Thank You, Wikipedia

Wikimedia Foundation is blacking out the English version of Wikipedia for 24 hours in protest of legislation before the US Congress which, if passed, will seriously damage the free and open Internet.

Good for them, and any other sites that join the protest.

The internet needs to remain free and open.


Today is:

Anniversary of the Founding of Lima -- Lima, Peru

Confession of St. Peter -- Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, and Anglican Christian

Feast of the Cross -- Eastern Orthodox Christian

Four an' Twenty Day -- Scotland (24 days after Christmas)

Hair Dryer Appreciation Day -- no history on this, but if you love your hair dryer, more power to you

Jazz Day -- Jazz gets recognized, it plays the Met!

National Lay Awake and Whisper in the Dark Night -- another one i can't fathom or find out why it even exists

National Peking Duck Day

Revolution Day -- Tunisia

Royal Thai Armed Forces Day -- Thailand (former Siam)

Santa Prisca Day -- Taxco, Mexico

Thesaurus Day -- birthday of Peter Roget

UFO Day -- see the history section, 1644

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Through the 25th) -- Christian

Winnie the Pooh Day -- the Birthday of Winnie's author A.A. Milne


Birthdays Today

Dave Batista, 1969
Kevin Costner, 1955
Bobby Goldsboro, 1941
Constance Moore, 1920
Danny Kaye, 1913
Cary Grant, 1904
Oliver Hardy, 1892
A.A. Milne, 1882
Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, 1856 (The African-American doctor who performed the first open heart surgery.)
Thomas A. Watson, 1854 ("Come here, Watson, I need you," said Bell)
Daniel Webster, 1782
Daigo, Emperor of Japan, 885


Anniversaries Today:

Wesley College, Melbourne is established, 1866


Today in History:

Emperor Huizong abdicates the Chinese throne in favour of his son Emperor Qinzong, 1126
Francisco Pizarro founds Lima, Peru, 1535
The first documented UFO sighting in America, by some very perplexed pilgrims in Boston, 1644
Pirate Henry Morgan defeats the Spanish defenders and captures Panama, 1670
San Jose, California is founded, 1777
Captain James Cook stumbles upon the Sandwich Islands (Hawai'i), 1778
The first elements of the First Fleet carrying 736 convicts from England to Australia arrives at Botany Bay, 1788
Electro-Magnetic Intelligencer, the first US electrical journal, begins publication, 1840
Dr. William Price attempts to cremate the body of his infant son, J. C. Price, setting a legal precedent for cremation in the United Kingdom, 1884
Modern field hockey is born with the formation of The Hockey Association in England, 1886
The X-ray machine is exhibited for the first time, 1896
President Theodore Roosevelt sends a radio message to King Edward VII: the first transatlantic radio transmission originating in the United States, 1903
The first shipboard landing of a plane (Tanforan Park to USS Pennsylvania, flown by Eugene B. Ely), 1911
English explorer Robert F Scott & his expedition reach South Pole, only to discover that Roald Amundsen had gotten there before, 1912
Japan issues the "Twenty-One Demands" to the Republic of China in a bid to increase its power in East Asia, 1915
A 611 gram chondrite type meteorite strikes a house near the village of Baxter in Stone County, Missouri, 1916
The Metropolitan Opera House in New York City hosts a jazz concert for the first time. The performers were Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Artie Shaw, Roy Eldridge and Jack Teagarden, 1944
Willie O'Ree, the first African Canadian National Hockey League player, makes his NHL debut, 1958
A Disengagement of Forces agreement is signed between the Israeli and Egyptian governments, ending conflict on the Egyptian front of the Yom Kippur War, 1974
Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious Legionnaires' disease, 1977
Phil Smith and Phil Mayfield parachute off a Houston skyscraper, becoming the first two people to BASE jump from objects in all four categories: buildings, antennae, spans (bridges), and earth (cliffs), 1981*
The International Olympic Committee restores Jim Thorpe's Olympic medals to his family, 1983
Boerge Ousland of Norway becomes the first person to cross Antarctica alone and unaided, 1997
The Tagish Lake meteorite impacts the Earth, 2000
Sierra Leone Civil War is finally declared over, 2002
A bushfire kills 4 people and destroys more than 500 homes in Canberra, Australia, 2003
The Airbus A380, the world's largest commercial jet, is unveiled at a ceremony in Toulouse, France, 2005
Hurricane Kyrill becomes one of Western Europe's deadliest storms, 2007