Kristyl Jade, Lucie Hodanova, Lucie Horinkova, Luisa Corna, Michelle Banzer, Monica Seles, Nelly Furtado, Regan Anthony, Reina Leone, Reneé Tenison, Rin Tomosaki, Sarah Vandella, Sharry Konopski, Tania Amazon, Vicky Vance, Yoko Miyamoto, Yvonne Catterfeld

 

[Rane1071]

December 7th


1431
In Paris, Henry VI of England was crowned King of France.

1732
The original Covent Garden Theatre Royal (now the Royal Opera House) was opened.

1926
The gas operated refrigerator was patented by The Electrolux Servel Corporation.

1941
Pearl Harbor, located on the Hawaiian island of Oahu was attacked by nearly 200 Japanese warplanes. The attack resulted in the U.S. entering into World War II.

1972
Apollo 17 was launched at Cape Canaveral. It was the last U.S. moon mission.

1982
Charlie Brooks Junior, a convicted murderer, became the first prisoner in the U.S. to be executed by injection, at a prison in Huntsville, TX.

1995
A probe sent from the Galileo spacecraft entered into Jupiter's atmosphere. The probe sent back data to the mothership before it was presumably destroyed.

1996
The space shuttle Columbia returned from the longest-ever shuttle flight of 17 days, 15 hours and 54 minutes.



Silly Quote of The Day


"And Mansell comes into the pits, he's quite literally sweating his eyeballs out."
UK Sports coverage on TV.


Quick Fact of the Day


Currently, 70% of U.S. businesses do NOT have a website.


Quick Article of the Day


The Boxer Rebellion,
The Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901) was a popularly supported uprising of Chinese peasants against foreigners at a time when, during an economic depression, China was being forced to grant concessions to Western powers. The Righteous Fists of Harmony, or Boxers, opposed the political, economic, and religious encroachment of Westerners and killed thousands of Chinese Christians and Westerners before an international force quelled the attacks.

 

[Supafly]

9. December

1851 – The first YMCA in North America is established in Montreal, Quebec.

1897 – Activist Marguerite Durand founds the feminist daily newspaper, La Fronde, in Paris.

1946 – The Constituent Assembly of India meets for the first time to write the Constitution of India.

1981 – Philadelphia Police Department officer Daniel Faulkner is killed during a routine traffic stop; Mumia Abu-Jamal is later convicted for it and he goes on to become "perhaps the world's best known death-row inmate" before his sentence is commuted to life without parole in December 2011.

> http://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...ith-decision/2011/12/08/gIQA3QkdfO_story.html

2008 – The Governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, is arrested by federal officials for a number of alleged crimes including attempting to sell the United States Senate seat being vacated by President-elect Barack Obama's election to the Presidency.

> http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/09/us/what-blagojevichs-sentence-says-about-corruption-and-greed.html

Birthdays

1909 – Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., American actor (d. 2000)

1915 – Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, German-born soprano (d. 2006)

1916 – Kirk Douglas, American actor

1950 – Joan Armatrading, St. Kitts-born English singer-songwriter

1953 – John Malkovich, American actor

1957 – Donny Osmond, American singer and actor

1964 – Hape Kerkeling, German actor, TV presenter and comedian
1964 – Johannes B. Kerner, German TV presenter
1964 – Paul Landers, German guitarist (Rammstein)

International Anti-Corruption Day (International)

 

[Rane1071]

December 9th


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.

1854
Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem, "The Charge of the Light Brigade," was published in England.

1917
Turkish troops surrendered Jerusalem to British troops led by Viscount Allenby.

1926
The United States Golf Association legalized the use of steel-shafted golf clubs.

1940
The Longines Watch Company signed for the first FM radio advertising contract with experimental station W2XOR in New York City.

1955
Sugar Ray Robinson knocked out Carl Olson and regained his world middleweight boxing title.

1960
Sperry Rand Corporation unveiled a new computer, known as "Univac 1107."

1962
"Lawrence of Arabia," by David Lean had its world premiere in London.

1978
Pioneer Venus 2 drops 5 probes into the atmosphere of Venus.

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
U.S. President Clinton fired Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders after learning that she had told a conference that masturbation should be discussed in school as a part of human sexuality.



Silly Quote of The Day


"You can't just let nature run wild."
Wally Hickel, former Alaska governor.


Quick Fact of the Day


The word 'set' has more definitions than any other word in the English language.


Quick Article of the Day


Anger,
Derived from an Old Norse word meaning "sorrow," anger is an emotion whose merits have been debated by philosophers and scientists alike since antiquity. Galen and Seneca, for example, regarded anger as a kind of madness and saw value in controlling it. Marcus Aurelius viewed it as a sign of weakness. Aristotle, however, believed anger to be useful for preventing injustice because it arises from perceived injustice.

 

[Supafly]

10. December

1684 – Isaac Newton's derivation of Kepler's laws from his theory of gravity, contained in the paper De motu corporum in gyrum, is read to the Royal Society by Edmund Halley.

1884 – Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is published for the first time.

1901 – The first Nobel Prizes are awarded.

1927 – The phrase "Grand Ole Opry" is used for the first time on-air.

1965 – The Grateful Dead's first concert performance under this new name.

1978 – Arab-Israeli conflict: Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin and President of Egypt Anwar Sadat are jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Birthdays

1878 – Rajaji, India's freedom fighter and the first Governor General of independent India (d. 1972)

1948 – Abu Abbas, founder of the Palestine Liberation Front (d. 2004)

1956 – Rod Blagojevich, 40th Governor of Illinois

1957 – Paul Hardcastle, English composer and musician

1960 – Kenneth Branagh, Northern Irish actor and director

1985 – Raven-Symoné, American actress and singer

Constitution Day (Thailand)
Human Rights Day (International)
Petra's Birthday (FreeOnes)

 

[Rane1071]

December 11th


1719
The first "recorded" sighting of the Aurora Borealis was in New England.

1769
Edward Beran of London patented venetian blinds.

1792
France's King Louis XVI went before the Convention, which had replaced the National Assembly, to face charges of treason. He was convicted and condemned and was sent to the guillotine the following January.

1844
Dr. Horace Wells became the first person to have a tooth extracted after receiving an anesthetic for the dental procedure. Nitrous Oxide, or laughing gas, was the anesthetic.

1894
The world's first motor show opened in Paris with nine exhibitors.

1936
Britain's King Edward VIII abdicated in order to marry American Wallis Warfield Simpson. He became the Duke of Windsor.

1946
The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) was established by the U.N. General Assembly. The fund provides relief to children in countries devastated by war.

1961
The first direct American military support for South Vietnam occurred when a U.S. aircraft carrier carrying Army helicopters arrived in Saigon.

1991
Salman Rushdie, under an Islamic death sentence for blasphemy, made his first public appearance since 1989 in New York, at a dinner marking the 200th anniversary of the First Amendment (which guarantees freedom of speech in the U.S.).

1998
The Mars Climate Orbiter blasted off on a nine-month journey to the Red Planet. However, the probe disappeared in September of 1999, apparently destroyed because scientists had failed to convert English measures to metric values.

2001
Federal agents seized computers in 27 U.S. cities as part of "Operation Buccaneer." The raids were used to gain evidence against an international software piracy ring.




Silly Quote of The Day


"If you give a person a fish, they'll fish for a day. But if you train a person to fish, they'll fish for a lifetime."
Dan Quayle, former U.S. Vice President.



Quick Fact of the Day


The venom of a small scorpion is much more toxic than the venom of a large scorpion.



Quick Article of the Day


The 'Ormulum',
Written in about 1180 by an Augustinian canon of Lincolnshire named Ormin, the Ormulum is a collection of homilies on the Gospels consisting of almost 19,000 lines of Middle English verse. Because Ormin uses his own system of spelling to indicate the proper pronunciation of his words, the Ormulum is invaluable to philologists studying Middle English phonology and tracing the development of English through the Norman conquests.

 

[Supafly]

12. December

1098 – First Crusade: Massacre of Ma'arrat al-Numan – Crusaders breach the town's walls and massacre about 20,000 inhabitants. After finding themselves with insufficient food, they resort to cannibalism.

1897 – Belo Horizonte, the first planned city in Brazil, is founded.

1935 – Lebensborn Project, a Nazi reproduction program, is founded by Heinrich Himmler.

2000 – The United States Supreme Court releases its decision in Bush v. Gore

Birthdays

1893 – Edward G. Robinson, American actor (d. 1973)

1900 – Sammy Davis, Sr., American dancer (d. 1988)

1915 – Frank Sinatra, American singer and actor (d. 1998)

1940 – Dionne Warwick, American singer

1957 – Sheila E., American musician

1976 – Dan Hawkins, English guitarist (The Darkness)

Jamhuri Day, celebrate the independence of Kenya from Britain in 1963. (Kenya)

 

[Rane1071]

December 12th


1792
In Vienna, 22-year-old Ludwig van Beethoven received one of his first lessons in music composition from Franz Joseph Haydn.

1800
Washington, DC, was established as the capital of the United States.

1805
Henry Wells was born in Thetford, VT. He was one of the founders of the American Express Company and he teamed up with William Fargo to form the Wells Fargo Company.

1896
Guglielmo Marconi gave the first public demonstration of radio at Toynbee Hall, London.

1915
The first all-metal aircraft, the German Junkers J1, made its first flight.

1937
Japanese aircraft sank the U.S. gunboat Panay on China's Yangtze River. Japan apologized for the attack, and paid $2.2 million in reparations.

1951
The U.S. Navy Department announced that the world's first nuclear powered submarine would become the sixth ship to bear the name Nautilus.

1994
IBM stopped shipments of personal computers with Intel's flawed Pentium chip.

1997
The U.S. Justice Department ordered Microsoft to sell its Internet browser separately from its Windows operating system to prevent it from building a monopoly of Web access programs.

2001
In [NOBABE]Beverly Hills[/NOBABE], CA, actress Winona Ryder was arrested at Saks Fifth Avenue for shoplifting and possessing pharmaceutical drugs without a prescription. The numerous items of clothing and hair accessories were valued at $4,760.




Silly Quote of The Day


"I've never had major knee surgery on any other part of my body."
Winston Bennett, University of Kentucky basketball forward.



Quick Fact of the Day


Coca-Cola was the first soft drink to be consumed in outer space.



Quick Article of the Day


Ocher,
Among the earliest pigments used by mankind, ocher has a yellow-orange to orange-red color and is made of varying proportions of iron oxide and clay. The world's first known works of art, found in South Africa's Blombos Cave and dated to 75,000 years ago, consist of ocher pieces engraved with abstract designs, and Cro-Magnon artists living about 10,000 to 40,000 years ago used ocher in their cave paintings.

 

[Supafly]

14. December

1751 – The Theresian Military Academy is founded as the first Military Academy in the world.

1782 – The Montgolfier brothers' first balloon lifts off on its first test flight.

1903 – The Wright brothers make their first attempt to fly with the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

1911 – Roald Amundsen's team, comprising himself, Olav Bjaaland, Helmer Hanssen, Sverre Hassel, and Oscar Wisting, becomes the first to reach the South Pole.

1946 – The United Nations General Assembly votes to establish its headquarters in New York City.

 

[Roald]

14. December
...
1911 – Roald Amundsen's team, comprising himself, Olav Bjaaland, Helmer Hanssen, Sverre Hassel, and Oscar Wisting, becomes the first to reach the South Pole.
....

and I thought I was named after the writer, Roald Dahl. Must be this guy since he's as cool as me...you know southpole and all....ah fuck it.

Great thread!

 

[Supafly]

and I thought I was named after the writer, Roald Dahl. Must be this guy since he's as cool as me...you know southpole and all....ah fuck it.

Great thread!

I forgot... It's Aletta Ocean's birthday!

http://photos.freeones.com/a_babes/Aletta_Ocean_008/

 

[Supafly]

18. December

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

1777 – The United States celebrates its first Thanksgiving, marking the recent victory by the Americans over General John Burgoyne in the Battle of Saratoga in October.

1916 – World War I: The Battle of Verdun ends when German forces under Chief of Staff Erich Von Falkenhayn are defeated by the French and British, and suffer 337,000 casualties.

1956 – Japan joins the United Nations.

1972 – Vietnam War: President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will engage North Vietnam in Operation Linebacker II, a series of Christmas bombings, after peace talks collapsed with North Vietnam on the 13th.

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

Birthdays

1778 – Joseph Grimaldi, English clown (d. 1837)

1878 – Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union (d. 1953)

1913 – Willy Brandt, Chancellor of Germany, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1992)

1939 – Michael Moorcock, English author

1943 – Keith Richards, English guitarist (The Rolling Stones)

1946 – Steve Biko, South African anti-apartheid activist (d. 1977)
1946 – Steven Spielberg, American film director

1963 – Brad Pitt, American actor

1964 – Stone Cold Steve Austin, American professional wrestler

1970 – DMX, American rapper and actor

1975 – Trish Stratus, Canadian professional wrestler

1980 – Christina Aguilera, American singer

International Migrants Day (International)
Qatar National Day (Qatar)
New Jersey Day (New Jersey)

 

[Rane1071]

December 18th


1796
The "Monitor" of Baltimore, MD, was published as the first Sunday newspaper.

1849
William Bond obtains the 1st photograph of the Moon through a telescope.

1862
The first orthopedic hospital was organized in New York City. It was called the Hospital for Ruptured and Crippled.

1903
The Panama Canal Zone was acquired 'in perpetuity' by the U.S. for an annual rent.

1912
The discovery of the Piltdown Man in East Sussex was announced. It was proved to be a hoax in 1953.

1950
NATO foreign ministers approved plans to defend Western Europe, including the use of nuclear weapons, if necessary.

1953
WPTZ, in Philadelphia, PA, presented a Felso commercial, it was the first color telecast seen on a local station.

1979
The sound barrier was broken on land for the first time by Stanley Barrett when he drove at 739.6 mph.

2009
A Paris court ruled that Google was breaking French law with its policy of digitizing books and fined the company a $14,300-a-day fine until it rids its search engine of the literary extracts.

2010
James Cameron's movie "Avatar" was released in the United States. On January 26, the movie became the highest-grossing film worldwide.



Silly Quote of The Day


"I don't diet. I just don't eat as much as I'd like to."
Linda Evangelista, Supermodel.



Quick Fact of the Day


There are 10 towns named Hollywood in the United States.



Quick Article of the Day



Sparta,
also known as Lacedaemon, was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the banks of the River Eurotas in Laconia, in the south-eastern Peloponnese. It emerged as a political entity around the 10th century BC, when the invading Dorians subjugated the local, non-Dorian population. From 650 BC it rose to become the dominant military land-power in ancient Greece. Given its military pre-eminence, Sparta was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the Greco-Persian Wars.

 

[Supafly]

18. December

1777 – The United States celebrates its first Thanksgiving, marking the recent victory by the Americans over General John Burgoyne in the Battle of Saratoga in October.

1944 – World War II: 77 B-29 Superfortress and 200 other aircraft of U.S. Fourteenth Air Force bomb Hankow, China, a Japanese supply base.

1996 – The Oakland, California school board passes a resolution officially declaring "Ebonics" a language or dialect.

1997 – HTML 4.0 is published by the World Wide Web Consortium.

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

Birthdays

1778 – Joseph Grimaldi, English clown (d. 1837)

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

1878 – Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union (d. 1953)

1913 – Willy Brandt, Chancellor of Germany, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1992)

1939 – Michael Moorcock, English author

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzKlb1PI3MU

1943 – Keith Richards, English guitarist (The Rolling Stones)

1946 – Steven Spielberg, American film director

1963 – Brad Pitt, American actor

1964 – Stone Cold Steve Austin, American professional wrestler

1970 – DMX, American rapper and actor

1980 – Christina Aguilera, American singer

New Jersey Day (New Jersey)

 

[Rane1071]

December 20th


1606
The "Susan Constant," "Godspeed" and "Discovery" set sail from London. Their landing at Jamestown, VA, was the start of the first permanent English settlement in America.

1803
The United States Senate ratified a treaty that included the Louisiana Territories from France for $15 million. The transfer was completed with formal ceremonies in New Orleans.

1820
The state of Missouri enacted legislation to tax bachelors between the ages of 21-50 for being unmarried. The tax was $1 a year.

1879
Thomas A. Edison privately demonstrated his incandescent light at Menlo Park, NJ.

1892
Alexander T. Brown and George Stillman patented the pneumatic tire.

1938
Vladimir Kosma Zworykin patented the iconoscope television system.

1963
The Berlin Wall was opened for the first time to West Berliners. It was only for the holiday season. It closed again on January 6, 1964.

1987
More than 3,000 people were killed when the Dona Paz, a Philippine passenger ship, collided with the tanker Vector off Mindoro island, setting off a double explosion.

1998
In Houston, TX, a 27-year-old woman gave birth to the only known living set of octuplets.

1999
Sovereignty over the colony of Macao was transferred from Portugal to China.

2001
The U.S. Congress passed a $20 billion package to finance the war against terrorism taking place in Afghanistan.




Silly Quote of The Day


"You mean they've scheduled Yom Kippur opposite Charlie's Angels?"
Fred Silverman, TV programmer, when told that Yom Kippur would fall on a Wednesday.


Quick Fact of the Day



All of the Earth's continents are wider at the north than in the south - and nobody knows why.


Quick Article of the Day


The Missorium of Theodosius I,
The Missorium of Theodosius I is a silver ceremonial dish that is 29 in (79 cm) across and weighs about 34 lb (15 kg). It was probably made in Constantinople in 388 CE to commemorate the rule of Theodosius I, the last Roman emperor to rule both the Eastern and Western Empires. The ornate dish is one of the best surviving examples of late antique imperial imagery and features Theodosius flanked by his co-emperors, an iconography that was later adopted by Western Christianity.

 

[Supafly]

21. December

1620 – Plymouth Colony: William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims land on what is now known as Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

1883 – The first Permanent Force cavalry and infantry regiments of the Canadian Army are formed: The Royal Canadian Dragoons and The Royal Canadian Regiment.

1937 – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the world's first full-length animated feature, premieres at the Carthay Circle Theater.

1969 – The Gay Activists Alliance is formed in New York City.

1995 – The city of Bethlehem passes from Israeli to Palestinian control.

Birthdays:

1915 – Werner von Trapp, member of the Trapp Family Singers (d. 2007)

1917 – Heinrich Böll, German writer and Nobel laureate (d. 1985)

1937 – Jane Fonda, American actress

1940 – Frank Zappa, American musician (d. 1993)

1947 – Paco de Lucía, Spanish musician

1948 – Samuel L. Jackson, American actor

1965 – Andy Dick, American actor and comedian

1965 – Anke Engelke, German comedian

Forefathers' Day (Plymouth, Massachusetts)
The first day of Pancha Ganapati, celebrated until December 25 (India)

 

[Supafly]

24. December

563 – The Byzantine church Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is dedicated for the second time after being destroyed by earthquakes.

1777 – Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is discovered by James Cook

1865 – The Ku Klux Klan is formed.

1914 – World War I: The "Christmas truce" begins.

1951 – Libya becomes independent from Italy. Idris I is proclaimed King of Libya.

1955 – NORAD Tracks Santa for the first time in what will become an annual Christmas Eve tradition.

http://www.noradsanta.org/en/

1968 – Apollo Program: The crew of Apollo 8 enters into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so. They performed 10 lunar orbits and broadcast live TV pictures that became the famous Christmas Eve Broadcast, one of the most watched programs in history.

1980 – Witnesses report the first of several sightings of unexplained lights near RAF Woodbridge, in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, England, an incident called "Britain's Roswell".

Birthdays

1837 – Elisabeth of Bavaria, also known as Sissi, Empress of Austria (d. 1898)

1905 – Howard Hughes, American film producer and inventor (d. 1976)

1923 – George Patton IV, American general (d. 2004)

1945 – Lemmy, British singer, bassist (Motörhead)

1946 – Jan Akkerman, Dutch guitarist, Focus

1957 – Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan

1971 – Ricky Martin, Puerto Rican singer

Feast of the Seven Fishes (Italy)