GMT

Today in History December 27

537
Hagia Sophia inaugurated by the Emperor Justinian I as an Eastern Orthodox cathedral

1932
Radio City Music Hall opens.

1943
Montgomery discusses Overlord with Eisenhower & Bedell Smith

1944
General George S. Patton's Third Army, spearheaded by the 4th Armored Division, relieves the surrounded city of Bastogne in Belgium.

1968
The United States agrees to sell F-4 Phantom jets to Israel.

1983
President Reagan takes all responsibility for the lack of security in Beirut that allowed a terrorist on a suicide mission to kill 241 Marines.

1979
After invading Afghanistan two days earlier Soviet forces pull off a coup in Kabul, killing President Hafizullah Amin

2001
China receives permanent normal trade relations with the US.

2004
Radiation reaches Earth from the brightest extrasolar event ever witnessed, an explosion of magnetar SGR 1806-20.

2009
The World Health Organization says 208 countries, territories and communities have reported H1N1 cases, including at least 12,220 deaths

2012
NASA unveils plans to capture a 500 ton asteroid in 2025

2015
Iraqi forces retake IS held city of Ramadi (ISIS first captured in May)

Born on December 27

1822
Louis Pasteur, French chemist and microbiologist.


JOTD

A man goes to a $10 hooker and contracts crabs.
When he goes back to complain, the hooker laughs and says, "What do you expect for $10 -- lobster?"