Sunday Open Thread: December 31 is New Year's Eve

That's it, the last day of the year, all she wrote, as they say

World History this day

1600 – The British East India Company was chartered 1857 – Queen Victoria picked Ottawa to be Canada's capitol 1951 – The Marshall Plan expired 1963 – The Central African Federation collapsed into Zambia, Malawi and Rhodesia. 1965 – Bokassa started a coup against the Central African Republic 1981 – A coup overthrew the government of Ghana 1983 – A coup ended the Second Nigerian Republic. 1992 – Czechoslovakia was peacefully dissolved 1999 – Yeltsin, resigned making Putin acting President of Russia

US History this day

1862 – Lincoln admitted West Virginia into the Union, partitioning Virginia 1946 – Truman proclaimed the end of WWII 1983 – The AT&T - Bell monpoly was broken up 1999 – The US gave control of the Panama Canal and the Canal Zone to Panama. ***** ***** Subject to the fact that the US will invade and overthrow any government it disapproves of at its sole discretion.

Science & Technology this day

1878 – Karl Benz filed for a patent on his two-stroke gas engine 1879 – Edison publicly demonstrated incandescent lighting for the first time 2011 – NASA putthe first of the two GRAIL satellites in lunar orbit

The Arts this day

Misc. this day 1759 – Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000 year lease and started brewing Guinness, that's optimism

Birthdays of Note this day

1491 – Jacques Cartier, navigator and explorer 1514 – Andreas Vesalius, physician and anatomist 1763 – Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, Napoleon's admiral at Trafalgar 1830 – Isma'il Pasha, Egyptian ruler, cost them the canal 1869 – Henri Matisse, painter 1880 – George Marshall, general and politician 1905 – Helen Dodson Prince, astronomer 1905 – Jule Styne, composer 1909 – Jonah Jones, trumpet and sax player 1917 – Evelyn Knight, singer 1925 – Daphne Oram, composer and electronic music creator 1928 – Ross Barbour, pop singer (4 Freshmen) 1930 – Odetta, singer, songwriter and guitarist 1940 – Mani Neumeier, drummer 1942 – Andy Summers, guitarist and songwriter     1943 – John Denver, guitarist, singer and songwriter 1943 – Pete Quaife, kinky bass player 1947 – Burton Cummings, singer, songwriter and keyboards player 1947 – Rita Lee, singer and composer 1948 – Donna Summer, singer and songwriter 1951 – Tom Hamilton, bass player 1972 – Joey McIntyre, singer and songwriter

Deaths of Note this day

1384 – John Wycliffe, philosopher and theologian 1691 – Robert Boyle, chemist and physicist 1719 – John Flamsteed, astronomer 1877 – Gustave Courbet, painter 1948 – Malcolm Campbell, speed freak 1968 – George Lewis, clarinet player and composer 1980 – Marshall McLuhan, philosopher and media theorist 1985 – Ricky Nelson, singer, songwriter, guitarist, actor, party goer 1997 – Floyd Cramer, singer, songwriter and pianist 2008 – Donald E. Westlake, author and screenwriter 2015 – Natalie Cole, singer, songwriter and actress

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So now some music

  Jonah Jones      

Daphne Oram  

Ross Barbour  

Odetta  

Mani Neumeier  

Andy Summers  

Pete Quaife  

Rita Lee  

Donna Summer  

Ricky Nelson  

Floyd Cramer  

Natalie Cole  

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Photo: The Fremont Street Experience. Las Vegas by Bernard Spragg. NZ; public domain Bernard Spragg. NZ

It's an open thread, so do your thing

I have a bunch of stuff to do today, so I might not be around much.

Crossposted from http://caucus99percent.com

edited to fix typos