Today is Saturday, December 5, the 339th day of 2009. There are 26 days left in the year.
1766 _ London auctioneers Christie's hold their first sale
1792 _ George Washington re-elected U.S. president, John Adams vice president
1830 _ Hector Berlioz' ``Symphonique Fantastique" premieres in Paris
1893 _ First electric car (built in Toronto) could go 15 miles between charges
1926 _ Sergei Eisenstein's ``Battleship Potemkin" debuts
1929 _ First U.S. nudist organization (American League for Physical Culture, New York, N.Y.)
1932 _ German physicist Albert Einstein granted a U.S. visa
1955 _ AFL and CIO merge, with George Meany as president
1973 _ Paul McCartney releases ``Band on the Run" album
1990 _ Salman Rushdie, author (ordered to death by Iran for blasphemy), appears in public for first time in two years