Today in History

1719
Philip V of Spain declares war on France.
1776
Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense, a scathing attack on King George III's reign over the colonies and a call for complete independence.
1792
The Ottomans sign a treaty with the Russians ending a five year war.
1793
Jean Pierre Blanchard makes the first balloon flight in North America.
1861
Southern shellfire stops the Union supply ship Star of the West from entering Charleston Harbor on her way to Fort Sumter.
1861
Mississippi secedes from the Union.
1908
Count Zeppelin announces plans for his airship to carry 100 passengers.
1909
A Polar exploration team lead by Ernest Shackleton reaches 88 degrees, 23 minutes south longitude, 162 degrees east latitude. They are 97 nautical miles short of the South Pole, but the weather is too severe to continue.
1912
Colonel Theodore Roosevelt announces that he will run for president if asked.
1915
Pancho Villa signs a treaty with the United States, halting border conflicts.

1924
Ford Motor Co. stock is valued at nearly $1 billion.
1943
Soviet planes drop leaflets on the surrounded Germans in Stalingrad requesting their surrender with humane terms. The Germans refuse.
1945
U.S. troops land on Luzon, in the Philippines, 107 miles from Manila.
1947
French General Leclerc breaks off all talks with Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh.
1952
Jackie Robinson becomes the highest paid player in Brooklyn Dodger history.

1964
U.S. forces kill six Panamanian students protesting in the canal zone.
1974
Cambodian Government troops open a drive to avert insurgent attack on Phnom Penh.
1992
The Assembly of the Serb People in Bosnia and Herzegovina proclaims the creation of a new state within Yugoslavia, the Rupublika Srpska.
1996
A raid by Chechen separatists in the city of Kizlyar turns into a hostage crisis involving thousands of civilians.
2005
The Comprehensive Peace Agreement to end the Second Sudanese Civil War is signed by the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement.

2005
Mahmoud Abbas wins election to replace Yasser Arafat as President of the Palestinian National Authority.
2007
Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, unveils the first iPhone.

Joke of the Day

A family took their frail, elderly mother to a nursing home and left her,hoping she would be well cared for. The next morning, the nurses bathed her,fed her a tasty breakfast, and set her in a chair at a window overlooking a lovely flower garden.
She seemed okay, but after a while she slowly started to tilt sideways in her chair.Two attentive nurses immediately rushed up to catch her and straighten her up.

Again she seemed okay, but after a while she slowly started to tilt over to her other side.The nurses rushed back and once more brought her back upright. This went on all morning.Later, the family arrived to see how the old woman was adjusting to her new home.
"So Ma, how is it here? Are they treating you all right?"
"It's pretty nice," she replied. "Except they won't let me fart.”