120px|The aftermath of the 1964 Brinks Hotel bombing

The Brinks Hotel bombing in Saigon occurred on December 24, 1964, during the Vietnam War. Two Vietcong operatives detonated a car bomb underneath the hotel, which housed United States Army officers. The explosion killed two Americans, an officer and a non-commissioned officer, and injured approximately 60, including military personnel and Vietnamese civilians. The Vietcong commanders had planned the venture with two objectives in mind. Firstly, by attacking an American installation in the center of the heavily guarded capital, the Vietcong intended to demonstrate their ability to strike in South Vietnam should the United States decide to launch air raids against North Vietnam. Secondly, it demonstrated to the South Vietnamese that the Americans were vulnerable and could not be relied upon for protection. The bombing prompted debate within the administration of United States President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Most of his advisers favored retaliatory bombing of North Vietnam and the introduction of American combat troops, while Johnson preferred the existing strategy of training the Army of the Republic of Vietnam to protect South Vietnam from the Vietcong. In the end, Johnson prevailed and no retaliatory action was taken. (more...)

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1529:

The Siege of Vienna ended as the Austrians routed the invading Turks, turning the tide against almost a century of unchecked conquest throughout eastern and central Europe by the Ottoman Empire. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Vienna

1917:

Dutch exotic dancer Mata Hari was executed by a firing squad for spying for Germany. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mata_Hari

1951:

Mexican chemist Luis E. Miramontes conducted the very last step of the first synthesis of norethisterone, the progestin that would later be used in one of the first two oral contraceptives. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_E._Miramontes

1966:

The Black Panther Party, a Marxist/Maoist African American organization that promoted Black Power and self-defense in the United States, was founded in Oakland, California. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Panther_Party

2003:

Chinese space program: Shenzhou 5, China's first manned space mission, was launched, carrying astronaut Yang Liwei. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenzhou_5

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

moose (n): 1. (US) The largest member of the deer family (Alces alces), of which the male has very large, palmate antlers. 2. The plural form of moose: two moose are standing next to that tree http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/moose

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

When the modern corporation acquires power over markets, power in the community, power over the state and power over belief, it is a political instrument, different in degree but not in kind from the state itself. To hold otherwise — to deny the political character of the modern corporation — is not merely to avoid the reality. It is to disguise the reality. The victims of that disguise are the students who instruct in error. Let there be no question: economics, so long as it is thus taught, becomes, however unconsciously, a part of the arrangement by which the citizen or student is kept from seeing how he or she is, or will be, governed. --John Kenneth Galbraith http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Kenneth_Galbraith