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Monday December 8, 2014

  • Pretend To Be A Time Traveler Day
  • Green Monday
  • National Brownie Day

  • Constitution Day-Uzbekistan
  • Mother’s Day-Palau, Panama

  • On This Day
  • 1775 --- Colonel Benedict Arnold and General Richard Montgomery lead an American force in the siege of Quebec. The Americans hoped to capture the British-occupied city and with it win support for the American cause in Canada.

  • 1776 --- George Washington's retreating army crossed the Delaware River from New Jersey to Pennsylvania during the Revolutionary War.

  • 1863 --- President Abraham Lincoln offers his conciliatory plan for reunification of the United States with his Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction. By this point in the Civil War, it was clear that Lincoln needed to make some preliminary plans for postwar reconstruction. The Union armies had captured large sections of the South, and some states were ready to have their governments rebuilt. The proclamation addressed three main areas of concern. First, it allowed for a full pardon for and restoration of property to all engaged in the rebellion with the exception of the highest Confederate officials and military leaders. Second, it allowed for a new state government to be formed when 10 percent of the eligible voters had taken an oath of allegiance to the United States. Third, the Southern states admitted in this fashion were encouraged to enact plans to deal with the freed slaves so long as their freedom was not compromised. In short, the terms of the plan were easy for most Southerners to accept. Though the emancipation of slaves was an impossible pill for some Confederates to swallow, Lincoln's plan was charitable, considering the costliness of the war. With the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, Lincoln was seizing the initiative for reconstruction from Congress. Some Radical Republicans thought the plan was far too easy on the South, but others accepted it because of the president's prestige and leadership. Following Lincoln's assassination in April 1865, the disagreements over the postwar reconstruction policy led to a heated battle between the next president, Andrew Johnson, and Congress.

  • 1881 --- A fire at the Ring Theater in Vienna, Austria, kills at least 620 people and injures hundreds more. The luxurious, ornate theater hosted the most popular performances of the day. It was featuring the second night of Jacques Offenbach's opera Les Contes d'Hoffman, which was proving popular with both the wealthy and middle class of Vienna. According to the custom of the time, the wealthy theater patrons who sat up front near the stage did not arrive until the last minute so the two balconies at the Ring filled up first. It was about 6:45 p.m. when a stagehand took a long-arm 
    igniter to light the row of gas lights above the stage. He inadvertently also lit some prop clouds that were hanging over the stage. The flames quickly hit the stage curtain, but the theatre’s established fire procedures were not followed. The theater's iron fire curtain, used to restrict fire, was not lowered, nor were available water hoses used immediately. Worse, the stage managers panicked and shut off the gas totally, cutting off light in the theater. At this point, situation dissolved into chaos. The balconies became clogged as the exits jammed. A fire brigade brought ladders, but they were too short to reach even the first balcony. Despite an attempt to use a curtain to create a net, some people jumped from the balconies, not only killing themselves but also crushing people on the ground floor.

  • 1925 --- The Marx Brothers 'The Cocoanuts' opened on Broadway.
  • 1940 --- The Chicago Bears trounce the Washington Redskins in the National Football League (NFL) Championship by a score of 73-0, the largest margin of defeat in NFL history. The Bears, coached by George Halas, brought a 6-2 record to their regular-season meeting with the Redskins in Washington on November 17, 1940. After Chicago lost 3-7, the Redskins coach, George Preston 
    Marshall, told reporters that Halas and his team were "quitters" and "cry babies." Halas used Marshall’s words to galvanize his players, and the Bears scored 78 points in their next two games to set up a showdown with the Redskins in the league’s championship game on December 8, also in Washington.

  • 1941 --- As America's Pacific fleet lay in ruins at Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt requests, and receives, a declaration of war against Japan. Leaning heavily on the arm of his son James, a Marine captain, FDR walked haltingly into the House of Representatives at noon to request a declaration of war from the 
    House and address the nation via radio. "Yesterday," the president proclaimed, "December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory." Roosevelt's 10-minute speech, ending with an oath-"So help us God"—was greeted in the House by thunderous applause and stamping of feet. Within one hour, the president had his declaration of war, with only one dissenting vote, from a pacifist in the House. FDR signed the declaration at 4:10 p.m., wearing a black armband to symbolize mourning for those lost at Pearl Harbor. 
    Montanan Jeanette Rankin, the first woman elected to Congress and a dedicated lifelong pacifist, casts the sole Congressional vote against the U.S. declaration of war on Japan. She was the only member of Congress to vote against U.S. involvement in both World Wars, having been among those who voted against American entry into World War I nearly a quarter of a century earlier.

  • 1949 --- As they steadily lose ground to the communist forces of Mao Zedong, Chinese Nationalist leaders depart for the island of Taiwan, where they establish their new capital. Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek left for the island the following day. This action marked the beginning of the "two Chinas" scenario that left mainland China under communist control and vexed U.S. diplomacy for the next 30 years.

  • 1952 --- On the show "I Love Lucy," a pregnancy was acknowledged in a TV show for the first time. 
  • 1961 --- "Surfin'," the Beach Boys first recording, was released.
  • 1962 --- Workers of the International Typographical Union began striking and closed nine New York City newspapers. The strike lasted 114 days and ended April 1, 1963. 

  • 1963 --- Frank Sinatra, Jr. was kidnapped. 
  • 1968 --- Graham Nash announced the formation of Crosby, Stills and Nash three days after he quit the Hollies. 

  • 1976 --- 'Hotel California' was released by The Eagles. One of the bestselling albums of all time.
  • 1980 --- John Lennon, a former member of the Beatles, the rock group that transformed popular music in the 1960s, is shot and killed by an obsessed fan in New York City. The 40-year-old artist was entering his luxury Manhattan apartment building when the gunman shot him four times at close range with a .38-caliber revolver. Lennon, bleeding profusely, was rushed to the hospital but died en route. Lennon’s killer had received an autograph from the Beatle earlier in the day and voluntarily remained at the scene of the shooting until he was arrested by police. 

  • 1982 --- Sophie's Choice, starring the actress Meryl Streep as a Holocaust survivor, opens in theaters. Directed by Alan J. Pakula (All The President's Men, The Pelican Brief) and based on a 1979 novel of the same name by William Styron, Sophie's Choice co-starred Kevin Kline and Peter MacNicol. The "choice" in the film's 
    title refers to a terrible decision Streep's character is forced to make, about which of her two children will live or die while in a concentration camp. Streep went on to win a Best Actress Oscar for Sophie's Choice, firmly establishing herself as one of the greatest actresses of her generation in Hollywood. To date, she has received more Academy Award nominations than any other actor in history.

  • 1987 --- At a summit meeting in Washington, D.C., President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev sign the first treaty between the two superpowers to reduce their massive nuclear arsenals. Previous agreements had merely been attempts by the two Cold War adversaries to limit the growth of their nuclear arsenals. 
  • 1991 --- Russia, Belarus and Ukraine declared the Soviet national government dead, forming a new Commonwealth of Independent States.

  • 1993 --- The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is signed into law by President Bill Clinton. Clinton said he hoped the agreement would encourage other nations to work toward a broader world-trade pact. NAFTA, a trade pact between the United States, Canada, and Mexico, eliminated virtually all tariffs and trade restrictions between the three nations. The passage of NAFTA was one of Clinton's first major victories as the first democratic president in 12 years--though the movement for free trade in North America had begun as a Republican initiative.
  • 1998 --- The Supreme Court ruled that police could not search a person or their cars after ticketing for a routine traffic violation. 

  • Birthdays
  • Sinead O’Connor
  • Jim Morrison
  • Eli Whitney
  • Sammy Davis Jr.
  • Mary (Stuart) Queen of Scots
  • Jean Sibelius
  • Diego Rivera
  • James Thurber
  • Elzie Segar
  • Maximillian Schell
  • James MacArthur
  • Gregg Allman
  • Kim Basinger

  • 342nd Day of 2014 / 23 Remaining
  • Winter Begins in 13 Days

  • Sunrise:7:13
  • Sunset:4:50
  • 9 Hours 37 Minutes

  • Moon Rise:7:17pm
  • Moon Set:8:49am
  • Moon Phase:98%
  • Full Moon December 6 @ 4:27am
  • Full Cold Moon
  • Full Long Nights Moon

During this month the winter cold fastens its grip, and nights are at their longest and darkest. It is also sometimes called the Moon before Yule. The term Long Night Moon is a doubly appropriate name because the midwinter night is indeed long, and because the Moon is above the horizon for a long time. The midwinter full Moon has a high trajectory across the sky because it is opposite a low Sun.

  • Tides:
  • High Tide:1:35am/12:11pm
  • Low Tide:6:23am/7:01pm

  • Rainfall
  • This Year to Date:7.00
  • Last Year:2.09
  • Avg YTD:5.63
  • Annual Avg:23.80