Trevor WholohanThis Day in History, December 18th
December 18th 2007 00:05
This Day in History
1719 - Thomas Fleet publishes "Mother Goose's Melodies For Children"
1777 - The first national Thanksgiving was declared by Congress after the American victory over the British at the Battle of Saratoga.
1787 - New Jersey became the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
1865 - Slavery was abolished in the United States with the 13th Amendment being ratified.
1898 - A new automobile speed record was set at 39 mph (63 kph).
1903 - The Panama Canal Zone was acquired 'in perpetuity' by the U.S. for an annual rent.
1912 - The U.S. Congress prohibited the immigration of illiterate persons.
1917 - The Eighteenth Amendment(Prohibition in the US) was passed by the U.S. Congress.
1932 - Chicago Bears beat Portsmouth Spartans 9-0 in 1st NFL playoff game
1936 - Su-Lin, 1st giant panda to come to US from China, arrives in San Francisco
1940 - Adolf Hitler signed a secret directive ordering preparations for a Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. Operation "Barbarossa" was launched in June 1941.
1941 - Defended by 610 fighting men, the American-held island of Guam fell to more than 5,000 Japanese invaders in a three-hour battle.
1944 - WW II: 77 B-29 Superfortress and 200 other aircraft of U.S. Fourteenth Air Force bomb Hankow, China, a Japanese supply base, causing fires that burn for three days.
1944 - The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the wartime relocation of Japanese-Americans, but also stated that undeniably loyal Americans of Japanese ancestry could not be detained
1950 - U.S. Navy Patrol Squadron 892, the first Reserve squadron to operate in Korea.
1951 - The U.N. command and the communists exchanged prisoner of war lists at Panmunjom. The UNC list contained 132,472 names. The communists listed 11,359.
1957 - The Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania, the first nuclear facility to generate electricity in the US, went online. It was taken out of service in 1982.
1961 - Wilt Chamberlain of NBA Philadelphia Warriors scores 78 points vs Los Angeles
1965 - U.S. Marines attacked VC units in the Que Son Valley during Operation Harvest Moon
1966 - Dr Seuss' "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" airs for 1st time on CBS
1970 - An atomic leak in Nevada test site forced hundreds to flee the site.
1972 - The US began the heaviest bombing of North Vietnam. The attack ended 12 days later.
1979 - The sound barrier was broken on land by Stanley Barrett when he drove at 739.6 mph.
1980 - Bruce Sprinsteen's concert at Madison Square Garden
1983 - NBA San Diego Clippers ends 29 game road losing streak
1991 - General Motors announces the closing of 21 plants
1995 - A powerful fertilizer bomb was found outside an IRS office in Reno, Nevada.
1998 - South Carolina proceeded with the U.S.' 500th execution since capital punishment was restored.
1999 - After living atop an ancient redwood in Humboldt Co, CA, for 2 years, environmental activist Julia "Butterfly" Hill came down, ending her anti-logging protest.
2003 - Lee B. Malvo (18) was convicted in Virginia for his role in the 2002 sniper shootings
2006 - Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld resigns, Robert Gates is sworn in as the new Secretary of Defense.
Famous Birthday’s
1886 - Ty Cobb Colorado, batted .367, stole 892 bases (Detroit Tigers)Died 1961
1916 - Betty Grable, great legs/actress (Gay Divorcee) insured her legs for $1 million a piece.
1938 - [Bryan] Chas Chandler rocker (The Animals-House of the Rising Sun) Died 1996
1943 - Keith Richards England, rock guitarist (Rolling Stones-Brown Sugar)
1947 - Steven Spielberg , director (ET, Close Encounters, Jaws) He’s worth over $3 billion
1955 - Ray Liotta Newark NJ, actor (Field of Dreams, Henry-Goodfellas, Cop Land, Narc)
1963 - Brad Pitt Shawnee OK, actor (Fight Club, Meet Joe Black, Ocean’s 11, 12 &13, Troy)
1963 - Charles Oakley NBA forward (New York Knicks)
1964 - Stone Cold Steve Austin, pro wrestler/actor(The Condemned, The Longest Yard)
1967 - Dan McGwire NFL quarterback (Miami Dolphins)
1980 - Christina Aguilera Staten Island, NY, singer (Genie in a Bottle, What A Girl Wants)
Famous Death’s
1986 - Mamo Clark actor (1 Million BC, Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island), dies
1992 - Mark Goodson TV game show producer (Goodson-Toddman), dies at 77
1997 - Chris Farley comedian (Saturday Night Live, Tommy Boy)dies at 33 of drug overdose
Joke of the Day
May I take your order, sir
A waiter approached the man studying the menu carefully at the fancy restaurant. "May I take your order, sir?" he asked.
"Well, I was wondering how you prepare your chickens." The man replied.
"Oh, it's nothing too special, sir," the waiter confided. "We just tell them straight out that they're going to die."
A rookie pitcher
A rookie pitcher was struggling at the mound, so the catcher walked up to have a talk with him. "I've figured out your problem," he told the young southpaw. "You always lose control at the same point in every game."
"When is that?"
"Right after the National Anthem."
World Records
World’s Fastest whip cracking
Robert Dante (USA) set the record for most "cracks of a whip" in a minute on 19 September 2004 at the Third Annual Spirit of the West Festival in Sioux Falls (USA). Using a 6-foot bullwhip made by Australian whip maker Mike Murphy, Dante cracked the whip 214 times, breaking his own record of 203.(The reason a whip makes that cracking sound is because the end or tip of the whip breaks the sound barrier.)
World’s Fastest knife thrower
David Adamovich (USA), also known as The Great Throwdini, broke the speed knife throwing record on 6 June 2005 in the show "Maximum Risk" in New York. In one minute, he threw 74 knives around his "target girl" Ekaterina Sknarina.
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