Tue 25th Dec Todays News

Happy birthday and many happy returns Smail Cehic. Born on the same day as JC, TMN and Mrs B. Born on the same day, across the years. Remember, birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.

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December 25: Christmas Day (Gregorian calendar); Quaid-e-Azam Day(Pakistan)

• 1643 – Captain William Mynors of the East India Companyvessel, the Royal Mary, landed at an uninhabited island and named it Christmas Island.
• 1815 – The Handel and Haydn Society, the oldest continuously performing arts organization in the United States, premiered at King's Chapel in Boston.
• 1926 – Emperor Taishō died of a heart attack, and was succeeded by his son, Hirohito, who became the longest-reigning Emperor of Japan until his death in 1989.
• 1989 – Romanian Revolution: Dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu (pictured) and his wife Elena were condemned to death and executed under a wide range of charges.
• 2009 – Aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to detonate plastic explosives hidden in his underwear.

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Events

• 333 – Emperor Constantine the Great elevates his youngest son Constans to the rank of Caesar.
• 350 – Vetranio meets Constantius II at Naissus (Serbia) and is forced to abdicate his title (Caesar). Constantius allows him to live as a private citizen on a state pension.
• 496 – Clovis I, king of the Franks, is baptized into the Catholic faith at Reims, by Saint Remigius.
• 800 – Coronation of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor, in Rome.
• 1000 – The foundation of the Kingdom of Hungary: Hungary is established as a Christian kingdom by Stephen I of Hungary.
• 1066 – William the Conqueror is crowned king of England, at Westminster Abbey, London.
• 1100 – Baldwin of Boulogne is crowned the first King of Jerusalem in the Church of the Nativity.
• 1130 – Count Roger II of Sicily is crowned the first King of Sicily.
• 1261 – John IV Laskaris of the restored Eastern Roman Empire is deposed and blinded by orders of his co-ruler Michael VIII Palaiologos.
• 1553 – Battle of Tucapel: Mapuche rebels under Lautaro defeat the Spanish conquistadors and executes the governor of Chile, Pedro de Valdivia.
• 1643 – Christmas Island found and named by Captain William Mynors of the East India Company vessel, the Royal Mary.
• 1776 – George Washington and the Continental Army cross the Delaware River at night to attack Hessian forces serving Great Britain atTrenton, New Jersey, the next day.
• 1815 – The Handel and Haydn Society, oldest continuously performing arts organization in the United States, gives its first performance.
• 1826 – The Eggnog Riot at the United States Military Academy concludes after beginning the previous evening.
• 1837 – Battle of Lake Okeechobee.
• 1868 – U.S. President Andrew Johnson grants unconditional pardon to all Civil War Confederate soldiers.
• 1926 – Emperor Taishō of Japan dies. His son, Prince Hirohito succeeds him as Emperor Shōwa.
• 1927 – The Vietnamese Nationalist Party is founded.
• 1932 – A magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Gansu, China kills 275 people.
• 1941 – Admiral Chester W. Nimitz arrives at Pearl Harbor to assume command of the U.S. Pacific Fleet
• 1941 – World War II: Battle of Hong Kong ends, beginning the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong.
• 1941 – Admiral Émile Muselier seizes the archipelago of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, which become the first part of France to be liberated by the Free French Forces.
• 1946 – The first in Europe artificial, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction is initiated within Soviet nuclear reactor F-1.
• 1947 – The Constitution of the Republic of China goes into effect.
• 1950 – The Stone of Scone, traditional coronation stone of British monarchs, is taken from Westminster Abbey by Scottish nationalist students. It later turns up in Scotland on April 11, 1951.
• 1963 – Turkish Cypriot Bayrak Radio begins transmitting in Cyprus after Turkish Cypriots are forcibly excluded from Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation.
• 1965 – The Yemeni Nasserist Unionist People's Organisation is founded in Ta'izz
• 1968 – Apollo program: Apollo 8 performs the very first successful Trans-Earth injection (TEI) maneuver, sending the crew and spacecraft on a trajectory back to Earth fromLunar orbit.
• 1968 – 42 Dalits are burned alive in Kilavenmani village, Tamil Nadu, India, a retaliation for a campaign for higher wages by Dalit laborers.
• 1974 – Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin, Northern Territory Australia.
• 1974 – Marshall Fields drives a vehicle through the gates of the White House, resulting in a four-hour standoff.
• 1977 – Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin meets in Egypt with President of Egypt Anwar Sadat.
• 1989 – Nicolae Ceaușescu, former communist President of Romania and his wife, First-Deputy Prime-Minister Elena are condemned to death and executed after a summary trial.
• 1990 – The first successful trial run of the system which would become the World Wide Web.
• 1991 – Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as president of the Soviet Union (the union itself is dissolved the next day). Ukraine's referendum is finalized and Ukraine officially leaves the Soviet Union.
• 2000 – Russian President Vladimir Putin signs a bill into law that officially establishes a new National Anthem of Russia, with music adopted from the anthem of the Soviet Union that was composed by Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov.
• 2003 – The ill-fated Beagle 2 probe, released from the Mars Express Spacecraft on December 19, disappears shortly before its scheduled landing.
• 2004 – Cassini orbiter releases Huygens probe which successfully landed on Saturn's moon Titan on January 14, 2005.
• 2009 – Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab unsuccessfully attempts a terrorist attack against the US while on board a flight to Detroit Metro Airport Northwest Airlines Flight 253

[edit]Births

• 1137 – Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria (d. 1193)
• 1250 – John IV Laskaris, Byzantine Emperor (d. c. 1305)
• 1461 – Christina of Saxony, queen of Denmark and Norway (d. 1521)
• 1583 – Orlando Gibbons, English composer (d. 1625)
• 1584 – Margaret of Austria, Queen of Spain and Portugal (d. 1611)
• 1628 – Noël Coypel, French painter (d. 1707)
• 1642 – Isaac Newton, English scientist and mathematician (d. 1727)
• 1652 – Archibald Pitcairne, Scottish physician (d. 1713)
• 1665 – Grizel Baillie, Scottish songwriter (d. 1746)
• 1667 – Melusine von der Schulenburg, Duchess of Kendal, English royal mistress (d. 1743)
• 1674 – Thomas Halyburton, Scottish theologian (d. 1712)
• 1686 – Giovanni Battista Somis, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1763)
• 1696 – Prince Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar, German composer and commissioner of music (d. 1715)
• 1700 – Leopold II, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, Prussian general (d. 1758)
• 1711 – Jean-Joseph de Mondonville, French composer (d. 1772)
• 1716 – Johann Jakob Reiske, German scholar and physician (d. 1774)
• 1728 – Johann Adam Hiller, German composer, conductor and writer on music (d. 1804)
• 1730 – Philip Mazzei, Italian physician and friend of Thomas Jefferson (d. 1816)
• 1742 – Charlotte von Stein, German friend of Goethe (d. 1827)
• 1745 – Chevalier de Saint-George – "Black Mozart", African–French Swordsman, Soldier of Fortune, and Composer (d. 1799)
• 1757 – Benjamin Pierce, U.S. politician (d. 1839)
• 1763 – Claude Chappe, French telecommunications pioneer (d. 1805)
• 1771 – Dorothy Wordsworth, English diarist and sister of William Wordsworth (d. 1855)
• 1776 – Sydney Owenson (Lady Morgan), Irish writer (alleged date of birth) (d. 1859)
• 1810 – Alexandros Rizos Rangavis, Greek poet and statesman (d. 1892)
• 1821 – Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross (d. 1912)
• 1829 – Patrick Gilmore, Irish-American composer (d. 1892)
• 1856 – Hans von Bartels, German painter (d. 1913)
• 1856 – Pud Galvin, American professional baseball pitcher (d. 1902)
• 1860 – Manwel Dimech, Maltese philosopher and social reformer (d. 1921)
• 1861 – Madan Mohan Malaviya, Indian founder of Banaras Hindu University (d. 1946)
• 1864 – Thomas Cahill, American soccer coach (d. 1951)
• 1865 – Evangeline Booth, the 4th General of The Salvation Army (d. 1950)
• 1870 – Lloyd Hildebrand, French racing cyclist (d. 1924)
• 1870 – Helena Rubinstein, Polish-born American cosmetics industrialist (d. 1965)
• 1871 – Katherine McKinley, American daughter of William McKinley (d. 1875)
• 1873 – Otto Frederick Hunziker, Swiss-born American dairy educator (d. 1959)
• 1874 – Lina Cavalieri, Italian soprano (d. 1944)
• 1875 – Theodor Innitzer, Austrian cardinal (d. 1955)
• 1876 – Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan (d. 1948)
• 1876 – Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus, German chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1959)
• 1877 – Noël Bas, French gymnast (d. 1960)
• 1878 – Louis Chevrolet, Swiss-born race car driver (d. 1941)
• 1878 – Noël Leslie, Countess of Rothes, English RMS Titanic survivor (d. 1956)
• 1883 – Hugo Bergmann, German and Israeli Jewish philosopher (d. 1975)
• 1884 – Samuel Berger, American heavyweight boxer (d. 1925)
• 1884 – Evelyn Nesbit, American actress (d. 1967)
• 1886 – Kid Ory, American musician (d. 1973)
• 1887 – Conrad Hilton, American hotelier (d. 1979)
• 1889 – Lila Bell Wallace, American magazine publisher (Reader's Digest) (d. 1984)
• 1890 – Noel Odell, British mountaineer (d. 1987)
• 1890 – Robert Ripley, collector of odd facts (d. 1949)
• 1891 – Clarrie Grimmett, Australian cricketer (d. 1980)
• 1899 – Humphrey Bogart, American actor (d. 1957)
• 1901 – Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester (d. 2004)
• 1902 – Barton MacLane, American actor (d. 1969)
• 1904 – Gerhard Herzberg, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)
• 1906 – Lew Grade, Ukrainian-born film producer (d. 1998)
• 1906 – Ernst Ruska, German chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1988)
• 1907 – Cab Calloway, American bandleader (d. 1994)
• 1907 – Glenn McCarthy, American oil tycoon and businessman (d. 1988)
• 1907 – Mike Mazurki, Ukrainian-born actor (d. 1990)
• 1908 – Quentin Crisp, English author (d. 1999)
• 1908 – Jo-Jo Moore, baseball player (d. 2001)
• 1908 – Ernest L. Massad, U.S. Army general (d. 1993)
• 1909 – Zora Arkus-Duntov, Belgian-American automotive engineer (d. 1996)
• 1910 – Rose Friedman, American economist (d. 2009)
• 1911 – Louise Bourgeois, French American sculptor (d. 2010)
• 1912 – Natalino Otto, Italian singer (d. 1969)
• 1913 – Henri Nannen, German journalist (d. 1966)
• 1913 – Tony Martin, American singer and actor (d. 2012)
• 1914 – James Muir Cameron Fletcher, New Zealand industrialist (d. 2007)
• 1915 – Pete Rugolo, Italian-born composer (d. 2011)
• 1916 – Ahmed Ben Bella, politician, first President of Algeria (d. 2012)
• 1917 – Lincoln Verduga Loor, ecuadorian journalist and politician (d. 2009)
• 1918 – Anwar Sadat, President of Egypt, Nobel laureate (d. 1981)
• 1919 – Naushad, Indian music director (d. 2006)
• 1919 – Paul David, Canadian cardiologist, founder of the Montreal Heart Institute (d. 1999)
• 1919 – Noele Gordon, English actress (d. 1985)
• 1920 – Artur Agostinho, Portuguese awarded actor, journalist, broadcaster and writer (d. 2011)
• 1921 – Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah, Pakistani journalist (d. 2000)
• 1923 – René Girard, French historian, literary critic and philosopher
• 1924 – Rod Serling, American television writer (d. 1975)
• 1924 – Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former Prime Minister of India
• 1925 – Carlos Castaneda, Peruvian-born author (d. 1998)
• 1925 – Ned Garver, American baseball player
• 1925 – Sam Pollock, Canadian businessman (d. 2007)
• 1926 – Febo Conti, Italian actor (d. 2012)
• 1926 – Enrique Jorrín, Cuban composer and musician (d. 1987)
• 1927 – Nellie Fox, American baseball player (d. 1975)
• 1927 – Ram Narayan, Indian sarangi player
• 1928 – Dick Miller, American actor
• 1929 – Stuart Hall, British radio and television presenter
• 1929 – Chris Kenner, American singer and songwriter (d. 1976)
• 1930 – Emmanuel Agassi, Iranian boxer and father of Andre Agassi
• 1930 – Salah Jahin, Egyptian poet and cartoonist (d. 1986)
• 1932 – Mabel King, American actress (d. 1999)
• 1935 – Stephen Barnett, American legal scholar who opposed the Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970 (d. 2009)
• 1935 – Jeanne Hopkins Lucas, American politician (d. 2007)
• 1935 – Al Jackson, American baseball player
• 1935 – Sadiq al-Mahdi, Prime Minister of Sudan
• 1935 – Anne Roiphe, American author and feminist
• 1936 – HRH Princess Alexandra of Kent
• 1936 – Ismail Merchant, Indian-born film producer (d. 2005)
• 1937 – O'Kelly Isley, Jr., American singer (The Isley Brothers) (d. 1986)
• 1938 – Duane Armstrong, American painter
• 1938 – David Borden, American composer
• 1938 – Noel Picard, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1939 – Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, Pakistani businessman
• 1939 – Bob James, American composer and musician
• 1940 – Pete Brown, English poet and lyricist
• 1942 – Françoise Dürr, French tennis player
• 1942 – Enrique Morente, Spanish flamenco singer (d. 2010)
• 1943 – Hanna Schygulla, German actress
• 1943 – Wilson Fittipaldi Júnior, Brazilian racing driver
• 1944 – Jairzinho, Brazilian footballer
• 1944 – Kenny Everett, British entertainer (d. 1995)
• 1944 – Henry Vestine, American musician (d. 1997)
• 1944 – Nigel Starmer-Smith, English Rugby Union commentator.
• 1945 – Noel Redding, English musician (The Jimi Hendrix Experience) (d. 2003)
• 1945 – Rick Berman, American television producer (Star Trek series)
• 1945 – Ken Stabler, Oakland Raiders quarterback
• 1945 – Gary Sandy, American actor
• 1945 – Mike Pringle, Scottish politician
• 1946 – Jimmy Buffett, American singer and songwriter
• 1946 – Larry Csonka, American football player
• 1946 – Gene Lamont, American baseball player and manager
• 1947 – Twink Caplan, American actress and comedian
• 1948 – Barbara Mandrell, American singer and actress
• 1948 – Alia al-Hussein, of Jordan (d. 1977)
• 1948 – Joel Santana, Brazilian soccer coach
• 1949 – Nawaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan
• 1949 – Simone Bittencourt de Oliveira, Singer and icon of the Brazilian music
• 1949 – Sissy Spacek, American actress
• 1949 – Joe Louis Walker, American musician
• 1950 – Peter Boardman, British mountaineer (d. 1982)
• 1950 – Manny Trillo, Venezuelan baseball player
• 1950 – Yehuda Poliker, Israeli singer-songwriter
• 1950 – Karl Rove, former American presidential advisor
• 1952 – C. C. H. Pounder, Guyana-born actress
• 1952 – Desireless, French singer
• 1954 – Annie Lennox, Scottish singer
• 1954 – Steve Wariner, American country music singer
• 1955 – Alannah Myles, Canadian singer
• 1957 – Chris Kamara, English footballer and commentator
• 1957 – Shane MacGowan, British/Irish musician
• 1958 – Cheryl Chase, American voice actor
• 1958 – Hanford Dixon, American football player
• 1958 – Rickey Henderson, American baseball player
• 1958 – Martin Wiesner, German footballer
• 1958 – Konstantin Kinchev, Russian singer (Alisa)
• 1959 – Michael P. Anderson, American astronaut (d. 2003)
• 1960 – Ron Bottitta, British actor
• 1961 – Íngrid Betancourt, Colombian senator
• 1962 – Dean Cameron, American actor
• 1962 – Darren Wharton, British keyboardist (Thin Lizzy and Dare)
• 1964 – Gary McAllister, Scottish footballer
• 1964 – Tim Royes – Music Video Director and Editor
• 1964 – Bob Stanley, English musician (Saint Etienne), filmmaker and journalist
• 1965 – David Rath, Czech politician
• 1966 – Toshi Arai, Japanese rally driver
• 1967 – Jason Thirsk, American bass player (d. 1996)
• 1968 – Helena Christensen, Danish model
• 1968 – Jim Dowd, American ice hockey player
• 1970 – Emmanuel Amuneke, Nigerian footballer
• 1970 – Nagma, Indian actress
• 1971 – Dido, English singer
• 1971 – Justin Trudeau, Canadian media personality and politician
• 1971 – Noel Hogan, Irish musician
• 1972 – Josh Freese, American drummer
• 1972 – Mac Powell, American musician, singer/songwriter (Third Day)
• 1973 – Robbie Elliott, English footballer
• 1973 – Chris Harris, American professional wrestler
• 1973 – Alexandre Trudeau, Canadian journalist
• 1974 – Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano, Mexican drug trafficker (d. 2012)
• 1975 – Marcus Trescothick, English cricketer
• 1975 – Hideki Okajima, Japanese baseball player
• 1975 – Rob Mariano, American reality show contestant
• 1975 – Choi Sung-Yong, South Korean footballer
• 1975 – Daniel Mustard, American singer-songwriter
• 1976 – Tuomas Holopainen, Finnish keyboardist and songwriter (Nightwish)
• 1976 – Armin van Buuren, Dutch DJ & Producer
• 1977 – Uhm Ji-won, South Korean actress
• 1977 – Israel Vázquez, Mexican boxer
• 1978 – Bridgetta Tomarchio, American actress and model
• 1978 – Joel Porter, Australian soccer player
• 1978 – Simon Jones, English cricketer
• 1979 – Hyun Young-Min, South Korean footballer
• 1979 – Rob Huff, British racing driver
• 1980 – Marcus Trufant, American football player
• 1980 – Reika Hashimoto, Japanese actress
• 1980 – Locó, Angolan footballer
• 1980 – Laura Sadler, British actress (d. 2003)
• 1980 – Kahi, South Korean singer (After School)
• 1981 – Katie Wright, American actress
• 1981 – Willy Taveras, Dominican baseball player
• 1981 – Trenesha Biggers, American professional wrestler
• 1982 – Shawn Andrews, American football player
• 1982 – Rob Edwards, Welsh footballer
• 1982 – Shystie, British rapper-songwriter
• 1982 – Dev, Indian actor
• 1982 – Chris Rene, American singer/rapper
• 1982 – Ethan Kath, Canadian musician
• 1984 – Chris Cahill, Samoan footballer
• 1984 – Alastair Cook, English cricketer
• 1984 – Georgia Moffett, British actress
• 1984 – The Veronicas, Australian singers (twin sisters)
• 1985 – Leon Pisani, Welsh singer
• 1985 – Perdita Weeks, British actress
• 1986 – Doug Loft, English footballer
• 1987 – Jorgie Porter, English actress
• 1987 – Justin Sweeney, Australian rules footballer
• 1987 – Julian Lage, American jazz guitarist
• 1988 – Eric Gordon, American basketball player
• 1988 – Lukas Hinds-Johnson, German rugby player

[edit]Deaths

• 795 – Pope Adrian I
• 820 – Leo V, Byzantine Emperor (b. 775)
• 940 – Makan ibn Kaki, Dailamite warlord
• 1156 – Peter the Venerable, French Benedictine abbot of Cluny (b. c.1092)
• 1635 – Samuel de Champlain, French explorer (b. 1567)
• 1676 – Matthew Hale, English jurist (b. 1609)
• 1676 – William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle, English soldier (b. 1592)
• 1683 – Kara Mustafa Pasha, Ottoman general (b. 1634)
• 1758 – James Hervey, English clergyman (b. 1714)
• 1763 – Suraj Mal, Sinsiwar Jat ruler of Bharatpur (b. 1707)
• 1765 – Prokop Diviš, Czech theologian and natural scientist (b. 1698)
• 1784 – Yosa Buson, Japanese painter (b. 1716)
• 1824 – Barbara von Krüdener, Russian writer (b. 1764)
• 1868 – Linus Yale, Jr., American mechanical engineer and inventor (b. 1821)
• 1875 – Young Tom Morris, Scottish golfer (b. 1851)
• 1880 – Fridolin Anderwert, Swiss jurist (b. 1828)
• 1916 – Solko van den Bergh, Dutch sports shooter (b. 1854)
• 1916 – Albert Chmielowski, Polish Catholic saint (b. 1845)
• 1921 – Vladimir Korolenko, Russian writer (b. 1853)
• 1925 – Karl Abraham, German psychoanalyst (b. 1877)
• 1926 – Emperor Taishō of Japan (b. 1879)
• 1928 – Miles Burke, American flyweight boxer (b. 1885)
• 1933 – Francesc Macià i Llussà, Catalonian statesman (b. 1859)
• 1935 – Paul Bourget, French novelist and critic (b. 1852)
• 1938 – Karel Čapek, Czech author (b. 1890)
• 1940 – Agnes Ayres, American actress (b. 1898)
• 1944 – George Steer, British journalist (b. 1909)
• 1945 – Franz Kröwerath, German rower (b. 1880)
• 1946 – W. C. Fields, American comedian (b. 1880)
• 1947 – Gaspar G. Bacon, American politician (b. 1886)
• 1949 – Leon Schlesinger, American film producer (b. 1884)
• 1950 – Neil Francis Hawkins, British fascist (b. 1903)
• 1952 – Margrethe Mather, photographer (b. 1886)
• 1953 – Patsy Donovan, Irish-born American baseball player (b. 1865)
• 1953 – William Haselden, Spanish cartoonist (b. 1872)
• 1954 – Johnny Ace, American singer (b. 1929)
• 1956 – Robert Walser, Swiss writer (b. 1878)
• 1957 – Charles Pathé, French pioneer of film and record industries (b. 1863)
• 1961 – Otto Loewi, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1873)
• 1961 – Owen Brewster, American politician (b. 1888)
• 1963 – Tristan Tzara, Romanian writer (b. 1896)
• 1970 – Michael Peto, Hungarian/British photojournalist (b. 1908)
• 1973 – İsmet İnönü, Turkish statesman (b. 1884)
• 1973 – Gabriel Voisin, French aviator (b. 1880)
• 1975 – Gaston Gallimard, French publisher (b. 1881)
• 1977 – Charlie Chaplin, English actor and film director (b. 1889)
• 1979 – Joan Blondell, American actress (b. 1906)
• 1979 – Jordi Bonet, Quebec muralist and sculptor (b. 1932)
• 1983 – Joan Miró, Catalan painter (b. 1893)
• 1988 – Shōhei Ōoka, Japanese novelist (b. 1909)
• 1988 – Edward Pelham-Clinton, 10th Duke of Newcastle (b. 1920)
• 1989 – Nicolae Ceaușescu, former President of S.R.Romania (b. 1918)
• 1989 – Elena Ceaușescu, Romanian politician (b. 1916)
• 1989 – Billy Martin, American baseball manager (b. 1928)
• 1992 – Monica Dickens, British writer (b. 1915)
• 1993 – Pierre Victor Auger, French physicist (b. 1899)
• 1994 – Zail Singh, President of India (b. 1916)
• 1995 – Dean Martin, American singer (b. 1917)
• 1995 – Emmanuel Levinas, French philosopher (b. 1906)
• 1996 – Bill Hewitt, Canadian sportscaster (b. 1928)
• 1997 – Anatoli Boukreev, Kazakh mountaineer (b. 1958)
• 1997 – Denver Pyle, American actor (b. 1920)
• 1998 – Bryan MacLean, American musician and songwriter (Love) (b. 1946)
• 1998 – John Pulman, English snooker player (b. 1926)
• 1999 – Peter Jeffrey, English actor (b. 1929)
• 2000 – Neil Hawke, Australian cricketer and footballer (b. 1939)
• 2000 – Willard Van Orman Quine, American philosopher (b. 1908)
• 2002 – William T. Orr, American television producer (b. 1917)
• 2003 – Nicholas Mavroules, American politician (b. 1929)
• 2004 – Gennadi Strekalov, Russian cosmonaut (b. 1940)
• 2005 – Derek Bailey, English experimental guitarist (b. 1930)
• 2005 – Robert Barbers, Philippine senator (b. 1944)
• 2005 – Birgit Nilsson, Swedish opera singer (b. 1918)
• 2006 – James Brown, American singer (b. 1933)
• 2006 – Hiroaki Hidaka, Japanese serial killer (b. 1962)
• 2007 – Des Barrick, English Cricketer (b. 1927)
• 2007 – Jim Beauchamp, American baseball player (b. 1939)
• 2007 – Mighty King Kong, Kenyan reggae musician (b. 1973)
• 2008 – Eartha Kitt, American actress and singer (b. 1927)
• 2009 – Vic Chesnutt, American singer and songwriter (b. 1964)
• 2010 – Carlos Andrés Pérez, former President of Venezuela (b. 1922)
• 2011 – Giorgio Bocca, Italian journalist (b. 1920)
• 2011 – Ben Breedlove, American Internet personality (b. 1993)
• 2011 – Jim Sherwood, American musician (The Mothers of Invention) (b. 1942)

[edit]Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day:
  • Anastasia of Sirmium (Catholic Church)
  • December 25 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Christmas Day, Christian holiday commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ. (International)
• Constitution Day (Taiwan)
• Malkh-Festival (Nakh peoples of Chechnya and Ingushetia)
• Quaid-e-Azam's Day (Pakistan)
• Takanakuy (Chumbivilcas Province, Peru)

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Merry Christmas

Andrew BoltDECEMBER252012(5:58pm)

Just woke up to Christmas Day, many hours behind Australia. Merry Christmas to you all. Hope your day has been as wonderful as I plan mine to be with my relatives.

The bells are ringing outside, including those - I think - from Amsterdam’s Westerkerk, just a couple of doors up from where Anne Frank hid for two years.

As you or your children probably were unwrapping presents this morning I was most likely still in church in Antwerp on Christmas Eve. Or close enough - the holy-ish pub across from the Cathedral:

My best you you all and to your families. 

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How dumb is warmist Friedman?

Andrew BoltDECEMBER252012(7:14am)

Thomas Friedman savages the Republicans as stupid, but for true stupidity readers should check out ... Thomas Friedman:

But if Republicans continue to be led around by, and live in fear of, a base that denies global warming after Hurricane Sandy and refuses to ban assault weapons after Sandy Hook — a base that would rather see every American’s taxes rise rather than increase taxes on millionaires — the party has no future. It can’t win with a base that is at war with math, physics, human biology, economics and common-sense gun laws all at the same time. 

What makes Friedman’s brand of stupidity worse than most is that it is protected by the impregnable smugness of the group-thinking elite. Friedman would not even suspect he’d made an error or feel the slightest wish to check whether the comfortable pieties he repeats are well-founded. Why take the risk of becoming unpopular by advancing an unfashionable truth?

Fact: anyone who claims most sceptics are “deniers” of “global warming” are plainly fools or liars. None of the sceptics I know doubt at all that the planet has warmed in the past century. Most would agree man’s emissions are likely to have a warming influence. Friedman’s language suggest he simply does not understand the position held by those he so casually damns as stupid.

Is there anything more stupid than a man contradicting an argument he doesn’t even trouble himself to understand?

Well, yes. It’s a New York Times columnist who then claims Hurricane Sandy - actually just a storm at landfall - is proof of catastrophic man-made warming. That is a position not one in 10 warmist scientists would endorse, yet Friedman advances it as his ultimate proof of the idiocy of everyone else.

My God, is this man stupid

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Kill the sceptics

Andrew BoltDECEMBER252012(6:35am)

I guess I should be pleased after all to have been overlooked by DeSmogBlog in its list of climate change “deniers”.

See, it turns out that Professor Richard Parncutt of the University of Graz believes those on it - including prominent scientists - should in many cases be put to death: 

In this article I am going to suggest that the death penalty is an appropriate punishment for influential GW deniers...

For years, hard-nosed scientists have been predicting global warming (GW) and its devastating consequences…

What will it take to get people to sit up and listen?

Much more would have happened by now if not for the GW deniers… For a long list of climate change deniers and their stories see desmogblog…

I have always been opposed to the death penalty in all cases, and I have always supported the clear and consistent stand of Amnesty International on this issue. The death penalty is barbaric, racist, expensive, and is often applied by mistake… Even mass murderers should not be executed, in my opinion. Consider the politically motivated murder of 77 people in Norway in 2011. Of course the murderer does not deserve to live, and there is not the slightest doubt that he is guilty. But if the Norwegian government killed him, that would just increase the number of dead to 78…

GW deniers fall into a completely different category from Behring Breivik. They are already causing the deaths of hundreds of millions of future people. We could be speaking of billions, but I am making a conservative estimate.

I wish to claim that it is generally ok to kill someone in order to save one million people. Similarly, the death penalty is an appropriate punishment for GW deniers who are so influential that one million future deaths can with high probability be traced to their personal actions…

Another counterargument is that we can never be sure that the predicted GW will happen, or that its effects will be as severe as predicted. But this is not a strong argument. The courts are used to dealing with uncertainty…

I don’t want to be a saint. I would just like my grandchildren and great grandchildren, and the human race in general, to enjoy the world that I have enjoyed, as much as I have enjoyed it. And to achieve that goal I think it is justified for a few heads to roll. Does that make me crazy? I don’t think so. I am certainly far less crazy than those people today who are in favor of the death penalty for everyday cases of murder, in my opinion. And like them I have freedom of speech, which is a very valuable thing.

But that freedom of speech that is so valuable must be denied to those who doubt man is heating the world catastrophically. They must pay with their lives for pointing out, for instance, that the world hasn’t warmed for 16 years.

Truly, the global warming faith has become just the latest haven of the closet totalitarian - of those who in past times would have shipped the doubters and heathens to the gulag, the Inquisition, the guillotine or the death camps. For the betterment of humanity, of course. And to sate the lust for power of the inner circle.

The Professor’s page has since been deleted, presumably by his university. Jo Nova is hosting an excellent discussion.  
Reason is under attack, as is free speech. This call for executions is extreme, but it is simply an extension of the same punitive instinct that drives, say, the Press Council to hound sceptics into silence.

Be worried.

UPDATE

Enough with the comparison with another Austrian. Readers in comments below note Parncutt is from Australia, and has had certain difficulties with colleagues.

He is also a crusader on many other issues, and wishes reconciliation with everyone he doesn’t actually want killed instead:

I am Australian, living in another country, waiting for “reconciliation” to really happen so that I can be proud of where I come from.

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MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Miranda Devine – Monday, December 24, 2012 (11:13pm)

All the best for Christmas and the new year, dear readers.

Miranda

** The image, above, is the classic 1964 Arnott’s biscuit tin painting, “Santa and the drover” by Jambaroo, NSW, artist Jack Waugh. The drover is a self portrait.
The image, below, is just cute.

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JACK KLUGMAN

Tim Blair – Tuesday, December 25, 2012 (12:23pm)

Actor Jack Klugman has died at 90. The Odd Couple star was a fan of Australian horse racing: 

Klugman turned out to be something of a talent scout when he presented himself at Flemington. He would arrive each day with his towelling hat on to judge Fashions on the Field and finally, on Oaks Day, he said: “This has been absolutely wonderful, but what day do they wear the bathing suits?” 

As Oscar Madison, Klugman featured in one of TV’s best opening credits.

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It is more wrong to tax someone beyond their breaking point, only to return some of it because they cannot find work. - ed

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Canley Vale HS 1960's science Lab
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The gospel writers had an easier task than todays readers. All they had to do was write what they saw and did. Modern readers have to buy into fantasy of what reality is to disbelieve it. - ed

JRR Tolkien, the star of Bethlehem, and the fairy-story that came true
By Jim Denney

JRR Tolkien, the creator of "The Hobbit," once wrote that his goal as an author was to give his readers "the Consolation of the Happy Ending." That consolation takes place at the point in the story when all hope is lost, when disaster seems certain—then Joy breaks through, catching the reader by surprise. In a 1964 essay, Tolkien called that instant "a fleeting glimpse of Joy, Joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief."

Tolkien even coined a word for the moment when the light of deliverance breaks through the darkness of despair. He called it "eucatastrophe." When evil fails and righteousness suddenly triumphs, the reader feels Joy—"a catch of the breath, a beat and lifting of the heart, near to (or indeed accompanied by) tears."

Is the Joy of eucatastrophe just a literary device for manipulating the reader's emotions? No. This same sudden glimpse of Joy, Tolkien wrote, can be found in our own world: "In the eucatastrophe we see in a brief vision . . .  a far-off gleam or echo of evangelium in the real world." Evangelium is Latin for "good news," the message of Jesus Christ.

Tolkien went on to compare the Christian Gospel, the story of Jesus Christ, to "fairy-stories," the kind of fantasy tales (like "The Hobbit") that produce the Joy of "eucatastrophe," the consolation of the happy ending. The difference between the gospel story and fairy-stories, Tolkien said, is that the gospel is true: "This story has entered History and the primary world."

"The Birth of Christ is the eucatastrophe of Man's history," Tolkien explained. "The Resurrection is the eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation. This story begins and ends in joy. It has pre-eminently the 'inner consistency of reality.' There is no tale ever told that men would rather find was true, and none which so many skeptical men have accepted as true on its own merits."

But is the story of the birth of Christ true? According to Matthew's Gospel, Jesus was born in the little village of Bethlehem, about five miles south of Jerusalem. Some Persian astrologers, the Magi, supposedly saw a star shining in the east, and they followed the star to Bethlehem and presented gifts to the baby Jesus. Is this the story Tolkien would have us believe is true?

Actually, some astonishing evidence has surfaced to support the Gospel account. Attorney Frederick Larson used a computer program to create a sky map for Jerusalem in the years 3 and 2 B.C. In his research, Larson discovered what he believes was the actual Star of Bethlehem.

Since ancient times, astrologers have associated the planet Jupiter with the birth of kings. In September 3 B.C., at the time of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, Jupiter was in close conjunction with the "king star," Regulus. Larson believes that when the "king planet" came in conjunction with the "king star" on the Jewish New Year, the Magi believed it signaled the birth of the King of the Jews.

In his DVD documentary "The Star of Bethlehem," Larson explains that Jupiter would have been visible near Regulus from September 3 B.C. through June 2 B.C. After seeing the "king star" rising in the east, the Magi journeyed to Jerusalem to find the newborn king. After their audience with King Herod, the Magi left Jerusalem and turned south to Bethlehem.

"To qualify as the Star," Larson said, "Jupiter would have to have been ahead of the Magi as they trekked south from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. Sure enough, in December of 2 BC if the Magi looked south in the wee hours, there hung the Planet of Kings over the city of Messiah's birth."
At that time, Jupiter exhibited what astronomers call "retrograde motion" so that it appeared from Earth to have temporarily stopped in its orbit, relative to the background stars. The Magi would have noticed when the "king planet" came to a stop, exactly as described in Matthew 2:9: ". . . and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was."

This happened on December 25, 2 B.C. That's the date we celebrate as Christmas—and it's the date that Joy, the consolation of the happy ending, entered History. Joy came into the world—"Joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief." And that is why we sing on Christmas: "Joy to the world! The Lord is come. Let earth receive her King!"

Jim Denney is the author of the four-book "Timebenders" series beginning with, " Battle Before Time," " Doorway to Doom," "Invasion of the Time Troopers," and "Lost in Cydonia." For more visit his website at:  http://jimdenney.wordpress.com.

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I have no problem with gun ownership. But I draw the line at assault rifles and concealed weapons. No legal business requires those. It isn't in the US constitution that those weapons have to be available to the populace. People shouldn't have hand grenades, mines or rocket launchers either .. - ed===

Santa hires ninjas to deliver your presents that's why you never see him kids :-) #obviously #ninjas #merryxmas - Andy Minh Trieu
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