On this date in history:
In 1520, Ferdinand Magellan entered the Pacific Ocean on his
way around the world. He was the first European to sail the
Pacific from the east.
In 1919, Virginia-born Nancy Astor became the first woman
member of the British Parliament.
In 1925, "The Grand Ole Opry," the famed country music show,
made its radio debut.
In 1942, a fire at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston
killed 491 people. Most victims suffocated or were trampled
to death.
In 1958, the United States fired an intercontinental
ballistic missile at full range for the first time.
In 1963, Cape Canaveral, the space center in Florida, was
renamed Cape Kennedy to honor the assassinated president.
Area residents later voted to revert to the original name.
In 1989, Czechoslovak Premier Ladislav Adamec agreed to a
coalition government. The next day, the Czech Parliament
revoked the Communist Party's monopoly.
In 1992, a fire destroyed parts of the Hofburg Palace in
Vienna, Austria, threatening the famous Lipizzaner stallions.
In 1993, British officials confirmed they have made secret
contacts with the outlawed Irish Republican Army in an
effort to end the violence in Northern Ireland.
Also in 1993, Carlos Roberto Reina was elected president
of Honduras.
In 1994, serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer and a second inmate
were beaten to death by another inmate at the Columbia
Correctional Center in Portage, Wis.
In 2002, an explosion hit an Israeli-owned hotel near
Mombasa in Kenya, killing at least 15 people, and two
missiles were fired at a departing Israeli passenger plane.
In 2003, an estimated 182 people were killed when two
crowded ferries collided during a storm in the Democratic
Republic of Congo.
In 2004, a gas explosion in a central China mine killed
a reported 166 people. About 123 miners escaped.
Also in 2004, more than 1 million Palestinians in the West
Bank and Gaza Strip were reported registered to vote in
the Jan. 9 election.
In 2005, at least 150 miners were killed in a northeast
China coal mine explosion. Seventy-one were reported missing.
Also in 2005, the trial of former Iraqi leader Saddam
Hussein resumed in Baghdad after a 40-day recess but was
adjourned for a week to find replacement defense lawyers.
And, in 2005, U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif.,
pleaded guilty to tax evasion and conspiracy charges
involving bribes from military contractors.
It’s Christ’s Time
Twinkling lights cascade in electronic motion
among the boughs of the Christmas tree
and the sight is as magical as a magic potion
setting the season a right as it should be
Ornaments both memory old and glittering new
hang from their strings amid the tinsel’s gilt
and the toy train runs around the tree as it should do
weaving among the presents chugging at full tilt
And there upon the top, a figure with wings wide spread
hovering over us this season, reminding us why
reminding us of that one who to a cross was lead
and gave us salvation even as he as mortal did die.
We celebrate His birth among us, a babe to teach us
and show us the way to the path we must seek
celebrate the reason for the season, amid the fuss
and share it with others let not your faith be weak