December 22

Today in History
• 1596 - Ferryboat Meuniers crashes in Paris, 150 die
• 1689 - Heavy earthquake strikes Innsbruck, Austria
• 1731 - Dutch people revolt against meat tax
• 1772 - Moravian missionary constructs 1st schoolhouse west of Allegheny
• 1775 - Continental navy organized with 7 ships
• 1807 - US Congress passes Embargo Act and President Thomas Jefferson signs into law
• 1882 - 1st string of Christmas tree lights created by Thomas Edison
• 1910 - U.S. postal savings stamps 1st issued


Holidays - Traditional and Obscure
• Dongzhi Festival
• Forefathers’ Day
• Mathematics Day
• National Cookie Exchange Day
• National Date Nut Bread Day
?• National Short Person Day
• Sambisa Memorial Day
• Zimbabwe Unity Day

Birthdays
• 242-245 - Diocletian, Roman Emperor (284-305) who defeated the Sarmatians and Carpi
• 1095 - Roger II, Count of Sicily (1105-30) and later King of Sicily
• 1178 - Emperor Antoku of Japan
• 1515 - Mary of Guise [Mary of Lorraine], pro-French Queen of Scots (1538-42)
• 1690 - Meidingnu Pamheiba, King of Manipur
• 1696 - James Oglethorpe, soldier, politician, philanthropist, founder of the colony of Georgia
• 1727 - William Ellery, US attorney and signer of the Declaration of Independence
• 1856 - Frank Kellogg, Secretary of State, 1925 - 1929, try to outlaw war, Nobel 1929