Read the ramblings of Dr. Caligari. Hopefully you will find that Time does wound all heels.
You no longer need to be sad that nowadays there is so little useless information.
Orville Wright made the first recorded flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in a plane he built with his brother. The flight lasted a mere twelve seconds and covered only 120 feet, but a short flight had been expected: after all, two Wrights don't make it long.
Their checked luggage still hasn't gotten to the terminal.
December 17, 1927 - U.S. Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg suggested a worldwide pact renouncing war as an instrument of national policy. Virtually all of the major powers of the world signed the Kellogg-Briand pact in Paris on August 27, 1928.
The pact went into force on July 24, 1929. War was finally outlawed and the people of the earth were filled with joy.
The peace achieved by the Kellogg-Briand Pact was an idyll like none other. It is still referred to as the happiest seven minutes in human history.
Ah, 1929, that sweet summer of human happiness!
But perhaps we do not give sufficient credit to the authors and signers of that ill-fated pact for their ironic sense. It was thought up on the 229th birthday of Humphrey Davy, the inventor of laughing gas.
December 17, 1969 - The United States Air Force closed its Project 'Blue Book' by concluding there was no evidence of extraterrestrial spaceships behind thousands of UFO sightings.
Our Alien Overlords were briefly satified and decide not to detroy the Earth - for now.
December 17, 1977 - Elvis Costello and The Attractions made a rare United States television debut on 'Saturday Night Live' when Sid Vicious and the Sex Pistols failed to show up for the gig.
(here's the place I would have put the clip but SNL has pulled the clip again.)
(Ssssh)
Producer Lorne Michaels refused to allow Costello to perform 'Radio, Radio' because of the song's criticism of the broadcasting industry, but a few measures into 'Less than Zero,' Costello halted his group and played the forbidden song .
Naughty, naughty Elvis
William Safire would have probably been able to explain why he would have been "turning" 80 today, rather than flipping, busting, or tripping that milestone, if he wasn't dead. He shares his birthday with Bob Guccione (1930), Arthur Fiedler (1894), and John Greenleaf Whittier (1807).
Continue to shop til you drop, 7 more shopping days until Christmas.
People, please eat the dried fruit. At this point, it the only thing keeping you from colon cancer.
Christmas video countdown -
December 16, 1971 - Don McLean's eight-minute-plus version of 'American Pie' was released and became one of the longest songs to ever hit the pop charts.
I could have used the clip with Don singing in it but did you really want to look at Don for over 8 minutes. Kids, use the song as a cheat sheet for what happened during the 60's.
Today in History: December 16, 1773 - The Boston Tea Party took place 236 years ago today.
A group of young colonists, dressed as native Americans, stormed a few British ships in Boston Harbor and tossed their tea cargo overboard in protest of the British insistence that Americans ride their horses on the left-hand side of the street. While this is often remembered as a defining historical moment in the development of our proud nation, it should not be forgotten that Boston Harbor was for a long time one of our most polluted waterways.
I equally deplores the ecologically disastrous precedent set by these hotheaded young good-for-nothings, and their demeaning depiction of native Americans as savage, tea-hating polluters. Also please do not confuse the Tea Party with Tea Bagging - two very different things although men wearing short skirts figure prominently in both of them.
December 16, 1950 - President Harry S. Truman declares a state of emergency, after Chinese troops enter the fight with communist North Korea in the Korean War.
With all the business going on in the world in the intervening 59 years, the order is still in effect, one of four current states of national emergency granting extraordinary powers to the President.
What the hell were we thinking.
December 16, 1977 - Saturday Night Fever, starring John Travolta, goes into general release on this date.
Feel the Night Fever in your polyester shirts kids.
December 16, 1985 - 24 years - where has the time gone? What were you doing 24 years ago - I left work, cut through a parking garage in the middle of the block and walked passed the limos in front of the steak house on the next block.
John Gotti was looking to improve his position with IBM (the Gambino crime syndicate.) He had his boss Paul Castellano ventilated at Spark's Steak House in Manhattan.
John and Paul are long gone but I still have an office in the same location.
Thought for the day: Wisdom comes with winters.
And remember to tip your waitress.
Continue to shop til you drop, 8 more shopping days until Christmas.
I walked my daughters (ages 9 & 7) to school this morning. On the way there, we saw a ripped shopping bag that said 'Happy Birthday', whose contents had spilled out all over the sidewalk: an assortment of dildos, several cans of whipped cream, various containers of lube and lots of empty alcohol bottles.
Both my daughters contemplated the scene in front of them and the oldest one finally said as we continued to walk towards school, "That must have been some party!"
Christmas video countdown - let's hear some of the classics
Tonight is still another night of Hanukkah, by now you're trying to figure out how to get rid of all of your relatives.
December 15, 1939 - The motion picture Gone With The Wind, starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh, had its world premiere in Atlanta.
It was the first movie premiere ceremony to be televised. The governor of Georgia proclaimed the day a state holiday in commemoration of the event and the holiday celebrations continued for three days .
Vivien Leigh worked for 125 days and received about $25,000. Clark Gable worked for 71 days and received over $120,000.
December 15, 1961 - An underrated Billy Wilder film, One, Two, Three, opened in the US on this date
James Cagney had such a negative experience making this picture that he retired from films for 20 years until his cameo in Ragtime (1981).
December 15, 1974 - Mel Brook' send up of the Universal horror films, Young Frankenstein, opened on this date.
The cast and especially Mel Brooks had so much fun and were so upset when principal photography was almost completed, that Mel added scenes to continue shooting.
Today in History: December 15, 1944 - En route to Paris, "swing" big band leader and whore monger Glenn Miller vanishes over the English Channel. Miller, listed as Missing In Action, was serving as a Major in the Army Air Force Band when his plane went down.
Miller's disappearance has led to many conspiracy theories over the years. Some allege that Miller was killed by friendly fire. Another theory holds that he landed safely, but died of a heart attack in a bordello in Paris. A third theory has also gained some recent credibility based on observations from his younger brother Herb Miller. Glenn had been a chain-smoker for much of his life and by late 1944 was suffering from severe weight loss and shortness of breath, leading to speculation that he was terminally ill, probably with lung cancer. This theory also holds that he landed safely, but died of his illnesses on December 16th. Both of these latter theories overlook the fact that Miller wasn't alone on the flight; there were two other officers aboard the aircraft when it disappeared. They also have never been found.
To paraphrase my favorite quote once again, perhaps they too got carried away at that orgy in Paris.
December 15, 1961 - Nazi Adolf Eichmann, former Reichssicherheitshauptamt (that's a real word) bureaucrat, is sentenced to death by a Jerusalem court. Eichmann had been arrested in Argentina and smuggled to Israel the previous year.
December 15, 1966 - Walt Disney, neo-nazi, commie hater, child pornography lover died on this day. And he's not a giant frozen popicle in Cinderella's Castle!
Let us compare of two of the modern era’s finest and most influential artists: Georges Seurat (Dec. 2, 1859) and Walt Disney (Dec. 5, 1901), both born in December.
Young Seurat studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and was strongly influenced by the work of Rembrandt and Goya. He studied optical science and aesthetic theory, and painted with a unique technique that he called "divisionism," but which others came to call "pointillism."
Young Disney arrived in Hollywood in 1923 with $40 in his pocket, a suitcase, and a sketchbook. He had not studied at any fancy French schools. He drew cute little pictures of funny little animals, called "cartoons."
Seurat served a year of military service at Brest, then returned to Paris and had his drawing Aman-Jean at the official Salon in 1883. The following year, the Salon rejected the panels from his painting Bathing at Asnieres, so he stormed off with some friends and formed the "Societe des Artistes Independentes" ("Guys Who Got Rejected by the Salon").
Disney and his brother, Roy, sold a cartoon series called the "Alice Comedies," and landed a distribution deal. Over the next four years, they continued to produce "Alice Comedies" and more than two dozen episodes of "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit."
In 1886, after two years of labor, Seurat’s Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the Grande Jatte was the centerpiece of the Societe’s exhibition. It was hailed by critics, and he was recognized as the successor to the Impressionists.
In 1928, Disney conceived of a funny little mouse while on a train ride, and "Steamboat Willie" became the first Mickey Mouse cartoon on November 28, 1928, at the Colony Theater in New York. Mickey was an instant hit, and by 1930 he was already earning Disney significant merchandise deals.
Seurat and his followers were dubbed the "neo-impressionists." Only at the time of his premature death in 1891 did his friends and family learn that he had been living with and had even fathered a child with his mistress.
Disney built an entertainment and recreation empire from Mickey Mouse, but was not frozen in liquid nitrogen after his death in 1966. His followers are called the "imagineers."
(Seurat was not frozen, either, although I believe he may have briefly dated Bernadette Peters.)
Well you can't any more, apparently a video of an actual commercial that aired on TV was offensive and I had to remove it.
December 14, 1963 - Dinah Washington, known as the "Queen of the Blues", was a blues, R&B and jazz singer.
An unintentional but lethal combination of alcohol and pills forever stilled her magnificent voice on this date. She was only thirty-nine.
Christmas video countdown - Songs from Christmas cartoons
Do you remember Dolly Madison?
It's still Hanukkah and after all of the fried food you've probably consumed because of the holiday -.
tonight you might want to consider some fresh fruit.
Word of the Day: Defedate:
verb, to defile; to pollute. Rosalind really hated her ex-boyfriend. It was known throughout town that she dug up his grave and defedated his corpse.
Today in History: December 14, 1503 -
Nostradamus, famous french huckster (forerunner of Miss Cleo, for those of you who remember Miss Cleo) is born on this date.
If you write vague enough prophecies, they will fool almost anyone.
December 14, 1900 - Max Planck published his theory of quantum mechanics, which is often considered one of the most radical scientific discoveries of the 20th century, on this date. It's even more radical than the belief in the collection of Turkish union dues or Iraqi clerics
Max Planck was working in a laboratory in 1900, heating up various substances and examining the color of light they emitted when they reached certain temperatures. He also accidentally invented crack cocaine but that's another story. He wanted to describe his results in mathematical terms, but no matter how hard he tried, his mathematical calculations didn't make sense. The only way he could fix the problem was to assume that light travels in little packets, like bullets or balloon condoms filled with cocaine, lodged in the colon of drug mules, even though this seemed impossible.
But five years later, Albert Einstein took Planck's theory of light seriously, and wrote his first major paper exploring the idea of light traveling in packets, which he called photons. Even though he became better known for his theory of relativity, it was Einstein's work expanding on Planck's original ideas about light that won him a Nobel Prize. Einstein later said, "I use up more brain grease on quantum theory than on relativity."
With the discovery of quantum mechanics, physicists found that subatomic particles were by nature unpredictable. If you shot one across the room, you could guess where it might end up, but you could never be sure. This idea made Einstein miserable. He famously said, "I am at all events convinced God does not play dice."
Today quantum mechanics remains one of the most mysterious and difficult scientific theories ever. The Danish physicist Niels Bohr once said that a person who was not shocked by quantum theory did not understand it, and the physicist Richard Feynman once said that while only a modest number of people truly understand the theory of relativity, no one understands quantum mechanics.
Max Planck himself died in 1947, and he never came to fully accept the theory he discovered. But even if few people really understand it, quantum mechanics led to the development of modern electronics, including the transistor, the laser, and the computer.
December 14, 1944 - Lupe Velez, Hollywood's "Mexican Spitfire" of the 1940's, commits suicide with an overdose of sleeping pills.
Contrary to her plans of being found laid out on the bed in a silk nightgown, she is instead discovered in the bathroom with her head in the toilet. (This could just be an urban legend but let it get in back of the list of others like the death of Cass Elliot or Judy Garland. Don't even get me started about the death of Albert Dekker.)
What a way to go!!!
Christmas Trivia
In Victorian England, turkeys were popular for Christmas dinners. Some of the birds were raised in Norfolk, and taken to market in London. To get them to London, the turkeys were supplied with boots made of sacking or leather.
The turkeys were walked to market. The boots protected their feet from the frozen mud of the road. Boots were not used for geese: instead, their feet were protected with a covering of tar.
Now that was a career to hope for - bootmaker for the finest turkeys in England.
It's Ice Cream and Violins Day today. I'm unclear whether or not you are supposed to listen to violins while eating ice cream or sad songs are played while you eat ice cream in the cold. (No one and I mean no one - I have literally read over a hundred blogs noting this obscure holiday - knows why.) )
But why wonder why?
Christmas video countdown - More wacky holiday parodies
I never recommend anything (except gin - Bombay Sapphire. I would be happy to accept gallons of the delicious botanical nectar to endorse the product (but I digress ...)
A good friend of mine, Claudia Sherwood, has a book of her photographs out just in time for the holidays: Winter Musings: Images of Central Park
The book is a collection of black and white photography taken in various locations throughout Central Park in the winter. It starts off with a forward by Yoko Ono, and poetry written by a variety of different authors.
December 13, 303 - The feast of St. Lucy (Santa Lucia). Because her extreme beauty attracted too many admirers, Lucy gouged her own eyes out (she had body issues). Miraculously they grew back. After refusing to marry, the Romans forced her to become a whore. She wasn't particularly thrilled with that choice, so she went for door number two and her Roman guards stabbed her to death but not before gouging out her eyes, again.
Early depictions show Lucy offering her eyes on a platter; she is now the patron saint of Sicily and of opticians.
Oh those wacky early Christians.
December 13, 1577 - Sir Francis Drake set out on a three year (and not three hour) long journey around the world, on this date. He had started his career as a sailor in the slave trading business, but after some run-ins with the Spanish, he decided to devote his life to taking vengeance on the Spanish by disrupting their trade routes.
He became a semi-official pirate for Queen Elizabeth I, plundering Spanish ships, gathering intelligence about their naval activities and creating delicious little dessert cakes.
December 13, 1928 - The Clip-on tie is invented on this date. Productivity soars as time lost in tying knots is made up and accidential strangulation rates drop as fewer workers ties are caught in the gears.
Little know fact - the term, dork, is also coined.
Christmas Trivia - It's all the damn man in the can's fault. Christmas trees are known to have been popular in Germany as far back as the sixteenth century. In England, they became popular after Queen Victoria's husband Albert, who came from Germany, made a tree part of the celebrations at Windsor Castle. In the United States, the earliest known mention of a Christmas tree is in the diary of a German who settled in Pennsylvania.
Don't even ask about the legacy of Prince Albert and tight trousers.
Tonight is the second night of Hanukkah, hopefully you're all not too bloated.
And kids, know when too much candy becomes an addiction - please put the gelt down. Overeaters Anonymous 845-426-1028 - ask for Marcia.
Here's a early holiday gift for you - enjoy How the Grinch Stole Christmas:
Christmas video countdown - So you think you have it bad at work
At least you're not a chicken gutter.
December 12, 1915 - It's Francis Albert Sinatra's birthday.
Once again I've been asked (threatened by large burly men from Philadelphia of Italian ancestry) not to bring up his mafia connections, so today we will not be resorting to that cheap gimmick to slander the Chairman of the Board, greatest singer of the 20th century.
Today in History: December 12, 1937 - Japanese aircraft shell and sink US gunboat Panay on the Yangtze River in China. Japan apologized, disciplining those involved and paying $2.2M reparations.
You think we might have seen something coming up.
December 12, 1980 - "Whip It" earns Devo a gold record. It is the first distinction of its kind for any song about masturbation.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) was created by the United Nations General Assembly on December 11, 1946, to provide emergency food and healthcare to children in countries that had been devastated by World War II.
UNICEF provides many types of assistance and help to children and mothers. It receives money from different governments and private persons. It works in almost all countries of the world.
Hanukkah starts tonight, get the loose pants out.
And kids, know when a simple game becomes an addiction - please no actual gambling while playing with your dreidels. Gamblers Anonymous (718) 352-1671
Christmas Video Countdown - sometimes the holidays are a bummer
I hope this doesn't spoil your holiday vibes.
Today in History: December 11, 1882 - Fiorello Enrico La Guardia, Mayor of New York for three terms from 1934 to 1945, was born on this date.
With a boundless enthusiasm and energy to match that of Teddy Roosevelt, La Guardia could be the last Mayor of NYC who really loved his job.
December 11, 1931 - Rita Moreno (Rosa Dolores Alverio) , winner of an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony, was born on this date.
I incorrectly identified her as the only woman to have been an E(mmy), G(rammy), O(scar) & T(ony) winner last year. Helen Hayes, Audrey Hepburn and Whoopi Goldberg are also outright winners. Barbra Streisand and Liza Minnelli are also EGOT's but they have special awards.
December 11, 1964 - Sam Cooke, popular singer, was shot to death by Bertha Franklin, manager of the Hacienda Motel in Los Angeles, California. Franklin claimed that he had threatened her, and that she killed him in self-defense.
The shooting was ultimately ruled to be a justifiable homicide, though there have been arguments that crucial details did not come out in court, or were buried afterward.
December 11, 1967 - Beatles' Apple Music signs its first group-Grapefruit
I guess they're still going strong - isn't their new CD about to be released?
December 11, 1973 - Dante Terrell Smith (Mos Def) singer and actor, was born on this date.
More Christmas Trivia: Christmas was declared a federal holiday in the United States on June 26, 1870.
Tinker Toys have entertained kids for decades--ever since their 1913 invention by Charles Pajeau, who was inspired by children playing with pencils and empty spools of thread. Frustrated at the lack of interest in his new toy invention, Charles Pajeau hired several midgets, dressed them in elf costumes, and had them play with "Tinker Toys" in a display window at a Chicago department store during the Christmas season in 1914. This publicity stunt made the construction toy an instant hit. A year later, over a million sets of Tinker Toys had been sold.
Unfortunately for Mrs. Pajeau, Mr. Pajeau enjoyed the sight of the 'little people' so much, he employed them year round to prance and caper around his home year round while he shouted, "Is it hot in here" or "Come and feel Santa's yule log", while dancing in his boxer shorts.
13 more shopping days until Christmas.
And so it goes.
P.S. And on a personal note: Happy Birthday Julie - even though you shouldn't be reading this website.
The President has received the Nobel Peace Prize today
The irony is not lost upon anyone that less than two weeks ago Mr. Obama just committed an extra 30,000 troups to Afghanistan. Hey, Mr. Nobel made his money inventing dynamite.
It been 25 years since Do They Know It's Christmas the charity single by the all-star group Band Aid, was released.
As of the last check, The Band Aid/ Live Aid initiatives have raised over $200 million dollars. Not bad for basically a very crappy tune.
Christmas video countdown - Dean Martin
You can just hear the bourbon.
December 10, 1948 - Another Preston Sturges Champagne cocktail laced with strychnine, Unfaithfully Yours, opened in the US on this date.
Rex Harrison is simple brilliant but the real find here is Linda Darnell, an incredibly under-appreciated actress of the 40's & 50's.
December 10, 1967 - Peter Cook and Dudley Moore in their first starring comedy, Bedazzled, opened in the US on this date.
Go back and watch it again, it's even funnier than you remember. Julie Andrews!!!
December 10, 1982 - A pageant to B movies, It Came from Hollywood, opened in the US on this date.
Sadly this was never released on DVD. Due to 'clearance issues' with several clips, Paramount still has no plans on releasing a DVD of this title. This was the perfect precursor to MST 3000.
Kids, I was going to remind you that Towering Inferno opened on this date in 1974,
a very fun way to waste an afternoon in your local movie theatre but on this date in 1984, Francis Ford Coppola's Cotton Club opened in NYC. I can remember waiting on line to see the film on the opening day (it was a very cold night in NYC 25 years ago.)
This film had so many extras that I truly believe every actor in NYC had this film on their resume at that time. Now that the dust has settled, the film can be better appreciated as one of Coppola's better endeavors.
Today in History - December 10, 1520 - The heretic Martin Luther burnt the papal bull issued by Leo X, titled Exsurge Domine, demanding an end to his heresies. Luther had published 95 points against the practice of granting indulgences, and the Catholic Church only had 94 points in favor of them.
Although technically he was the winner, Luther was subsequently excommunicated.
Luther went away mad and started his own religion.
December 10, 1936 - Edward VIII, abdicates the English throne to marry the twice divorced, horsey faced (and possibly transvestite) Mrs Simpson - the woman he loved.
Many in the government are secretly relieved, fearing having to share a bathroom with Mrs. Simpson.
December 10, 1958 - Krishna Venta (born Francis Herman Pencovic) died in Chatsworth, California in a suicide bombing when two disgruntled former followers (Peter Duma Kamenoff and Ralph Muller) who, although never offering any documentary evidence to support their claims, charged that Venta had both mishandled cult funds and been intimate with their wives.
Venta's remains are only ever identified through dental records. They blow'd him up real good.
December 10, 1967 - Soul singer Otis Redding plus four members of the Bar-Kays are killed when his airplane crashes into Lake Monona near Madison, Wisconsin.
So, poor Otis was spread out all over the dock of the bay.
December 10, 1993 - Adolf Hitler is baptized by proxy into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in their London temple. Mormons also contunie to vicariously baptism victims of the Holocaust over the strenous objections of variuos Jewish groups such as the Simon Wiesenthal Center (even Simon Wiesenthal has had a baptism performed for himself after his death.)
While this is terribly unfair, please keep it in mind if you are going to vote for Mitt Romney in 2012.
1 more shopping days until Hanukkah, 14 more shopping days until Christmas.
It's the 44th anniversary of the premiere of the bi-polar kid and his wacky friends first experiences of the depressive nature of the holiday season -
Hopefully you caught it on TV last night.
December 9, 1902- I'll get you my pretty and your little dog too!
Margaret Hamilton, celebrated character actress best known for her portrayal of The Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, was born on this date.
Christmas video countdown - 12 days of Christmas (but not in the usual way)
According to the Associated Press, making one's true love happy will cost a whopping $87,403 this year, a minuscule increase from last year, according to the latest cost analysis of the items in the carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas."
That's the grand total for the single partridge in a pear tree to the 12 drummers drumming, purchased repeatedly as the song suggests, according to the annual "Christmas Price Index" compiled by PNC Wealth Management. The price is up a mere $794, or less than 1 percent, from $86,609 last year.
The cost of buying each item just once is increasing this year to $21,466, up 1.8 percent from last year's $21,081.
December 9, 1783 - The site of London's executions (via the gallows) was moved from Tyburn to Newgate. The public spectacle of prisoners' executions drew large crowds.
Out with the old, in with the new.
December 9, 1957 - Donny Osmond is born on this date!
Still a little bit Rock and Roll.
December 9, 1968 - The John Birch Society, is a political education and action organization founded by Robert W. Welch on this date.
The society supports associated with traditionally conservative causes such as anti-communism, support for individual rights and the ownership of private property.
If you think I'm going to make fun of them, you've got another thing coming.
December 9, 1994 - Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders is dismissed after suggesting discussion of masturbation in school classes on sexuality.
This gives rise to the euphemistic term "firing the surgeon general."
More Christmas Trivia:
The lighting of candles and decorating with candles has always been popular, but also one of biggest sources of danger during the Christmas holidays.
In 1895 a New England Telephone employee, Ralph Morris, while looking at the newly installed string of lights made for the telephone switchboard decided to take some home to decorate his tree with. And/or it may be attributed to Thomas Edison's partner, Edward Johnson for inventing the first string of lights around the same time Ralph, for safety reasons.
In 1923 President Calvin Coolidge started the annual tradition of the National Christmas Tree lighting ceremony on the White House lawn.
And so it goes
2 more shopping days until Hanukkah, 15 more shopping days until Christmas.
National Geographic News - Attention lobster lovers—climate change may supersize your favorite seafood.
So says a new study showing that more acidic oceans, a consequence of rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, can produce jumbo-size shelled marine species, including lobsters, crabs, and shrimp. It's unknown whether the animals' body mass also gets beefier along with their shells.
Christmas video countdown - Rockers (male) singing carols
Word of the day: Citharize: verb, to play the harp. If you plan to be like Harpo, you must learn to citharize.
Today in History - December 8, 1793 - Mme. du Barry, mistress of Louis XV, did not go quietly to that good death. On the way to the guillotine she continually collapsed in the tumbrel and cried "You are going to hurt me! Why?!" She became quite hysterical during her execution: "She screamed, she begged mercy of the horrible crowd that stood around the scaffold, she aroused them to such a point that the executioner grew anxious and hastened to complete his task."
Her last words to the executioner: "Encore un moment, monsieur le bourreau, un petit moment," ("One moment more, executioner, one little moment") were her most famous.
How insensitive of her to be such a pain.
December 8, 1854 - Pius IX promulgates the doctrine of Immaculate Conception - the Virgin Mary is free from original sin (and not the other thing some of you think).
Later, she achieves permanent fame when despite of her marriage, she gets knocked up by God.
December 8, 1952 - In some weird cosmic irony, the episode "Lucy Is Enceinte" first aired on CBS ("enceinte" being French for "expecting" or "pregnant").
CBS would not allow I Love Lucy to use the word "pregnant", so "expecting" was used instead.
December 8, 1961 - Skanky conservative columnist Ann Coulter, was spawned on this day (Think the movie, V).
A reader last year put it perfectly, "Ann Coulter thinks about dead people when she's making love."
December 8, 1963 - Do you know why the kidnappers let Junior go? Because they heard him humming in the trunk. - Don Rickles
Frank Sinatra Jr. was kidnapped at Harrah's Lake Tahoe, Nevada. After Frank Sinatra paid the $240,000.00 random, Jr. was set free a few days later. It has always been speculated that Sinatra, Jr. cooperated with his abductors in their plot.
Frank Sr. was not happy. As punishment Frank Jr. was forced to become a fat, dumpy, bald head guy who had to conduct the big band for Frank Sr. and all was well.
December 8, 1980 - Beatle John Lennon shot by a lunatic, Mark David Chapman, outside Lennon's apartment in New York City mere hours after receiving the Beatle's autograph.
Chapman was carrying around his dog eared copy of, Catcher in the Rye.
For those of you who remember the book, I leave it to you to draw any conclusions.
December 8, 1982 - Activist Norman D Mayer barricades himself inside the Washington Monument and threatens to blow it up unless all nuclear weapons are dismantled. He is shot by police after 10 hours.
That's what you get for sticking up the largest prick in DC.
4 more shopping days until Hanukkah, 16 more shopping days until Christmas.
Orville Wright made the first recorded flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in a plane he built with his brother. The flight lasted a mere twelve seconds and covered only 120 feet, but a short flight had been expected: after all, two Wrights don't make it long.
