This Day in History

[Gravdigr]

December 9

Sweden and Finland mark today as Anna's Day, the day to start the preparation process for the lutefisk that is to be eaten on Christmas Eve. [Lutefisk...Yeah, no. I ain't eating anything that contains lye as an ingredient.]

And here in the Land Of Diabetes, we celebrate National Pastry Day. Bon Appétit.

International Anti-Corruption Day is observed annually on this day. So, try not to bribe anyone today. Do it tomorrow.

There are 22 days remaining in 2016.

There are 15 days until Christmas.



Events

536 – Gothic War: The Byzantine general Belisarius enters Rome unopposed; the Gothic garrison flee the capital.

1775 – American Revolutionary War: British troops lose the Battle of Great Bridge, and leave Virginia soon afterward.

1793 – New York City's first daily newspaper, the American Minerva, is established by Noah Webster.

1835 – Texas Revolution: The Texian Army captures San Antonio, Texas.

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

1872 – In Louisiana, P. B. S. Pinchback becomes the first African-American governor of a U.S. state.

1875 – The Massachusetts Rifle Association, "America's Oldest Active Gun Club", is founded.

1905 – In France, the law separating church and state is passed.

1911 – A mine explosion near Briceville, Tennessee, kills 84 miners despite rescue efforts led by the United States Bureau of Mines.

1935 – Walter Liggett, American newspaper editor and muckraker, is killed in a gangland murder.

1935 – The Downtown Athletic Club Trophy, later renamed the Heisman Trophy, is awarded for the first time. The winner is halfback Jay Berwanger of the University of Chicago.

1937 – Second Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Nanking: Japanese troops under the command of Lt. Gen. Asaka Yasuhiko launch an assault on the Chinese city of Nanjing (Nanking).

1946 – The "Subsequent Nuremberg trials" begin with the "Doctors' trial", prosecuting physicians and officers alleged to be involved in Nazi human experimentation and mass murder under the guise of euthanasia.

1950 – Cold War: Harry Gold is sentenced to 30 years in jail for helping Klaus Fuchs pass information about the Manhattan Project to the Soviet Union. His testimony is later instrumental in the prosecution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.

1953 – Red Scare: General Electric announces that all communist employees will be discharged from the company.

1958 – The John Birch Society is founded in the United States.

1960 – The first episode of Coronation Street, the world's longest-running television soap opera, is broadcast in the United Kingdom.

1962 – The Petrified Forest National Park is established in Arizona.

1965 – Kecksburg UFO incident: A fireball is seen from Michigan to Pennsylvania; witnesses report something crashing in the woods near Pittsburgh. In 2005 NASA admits that it examined the object. They claimed it was a Russian satellite. The documents were lost in the 1990s, they claim.

1965 – A Charlie Brown Christmas, first in a series of Peanuts television specials, debuts on CBS.

1968 – Douglas Engelbart gave what became known as "The Mother of All Demos", publicly debuting the computer mouse, hypertext, and the bit-mapped graphical user interface using the oN-Line System (NLS).

1979 – The eradication of the smallpox virus is certified, making smallpox the first and to date only human disease driven to extinction.

1987 – Israeli–Palestinian conflict: The First Intifada begins in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

2003 - Ozzy Osbourne was admitted to Wexham Park Hospital in Slough, Berkshire after being injured in a quad bike accident at his UK home. The 55 year-old singer broke his collarbone, eight ribs and a vertebra in his neck.

2008 – The Governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, is arrested by federal officials for crimes including attempting to sell the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.

Births

1608 – John Milton; 1883 – Joseph Pilates (developed Pilates fitness regimen); 1886 – Clarence Birdseye (pioneered frozen foods); 1887 – Tim Moore ('Kingfish' on Amos 'n' Andy (tv series)); 1898 – Emmett Kelly(clown, celebrated as Weary Willie Day); 1904 – Bob Livingston; 1905 – Dalton Trumbo; 1906 – 'Amazing' Grace Hopper (US Navy Rear Admiral, designed COBOL programming language, namesake of the USS Hopper & the Cray XE6 "Hopper" supercomputer); 1909 – Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.; 1911 – Broderick Crawford; 1912 – Tip O'Neill; 1916 – Kirk Douglas - 100 years old today; 1922 – Redd Foxx:devil(Sanford & Son, The Royal Family); 1928 – Dick Van Patten (Eight Is Enough); 1929 – John Cassavetes (Rosemary's Baby, The Dirty Dozen); 1930 – Buck Henry; 1932 – Billy Edd Wheeler♪ ♫; 1933 – Morton Downey, Jr.; 1934 – Judi Dench; 1934 – Junior Wells♪ ♫; 1938 – David Houston♪ ♫; 1938 – Deacon Jones; 1941 – Beau Bridges; 1942 – Dick Butkus; 1944 – Neil Innes♪ ♫(The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band); 1945 – Michael Nouri; 1946 - Walter 'Clyde' Orange(The Commodores); 1946 – Dennis Dunaway(Alice Cooper); 1947 – Tom Daschle; 1949 – Tom Kite; 1950 – Joan Armatrading♪ ♫; 1952 – Michael Dorn ('Worf' on Star Trek:TNG); 1953 – John Malkovich; 1954 - Jack Sonni♪ ♫(Dire Straits); 1957 – Donny Osmond; 1958 – Nick Seymour(Crowded House); 1961 – David Anthony Higgins (Mike & Molly); 1962 – Felicity Huffman; 1964 – Paul Landers(Rammstein); 1968 – Brian Bell♪ ♫(Weezer); 1969 – Jakob Dylan♪ ♫(The Wallflowers, son of Bob Dylan); 1969 – Lori Greiner (Shark Tank); 1971 – Geoff Barrow♪ ♫(Portishead); 1972 – Tré Cool(Green Day); 1978 – Jesse Metcalfe (Desperate Housewives)

Deaths

1935 – Walter Liggett; 1992 – Vincent Gardenia; 1995 – Douglas 'Wrong Way' Corrigan; 1996 – Mary Leakey (anthropologist, wife of Louis Leakey); 1998 – Archie Moore; 2006 – Georgia Gibbs♪ ♫(real name? Frieda Lipschitz, no schit); 2009 – Gene Barry (Bat Masterson, Burke's Law); 2012 – Norman Joseph Woodland (co-created the bar code); 2013 – Eleanor Parker ('the Baroness' in The Sound Of Music); 2014 – Mary Ann Mobley