This day in history - December 17

[seamusTX]

1830 - Simón Bolívar died in Colombia.

Bolívar led the successful rebellion of northern South America against Spain, and for a time led the nation that emerged. He was forced to resign after an assassination attempt, and died of tuberculosis soon after.

It's interesting to compare the careers of Bolívar and George Washington. Bolívar had the highest aspirations of enlightened liberalism and individual rights, but he was unable to quell the political fractiousness that troubles Latin America to this day.

1903 - Wilbur Wright conducted his first controlled flight of a powered heavier-than-air plane.

Others had managed to fling aircraft into the air, often resulting in their death. The Wright brothers were the first to use systematic engineering methods to approach the problem, and they were also the first to follow up their initial efforts with commercial production of aircraft.

1957 - The United States successfully test-fired the Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time.

1969 - The U.S. Air Force ended Project "Blue Book," reporting that they could find no evidence of extraterrestrial spaceships behind thousands of UFO sightings.

The same day, Tiny Tim married Miss Vicky on live television.

Many people have suggested that these two events were contradictory. We inform. You decide.

- Jim