The earliest event that Wiki says happened on this day is “1294 – Saint Celestine V resigns the papacy after only five months; Celestine hoped to return to his previous life as an ascetic hermit” and the most recent is “2006 – The Baiji, or Chinese River Dolphin, is announced as extinct.”

A few other things that also took place on this day are:

1636 – Three militia regiments are organized by the Massachusetts Bay Colony. This is now considered the founding of the US National Guard.

1981 – Martial law is declared in Poland in an effort to crack down on the Solidarity labor movement.

2003 – US military forces capture Saddam Hussein, who was hiding in a hole.

Happy birthday to Taylor Swift, Morris Day, Steve Buscemi, Steve Forbert, Jeff Baxter, Herman Cain, Dick Van Dyke, and George Shultz.

The earliest event that Wiki says happened on this day is “627 – Battle of Nineveh: A Byzantine army under Emperor Heraclius defeats Emperor Khosrau II’s Persian forces, commanded by General Rhahzadh” and the most recent is “2005 – Gebran Tueni, Lebanese journalist and politician, is assassinated.”

A few other things that also took place on this day are:

1957 – With the management explaining “it’s not in the spirit we associate with Christmas”, a DJ on a radio station in Portland is fired for playing Elvis Presley’s version of White Christmas.

1966 – US Supreme Courts rules that the Braves baseball team can legally move to Atlanta from Milwaukee.

1970 – The Doors play a show at the Warehouse in New Orleans. It will be their last live performance with Jim Morrison.

1980 – Copyright law in the US is changed to also include computer programs.

Happy birthday to Mayim Bialik, Hank Williams III, Sheila E, Dickey Betts, Dionne Warwick, and Bob Barker.

“Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.”

It was on this day in 1968 that the Rolling Stones put on a rock and roll circus. The event was filmed before an invited audience on a stage designed to look like a circus big top. Other musical acts included The Who, Jethro Tull, Marianne Faithfull, Taj Mahal, and a “supergroup” made up of John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Mitch Mitchell, and Yoko Ono. Even tho the show started in the early afternoon, delays and equipment malfunctions resulted in the Stones not performing their set until 5am the next morning. Originally intended to be broadcast on BBC, the band decided to not do so due to their lack-luster performance. Some of the footage was later used in a documentary about The Who, and an album & video of most of the show was released in 1996.

The earliest event that Wiki says happened on this day is “361 – Julian the Apostate enters Constantinople as sole Emperor of the Roman Empire” and the most recent is “2010 – Two explosions occur in a busy shopping district of Stockholm, Sweden, killing one and injuring two others. Officials say the incident is being treated as a terrorist attack.”

A few other things that also occurred on this day are:

1936 – The King of England gives up his throne in order to marry a divorced American woman.

1971 – The US Libertarian Party is formed.

2006 – The president of Mexico orders the military to put a stop to the drug cartel violence in the state of Michoacan, officially beginning what is now called the Mexican Drug War.

Happy birthday to David Schools, Nikki Sixx, Brenda Lee, and Teri Garr.

Two songs that has the word “pirouettes” in the lyrics? I dunno why, it just happens that way sometimes.

(Yes, I know that it is kind of a cop-out to post a video of something that shows nothing…but I “heart* that song from Buffy and can’t find a decent live version of it anywhere. Hopefully Peter riding a bicycle on stage makes up for the lack of visual stimulation on the other video.)

It was on this day in 1898 that Spain and the US delegates in Paris finalized the treaty that would officially end the Spanish-American War. As a result of the negotiations Cuba became an independent country while the US gained control of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. There was much controversy in the Senate during the vote for ratification, with one lawmaker stating “This Treaty will make us a vulgar, commonplace empire -controlling subject races and vassal states, in which one class must forever rule and other classes must forever obey.” It passed the Senate by only one vote.

The earliest event that Wiki says happened on this day is “1041 – The adopted son of Empress Zoe of Byzantium succeeds to the throne of the Eastern Roman Empire as Michael V” and the most recent is “1994 – Rwandan Genocide: Military advisor to the United Nations Secretary-General and head of the Military Division of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations of the United Nations Maurice Baril recommends that the UN multi-national forces in Zaire stand down.”

A few other things that also took place on this day are:

1884 – Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is published.

1955 – First broadcast of The Mighty Mouse Playhouse on television.

2001 – World premiere of the movie “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.”

Happy birthday to Susan Dey.

It was on this evening in 1965 that a giant fireball was seen in the sky above the midwest and eastern part of the United States. Hot metal debris fell over parts of Michigan and Ohio, and sonic booms were heard in Pennsylvania. Eyewitness claim that they saw an acorn-shaped object about the size of a large Volkswagen (with writing similar to Egyptian hieroglyphics written on it) land in a patch of woods Kecksburg PA, spewing blue smoke and making unusual noises. The US Army quickly arrived on the scene and hauled the object away on a flat-bed truck. The military has yet to give an official explanation in regards to the incident.

The earliest event that Wiki says happened on this day is “730 – Battle of Marj Ardabil: the Khazars annihilate an Umayyad army and kill its commander, al-Djarrah ibn Abdullah” and the most recent is “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.”

A few other things that also occurred on this day are:

1793 – Noah Webster establishes the first daily newspaper in New York City.

1958 – The John Birch Society is formed.

1965 – Premiere broadcast of “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”

1967 – Jim Morrison, while performing with The Doors in New Haven CT, is arrested onstage for disorderly conduct.

1992 – US Marines arrive in Somalia as part of Operation Restore Hope.

Happy birthday to Toby Huss, David Anthony Higgins, Donny Osmond, John Malkovich, Michael Dorn, Dennis Dunaway, Beau Bridges, and Kirk Douglas.

It was shortly after noon on this day in 1941 when Pres Franklin D Roosevelt went before Congress and asked for a declaration of war.  The President’s 10-minute speech, which started out by stating “Yesterday, December 7, 1941 – a date which will live in infamy – the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan” and ended with “So help us God”, was also broadcast to the nation via radio. Members of Congress responded with loud applause and the stamping of feet, and less than an hour later his request was passed with only one dissenting vote. As a tribute to the lives lost at Pearl Harbor, FDR wore a black armband while signing the declaration.

The earliest event that Wiki says happened on this day is “1432 – The first battle between the forces of Švitrigaila and Sigismund Kęstutaitis is fought near the town of Oszmiana (Ashmyany), launching the most active phase of the Lithuanian Civil War” and the most recent is “2010 – With the second launch of the SpaceX Dragon, SpaceX becomes the first privately held company to successfully launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft.”

A few other things that also took place on this day are:

1886 – 25 unions band together and form the American Federation of Labor.

1961 – First single by the Beach Boys is released.

1993 – Pres Clinton signs the North American Free Trade Agreement into law.

Happy birthday to Ian Somerhalder, Sinead O’Connor, Phil Collen, Kim Basinger, and Gregg Allman.

It was on this day in 1963 that first authorized* use of instant replay was used during a live sports television broadcast. The Army-Navy football game was being televised on CBS, and the director had built a machine (which weighed over 1/2 a ton) in order to re-broadcast captured footage. However, it experienced several technical difficulties and was only used on one play, a touchdown by Army which was re-shown at the original speed. (With the announcer emphasizing that the team did not score again.) It would be another four years before a machine capable of doing a “freeze-frame” would start to be used in the broadcast booths.

*In 1950 an engineer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation used a process to re-play hockey goals right after they were scored, but he didn’t have permission from the network nor the advertiser to do so and it wasn’t attempted again.

The earliest event that Wiki says happened on this day is “43 BC – Marcus Tullius Cicero is assassinated” and the most recent is “2007 – The Hebei Spirit oil spill begins in South Korea after a crane barge that had broken free from a tug collides with the Very Large Crude Carrier, Hebei Spirit.”

A few other things that also took place on this day are:

1787 – Delaware ratifies the US Constitution, the first state to do so.

1941 – Japanese fleet launches a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.

1972 – Apollo 17, the last mission to the moon, launches into space.

Happy birthday to C. Thomas Howell.

It was on this day in 1969 that four people died during a free concert at the Altamont Speedway in California. One man, Meredith Hunter, was stabbed by a member of the Hell’s Angels (who were providing security for the event) while The Rolling Stones played onstage. Two other people were killed from a hit&run accident and one drowned in a canal. Coincidentally, four babies were born during the festival. Other bands that also played include Jefferson Airplane, Santana, The Flying Burrito Brothers and Crosby Stills Nash & Young. The Grateful Dead were scheduled to play, but refused to go onstage after hearing about one of the members of Jefferson Airplane being knocked unconscious (while on-stage and performing) by the security team.

The earliest event that Wiki says happened on this day is “1060 – Béla I of Hungary is crowned king of Hungary” and the most recent is “2008 – The 2008 Greek riots break out upon the murder of a 15-year-old boy, Alexandros Grigoropoulos, by a police officer.”

A few other things that also occurred on this day are:

1768 – Encyclopedia Britannica is first published.

1849 – Harriet Tubman escapes from her slave owner.

1865 – Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution is ratified, making slavery illegal.

1964 – “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer” is first broadcast on TV.

Happy birthday to Steven Wright and Tom Hulce.