Today is Tuesday, December 16, the 351st day of 2008. There are 15 days left in the year.
1631 _ Mount Vesuvius, Italy, erupts, destroys six villages and kills 4,000
1689 _ English Parliament adopts Bill of Rights after Glorious Revolution
1773 _ Big tea party in Boston harbor-Indians welcome (Boston Tea Party)
1915 _ Albert Einstein publishes his ``General Theory of Relativity
1949 _ Sukarno becomes President of Indonesia, Mokammed Hatta premier
1950 _ Truman proclaims state of emergency against ``Communist imperialism
1953 _ First White House Press Conference (President Eisenhower and 161 reporters)
1971 _ Don McLean's 8+ minute version of ``American Pie" released
1987 _ Roh Tae-woo wins Presidential election in South Korea
1991 _ U.N. reverses ruling that Zionism is racism by 111-25 (13 abstain) vote