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