© 2024 KALW 91.7 FM Bay Area
KALW Public Media / 91.7 FM Bay Area
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

KALW Almanac: Thu. Dec. 15, 2016

Martha Stewart's Meyer Lemon Cupcakes by flickr user Cupcake Queen (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Today, Thursday, the 15th of December of 2016 is the 350th day of the year. 
 
There are 16 days remaining until the end of the year.  
 
The sun will rise in San Francisco at 7:19 am 
 
and sunset will be at 4:52 pm. 
 
Today we will have 9 hours and 33 minutes of daylight. 

The solar transit will be at 12:06 pm.

The first high tide was at 12:53 am 

and the next high tide will be at 11:44 am. 

The first low tide will be at 5:36 am 

and the next low tide at 6:28 pm.

The Moon is currently 96.5% illuminated; a Waning Gibbous

The next phase will be the Last Quarter Moon of the month in 5 days on Tuesday, the 20th of December of 2016 at 5:56 pm

Winter Solstice occurs the following day, Wednesday December 21, 2016 at 2:44 am 

Moonrise Today: 7:13 pm↑ 67° East

Moonset Today: 8:45 am↑ 294° Northwest
Today is Bill of Rights Day

Cat Herders Day

National Cupcake Day

National Lemon Cupcake Day

National Re-gifting Day

It's also…

2nd Amendment Day in South Carolina

Homecoming Day in Alderney, one of the English Channel Islands

International Tea Day

Kingdom Day in Netherlands

Remembrance Day of Journalists Killed in the Line of Duty in Russia

Zamenhof Day in the International Esperanto Community

If today is your birthday, Happy Birthday To You!  You share your special day with...

37 – Nero, Roman emperor (d. 68)

1832 – Gustave Eiffel, French architect and engineer, co-designed the Eiffel Tower (d. 1923)

1860 – Abner Powell, American baseball player and manager (d. 1953)

1892 – J. Paul Getty, American-English businessman and art collector, founded Getty Oil (d. 1976)

1910 – John Hammond, American record producer and critic (d. 1987)

1911 – Stan Kenton, American pianist and composer (d. 1979)

1913 – Muriel Rukeyser, American poet, academic, and activist (d. 1980)

1916 – Buddy Cole, American pianist and conductor (d. 1964)

1919 – Max Yasgur, American dairy farmer and host of the Woodstock Music & Art Fair (d. 1973)

1921 – Alan Freed, American radio host (d. 1965)

1933 – Tim Conway, American actor, producer, and screenwriter

1942 – Dave Clark, English drummer, songwriter, and producer

1944 – Chico Mendes, Brazilian trade union leader and activist (d. 1988)

1949 – Don Johnson, American actor

1950 – Melanie Chartoff, American actress and comedian

1955 – Paul Simonon, English singer-songwriter and bass player

1981 – Michelle Dockery, English actress

On this day in history...

1791 – The United States Bill of Rights becomes law when ratified by the Virginia General Assembly.

1890 – Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull is killed on Standing Rock Indian Reservation, leading to the Wounded Knee Massacre.

1905 – The Pushkin House is established in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to preserve the cultural heritage of Alexander Pushkin

1906 – The London Underground's Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway opens.

1916The French defeated the Germans in the World War I Battle of Verdun.

1933 – The Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution officially becomes effective, repealing the Eighteenth Amendment that prohibited the sale, manufacture, and 
transportation of alcohol.

1938Ground was broken for the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.

1939 – Gone with the Wind (highest inflation adjusted grossing film) receives its premiere at Loew's Grand Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.

1944Bandleader Glenn Miller's U.S. Army plane disappeared over the English Channel.

1961 – Adolf Eichmann is sentenced to death after being found guilty by an Israeli court of 15 criminal charges, including charges of crimes against humanity, crimes against the 
Jewish people, and membership of an outlawed organization.

1965 – Project Gemini: Gemini 6A, crewed by Wally Schirra and Thomas Stafford, is launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida. Four orbits later, it achieves the first space 
rendezvous, with Gemini 7.

1970 – Soviet spacecraft Venera 7 successfully lands on Venus. It is the first successful soft landing on another planet

1973 – The American Psychiatric Association votes 13–0 to remove homosexuality from its official list of psychiatric disorders, the DSM-II.

1978 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter announces that the United States will recognize the People's Republic of China and sever diplomatic relations with Taiwan

1989A popular uprising that led to the downfall of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu began in Romania.

2000 – The third reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is shut down.

2001 – The Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens after 11 years and $27,000,000 spent to stabilize it, without fixing its famous lean.

2003The late Sen. Strom Thurmond's family acknowledged Essie Mae Washington-Williams' claim that she was Thurmond's illegitimate mixed-race daughter.

2004American telecommunications giants Sprint Corp. and Nextel Communications Inc. announced they would merge in a $35 billion deal.

2005Millions of Iraqis turned out to choose a parliament in a mostly peaceful election.

2009The Washington, D.C. City Council voted to legalize same-sex marriage.

2010The U.N. Security Council gave a unanimous vote of confidence to the government of Iraq by lifting 19-year-old sanctions on weapons and civilian nuclear power.