Today is Thursday, December 31, the 365th and final day of 2009. Today is New Year's Eve.

On this date

In 1759, Arthur Guinness founded his famous brewery at St. James's Gate in Dublin.

In 1857, Britain's Queen Victoria decided to make Ottawa the capital of Canada.

In 1879, Thomas Edison first publicly demonstrated his electric incandescent light in Menlo Park, N.J.

Thought for Today

"No one ever regarded the first of January with indifference. It is the nativity of our common Adam." — Charles Lamb, English essayist and author (1775-1834).