FRIDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2011

Today is Friday, December 23, the 357th day of 2011. There are eight days left in the year.

1690 ― John Flamsteed observes Uranus without realizing it's undiscovered

1867 ― First self-made millionairess (Sarah Breedlove, with hair straightener)

1888 ― Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh cuts off his left ear

1893 ― The opera ``Hansel und Gretel" is produced (Weimar)

1947 ― Transistor invented by Bardeen, Brattain & Shockley in Bell Labs

1962 ― Cuba starts returning U.S. prisoners from the Bay of Pigs invasion

1968 ― 82 members of U.S. intelligence ship ``Pueblo' released by North Korea

1970 ― New York World Trade Center reaches highest point (411 m)

1983 ― Journal Science publishes first report on nuclear winter

1997 ― Woody Allen, 62, weds Soon-Yi Previn 27, adopted daughter of Mia Farrow