Today is Oatmeal Muffins Day and also Look For An Evergreen Day. And it is the Anniversary of the First Christmas Greeting from Space. In 1958 the first Christmas greeting (a recording from President Dwight Eisenhower) was broadcast from space by a satellite launched a day earlier. 10 years later another Christmas greeting was broadcast from space by the astronauts of Apollo 8 as they circled the moon on Christmas Eve.1968.

The next couple of weeks are a vacation for me so I may not get to this site to update it. Just in case I don't, I wish a Merry Christmas (or Happy Holidays if you prefer) to all the visitors.

Now, it is off to see what is in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

The photos are: 1) the Oklahoma City skyline; 2) the Oklahoma State Capitol Building; 3) Horses of the Oklahoma Land Run Monument; 4) water taxis on the Bricktown Canal; 5) the Myriad Botanical Gardens; 6) the Survivor Tree at the Oklahoma City National Memorial; 7) the Field of Empty Chairs at the Oklahoma City National Memorial; and 8) sunset over Lake Hefner in northwest Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma City is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, the city ranks 31st among United States cities in population. The city's estimated population as of 2006 was 537,734, with a 2007 estimated population of 1,192,989 in the metropolitan area. In 2007, the Oklahoma City-Shawnee Combined Statistical Area had a population of 1,262,027 residents.
Besides Oklahoma County, the sprawling city extends into Canadian, Cleveland, and Pottawatomie counties. It was founded during the Land Run of 1889.
In 1995, the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was bombed by a disaffected U.S. Army veteran. With the Oklahoma City bombing resulting in 168 deaths, Timothy McVeigh caused the most destructive act of domestic terrorism in United States history, and the most destructive act of terrorism on American soil prior to the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Oklahoma City was first settled on April 22, 1889, when the area known as the "unassigned lands" (that is, land in Indian territory that had not been assigned to any tribes) was opened for settlement in an event known as "The Land Run". Some 10,000 homesteaders settled the area now known as Oklahoma City, and within 10 years the population had doubled. By the time Oklahoma was admitted to the Union in 1907, Oklahoma City had supplanted Guthrie, the territorial capital, as the population center and commercial hub of the new state. Thanks to political and commercial savvy of such early city leaders as John Shartel, Anton Classen and Henry Overholser, Oklahoma City had become an attractive Victorian city with an efficient trolley system, a major regional commercial center, a railway hub and had attracted several large meat packing plants to Stockyards City (Oklahoma) along with other industry. The city, now with a population of 64,000, put in a petition to become the new state capital. A popular vote was held, with Governor Charles N. Haskell as one of the strongest advocates for Oklahoma City's candidacy, which Oklahoma City won. The Oklahoma State Capitol was established at NE 23rd street and Lincoln Boulevard. The capitol was long known for its lack of a dome, which could not be added by the time the building was completed in 1919 due to lack of funds. A dome was finally added to the building in 2002.

The new city continued to grow at a steady rate until December 4, 1928, when oil was discovered in the city. Oil wells popped up everywhere, even on the south lawn on the capitol building, and the sudden influx of oil money within the city and throughout the state greatly accelerated the city's growth. While those who had made money during this early oil boom largely escaped the Depression, the majority of Americans and Oklahomans were not so lucky. By 1935, rural migrants and unemployed workers had built a massive shanty town (or "Hooverville" after president Herbert Hoover) on the south bank of the North Canadian River. The river often flooded, bringing disease and misery to the people living there. As part of the "New Deal", the Works Progress Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps greatly reduced the level of the river to prevent flooding (a move which would later become a problem for city leaders stuck with a nearly empty river) and built one of the first experiments with public housing in the country.

The Second World War and the resultant war industries brought recovery to the nation and Oklahoma City, and the post war period saw Oklahoma City become a major hub in the national Interstate Highway System. Additionally, Tinker Air Force Base in Midwest City became the largest air depot in the country in the post war period, a fact which made Oklahoma City the likely target for a possible Soviet nuclear strike. As the civil rights era dawned, downtown Oklahoma City became the site of a revolution in civil rights tactics. History teacher Clara Luper and some of her students from nearby Douglass High School led the first "sit in" in American history to desegregate the lunch counter at a downtown department store in 1958. When they succeeded, the tactic was adopted throughout the country, notably by the young activists of SNCC.
From February 3 to July 29, 1964, Oklahoma City was subjected to eight sonic booms per day in a controversial experiment known as the Oklahoma City sonic boom tests. The intent was to quantify the sociological and economic costs of a supersonic transport aircraft. The experiment resulted in 15,400 damage claims. The persistence of the experiment and the 94% rejection rate of damage claims led to turmoil at all levels of government and embroiled Senator Mike Monroney's office in a battle with the Federal Aviation Administration. The embarrassment over the Oklahoma City experiments partially contributed to the demise of the Boeing 2707 SST project seven years later.

As the 1960s continued, however, Oklahoma City began to decline. By 1970, "white flight" and suburbanization had drained the life from the central business district and the surrounding areas. The oil beneath the city had begun to dry up, and property values declined. The city leaders then engaged in a disastrous program of "urban renewal" which succeeded primarily in demolishing much of the aging theater district and the impressive Biltmore Hotel. The city had planned to build a massive shopping mall called "The Galleria" downtown, but money for renewal ran out before they could construct more than the parking garage for it. This left downtown OKC in even worse shape than it had been in, with vacant lots where Victorian brownstones once stood. The 1970s and 1980s were periods of stagnation for Oklahoma City proper (and was the case for almost all major cities in the United States) and periods of affluence and explosive development for the suburbs. With the exception of The Myriad Gardens (discussed below) very little was done to improve the inner city or the central business district during this time, even as the oil boom of the late 1970s brought a flood of money into the area.

By 1992, the city was in such dire need of improvement that it was losing jobs, population, and even air carriers to more attractive cities. With this in mind, Mayor Ron Norrick pushed through a massive plan for capitol improvements throughout Downtown called the Metropolitan Area Projects, or MAPS. MAPS called for a five-year, one-cent sales tax to fund a new ballpark, a canal through Bricktown, a new central library, a large indoor arena, renovations to the fairgrounds and the civic center, and a series of low water dams on the North Canadian River to make it attractive and accessible to small boats. Though still stinging from the failure of "urban renewal", the people of Oklahoma City passed the measure, eventually raising over 1 billion dollars for improvements to the city and bringing life back to the central city. As Oklahoma City moves through the twenty-first century, new changes continue to bring population, jobs, entertainment, and improvement. in 2004 a new Dell call center brought over 250 jobs, and plans to employ over 19,000 more jobs in the future. 2005 brought Oklahoma their first major league Basketball franchise, the OKC/New Orleans Hornets, followed by becoming the permanent home of the renamed Seattle NBA franchise, now the OKC Thunder, in 2008. Many other corporations are finding OKC their home and the population is once again increasing at a very high rate. Oklahoma City has a new skyscraper coming soon. Devon energy is building a 57 story skyscraper.

In the midst of this atmosphere of optimism and change, Timothy McVeigh drove a rented truck full of explosives to the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. The explosion killed 168 people (including 19 children) and injured thousands, as well as damaging and destroying many surrounding buildings. Until the attacks of September 11, it was the largest terrorist attack on American soil, and it remains the single largest domestic terrorist attack in American history. The site is now home to the Oklahoma City National Memorial. Oklahoma City has recovered and rebuilt since then, and it is now difficult to see evidence of the attack in the surrounding areas.

Today's Jumble (12/19/08):

INGGA = AGING; DUGOH = DOUGH; LOOTIN = LOTION; TOMELE = OMELET

CIRCLED LETTERS = GNOHTINOT

What the indifferent student said when he got a zero on the test.

"NOTHING TO (IT)"

Today in history:

324 - Licinius abdicates his position as Roman Emperor.
1154 - Henry II of England is crowned at Westminster Abbey.
1490 - Anne of Brittany is married to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor by proxy.
1606 - The Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery depart England carrying settlers who, at Jamestown, Virginia, found the first of the thirteen colonies that became the United States.
1776 - Thomas Paine publishes one of a series of pamphlets in the Pennsylvania Journal titled The American Crisis.
1777 - American Revolutionary War: George Washington's Continental Army goes into winter quarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
1828 - Nullification Crisis: Vice President of the United States John C. Calhoun pens the South Carolina Exposition and Protest, protesting the Tariff of 1828.
1835 - The first issue of The Blade newspaper is published in Toledo, Ohio.
1907 - A group of 239 coal miners die during a mine explosion in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania.
1912 - William H. Van Schaick, captain of the steamship General Slocum which caught fire and killed over 1,000 people, is pardoned by U.S. President William Howard Taft after three-and-a-half-years in Sing Sing prison.
1916 - World War I: Battle of Verdun - On the Western Front, the French Army successfully holds off the German Army and drives it back to its starting position.
1920 - King Constantine I is restored as King of the Hellenes after the death of his son Alexander I of Greece and a plebiscite.
1924 - The last Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost is sold in London, England.
1932 - BBC World Service begins broadcasting as the BBC Empire Service
1941 - World War II: Adolf Hitler becomes Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the German Army.
1961 - India annexes Daman and Diu, part of Portuguese India.
1967 - Prime Minister of Australia Harold Holt is officially presumed dead.
1972 - Apollo program: The last manned lunar flight, Apollo 17, crewed by Eugene Cernan, Ron Evans and Harrison Schmitt, returns to Earth.
1975 - John Paul Stevens appointed as a justice of The United States Supreme Court.
1981 - Sixteen lives are lost when the Penlee lifeboat goes to the aid of the stricken coaster Union Star in heavy seas.
1983 - The original FIFA World Cup trophy, the Jules Rimet Trophy, is stolen from the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation in Rio de Janeiro.
1984 - The Sino-British Joint Declaration, stating that the People's Republic of China would resume the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong and the United Kingdom would restore Hong Kong to China with effect from July 1, 1997 is signed in Beijing by Deng Xiaoping and Margaret Thatcher.
1986 - Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev releases Andrei Sakharov and his wife from internal exile in Gorky.
1994 - Rolls-Royce announces its future cars will feature V12 engine which will be produced by BMW.
1995 - The United States Government restores federal recognition to the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi Indian tribe.
1997 - SilkAir Flight 185 crashes into the Musi River, near Palembang in Indonesia, killing 104.
1997 - Titanic is released in theaters. This movie would become the most financially successful movie in U.S. history, grossing approximately $1.8 billion worldwide.
1998 - Lewinsky scandal: The United States House of Representatives forwards articles I and III of impeachment against President Bill Clinton to the Senate.
2000 - The Leninist Guerrilla Units wing of the Communist Labour Party of Turkey/Leninist attack a Nationalist Movement Party office in Istanbul, killing one person and injuring three.
2001 - A record high barometric pressure of 1085.6 hPa (32.06 inHg) is recorded at Tosontsengel, Khövsgöl Province, Mongolia.
2001 - Argentine economic crisis: December 2001 riots - Riots erupt in Buenos Aires after Domingo Cavallo's corralito measures restrict the withdrawal of cash from bank deposits.

Moving to the south we visit Topeka, Kansas.

The photos are: 1) an aerial view of Topeka; 2) the Kansas State Capitol Building; 3) Ensley Garden in the fall; 4) Ensley Garden in the winter; 5) an old stone gazebo at Lake Shawnee; 6) a statue of Abraham Lincoln on the Capitol grounds; and 7) the Interstate 70 viaduct that goes through downtown Topeka.

Topeka is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat and most populous city of Shawnee County. It is situated along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, located in northeast Kansas, in the Central United States. The population was 122,377 at the 2000 census, and it was estimated to be 122,113 in the year 2006. The Topeka Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Shawnee, Jackson, Jefferson, Osage, and Wabaunsee counties, had an estimated population of 226,268 in the year 2003. Three ships of the US Navy have been named USS Topeka in honor of the city.
Topeka means "to dig good potatoes" in the languages of the Kansa and the Ioway. The potato referred to is the prairie potato, Psoralea esculenta, a perennial herb which is an important food for many Native Americans. As a placename, Topeka was first recorded in 1826 as the Kansa name for what is now called the Kansas River. Topeka's founders chose the name in 1855 because it "was novel, of Indian origin and euphonious of sound."
The city, laid out in 1854, was one of the Free-State towns founded by Eastern antislavery men immediately after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. In 1857, Topeka was chartered as a city.

In the 1840s, wagon trains made their way west from Independence, Missouri, on a 2,000 miles (3,000 km) journey following what would come to be known as the Oregon Trail. About 60 miles (97 km) west of Kansas City, Missouri, three half Kansas Indian sisters married to the French-Canadian Pappan brothers established a ferry service allowing travelers to cross the Kansas River at what is now Topeka. During the 1840s and into the 1850s, travelers could reliably find a way across the river (and plenty of moonshine) but little else was in the area.
In the early 1850s, traffic along the Oregon Trail was supplemented by trade on a new military road stretching from Fort Leavenworth through "Topeka" to the newly-established Fort Riley. In 1854, after completion of the first cabin, nine men established the "Topeka Town Association." Included among them was Cyrus K. Holliday, an "idea man" who would become mayor of Topeka and founder of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad. Soon, steamboats were regularly docking at the Topeka landing, depositing meat, lumber, and flour and returning eastward with potatoes, corn, and wheat. By the late 1860s, Topeka had become a commercial hub providing access to many of the Victorian era's comforts.
After a decade of Bleeding Kansas abolitionist and pro-slavery conflict, the Kansas territory was admitted to the Union in 1861 as the 34th state. Topeka was finally chosen as the capital, with Dr. Charles Robinson as the first governor. In 1862, Cyrus K. Holliday donated a tract of land to the state for the construction of a state capitol. Construction of the Kansas State Capitol began in 1866. It would take 37 years to build the capitol, first the east wing, and then the west wing, and finally the central building, using Kansas limestone.
State officers first used the state capitol in 1869, moving from Constitution Hall - Topeka, what is now 427-429 S. Kansas Avenue. Besides being used as the Kansas statehouse from 1863 to 1869, Constitution Hall is the site where anti-slavery settlers convened in 1855 to write the first of four state constitutions, making it the "Free State Capitol." The National Park Service recognizes Constitution Hall - Topeka as headquarters in the operation of the Lane Trail to Freedom on the National Underground Railroad, the chief slave escape passage and free trade road.

On June 8, 1966, Topeka was struck by an F5 rated tornado, according to the Fujita scale. It started on the southwest side of town, moving northeast, passing over a local landmark named Burnett's Mound. According to a local Indian legend, this mound was thought to protect the city from tornadoes. It went on to rip through the city, hitting the downtown area and Washburn University. Total dollar cost was put at $100 million making it, at the time, one of the costliest tornadoes in American history. Even to this day, with inflation factored in, the Topeka tornado stands as one of the costliest on record. It also helped bring to prominence future CBS and A&E broadcaster Bill Kurtis, who became well known for his televised admonition to "take cover, for God's sake, take cover" on WIBW-TV during the tornado. (The city is, by the way, home of a National Weather Service Forecast Office that serves 23 counties in north-central, northeast, and east-central Kansas).
Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, Topeka recovered from the 1966 tornado and has sustained steady economic growth. For example, Washburn University, which lost several historic buildings from the tornado, received financial support from the community and alumni to make possible the rebuilding of many school facilities during the coming years. Today, university facilities offer more than one million square feet of modern academic and support space.
In 1974, Forbes Air base closed and more than 10,000 people left Topeka, impacting the city’s growth patterns for years to come. During the 1980’s, Topeka citizens voted to build a new airport and convention center and to change the form of city government. West Ridge Mall opened in 1988 and in 1989 Topeka became a motorsports mecca with the opening of Heartland Park Topeka. The Topeka Performing Arts Center opened in 1991. In the early 1990’s the city experienced business growth with Reser’s Fine Foods locating in Topeka and expansions for Santa Fe and Hill’s Pet Nutrition.

Planning is under way to continue to redevelop areas along the Kansas River, which runs west to east through Topeka. In the Kansas River Corridor through the center of town, Downtown Topeka has experienced apartment and condominium loft development, and façade and streetscape improvements. On the other side of the river, Historic North Topeka has benefited from a major streetscape project and the renovated Great Overland Station, regarded as the finest representation of classic railroad architecture in Kansas. The Great Overland Station is directly across the river from the State Capitol, which is undergoing an eight-year, $283 million renovation.
In 2006, construction began to redevelop the historic College Hill district. The district, just north of Washburn University, has been transformed into a vibrant area of retail shops, apartments, and townhomes.

Today's Jumble (12/18/08):

YOWNS = SNOWY; LOCON = COLON; MOOBBA = BAMBOO; TEAREA = AERATE

CIRCLED LETTERS = WOOBART

When the partners argued over use of their yacht, it turned into a ---

"ROW BOAT"

Today is National Roast Suckling Pig Day and National Bake Cookies Day.

Other things on this day in history:

218 BC - Second Punic War: Battle of the Trebia - Hannibal's Carthaginian forces defeat those of the Roman Republic.
1271 - Kublai Khan renames his empire "Yuan" (元 yuán), officially marking the start of the Yuan Dynasty of Mongolia and China.
1620 - The Mayflower lands in present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts delivering 102 Pilgrims.
1642 - Abel Tasman becomes first European to land in New Zealand.
1777 - The United States celebrates its first Thanksgiving, celebrating the recent victory by the Americans over General John Burgoyne in the Battle of Saratoga in October
1787 - New Jersey becomes the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
1793 - Surrender of the frigate La Lutine by French royalists to Lord Hood; renamed HMS Lutine, she later becomes a famous treasure wreck.
1862 - American Civil War: In the Battle of Lexington, General Nathan Bedford Forrest defeats a Union force under Colonel Robert Ingersoll.
1878 - John Kehoe, the last of the Molly Maguires is executed in Pennsylvania.
1888 - Richard Wetherill and his brother in-law discover the ancient Indian ruins of Mesa Verde.
1898 - Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat sets the new land speed record going 39.245 mph, in a Jeantaud electric car. This is the first recognized land speed record.
1900 - The Upper Ferntree Gully to Gembrook Narrow-gauge (2 ft 6 in or 762 mm) Railway (now the Puffing Billy Railway) in Victoria, Australia is opened for traffic.
1912 -The Piltdown Man, later discovered to be a hoax, is supposedly found in the Piltdown Gravel Pit, by Charles Dawson.
1915 - U.S. President Woodrow Wilson marries Edith Bolling Galt Wilson.
1916 - World War I: The Battle of Verdun ends when forces under Chief of Staff Erich Von Falkenhayn suffers 337,000 casualties by the French.
1932 - The Chicago Bears defeat the Portsmouth Spartans 9-0 in the first ever NFL Championship Game. Because of a blizzard, the game was moved from Wrigley Field to the Chicago Stadium, the field measuring 80 yards long.
1935 - The Lanka Sama Samaja Party is founded in Ceylon.
1941 - Japan invades Hong Kong after British governor of Hong Kong, Mark Aitchison Young refuses to surrender to Japanese forces.
1944 - World War II: 77 B-29 Superfortress and 200 other aircraft of U.S. Fourteenth Air Force bomb Hankow, China, a Japanese supply base.
1961 - Indonesia invades Netherlands New Guinea.
1966 - Saturn's moon Epimetheus is discovered by Richard L. Walker.
1969 - Capital punishment in the United Kingdom: Home Secretary James Callaghan's motion to make permanent the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965, which had temporarily suspended capital punishment in England, Wales and Scotland for murder (but not for all crimes) for a period of five years, is carried by both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
1971 - Capitol Reef National Park was established in Utah.
1972 - Vietnam War: President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will engage North Vietnam in Operation Linebacker II, a series of Christmas bombings, after peace talks collapsed with North Vietnam on the 13th.
1973 - Soviet Soyuz Programme: Soyuz 13, crewed by cosmonauts Valentin Lebedev and Pyotr Klimuk, is launched from Baikonur in the Soviet Union.
1987 - Larry Wall releases the first version of the Perl programming language.
1989 - The European Community and the Soviet Union sign an agreement on trade and commercial and economic cooperation.
1996 - The Oakland, California school board passes a resolution officially declaring "Ebonics" a language or dialect.
1997 - HTML 4.0 is published by the World Wide Web Consortium.
1999 - NASA launches into orbit the Terra platform carrying five Earth Observation instruments, including ASTER, CERES, MISR, MODIS and MOPITT.
2002 - 2003 California recall: Then Governor of California Gray Davis announces that the state would face a record budget deficit of $35 billion, roughly double the figure reported during his reelection campaign one month earlier.

Today we are going to Lincoln, Nebraska. I lived there from 1982 until 1988 while I was attending graduate school at the University of Nebraska. As you can see below, it is the second most populous city behind Omaha. On Cornhusker football Saturday, Memorial Stadium becomes the third largest collection of people in the state.

The photos are: 1) the Lincoln skyline; 2) the Nebraska State Capitol Building (with the statue of "The Sower" on top); 3) 14th and "O" Streets in downtown Lincoln at night; 4) the historic Haymarket; 5) a jazz festival at the Sheldon Art Gallery; 6) Memorial Stadium on the University of Nebraska campus on a football Saturday; 7) the Sunken Gardens; and 8) the Lied Center for the Performing Arts.

The City of Lincoln is the capital and the second most populous city of the U.S. state of Nebraska. Lincoln is also the county seat of Lancaster County and the home of the University of Nebraska. The population was 225,581 at the 2000 census.
Lincoln started out as the village of Lancaster, which was founded in 1856, and became the county seat of the newly created Lancaster County in 1859. The capital of Nebraska Territory had been Omaha since the creation of the territory in 1854; however, most of the territory's population lived south of the Platte River. After much of the territory south of the Platte considered annexation to Kansas, the legislature voted to move the capital south of the river and as far west as possible. The village of Lancaster was chosen, in part due to the salt flats and marshes. However, Omaha interests attempted to derail the move by having Lancaster renamed after the recently assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. At the time, many of the people south of the river had been sympathetic towards the Confederate cause and it was assumed that the legislature would not pass the measure if the future capital was named after Lincoln. The ploy did not work, as Lancaster was renamed Lincoln and became the state capital upon Nebraska's admission to the Union on March 1, 1867. The city was recently named the healthiest city in the United States as of 2008.

Lincoln has a mayor-council government. The mayor and a seven-member city council are selected in nonpartisan elections. Four members are elected from city council districts; the remaining three members are elected at-large. Lincoln's health, personnel, and planning departments are joint city/county agencies; most city and Lancaster County offices are located in the County/City Building.
Since Lincoln is the state capital, many Nebraska state agencies and offices are located in Lincoln, as are several United States Government agencies and offices. The city lies within the Lincoln Public Schools school district; the primary law enforcement agency for the city is the Lincoln Police Department. The Lincoln Fire and Rescue Department shoulders the cities fire fighting and ambulatory services while outlying areas of the city are supported by volunteer fire fighting units.
The city's public library system is Lincoln City Libraries, which has eight branches. Lincoln City Libraries circulates more than three million items per year to the residents of Lincoln and Lancaster County. Lincoln City Libraries is also home to Polley Music Library and the Jane Pope Geske Heritage Room of Nebraska authors.

Lincoln is one of the few large cities of Nebraska not located along either the Platte River or the Missouri River. The city was originally laid out near Salt Creek and among the nearly flat saline wetlands of northern Lancaster County. The city's growth over the years has led to development of the surrounding land, much of which is composed of gently rolling hills. In recent years, Lincoln's northward growth has encroached on the habitat of the endangered Salt Creek tiger beetle.

Lincoln's economy is fairly typical of a mid-sized American city; most economic activity is derived from service industries. The state government and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln are both large contributors to the local economy. Other prominent industries in Lincoln include banking, information technology, insurance, and rail and truck transport.
Three regional fast-food restaurant chains began in Lincoln: Amigos/Kings Classic, Runza Restaurants and Valentino's.

Lincoln's primary venues for live music include: Pershing Auditorium (large tours and national acts), Knickerbockers, Box Awesome, Duffy's Tavern, Duggan's Pub (local/regional acts; smaller venues), and the Zoo Bar (blues). The Pla-Mor Ballroom is a staple of Lincoln's music and dance scene, featuring its house band, the award-winning Sandy Creek Band.
The Lied Center is a venue for national tours of Broadway productions, concert music, and guest lectures. Lincoln has several performing arts venues. Plays are staged by UNL students in the Temple Building; community theater productions are held at the Lincoln Community Playhouse, the Loft at The Mill, and the Haymarket Theater.
For movie viewing, the local Douglas Theatre Company (Now owned by Marcus Theatres) owns 32 screens at four locations, and the University of Nebraska's Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center shows independent and foreign films. Standalone cinemas in Lincoln include the Joyo Theater and Rococo Theater. The State Theater re-opened as a second-run cinema that serves food and alcohol.
The downtown section of O Street is Lincoln's primary bar and nightclub district.

Lincoln, Nebraska, is the hometown of Zager and Evans, known for their international #1 hit record, 'In the Year 2525'. In addition, Lincoln is the hometown of the 1970s Horn Rock Band, STRAIGHT, known for the hit singles 'Save Your Breath' and 'Half Heaven, Half Heartache'.

Today's Jumble (12/17/08):

WOLLY = LOWLY; UCLID = LUCID; ENIAMA = ANEMIA; SNOOPI = POISON

CIRCLED LETTERS = OWCDNEMOS

What the rain does when it keeps up.

"COMES DOWN"

Today we are celebrating Saturnalia. It is an ancient festival and time of merriment celebrating the Roman god Saturn and believed by many to have influenced the early Catholic Church’s decision to celebrate the birth of Christ on December 25th.

The Wright Brothers made their first flight in 1903.

Other things on this day in history:

546 - Gothic War (535–554): The Ostrogoths of King Totila conquer Rome by bribing the Byzantine garrison.
920 - Romanos I is crowned as co-emperor of the underage Emperor Constantine VII.
942 - Assassination of William I of Normandy.
1398 - Sultan Nasir-u Din Mehmud's armies in Delhi are defeated by Timur.
1531 - Pope Clement VII establishes a parallel body to the Inquisition in Lisbon, Portugal.
1538 - Pope Paul III excommunicates Henry VIII of England.
1577 - Francis Drake sets sail from Plymouth, England, on a secret mission to explore the Pacific Coast of the Americas for English Queen Elizabeth I.
1586 - Emperor Go-Yozei becomes Emperor of Japan.
1600 - Marriage of Henry IV of France and Marie de' Medici.
1637 - Shimabara Rebellion: Japanese peasants led by Amakusa Shiro rise against daimyo Matsukura Shigeharu.
1718 - Great Britain declares war on Spain.
1807 - France issues the Milan Decree, which confirms the Continental System.
1819 - Simón Bolívar declares the independence of the Republic of Gran Colombia in Angostura (now Ciudad Bolívar in Venezuela).
1834 - The Dublin and Kingstown Railway the first public railway on the island of Ireland, opens in Ireland.
1862 - American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant issues General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky.
1865 - First performance of the Unfinished Symphony by Franz Schubert.
1903 - The Wright Brothers make their first powered and heavier-than-air flight in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
1918 - Culmination of the Darwin Rebellion as some 1000 demonstrators marched on Government House in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
1919 - Uruguay becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
1926 - Antanas Smetona assumes power in Lithuania as the ‎1926 coup d'état‎ is successful.
1935 - First flight of the Douglas DC-3 airplane.
1939 - World War II: Battle of the River Plate - The Admiral Graf Spee is scuttled by Captain Hans Langsdorff outside Montevideo.
1941 - World War II: Beginning of the Siege of Sevastopol.
1941 - World War II: Japanese forces land in Northern Borneo.
1944 - World War II: Battle of the Bulge - Malmedy massacre - American 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion POWs are shot by Waffen-SS Kampfgruppe Peiper.
1957 - The United States successfully launched the first Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
1961 - History of Goa: Operation Vijay - India seizes Goa from Portugal.
1967 - Prime Minister of Australia Harold Holt disappears while swimming near Portsea, Victoria and was presumed drowned.
1969 - The SALT I talks begin.
1969 - Project Blue Book: The USAF closes its study of UFOs, stating that sightings were generated as a result of "A mild form of mass hysteria, Individuals who fabricate such reports to perpetrate a hoax or seek publicity, psychopathological persons, and misidentification of various conventional objects."
1970 - Polish 1970 protests: In Gdynia, soldiers fire at workers emerging from trains, killing dozens.
1973 - Terrorism: 30 passengers are killed in an attack by Palestinian terrorists on Rome's Leonardo da Vinci Airport.
1978 - The Workers Party of Jamaica is founded by Trevor Munroe.
1981 - Brigadier General James L. Dozier is abducted by the Red Brigade in Verona, Italy.
1981 - The Senegambia Confederation is founded.
1983 - The IRA bombs Harrods Department Store in London, killing six people.
1989 - Romanian Revolution: Protests continue in Timişoara with rioters breaking into the Romanian Communist Party's District Committee building and attempting to set it on fire.
1999 - The United Nations General Assembly passes resolution 54/134 designating November 25 as the annual International Day to Eliminate Violence Against Women.
2002 - Second Congo War: The Congolese parties of the Inter Congolese Dialogue sign a peace accord which makes provision for transitional governance and legislative and presidential elections within two years.
2003 - The Soham murder trial ends at the Old Bailey in London, with Ian Huntley found guilty of two counts of murder. His girlfriend Maxine Carr is found guilty of perverting the course of justice.
2003 - SpaceShipOne flight 11P, piloted by Brian Binnie, makes its first supersonic flight.
2005 - Anti-WTO protesters riot in Wan Chai, Hong Kong
2007 - Republic of Lakotah asserts independence from the United States