December 17
By Presidential Proclamation, today is celebrated as
Wright Brothers Day in the U.S.
Concurrently, today is
Pan American Aviation Day, furthering, and stimulating interest in, aviation in the American countries.
Today is recognized internationally as a
Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, originally conceived as a memorial to the victims of the
Green River Killer in Seattle, WA.
And, if you happen to live in ancient Rome, you can celebrate
Saturnalia today, a festival to honor
Saturn, the deity, not the planet.
There are
14 days remaining in 2016.
There are
7 days until Christmas.
Events
497 BC – The first
Saturnalia festival was celebrated in ancient Rome.
1398 –
Sultan Nasir-u Din Mehmud's armies in Delhi are defeated by
Timur.
1790 – Discovery of the
Aztec calendar stone.
1835 – The second
Great Fire of New York destroys 50 acres (200,000 square meters) of New York City's Financial District.
1837 – A
fire in the Winter Palace of Saint Petersburg kills 30 guards.
1862 – American Civil War: General
Ulysses S. Grant issues
General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from parts of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky, in attempt to control the black market in southern cotton.
1865 – First performance of the
Unfinished Symphony by
Franz Schubert.
1892 – First issue of
Vogue is published.
1903 – The
Wright brothers make the first controlled powered, heavier-than-air flight in the
Wright Flyer at
Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
1935 – First flight of the
Douglas DC-3.
1938 –
Otto Hahn discovers the
nuclear fission of the heavy element uranium, the scientific and technological basis of
nuclear energy.
1944 – World War II:
Battle of the Bulge:
Malmedy massacre: American 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion POWs are shot by Waffen-SS Kampfgruppe Joachim Peiper.
1947 – First flight of the
Boeing B-47 Stratojet strategic bomber.
1957 – The United States successfully launches the first
Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
1961 –
Niterói circus fire: Fire breaks out during a performance by the Gran Circus Norte-Americano in the city of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, killing more than 500.
1967 – Australian Prime Minister
Harold Holt disappears while swimming near Portsea, Victoria, and is presumed drowned.
1969 –
Project Blue Book: The United States Air Force closes its study of UFOs.
1982 -
Karen Carpenter made her last live appearance with
The Carpenters when she performed in Sherman, California. She died at the age of 32 the following February, form complications of
anorexia nervosa.
1983 –
Provisional IRA members
detonate a car bomb at Harrods Department Store in London. Three police officers and three civilians are killed.
2003 –
SpaceShipOne, piloted by
Brian Binnie, makes its first powered and first supersonic flight.
2004 -
Elvis Presley's daughter
Lisa Marie Presley agreed to sell 85% of his estate to businessman Robert Sillerman in a deal worth $100m. Sillerman would run Presley's Memphis home
Graceland, and own Elvis' name and the rights to all revenue from his music and films. In the deal Lisa Marie would retain possession of Graceland and many of her father's ‘personal effects.’
2014 – The United States and Cuba re-establish
diplomatic relations after severing them in 1960.
Births
1894 – Arthur Fiedler♪ ♫; 1913 – Burt Baskin (Baskin-Robbins); 1920 – Kenneth E. Iverson (developed the APL programming language); 1929 – William Safire; 1930 – Bob Guccione (
Penthouse magazine); 1930 –
Armin Mueller-Stahl; 1931 –
Dave Madden (that guy who was in that thing, manager on
The Partridge Family); 1936 – Tommy Steele♪ ♫; 1937 – Art Neville♪ ♫(The Neville Bros); 1939 – Eddie Kendricks♪ ♫(The Temptations);
1942 – Paul Butterfield♪♫(harmonica player); 1944 – Bernard Hill ('King Théoden' in
The Lord of the Rings movies); 1945 – Ernie Hudson (
Ghostbusters, The Cowboy Way); 1946 – Eugene Levy (
American Pie movies,
A Mighty Wind); 1947 – Wes Studi (
Dances With Wolves, 'Magua' in
The Last Of The Mohicans); 1949 – Paul Rodgers♪ ♫(Free, Bad Company, The Firm); 1953 – Barry Livingston (My Three Sons); 1953 – Bill Pullman; 1956 – Peter Farrelly (older of the Farrelly Bros); 1958 – Mike Mills

(R.E.M.); 1962 – Rocco Mediate; 1966 – Tracy Byrd♪ ♫; 1969 – Chuck Liddell (mixed martial artist); 1974 – Giovanni Ribisi (
A Million Ways to Die in the West); 1974 – Marissa Ribisi (the redhead in
Dazed & Confused); 1975 – Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil); 1978 – Manny Pacquiao

; 1980 – Ryan Hunter-Reay
Deaths
1830 – Simón Bolívar; 1956 – Eddie Acuff (the postman in the
Blondie movie series); 1962 – Thomas Mitchell ('Scarlett's' father in
Gone With The Wind, 'Uncle Billy' in
It's A Wonderful Life); 1967 – Harold Holt; 1987 – Linda Wong (porn actress); 1992 – Dana Andrews; 1999 – Rex Allen♪ ♫; 1999 – Grover Washington, Jr.♪ ♫; 2009 – Jennifer Jones (
The Song of Bernadette); 2009 – Dan O'Bannon (wrote screenplay for
Alien); 2009 – Alaina Reed Hall ('Olivia' on
Sesame Street); 2010 – Captain Beefheart♪ ♫; 2011 – Kim Jong-il (Dear Leader)