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  西班牙富埃特文图拉岛「Las Salinas del Carmen」博物館，西班牙文化財鹽田一景。

Ali MacGraw

The Getaway is a 1972 American action thriller film based on the 1958 novel by Jim Thompson. The film was directed by Sam Peckinpah, written by Walter Hill, and stars Steve McQueen, Ali MacGraw (pictured), Ben Johnson, Al Lettieri, and Sally Struthers. The plot follows imprisoned mastermind robber Carter "Doc" McCoy, whose wife Carol conspires for his release on the condition they rob a bank in Texas. A double-cross follows the crime, and the McCoys are forced to flee for Mexico with the police and criminals in hot pursuit. The Getaway premiered on December 19, 1972. Despite the negative reviews it received upon release, numerous retrospective critics give the film good reviews. A box-office hit earning more than $36 million, it was the eighth highest-grossing film of 1972, and one of the most financially successful productions of Peckinpah's and McQueen's careers. A film remake starring Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger was released in 1994. (Full article...)

Lobster emoji

• ... that a U.S. senator advocated for the lobster emoji (pictured)?
• ... that Irina Voronina was once painted blue and orange for a nude photoshoot?
• ... that, under O'Donoghue v. United States, Washington, D.C.'s courts are the only tribunals in the United States that might be both constitutional and legislative courts at the same time?
• ... that Alek Skarlatos, who helped foil a terrorist attack in 2015, became a member of the Oregon House of Representatives nearly a decade later?
• ... that a cartel was formed to purchase papyri for the Berlin Papyrus Collection?
• ... that British physiotherapist Jane Madders developed relaxation training for pregnant women and migraine patients?
• ... that the architecture of a city in Genshin Impact was influenced by an ancient town in the province of Hunan?
• ... that dockworkers constructed makeshift barricades out of large rolls of paper during the July 1936 military uprising in Barcelona?
• ... that several Internet memes, including "is this Battletoads?" and the NPC Wojak, originated from the 4chan imageboard /v/?

Fatafehi Fakafānua

• Fatafehi Fakafānua (pictured) is elected prime minister by the legislative assembly of Tonga.
• Filmmaker and actor Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, are found stabbed to death in their Los Angeles home.
• José Antonio Kast is elected president of Chile.
• Sixteen people, including a gunman, are killed in a mass shooting attack on a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in Sydney.

December 19

Henry II

• 1154 – Henry II (depicted) was crowned king of England in Westminster Abbey, London.
• 1964 – The ruling junta of South Vietnam, led by Nguyễn Khánh, initiated a coup, dissolving the High National Council, a civilian advisory body.
• 1984 – China and the United Kingdom signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration, agreeing to the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong to China on 1 July 1997.
• 1985 – Aeroflot Flight 101/435 was hijacked by the co-pilot and landed in a cow pasture in China, where he was apprehended.
• 1997 – Titanic, the third-highest-grossing film of all time, with a worldwide total of more than US$1.8 billion, was released in the United States.

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Caesar cipher with a left shift of 3

A Caesar cipher, also known as Caesar's cipher, the shift cipher, Caesar's code, or the Caesar shift, is one of the simplest and most widely known encryption techniques in cryptography. Named after Julius Caesar, who is said to have used it, it is a type of substitution cipher in which each letter in the plaintext is replaced by a letter some fixed number of positions down the alphabet. For example, with a left shift of 3, D would be replaced by A, E would become B, and so on (pictured). Caesar is believed to have used one in his private correspondence, and a similar one was used by his nephew, Augustus. The encryption step performed by a Caesar cipher is often incorporated as part of more complex schemes, such as the Vigenère cipher, and still has modern application in the ROT13 system. As with all single-alphabet substitution ciphers, the Caesar cipher is easily broken and in modern practice offers essentially no communications security. (Full article...)

Slab of blue lace agate

• ... that most blue lace agate (example pictured) was sourced from a single mine in Namibia until 2017?
• ... that the cast of the 1965 film Winter Kept Us Warm were not told about its queer subject matter?
• ... that the 2025 Enderlin tornado threw train cars nearly twice as far as required to qualify for the highest intensity tornado rating?
• ... that the manga series Mentsuyu Hitori Meshi has recipes on cooking with mentsuyu?
• ... that Hostage, a book written by Eli Sharabi after surviving 491 days in Hamas captivity, became the fastest-selling book in Hebrew-language publishing history?
• ... that Yuki Wakai gave up her dream to be a singer-songwriter to become an idol singer, only to later become a singer-songwriter?
• ... that Nazi officer Reinhard Höhn founded a business school after the Second World War?
• ... that Doug Jones considered retiring from creature-acting work until being offered the role of Saru on Star Trek: Discovery?
• ... that one sportswriter said: "If Dr. Frankenstein could construct a football player, Ja'Markis Weston would emerge from the lab"?

Fatafehi Fakafānua

• Fatafehi Fakafānua (pictured) is elected prime minister by the legislative assembly of Tonga.
• Filmmaker and actor Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, are found stabbed to death in their Los Angeles home.
• José Antonio Kast is elected president of Chile.
• Sixteen people, including a gunman, are killed in a mass shooting attack on a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in Sydney.

December 18: National Day in Qatar (1878)

Thomas Paine

• 1499 – Muslims in Granada began a rebellion against their Castilian rulers in response to forced conversions to Catholicism.
• 1792 – Thomas Paine (depicted) was found guilty of seditious libel for the publication of the second part of his book Rights of Man.
• 1867 – In Angola, New York, the last coach of a Lake Shore Railway train derailed, plunged 40 feet (12 m) down a gully, and caught fire, resulting in approximately 49 deaths.
• 1939 – Second World War: The Luftwaffe won a victory over the Royal Air Force in the Battle of the Heligoland Bight, greatly influencing both sides' future aerial warfare strategy.
• 2023 – A series of mass protests began in Belgrade, Serbia, alleging electoral irregularities in the Serbian parliament and Belgrade city assembly elections.

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  萬豪酒店經營的度假村裡，波利尼西亞主題的拉皮塔飯店（Lapita Hotel）。

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  短吻鼻鱼（Naso brevirostris），埃及红海。

Edith Swan (left) and Rose Gooding (right)

The Littlehampton libels were a series of letters sent to numerous residents of Littlehampton, in southern England, over a three-year period between 1920 and 1923. The letters, which contained obscenities and false accusations, were written by Edith Swan, a thirty-year-old laundress; she tried to incriminate her neighbour, Rose Gooding, a thirty-year-old married woman. Swan and Gooding (both pictured) had once been friends, but after Swan made a false report to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children accusing Gooding of maltreating one of her sister's children, the letters started arriving. Many of them were signed as if from Gooding. Swan brought a private prosecution against Gooding for libel. Gooding was imprisoned twice, but Scotland Yard investigated and cleared her. Swan was prosecuted in December 1921. A similar case of letters being sent over several years was reported in 2024, in the village of Shiptonthorpe, East Yorkshire. (Full article...)

Truganini

• ... that, upon the death of Truganini (pictured), the Aboriginal population of Tasmania was declared to be extinct?
• ... that the 141 Schools for Peace campaign was formed in the aftermath of the 2014 Peshawar school massacre and received proceeds from "We Will Fly"?
• ... that a retired manufacturing CEO and a former Muppeteer co-produced a biopic of Dietrich Bonhoeffer?
• ... that Otago Farmers Market celebrated its birthday with a "long lunch" on a railway platform?
• ... that the AI creation Tilly Norwood has been described as "really, really scary"?
• ... that Depeche Mode chose to follow a set of rules, including one against using chords, when they recorded their 1987 album Music for the Masses?
• ... that Bea Sprung credits her competitive swimming background with aiding her development as a footballer?
• ... that Trinity Communion Church in New York erected a 10-foot (3.0 m) papier-mâché pink elephant on its lawn to increase its visibility in its neighborhood?
• ... that Alexander Sabar feared thesis defense more than terrorists?

Rosen Zhelyazkov

• Sixteen people, including a gunman, are killed in a mass shooting attack on a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in Sydney.
• Bulgarian prime minister Rosen Zhelyazkov (pictured) and his government resign after two weeks of protests.
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 wins Game of the Year and eight other awards at the Game Awards.
• In Australia, a ban on the use of certain social media platforms by under-16s comes into effect.

December 16: Day of Reconciliation in South Africa

Slowed down special effect from "Dennō Senshi Porygon"

• 1640 – Prussian forces, led by Frederick the Great, moved his troops into the Habsburg region of Silesia, starting the First Silesian War.
• 1850 – Settlers of the Canterbury Association aboard Randolph and Charlotte Jane arrived to establish a colony at Christchurch, New Zealand.
• 1922 – Gabriel Narutowicz, the first president of Poland, was assassinated only five days after having taken office.
• 1930 – German-American gangster Herman Lamm killed himself during a botched robbery attempt in Clinton, Indiana, to avoid being captured by police.
• 1997 – "Dennō Senshi Porygon", an episode of the Japanese television series Pokémon, induced epileptic seizures in 685 children (effect pictured).

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  出生2個星期的黃金鼠寶寶（Mesocricetus auratus），眼睛還是紅色的。今天是日本配音員池澤春菜生日，她在改編動畫哈姆太郎中為哈姆太郎的主人春名露子配音。

Simon Cameron (1799–1889) was an American politician who was elected senator from Pennsylvania four times, and was War Secretary under Lincoln at the start of the Civil War. At first a supporter of James Buchanan, whom he succeeded in the Senate when Buchanan became Secretary of State in 1845, Cameron broke with Buchanan and the Democrats by the 1850s. An opponent of slavery, he briefly joined the Know Nothings before winning another term in the Senate as a Republican in 1857. He helped nominate and elect Lincoln, but rumors of corruption surrounded him; it was with reluctance that Lincoln appointed him to the cabinet. He did not do well in his post, and Lincoln made him minister to Russia in 1862, a post he held briefly. He rebuilt his political machine in Pennsylvania, winning a third term in the Senate in 1867. After ten years he resigned, arranging the election of his son, Don Cameron, in his place. Simon Cameron lived to age 90; his machine dominated local politics until the 1920s. (Full article...)

A rocking bed

• ... that Jessie Wright, director of physical medicine at the D.T. Watson Home for Crippled Children, helped invent the rocking bed (pictured) as a treatment for polio?
• ... that the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme has been criticised for placing workers at risk of modern slavery?
• ... that G. Michael Brown said that his 1980 conviction of four mobsters showed that the Mafia wasn't merely "a figment of Hollywood's imagination."?
• ... that a Super Bowl-winning defensive tackle went on to become a U.S. Army chaplain?
• ... that upon receiving her pay from His Master's Voice, Asiah Aman was taught by an executive how to open a bank account?
• ... that while the 2024 WDF World Darts Championship final featured a 70-year-old, the 2025 final featured a 15-year-old?
• ... that Indonesian ambassador Niniek Kun Naryatie initially wanted to resign as a diplomat after giving birth to her first child, but her husband convinced her not to do so?
• ... that India's Central Reserve Police Force tested the Trichy assault rifle in mud, rain, and saltwater conditions for reliability and accuracy before ordering the rifle?
• ... that a restaurant hired Frank Deig to eat its food?

Rosen Zhelyazkov

• Sixteen people, including a gunman, are killed in a mass shooting attack on a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in Sydney.
• Bulgarian prime minister Rosen Zhelyazkov (pictured) and his government resign after days of protests.
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 wins Game of the Year and eight other awards at the Game Awards.
• In Australia, a ban on the use of certain social media platforms by under-16s comes into effect.

December 15: First Day of Hanukkah (Judaism, 2025)

Constantine VIII

• 1025 – Constantine VIII (depicted) became the sole Byzantine emperor, 63 years after being crowned co-emperor.
• 1890 – Sitting Bull, a Hunkpapa Lakota leader, was killed on Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in South Dakota by U.S. Indian agency police.
• 1939 – The American historical epic film Gone With the Wind, adapted from Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer Prize–winning novel of the same name, premiered in Atlanta, Georgia.
• 1945 – The US-led occupying forces ordered the government of Japan to cease state support for Shinto.
• 2019 – Citizenship Amendment Act protests: 10 to 15 local women blockaded a major road in Delhi, India, to protest the exclusion of Muslims from the amended Citizenship Act.

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  瑞士文根阿爾卑斯鐵路BDhe 4/4 115號列車，由Bt控制车牽引，從小沙伊代格山口開往Wengernalp。

Tom Hall, game designer

Commander Keen in Invasion of the Vorticons is a three-part, episodic, side-scrolling, platform video game by Ideas from the Deep and published by Apogee Software in 1990 for MS-DOS. Tom Hall (pictured) designed the game, John Carmack and John Romero programmed it, and artist Adrian Carmack assisted. The game came about when Carmack found a way to implement smooth side-scrolling on IBM-compatible PCs, and Scott Miller asked the team to develop an original game within three months. The game follows Keen as he runs, jumps, and shoots through various levels, retrieving the stolen parts of his spaceship, preventing an alien ship from destroying landmarks, and hunting down the aliens responsible. Released through shareware, sales were strong and it was lauded by reviewers for its graphical achievement and humorous style. The team continued as id Software to produce another four episodes of the Commander Keen series and followed up with Wolfenstein 3D and Doom. It has been re-released several times. (Full article...)

Lorens von der Linde

• ... that Swedish general Lorens von der Linde (pictured) once shocked a British diplomat with his stories of King Charles X Gustav's German liaisons?
• ... that scholars have described the 1946 book The Failure of Technology as a precursor to the environmental movement?
• ... that Romanian far-right journalist Ilariu Dobridor died after being beaten and locked in his own home?
• ... that the Dutch-built and Turkish-operated Birinci İnönü-class submarines were used to discreetly develop German U-boats?
• ... that Dredge is a Lovecraftian horror and fishing video game?
• ... that the killing of an official by seven women was held up as an example of filial piety?
• ... that, when Mariame Clément directed Mozart's Così fan tutte, she froze a wedding tableau during the overture and restarted it in the finale?
• ... that Turkey is facing its worst drought in the last 50 years?
• ... that Nobuhiko Jimbo saved future Philippine president Manuel Roxas from execution during World War II, and Roxas did the same for Jimbo four years later?

Geoff Keighley

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 wins Game of the Year at the Game Awards (producer and host Geoff Keighley pictured).
• In Australia, a ban on the use of certain social media platforms by under-16s comes into effect.
• In motorsport, Lando Norris wins the Formula One World Drivers' Championship.
• In a military offensive, the Southern Transitional Council seizes most of southern Yemen from the government.

December 14: Martyred Intellectuals Day in Bangladesh (1971), Monkey Day

1925 Wozzeck poster

• 835 – In the Sweet Dew incident, Emperor Wenzong of the Tang dynasty conspired to kill the powerful eunuchs of the Tang court, but the plot was foiled.
• 1925 – Wozzeck (poster pictured) by composer Alban Berg, described as the first atonal opera, premiered at the Berlin State Opera.
• 1948 – American physicists Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann were awarded a patent for their cathode-ray tube amusement device, the first interactive electronic game.
• 1960 – Australian cricketer Ian Meckiff was run out on the last day of the first Test match between Australia and the West Indies, resulting in the first tied Test in cricket history.
• 1992 – War in Abkhazia: A helicopter carrying evacuees was shot down during the siege of Tkvarcheli, resulting in at least 52 deaths and catalysing more concerted Russian military intervention on behalf of Abkhazia.

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  从约500米高空拍摄的热尔托兰吉村（Желторангы）附近的盐碱地。位于哈萨克斯坦阿拉木图州，巴爾喀什区境内的巴尔喀什湖沿岸国家级（综合性）自然保护区。

Scott Zolak (born December 13, 1967) is an American broadcaster and former professional football player. He played quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for nine seasons, primarily with the New England Patriots. Over the course of his career, he played in 55 games, with 7 starts, for the Patriots and Miami Dolphins, completed 124 of 248 passes for 1,314 yards, threw eight touchdowns and seven interceptions, and finished his career with a passer rating of 64.8. A graduate of the University of Maryland, Zolak was selected 84th in the 1991 NFL draft by the New England Patriots. He did not play in 1991, but started four games in 1992 and had his most productive season statistically. When Drew Bledsoe was drafted in 1993, Zolak became his backup for the next six seasons. He was released at the end of the 1998 season, and signed with the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins in 1999. After his retirement, he became a sportscaster and football analyst in the New England area. (Full article...)

Dammusi on Pantelleria

• ... that traditional stone houses on the island of Pantelleria (examples pictured) passively maintain an internal temperature up to 8 °C (14 °F) cooler than the ambient air temperature in summer?
• ... that Kenssy Dwi Ekaningsih used her skills in traditional Javanese dance at diplomatic receptions during an assignment in Rome?
• ... that Yonki-no-kai Productions was founded by Akira Kurosawa, Masaki Kobayashi, Kon Ichikawa and Keisuke Kinoshita with the aim of reviving the struggling Japanese film industry?
• ... that, after Uruapan mayor Carlos Manzo was assassinated, his wife Grecia Quiroz was chosen to complete his term in office?
• ... that A. A. Gill saw "poseurs, pimps, phoney counts, lounge lizards, poodle fakers, ageing gigolos and remittance men" at San Lorenzo?
• ... that Catalan artist Josefa Tolrà created paintings and embroideries while in a trance?
• ... that 10 Things I Want to Do Before I Turn 40 was originally conceived as a science-fiction story about an older male succubus?
• ... that the majority of candidates in the 2024 Delaware elections ran unopposed?
• ... that YouTuber Laura Kampf got millions of views on a video in which she built a project that did not work?

Lando Norris

• In Australia, a ban on the use of certain social-media platforms by under-16s comes into effect.
• In motorsport, Lando Norris (pictured) wins the Formula One World Drivers' Championship.
• In a military offensive, the Southern Transitional Council seizes most of southern Yemen from the government.
• In Benin, a coup attempt by members of the armed forces is thwarted.
• Architect and designer Frank Gehry dies at the age of 96.

December 13: Nanjing Massacre Memorial Day in China (1937)

Haile Selassie

• 1294 – Saint Celestine V resigned the papacy after only five months to return to his previous life as an ascetic hermit.
• 1577 – Francis Drake set sail from Plymouth, England, on his round-the-world voyage.
• 1862 – American Civil War: Union forces under Ambrose Burnside suffered severe casualties against entrenched Confederate defenders at the Battle of Fredericksburg in Virginia.
• 1957 – A 6.5 magnitude earthquake struck the Iranian Hamadan province, killing at least 1,130 people.
• 1960 – With Haile Selassie (pictured), Emperor of Ethiopia, out of the country, four conspirators staged a coup attempt to install Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen on the throne.

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  赤胸杜鹃（Cuculus solitarius），記錄於烏干達基巴萊國家公園。

Coin of Theodosius III

Theodosius III was the Byzantine emperor from around May 715 to 717. Before rising to the throne of the Byzantine Empire, he was a tax collector in Adramyttium. In 715, the Byzantine navy and the troops of the Opsician Theme, one of the Byzantine provinces, revolted against Anastasius II, acclaiming the reluctant Theodosius as emperor. He led his troops to Chrysopolis and then Constantinople, seizing the city in November 715. Anastasius did not surrender until several months later, accepting exile in a monastery in return for safety. Many themes viewed Theodosius to be a puppet of the troops of the Opsician Theme, and his legitimacy was denied by the Anatolics and the Armeniacs under their respective strategoi (generals) Leo the Isaurian and Artabasdos. Leo entered Constantinople and definitively seized power in 717, allowing Theodosius and his son to retire to a monastery. When Theodosius died is uncertain, but it may have been in 754. (Full article...)

General Motors Technical Center

• ... that the opening of the General Motors Technical Center (pictured) featured an appearance by Indonesia's president and a speech from the US president?
• ... that Palestinian author Tareq Baconi, after studying MENA water scarcity and Hamas, wrote a memoir about queer identity, family displacement, and political awakening?
• ... that a New York railroad once operated a special train to a former train station so that people could see model trains?
• ... that Leon Russianoff never took a college music lesson, but an obituary stated that he was "considered by many to be the Godfather of American clarinetists"?
• ... that an American government database was named after a rock band?
• ... that the author of Kaiten no Albus did not decide the protagonist's objective until after the first chapter was written?
• ... that a Florida TV station was named after Columbia Pictures, even though a merger with that company fell through?
• ... that Gemma Hayter was inspired to return to playing darts after eight years when her friend became world champion?
• ... that multiple police raids failed to retrieve a book that was once valued at more than US$900 million?

Lando Norris

• In Australia, a ban on the use of certain social-media platforms by under-16s comes into effect.
• In motorsport, Lando Norris (pictured) wins the Formula One World Drivers' Championship.
• In a military offensive, the Southern Transitional Council seizes most of southern Yemen from the government.
• In Benin, a coup attempt by members of the armed forces is thwarted.
• Architect and designer Frank Gehry dies at the age of 96.

December 12: Beginning of the Yule Lads' arrival in Iceland

HMS Duchess

• 1388 – Unable to defend her possessions, Maria of Enghien sold the lordship of Argos and Nauplia to the Republic of Venice.
• 1939 – The Royal Navy destroyer HMS Duchess collided with HMS Barham, the battleship she was escorting, sinking with heavy loss of life.
• 1942 – World War II: German troops began Operation Winter Storm, an attempt to relieve encircled Axis forces during the Battle of Stalingrad.
• 1964 – Jomo Kenyatta became the first president of the Republic of Kenya.
• 1979 – A magnitude-8.2 earthquake struck just off the shore of Tumaco, Colombia, causing at least 300 deaths, mostly by the resulting tsunami.

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  喜马拉雅山脉马哈兰古山段Chola山谷。今天是國際山岳日。

George Mason (December 11, 1725 – October 7, 1792) was a Founding Father of the United States. A delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, he was one of three delegates who refused to sign the Constitution. His writings have exercised a significant influence on American political thought and events. The Virginia Declaration of Rights, which Mason principally authored, served as a basis for the United States Bill of Rights, of which he has been deemed a father. Many clauses in the Constitution were influenced by Mason's input, but he ultimately did not sign, citing the lack of a bill of rights. His prominent fight for a bill of rights led fellow Virginian James Madison to introduce one during the First Congress in 1789; these amendments were ratified in 1791, a year before Mason died. Obscure after his death, Mason later came to be recognized in the 20th and 21st centuries for his contributions to Virginia and the early United States. (Full article...)

Australian Church building

• ... that Charles Strong founded the Australian Church (building pictured) after facing heresy charges, and attracted many elite congregants including a future prime minister?
• ... that Baek Se-hee wrote I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki?
• ... that, after winning the Eurovision Song Contest 1965, France Gall was slapped by a fellow competitor?
• ... that some people who witnessed the sinking of the May Flint thought that it was a public display?
• ... that the Energy Polarizer claimed to enhance the performance of Holden Commodores with crystals?
• ... that MrBeast offered a $15,000 bounty to anyone who could defeat YouTuber Technoblade in the tournament Minecraft Monday?
• ... that the symbol of Slender Man originates from the web series Marble Hornets?
• ... that cyclist Sepp Kuss logged 547,019 metres (1,794,682 ft) of elevation gain in 2023?
• ... that the Minnesota and Wisconsin National Guards may have shot cannonballs across the Mississippi River at each other during artillery competitions at Camp Lakeview?

Lando Norris

• In motorsport, Lando Norris (pictured) wins the Formula One World Drivers' Championship.
• In a military offensive, the Southern Transitional Council seizes most of southern Yemen from the government.
• In Benin, a coup attempt by members of the armed forces is thwarted.
• Architect and designer Frank Gehry dies at the age of 96.

December 11

Lunar Roving Vehicle, driven by Gene Cernan

• 1899 – Second Boer War: In the Battle of Magersfontein, Boers defeated British forces trying to relieve the Siege of Kimberley.
• 1925 – Pope Pius XI promulgated the encyclical Quas primas, establishing the Feast of Christ the King.
• 1972 – Apollo 17 (Lunar Roving Vehicle pictured), the last Apollo mission, landed on the Moon.
• 1998 – With its pilot believed to have been suffering from spatial disorientation, Thai Airways Flight 261 crashed in a swamp on approach to Surat Thani Airport, resulting in 101 deaths.
• 2005 – Demonstrations in Cronulla, a suburb of Sydney, against recent violence towards locals turned into a series of race riots.

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  俄羅斯圣彼得堡彼得格勒区契卡洛夫斯基大街46號，主題為「人文與科技科學的統一」建構主義雕塑。

Edmund Ætheling (born 1016 or 1017, died before 1057) was a son of Edmund Ironside and his wife Ealdgyth. Edmund Ironside briefly ruled as king of England following the death of his father Æthelred the Unready in April 1016. Edmund Ironside died in late 1016 after a hard-fought war with Danish invader Cnut who became king of all England shortly after. The following year, Cnut sent Edmund Ironside's two infant sons, Edmund Ætheling and Edward the Exile, to Continental Europe, probably to the King of Sweden, to be murdered. Instead, the princes were spared and sent to Hungary, possibly after a sojourn at the court of Yaroslav I, prince of Kiev, in Russia. As Ironside's marriage lasted no more than 15 months, Edmund and Edward were either twins or one was born after their father's death. Edmund may have married a daughter of the Hungarian king, and he died in Hungary on 10 January in an unknown year before 1057. (Full article...)

Portrait of Paul Revere

• ... that Paul Revere's daughter had a portrait of him (pictured) revised, as it depicted him dressed informally?
• ... that the Tudor historian Polydore Vergil erroneously wrote that the site of the Battle of Edington was in Abingdon?
• ... that the aria "Caro mio ben" has been attributed to three Giordanis, one of whom was unrelated to the other two?
• ... that Achmad Husein required municipal employees of Banyumas to collect 1 kg (2.2 lb) of inorganic waste each month?
• ... that Superstring at Marymount station features child-like drawings of the sun, a singing bird, and cryptic messages on babies and saving water?
• ... that Tan Boon Chiang awarded four cases of PepsiCo soft drinks to each worker in Singapore after rejecting their claim for higher wages?
• ... that the American crow is considered to be a sign of good luck in Native American cultures?
• ... that Tony Hawk described ollieing a staircase in Lyon as "one of the greatest feats in skateboarding history"?
• ... that Bob Comfort, an atheist, made up a religion to avoid sergeant orders to pick one while serving in the United States military?

Lando Norris

• In motorsport, Lando Norris (pictured) wins the Formula One World Drivers' Championship.
• In Benin, a coup attempt by members of the armed forces is thwarted.
• Architect and designer Frank Gehry dies at the age of 96.
• In Saint Lucia, the Labour Party, led by Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre, retains its majority in the House of Assembly.
• Playwright and screenwriter Tom Stoppard dies at the age of 88.

December 10: Human Rights Day; Nobel Banquet in Stockholm, Sweden

Huckleberry Finn depicted by E. W. Kemble

• 1884 – Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Finn depicted) by American author Mark Twain was first published in the United Kingdom and Canada, two months earlier than in the US.
• 1890 – The New York World Building , the then-tallest building in the United States at a height of 110 meters, is completed in New York City.
• 1907 – During the Brown Dog affair, protesters marched through London and clashed with police officers in Trafalgar Square over the existence of a memorial for animals that had been vivisected.
• 1942 – Edward Raczyński of the Polish government-in-exile issued a note that was the first official report on the Holocaust.
• 1989 – At the first open pro-democracy demonstration in Mongolia, journalist Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj announced the formation of the Mongolian Democratic Union, which would be instrumental in ending communist rule four months later.

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  鹿角炭角菌（Xylaria hypoxylon）。記錄於瑞士格勞賓登州Val Sinestra。

Macrobdella decora, the North American medicinal leech, is a species of freshwater leech found in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. A medium-sized annelid growing up to 8.5 cm (3.3 in) long, it has a spotted greenish-brown back and a reddish underbelly. M. decora is commonly encountered by swimmers and lives in ponds, ditches, and wetlands. The leeches are both blood-sucking parasites and aggressive predators. They have three saw-like "jaws" which they use to penetrate their host's skin, and they can remain attached for up to two hours. Their hosts include fish, turtles, wading birds, and mammals, including humans. The leeches are also voracious predators who eat other invertebrates, amphibian eggs and larvae, and sometimes even members of their own species. M. decora was historically used for leeching by European colonists in North America, who found the native leeches "equally efficacious" as those from Europe. (Full article...)

The restored Satank Bridge

• ... that Satank Bridge (pictured) to Satank, Colorado, was constructed in 1900 for $2,325, while its 2011 restoration was estimated to cost at least $750,000?
• ... that one newspaper labelled Caroline Hodgson the "wickedest woman in Melbourne"?
• ... that Gävle Hospital in Sweden was so overrun with scarlet fever in 1934 that it considered requisitioning a local gymnasium?
• ... that Gatot Wilotikto needed approval from the North Korean parliament to marry a local woman?
• ... that more than 30 women claimed to have gone into labor within 24 hours of eating a Labor Inducer?
• ... that Friedrich von Pernstein, the archbishop of Riga for 37 years, only spent less than five years there?
• ... that the former Natick station building became the basement of a liquor store?
• ... that a former Indonesian ambassador was spared by Khmer Rouge forces after repeatedly shouting "Indonesia"?
• ... that the Pokémon Heracross may have contributed to an increase in demand for rhinoceros beetles in both legal and illegal Japanese insect markets?

Lando Norris

• In motorsport, Lando Norris (pictured) wins the Formula One World Drivers' Championship.
• In Benin, a coup attempt by members of the armed forces is thwarted.
• Architect and designer Frank Gehry dies at the age of 96.
• In Saint Lucia, the Labour Party, led by Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre, retains its majority in the House of Assembly.
• Playwright and screenwriter Tom Stoppard dies at the age of 88.

December 9: International Anti-Corruption Day

Electron micrograph of the smallpox virus

• 1775 – American Revolutionary War: After their loss in the Battle of Great Bridge, British authorities were forced to evacuate from the Colony of Virginia.
• 1940 – Second World War: British and Commonwealth forces began Operation Compass, the first major Allied military operation of the Western Desert campaign.
• 1965 – A large, brilliant fireball was seen by thousands in midwestern North America before landing in Kecksburg, Pennsylvania.
• 1979 – A World Health Organization commission of scientists certified the global eradication of smallpox (virus pictured), making it the only human infectious disease to date to have been completely eradicated.
• 1990 – In Serbia's first multi-party election, Slobodan Milošević won the presidential election and the Socialist Party of Serbia won the majority of seats in the National Assembly.

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  德國达尔斯半岛博恩一座漁民教堂的西側窗戶。

Part of the Coventry ring road at sunset

The Coventry ring road (A4053) is a 2.25-mile (3.62 km) ring road in Coventry, England, forming a dual-carriageway loop around the city centre. The road encloses Coventry Cathedral, the shopping areas, and much of Coventry University. Except junction 1, all junctions are entirely grade-separated and closely spaced, with weaving sections between them. The road connects with three other A roads: the A4114, the A4600 and the A429. From the 1930s, Coventry City Council began replacing its medieval streets with modern roads, and Donald Gibson, the city architect, began work in 1939 on a plan that was expanded after the Coventry Blitz during the Second World War. The ring road was constructed in six stages from 1959, initially with at-grade junctions, cycle tracks and footpaths, but in the early 1960s the council amended the design to include grade separation and the weaving sections. The road was completed in 1974, with an overall cost of £14.5 million (equivalent to £191 million in 2023). (Full article...)

Ahmad Shah Durrani

• ... that Ahmad Shah Durrani (pictured) conducted fifteen major military campaigns during his reign, comprising nine invasions of India, three in Khorasan, and three in Afghan Turkestan?
• ... that, when workers of the Zenkoku Jiren went on strike at a Hitachi factory, anarchist militants firebombed the mansion of Hitachi's president, Namihei Odaira?
• ... that Matilda Freeman did not originally intend to be an actress, but auditioned for a role after being teased by some classmates?
• ... that New Tide was abandoned after many of its contributors left the country or joined the Chinese Literary Association?
• ... that the 2014 Louisville, Mississippi tornado was powerful enough that an entire door was was torn off and blown 30 miles (48 km)?
• ... that a park in New York City occupies the former site of a waste transfer station and a heliport?
• ... that reggae musician James Mange formed a soccer-themed political party to compete in South Africa's first democratic election?
• ... that the Queen's Theatre in East London was named to reflect its opening in the same year as the coronation of Elizabeth II?
• ... that "the Boshfather" was deported from Australia in October 2025?

Frank Gehry

• Architect and designer Frank Gehry (pictured) dies at the age of 96.
• In Saint Lucia, the Labour Party, led by Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre, retains its majority in the House of Assembly.
• Playwright and screenwriter Tom Stoppard dies at the age of 88.
• In motorsport, Sébastien Ogier and Vincent Landais win the World Rally Championship.

December 8: Rōhatsu in Japan; Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Day in Ethiopia; Liberation Day in Syria

Portrait of Margaret Hughes by Peter Lely, 1672

• 1660 – Margaret Hughes (pictured) appeared professionally on the English stage; she is thought to have been the first woman to do so.
• 1880 – At an assembly of 10,000 Boers, Paul Kruger announced the fulfilment of the decision to restore the government and volksraad of the South African Republic.
• 1987 – A man shot and killed eight people at the Australia Post building in Melbourne, before jumping to his death.
• 2010 – The Japanese experimental spacecraft IKAROS flew by Venus at a distance of 80,800 km (50,200 mi), completing its planned mission to demonstrate solar-sail technology.
• 2024 – The Syrian civil war ended when Bashar al-Assad's party, the Syrian Ba'ath Party, surrendered to the Syrian opposition.

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  鹽的結晶體。地點位於西班牙富埃特文图拉岛「Las Salinas del Carmen」博物館，此處的鹽田是西班牙文化財。

Trankov and Volosozhar, the pairs champions

The 2015 Trophée Éric Bompard was a figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), and the fourth event of the 2015–16 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating. Held at the Meriadeck Ice Rink in Bordeaux, France, on 13 November 2015, medals were awarded in men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance. The competition was cancelled after the first day, following the November 2015 Paris terrorist attacks. The ISU later announced that the short program results would be considered the final results for the competition and any prize money and qualifying points for the Grand Prix Final were distributed. Shoma Uno of Japan won the men's event, Gracie Gold of the United States won the women's event, Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov (both pictured) of Russia won the pairs event, and Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue of the United States won the ice dance event. (Full article...)

Daniela Melchior

• ... that Daniela Melchior (pictured) once did a chemistry screen test with fancy rats?
• ... that scholar Martin P. Nilsson called the Ring of Nestor "a most amazing find", but later doubted its authenticity?
• ... that Ken Selby walked along U.S. Route 66 from Oklahoma City to Tulsa at the age of 73?
• ... that viruses can be catalogued into seven groups in the Baltimore classification?
• ... that a subculture from Asian-American gangs broadened to include women in college sororities and cultural clubs?
• ... that The Republic Newspaper Office was completed under budget despite the plans undergoing more than 100 changes during construction?
• ... that the video game My Time at Sandrock was funded by almost 10,000 people from more than 160 countries?
• ... that Brigadier General William J. Fox retired from the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, moved to Mexico and became a charro?
• ... that HMAS Emu once rescued a cigarette-smoking chimpanzee and his magician owner?

Philip Pierre

• In Saint Lucia, the Labour Party, led by Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre (pictured), retains its majority in the House of Assembly.
• Playwright and screenwriter Tom Stoppard dies at the age of 88.
• In motorsport, Sébastien Ogier and Vincent Landais win the World Rally Championship.
• The New Democratic Party, led by Godwin Friday, wins the Vincentian general election.

December 7: Feast day of Saint Ambrose (Christianity); National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day in the United States (1941)

Solidus of Tiberius

• 574 – Suffering from mental illness, Eastern Roman emperor Justin II had his general Tiberius proclaimed Caesar, adopting him as his own son.
• 1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Prairie Grove ended a Confederate attempt to regain control of northwestern Arkansas.
• 1972 – Construction workers found the remains of Martin Bormann near Lehrter Station in Berlin, ending a decades-long search after his conviction in absentia at the Nuremberg trials.
• 1995 – The Galileo spacecraft arrived at Jupiter, a little more than six years after it was launched by Space Shuttle Atlantis during Mission STS-34.
• 2014 - The annual furry convention Midwest FurFest was targeted in an unsolved chlorine gas attack.

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  圣尼古拉奇蹟創造者教堂（1766年），原位於俄羅斯Glotovo村，現存於俄羅斯苏兹达尔的蘇茲達爾克里姆林宮木結構建築博物館內。今天是東西方基督教大部分地區的聖尼古拉節。