SATURDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2012

Today is Saturday, December 29, the 364th day of 2012. There are two days left in the year.

1851 ― First Young Men's Christian Association chapter opened (Boston)

1862 ― Bowling ball invented

1885 ― Gottlieb Daimler patents first bike (Germany)

1891 ― Edison patents "transmission of signals electrically" (radio)

1920 ― Yugoslav government bans communist party

1934 ― Japan renounces Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and London Treaty of 1930

1989 ― Vaclav Havel becomes President of Czechoslovakia

1989 ― Wayne Gretzky and Martina Navratilova are named athletes of the decade by the Associated Press

1997 ― Hong Kong begins slaughtering all its chickens to prevent bird flu

1997 ― Russia signs agreement to build a $3-billion nuclear power plant in China