Today is Tuesday, December 7, the 341st day of 2010. There are 24 days left in the year.

ON THIS DATE

In 1787, Delaware became the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

In 1946, fire broke out at the Winecoff Hotel in Atlanta; the blaze killed 119 people, including hotel founder W. Frank Winecoff.

In 1987, 43 people were killed after a gunman aboard a Pacific Southwest Airlines jetliner in California apparently opened fire on a fellow passenger, the two pilots and himself, causing the plane to crash.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

“Any frontal attack on ignorance is bound to fail because the masses are always ready to defend their most precious possession their ignorance.” Hendrik Willem van Loon, Dutch-American journalist and lecturer (1882-1944).