The history of the board game Monopoly can be traced back to the early 1900s. Elizabeth Magie invented in 1903 a version of The Landlord's Game which was a real estate trading game in which players got rich by monopolizing sets of properties. This game, usually called "monopoly", was played extensively from 1904 through 1931 when it showed up in Atlantic City, New Jersey. There a group of Quaker teachers changed it to a version which was copied by one Charles Darrow. The copy was then commercialized by Parker Brothers which claimed that Darrow had invented the game and turned Darrow into a rags to riches embodiment of the American dream. In the 1970s, Professor Ralph Anspach, while defending himself against a trademark infringement suit filed by Parker Brothers and its then parent company, General Mills, against his Anti-Monopoly game, uncovered the true history of the game. Because of the lengthy court process, and appeals, the legal status of Parker Brothers' trademarks on the game was not settled until 1985. The game's name remains a registered trademark of Parker Brothers, as does its specific design elements. International tournaments, first held in the early 1970s, continue to the present day, with the next world championship scheduled for 2008. (more...)

A camouflaged flounder. Camouflage is the method which allows an otherwise visible organism or object to remain indiscernible from the surrounding environment. Besides blending in with their surroundings, animals may disguise themselves as something else to avoid predation.

Photo credit: Moondigger
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• ...that the Russian Association of Scouts was founded by Colonel Oleg Pantyukhov (pictured)?
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• ...that the Grosvenor Bridge in Chester was the world's largest single-span arch for 30 years?
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• UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan (pictured), in his final speech in office, encourages the United States to provide global leadership whilst respecting multilateralism.
• A conference questioning the Holocaust opens in Tehran, Iran.
• Former Chilean president Augusto Pinochet (age 91) dies one week after suffering a heart attack.
• Incumbent Igor Smirnov wins presidential elections in the internationally unrecognized state of Transnistria.
• STS-116 launches Christer Fuglesang, the first Swedish astronaut, and six others to the International Space Station.
• Marc Ravalomanana is re-elected as President of Madagascar.
• Ethiopia begins to intervene in the Somali Civil War.
• The Iraq Study Group releases its final report, describing the situation in the Iraq War as "grave and deteriorating" and making seventy-nine policy recommendations.
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December 13: Republic Day in Malta (1974); St. Lucia's Day in Sweden

• 1545 - Counter-Reformation: The Council of Trent, an ecumenical council convoked by Pope Paul III (pictured) in response to the growth of Protestantism, opened in Trento, Italy.
• 1862 - American Civil War: Union forces under Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside were decisively defeated in the Battle of Fredericksburg.
• 1937 - Nanking Massacre: Japanese forces under General Iwane Matsui captured Nanjing, China and began weeks of looting, burning, raping and killing.
• 1981 - Prime Minister Wojciech Jaruzelski declared martial law in Poland, suspended Solidarity and imprisoned many union leaders.
• 2003 - Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was found hiding in a spider hole during Operation Red Dawn and captured.

• Recent days: December 12 – December 11 – December 10

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