Trevor WholohanThis Day in History, December 17th
December 17th 2007 01:15
This Day in History
1777 - George Washington's army returned to winter quarters in Valley Forge, Pa.
1777 - France recognizes independence of English colonies in America.
1791 - A traffic regulation in New York City established the first street to go "One Way."
1862 - General Ulysses S. Grant issues an Order expelling Jews from Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky. Grant believed Jews were running a black market in Southern cotton.
1900 - 1st prize of 100,000 francs offered for communications with extraterrestrials.
1900 - Ellis Island immigration center re -opened following an 1897 fire, costing $1.5 million
1903 - The Wright Brothers made their first powered flight in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk.
1924 - 1st US diesel electric locomotive enters service, Bronx NY
1940 - President Roosevelt gives a press conference outlining a scheme which he plans to introduce to bring further aid to Britain which he will call Lend-Lease.
1941 - Admiral Chester W. Nimitz named Commander in Chief of the US Pacific Fleet.
1941 - World War II: Japanese forces land in Northern Borneo.
1944 - WW II: Battle of the Bulge - Malmedy massacre - American 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion POWs are shot by Waffen-SS Kampfgruppe Peiper.
1944 - US Army announces end of excluding Japanese-Americans from West Coast; Japanese-Americans are released from detention camps and are free to go home.
1944 - Green Bay Packers win NFL championship
1944 - US destroyers sink in storm off Philippines, 790 killed
1947 - New York struck by a blizzard, resulting with 27" of snow
1950 - Lt Colonel Bruce H. Hinton, commander of the 336th Fighter-Squadron, became the first F-86 Sabre fighter pilot to shoot down a MiG-15 during the Korean War.
1954 - WEAU TV channel 13 in Eau Claire WI (NBC) begins broadcasting
1961- Disgruntled employee set fire to a Niteroi Circus circus tent in Niteroi Brazil; 323 die
1965 - Largest newspaper-Sunday New York Times at 946 pages (50¢)
1965 - Astrodome opens, 1st event is Judy Garland & Supremes concert
1969 - 50 million TV viewers see singer Tiny Tim marry Miss Vicky, on Tonight Show
1971 - James Bond 007 in "Diamonds are Forever" premieres in US
1975 - Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme is sentenced to life for attempt on President Ford's life
1976 - WTBS, became the first commercial TV station to cover the entire U.S. via satellite.
1978 - OPEC decided to raise oil prices by 14.5% by the end of 1979.
1979 - Budweiser rocket car reaches 739.4 mph (1190 kph) (record for wheeled vehicle)
1981 - Red Brigade terrorists kidnapped United States Brigadier General James Dozier.
1986 - Davina Thompson became the first recipient of a heart, lungs, and liver transplant.
1991 - Cleveland Cavaliers beat Miami Heat 148-80, by record 68 points
1991 - Russia announces the Soviet Union will officially cease to exist on New Year's Eve.
1994 - Six shots were fired at the White House by an unidentified gunman.
1994 - North Korea shot down a U.S. Army helicopter that strayed north of the demilitarized zone, the copilot was killed; the pilot, was captured and held for nearly 2 weeks.
2001 - Marines raised the Stars and Stripes over the long -abandoned American Embassy in Kabul.
2003 - South Korea agreed to send 3,000 troops to Iraq in 2004.
2004 - President Bush signed into law the largest overhaul of US intelligence-gathering in 50 years The bill aimed to tighten borders, aviation security & create a federal counterterrorism center.
Famous Birthday’s
1935 - Cal Ripken Sr baseball manager (Baltimore Orioles) Died 1999
1937 - Art Neville New Orleans LA, vocalist (Neville Brothers)
1949 - Paul Rodgers England, rocker (Bad Company-Feel Like Makin Love, The Firm)
1959 - Albert King actor (BB King & Friends, Blues Alive)
1966 - Tracy Byrd, singer(Watermelon Crawl, Lifestyles of the Not So Rich and Famous)
1969 - Chuck Liddel(The Iceman),former UFC Light Heavyweight champion, 20 Wins 5 loss
Joke of the Day
The Genie For Revenge
A recently divorced woman is walking along the beach contemplating how badly treated she got over the divorce settlement, when she spies a magic lamp washing up onshore. She rubs the lamp, and out pops a magical genie!!
The genie notices her anger and lets her vent her troubles to him. As a consolation, the genie informs her that he will give her three wishes. But, he cautions her that because he does not believe in divorce, he will give her ex-husband ten times the amount of whatever she wishes.
The woman is steaming mad, thinking that this is hardly fair, but she makes her first wish. The first wish was for a billion dollars. The genie grants her wish and she finds herself sitting in pile of one billion one-dollar bills. The genie then reminds her that her husband is now the recipient of 10 billion dollars.
The woman can barely contain her anger when she makes her second wish. The second wish was for a beautiful mansion on the shore of her own private beach. In an instant it was granted, but the genie then reminds again that her ex-husband now owns ten of what she wished for, and points out at the beach to a small development of ten such mansions.
Upon hearing this, the woman takes her time to contemplate her last wish. Just as the genie was about to give up on her, the woman informs the genie that she wants to make the last wish. But, before she can do this, the genie again warns her that her ex-husband will get ten times what she wishes for.
"No problem," said the woman as she grinned in ecstasy. "For my last wish...I'd like to give birth to twins."
Sex Education
Coming through the door after school one day, Little Johnny hollers out...
"Okay everyone in the house, please stand advised that I, Little Johnny Elvis Smith, have on this date made a complete fool of myself in sex-education class by repeating stories concerning storks as told to me by certain parties residing in this house!"
World Records
Longest Guided city tour
The world’s longest guided city tour took place on 21 – 22 June 2003 in Augsburg, Germany. 21 tourists (out of 33 who started the tour) took part to complete the tour taking them through museums, rivers, towers, etc. for a total time of 33:24 hours. The participants listened to nearly 100 city guides who worked in shifts.
Worlds Longest Gum wrapper chain
Gary Duschl of Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA, holds the record for the longest Gum wrapper chain in the world. In June 2004, the chain contained 1,036,574 gum wrappers, and has a length of 44,378 feet(13,526 meters). It would take 3 hours to walk the chain’s length, or 8 minutes by car travelling at a speed of 63 mph(101kph). It contains $51,778.70 worth of gum. Gary started the chain on 11 March 1965.
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