DAY IN HISTORY

Friday, Dec. 31, 2021

Today is the 365th day of 2021 and the 11th day of winter.

TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1862, Abraham Lincoln signed a bill admitting West Virginia into the United States.

In 1879, Thomas Edison staged the first public demonstration of the electric lightbulb.

In 1999, the United States handed over complete control of the Panama Canal to Panama.

In 2020, the Word Health Organization validated the COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS:

Henri Matisse (1869-1954), artist; Elizabeth Arden (18781966), businesswoman; George C. Marshall (1880-1959), U.S. military commander/diplomat; Anthony Hopkins (1937- ), actor; John Denver (1943-1997), singer-songwriter; Ben Kingsley (1943- ), actor; Diane von Furstenberg (1946- ), fashion designer; Donna Summer (1948-2012), singer; Bebe Neuwirth (1958), actress; Val Kilmer (1959- ), actor; Lance Reddick (1962- ), actor; Nicholas Sparks (1965- ), writer; Gabby Douglas (1995- ), gymnast.

TODAY’S FACT: West Virginia, a new state created from Virginia counties that chose not to secede from the Union, was originally named Kanawha, after the Kanawha River.

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 1967, Vince Lombardi’s by Andrews Mcmeel Almanac Green Bay Packers defeated Tom Landry’s Dallas Cowboys in the NFL Championship Game, 21-17, in subzero weather. The game became known as the “Ice Bowl.” Green Bay went on to defeat the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl II.

TODAY’S QUOTE:

“If conversation was the lyrics, laughter was the music, making time spent together a melody that could be replayed over and over without getting stale.” — Nicholas Sparks, “The Choice”

TODAY’S NUMBER:

3,987 — length in miles of the border between Canada and the lower 48 states.

TODAY’S MOON:

Between last quarter moon (Dec. 26) and new moon (Jan. 2).