Today Thursday, the 8th of December of 2016, is the 343rd day of the year
There are 23 days remaining until the end of the year.
The sun will rise in San Francisco at 7:14 am
and sunset will be at 4:51 pm.
Today we will have 9 hours and 37 minutes of daylight.
The solar transit will be at 12:02 pm.
The first high tide will be at 6:28 am
and the next high tide at 6:44 pm.
The only low tide of the day will be at 12:44 pm.
The Moon is 62.9% illuminated, a Waxing Gibbous moon
Moonrise Today: 1:25 pm↑ 90° East
Moonset Today: 12:53 am↑ 267° West
Full Moon in 5 days on Tuesday the 13th of December of 2016 at 4:06 pm
Last Quarter Moon in 12 days on Tuesday 20th of December of 2016 at 5:56 pm
Winter Solstice begins in 2 weeks, early Wednesday morning on December 21, 2016 at 2:44 am
New Moon in 20 days on Wednesday the 28th of December of 2016 at 10:53 pm
First Quarter Moon in 27 days on Thursday 5th of January of 2017 at 11:47 am
Today is…
National Brownie Day
National Christmas Tree Day
Pretend To Be a Time Traveler Day
Take it in the Ear Day
Bodhi Day in Japan
CARICOM–Cuba Day in the Caribbean Community
Constitution Day in Romania
Constitution Day in Uzbekistan
Day of Finnish Music in Finland
National Youth Day in Albania
Hari-Kuyō in Kansai, Japan.
if today is your birthday, Happy Birthday to You! You get to share birthday cake with…
1542 – Mary, Queen of Scots (d. 1587)
1765 – Eli Whitney, American engineer, invented the cotton gin (d. 1825)
1865 – Jean Sibelius, Finnish violinist and composer (d. 1957)
1886 – Diego Rivera, Mexican painter and educator (d. 1957)
1894 – Elzie (Crisler) or E. C. Segar, American cartoonist, created Popeye (d. 1938)
1894 – James Thurber, American humorist and cartoonist (d. 1961)
1911 – Lee J. Cobb, American actor (d. 1976)
1914 – Floyd Tillman, American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2003)
1922 – Jean Ritchie, American singer-songwriter (d. 2015)
1925Sammy Davis Jr., the American performer famous for his singing, dancing and comedy routines, was born. (d. 1990)
1925 – Jimmy Smith, American organist (d. 2005)
1933 – Flip Wilson, American actor and comedian (d. 1998)
1936 – David Carradine, American actor, director, and producer (d. 2009)
1939 – Jerry Butler, American singer-songwriter and producer
1939 – James Galway, Irish flute player
1943 – Jim Morrison, American singer-songwriter and poet (d. 1971)
1947 – Chava Alberstein, Polish-Israeli singer-songwriter and guitarist
1947 – Gregg Allman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1953 – Kim Basinger, American actress
1953 – Norman Finkelstein, American author, academic, and activist
1953 – Sam Kinison, American comedian (d. 1992)
1961 – Ann Coulter, American lawyer, journalist, and author
1966 – Sinéad O'Connor, Irish singer-songwriter
1982 – Nicki Minaj, Trinidadian-American rapper and actress
on this day in history…
1660A woman (either Margaret Hughes or Anne Marshall) appears on an English public stage for the first time, in the role of Desdemona in a production of Shakespeare's play Othello.
1813Premiere of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony.
1776George Washington's retreating army crossed the Delaware River from New Jersey to Pennsylvania during the Revolutionary War.
1886The American Federation of Labor was founded in Columbus, Ohio.
1941The United States entered World War II as Congress declared war against Japan one day after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
1980Rock musician John Lennon was shot to death outside his New York City apartment building by Mark David Chapman. The former Beatle was 40.
1987Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territories began an intefadeh, or uprising.
1987President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev signed a treaty calling for destruction of intermediate-range nuclear missiles.
1991The leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine sign an agreement dissolving the Soviet Union and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States.
1993President Bill Clinton signed into law the North American Free Trade Agreement.
1995The Grateful Dead announced they were breaking up, four months after the death of lead guitarist Jerry Garcia.
2010With the second launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 and the first launch of the SpaceX Dragon, SpaceX becomes the first private company to successfully launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft.