December 31st was the day in history when…
1997: South African and U.S. surgeons separated Zambian Siamese twins. Luka and Joseph Banda were born as conjoined twins joined at the top of the head. The boys shared no internal organs but had common blood vessels between their brains. A team from Johns Hopkins, led by renowned surgeon Dr. Benjamin Carson, worked with the Zambian medical staff to perform the operation which required over 50 medical personnel. Once they were separated the babies were fitted with helmets to protect their exposed brains. This was the first successful such operation. Previous attempts at separating twins joined at the head resulted in the loss of one or both babies.
1977: Ted Bundy escaped from jail in Colorado. Bundy was a serial killer who murdered between 30 and 100 people, the exact number of victims is unknown. He was jailed in Glenwood Springs, Colorado awaiting trial. Bundy was able to get a hacksaw and worked over a period of two weeks to cut through a metal plate in his cell. When he heard that he was about to be transferred Bundy had to speed up his timetable. On December 30th he crawled through the hole, climbed through ducts in the ceiling and escaped. It was not until noon the following day that the officers discovered Bundy was missing. At that point he had been on the run for 17 hours and had made his way to Chicago.
1907: A ball drops at Times Square for the first time. Celebrations took place in Time Square as early as 1904, but it was in 1907 that a ball made its way down the pole for the first time. It was 700 pounds, made of iron and wood, and covered with one hundred 25 watt bulbs. Since 1907 a ball has been dropped every year in Time Square, with the exceptions of 1942 and 1943 due to dim outs during World War II.
Famous Birthdays:
1965: Nicholas Sparks – author
1959: Bebe Neuwirth – actress
1943: Ben Kingsley – actor
1943: John Denver – singer
1937: Anthony Hopkins – actor
1908: Simon Wiesenthal – Polish/Austrian Nazi hunter
Notable People Lost:
1997: Michael Kennedy – son of Robert Kennedy, dies in ski accident
1994: Thomas J Watson, Jr. – CEO of IBM
1985: Rick Nelson – actor
Odd Holidays (There's Always Something to Celebrate!):
Make Up Your Mind Day
New Years eve
You're All Done Day
Thought for the day: If a baby's leg pops out at 11:59PM but his head doesn't come out until 12:01, on which day was he born?
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Beth’s Blog: It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time
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