1871 — Henry Morton Stanley locates missing explorer and missionary Dr. David Livingstone near Lake Tanganyika (somewhere in Africa), saying “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”
1951 — Direct-dial coast-to-coast telephone service begins in the USA.
1969 — “Sesame Street” debuts on US television.
1970 — The Great Wall of China opens for tourism.
1975 — The United Nations General Assembly approves Resolution 3379 equating Zionism with racism. The resolution was repealed with Resolution 4686 — 66 years later in December 1991!
1983 — Microsoft unleashes Windows upon the world.
1997 — WorldCom and MCI Communications announce a $37 billion merger (the biggest at that point in history).
1998 — The Pentagon steps up the movement of warships to the Persian Gulf as the Clinton administration sweeps aside the idea of negotiations with Iraq over UN weapons inspections rejected by the Iraqis.
2003 — Federal regulators allow customers to switch home phone numbers to their cell phones.
2007 — Skipping (or perhaps fed up with) the diplomatic niceties, Spanish King Juan Carlos famously asks Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, ¿Por qué no te callas? 😯
2008 — President-Elect Obama takes his wife to visit their new residence (but they have to wait a few more weeks to take possession).