History Brooklyn Boro

December 2, birthdays for Aaron Rodgers, Britney Spears, Harry Reid

Brooklyn Today

December 2, 2016 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Football star Aaron Rodgers celebrates his birthday today. Photos stylized by August Gibbs

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Greetings, Brooklyn. Today is the 337th day of the year.

Notable people born on this day include Britney Spears and Stone Phillips, among others.

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ON THIS DAY IN 1953, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle published an article titled “Crowds Gasp as Youth is Saved From River.”

The article focused on teenager Jerry Morro, who was seen walking on a crossbar of the Manhattan Bridge.

“As the police approached, Morro retreated to a side cable, where he got fouled up in barbed wire. One of the officers pounced on him while the other put a restraining belt on him. Thus trussed up he was lowered to the roadway,” the Eagle reported.

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include author T. CORAGHESSAN BOYLE, who was born in 1948; actor DAN BUTLER, who was born in 1954; actor DENNIS CHRISTOPHER, who was born in 1955; actor BRENDAN COYLE, who was born in 1963; actress CATHY LEE CROSBY, who was born in 1948; singer NELLY FURTADO, who was born in 1978; choreographer and former figure skater RANDY GARDNER, who was born in 1958; actress LUCY LIU, who was born in 1967; author ANN PATCHETT, who was born in 1963; anchor STONE PHILLIPS, who was born in 1954; U.S. Sen. HARRY REID, who was born in 1939; football player AARON RODGERS, who was born in 1983; author GEORGE SAUNDERS, who was born in 1958; Gov. of Florida RICK SCOTT, who was born 1952; Hall of Fame tennis player MONICA SELES, who was born in 1973; singer BRITNEY SPEARS, who was born in 1981; and artist and photographer WILLIAM WEGMAN, who was born in 1943.

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THE FIRST ARTIFICIAL HEART TRANSPLANT WAS performed on this day in 1982. Barney C. Clark became the first recipient of a permanent artificial heart. The operation was performed at the University of Utah Medical Center in Salt Lake City. Near death at the time of the operation, Clark survived almost 112 days after the implantation.

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JOSEPH BELL WAS BORN ON this day in 1837. Best known today as the inspiration for the fictional character Sherlock Holmes, he was a well-respected physician and professor at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Arthur Conan Doyle met Bell at the university’s medical school as a student and witnessed his amazing ability to deduct facts about all aspects of a patient’s life. Bell was also Queen Victoria’s physician whenever she came to Scotland. He died in Edinburgh in 1911.

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TODAY IS THE INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR THE ABOLITION of Slavery. The day recalls the date of adoption by the General Assembly in 1949 of the Convention of the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and Exploitation of Others. For more information, visit un.org.

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SEN. JOSEPH MCCARTHY WAS SILENCED BY SENATE ON THIS DAY in 1954. In 1950 the relatively obscure senator from Wisconsin announced during a speech that he had a list of Communists in the State Department. Over the next two years he made increasingly sensational charges, and in 1953 McCarthyism reached its height as he held Senate hearings in which he bullied defendants. The Senate voted to censure him after his tyranny was exposed in televised hearings. He died in 1957.

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THE SAFETY RAZOR WAS PATENTED on this day in 1901. American inventor King Camp Gillette designed the first razor with disposable blades. Up until this time, men shaved with a straight-edge razor that they sharpened on a leather strap.

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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public

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“I don’t always eat ice cream for dinner but when I do, I wish it was always.”