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Monday, December 22, 2014

Happy Birthday, Giacomo!

356th day of 2014, 9 days remain

  • Sunrise: 7:22am 
  • Sunset: 5:45pm

Tides at the Golden Gate:

  • High: 12:11am/10:57am
  • Low: 4:44am/5:40pm

Special celebrations today...

Army Day - Vietnam

Winter Solstice Holiday - Hong Kong

Las Posadas (Day 7 of 9) - Mexico

National Haiku Poetry Day

On this day in...

1715 - James Stuart, the "Old Pretender", landed at Petershead after his exile in France.

1775 - A Continental naval fleet was organized in the rebellious American colonies under the command of Ezek Hopkins.

1807 - The U.S. Congress passed the Embargo Act, designed to force peace between Britain and France by cutting off all trade with Europe.

1864 - During the American Civil War, Union Gen. William T. Sherman sent a message to U.S. President Lincoln from Georgia. The message read, "I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah."

1877 - The "American Bicycling Journal" went on sale for the first time.

1894 - The United States Golf Association was formed in New York City.

1894 - French army officer Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of treason in a court-martial that triggered worldwide charges of anti-Semitism. Dreyfus was eventually vindicated.

1895 - German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen made the first X-ray, of his wife's hand.

1910 - U.S. Postal savings stamps were issued for the first time. They were discontinued in 1914.

1939 - Gloria Jacobs became the first girl to hold a world pistol record when she shot 299 out of a possible 300 points. She was 17 years old at the time.

1943 - Sporting goods manufacturers received permission to use synthetic rubber for the core of baseballs.

1941 - British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrived in Washington for a wartime conference with U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt.

1956 - Colo, the first gorilla to be born in captivity, was born at the Columbus, Ohio zoo.

1956 - The last British and French forces evacuated Egypt.

1961 - James Davis became the first U.S. soldier to die in Vietnam, while U.S. involvement was still limited to the provision of military advisers.

1976 - The last show of "Let’s Make A Deal" was aired.

1984 - New York City resident Bernhard Goetz shot four black youths on a Manhattan subway. Goetz claimed they were about to rob him.

1989 - Romania's hard-line Communist ruler, Nicolae Ceausescu, was overthrown in a popular uprising.

1990 - Lech Walesa was sworn in as Poland's first popularly elected president.

1991 - The body of Lt. Col. William R. Higgins, an American hostage murdered by his captors, was found along a highway in Lebanon.

1998 - A unit of RJR Nabsico pled guilty to attempting to smuggle cigarettes into Canada.

2001 - Thirty Afghans, including two women, were sworn in as part of the new interim government in Afghanistan. Hamid Karzai was the head of the post-Taliban government.

Birthday celebrants today include (or included)...

Giacomo Puccini 1858
Andre Kostelanetz 1885
Dame Edith Margaret 1907
Lady Bird Johnson 1912
Gene Rayburn (Rubessa) 1917
Frankie Darro (Johnson) 1917
Barbara Billingsley 1922
Connie Mack 1862
Peggy Castle (Blair) 1927
Hector Elizondo 1936
Red Steagall 1937
Steve Carlton 1944 - Baseball player
Barry Jenkins (Nashville Teens, Animals) 1944
Diane Sawyer 1945
Steve Garvey 1948 - Baseball player
Robin Gibb (Bee Gees) 1949
Maurice Gibb (Bee Gees) 1946
Bob Fitchner 1950
Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick) 1950
Jan Stephenson 1951
Ian Turnbull 1953
Luther Campbell 1960
Ralph Fiennes 1962
Dina Meyer 1968
Lauralee Bell 1968
Ted Cruz 1970 Heather Donahue 1974
Jordin Sparks 1989 - Singer
Meghan Trainor 1993 - Singer

David Latulippe is host of On the Arts, KALW's weekly radio magazine of the performing arts, as well as for Explorations in Music, and the Berkeley Symphony broadcasts. He has also hosted and produced the radio series From the Conservatory, Music from Mills, and Music at Menlo, and is principal guest host for Revolutions Per Minute.