DBKP Today in Weird History: February 29, 2008

WAR, DISASTER, REPORTS, QUICK-THINKING, MOVIES, VAVOOM, MUSIC, QUITTING, SCIENCE, RATINGS, POLITICS, KILLERS, UNUSUAL, BURNED, KINK, SPORTS, WHAT, RECORDS, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

QUICK-THINKING

1504 Christopher Columbus, stranded in Jamaica during his fourth voyage to the West, used a correctly predicted lunar eclipse to frighten hostile natives into providing food for his crew.

You might be interested in reading: Leap Day: Facts, Figures, Birthdays and Famous Events

WAR!

1856 Hostilities in Russo-Turkish War cease.

1944 US troops land on Los Negros, Admirality Islands.

DISASTER

1960 Earthquake kills 1/3 of Agadir Morocco population (12,000) in 15 seconds.

1996 A Peruvian commercial jetliner crashed in the Andes, killing all 123 people on board.

UNUSUAL

1904 Adolph Blaine Charles David Earl Frederick Gerald Hubert Irvin John Kenneth Lloyd Martin Nero Oliver Paul Quincy Randolph Sherman Thomas Uncas Victor William Xerxes Yancy Zeus Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenberdorft Sr near Hamburg, Germany; had a Christian name for every letter in the alphabet, shortened it to Mr Wolfe Plus 585 Sr.

VAVOOM!

1960, the first Playboy Club, featuring waitresses clad in "bunny" outfits, opened in Chicago.

KINK

1784 Marquis de Sade transferred from Vincennes fortress to the Bastille.

RECORDS

1964 Frank Rugani sets badminton shuttlecock distance record, 24.3 meters.

WHAT?

1988 NYC Mayor Koch calls Reagan a "WIMP" in the war on drugs.

POLITICS

1956 Islamic Republic established in Pakistan.

2000 George W. Bush won Republican presidential primaries in Virginia, Washington state and North Dakota, defeating John McCain; Vice President Al Gore crushed fellow Democrat Bill Bradley in Washington state.

SPORTS

1964 North Carolina high school basketball teams play to 56-54 score in 13 overtime.

KILLERS

1996 Daniel Green was convicted in Lumberton, North Carolina, of murdering James R. Jordan, the father of basketball star Michael Jordan, during a 1993 roadside holdup. (Green and an accomplice, Larry Martin Demery, were sentenced to life in prison.)

2000 Six-year-old Kayla Rolland was fatally shot by a fellow first-grader at Buell Elementary School in Mount Morris Township, Michigan.

REPORTS

1968 President Lyndon B. Johnson's National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (also known as the Kerner Commission) warned that racism was causing America to move "toward two societies, one black, one white -- separate and unequal."

BURNED

1528 Patrick Hamilton Scottish protestant martyr, burned at stake.

MOVIES

1940 "Gone with the Wind" won eight Academy Awards, including best picture of 1939.

2000 "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" won a record-tying 11 Academy Awards, including best picture; Sean Penn took the best-actor prize for "Mystic River" and Charlize Theron won best actress for "Monster."

SCIENCE

1968 the discovery of the first "pulsar," a star which emits regular radio waves, was announced by Dr. Jocelyn Bell Burnell in Cambridge, England.

MUSIC

1968 at the Grammy Awards, the 5th Dimension's "Up, Up and Away" won record of the year for 1967, while album of the year honors went to The Beatles for "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."

QUITTING

1984 Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau announced he was stepping down after more than 15 combined years in power.

2000 Facing rebellion, Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigned and left for exile in the Central African Republic.

RATINGS

1996 About 30 television and entertainment industry executives met with President Clinton at the White House, where they promised to devise a TV ratings system.

BORN

1908 The artist known as Balthus was born in Paris.

1936 Henri "Rocket" Richard NHL center (Montréal Canadiens).

1944 Dennis Farina Chicago IL, actor (Mike Torello-Crime Story).

BIRTHDAYS

Actress Michele Morgan is 88. Actor James Mitchell is 88. Actor Joss Ackland is 80. Actor Alex Rocco is 72. Former space shuttle astronaut Jack Lousma is 72. Actor Dennis Farina is 64. Actress Phyllis Frelich is 64. Actor Antonio Sabato Jr. is 36. Rapper Ja Rule is 32.

DEATH

1992 Johnny Mack British actor (Time Lord-Dr Who), dies at 70.

2000 Playwright Jerome Lawrence died in Malibu, California, at age 88.

February 29th, the 60th day of 2008. There are 306 days left in the year. This is Leap Day.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: eaae
Sources:
* Today in History

* Today in History
* Today in History



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 28, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, GOLD, PROGRESS, POLITICS, MAFIA, SCIENCE, ASSASSINATION, POLICE STATE, ATHEISTS, ECONOMY, NANNY STATE, SHOOT OUTS, SLEEPING, WITCHES, EXODUS, PATENTS, SEALS, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, NAZIS, SMOOTH, POPULATION, KILLER WHALES, POGRAMS, DRUG WAR, SPIES, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

POLICE STATE

1993 A gun battle erupted at a compound near Waco, Texas, when Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents tried to serve warrants on the Branch Davidians; four agents and six Davidians were killed as a 51-day standoff began.

1994 Brady Law, imposing a wait-period to buy a hand-gun, went into effect.

WAR!

1847 US defeats México in battle of Sacramento.

1917 AP reports México & Japan will ally with Germany if US enters WWI.

TERRORISM

1982 FALN (PR Nationalist Group) bombs Wall Street.

2007 A federal judge in Miami ruled that suspected al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla was competent to stand trial on terrorism support charges, rejecting arguments that he was severely damaged by 3 1/2 years of interrogation and isolation in a military brig.

DISASTER

1704 Indians attack Deerfield MA, kill 40, kidnap 100.

1844 A 12-inch gun aboard the USS Princeton exploded, killing Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur, Navy Secretary Thomas W. Gilmer and several others.

1888 Ferry in San Pablo Bay explodes.

1956 13 die in a train crash in Swampscott MA.

1975 More than 40 people were killed in London's Underground when a subway train smashed into the end of a tunnel.

1997 Earthquake in Pakistan, kills 45.

SLEEPING

1646 Roger Scott was tried in Massachusetts for sleeping in church.

EXODUS

1879 "Exodus of 1879" southern blacks flee political/economic exploitation.

SEALS

1913 6.8-m, 4000-kg elephant seal killed, South Georgia (South Atlantic).

SMOOTH

1935 Nylon discovered by Dr Wallace H Carothers.

POGROMS

1988 Anti-Armenian pogrom in Azerbaijan, 30 killed.

KILLER WHALES

1977 1st killer whale born in captivity (Marineland, Los Angeles CA).

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1940 1st televised basketball game (college game at NYC's Madison Square Garden-University of Pittsburgh beats Fordham U, 50-37).

1983 Final TV episode of "MASH" airs (CBS); record 125 million watch.

1984 26th Grammy Awards Beat It, Michael Jackson wins 8.

1989 Memo by Bryant Gumbel criticizing Today Show co-workers becomes public.

POPULATION

1940 US population at 131,669,275 (12,865,518 blacks (9.8%)).

SPIES

1997 FBI agent Earl Pitts pleads guilty to selling secrets to Russia.

DRUG WAR

1990 Dutch police seize 3,000 kg of cocaine.

NAZIS

1933 German President Von Hindenburg abolishes free expression of opinion. Hitler disallows German communist party (KPD).

GOLD!

1849 The California gold rush began in earnest as regular steamship service started bringing gold-seekers to San Francisco.

WITCHES

1692 Salem witch hunt begins.

PROGRESS

1827 The first U.S. railroad chartered to carry passengers and freight, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Co., was incorporated by the state of Maryland. It ran from Baltimore to Wheeling, WV (then part of Virginia).

1970 Bicycles permitted to cross Golden Gate Bridge.

POLITICS

1854 Republican Party formally organized at Ripon WI.

1859 Arkansas legislature requires free blacks to choose exile or slavery.

1861 The Territories of Colorado and Nevada organized.

1961 JFK names Henry Kissinger special advisor.

MAFIA

1951 The Senate committee headed by Estes Kefauver, D-Tenn., issued an interim report saying at least two major crime syndicates were operating in the U.S.

PATENTS

1893 Edward Acheson, Pennsylvania, patents an abrasive he names "carborundum".

1956 Forrester issued a patent for computer core memory.

SHOOT-OUTS

1997 In North Hollywood, Calif., two heavily armed masked robbers bungled a bank heist and came out firing, unleashing their arsenal on police, bystanders, cars and TV choppers before they were killed.

NANNY STATE

1871 2nd Enforcement Act gives federal control of congressional elections.

1997 Smokers must prove they are over 18 to purchase cigarettes in US.

1998 In their weekly radio addresses, President Clinton and the Republicans sparred over education, with Clinton describing tests showing American high school students lagging behind those of other industrial nations as a "wake-up call" while the Republicans blamed the disappointing results on a "hungry bureaucracy in Washington" that gobbled up education funds.

2003 The Food and Drug Administration announced that every bottle of ephedra would soon bear stern warnings that the popular herb could cause heart attacks or strokes, even kill.

ATHEISTS

2003 The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stood by its ruling that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools was unconstitutional because of the words "under God."

REVOLT

1708 Slave revolt, Newton, Long Island NY, 11 die.

ECONOMY

1982 AT&T looses record $7 BILLION for fiscal year ending on this day.

2007 Wall Street rebounded fitfully from the previous session's 416-point plunge in the Dow industrials as investors took comfort from comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that he still expected moderate economic growth.

SCIENCE

1953 Scientists James D. Watson and Francis H.C. Crick announced they had discovered the double-helix structure of DNA, the molecule that contains the human genes.

2003 NASA released video taken aboard Columbia that had miraculously survived the fiery destruction of the space shuttle with the loss of all seven astronauts; in the footage, four of the crew members can be seen doing routine chores and admiring the view outside the cockpit.

ASSASSINATION

1908 Failed assassination attempt on Shah Mohammed Ali in Teheran.

1986 Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was shot to death in central Stockholm.

BORN

1824 Charles Blondin France, acrobat/aerialist.

1928 Smokey The Bear.

1943 Donny Iris, singer.

BIRTHDAYS

Actor Charles Durning is 85. Svetlana Alliluyeva, daughter of Josef Stalin, is 82. Actor Gavin MacLeod is 77. Actor Don Francks is 76. Actor-director-dancer Tommy Tune is 69. Auto racer Mario Andretti is 68. Singer Joe South is 68. Actor Frank Bonner is 66. Actress Kelly Bishop is 64. Football player Bubba Smith is 63. Actress Stephanie Beacham is 61. Actress Mercedes Ruehl is 60. Actress Bernadette Peters is 60. Comedian Gilbert Gottfried is 53. Basketball player Adrian Dantley is 52. Actor John Turturro is 51. Rock singer Cindy Wilson is 51. Actress Rae Dawn Chong is 47. Actor Robert Sean Leonard is 39. Rock singer Pat Monahan is 39. Actress Maxine Bahns is 37. Country singer Jason Aldean is 31. Actor Bobb'e J. Thompson is 12.

DEATH

1966 Charles A Bassett II astronaut, dies in a crash of T-38 jet at 34.

1966 Elliot McKay See Jr astronaut, dies in T-38 jet crash at 38.

1977 Eddie "Rochester" Anderson comedian (Jack Benny Show), dies at 71.

2007 Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. died in New York at age 89.

February 28, the 59th day of 2008. There are 307 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: crimtrials
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 26, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, NATIONAL PARKS, ESCAPES, CURFEW, IMMIGRATION, A-BOMB, SHADOWS, REBUKES, OPRAH, GOVERNMENT OVERREACH, LYNCHED, CHESS, COMMIES, SHORT PEOPLE, BUFFALO, CLYDESDALES, MERGER, NAZI CARS, KO, JEWS, NANNY STATE, PRO WRESTLING, GOLD, SLURS, TIRED, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

NATIONAL PARKS

1919 Congress established Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.

1929 President Coolidge signed a measure establishing Grand Teton National Park.

WAR!

1942 WWII Navy flier Don Mason sends message "Sighted sub sank same".

2003 President Bush, offering new justification for war in Iraq, told a think tank that "ending this direct and growing threat" from Saddam Hussein would pave the way for peace in the Middle East and encourage democracy throughout the Arab world.

TERRORISM

1531 Earthquake in Lisbon Portugal, kills 20,000.

1993 A bomb built by Islamic extremists exploded in the parking garage of New York's World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 others.

2007 Iraq's Shiite vice president, Adel Abdul-Mahdi, narrowly escaped death as a blast ripped through a government meeting hall just hours after it had been searched by U.S. teams with bomb-sniffing dogs; at least 10 people were killed.

DISASTER

1852 British frigate Birkenhead sinks off South Africa-458 die.

1918 Stands at Hong Kong Jockey Club collapse & burn, killing 604.

1972 Slag heap dam collapses above Buffalo Creek WV, kills 125.

2003 A fire at the Greenwood Health Center in Hartford, Conn., killed 16 nursing home patients; a patient charged with setting the blaze was later ruled incompetent to stand trial.

SHORT PEOPLE

1876 Pauline Musters shortest known adult (58.9 cm, 1' 11.2") born.

TIRED

1984 Pak Awang (84) marries 80th spouse

PRO WRESTLING

1960 Verne Gagne beats Doctor X in Omaha, to become NWA wrestling champion.

1967 Verne Gagne beats Mad Dog Vachon in St Paul, to become NWA champion.

GOLD

1974 Gold hits record $188 an ounce in Paris.

CURFEW

1945 A midnight curfew on nightclubs, bars and other places of entertainment was set to go into effect across the nation.

CLYDESDALES

1893 2 Clydesdale horses set record by pulling 48 tons on a sledge, Michigan.

KOs

1941 2 fighters unable to continue slugfest, referee declares double KO.

IMMIGRATION

1907 Congress created the Dillingham Commission to examine the impact of immigrants on America. (The panel later recommended curtailing immigration from southern and eastern Europe.)

UNREST

1946 2 killed & 10 wounded in race riot in Columbia TN.

ESCAPES

1815 Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from exile on the Island of Elba.

MERGER

1907 Royal Oil & Shell merge to form British Petroleum (BP).

GOVERNMENT OVERREACH

2003 In a victory for abortion foes, the Supreme Court ruled that federal racketeering and extortion laws had been wrongly used to try to stop blockades, harassment and violent protests outside clinics.

NAZI CARS

1936 Hitler introduces Ferdinand Porsche's "Volkswagen".

LYNCHED

1870 Wyatt Outlaw black leader of Union League in North Carolina, lynched.

A-BOMB

1952 Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced that Britain had developed its own atomic bomb.

BUFFALO

1891 1st buffalo purchased for Golden Gate Park.

JEWS

1941 Utrecht & Zaandam strike against raid on Jews.

1980 Egypt & Israel exchange ambassadors for the 1st time

SHADOWS

1979 A total solar eclipse cast a moving shadow 175 miles wide from Oregon to North Dakota before moving into Canada.

COMMIES

1848 Marx & Engels publish "The Communist Manifesto".

NANNY STATE

1954 Michigan Representative Ruth Thompson (R) introduces legislation to ban mailing "obscene, lewd, lascivious or filthy" phonograph (rock & roll) records.

SLURS

1984 Reverend Jesse Jackson acknowledges that he called NYC, "Hymietown".

REBUKES

1987 The Tower Commission, which probed the Iran-Contra affair, issued its report, which rebuked President Reagan for failing to control his national security staff.

CHESS

1859 Paul Morphy's chess match vs Augustus Mongredien begins; Morphy wins.

OPRAH

1998 A jury in Amarillo, Texas, rejected an $11 million lawsuit brought by Texas cattlemen who blamed Oprah Winfrey's talk show for a price fall after a segment on food safety that included a discussion about mad cow disease.

BORN

1846 William F "Buffalo Bill" Cody Davenport IA, killed 4000 buffaloes.

1852 John Harvey Kellogg surgeon, inspired flaked cereal industry.

1893 William Frawley Iowa, actor (Fred Mertz-I Love Lucy, Bub-My 3 Sons).

1916 Jackie Gleason Brooklyn NY, comedian (Ralph Kramden-Honeymooners).

BIRTHDAYS

Singer Fats Domino is 80. Political columnist Robert Novak is 77. Country-rock musician Paul Cotton (Poco) is 65. Actor-director Bill Duke is 65. Singer Mitch Ryder is 63. Rock musician Jonathan Cain (Journey) is 58. Singer Michael Bolton is 55. Actor Greg Germann is 50. Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine is 50. Bandleader John McDaniel is 47. Actress Jennifer Grant is 42. Rock musician Tim Commerford (Audioslave) is 40. Singer Erykah Badu is 37. Rhythm-and-blues singer Rico Wade (Society of Soul) is 36. Rhythm-and-blues singer Kyle Norman (Jagged Edge) is 33. Rhythm-and-blues singer Corinne Bailey Rae is 29. Country singer Rodney Hayden is 28. Actress Taylor Dooley is 15.

DEATH

1959 Lou Costello actor (Abbott & Costello), dies at 52.

February 26, the 57th day of 2008. There are 309 days left in the year.

by Mondoreb
image: virtual tourist
Source:
* Today in History
* Today in History



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 25, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, LEVIATHAN, BUSINESS, PATENTS, COMMIES, ACTIVIST COURT, SPORTS, RUN, SPEECH, EXECUTED, GUILLOTINED, LYNCHED, EXCOMMUNICATION, MONKEYS, E PLURIBUS PLURIBUS, RECORDS, GREENBACKS, CONDEMNED, DALI LAMA, TAXES, INFLATION, NAZIS, JEWS, MOONIES, SERIAL KILLERS, BICYCLES, AH ONE AND AH TWO, FAST, TV BREAKDOWNS, HOOKERS, WHEN HE'S DOWN, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

LEVIATHAN

1913 the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, giving Congress the power to levy and collect income taxes, was declared in effect by Secretary of State Philander Chase Knox.

WAR!

1779 American forces led by George Rogers Clark routed the British from Fort Sackville in the Revolutionary War Battle of Vincennes in present-day Indiana.

1991 During the Persian Gulf War, 28 Americans were killed when an Iraqi Scud missile hit a U.S. barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

2003 Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix said Iraq was showing new signs of real cooperation, but President Bush was dismissive, predicting Saddam Hussein would try to "fool the world one more time."

TERRORISM

1995 Bomb attack on train in Assam India (27 soldiers killed).

1995 Moslem fundamentalists shoot 20 Shiite mosque goers dead.

2007 A female suicide bomber triggered a ball bearing-packed charge, killing at least 41 people at a mostly Shiite college in Baghdad.

DISASTERS

1977 Oil tanker explosion west of Honolulu spills 31 million gallons.

1984 Oil fire in Cubatao Brazil kills 500.

1994 Peruvian Yak-40 crashes into mountain near Tingo Maria, kills 31.

MONKEYS

1751 1st performing monkey exhibited in America, NYC (admission 1¢).

RECORDS

1838 London pedestrian walks 20 miles backward then forward in 8 hours.

CONDEMNED

1885 US Congress condemns barbed wire around government grounds.

PATENTS

1836 inventor Samuel Colt patented his revolver.

TV BREAKDOWNS

1990 On a BBC taped interview, rock star Stevie Nicks breaks down, saying that she will never have children & no man can stand her for long.

DALI LAMA

1910 Dali Lama flees Tibet from Chinese troop to British-Indies.

WHEN HE'S DOWN

1995 British heavyweight Nigel Benn hits Gerard McClellan in hospital.

HOOKERS

1998 Switzerland's 1st legal brothel opens in Zurich.

INFLATION

1923 Bread in Berlin rises to 2,000 mark.

AH ONE AND AH TWO

1982 Final episode of "The Lawrence Welk Show" airs.

GUILLOTINED

1922 Henri-Désiré Landru French sex murderer, guillotined at 52.

TAXES

1919 Oregon is 1st state to tax gasoline (1¢ per gallon).

GREENBACKS

1862 Paper currency (greenbacks) introduced in US by President Abraham Lincoln.

EXCOMMUNICATION

1570 Pius V excommunicates Elizabeth, absolves her subjects from allegiance.

NAZIS

1932 Immigrant Adolf Hitler gets German citizenship.

CHOKED

1983 Tennessee Williams writer (Streetcar Named Desire), reportedly chokes to death on a bottle cap at 71.

SERIAL KILLERS

1973 Juan Corona sentenced to 25 life sentences for 25 murders.

E PLURIBUS PLURIBUS

1803 1,800 sovereign German states unite into 60 states.

LYNCHED

1994 Baruch Goldstein physician/murderer (53 in mosque), lynched at 42.

BICYCLES

1974 Veronica & Colin Scargill (England) begin tandem bicycle ride a record 18,020 miles around the world, completed on August 27, 1975.

FAST

1982 Record speed for a snowmobile (239 kph).

BUSINESS

1901 U.S. Steel Corp. was incorporated by J.P. Morgan.

JEWS

1941 February strike against persecution of Jews, in Amsterdam.

MOONIES

1968 430 Unification Church couples wed in Korea.

COMMIES

1948 Communists seized power in Czechoslovakia.

ACTIVIST COURT

1957 The Supreme Court, in Butler v. Michigan, overturned a Michigan statute making it a misdemeanor to sell books containing obscene language that would tend to corrupt "the morals of youth."

SPEECH

2007 In Detroit, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan stressed religious unity during what was billed as his final major speech, saying the world was at war because Christians and Muslims were divided.

EXECUTED

1601 Robert Devereux Earl of Essex, executed for treason against Elizabeth.

SPORTS

1964 Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali), a 7-1 underdog, became world heavyweight boxing champion by defeating Sonny Liston in Miami Beach, Fla.

1989 Dallas Cowboys fire coach Tom Landry after a 29-year career.

RUN!

In 1986, President Ferdinand Marcos fled the Philippines after 20 years of rule in the wake of a tainted election; Corazon Aquino assumed the presidency.

BORN

1841 Pierre Auguste Renoir Limoges France, Impressionist painter/sculptor.

1901 [Herbert] Zeppo Marx New York NY, comedian/actor (Marx Brothers).

1906 Domingo Ortega Spanish bullfighter.

BIRTHDAYS

Country singer Ralph Stanley is 81. TV writer-producer Larry Gelbart is 80. Actor Tom Courtenay is 71. CBS newsman Bob Schieffer is 71. Actress Diane Baker is 70. Actress Karen Grassle is 64. Movie director Neil Jordan is 58. Rock musician Dennis Diken (The Smithereens) is 51. Rock singer-musician Mike Peters (The Alarm) is 49. Actress Veronica Webb is 43. Actor Alexis Denisof is 42. Actress Tea Leoni is 42. Comedian Carrot Top is 41. Actress Lesley Boone is 40. Actor Sean Astin is 37. Singer Daniel Powter is 37. Latin singer Julio Iglesias Jr. is 35. Rhythm-and-blues singer Justin Jeffre is 35. Rock musician Richard Liles is 35. Actor Anson Mount is 35. Actress Rashida Jones is 32. Actor Justin Berfield is 22. Actors Oliver and James Phelps ("Harry Potter" movies) are 22.

DEATH

1994 Jersey Joe Walcott boxer, dies at 80.

February 25, the 56th day of 2008. There are 310 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: history
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 24, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, NAZIS, POLITICS, REBELS, STRONGMEN, INJUSTICE, HUSTLER, SUPREME COURT, BULLS, GESTURES, CRUSH, FINALLY, PARADES, ARRESTS, ICE, PROGRESS, JEWS, DIETS, PIGS, HUH, FINANCE, ASSASSINATED, BLIMPS, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH


1868 the House of Representatives impeached President Andrew Johnson following his attempted dismissal of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton; Johnson was later acquitted by the Senate.

WAR!

1917 German plan to get Mexican help in WWI exposed (Zimmerman telegram).

1945 Egypt & Syria declares war on Nazi-Germany.

1968 US troops reconquer Hue Vietnam.

2003 Seeking U.N. approval for war against Iraq, the United States, Britain and Spain submitted a resolution to the Security Council declaring that Saddam Hussein had missed "the final opportunity" to disarm peacefully and indicating that he had to face the consequences.

TERRORISM

2007 A suicide truck bomber struck worshippers leaving a Sunni mosque in Habbaniyah, 50 miles west of Baghdad, killing at least 52 people.

DISASTER

1989 US Boeing 747 loses parts of roof over Pacific, 9 die.

PIGS

1979 Highest price ever paid for a pig, $42,500, Stamford TX.

HUH?

1989 Margaret Ray found in David Letterman's home, claims to be his wife.

BLIMPS

1997 South Africa announces it is constructing largest modern day blimp.

FINANCE

1995 Dow-Jones hits record 4011.74.

DIETS

1981 Jean Harris is convicted of murdering Scarsdale diet doctor Tarnower.

PROGRESS

1938 Du Pont begins commercial production of nylon toothbrush bristles.

PARADE

1868 1st US parade with floats (Mardi Gras-Mobile AL).

ICE

1925 Thermit explosive 1st used to break up ice jam, Waddington NY.

ARRESTS

1923 Mass arrests in US of Mafia.

JEWS

1949 Israel & Egypt sign an armistice agreement.

CRUSH

1807 17 die & 15 wounded in a crush to witness execution of Holloway, Heggerty & Elizabeth Godfrey in England.

FINALLY

1855 US Court of Claims established for cases against the government.

DISASTERS

2003 A powerful earthquake in China's western region of Xinjiang killed at least 268 people and injured more than 1,000.

BULLS

1582 Pope Gregory XIII issued a papal bull, or edict, outlining his calendar reforms. (The Gregorian Calendar is the calendar in general use today).

GESTURES

2007 The Virginia General Assembly passed a resolution expressing "profound regret" for the state's role in slavery.

SUPREME COURT

1803 in its Marbury v. Madison decision, the Supreme Court 1st rules a law unconstitutional and established judicial review of the constitutionality of statutes.

INJUSTICE

1983 a congressional commission released a report condemning the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II as a "grave injustice."

REBELS

1821, Mexican rebels proclaimed the "Plan de Iguala," their declaration of independence from Spain.

POLITICS

1863 Arizona was organized as a territory.

NAZIs

1920 a fledgling German political party held its first meeting of importance in Munich; it became known as the Nazi Party, and its chief spokesman was Adolf Hitler.

STRONGMEN

1946 Argentinians went to the polls to elect Juan D. Peron their president.

HUSTLER

1988 in a ruling that expanded legal protections for parody and satire, the Supreme Court overturned a $200,000 award that the Rev. Jerry Falwell had won against Hustler magazine and publisher Larry Flynt.

ASSASSINATED

1945 Ahmed Maher Pasha Egypt's PM, assassinated in parliament.

BORN

1874 Honus Wagner HOF shortstop (Pittsburgh Pirates, 1900-17).

BIRTHDAYS

Actor Abe Vigoda is 87. Actor Steven Hill is 86. Actor-singer Dominic Chianese is 77. Movie composer Michel Legrand is 76. Actor James Farentino is 70. Actor Barry Bostwick is 63. Actor Edward James Olmos is 61. Singer-writer-producer Rupert Holmes is 61. Rock singer-musician George Thorogood is 58. Actress Debra Jo Rupp is 57. Actress Helen Shaver is 57. Apple CEO Steve Jobs is 53. News anchor Paula Zahn is 52. Country singer Sammy Kershaw is 50. Singer Michelle Shocked is 46. Movie director Todd Field is 44. Actor Billy Zane is 42. Actress Bonnie Somerville is 34. Rhythm-and-blues singer Brandon Brown (Mista) is 25.

DEATH

1983 Tennessee Williams US playwright (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), dies at 71.

1994 Dinah Shore singer (Chevrolet), dies of cancer at 76.

1998 Henny Youngman, a tireless comic who quipped "Take my wife — please" and countless other one-liners during a career that spanned seven decades, died in New York City at age 91. "I once wanted to become an atheist but I gave up ... they have no holidays."

February 24, the 55th day of 2008. There are 311 days left in the year.

by Mondoreb
image: teachpol
Source:
* Today in History
* Today in History

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 23, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, LAST STANDS, POLITICS, MASS INOCULATION, FAKE SHEEP, WHO, RUMORS, IRONY, BUSY, SERIAL KILLERS, PERSECUTION, PATENTS, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, CANDY, LEASES, PROGRESS, QUICKIE, FASCISTS, PRO WRESTLING, JEWS, KIDNAPPED, SUSPENDED, GOLD, SUPERNOVA, SHORT PEOPLE, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

WAR!

1945 During World War II, U.S. Marines on Iwo Jima captured Mount Suribachi, where they raised the American flag.

1847 The Battle of Buena Vista took place during the Mexican-American War. U.S. troops led by General Zachary Taylor fought Mexican General Santa Anna's forces, who ended up withdrawing.

1916 French artillery kills entire French 72nd division at Samogneux Verdun.

1942 Japanese sub fires on oil refinery in Ellwood CA.

1967 US troops begin largest offensive of Vietnam War.

TERRORISM

1969 Nayif Hawatimah forms Democratic People's Front for Liberation of Palestine.

1997 Ali Abu Kamal opens fire in Empire State Building & kills 1.

2007 Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport became the first in the United States to begin testing new X-ray screening technology that can see through people's clothes.

DISASTER

1887 French/Italian Riviera struck by Earthquake; 2,000 die.

1980 Oil tanker explosion off Pilos, Greece, causes 37-million-gallon spill.

1998 Forty-two people were killed, some 2,600 homes and businesses damaged or destroyed, by tornadoes in central Florida.

2003 In West Warwick, R.I., relatives of the 100 victims of a deadly nightclub fire were allowed to walk up to the charred rubble to pray and say goodbye.

IRONY

1994 Stuart Berger doctor (Immune Power Diet), dies from obesity at 40.

LAST STANDS

1836 the siege of the Alamo began in San Antonio, entire garrison eventually killed.

BUSY

1922 Henri Landru executed for having 11 wives, in France.

SHORT PEOPLE

1993 Gary Coleman wins $1,280,000 lawsuit against parents for high fees.

PROGRESS

1910 1st radio contest held (Philadelphia).

1936 1st rocket air mail flight, Greenwood Lake NY.

QUICKIE

1915 Nevada enforces convenient divorce law.

GOLD

1973 Gold goes up $10 overnight to record $95 an ounce in London.

WHO?

2007 Democrat Tom Vilsack abandoned his bid for the presidency.

LEASES

1903 Cuban state of Guantanamo leased to USA.

SUSPENDED

1971 George Harrison is fined & his driving license is suspended for 1 year as a result of several speeding tickets and a dispute with the police.

SPORTS

1983 USFL New Jersey Generals sign Heisman winner Herschel Walker (3 years-$5 million).

1985 Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight throws a chair during a game.

POPULAR

1861 By popular referendum, Texas becomes 7th state to secede from US.

SUPERNOVA

1987 Supernova 1987A in LMC 1st seen; 1st naked-eye supernova since 1604

SERIAL KILLERS

1906 Johann Hoch US murderer, executed.

PRO WRESTLING

1939 Lou Thesz beats E Marshall in St Louis, to become wrestling champion.

PATENTS

1874 Major Walter Winfield patents game called "sphairistike" (lawn tennis)

RUMORS

1970 Rumors spread that females born on this day were better looking and more vivacious.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1886 London Times publishes world's 1st classified ad.

JEWS

1947 General Eisenhower opens drive to raise $170 million in aid for European Jews.

CANDY

1896 Tootsie Roll introduced by Leo Hirshfield.

KIDNAPPED

1958 5-time world driving champion Juan Fangio kidnapped by Cuban rebels.

BURNED

155 Polycarp disciple of Apostle John, arrested & burned at stake.

FASCISTS

1919 Benito Mussolini founds the Fascist party of Italy.

POLITICS

1861 President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrived secretly in Washington to take office, following word of an assassination plot in Baltimore.

1870 Mississippi was readmitted to the Union.

PERSECUTION

303 Emperor Diocletian orders general persecution of Christians.

MASS INOCULATION

1954 The first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine began in Pittsburgh.

COUP

1981 an attempted coup began in Spain as 200 members of the Civil Guard invaded the Parliament, taking lawmakers hostage. (However, the attempt collapsed 18 hours later.)

FAKE SHEEP

1997 Scientists in Scotland announced they had succeeded in cloning an adult mammal, producing a lamb named Dolly. (Dolly, however, was later put down after a short life marred by premature aging and disease.)

JURIES

2007 A Mississippi grand jury refused to bring any new charges in the 1955 slaying of Emmett Till, a black teenager who was beaten and shot after whistling at a white woman, declining to indict the woman, Carolyn Bryant Donham, for manslaughter.

BORN

1633 English diarist Samuel Pepys (The Great Fire of London) was born in London.

1865 Barney Dreyfuss baseball owner (Pittsburgh Pirates).

BIRTHDAYS

Country songwriter Bob Willis is 74. Actor Peter Fonda is 68. Author John Sandford is 64. Singer-musician Johnny Winter is 64. Country-rock musician Rusty Young is 62. Actress Patricia Richardson is 57. Rock musician Brad Whitford (Aerosmith) is 56. Singer Howard Jones is 53. Rock musician Michael Wilton (Queensryche) is 46. Country singer Dusty Drake is 44. Actress Kristin Davis is 43. Tennis player Helena Sukova is 43. Actor Marc Price is 40. Actress Niecy Nash is 38. Rock musician Jeff Beres (Sister Hazel) is 37. Country singer Steve Holy is 36. Rock musician Lasse Johansson (The Cardigans) is 35. Actress Dakota Fanning is 14.

DEATH

1848 The 6th president of the United States, John Quincy Adams, died in Washington, D.C., at age 80.

1884 Tambo Tambo Australian aboriginal/US circus attraction, dies at 23.


February 23, the 54th day of 2008. There are 312 days left in the year.


compiled by Mondoreb
Source:
* Today in History
* Today in History



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 22, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, POLITICS, CRICKET, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, MIRACLES, POPCORN, SUCIDE, ASSASSINATION, BEHEADED, JEWS, GOP, WAGERS, NANNY STATE, SPUNKY, FIVE and DIME, MISTAKES, FUR, FRIENDLY FIRE, SOCCER, NASCAR, NYC MAYORS, UNREST, ESPANOL, AHHHH, WOUNDED, MARRIAGE, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH
Click on image to enlarge.
NASCAR

1959 1st Daytona 500 auto race-Lee Petty wins (135.521 MPH).

WAR!

1862 Jefferson Davis, already the provisional president of the Confederacy, was inaugurated for a six-year term as president following his election the previous November.

1915 Germany begins "unrestricted" submarine war.

1967 More than 25,000 U.S. and South Vietnamese troops launched Operation Junction City, aimed at smashing a Vietcong stronghold near the Cambodian border.

1991 Bush & US Gulf War allies give Iraq 24 hours to begin Kuwait withdrawal.

2007 Britain's Ministry of Defense announced that Prince Harry, a second lieutenant in the British army, would be deployed to Iraq. (Officials later reversed the decision because of insurgent threats.)

TERRORISM

1935 It became illegal for airplanes to fly over the White House.

1948 Arabs bomb attack in Jerusalem, 50 die.

1989 US authors demonstrate against Iranian death treats against Salman Rushdee, author of "Satanic Rituals".

2007 The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said Iran had ignored a Security Council ultimatum to freeze uranium enrichment, and instead had expanded its program by setting up hundreds of centrifuges.

AHHHHH!

1989 Finland ministry of Public health installs sex vacation to thwart stress.

WAGERS

1861 On a bet Edward Weston leaves Boston to walk to Lincoln's inauguration.

SPUNKY

1920 1st artificial rabbit used at a dog race track (Emeryville CA).

NANNY STATE

1872 1st national convention of the Prohibition Party (Columbus OH).

FIVE & DIME

1879 1st 5¢ & 10¢ store opened by Frank W Woolworth in Utica NY.

FUR

1923 1st successful chinchilla farm in US (Los Angeles CA).

WOUNDED

1932 Purple Heart award re-instituted.

ESPANOL

1989 1st Spanish commercial on network TV (Pepsi-Cola-CBS Grammy Award).

NYC MAYORS

1982 NYC Mayor Koch announces he will run for New York governor (unsuccessful).

MARRIAGE

1992 Ed McMahon, 69, weds Pamela Hurn, 37.

1992 Rockers Kurt Cobain (Nirvana) & Courtney Love (Hole), wed.

1991 Actor Bill Bixby (57) weds Laura Michael (32).

FRIENDLY FIRE

1940 German air force sinks 2 German destroyers, killing 578.

1944 US 8th Air Force bombs Enschede, Arnhem & Nijmegen by mistake/800+ die.

POPCORN

1630 Indians introduce pilgrims to popcorn.

UNREST

1983 Hindus kill 3000 Moslems in Assam, India.

1995 Algiers police kill at least 99 prison rioters.

SUICIDE

1998 Sandy Hume correspondent (Fox News), commits suicide at 28.

GOP

1854 1st meeting of the Republican Party, Michigan.

1856 1st national meeting of the Republican Party (Pittsburgh).

MISTAKES

2003 Jesica Santillan, the teenager who'd survived a botched heart-lung transplant long enough to get a second set of donated organs, died two days after the second transplant at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina.

POLITICS

1819 Spain agreed to cede Florida to the United States under the Adams-Onis Treaty.

1865 Tennessee adopted a new constitution that included the abolition of slavery.

1889 President Cleveland signed an omnibus bill to admit the Dakotas, Montana and Washington state to the Union.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1924 President Coolidge delivered the first radio broadcast from the White House as he addressed the country over 42 stations.

SOCCER

1956 1st British soccer match at Kunstlicht Portsmouth vs Newcastle United.

ASSASSINATION

1913 Francisco Indalecio Madero Mexican President at 39, and Suarez, Mexican vice President, assassinated in a military coup.

JEWS

1656 New Amsterdam granted a Jewish burial site.

1775 Jews expelled from outskirts of Warsaw Poland.

1941 I G Farben decides building Buna-Werke in Auschwitz Concentration Camp; Nazi SS begin rounding up Jews of Amsterdam.

MIRACLES

1980 the U.S. Olympic hockey team upset the Soviets at Lake Placid, N.Y., 4-3. (The U.S. team went on to win the gold medal.)

BEHEADED

1943 Hans Scholl German resistance fighter (White Rose), beheaded at 24. Sophie Scholl German resistance fighter (Die Weisse Rose), beheaded.

CRICKET

1993 Vinod Kambli scores 224 vs England at Bombay, 411 balls, 23 fours.

BORN

1732 The first president of the United States, George Washington, was born at his parents' plantation in the Virginia Colony.

1788 Arthur Schopenhauer Germany, philosopher (Great Pessimist).

1810 Frédéric F Chopin Polish/French pianist/composer.

1891 "Chico" Marx New York NY, actor/comedian (Marx Brothers, Animal Crackers).

BIRTHDAYS

Announcer Don Pardo is 90. Actor Paul Dooley is 80. Hollywood "ghost singer" Marni Nixon is 78. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., is 76. Movie director Jonathan Demme is 64. Actor John Ashton is 60. Actress Miou-Miou is 58. Actress Julie Walters is 58. Basketball Hall-of-Famer Julius Erving is 58. Actor Kyle MacLachlan is 49. Actress-comedian Rachel Dratch is 42. Actress Jeri Ryan is 40. Actor Thomas Jane is 39. Actress Tamara Mello is 38. Actress-singer Lea Salonga is 37. Actor Jose Solano is 37. Tennis player Michael Chang is 36. Actress Drew Barrymore is 33. Actress Liza Huber is 33. Singer James Blunt is 31. Actor Daniel E. Smith is 18.

DEATH

1998 Abraham A. Ribicoff, the former Connecticut governor and senator who served as President Kennedy's secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, died in Riverdale, N.Y., at age 87.

February 22, the 53rd day of 2008. There are 313 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: fireballroberts
Source:
* Today in History
* Today in history



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 21, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, LANDMARKS, PROGRESS, CHINA CARD, JEWS, WATERGATE, ADVENTURE, POLITICS, DIPLOMACY, SPORTS, DRAWN and QUARTERED, EJECTED, SALUTE, MONEY, ALARMS, BOOKS, BRAINS, FIZZ, PRO WRESTLING, SCIENCE, BEATLES, MUSIC, MOONIES, SERIAL KILLERS, RECORDS, TV PREACHERS, DRUGS, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

TERRORISM

1965 black Muslim leader and civil rights activist Malcolm X, 39, was shot to death inside the Audubon Ballroom in New York by assassins identified as members of the Nation of Islam.

WAR!

1862 Texas Rangers win Confederate victory at Battle of Val Verde, New Mexico.

1916 the World War I Battle of Verdun began in France as German forces attacked; the French were able to prevail after 10 months of fighting.

2003 Chief U.N. inspector Hans Blix ordered the destruction of dozens of Iraqi missiles with ranges that violated U.N. limits.

2007 British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced his country would withdraw around 1,600 troops from Iraq in the coming months; Denmark, meanwhile, said it would withdraw its 460 troops.

DISASTER

1917 Train near Chirurcha Romania catches fire & explodes; 100s die.

1922 Airship Rome explodes at Hampton Roads Virginia; 34 die.

1971 Series of tornadoes cuts through Mississippi & Louisiana killing 117.

2003 The owners of The Station nightclub in West Warwick, R.I., where 100 people perished in a fast-moving fire the night before, denied giving the rock band Great White permission to use fireworks blamed for setting off the blaze, although the band's singer insisted the use of pyrotechnics had been approved.

DRAWN & QUARTERED

1803 Edward Despard last person drawn & quartered in England.

PRO WRESTLING

1947 Whipper Billy Watson beats Bill Longson, to become wrestling champion.

EJECTED

1764 John Wilkes thrown out of English House of Commons for "Essay on Women".

FIZZ

1931 Alka Seltzer introduced.

RECORDS

1983 Donald Davis runs 1 mile backwards in 6 minutes 7.1 seconds.

SALUTE

1777 English ambassador Joseph Yorke demands dismissal of Governor John de Graaff for saluting US flag.

BEATLES

1964 UK flies 24,000 rolls of Beatle wallpaper to US.

TV PREACHERS

1988 During a live TV broadcast, televangelist Jimmy Swaggart (age 52) admitted to visiting a prostitute, then announced he would be leaving his ministry for an unspecified length of time. (Defrocked in April by the Assemblies of God, he was ordered to stay off TV for a year, but returned after only three months).

MONEY

1857 Congress outlaws foreign currency as legal tender in US.

BRAINS

1902 Dr Harvey Cushing, 1st US brain surgeon, does his 1st brain operation.

ALARMS

1858 Edwin T Holmes installs 1st electric burglar alarm (Boston MA).

SERIAL KILLERS

1981 "Yorkshire Ripper" Peter Sutcliffe, murderer of 13 women, captured.

BOOKS

1878 1st telephone directory (with 50 names) issued (New Haven CT).

SCIENCE

1953 F Crick & J Watson discover structure of DNA-molecule.

DRUGS

1989 US bust Chinese heroin ring, capture record 820 lbs heroin ($1 billion street value).

LANDMARKS

1885 the Washington Monument was dedicated.

MUSIC

1970 Jackson 5 make TV debut on "American Bandstand".


PROGRESS

1947 Edwin H. Land publicly demonstrated his Polaroid Land camera, which could produce a black-and-white photograph in 60 seconds.

CHINA CARD

1972 President Nixon began his historic visit to China as he and his wife, Pat, arrived in Shanghai.

JEWS

1943 Dutch Roman Catholic bishops protest against persecution of Jews.

1973 Israeli fighter planes shot down Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 over the Sinai Desert, killing more than 100 people.

1974 Israeli forces leave western Suez.

WATERGATE

1975 Former Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman were sentenced to 2 1/2 to 8 years in prison for their roles in the Watergate cover-up.

ADVENTURE

1995 Chicago adventurer Steve Fossett became the first person to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon, landing in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada.

POLITICS

2000 Consumer advocate Ralph Nader announced his entry into the presidential race, bidding for the nomination of the Green Party.

DIPLOMACY

1998 U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan began formal talks with Iraqi officials in the standoff over weapons inspections.

SPORTS

1979 2 Iowa girls High School basketball teams play 4 scoreless quarters; the game was won 4-2 in the 4th overtime period.

2003 Michael Jordan became the first 40-year-old in NBA history to score 40 or more points, getting 43 in the Washington Wizards' 89-86 win over the New Jersey Nets.

MOONIES

1977 74 Unification Church couples wed in New York NY.

BORN

1794 Antonio López de Santa Anna President of México (1833-36).

1887 Savielly [Xavier] G Tartakower Austrian/Polish/French chess player.

1893 Andrés Segovia Linares Spain, classical guitarist.

1907 Anglo-American poet W.H. Auden was born in York, England.

1914 Arnold S Denker New York, US chess champion (1944-46).

1927 Erma Bombeck Dayton OH, humorist (The Grass is Always Greener...).

BIRTHDAYS

Fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy is 81. Movie director Bob Rafelson is 75. Actress Rue McClanahan is 73. Actor Gary Lockwood is 71. Actor Peter McEnery is 68. Film/music company executive David Geffen is 65. Actor Alan Rickman is 62. Actress Tyne Daly is 62. Actor Anthony Daniels is 62. Tricia Nixon Cox is 62. Sen. Olympia J. Snowe, R-Maine, is 61. Rock musician Jerry Harrison (The Talking Heads) is 59. Actress Christine Ebersole is 55. Actor William Petersen is 55. Actor Kelsey Grammer is 53. Country singer Mary Chapin Carpenter is 50. Actor Jack Coleman is 50. Actor Christopher Atkins is 47. Rock singer Ranking Roger is 47. Actor William Baldwin is 45. Rock musician Michael Ward is 41. Actress Aunjanue Ellis is 39. Blues musician Corey Harris is 39. Country singer Eric Heatherly is 38. Rock musician Eric Wilson is 38. Rock musician Tad Kinchla (Blues Traveler) is 35. Actress Jennifer Love Hewitt is 29. Singer Charlotte Church is 22. Actress Ellen Page (Film: "Juno") is 21. Actor Corbin Bleu is 19.

DEATH

1991 Dame Margot Fonteyn ballerina, dies of cancer at 71.

February 21, the 52nd day of 2008. There are 314 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: umn
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 20, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, PROGRESS, LEVIATHAN, DUELS, RESIGN, FALSE ALARMS, JEWS, MISTAKES, IMMIGRATION, KILLED, WINE, SCALPED, WIND, PATENTS, SURF, GOLF, ASSASSINATION, IRAN, NANNY STATE, VOLCANO, OOPS, RACES, PRO WRESTLING, SPORTS, SCIENCE, THAT SUCKING SOUND, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

SCIENCE

1962 Astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth as he flew aboard the Mercury spacecraft Friendship 7.

WAR!

1942 Lieutenant E H O'Hare single-handedly shoots down 5 Japanese heavy bombers.

1944 During World War II, U.S. bombers began raiding German aircraft manufacturing centers in a series of attacks that became known as "Big Week."

1998 With the U.S. military poised to attack Iraq, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan began a final campaign to end the crisis over weapons inspections without bloodshed.

TERRORISM

1869 Tennessee Governor W C Brownlow declares martial law in Ku Klux Klan crisis.

1987 Bomb blamed on Unabomber explodes by computer store in Salt Lake City.

1994 3 Afghans take 70 Pakistani children hostage.

2007 In a victory for President Bush, a divided federal appeals court ruled that Guantanamo Bay detainees could not use the U.S. court system to challenge their indefinite imprisonment.

DISASTER

1835 Concepción, Chile destroyed by earthquake.

1856 John Rutledge, Liverpool-New York steamer, hits iceberg; many die.

1917 Ammunitions ship explodes in Archangelsk harbor, about 1,500 die.

1988 500 die in heavy rains in Rio de Janeiro Brazil.

2003 A fire broke out during a rock concert at The Station nightclub in West Warwick, R.I., killing 100 people and injuring about 200 others.

IMMIGRATION

1907 President Theodore Roosevelt signed an immigration act which excluded "idiots, imbeciles, feebleminded persons, epileptics, insane persons" from being admitted to the United States.

FALSE ALARMS

1971 The National Emergency Warning Center in Colorado erroneously ordered U.S. radio and TV stations off the air; some stations heeded the alert, which was not lifted for about 40 minutes.

RACE

1949 1st International Pancake Race held (Liberal KS).

THAT SUCKING SOUND

1992 Ross Perot says he'll run for President on Larry King Show.

GOLFERS

1927 Golfers in South Carolina arrested for violating Sabbath.

PRO WRESTLING

1978 Bob Backland beats Billy Graham in New York, to become WWF wrestling champion.

OOPS!

1947 Chemical mixing error causes explosion that destroys 42 blocks in Los Angeles CA.

VOLCANO

1943 New volcano Paracutin erupts in farmer's corn patch (México).

DUELS

1839 Congress prohibited dueling in the District of Columbia.

WINE

1673 1st recorded wine auction held (London).

WIND

1861 Steeple of Chichester Cathedral blown down during a storm.

SURF

1902 Heavy surf breaks over Seal Rocks & damages Sutro Baths, San Francisco.

SCALPED!

1725 10 sleeping Indians scalped by whites in New Hampshire for £100/scalp bounty.

SPORTS

1989 Members of 1949 Oklahoma football team cancelled an April reunion because of the deplorable conduct of Oklahoma players.

NANNY STATE

1933 House of Representatives completes congressional action to repeal Prohibition.

PROGRESS

1792 President Washington signed an act creating the U.S. Post Office.

SCIENCE

1989 Total eclipse of the Moon.

PATENTS

1872 Hydraulic electric elevator patented by Cyrus Baldwin.

1872 Luther Crowell patents a machine that manufactures paper bags.

1872 Silas Noble & JP Cooley patents toothpick manufacturing machine.

LEVIATHAN

1809 The Supreme Court, in United States v. Peters, ruled the power of the federal government is greater than that of any individual state.

MISTAKES

2003 A 17-year-old Mexican girl mistakenly given a heart and lungs with the wrong blood type received a second set of organs at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina; however, Jesica Santillan suffered brain damage and later died.

KILLED

1983 Ray Vitte actor (Doc, Cody-Quest), killed by police at 33.

ASSASSINATION

1919 French premier Clemenceau injured during assassination attempt.

IRAN

1921 Riza Khan Pahlevi seizes control of Iran.

RESIGN

1938 Anthony Eden resigned as British foreign secretary following Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's decision to negotiate with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.

SPIES

2003 Former Air Force Master Sgt. Brian Patrick Regan was convicted in Alexandria, Va., of offering to sell U.S. intelligence to Iraq and China but acquitted of attempted spying for Libya. (Regan was later sentenced to life without parole.)

JEWS

1941 Nazis order Polish Jews barred from using public transportation.

1941 1st transport of Jews to concentration camps leave Plotsk Poland.

1987 Soviet authorities released Jewish activist Josef Begun.

1995 Shlomo Averbach Rabbi, buried in Jerusalem, 250,000 attend.

BORN

1914 John Daly South Africa, newscaster/TV game show host (What's My Line).

1967 Kurt Cobain rock vocalist (Nirvana)/husband of Courtney Love.

BIRTHDAYS

Fashion designer Gloria Vanderbilt is 84. Actor Sidney Poitier is 81. Actress Marj Dusay is 72. Jazz-soul singer Nancy Wilson is 71. Singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie is 67. Hockey Hall-of-Famer Phil Esposito is 66. Movie director Mike Leigh is 65. Actress Brenda Blethyn is 62. Actress Sandy Duncan is 62. Rock musician J. Geils is 62. Actor Peter Strauss is 61. Rock singer-musician-producer Walter Becker (Steely Dan) is 58. Country singer Kathie Baillie is 57. Newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst is 54. Actor Anthony Stewart Head is 54. Country singer Leland Martin is 51. Actor James Wilby is 50. Rock musician Sebastian Steinberg is 49. Comedian Joel Hodgson is 48. Basketball player Charles Barkley is 45. Rock musician Ian Brown (Stone Roses) is 45. Actor French Stewart is 44. Actor Ron Eldard is 43. Model Cindy Crawford is 42. Actor Andrew Shue is 41. Actress Lili Taylor is 41. Singer Brian Littrell is 33. Actress Lauren Ambrose is 30. Actor Jay Hernandez is 30. Actress Majandra Delfino is 27. Singer-musician Chris Thile is 27. Actor Jake Richardson is 23. Singer Rihanna is 20.

DEATH

1790 Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II died.

1976 Kathryn Kuhlman religious leader/faith healer, dies.

1992 Dick York actor (Darren on Bewitched), dies of emphysema at 63.

February 20, the 51st day of 2008. There are 315 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
Image: wikipedia
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 19, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, TREASON, POLITICS, PATENTS, NANNY STATE, MASSACRE, BURNED, DIPLOMACY, LABOR, PROGRESS, INSANE, CEREAL, PRIZE, MARRIAGE, JEWS, PRO WRESTLING, CROCS, FAST, CARTOONS, HELP, PLAGIARISM, COKE, MICKEY, HEALTH NAZIS, PORN, TRASHED, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH


WAR!

1945 during World War II, some 30,000 U.S. Marines began landing on Iwo Jima, where they commenced a successful monthlong battle to seize control of the island from Japanese forces.

1634 Battle at Smolensk Polish king Wladyslaw IV beats Russians.

1942 President Roosevelt signed an executive order that gave the military the authority to relocate and intern U.S. residents, including citizens, of Japanese ancestry.

1942 Japanese warplanes, attacking in two waves, raided the Australian city of Darwin; at least 243 people were killed.

TERRORISM

1986 Jordanian King Hussein severs ties with PLO.

DISASTER

1884 Tornadoes in Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky & Indiana kill 800 people. No claims of climate change made.

1985 150 killed when a Spanish jetliner crashed approaching Bilbao, Spain.

2003 An Iranian military plane carrying 275 members of the elite Revolutionary Guards crashed in southeastern Iran, killing all on board.

PRIZE!

1913 1st prize inserted into a Cracker Jack box.

INSANE

1859 Dan Sickles is acquitted of murder on grounds of temporary insanity 1st time this defense is successfully used.

HEALTH NAZIS

1987 Anti-smoking ad airs for 1st time on TV, featuring Yul Brynner.

CEREAL

1906 W K Kellogg & Charles D Bolin incorporate Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company, Battle Creek MI.

CROCS

1945 900 Japanese soldiers reportedly killed by crocodiles in 2 days.

HELP!

1964 UK flies ½ ton of Beatle wigs to US.

TRASHED

1998 US hockey team destroys their rooms at Olympics village in Japan.

PORN

1992 Porn producer Jim Mitchell found guilty of killing his brother Artie.

COKE

1985 Canned & bottled Cherry Coke introduced by Coca-Cola.

PRO WRESTLING

1942 Bill Longson beats Managoff & Sandor Szabo, to become wrestling champion.

PLAGIARISM

1981 George Harrison is ordered to pay ABKCO Music $587,000 for "subconscious plagiarism" "My Sweet Lord" with "He's So Fine"

LABOR

1537 Weavers of Leiden Netherlands strike.

FAST!

1959 USAF rocket-powered rail sled attains Mach 4.1 (4970 kph), New Mexico.

TREASON

In 1807, former Vice President Aaron Burr, accused of treason, was arrested in the Mississippi Territory, in present-day Alabama. (Burr was acquitted at trial.)

MARRIAGE

1934 Bob & Dolores Hope marry.

MICKEY

1985 Mickey Mouse welcomed in China.

BURNED

1401 William Sawtree 1st English religious martyr, burned in London.

1545 Pierre Brully [Peter Brulius], calvinist minister, burned to death.

JEWS

1941 Nazis raid Koco Amsterdam & round up 429 young Jews for deportation.

PROGRESS

1831 1st practical US coal-burning locomotive makes 1st trial run, Pennsylvania.

CARTOONS

1960 Bil Keane's "Family Circus" cartoon strip debuts.

POLITICS

1846 the Texas state government was formally installed in Austin, with J. Pinckney Henderson taking the oath of office as governor.

2003 Missouri Congressman Dick Gephardt announced his second candidacy for president with a pledge to repeal most of President Bush's tax cuts.

PATENTS

1878 Thomas Edison received a U.S. patent for "an improvement in phonograph or speaking machines."

NANNY STATE

1881 Kansas prohibited the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages.

DIPLOMACY

1998 U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan set out for Iraq on a last-chance peace mission, saying he was "reasonably optimistic" about ending the standoff over weapons inspections without the use of force.

2007 Three-way talks between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Israeli and Palestinian leaders, initially billed as a new U.S. push to restart peace efforts, ended with little progress other than a commitment to meet again.

MASSACRE

1983 13 people were found shot to death at a gambling club in Seattle's Chinatown in what became known as the "Wah Mee Massacre." (Two Chinese immigrants were convicted of the killings and sentenced to life in prison.)

BORN

1473 Nicolaus Copernicus Torún, Poland, astronomer (heliocentrism).

1916 Eddie Arcaro jockey (1958 Racing Hall of Fame, 2 triple crowns).

1943 "Mama" Cass Elliot actress (Mamas & Papas-Monday Monday).

BIRTHDAYS

Singer Smokey Robinson is 68. Singer Bobby Rogers (Smokey Robinson & the Miracles) is 68. Actress Carlin Glynn is 68. Singer Lou Christie is 65. Actor Michael Nader is 63. Rock musician Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath, Heaven and Hell) is 60. Author Amy Tan is 56. Actor Jeff Daniels is 53. Rock singer-musician Dave Wakeling is 52. Talk show host Lorianne Crook is 51. Actor Ray Winstone is 51. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is 49. Britain's Prince Andrew is 48. Tennis Hall-of-Famer Hana Mandlikova is 46. Singer Seal is 45. Country musician Ralph McCauley (Wild Horses) is 44. Actress Justine Bateman is 42. Actor Benicio Del Toro is 41. Rock musician Daniel Adair is 33. Pop singer-actress Haylie Duff is 23.

DEATH

1980 Bon Scott Australian rock vocalist (AC/DC-Whole Lotta Rosie), dies at 33.

1997 Deng Xiaoping, the last of China's major Communist revolutionaries, died at age 92.

1998 Grandpa Jones country comic/banjo wizard (Hee Haw), dies at 84.

2007 Actress Janet Blair died in Santa Monica, Calif., at age 85.


February 19, the 50th day of 2008. There are 316 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: teachpol
Source:
* Today in History
* Today in History



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 18, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, REBELS, SCIENCE, TRIALS, CLINTONS, DEATH BY WINE, QUAKERS, BEHEADED, ENLIGHTENED, POLITICS, DRY, PATENTS, FLYING COWS, PROGRESS, CLASSIC, OCTOPUS, CLIMATE CHANGE, MARRIAGE, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH


CLASSIC

1885 Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" published.

WAR!

1865 Evacuation of Charleston SC; Sherman's troops burn the city.

2003 Declaring that America's security should not be dictated by protesters, President Bush said he would not be swayed from compelling Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to disarm.

TERRORISM

1969 PLO-attack El-Al plane in Zurich Switzerland.

2003 An arson attack on two South Korean subway trains in the city of Daegu claimed 198 lives. (The arsonist was sentenced to life in prison.)

2007 A pair of bombs on a train headed from India to Pakistan killed 68 people.

2007 Twin car bombs blew up in a mostly Shiite area of Baghdad, killed at least 62 people.

DISASTER

1828 More than 100 vessels destroyed in a storm, Gibraltar.

1947 24 die in a train crash in Gallitzin PA.

1965 27 copper miners die in avalanche, Granduc Mountain British Columbia.

2007 A military helicopter crashed in southeastern Afghanistan, killing eight U.S. service members; 14 survived with injuries.

DEATH BY WINE

1478 Duke of Clarence forced drowning in a wine barrel.

FLYING COWS

1930 First cow milked in an airplane. Olly the Cow flown & milked, milk sealed in paper containers & parachuted over St. Louis MO.

PROGRESS

1953 Premiere of 1st 3-D feature film-"Bwana Devil" (New York NY).

OCTOPUS

1973 54-kg octopus measuring 7 meter across captured in Hood Canal, Washington.

CLIMATE CHANGE

1979 Snow falls in the Sahara Desert.

MARRIAGE

1995 Pamela Anderson (Baywatch) & Tommy Lee (Motley Crüe) wed.

ENLIGHTENED

1787 Austrian emperor Jozef II bans children under 8 from labor.

PATENTS

1901 H Cecil Booth patented a dust removing suction cleaner.

DRY

1896 Cave of Winds at Niagara Falls goes almost dry for 1st time in 50 years.

BEHEADED

1587 Mary Stuart Queen of Scots (1560-87), beheaded at 44.

CLINTONS

1998 President Clinton's foreign policy team encountered jeers during a town meeting at The Ohio State University while trying to defend the administration's threat to bomb Iraq into compliance with U.N. weapons edicts.

QUAKERS

1688 Quakers conduct 1st formal protest of slavery in Germantown PA.

POLITICS

1841 1st continuous filibuster in US Senate began, lasting until March 11.

TRIALS

1970 the "Chicago Seven" defendants were found innocent of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic national convention; five were convicted of violating the Anti-Riot Act of 1968. (Those convictions were later reversed).

SCIENCE

1930 photographic evidence of Pluto (now designated a "dwarf planet") was discovered by Clyde W. Tombaugh at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz.

1977 the space shuttle Enterprise, sitting atop a Boeing 747, went on its maiden "flight" above the Mojave Desert.

REBELS

1861 Jefferson Davis was sworn in as the provisional president of the Confederate States of America in Montgomery, Ala.

BORN

1516 Mary I Tudor [Bloody Mary] Greenwich, (1553-58), 1st reigning queen of Great Britain.

1859 Sholem Aleichem [Solomon Rabinowitz], author (Fiddler on the Roof).

1890 Boris L Pasternak Russian poet/writer (Dr Zhivago).

1892 Wendell Wilkie Presidential candidate (R-1940)/author (One World).

1895 George "The Gipper" Gipp Notre Dame football star.

1920 Jack Palance [Walter Palanuik], Lattimer PA, actor (City Slickers).

BIRTHDAYS

Former Cosmopolitan editor Helen Gurley Brown is 86. Actor George Kennedy is 83. Sen. John Warner, R-Va., is 81. Author Toni Morrison is 77. Movie director Milos Forman is 76. Singer Yoko Ono is 75. Singer/songwriter Bobby Hart is 69. Singer Irma Thomas is 67. Singer Herman Santiago (Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers) is 67. Singer Dennis DeYoung is 61. Actress Sinead Cusack is 60. Producer-director-writer John Hughes is 58. Actress Cybill Shepherd is 58. Singer Juice Newton is 56. Singer Randy Crawford is 56. Rock musician Robbie Bachman is 55. Rock musician Larry Rust (Iron Butterfly) is 55. Actor John Travolta is 54. Game show host Vanna White is 51. Actress Greta Scacchi is 48. Actor Matt Dillon is 44. Rapper Dr. Dre is 43. Actress Molly Ringwald is 40. Actress Sarah Brown is 33. Singer-musician Sean Watkins (Nickel Creek) is 31. Actor Tyrone Burton is 29. Actor Shane Lyons is 20.

DEATH

1546 Martin Luther, leader of the Protestant Reformation in Germany, died in Eisleben.

1564 artist Michelangelo died in Rome.

1967 American theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer died in Princeton, N.J., at age 62.

1990 Hulk fictional character in "Death of Incredible Hulk" on NBC, dies.

1998 Sportscaster Harry Caray died in Rancho Mirage, Calif., at age 83.

2001 NASCAR driver/"The Intimidator", dies in crash during Daytona 500 at 49.

2003 Country singer Johnny PayCheck died in Nashville, Tenn., at age 64.

February 18, the 49th day of 2008. There are 317 days left in the year. This is Presidents Day.

by Mondoreb
image: teachwithmovies
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History



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