Every year, letters to Santa Claus flood post offices across the world. Cementing their reputation as some of the nicest people ever, some big-hearted Canadian post office workers started writing back. As the program took off, they set up a special postal code for Santa as part of a Santa Letter-Writing Program initiative: HOH OHO.
One of the very first arcade games to hit the market, Pong was a 1 or 2 player video game similar to tennis, where the goal is to use a paddle to hit a ball. Around 35000 Pong consoles were sold around the world.
The Thai military took over the country’s governance and reinstated the 1932 Constitution.
American explorer Richard Byrd became the first person to fly over the South Pole. The flight took just over 18 hours. 3 years ago, Byrd flew over the North Pole, though there is some debate whether he actually accomplished the feat.
The popular football (soccer) club was founded by footballer Hans Gamper. Informally known as Barça, the club is thought to be one of the top 5 richest football clubs in the world. The club has won 4 European Cups (1978-79, 1981-82, 1988-89, 1996-97) and is a 5 time Champions League winner (1991-92, 2005-06, 2008-09, 2010-11, 2014-15).
The first city to be settled in California, San Jose was founded as San José de Guadalupe. Before the Spanish settled in the city, the area was inhabitated by the Ohlone people. San Jose was the first capital of the state of California, which was established in 1850.
Although there’s no official confirmation on who invented eggnog, most historians agree that eggnog originated in medieval Britain. Eggnog was an upper class luxury since they were the only ones who had access to the milk, sherry and eggs required to create the original version. Monks in the Middle Ages added figs and eggs and called the drink”posset” while the wealthy kept with the simple recipe and used it for toasts or big events. Research shows that eggnog most likely became associated with the holidays due to a lack of refrigeration. It became a drink for the more common man in America because of the larger farming opportunities and more access to cows and chickens.
Drs Bernard Devauchelle, Benoit Lengelé, and Jean-Michel Dubernard used donor tissue to reconstruct the face of Isabelle Dinoire in Amiens, France. Isabelle Dinoire’s face had been mauled by a dog.
The space telescope detected sodium on HD 209458 b, an exoplanet also known as Osiris. Belonging to a class of planets called hot Jupiter, because they are similar in size to Jupiter. Unlike Jupiter, however, these planets orbit very close to their stars and consequently have very high temperatures on their surfaces.
21-month old Alyssa Smith became the first person to receive a liver transplant from a living donor, her mother Teresa Smith at the University of Chicago Medical Center. The transplant occurred under the supervision of surgeons Christoph Broelsch, Richard Thistlethwaite, Thomas Heffron, and Jean Emond.
Milk was the first openly-gay person to be elected in local government in California. He and George Moscone, San Francisco’s mayor at the time, were killed by a former member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
Alfred Nobel signed his last will which called for his estate and fortune that he made as the inventor of dynamite to be used for creating awards for those who contributed to the benefit of mankind. The will created 5 awards – in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace, and was signed in the Swedish–Norwegian Club in Paris.
