What Happened on December 3?

  • The Cold War officially ended. (1989) Although no treaties were signed, George Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev issued a joint statement that the two countries would work towards a lasting peace and "transform the East-West relationship to one of enduring co-operation" at the end of the Malta Summit.

  • The first successful human heart transplant was performed. (1967) Dr. Christiaan N. Barnard performed the surgery at the Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, on Lewis Washkansky. The heart functioned perfectly. Washkansky, however, died 18 days later of pneumonia which he contracted because of a weakened immune system.

  • The Ottawa Treaty was signed by 122 countries, banning anti-personnel land mines. (1997) The treaty required signatories to stop producing land mines designed to be used against humans — as opposed to anti-tank land minds — and to clear its land area of land mines within ten years of signing. Among the states that did not sign were the United States, China, Russia, and North and South Korea.

  • Neon lights were first seen by the public at the Paris Auto Show. (1910) Dr. Georges Claude displayed a neon sign made of two 38-foot (about 12-meter) long tubes at Grand Palais of the Paris Auto Show. Dr. Claude would later sell the first neon signs to reach the US to a Packard dealership in 1923.

  • The first co-educational college was founded in the United States. (1833) Oberlin College, in Ohio, was the first college in the US to allow mixed-sex classes. The first four women to earn a Bachelor's Degree in the US earned them at Oberlin.

  • George Washington wrote to Congress to say he had arrived at the Delaware River. (1776) He spent the next two weeks organizing supplies and troops before crossing the Delaware to launch a surprise attack on Hessian troops stationed in Trenton. This campaign was a turning point in the Revolutionary War, as it marked Washington's army coming back from almost certain defeat.

  • Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire" opened on Broadway. (1947) Marlon Brando and Kim Hunter played Stanley and Stella, and would go on to do so in the 1951 movie version. After the first show, the audience applauded continuously for thirty minutes.

  • The first PlayStation™ was released in Japan. (1994) It was actually scheduled to come out three years earlier as a joint venture from Nintendo and Sony, but Nintendo backed out of the deal to form a partnership with Philips. Within a decade of its release, over 100 million PlayStations™ were sold.

  • The Pioneer 10 spacecraft sent back the first close-up pictures of Jupiter. (1973) Until 1998, the Pioneer 10 was the most-distant man-made object from the sun, since it passed Pluto's orbit. The last successful contact was made with Pioneer 10 in early 2003.

  • Colonel Mary A. Hallaren became the first female non-medical Army officer. (1948) Col. Hallaren was the director of the Women's Army Corps before she was conscripted, and was awarded the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star and the Army Commendation Medal during her time in the Army.

Discussion Comments

Chmander

In reference to land mines, the third bullet point brings up something that caught my interest. From reading the bullet point, even though one can get the impression that the land mines were banned because they weren't the "right" thing to use in conflict, on the other hand, perhaps there's a bigger reason behind this.

I mean, after all, land mines can be extremely dangerous. For example, more than often, they're hidden in the ground, and an unsuspecting person could walk on it, and by the time they notice what's about to happen, it's way too late. What if it was a civilian who wasn't even involved in a war in the first place?

Though I guess land mines could be used in some pretty good situations, they're also a little extreme in most cases, and aren't really needed. Though this is just my opinion, does anyone else agree with this?

Viranty

One thing I've always found interesting about the Cold War, is that unlike most wars, which often have tons of needless bloodshed, such as World War II and the Vietnam War, that wasn't the case here at all.

However, regardless of that, it was still a very interesting war that lasted quite a long time, mainly due to tensions between two different parties.

Based on my experience from learning about the Cold War in school, the reason for its name was pretty self explanatory. It was "cold" war, in the sense that even though nobody fired at each other, there were still tons of tensions that needed to be resolved. Despite the fact that no direct conflict took place.

On a final note, also considering that the war lasted for quite a long time, in some ways, it only made the tensions get more and more worse. After all, who knew what would happen?

For all people knew, there could have come a day where someone would finally strike. Thankfully, that didn't happen though.

Does anyone know if there are other instances that are related to the Cold War? As in, even if its not a war, it was still a long lasting tension that built up plenty of hostility and conflict. Some answers would be greatly appreciated.

RoyalSpyder

In relation to the third to last bullet point, I've always been very interested in knowing how video game systems are created, and even more so, how they're marketed out. How about anyone else?

After all, considering how the bullet point mentions that it was meant to come out three years prior in 1994, it really shows how many video game systems are in development long before they're even mentioned or released to the public. Either that, or they at least have a general idea. After all, case in point here.

Also, considering how it's mentioned that over 100 million PlayStations were sold, it really shows that the whole thing was a success. Also, based on my experience, creating a video game system requires a lot of work, time and skill. After all, there are many factors that you have to take into consideration.

First of all, there's the matter of making sure the software is current, and that it fits with whatever video games are being produced and released around that time. Second of all, you make to make sure that there are no defects, and that it sells well.

How does this relate to the article? Well, considering how successful the PlayStation was, it's more than obvious that they used some of these tactics in order to ensure success. After all, don't forget that no matter how much people enjoy playing video games, they're still produced by a company, and their goal is to make sales and a profit.

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