Today is December 10 2015

National Buckwheat Month: More
From Wikipedia: 'Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) is a plant cultivated for its grain-like seeds, and also used as a cover crop'. 'In a 100 gram serving, buckwheat provides 343 calories and is a rich source (20% or more of the Daily Value, DV) of protein, dietary fiber, four B vitamins and several dietary minerals, with content especially high (47 to 65% DV) in niacin, magnesium, manganese and phosphorus. B uckwheat is 72% carbohydrates, including 10% dietary fiber, 3% fat and 13% protein'.

• Dewey Decimal System Day: More
  Birthday of Melvil Dewey (1851-1931) inventor of the Dewey Decimal system of library classification. See more in the Historical Events section for 1851.
• The Nobel Prize Day: More
  The prizes have been awarded on December 10 since 1901. The prizes and monetary support were established in Alfred Nobel's will. See more in the Historical Events section for 1901.
• International Shareware Day: More
  Recognition of freeware and shareware.
  From Wikipedia: 'Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no monetary cost, which may have restrictions such as r edistribution prohibited, and for which source code is not available. Freeware, although itself free of charge, may be intended to benefit its owner, e.g. by encouraging sales of a more capable version. '.
  'There are many types of shareware, and while they may not require an initial up-front payment, all are intended to generate revenue in one way or another. Some limit use to personal non-commercial purposes only, with purchase of a license required for use in a business enterprise. The software itself may be limited in functionality or be time-limited. Or it may remind you that payment would be appreciated.'.

• Animal and Pets
  • International Animal Rights Day: More
    Created to coincide with the 1948, Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
• Other
  • Human Rights Day: More
    A UN observance since 1950 which celebrates the 1948, Universal Declaration of Human Rights. See more in the Historical Events for 1948.

• In 1817, Mississippi is admitted as the 20th state of the U.S.
  From Wikipedia: 'Mississippi is a state located in the southern region of the United States, with part of its southern border formed by the Gulf of Mexico. Its western border is formed by the Mississippi River.
  
  Located in the center of the state, Jackson is the state capital and largest city, with a population of around 175,000 people. The state overall has a population of around 3 million people. Mississippi is the 32nd most extensive and the 32nd most populous of the 50 United States.
  
  The state is heavily forested outside of the Mississippi Delta area, between the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers. Before the American Civil War, most development in the state was along riverfronts, where cotton plantations were cleared and worked by Slaves. After the war, the bottomlands to the interior were cleared mostly by freedmen. By the end of the 19th century, African Americans made up two-thirds of the property owners in the Delta, but timber and railroad companies acquired much of the land after the financial crisis and credit issues.
  
  Clearing altered the ecology of the Delta, increasing the severity of flooding along the Mississippi. Much land is now held by agribusinesses. A largely rural state with agricultural areas dominated by industrial farms, Mississippi is ranked low or last among the states in such measures as health, educational attainment, and median household income. The state's catfish aquaculture farms produce the majority of farm-raised catfish consumed in the United States.
  
  Since the 1930s and the Great Migration, Mississippi has been majority white, albeit with the highest percentage of black residents of any U.S. state. From the early 19th century to the 1930s, its residents were mostly black, a population that before the American Civil War was composed largely of African slaves. In the first half of the 20th century, a total of nearly 400,000 rural blacks left the state for work and opportunities in northern and midwestern cities, with another wave of migration around World War II to West Coast cities. In 2010, 37% of Mississippians were African Americans, the highest percentage of African Americans in any U.S. state. Since gaining enforcement of their franchise in the late 1960s, most African Americans support Democratic candidates in local, state and national elections. Conservative whites have shifted to the Republican Party. African Americans are a majority in many counties of the Mississippi-Yazoo Delta, an area of historic settlement during the plantation era. Since 2011 Mississippi has been ranked as the most religious state in the country'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
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• In 1851, Birthday of Melvil Dewey, American librarian. He created the Dewey Decimal System.
  From Wikipedia: 'The Decimal Classification introduced the concepts of relative location and relative index which allow new books to be added to a library in their appropriate location based on subject. Libraries previously had given books permanent shelf locations that were related to the order of acquisition rather than topic. The classification's notation makes use of three-digit Arabic numerals for main classes, with fractional decimals allowing expansion for further detail. A library assigns a classification number that unambiguously locates a particular volume in a position relative to other books in the library, on the basis of its subject. The number makes it possible to find any book and to return it to its proper place on the library shelv'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1868, The first traffic lights are installed, outside the Palace of Westminster in London. Resembling railway signals, they use semaphore arms and are illuminated at night by red and green gas lamps.
  From Wikipedia: 'On 9 December 1868, the first, non-electric, gas-lit traffic lights were installed outside the Houses of Parliament in London to control the traffic in Bridge Street, Great George Street and Parliament Street. They were proposed by the railway engineer J. P. Knight of Nottingham, who had adapted this idea from his design of railway signalling systems, and constructed by the railway signal engineers of Saxby and Farmer. The main reason for the traffic light was that there was an overflow of horse-drawn traffic over Westminster Bridge which forced thousands of pedestrians to walk next to the Houses of Parliament. The design combined three semaphore arms with red and green gas lamps for night-time use, on a pillar, operated by a police constable. The gas lantern was manually turned by a traffic police officer, with a lever at its base so that the appropriate light faced traffic. The signal was 22 feet high. The light was called the semaphore and had arms that would extend horizontally that commanded drivers to #Stop# and then the arms would lower to a 45 degrees angle to tell drivers to proceed with #Caution#. At night a red light would command #Stop# and a green light would mean use #Caution#.
  
  Although it was said to be successful at controlling traffic, its operational life was brief. It exploded on 2 January 1869, as a result of a leak in one of the gas lines underneath the sidewalk, injuring or killing the policeman who was operating it.
  
  In the first two decades of the 20th century semaphore traffic signals, like the one in London, were in use all over the United States with each state having its own design of the device. One good example was from Toledo, Ohio in 1908. The words “Stop” and “Go” were in white on a green background and the lights had red and green lenses illuminated by kerosene lamps for night travelers and the arms where eight feet above ground.:22 Controlled by a traffic officer who would blow a whistle before changing the commands on this signal to help alert travelers of the change, the design was also used in Philadelphia and Detroit.:23 The example in Ohio was the first time America tried to use a more visible form of traffic control that evolved the use of semaphore. The device that was used in Ohio was designed based on the use of railroad signals.
  
  In 1912, a traffic control device was placed on top a tower in Paris at the Rue Montmartre and Grande Boulevard. This tower signal was manned by a police woman and she operated a revolving four-sided metal box on top of a glass showcase where the word “Stop” was painted in red and the word “Go” painted in white.:33
  
  An electric traffic light was developed in 1912 by Lester Wire, a policeman in Salt Lake City, Utah, who also used red-green lights. On 5 August 1914, the American Traffic Signal Company installed a traffic signal system on the corner of East 105th Street and Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio.:27–28 It had two colors, red and green, and a buzzer, based on the design of James Hoge, to provide a warning for color changes. The design by James Hoge allowed police and fire stations to control the signals in case of emergency. The first four-way, three-colour or traffic light was created by police officer William Potts in Detroit, Michigan in 1920. Ashville, Ohio claims to be the home of the oldest working traffic light in the United States, used at an intersection of public roads from 1932 to 1982 when it was moved to a local museum. Many pictures of historical traffic lights appear at a Traffic Signal Trivia page.
  
  The tower was the first innovation that used the three-coloured traffic signal and appeared first in the City of Detroit, where the first three-colored traffic light was built at the intersection of Michigan and Woodward Avenues in 1920. The man behind this three-color traffic light was police officer William Potts of Detroit. He was concerned about how police officers at four different lights signals could not change their lights all at the same time. The answer was a third light that was coloured amber, which was the same color used on the railroad.:93 Potts also placed a timer with the light to help coordinate a four-way set of lights in the city. The traffic tower soon used twelve floodlights to control traffic and the reason for a tower in the first place was that at the time the intersection was one of the busiest in world, with over 20,000 vehicles daily.:35
  
  Los Angeles installed its first automated traffic signals in October 1920 at five locations on Broadway. These early signals, manufactured by the Acme Traffic Signal Co., paired “Stop” and “Go” semaphore arms with small red and green lights. Bells played the role of today's amber or yellow lights, ringing when the flags changed—a process that took five seconds. By 1923 the city had installed 31 Acme traffic control devices. The Acme semaphore traffic lights were often used in Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons for comedic effect due to their loud bell.
  
  The first interconnected traffic signal system was installed in Salt Lake City in 1917, with six connected intersections controlled simultaneously from a manual switch.:32 Automatic control of interconnected traffic lights was introduced March 1922 in Houston, Texas.
  
  In 1922 traffic towers were beginning to be controlled by automatic timers. The first company to add timers in traffic lights was Crouse Hinds. They built railroad signals and were the first company to place timers in traffic lights in Houston, which was their home city.:385 The main advantage for the use of the timer was that it saved cities money by replacing traffic officers. The city of New York was able to reassign all but 500 of its 6,000 officers working on the traffic squad; this saved the city $12,500,000.:385
  
  After witnessing an accident between an automobile and a horse-drawn carriage, African American inventor, Garrett Morgan, filed a U.S. patent for a traffic signal. Patent No. 1,475,024 was granted on November 20, 1923 for Morgan's three-position traffic signal. Although the site HISTORY.com credits this signal as the ancestor of today's yellow warning light, earlier devices including the aforementioned Potts signal in Detroit included the yellow (amber) light.
  
  The first traffic lights in Britain were deployed in Piccadilly Circus in 1926. Wolverhampton was the first British town to introduce automated traffic lights in 1927 in Princes Square at the junction of Lichfield Street and Princess Street.
  
  Melbourne was the first city in Australia to install traffic lights in 1928 on the intersection of Collins and Swanston Street.
  
  The twelve-light system did not become available until 1928 and another feature of the light system was that hoods were placed over the light and each lens was sand-blasted to increase daytime visibility.:383
  
  The use of both the tower and the semaphores were done by 1930. The tower was great with starting innovation but they were too big and obstructed traffic and the semaphores were too small and drivers could not see them at night.:382
  
  The first traffic light in South India was installed at Egmore Junction, Chennai in 1953. The city of Bangalore installed its first traffic light at Corporation Circle in 1963.
  
  The control of traffic lights made a big turn with the rise of computers in America in the 1950s. Thanks to computers, the changing of lights made Crosby's flow even quicker thanks to computerized detection. A pressure plate was placed at intersections so once a car was on the plate computers would know that a car was waiting at the red light.:135 Some of this detection included knowing the number of waiting cars against the red light and the length of time waited by the first vehicle at the red.:141 One of the best historical examples of computerized control of lights was in Denver in 1952. One computer took control of 120 lights with six pressure-sensitive detectors measuring inbound and outbound traffic. The system was in place at the central business district, where the most traffic was between the downtown area and the north and northeastern parts of the city. The control room that housed the computer in charge of the system was in the basement of the City and County Building.:141 As computers started to evolve, traffic light control also improved and became easier. In 1967, the city of Toronto was the first to use more advanced computers that were better at vehicle detection.:141 Thanks to the new and better computers traffic flow moved even quicker than with the use of the tower. The computers maintained control over 159 signals in the cities through telephone lines. People praised the computers for their detection abilities. Thanks to detection computers could change the length of the green light based on the volume of waiting cars.:143 The rise of computers is the model of traffic control which is now used in the 21st century.
  
  Countdown timers on traffic lights were introduced in the 1990s. Timers are useful for pedestrians, to plan whether there is enough time to cross the intersection before the end of the walk phase, and for drivers, to know the amount of time before the light turns green. In the United States, timers for vehicle traffic are prohibited, but pedestrian timers are now required on new or upgraded signals on wider roadways'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube (Ace Semephone Traffic signal): More
• In 1896, The first ever college basketball game is played. Wesleyan defeats Yale by score of 4, 3.
  From Wikipedia: 'The first known college to field a basketball team against an outside opponent was Vanderbilt University, which played against the local YMCA in Nashville, Tennessee, on February 7, 1893. The second recorded instance of an organized college basketball game was Geneva College's game against the New Brighton YMCA on April 8, 1893, in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, which Geneva won 3–0.
  
  The first recorded game between two college teams occurred on February 9, 1895, when Hamline University faced Minnesota A and M (which later became a part of the University of Minnesota). Minnesota A and M won the game, which was played under rules allowing nine players per side, 9–3. The first intercollegiate match using the modern rule of five players per side is often credited as a game between the University of Chicago and the University of Iowa, in Iowa City, Iowa, on January 18, 1896. The Chicago team won the game 15-12, under the coaching of Amos Alonzo Stagg, who had learned the game from James Naismith at the Springfield YMCA. However, some sources state the first "true" five-on-five intercollegiate match was a game in 1897 between Yale and Penn, because although the Iowa team that played Chicago in 1896 was composed of University of Iowa students, it reportedly did not officially represent the university, rather it was organized through a YMCA. By 1900, the game of basketball had spread to colleges across the country'.
  - At FamousDaily: More
  - At Wikipedia: More
• In 1898, The Spanish-American War formally ended by the Treaty of Paris; US acquires Philippines, Puerto Rico and Guam. Cuba became independant of Spain. Hostilities ended on August 12, 1898. The treaty was ratified by the United States Senate on February 6, 1899.
  From Wikipedia: 'The Spanish–American War (Spanish: Guerra hispano-estadounidense or Guerra hispano-americana) was a conflict fought between Spain and the United States in 1898. Hostilities began in the aftermath of the internal explosion of the USS Maine in Havana harbor leading to American intervention in the Cuban War of Independence. American acquisition of Spain's Pacific possessions led to its involvement in the Philippine Revolution and ultimately in the Philippine–American War.
  
  Revolts had been occurring for some years in Cuba against Spanish rule which the U.S. later backed upon entering the Spanish–American War. There had been war scares before, as in the Virginius Affair in 1873. In the late 1890s, US public opinion was agitated by anti-Spanish propaganda led by journalists such as Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst which used yellow journalism to call for war. However, the Hearst and Pulitzer papers were circulated among the working class in New York City and did not reach a national audience. Historians of the 1930s blamed them for stirring up a war frenzy, but more recent scholars have not accepted that theory. The business community across the United States had just recovered from a deep depression, and feared that a war would reverse the gains. They lobbied vigorously against going to war.
  
  The US Navy battleship Maine was mysteriously sunk in Havana harbor; political pressures from the Democratic Party pushed the administration of Republican President William McKinley into a war that he had wished to avoid. Spain promised time and time again that it would reform, but never delivered. The United States sent an ultimatum to Spain demanding that it surrender control of Cuba. First Madrid declared war, and Washington then followed suit.
  
  The main issue was Cuban independence; the ten-week war was fought in both the Caribbean and the Pacific. US naval power proved decisive, allowing expeditionary forces to disembark in Cuba against a Spanish garrison already facing nationwide Cuban insurgent attacks and further wasted by yellow fever. Numerically superior Cuban, Philippine, and US forces obtained the surrender of Santiago de Cuba and Manila despite the good performance of some Spanish infantry units and fierce fighting for positions such as San Juan Hill. Madrid sued for peace with two obsolete Spanish squadrons sunk in Santiago de Cuba and Manila Bay and a third, more modern fleet recalled home to protect the Spanish coasts.
  
  The result was the 1898 Treaty of Paris, negotiated on terms favorable to the US which allowed it temporary control of Cuba and ceded ownership of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippine islands. The cession of the Philippines involved payment of $20 million ($569,840,000 today) to Spain by the US to cover infrastructure owned by Spain.
  
  The defeat and collapse of the Spanish Empire was a profound shock to Spain's national psyche, and provoked a thorough philosophical and artistic revaluation of Spanish society known as the Generation of '98. The United States gained several island possessions spanning the globe and a rancorous new debate over the wisdom of expansionism.
  
  The war began exactly fifty-two years after the beginning of the Mexican–American War. It was one of only five US wars (against a total of eleven sovereign states) to have been formally declared by Congress'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
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• In 1901, The first Nobel Peace Prizes awarded to Jean Henri Dunant, Frederic Passy.
  From Wikipedia: 'The prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, except for the peace prize which is awarded in Oslo, Norway. The Nobel Prize is widely regarded as the most prestigious award available in the fields of literature, medicine, physics, chemistry, peace, and economics'.
  From Wikipedia: 'The Nobel Prize is a set of annual international awards bestowed in a number of categories by Swedish and Norwegian institutions in recognition of academic, cultural, and/or scientific advances.
  
  The will of the Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel established the prizes in 1895. The prizes in Chemistry, Literature, Peace, Physics, and Physiology or Medicine were first awarded in 1901. Medals made before 1980 were struck in 23 carat gold, and later from 18 carat green gold plated with a 24 carat gold coating. Between 1901 and 2015, the Nobel Prizes and the Prize in Economic Sciences were awarded 573 times to 900 people and organisations. With some receiving the Nobel Prize more than once, this makes a total of 23 organisations, and 870 individuals—of whom 48 were women.
  
  The prize ceremonies take place annually in Stockholm, Sweden (with the exception of the peace prize, which is held in Oslo, Norway). Each recipient, or laureate, receives a gold medal, a diploma, and a sum of money that has been decided by the Nobel Foundation. (As of 2012, each prize was worth SEK8 million or about US$1.2 million, €0.93 million, or £0.6 million.) The Nobel Prize is widely regarded as the most prestigious award available in the fields of literature, medicine, physics, chemistry, peace, and economics.
  
  The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awards the Nobel Prize in Physics, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences; the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet awards the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine; the Swedish Academy grants the Nobel Prize in Literature; and the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded not by a Swedish organisation but by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
  
  The prize is not awarded posthumously; however, if a person is awarded a prize and dies before receiving it, the prize may still be presented. Though the average number of laureates per prize increased substantially during the 20th century, a prize may not be shared among more than three people.
  
  Once the Nobel Foundation and its guidelines were in place, the Nobel Committees began collecting nominations for the inaugural prizes. Subsequently, they sent a list of preliminary candidates to the prize-awarding institutions.
  
  The Nobel Committee's Physics Prize shortlist cited Wilhelm Röntgen's discovery of X-rays and Philipp Lenard's work on cathode rays. The Academy of Sciences selected Röntgen for the prize. In the last decades of the 19th century, many chemists had made significant contributions. Thus, with the Chemistry Prize, the Academy "was chiefly faced with merely deciding the order in which these scientists should be awarded the prize." The Academy received 20 nominations, eleven of them for Jacobus van't Hoff. Van't Hoff was awarded the prize for his contributions in chemical thermodynamics.
  
  The Swedish Academy chose the poet Sully Prudhomme for the first Nobel Prize in Literature. A group including 42 Swedish writers, artists, and literary critics protested against this decision, having expected Leo Tolstoy to be awarded. Some, including Burton Feldman, have criticised this prize because they consider Prudhomme a mediocre poet. Feldman's explanation is that most of the Academy members preferred Victorian literature and thus selected a Victorian poet. The first Physiology or Medicine Prize went to the German physiologist and microbiologist Emil von Behring. During the 1890s, von Behring developed an antitoxin to treat diphtheria, which until then was causing thousands of deaths each year.
  
  The first Nobel Peace Prize went to the Swiss Jean Henri Dunant for his role in founding the International Red Cross Movement and initiating the Geneva Convention, and jointly given to French pacifist Frédéric Passy, founder of the Peace League and active with Dunant in the Alliance for Order and Civilization'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
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• In 1911, Calbraith Rogers completes the first crossing of U.S. by airplane.
  From Wikipedia: 'Rodgers left from Sheepshead Bay, New York, on September 17, 1911, at 4:30 pm. He reached Chicago on October 9, 1911. It was decided to avoid the Rocky Mountains, he would take a southerly route, flying south through the midwest until reaching Texas. He turned west after reaching San Antonio. On November 5, 1911, he landed at Tournament Park in Pasadena, California, at 4:04 pm in front of 20,000 people. He had missed the prize deadline by 19 days. On December 10, 1911, he landed in Long Beach, California, and taxied his plane into the Pacific Ocean. He had carried the first transcontinental U.S. Mail pouch. The trip required 70 stops, and he paid the Wright brothers' technician, Charlie Taylor, $70 a week to be his mechanic. Taylor followed the flight by train and performed maintenance for the next day's flight. The next transcontinental flight was made by Robert G. Fowler'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
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• In 1927, The phrase 'Grand Ole Opry' is used for the first time.br />From Wikipedia: 'The phrase 'Grand Ole Opry' was first uttered on the air on December 10, 1927. At the time, Barn Dance followed the NBC Red Network's Music Appreciation Hour, a program of classical music and selections from Grand Opera presented by classical conductor Walter Damrosch. On that particular night, Damrosch had remarked that 'there is no place in the classics for realism.' In response, Opry presenter George Hay said:' 'Friends, the program which just came to a close was devoted to the classics. Doctor Damrosch told us that there is no place in the classics for realism. However, from here on out for the next three hours, we will present nothing but realism. It will be down to earth for the 'earthy'. 'For the past hour, we have been listening to music taken largely from Grand Opera. From now on, we will present the 'Grand Ole Opry'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1948, The United Nations General Assembly adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
  From Wikipedia: 'The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1948 at the Palais de Chaillot, Paris. The Declaration arose directly from the experience of the Second World War and represents the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled. The full text is published by the United Nations on its website'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On UN Website (the declaration): More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1955, The TV show 'Mighty Mouse Playhouse' premieres. From Wikipedia: 'Mighty Mouse Playhouse is an American television anthology series featuring animated short films starring Mighty Mouse. The series aired on CBS from 1955 to 1966. The series was credited with popularizing the Mighty Mouse character in popular culture far beyond what the original film shorts had done'.
  From Wikipedia: 'Mighty Mouse Playhouse is an American television anthology series featuring animated short films starring Mighty Mouse. The series aired on CBS from 1955 to 1966. The series was credited with popularizing the Mighty Mouse character in popular culture far beyond what the original film shorts had done.
  
  Mighty Mouse was not extraordinarily popular in theatrical cartoons, but was still Terrytoons' most popular character. What made him a cultural icon was television. Most of the short film studios, both live-action and animated, were in decline by the 1950s, pressured both by the loss of film audiences to television as well as the increased popularity (and financial benefits) of low-budget, stylized, limited animation. Most of the studios cashed out of the short-film production business and began licensing or selling their back catalogs to television. Paul Terry went as far as to sell the entire Terrytoon company to CBS in 1955. The network began running Mighty Mouse Playhouse in December 1955. It remained on the air for nearly twelve years (and featured The Mighty Heroes during the final season). Mighty Mouse cartoons became a staple of children's television programming for a period of over thirty years, from the 1950s through the 1980s.
  
  Terrytoons, under CBS ownership, produced only three further Mighty Mouse theatrical cartoons in the 1959–1961 time frame (this was in marked contrast to other animated cartoon lines such as Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry and Woody Woodpecker, all of which continued to produce new film shorts for nearly a decade after licensing their library to television). The company evidently believed that the existing library of shorts was enough to keep youngsters tuning into CBS every Saturday morning; the library consisted of 80 shorts, enough for 26 half-hour episodes.
  
  Some early vinyls credit the original 1955 Mighty Mouse Playhouse theme song to The Terrytooners, Mitch Miller and Orchestra, but recent publishing has generally credited The Sandpipers'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
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Tomorrow's food holiday celebrates 'National Buckwheat Month' From Wikipedia: 'Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) is a plant cultivated for its grain-like seeds, and also used as a cover crop'. 'In a 100 gram serving, buckwheat provides 343 calories and is a rich source (20% or more of the Daily Value, DV) of protein, dietary fiber, four B vitamins and several dietary minerals, with content especially high (47 to 65% DV) in niacin, magnesium, manganese and phosphorus. B uckwheat is 72% carbohydrates, including 10% dietary fiber, 3% fat and 13% protein'.
[The Hankster says] Ah, a double stack of Buckwheat cakes with plenty of maple syrup and butter. And a tall glass of cold milk.


It's 'Dewey Decimal System Day' tomorrow. Birthday of Melvil Dewey (1851-1931) inventor of the Dewey Decimal system of library classification. See more in the Historical Events section for 1851.
[The Hankster says] I can still remember standing with the school class in front of the card catalog, while the teacher explained the system.

Tomorrow is 'The Nobel Prize Day'. The prizes have been awarded on December 10 since 1901. The prizes and monetary support were established in Alfred Nobel's will. See more in the Historical Events section for 1901.

Time to download some more stuff to your PC or Smart Phone. Tomorrow is 'International Shareware Day'. Recognition of freeware and shareware. From Wikipedia: 'Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no monetary cost, which may have restrictions such as r edistribution prohibited, and for which source code is not available. Freeware, although itself free of charge, may be intended to benefit its owner, e.g. by encouraging sales of a more capable version. '. 'There are many types of shareware, and while they may not require an initial up-front payment, all are intended to generate revenue in one way or another. Some limit use to personal non-commercial purposes only, with purchase of a license required for use in a business enterprise. The software itself may be limited in functionality or be time-limited. Or it may remind you that payment would be appreciated.'.


Awareness / Observance Days on: December 10
o Animal and Pets
- 'International Animal Rights Day'. Created to coincide with the 1948, Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

o Other
- 'Human Rights Day'. A UN observance since 1950 which celebrates the 1948, Universal Declaration of Human Rights. See more in the Historical Events for 1948.


Historical events in the past on: December 10

In 1817, Mississippi is admitted as the 20th state of the U.S.

In 1851, Birthday of Melvil Dewey, American librarian. He created the Dewey Decimal System. From Wikipedia: 'The Decimal Classification introduced the concepts of relative location and relative index which allow new books to be added to a library in their appropriate location based on subject. Libraries previously had given books permanent shelf locations that were related to the order of acquisition rather than topic. The classification's notation makes use of three-digit Arabic numerals for main classes, with fractional decimals allowing expansion for further detail. A library assigns a classification number that unambiguously locates a particular volume in a position relative to other books in the library, on the basis of its subject. The number makes it possible to find any book and to return it to its proper place on the library shelv'.

In 1868, The first traffic lights are installed, outside the Palace of Westminster in London. Resembling railway signals, they use semaphore arms and are illuminated at night by red and green gas lamps.

In 1896, The first ever college basketball game is played. Wesleyan defeats Yale by score of 4, 3.

In 1898, The Spanish-American War formally ended by the Treaty of Paris; US acquires Philippines, Puerto Rico and Guam. Cuba became independant of Spain. Hostilities ended on August 12, 1898. The treaty was ratified by the United States Senate on February 6, 1899.

In 1901, The first Nobel Peace Prizes awarded to Jean Henri Dunant, Frederic Passy. From Wikipedia: 'The prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, except for the peace prize which is awarded in Oslo, Norway. The Nobel Prize is widely regarded as the most prestigious award available in the fields of literature, medicine, physics, chemistry, peace, and economics'.

In 1911, Calbraith Rogers completes the first crossing of U.S. by airplane in 84 days.

In 1927, The phrase 'Grand Ole Opry' is used for the first time. From Wikipedia: 'The phrase 'Grand Ole Opry' was first uttered on the air on December 10, 1927. At the time, Barn Dance followed the NBC Red Network's Music Appreciation Hour, a program of classical music and selections from Grand Opera presented by classical conductor Walter Damrosch. On that particular night, Damrosch had remarked that 'there is no place in the classics for realism.' In response, Opry presenter George Hay said:' 'Friends, the program which just came to a close was devoted to the classics. Doctor Damrosch told us that there is no place in the classics for realism. However, from here on out for the next three hours, we will present nothing but realism. It will be down to earth for the 'earthy'. 'For the past hour, we have been listening to music taken largely from Grand Opera. From now on, we will present the 'Grand Ole Opry'.

In 1948, The United Nations General Assembly adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. From Wikipedia: 'The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1948 at the Palais de Chaillot, Paris. The Declaration arose directly from the experience of the Second World War and represents the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled. The full text is published by the United Nations on its website'.

In 1955, The TV show 'Mighty Mouse Playhouse' premieres. From Wikipedia: 'Mighty Mouse Playhouse is an American television anthology series featuring animated short films starring Mighty Mouse. The series aired on CBS from 1955 to 1966. The series was credited with popularizing the Mighty Mouse character in popular culture far beyond what the original film shorts had done'.

No. 1 song

• Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season) - The Bryds: More
  '1-2-3' has been displaced by 'Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)', which will hold the no. 1 spot until December 11 1965, when 'Let's Hang On! - Four Seasons', takes over.

Top movie

• That Darn Cat! More
  Having displaced 'Harum Scarum', it will be there until the weekend box office of Dec 12 1965 when, 'A Patch of Blue', takes over.

• FamousBirthdays.com: December 10 Birthdays More
• FamousDaily.com: December 10 History More
• History.com: Historical Events on 10th December More
• HistoryOrb.com: Famous Deaths on 10th December More
• On-This-day.com history 10th December More
• On-This-day.com music history 10th December More
• Wikipedia.com: History December 10 More

Monthly holiday / awareness days in December

Food
Buckwheat Month
Worldwide Food Service Safety Month

Health
Aids Awareness Month
Take a New Year's Resolution to Stop Smoking (TANYRSS) (12/17 - 2/7)

Other
Bingo's Birthday Month
National Drunk and Drugged Driving (3D) Prevention Month
National Impaired Driving Prevention Month
National Tie Month
National Write A Business Plan Month
Operation Santa Paws (1-19)
Safe Toys and Gifts Month
Universal Human Rights Month

December is:

December origin (from Wikipedia): ' December gets its name from the Latin word decem (meaning ten) because it was originally the tenth month of the year in the Roman calendar, which began in March. The winter days following December were not included as part of any month. Later, the months of January and February were created out of the monthless period and added to the beginning of the calendar, but December retained its name. '

' December is the first month of meteorological winter in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, December is the seasonal equivalent to June in the Northern hemisphere, which is the first month of summer. D ecember is the month with the shortest daylight hours of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and the longest daylight hours of the year in the Southern Hemisphere. '

December at Wikipedia: More

If you couldn't afford 90 cents for a movie ticket, 50 years ago, or your 45 RPM record player was broke, you might watch one of these shows on TV.
From this Wikipedia article: More

Best selling books of 1965 More

• Astronomy Picture of the Day: More
• NOAA: - National Hurricane Center - Atlantic Graphical Tropical Weather Outlook: More
• Listen to Old Radio Shows: (streaming mp3 with schedule) More
• NASA TV: (video feed) More
  NASA TV schedule: More
• Public Domain eBook Links

  Sites for downloading or reading free Public Domain eBooks. Available in various formats. More

• Podcast: A Moment of Science. Approximately 1 minute general science facts.
  Home page: More
  RSS: More
• Podcast: The Naked Scientists. Current science, medicine, space and other science
  Home page: More
  RSS: More
• Podcast: Quirks & Quarks. Current science news.
  Home page: More
  RSS: More
• Articles and videos: Universe Today. Current space and astronomy news.
  Home page: More
  RSS: More
• Old Picture of the Day - "Each day we bring you one stunning little glimpse of history in the form of a historical photograph."
  Home page: More
  RSS: More

Below, are listed several holiday sites that I reference in addition to other holiday researches.

US Government Holidays

• 2015 Postal Holidays More
• 2015 Official Federal Holidays More

Holidays Worldwide

• List of holidays by country More
• Holidays and Observances around the World More