READ OUR CHRISTMAS DAY CONTEST WINNERS TOMORROW! Congratulations to our winners - Dante Ojeda, Nathaniel Engelsen, Heather Pilcher and XJ. Look for their alternate Christmas Day tomorrow!
December 24th, 2005
in 47,392 BCE, Telka and her great-granddaughter Swikolay reach the mountains of the Himalayas. The two slay many animals over the next week, and tan their hides into furs that they can wear. They start up the mountain as the years turns, and Telka tells Swikolay, “This mountain will allow us to touch the sky.”
in 753 AUC, a young Hebrew couple, the woman heavy with child, were given shelter in an inn in Bethlehem. The innkeeper, whose wife had just had a baby, took pity on them and gave them his finest room free of charge. When the woman died during childbirth the next morning, the husband took the young child to the east with 3 men who had apparently come to pay homage to the child because of a prophecy. This child grew up to be the great east philosopher Yeshua ben-Yusuph, whose speeches and writings became a bridge between Roman culture of the west and the Asian cultures of the east.
in 1802, a Signore Tolman, was permitted into the presence of Emperor Buonaparte of Italy to inform him of a grave disaster he could foresee with mystic powers. The emperor listened half-heartedly at first, but gave the man greater attention when he showed that he could disappear and reappear at will. Emperor Buonaparte sent his armies to the German north at the stranger’s request.
in 1814, the Treaty of Ghent brought peace between Canada and Great Britain after 2 years of war. Canada kept the formerly American colony of Maine by virtue of having troops all over it, and Great Britain paid restitution for the burning of the new Canadian capitol at Ottawa.
in 1865, the Ku Klux Klan was founded in Pulaski, Tennessee, by former Confederate soldiers unwilling to accept defeat. The racist organization was, oddly enough, responsible for keeping America from falling under the influence of the pro-Nazi American Bund during the 20th century because it forbade its members from allying with foreign powers.
in 1905, star-maker Howard Hughes was born in Houston, Texas. Although his family business was in the tool industry, Hughes saw his fortune in Hollywood, and with his acquisition of RKO Pictures in 1948, gave up all interest in virtually every other pursuit. Under his direction, RKO made some of the greatest classics in Hollywood’s history, such as Spartacus, The Godfather, and Star Wars. Hughes, who hated flying, died in a plane crash on his way home to his native Houston in 1982.
in 1952, Congress is unable to override President Truman's veto of the McCarren-Walter Act. Truman's characterization of the act as “inhumane” evoked the image of all the Jews turned away from America who went back to their deaths at the hands of the Nazis, and scuttled any chance the bill had of being enacted. This led to charges from the Republicans of being soft on Communism, but even incoming President Eisenhower agreed with Truman, having seen what happened to the Jews in Europe because of bad immigration policy.
in 1970, Bartholomew Thompson, direct descendent of Mikhail von Heflin, is born in Bryan, Texas. Although all four of his older siblings were aware of their lineage fairly early in life, Thompson didn’t find out until meeting with the Baron in 1996. Their introduction to each other at the science fiction convention Aggiecon proved pivotal for the both of them.
in 1972, international superstar Pete Best makes a controversial decision to perform for American troops fighting in Vietnam. Although he is derided as a sellout by the anti-war movement, the performance endears him to American troops everywhere. Best eventually mends the fence with the peaceniks with his album Goodwill Towards Men, released the following Christmas.
in 1994, Algerian extremists hijack a French plane and fly it to Paris, where they blow up the plane, killing all the passengers on board. The horrific spectacle prompts governments around the world to institute new security procedures in their airports. Scarily, this catches many other groups that were planning similar attacks over the next few years, including five groups in the United States who had planned on using large planes as missiles.
in 2003, a horrible crack opens in the earth surrounding London. Fires shooting up a hundred feet prevent the population from leaving by car or on foot – even airplanes find it hard to take off and fly through the geysers of fire. Pope Righteous I commands his Holy British troops to begin their march on Jerusalem.
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