[Today - as millions of machines built under the malign influence of Bill Gates ruin millions of perfectly good days - we the righteous celebrate the technical savvy and creative genius of Woz and the Dear Leader, whose machines are simply better. Sure, there are fewer of them, but that's because the vast majority of people are drama queens, who seem to enjoy spending a portion of every day trying (and ultimately failing) to get their ugly terminals and crappy software to function properly. 'To each his own' we say, as we snicker behind our hands, gloating...]
1340 - Niels Ebbesen killed Gerhard III of Holstein in his bedroom, ending an interregnum in Denmark which had begun in 1332.
1572 - During the Eighty Years' War, the Watergeuzen captured Brielle from Spain, gaining the first foothold on land for what would eventually become the Dutch Republic.
1789 - In New York City, the US House of Representatives attained its first quorum and elected Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania as its first House Speaker.
1857 - Herman Melville published The Confidence-Man, which would be his last novel-length work of fiction.
1891 - The Wrigley Company was founded in Chicago.
1924 - Adolf Hitler was sentenced to five years in jail for his role in the Beer Hall Putsch; he served just nine months, during which time he wrote Mein Kampf.
1939 - Francisco Franco declared an end to the Spanish Civil War after the last Republican forces surrendered.
1946 - A 7.8 magnitude earthquake off the Aleutian Islands created a tsunami that struck Hawai'i near Hilo, killing 159 there and six in Alaska and causing $26 million in damages including the destruction of the Scotch Cap Lighthouse on Unimak Island.
1948 - Faroe Islands received their autonomy from Denmark.
1949 - The Irish Free State became the Republic of Ireland.
1967 - The United States Department of Transportation began operations.
1970 - President Richard Nixon signed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law, requiring the Surgeon General's warnings on tobacco products and banning cigarette advertisements on television and radio in the United States to begin on the first day of 1971.
1973 - Project Tiger - oddly enough, a tiger conservation project - was launched in India's Corbett National Park.
1976 - Apple Computer was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne.
1979 - The Shah of Iran was deposed and the Islamic Republic was declared.
1996 - Nova Scotia's Halifax Regional Municipality was created.
1999 - The Canadian territory of Nunavut was created.
2001 - The Netherlands became the first country in the world to recognize same-sex marriage.
2004 - Google introduced its Gmail product to the public; the launch was met with scepticism on account of the date.
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