DECEMBER 22

For those who can't go to Waimea Bay for the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational, but live in Hawaii, watch Channel 1005 if you are on Spectrum.  For others all over the world, just click on THIS to view the whole thing live!  The spectacle is spectacular.

We celebrate Christmas on December 25 because that was the date Jesus Christ was born.  But not in the Year Zero, because there is no such thing.  More like, between 7BC and 2BC.  Also, too, some early Christians believe that Jesus was actually born today, December 22.  The exact date is thus also a guess.

What else happened in history on December 22?

• AD 69 – Vespasian is proclaimed Emperor of Rome; his predecessor, Vitellius, attempts to abdicate but is captured and killed at the Gemonian stairs.^[1]   There were four emperors that year.
• 401 – Pope Innocent I is elected, the only pope to succeed his father in the office.^[2]
• 
  1808 – Ludwig van Beethoven conducts and performs in concert at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna, with the premiere of his Fifth Symphony, Sixth Symphony, Fourth Piano Concerto and Choral Fantasy.^[12]
• 1858 - Birth of Giacomo Puccini.

• 
  1882 - Thomas Edison created the first string of Christmas lights, first exhibited by Edward Johnson.
• 1885 – Itō Hirobumi, a samurai, becomes the first Prime Minister of Japan.^[16]
• 
  1910 - The first U.S. postage savings stamps.
• 1937 – The Lincoln Tunnel opens to traffic in New York City.^[22]
• 1944 – World War II: Battle of the Bulge: German troops demand the surrender of United States troops at Bastogne, Belgium, prompting the famous one word reply by General Anthony McAuliffe: "Nuts!"

• 
  1964 – The first test flight of the Lockheed SR-71 (Blackbird) takes place at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, United States.  Flew at nearly 2200 miles/hour.  I insert this bit of trivia only because my office at the NASA Ames Research Center was adjacent to the hangar of the Blackbird when I worked there in 1976.  I was doing research on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.  We were among those who saw the first Viking photo of Mars.  This posting also provides viewing details with Carl Sagan.
• 1968, Cultural Revolution begins in China.
• 1989, Germany is reunified after 30 years of separation.
• 
  2002 - All that checking today at airports.  Blame Richard Reid, who on this day attempted to destroy American Airlines Flight 63 by igniting explosives hidden in his shoes.  He is now 51 years old and serving his sentence at the U.S. Penitentiary in Colorado, a supermax facility that holds the most dangerous prisoners.  Those are the shoes he wore that day.

• 

  2014 - Death of Joe Cocker at the age of 70.   Who can forget his With a Little Help from My Friends.  That's his nearly 9-minute version.  Just as memorable, John Belushi as Cocker on this song.  Belushi died at the age of 33 in 1982.

• 

  Every year on December 21, 22 or 23, there is the Chinese Dongzhi Festival, also called the Winter Solstice Festival.  Has been celebrated at least as far back as 1045 BC.
• 2018 - Start of the 35-day U.S. federal government longest shutdown.

Considering recorded humanity has been going on for millennia, December 22 is, indeed, kind of a sparse day.  Nothing much happened.  Here is another source, HISTORYNET, you can check for any day in history.  Noticed this particularly boring NFL game played today symptomatic of the day.

So I end with what I started with today.  Watch the Eddie!  35 men and 10 women surfers.

For those who can't go to Waimea Bay for the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational, but live in Hawaii, watch Channel 1005 if you are on Spectrum.  For others all over the world, just click on THIS to view the whole thing live!  The spectacle is spectacular.  Last year, Luke Shepardson won with this wave.

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