Happy New Years, everyone! To celebrate I thought I'd share some great moments in December 31st past. Enjoy.

1599 - The British East India Company is chartered. Yay capitalism!
1695 - A window tax is imposed in England, causing many shopkeepers to brick up their windows to avoid the tax. Damn the man!
1862 - Abraham Lincoln signs an act that admits West Virginia to the Union, thus dividing Virginia in two. I'm sure there was a guy named Norm that lived right on the border and his life became horribly uncomfortable.
1904 - The first New Year's Eve celebration is held in Times Square, then known as Longacre Square, in New York, New York. A young Dick Clark hosts.
1944 - Hungary declares war on Germany. No one in Germany is hungry for days (get it?).
1983 - The AT&T Bell System is broken up by the United States Government. Take that, monopoly!
1999 - Boris Yeltsin resigns as President of Russia, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting President. Yeltsin now has more time to work on his drinking.
2006 - The United Kingdom pays final installment of Second World War debt to the United States. We waste the money on Iraq.