The Apple 1 computer

Today in History

• The Tokugawa shogunate in Japan is abolished, beginning the Meiji restoration (1868)
• Mussolini assumes dictatorial powers in Italy (1925)
• The March of Dimes is established (1938)
• Alaska becomes a US state (1959)
• The US severs diplomatic relations with Cuba (1961)
• Apple Computer is incorporated (1977)
• Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega surrenders to US forces (1990)
• The last daily Peanuts comic strip runs (2000)
• The first Bitcoin block is established (2009)

Births

• Cicero, Roman lawyer and politician (106 BCE)
• J. R. R. Tolkien, linguist and fantasy writer (1892)
• ZaSu Pitts, actress (1894)
• Victor Borge, pianist and comedian (1909)
• George Martin, recording engineer for The Beatles (1926)
• Sergio Leone, director (1929)
• Danny Coleman, actor (1932)
• Van Dyke Parks, musician (1943)
• Stephen Stills, musician (1945)
• Victoria Principal, actress (1950)

Deaths

• Josiah Wedgwood, potter (1795)
• James Merritt Ives, co-founder of Currier and Ives (1895)
• Edgar Cayce, psychic (1945)
• Jack Ruby, nightclub owner who killed Lee Harvey Oswald (1967)
• Conrad Hilton, hotelier (1979)
• Phil Everly, musician with The Everly Brothers (2014)

Holidays and Celebrations

• Ministry of Religious Affairs Day (Indonesia)
• Tamaseseri Festival (Fukuoka, Japan)
• Tenth Day of Christmas

January 3 is the third day of the year. There are 362 days (363 in leap years) remaining until the end of the year.