Brachiosaurus (from Greek for "arm lizard") was a sauropod dinosaur that lived in what is now North America during the Late Jurassic, about 154–153 million years ago. The genus was first described by American paleontologist Elmer S. Riggs in 1903 from fossils found in the Colorado River valley in western Colorado. Only a few other specimens of Brachiosaurus are known to exist, making it one of the rarer sauropods of the Morrison Formation. It was probably between 18 and 21 meters (59 and 69 ft) long; weight estimates range from 28.3 to 58 metric tons (31.2 to 63.9 short tons). Like other sauropods, it was a large dinosaur with a long neck and small skull; atypically, it had longer forelimbs than hindlimbs, a steeply inclined trunk, and a proportionally shorter tail. It was a high browser, possibly cropping or nipping vegetation up to 9 meters (30 ft) off the ground. Brachiosaurus appeared in the 1993 film Jurassic Park. (Full article...)

1957 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible

• ... that Dennis Albaugh's collection of about 150 classic Chevrolet convertibles includes all Tri-Fives (1957 Bel Air pictured) and models from 1912 to 1975?
• ... that larvae of the beetle Meloe franciscanus trick male bees into landing near them by mimicking the pheromones released by a female bee?
• ... that Indonesian transport minister Budi Karya Sumadi plays the acoustic guitar and provides vocals in a band with other government ministers?
• ... that the removal of an antisemitic and antiziganistic statement delayed the release of a Slovak documentary about a post-Holocaust pogrom?
• ... that Ray Evrard, a three-term district attorney of Brown County, Wisconsin, served as the second president of the Green Bay Packers during the 1928 NFL season?
• ... that the oboe quartet Phantasy, composed by Benjamin Britten as a student, was the work that won him international recognition?
• ... that Lee Brian Schrager, known for his work with the South Beach Wine and Food Festival, opened a gay bar called Torpedo in 1987?
• ... that India's Train 18 has no locomotive?

Asteroid 101955 Bennu

• The sample-return spacecraft OSIRIS-REx arrives at the asteroid 101955 Bennu (pictured).
• Former U.S. President George H. W. Bush dies at the age of 94.
• Magnus Carlsen defeats Fabiano Caruana to retain the World Chess Championship.
• NASA's InSight successfully lands on Mars.
• Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko declares martial law after Russian forces seize three ships in the disputed Kerch Strait near Crimea.

December 9

The first computer mouse

• 1688 – In the only substantial military action in England during the Glorious Revolution, forces loyal to William of Orange were decisively victorious in the Battle of Reading.
• 1892 – The English association football club Newcastle United was founded by the merger of Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End.
• 1948 – The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Genocide Convention, which defines genocide in legal terms and advises its signatories to prevent and punish such actions.
• 1968 – Douglas Engelbart gave what became known as "The Mother of All Demos", publicly debuting the computer mouse (pictured), hypertext, and the bit-mapped graphical user interface using the oN-Line System (NLS).
• 2008 – Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich was arrested for a number of corruption crimes, including attempting to sell the U.S. Senate seat that was being vacated by then-President-elect Barack Obama.

Nasr ibn Sayyar (d. 748) · Fritz Haber (b. 1868) · Lilias Armstrong (d. 1937)