Today's Puzzle
A man runs from home. He runs a ways and then turns left, runs the same distance and turns left again, runs the same distance and turns left again, runs the same distance and arrives back at home, where he encountered two masked men. Who were the masked men?
What Happened On
Saddam Executed
December 30, 2006
Saddam Hussein is hanged to death for crimes against humanity for the 1982 actions against the residents of Dujail, which included the execution of 148 people. These actions were in retaliation to an assassination attempt against him.
Deadliest Fire
December 30, 1903
A fire in the Iroquois Theater in Chicago, Illinois kills 602 people, making it the deadliest single-building fire in U.S. history.
Inter-American Foundation
December 30, 1969
Inter-American Foundation is established, supports social and economic development in Latin America and the Caribbean.
First Nuclear Submarine Capable of Launching Missiles
December 30, 1959
The USS George Washington (SSBN-598) is commissioned.
She was decommissioned in 1985.
Founding of Soviet Union
December 30, 1922
The Soviet Union is established with the union of the Russian, Ukrainian, Byelorussian, and Transcaucasian Soviet republics.
Baseball
December 30, 1907
A commission chaired by the president of the National League issues a report crediting Abner Doubleday with the invention of baseball. However, modern historians now dispute their findings - which were in part based on the testimony of a man who two years later was committed for life to an institute for the criminally insane.
Civil War
December 30, 1862
The Union's first iron-clad warship, USS Monitor, sinks off the coast of North Carolina in a storm. It had participated in the Battle of the Ironclads.
Gadsden Purchase
December 30, 1853
U.S. signs the first draft of the treaty to buy a 29,670-square-mile (76,800 km2) territory in what is now present-day New Mexico and southern Arizona from Mexico and formed part of the border between Mexico and the U.S.
It went into effect the following June.
The U.S. wanted to build a transcontinental railroad along a deep southern route, which was completed in 1883.
Birthdays
Davy Jones (David Thomas Jones)
Born December 30, 1945 d. 2012
English singer, actor, one of The Monkees (1966-71). Music: Last Train to Clarksville (1966) and I'm a Believer (1966).
Jones played the Artful Dodger in the original London (1960) and Broadway (1962) productions of Oliver! In 1964, Jones as part of the cast of Oliver! appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show the same night as the Beatles' first appearance on the show. Jones said of the experience, "I watched the Beatles from the side of the stage, I saw the girls going crazy, and I said to myself, this is it, I want a piece of that."
Jones also played himself in an episode of The Brady Bunch, titled "Getting Davy Jones".
Jones shares his birthday with Monkees bandmate Michael Nesmith.
Hideki Tojo
Born December 30, 1884 d. 1948
Japanese prime minister (1941-44) during World War II. Shortly after becoming Prime Minister of Japan he called for the attack on Pearl Harbor. After the war, he and six others were hanged together as war criminals.
While incarcerated, he received a new set of dentures made by an American dentist with the phrase "Remember Pearl Harbor" secretly inscribed in them using Morse code.
Tiger Woods (Eldrick Tont Woods)
Born December 30, 1975
American golfer (PGA Player of the Year - 11 times). He has been World #1 golfer for the most consecutive weeks and for the greatest total number of weeks of any golfer.
Ben Johnson
Born December 30, 1961
Canadian track athlete. He was stripped of his 1988 Olympic gold medals for using steroids.
Tracey Ullman
Born December 30, 1959
English pop singer, Emmy-winning actress. TV: The Tracey Ullman Show (1988), on which The Simpsons made their debut.
Michael Burns
Born December 30, 1947
American actor. TV: Wagon Train (orphan Barnaby West).
Michael Nesmith
Born December 30, 1942 d. 2021
American Grammy-winning singer, producer, actor. He was the wool hat-wearing guitar player "Mike" of The Monkees (1966-68).
When Nesmith was 13, his mother invented the typewriter correction fluid known as Liquid Paper. She built the Liquid Paper Corporation into a multimillion-dollar international company, which she sold in 1979 for $48 million.
Nesmith shares his birthday with Monkees bandmate Davy Jones.
Sandy Koufax
Born December 30, 1935
American baseball Hall of Famer, sportscaster.
Del Shannon (Charles Westover)
Born December 30, 1934 d. 1990
American singer. Music: Runaway (1961, #1).
Bo Diddley (Ellas Otha Bates)
Born December 30, 1928 d. 2008
American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame rhythm and blues singer, composer. He played a key roll in the transition from blues to rock and roll.
Jack Lord (John Joseph Ryan)
Born December 30, 1920 d. 1998
American actor. TV: Hawaii Five-O (1968-80, detective Steve McGarrett) and Stoney Burke (1962-63, title role). Film: Dr. No (1962, CIA Agent Felix Leiter).
According to William Shatner, in 1966 Lord was offered the role of Captain James T. Kirk on Star Trek, but Lord asked for 50% ownership of the show, so the role was given Shatner.
Bert Parks (Bert Jacobson)
Born December 30, 1914 d. 1992
American emcee. Host of the Miss America pageant (1954-79). While Parks was host of the TV game show County Fair, a contestant was badly burned when a stunt backfired. The stunt involved lighting a long fake firecracker fuse that the contestant's blindfolded wife was supposed to stamp out. To simulate the explosion, a mixture of flour and sawdust was dumped the contestant's head. But, the simulated explosion turned into a real one when the mixture was ignited by the match flame. The contestant was hospitalized with first and second degree burns on the face, neck, and arms.
Parks also played salesman Herb Tarlek's father in an episode of WKRP in Cincinnati (1980).
Jeanette Nolan
Born December 30, 1911 d. 1998
American actress. TV: The Virginian (Holly Grainger).
Sergei Korolev
Born December 30, 1906 d. 1966
Soviet scientist, rocket pioneer. He designed the rocket systems used for launching the first Soviet satellites and rockets to the Moon.
Simon Guggenheim
Born December 30, 1867 d. 1941
American philanthropist. He and his wife created the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation (1925) in memory of their son.
Rudyard Kipling
Born December 30, 1865 d. 1936
English Nobel-winning author, poet. Writings: The Jungle Book (1894).
Deaths
Barbara Walters
Died December 30, 2022 b. 1929
American Emmy-winning interviewer, commentator. The first woman co-anchor of a network TV evening news program (1976), in which she was given a 5-year contract at $1,000,000 a year. She became known for her interview specials with public figures from politicians and celebrities to dictators and criminals. Her Monica Lewinsky interview was the most-watched news interview in broadcast history, with an audience of nearly 50 million. TV: The View (1997-2023, co-creator, co-host).
Dawn Wells
Died December 30, 2020 b. 1938
American actress, Miss Nevada (1959). TV: Gilligan's Island (1964-67, Mary Ann Summers). Her character, Mary Ann, is said to be based on Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. Both lived on a farm in Kansas with their aunt and uncle and had pigtails.
Film: Winterhawk (1975, a Western settler kidnapped by a Native American chief), The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976), and Return to Boggy Creek (1977).
She died in 2020 at the age of 82 due to COVID-19 complications.
Saddam Hussein
Died December 30, 2006 b. 1937
Iraqi president (1979-2003). Saddam became president of Iraq in 1979 by forcing the ailing president to resign. He then began purging out members of the government that he felt were disloyal. Hundreds of high-ranking Ba'ath party members were executed in the following weeks. Saddam was hanged to death for crimes against humanity for the 1982 actions against the residents of Dujail, which included the exectuion of 148 people. These actions were in retaliation to an assassination attempt against him.
Grigori Rasputin
Died December 30, 1916 b. 1869
Russian mystic, monk. Known as the Mad Monk, he held a hypnotic influence over the Russian emperor and empress, Nicholas II and Alexandra. Notoriously corrupt, he was killed by Russian noblemen.
Bloomers
Amelia Jenks Bloomer
Died December 30, 1894 b. 1818
American women's rights advocate. She advocated the wearing of bloomers in The Lily, the first major women's rights newspaper (1849), which she published and according to fashion legend, Bloomer introduces the new women's fashion in 1848 by wearing a pair to the first Women's Rights Convention in New York.
Bloomers are women's garments that are divided for the lower body. They were considered "not so harmful to women's health as the current fashion". They also represented unrestricted movement that allowed for greater freedom, both metaphorical and physical.
Luise Rainer
Died December 30, 2014 b. 1910
German Oscar-winning actress. Film: The Great Ziegfeld (1936, Oscar, Anna Held) and The Good Earth (1937, Oscar). She was the first actor to win consecutive Oscars (1936, 1937).
Carl Richard Woese
Died December 30, 2012 b. 1928
American microbiologist. He defined the Archaea (1977, a new domain or kingdom of life) and identified methanogens, a form of life that lives in oxygen-deprived environments and survive by reducing CO2 and oxidizing hydrogen, and releasing the resulting methane. He also originated the RNA world hypothesis (1967).
Artie Shaw (Arthur Arshawsky)
Died December 30, 2004 b. 1910
American band leader, Jazz clarinetist. Music: Begin the Beguine (1938, #1).
Quote: "I could never understand why people wanted to dance to my music. I made it good enough to listen to."
Lew Ayres (Lewis Frederick Ayre III)
Died December 30, 1996 b. 1908
American actor. Film: All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) and Young Dr. Kildare (1938, title role). He turned down a part in the television version of Dr. Kildare because he refused to work on a show with cigarette sponsorship.
Irving "Swifty" Lazar
Died December 30, 1993 b. 1907
American talent agent. Clients: Cole Porter, Ernest Hemingway, Faye Dunaway, Michael Caine, Vladimir Nabokov, Truman Capote, U.S. President Richard Nixon, Tennessee Williams, and Neil Simon. He was known for his yearly star-studded parties on Oscar Awards night.
Richard Rodgers
Died December 30, 1979 b. 1902
American Oscar-winning composer, teamed with Oscar Hammerstein II to form Rodgers and Hammerstein. Music: Oklahoma! (1943), Carousel (1956), and The Sound of Music (1965).
Innocent IX (Giovanni Antonio Facchinetti)
Died December 30, 1591 b. 1519
Italian religious leader, 230th Pope (Oct. - Dec. 1591).
Saint Felix I
Died December 30, 274 b. ????
Italian religious leader, 26th Pope (269-274).