Unix Timestamp: 1071964800
Sunday, December 21. 2003, 12:00:00 AM UTC

The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, notably used by the pre-ColumbianMayan civilization among others, completes a great cycle of thirteen "b\'ak\'tuns" (periods of 144,000 days each) since the mythical creation date of the calendar's current era.Susan Milbrath, Curator of Latin American Art and Archaeology, Florida Museum of Natural History, ed in //www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-03-27-maya-2012_n.htm "USA Today", Wednesday, March 28, 2007, p. 11D//tulane.edu/news/newwave/062508_maya.cfm The Sky Is Not Falling "New Wave", Tulane University, June 25, 2008.

The death toll from flooding in the Philippines caused by Tropical Storm Washi reaches 1,002 and is set to rise further. //abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/death-toll-philippine-flash-floods-tops-1000-15202588#.TvFl_DXkCa8 (AP via ABC News America)

A total lunar eclipse will take place on December 20/21, 2010. //news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/12/20/strangers-in-the-night-lunar-eclipse-solstice-meet-again/ (CNN)

The first total lunar eclipse to occur on the day of the Northern winter solstice and Southern summer solstice since 1638 takes place.//science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/17dec_solsticeeclipse/ NASA Science News: Solstice Lunar Eclipse//www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/12/17/lunar-eclipse-winter-solstice-coincide.html Lunar eclipse, winter solstice to coincide

Gwadar Port, Pakistan, becomes fully operational.ref name=The_Dawn

Clashes between rioters and the Hellenic Police continue near the National Technical University of Athens in Greece. //www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jFPqmxfjVmyC57qVqlgXNdLUsUlQ (AFP via Google News)

The Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia join the Schengen border-free zone.

At least 50 people are killed by an explosion at a mosque in northern Pakistan. //edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/12/21/pakistan.blast/index.html (CNN)

The Schengen Agreement is expanded to include the seaports and land borders of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. //news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4738063.stm (BBC News)

Iraqi insurgents attack a U.S. military base in the city of Mosul, killing 22 people.

In the Côte d'Ivoire, units of the French Foreign Legion, based at the city of Duekoue on Sassandra River have come into contact with rebels advancing southward from the city of Man. Colonel Emmanuel Maurin, commander of the French force, states Between what we have here and the river, they shall not pass.

Nicolae Ceausescu addresses an assembly of some 110,000 people outside the Romanian Communist Party HQ in Bucharest. The crowd begin to protest against Ceausescu and he orders in the army to attack the protesters.

After a week of bloody demonstrations, Ion Iliescu takes over as president of Romania, ending the communist dictatorship of Nicolae Ceauşescu, who flees his palace in a helicopter to escape inevitable execution after the palace was invaded by rioters. The Romanian troops, who the day before had followed Ceausescu's orders to attack the demonstrators, change sides and join the uprising.

Two tourist coaches collide on the Pacific highway north of Kempsey, Australia, killing 35.

Pan Am Flight 103 is blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing a total of 270 people. Those responsible are believed to be Libyans.

Turgut Özal, of ANAP forms the new government of Turkey (46th government).

Preferential Trade Area for Eastern and Southern Africa (PTA).

A ceasefire for Rhodesia is signed at London.

Six people, including Carlos (the Jackal), kidnap delegates of an OPEC conference in Vienna.

Comedian Lenny Bruce is sentenced to 4 months in prison, concluding a 6-month obscenity trial.

The James Bond film "Goldfinger" begins its run in U.S. theaters. It becomes one of the most successful and popular Bond films ever made.

A cyclone in the Palk Strait destroys the Indian town of Dhanushkodi, killing 1800 people.

Cyprus Emergency: Inter-communal fighting erupts between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots.

Britain agrees to purchase Polaris missiles from the U.S.

In Congo, Katangan prime minister Moise Tshombe recognizes the Congolese constitution.

General Charles de Gaulle is elected president of France with 78.5% of the votes.

A team at Oak Ridge National Laboratory led by Charles Coryell discovers chemical element 61, the only one still missing between 1 and 96 on the periodic table, which they will name promethium.

General George S. Patton dies from injuries sustained in a car accident on December 9.

American Cyanamid discovers folic acid, a vitamin abundant in green leafy vegetables, liver, kidney, and yeast.Hoffbrand, AV Weir, DG (2001). The history of folic acid. Br J Haematol 113 (3): 579–589. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2141.2001.02822.x.

Terror strikes are carried out against British military bases in Palestine.

Twenty-eight nations sign an agreement creating the World Bank.

Raymond Libby develops the oral penicillin antibiotic.

Some time in August, Korea splits into two nations with the North being communist and the South being capitalist.

The first geothermal milk pasteurization is done in Klamath Falls, Oregon.

Walt Disney's "Snow White" premieres in selected theaters.

W2XBS, RCA's first television station, is established in New York City.

1928ndash1932 ndash The average nonfarm wage falls by 50% in the USSR.

Eliot Ness begins to lead the prohibition unit in Chicago.

The first (and last) Best Title Writing Academy Award is given.

Turkey switches from the Arabic to the Latin-based modern Turkish alphabet.

Margaret Mead's influential cultural anthropology text "Coming of Age in Samoa" is published in the U.S.

The Episcopal Church in the United States of America ratifies a new revision of the Book of Common Prayer.

Frederick Griffith conducts Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA.

The old Canaanite city of Ugarit is rediscovered.

Australian farmer Jack Trott finds Rhizanthella gardneri in his garden.

Drought leading to famine in China.

"Coca Cola" enters Europe through the Amsterdam Olympics.

The U.S. Congress approves the construction of Boulder Dam, later renamed Hoover Dam.

Joseph Stalin launches the First Five-Year Plan.

Flint Institute of Arts opens

The first patent for the transistor principle is registered in Germany to Julius Edgar Lilienfeld.

United States deports 249 people, including Emma Goldman, to Russia on the USAT "Buford".

Arthur Wynne's word-cross, the first crossword puzzle, is published in the "New York World".

Peking to Paris motor race, won by Prince Scipione Borghese driving a 7 litre 35/45 hp Itala.

The "Diamond Sūtra", a woodblock printedBuddhist scripture dated 868, is discovered by Aurel Stein in the Mogao Caves in China it is the earliest complete survival of a dated printed book.

Santa María School massacre. In Chile soldiers fire at striking mineworkers gathered in the Santa María School in Iquique, over 2000 are killed.

The Moine Thrust Belt in Scotland is identified, one of the first to be discovered anywhere.

The triode thermionic lifier invented by Lee DeForest, starting the development of electronics as a practical technology.

The "Autochrome Lumière" is the first commercial color photography process.

Mackenzie Bowell becomes Canada's fifth prime minister.

Francis Garnier is attacked outside Hanoi by Black Flag mercenaries fighting for the Vietnamese.

A conscription law, modeled on the French version, is issued in Japan.

"HMS Challenger" sails from Portsmouth on the 4-year scientific expedition that lays the foundation for the science of oceanography.

The "Kolozsvári Egyetem", predecessor of the University of Szeged, is founded.

In the aftermath of the Paraguayan War, the new government of Paraguay makes peace with Brazil, grants reparations and territorial concessions.

The London Metropolitan Police go on strike.

Alfred B. Miller and Elmer Crockett found the South Bend Tribune.

Thomas Hardy anonymously publishes his romantic novel "Under the Greenwood Tree".

Birth of S.T. Dupont, a French Luxury House.

The first Marist Brothers arrive in Australia.

Universal public schools are called for in Japan.

The Kappa Alpha Order is founded at Washington College, Lexington, Virginia.

Abd al-Kader surrenders and is imprisoned by the French.

The Ottoman Empire cedes Abadan Island to the Persian Empire.

The Architectural Association School of Architecture is founded.

Emily Brontë and Anne Brontë publish "Wuthering Heights" and "Agnes Grey", respectively, in one volume under the pen names of Ellis Bell and Acton Bell.

Radley College, a famous English public school, is founded.

The North Carolina General Assembly incorporates the railroad town of Goldsborough, and the Wayne county seat is moved to the new town.

Annual British iron production reaches 3 million tons.

The Rochdale Pioneers commence business at their cooperative in Rochdale, England.

Swedish chemistry professor Gustaf Erik Pasch invents the safety match.

The Free Church Institution is established by Reverend Alexander Duff in Calcutta, India. This is later merged with the General Assembly's Institution to form the Scottish Church College, one of the pioneering institutions that ushers in the Bengal Renaissance.

The anonymously written "Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation" is published and paves the way for the acceptance of Darwin's book "The Origin of Species".

Carlos Antonio López becomes dictator of Paraguay.

Germans from the Black Forest region of Southern Baden migrate to Venezuela.

Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Tell-Tale Heart" is first published.

Saint Louis University School of Law becomes the first law school west of the Mississippi River.

The steam powered rotary printing press is invented by Richard March Hoe in the United States. in 1847 and is placed in commercial use the same year.

The Danish government re-establishes the Althing in Iceland as an advisory body.

The export of British textile machinery and other equipment is allowed.

Ada Lovelace translates and expands Menabrea's notes on Charles Babbage's analytical engine, including an algorithm for calculating a sequence of Bernoulli numbers, regarded as the world's first computer program.

December ndash The world's first Christmas cards, commissioned by Sir Henry Cole in London from the artist John Callcott Horsley, are sent.

"The Friend", a Quaker weekly, is first published in London.

The first total solar eclipse of saros 139 occurs over southern Asia.

James Joule experimentally finds the mechanical equivalent of heat.

Abbeville, Louisiana, is founded by descendants of Acadians from Nova Scotia.

The first English translation of Goethe's "Theory of Colours" by Charles Eastlake is published.

United States Census Bureau reports 6,000 free Negroes holding slaves in the nation.

First Opium War (1839–1842)

By July ndash August Borsig completes the first steam locomotive built in Germany.

Mount Allison University is founded in Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada.

J. M. W. Turner first displays his painting "The Slave Ship".

Louis Agassiz publishes his "Etudes sur les glaciers" (Study on Glaciers, 2 volumes), the first major scientific work to propose that the Earth has seen an ice age.

The Washingtonian Temperance Society is founded.

Stockport Viaduct is completed in North West England. It is one of the largest brick structures in Europe.

The Raleigh and Gaston Railroad is chartered in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Battle of Konya: The Egyptians defeat the main Ottoman army in central Anatolia.

Banjul, capital of The Gambia, is founded as a trading post, and named Bathurst.

American Colonization Society established.

Robert Stirling patents his Stirling engine, then known as Stirling's air engine.

E. Remington and Sons (the famous firearm and later typewriter manufacturing company) is founded.

René Laennec invents the stethoscope.

A rail capable of supporting a heavy locomotive is developed.

The Red River Colony is founded in Manitoba, Canada.

First Constitution of Republic of Venezuela after declares its independence from Spain.

American Revolution: The Royal Colony of North Carolina reorganizes into the State of North Carolina after adopting its own constitution. Richard Caswell becomes the first governor of the newly formed state.

The Petit Trianon, originally designed for Madame de Pompadour, is completed in the park of the Palace of Versailles and inaugurated by Louis XV of France.

The Steller's sea cow, discovered on Bering Island in 1741, is driven to extinction.

New Smyrna, Florida, the largest attempt at colonization by the British in the New World, is founded by Dr. Andrew Turnbull.

First of the weekly numbers of the "Encyclopædia Britannica", edited by William Smellie, are published in Edinburgh one hundred are planned.

Bougainville Strait is discovered.

Louis XV of France appoints René de Maupeou as chancellor and orders him to crush the judicial opposition.

King Prithvi Narayan Shah unifies several small kingdoms to establish the modern-day Nepal.

A Secretary of State for the colonies is appointed in Britain.

The Westminster Confession of Faith is published.

Global temperatures begin to decline as part of the Little Ice Age

Dutch merchant Willem Kieft is appointed Director of New Amsterdam by the Dutch West India Company.

The Finnish postal service, "Suomen Posti", is founded.

The Beijing Gazette makes an official switch in its production process of newspapers, from woodblock printing to movable type printing private newspapers in Ming Dynasty China were first mentioned in 1582.

The Netherlands colonizes Mauritius.

Shah Jahan transfers the capital of the Moghul Empire from Agra to Delhi.

The full moon is in total eclipse from 1:12 to 2:47 UT and the solstice occurs later in the day at 16:05 UT.

Pedro Teixeira makes the first ascent of the Amazon River, from its mouth to Quito, Ecuador. The same trip had been made in the opposite direction in 1541.

New Haven, the first planned city in America, is founded.

Covenanters meet at Muchalls Castle to compose responses to the Bishops of Aberdeen.

SultanMurad IV captures Baghdad.

The Dutch settle in Ceylon.

BuccaneerPeter Wallace called Ballis by the Spanish, settles near and perhaps gives his name to the Belize River.

Shipwrecked sailors from England found the first known European settlement in Belize.

Two officers of the British East India Company attempt to claim the Table Mountain region (in present-day South Africa) for England, but fail.

Francis Bacon publishes the "Novum Organum" (beyond Aristotle's "Organon") on logical thinking.

Juan Pablo Bonet, teacher of deaf children in the Spanish court, creates the sign alphabet.

Thirty Years\' War (1618–1648) continues (principally on the territory of today's Germany).

A severe frost in England, with the Thames frozen. 13 continuous days of snow in Scotland. On Eskdale Moor only 35 of a flock of 20,000 sheep survive.

The modern violin is developed.

Cornelius Drebbel, at the Thames, builds an undersea boat (history of submarines).

Shogun Tokugawa Hidetada restores Osaka Castle. Its current appearance dates from this remodeling.

Witch hunts begin in Scotland.

Plymouth Colony: William Bradford and the "Mayflower" Pilgrims land on what is now known as Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Illustrations of Ottoman Turkish and European riflemen, with detailed illustrations of their firearms, appear in Zhao Shizhen's book "Shenqipu" in this year, during the Ming Dynasty of China.

Battle of Curalaba: The revolting Mapuche, led by caciquePelentaru, inflict a major defeat on Spaniards troops in southern Chile all Spanish cities south of the Biobio river are eventually taken by the Mapuches, and all conquest of Mapuche territories by Europeans practically ceases, until the 1870s Pacification of Araucania.

The Parliament of England passes an act that allows transportation of convicts to colonies.

Philosopher Tommaso Canella organizes an uprising in Calabria against the rule of the Spanish viceroy he is captured, tortured and sentenced to 27 years in jail.

Nicolaus Copernicus enters the University of Kraków.

A major fire breaks out in Dresden.

Truce of Coldstream secures a 5-year peace between Scotland and England.ref name=CBH/

In the Russian territory of Komi (now the Komi Republic), annexed by Russia in 1478, copper and silver ores are discovered, and the territory gains importance as a mining and metallurgical center.

Bread and Cheese Revolt breaks out in North Holland.

Baldwin II becomes Latin Emperor of Constantinople.

England and Scotland sign the Treaty of York, establishing the location of their common border.

Conrad IV of Germany becomes King of Germany.

The Livonian Brothers of the Sword unite with the Teutonic Knights.

Battle of Cortenuova: Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor defeats the Lombard League.

Gualdo Tadino, Italy, is destroyed by fire.

The County of Artois is founded in France.

A major fire destroys some 30,000 dwellings in the Chinese capital city of Hangzhou.

Mongol invasion of Rus': Sack of Ryazan.

Conrad III of Germanybesieged Weinsberg, the stronghold of Welfs.

Henry Jasomirgott is made count palatine of the Rhine.

Marburg becomes a town.

The town of Lanark in Scotland is made a Royal Burgh by David I of Scotland.

The Assizes of Ariano are enacted by Roger II of Sicily.

Roger II of Sicily places the practice of medicine under royal control.

Gaufrid is consecrated as the first Abbot of Dunfermline Abbey.

In Ireland, St. Malachy, the great reformer of the Church, is made a bishop.

The Dun Beal Gallimhe is erected by King Tairrdelbach mac Ruaidri Ua Conchobair of Connacht.

Pope Honorius II succeeds Pope Calixtus II as the 163rd pope.

Arnald becomes the first Bishop of Greenland.