Today in History.

[Guru]

No post immediately but many to follow.

[pooker]

I thought you said immediately :p

[Guru]

Today, 12.15.07 on Saturday, the YourHattiesburg website got the shazillelest Forums section known to man or woman.

[Flowergirl]

Yep, it is called the SEWING ROOM!

[Guru]

December 20 is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 11 days remaining until the end of the year.


[edit] Events
69 - Vespasian, a former general under Nero, enters Rome to claim the title of emperor.
1192 - Richard the Lion-Heart is captured and imprisoned by Leopold V of Austria on his way home to England after signing a treaty with Saladin ending the crusade.
1522 - Suleiman the Magnificent accepts the surrender of the surviving Knights of Rhodes, who are allowed to evacuate. They eventually settle on Malta and become known as the Knights of Malta.
1606 - The Virginia Company loads three ships with settlers and sets sail to establish Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas.
1803 - The Louisiana Purchase is completed at a ceremony in New Orleans.
1835 - First signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence at Goliad, Texas.
1860 - South Carolina becomes the first state to secede from the United States.
1915 - World War I: Last Australian troops evacuated from Gallipoli.
1917 - Cheka, the first Soviet secret police, is founded.
1941 - World War II: First battle of the American Volunteer Group, better known as the "Flying Tigers" in Kunming, China.
1942 - World War II: Bombing of Calcutta by the Japanese.
1951 - The EBR-1 in Arco, Idaho becomes the first nuclear power plant to generate electricity for the first time. The electricity powered four light bulbs.
1952 - United States Air Force C-124 crashes and burns in Moses Lake, Washington killing 87.
1955 - Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of Wales, United Kingdom.
1960 - National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam is formed.
1968 - The Zodiac Killer kills Betty Lou Jenson and David Faraday in Vallejo, California.
1973 - The Spanish Prime Minister, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, is assassinated by a car bomb attack in Madrid.
1981 - The first stage performance of the award-winning Broadway musical Dreamgirls at the Imperial Theatre on Broadway.
1984 - The Summit tunnel fire is the largest underground fire in history, as a freight train carrying over 1 million litres of petrol derails near the town of Todmorden in the Pennines.
1988 - The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances is signed in Vienna.
1989 - United States invasion of Panama: The United States sends troops into Panama to overthrow government of Manuel Noriega.
1991 - Paul Keating becomes the 24th Prime Minister of Australia.
1991 - A Missouri court sentences the Palestinian militant Zein Isa and his wife Maria to death for the honor killing of their daughter Palestina.
1995 - NATO begins peacekeeping in Bosnia.
1995 - American Airlines Flight 965, a Boeing 757, crashes into a mountain 50 km north of Cali, Colombia killing 160.
1995 - The Democratic Social Movement is founded in Greece.
1996 - NeXT merges with Apple Computer, starting the path to Mac OS X.
1999 - Macau is handed over to the People's Republic of China by Portugal.
2001 - Argentine economic crisis: President of Argentina Fernando de la Rúa is forced out of office.
2002 - US Senator Trent Lott resigns as majority leader.
2005 - 2005 New York City transit strike: New York City's Transport Workers Union Local 100 goes on strike, shutting down all New York City Subway and Bus services.
2005 - US District Court Judge John E. Jones III rules against mandating the teaching of "intelligent design" in his ruling of Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District.
2006 - A judge rules against the death penalty in the case of Naveed Haq, a man convicted in the shooting death and injuries at the Jewish Federation in Seattle.
2007 - Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II becomes the oldest ever monarch of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years, 7 months and 29 days.
2007 - The Lakota Indians send a letter to the United States State Department declaring their succession from the union.



[edit] Holidays and observances
R.C. Saints - Saint Dominic of Silos, O Clavis, Ursicinus of Saint-Ursanne

[BassCatter]

Carboy's favorite actor, Andy Dick, was born in 1965 on this day.

[bpitt]

Bpitt has heart attack after learning from wife just how much she has spent on Christmas.

[BassCatter]

Hope it was not on plastic then.

[bpitt]

Nope. Cash.

[BassCatter]

Now I see why the coronary.

[Guru]

January 5, 1933

Golden Gate Bridge is born
On January 5, 1933, construction begins on the Golden Gate Bridge, as workers began excavating 3.25 million cubic feet of dirt for the structure’s huge anchorages.


Following the Gold Rush boom that began in 1849, speculators realized the land north of San Francisco Bay would increase in value in direct proportion to its accessibility to the city. Soon, a plan was hatched to build a bridge that would span the Golden Gate, a narrow, 400-foot deep strait that serves as the mouth of the San Francisco Bay, connecting the San Francisco Peninsula with the southern end of Marin County.


Although the idea went back as far as 1869, the proposal took root in 1916. A former engineering student, James Wilkins, working as a journalist with the San Francisco Bulletin, called for a suspension bridge with a center span of 3,000 feet, nearly twice the length of any in existence. Wilkins’ idea was estimated to cost an astounding $100 million. So, San Francisco's city engineer, Michael M. O'Shaughnessy (he’s also credited with coming up with the name Golden Gate Bridge), began asking bridge engineers whether they could do it for less.


Engineer and poet Joseph Strauss, a 5-foot tall Cincinnati-born Chicagoan, said he could.


Eventually, O'Shaughnessy and Strauss concluded they could build a pure suspension bridge within a practical range of $25-30 million with a main span at least 4,000 feet. The construction plan still faced opposition, including litigation, from many sources. By the time most of the obstacles were cleared, the Great Depression of 1929 had begun, limiting financing options, so officials convinced voters to support $35 million in bonded indebtedness, citing the jobs that would be created for the project. However, the bonds couldn’t be sold until 1932, when San-Francisco based Bank of America agreed to buy the entire project in order to help the local economy.



The Golden Gate Bridge officially opened on May 27, 1937, the longest bridge span in the world at the time. The first public crossing had taken place the day before, when 200,000 people walked, ran and even roller skated over the new bridge.

With its tall towers and famous red paint job, the bridge quickly became a famous American landmark, and a symbol of San Francisco.

[Guru]

Happy Birthday Elvis!!!

And my brother!!!

[TheCapitalist]

Jimmy Page is 64 today!!!!


THANKS, Jimmy! Left us with some lasting guitar.
Still tearing it up!!!!!

[Guru]

Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to set foot on the crest of Mt. Everest passed away.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080110/ap_on_re_au_an/obit_edmund_hillary

[Guru]

Dang, this was a big day. Who woulda thunk it?

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19185322&BRD=2290&PAG=461&dept_id=569392&rfi=6