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Dec 31, 2017 Week: 51\ Day: 365
86004 Today: H 62° \ L 23°
Average Sky Cover: 20%
Wind ave.: 9mph\Gusts: 20mph
Visibility: 10 mi
Record High: 62°[1945] Record Low: -16°[1911]
Dec Averages: 50°\23°
Dec Records: H: 68° (1950) L: -23° (1990)
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Quote of the Day
The limits of the possible can only be defined
by going beyond them into the impossible.
Arthur C. Clarke
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Observances Today
First Nights
Global Champagne Day Link
Leap Second Time Adjustment Day
Look On The Bright Side Day Link
New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve Banished Words List
New Year's Dishonor List
Universal Hour of Peace Day
World Healing Day Link
World Peace Meditation Day
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Observances This Week
25-31: It's About Time Week
26-1/1: Kwanzaa
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Today’s Significant US Historical Events
Today’s Significant International Historical Events
1400’s
1492 100,000 Jews expelled from Sicily
1500’s
1564 Willem van Orange demands freedom of conscience/religion
1600’s
1600 British East India Company chartered
1687 1st Huguenots depart France to Cape of Good Hope
1695 A window tax is imposed in England, causing many shopkeepers to brick up their windows to avoid the tax.
1700’s
1744 English astronomer James Bradley announces discovery of Earth's nutation motion (wobble)
1775 Battle of Quebec in American Revolutionary War; Americans defeated trying to take British stronghold
1776 Rhode Island establishes wage & price controls to curb inflation: Limit is 70 cents a day for carpenters, 42 cents for tailors
1781 Bank of North America, 1st US bank opens
1800’s
1831 Gramercy Park is deeded to New York City
1841 Alabama becomes 1st state to license dental surgeons
1857 Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa as new capital of Canada
1862 Union ironclad ship "Monitor" sank off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina
1879 Cornerstone laid for Honolulu's Iolani Palace (only royal palace in US)
1890 Ellis Island (NYC) opens as a US immigration depot
1897 Brooklyn's last day as a city, it incorporates into NYC (1/1/1898)
1900’s
1904 First New Year's Eve celebration held in Times Square (then Longacre Square), in New York City
1907 For 1st time a ball drops at Times Square to signal the New Year
1911 Marie Curie receives her 2nd Nobel Prize
1921 Last San Francisco firehorses retired
1945 Ratification of United Nations Charter completed
1946 US President Harry Truman officially proclaims end of WW II
1955 The General Motors Corporation becomes the first U.S. corporation to make over $1 billion USD in a year.
1958 Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista tells his Cabinet he is fleeing the country
1963 Jerry Garcia & Bob Weir played music together for the 1st time
1970 Congress authorizes Eisenhower dollar coin 1977 Ted Bundy escapes from jail in Colorado
1981 CNN Headline News debuts
1984 US leaves UNESCO
1994 This date is skipped altogether in Kiribati as the Phoenix Islands and Line Islands change time zones from UTC-11 to UTC+13 and UTC-10 to UTC+14, respectively.
1997 Microsoft buys Hotmail email service for $400 million and re-launches it as MSN Hotmail
1999 Control of Panama Canal reverts to Panama
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My Rambling Thoughts
Ahhh…the last day of 2017. It has been a good year for me personally with the highlight being a great trip to Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, and Hong Kong. I had no major health problems, no serious problems of any kind. I’m now looking forward to a great 2018.
While everything was good for me, the country has not had such good fortune. Here’s hoping that the politicians remember why they were elected and start working together to help all the people of this great country. That includes all elected officials at the local, state, and national level. I am hoping that all those in power learn quickly that using fear in no way to use their power. I am hoping that they all realize that education of our children is essential for the future of all of us and needs proper funding. I am hoping that empathy and compassion returns to every level of government and to every household in the country. I am hoping that no family has to suffer the loss of a life through gun violence. Here’s hoping for a great 2018 for all in our country.
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Birthdays Today
@- indicates age at death
90’s
@96- Simon Wiesenthal,
Polish/Austrian Nazi hunter (Wiesenthal Center)
(d. 2005)
80’s
@84- Henri Matisse,
French impressionist painter (Odalisque),
born in Le Cateau-Cambresis, France
(d. 1954)
82- Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud,
King of Saudi Arabia (2015-present),
born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
80- Anthony Hopkins,
Welsh actor (Elephant Man, QB VII, Magic, Bounty),
born in Port Talbot, Glamorgan, Wales
70’s
@78- George Marshall,
US Secretary of State (1947-49) who authored the Marshall Plan (Nobel 1953),
born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania
(d. 1959)
@78- Rex Allen,
American actor, singer, and songwriter
auto crash (d. 1999)
@77- Odetta [Odetta Holmes],
American folk singer (Sanctuary), actress and civil rights activist,
born in Birmingham,
heart disease (d. 2008)
74- Ben Kingsley,
English actor (Gandhi, Betrayal),
born in Scarborough, England
71- Diane von Furstenberg,
Belgian-born American fashion designer (wrap dress),
born in Brussels
60’s
@67- [Bonnie Prince] Charles Edward Stuart,
English pretender to throne (Jacobite rebellion),
born in Rome stroke
(d. 1788)
@66- Charles Cornwallis,
1st Marquess Cornwallis, British general and colonial administrator (leading British general in the American War of Independence),
born in London
fever, (d. 1805)
@65- Jacques Cartier,
French explorer who claimed what is now Canada for France,
born in St. Malo, Brittany typhus
(d. 1557)
@63- Donna Summer,
singer (Love to Love You Baby, On the Radio),
born in Boston,
lung cancer (d. 2012)
50’s
59- Bebe Neuwirth,
American actress (Lilith in Cheers, Damn Yankees),
born in Princeton
58- Val Kilmer,
actor (Top Secret, Top Gun, Willow),
born in Los Angeles
@57- Pat Brady [Robert Ellsworth O'Brady],
American actor (The Roy Rodgers Show, Man from Music Mountain),
born in Toledo, Ohio
(d. 1972)
@56- Rosalind Cash,
American actress (Omega Man, Wrong is Right),
born in Atlantic City
cancer (d. 1995)
@53- John Denver,
American country singer (Rocky Mt High, "thank god he's a country boy"),
born in Roswell, NM
plane crash (d. 1997)
52- Nicholas Sparks,
novelist (The Notebook)
40’s
40- Donald Trump, Jr.
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Historical Obits Today
80’s
@88±-1980 Raoul Walsh,
US director (High Sierra)
@82-2015 Wayne Rogers,
American actor (M*A*S*H, House Calls)
@82-2000 José Greco,
Italian-born American flamenco dancer and choreographer
70’s
@75-1966 Chief Nipo Strongheart,
Yakima actor (Pony Soldier)
@74-2015 Beth Howland,
American actress (Vera - Alice, Company),
lung cancer
60’s
@68-2013 James Avery,
American actor (Fresh Prince),
complications from surgery
@65-2015 Natalie Cole,
American vocalist (Pink Cadillac, Miss You Like Crazy),
heart failure
@64-1997 Floyd Cramer,
American Hall of Fame pianist (Nashville Sound),
cancer
50’s
@58-1877 JD Gustave Courbet,
French painter (Baigneuses),
liver disease from alcohol
40’s
@45-1985 Rick Nelson,
singer/actor (The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet),
plane crash
30’s
@38-1972 Roberto Clemente,
slugger (Pitts Pirate),
plane crash
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Disclaimer: All opinions are mine…feel free to agree or disagree.
All ‘data’ info is from the internet sites and is usually checked with at least one other source, but I have learned that every site contains mistakes and sadly once the information is out there, many sites simply copy it and is therefore difficult to verify. Also for events occurring before the Gregorian calendar was adopted [1582] the dates may not be totally accurate.
☼☼☼☼…And That Is All for Now…☼☼☼☼
