Friday, February 15, 2008

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 15, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTERS, WOMEN, CITIES, ASSASSINATION, SCANDAL, EXECUTED, COMMIES, CONDIMENTS, RESCUE, SLAVERY, TREASON, TREES, TOYS, MEAT, CLIMATE, VAMPIRES, COMMIES, BEETLES, CARTOONS, FAKES, BEATLES, SPORTS, BOOTLEG, DREAMS, SERIAL KILLERS, CHESS, JEWS, POPULATION, FINANCE, CLINTONS, GLOBAL WARMING, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH



WAR!

1898 USS Maine blew up in Havana harbor, touching off the Spanish-American War.

1989 More than 100,000 Soviet troops withdrew from Afghanistan almost 10 years after the USSR invaded the country.

1918 1st WWI US army troop ship torpedoed & sunk by Germany, off Ireland.

1942 Singapore surrenders to the Japanese.

1984 500,000 Iranian soldiers move into Iraq.

TERRORISM

1993 Bombings by Mafia drug lords kill 14 in Bogotá Colombia.

DISASTER

1864 Fire in Rotterdam Netherlands damages Museum Boymans.

1898 USS Maine blows up in Havana harbor, cause unknown-258 sailors die.

1961 73 people, including an 18-member U.S. figure skating team en route to Czechoslovakia, were killed in the crash of a Sabena Airlines Boeing 707 in Belgium.

1970 Dominican DC-9 crashes into sea at Santo Domingo, kills 102.

1982 Ocean Ranger oil-drilling platform lost off Newfoundland, 84 die.

1991 Freighter with dynamite explodes in Phang Nga Thailand, 120 die.

DREAMS

1967 Longest dream (REM sleep) on record, Bill Carskadon, Chicago (2:23).

VAMPIRES

1931 1st Dracula movie released.

SERIAL KILLERS

1978 Escaped mass murderer Ted Bundy recaptured, Pensacola FL.

1992 Jeffrey Dahmer found sane & guilty of killing 15 boys.

CLINTONS

1998 Monica Lewinsky's attorney, William Ginsburg, continued his harsh criticism of Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr for alleged leaks of information to the news media, charging on CNN that his client's constitutional rights were being trampled.

TOYS

1903 1st Teddy Bear introduced in America, made by Morris & Rose Michtom.

FINANCE

1995 Dow-Jones closes at record 3986.17

CONDIMENTS

1768 1st mustard manufactured in America advertised, Philadelphia.

BEETLES

1936 Hitler announces building of Volkswagens (starting slug-bug game).

BEATLES

1965 John Lennon passes his driving test.

BOOTLEG

1967 1st anti-bootleg recording laws enacted.

FAKES

1955 1st pilot plant to produce man-made diamonds announced.

GLOBAL WARMING

2007 National Guardsmen in Humvees ferried food, fuel and baby supplies to hundreds of motorists stranded for nearly a day on a 50-mile stretch of Interstate 78 in eastern Pennsylvania because of a monster storm.

CARTOONS

1950 Walt Disney's "Cinderella" released.

COMMIES

1933 Karl Radek praises invincible force of German communist party.

POPULATION

1995 Population of People's Republic of China hits 1.2 billion.

MEAT

1882 1st cargo of frozen meat leaves New Zealand for Britain, on SS Dunedin.

SPORTS

1956 Pirates & Kansas City A's cancel an exhibition game in Birmingham AL, because of local ordinance barring black from playing against white.

SLAVERY

1804 New Jersey becomes last northern state to abolish slavery.

JEWS

1989 Israel attacks border strip Taba near Egypt.

CLIMATE

1895 23 cm (9") of snow falls on New Orleans.

CHESS

1985 World chess championship match abandoned-Karpov 25, Kasparov 23.

SCANDAL

2002 Olympics officials resolved the judging scandal by awarding Canadian pairs figure skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier a gold medal while allowing the Russians, Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, to keep their medal.

TREASON

1869 Charges of Treason against Jefferson Davis are dropped.

RESCUE

1851 Black abolitionists invade Boston courtroom rescuing a fugitive slave.

TREES

1876 Historic Elm at Boston blown down.

WOMEN

1879 President Rutherford Hayes signed a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court.

ASSASSINATION

1933 Chicago Mayor Anton J. Cermak was killed in an assassination attempt on president-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt in Miami.

EXECUTED

1979 Mehdi Rahimi Iran General/military Governor of Tehran, executed.

1994 Andrei Tsjikatilo [Rostov Ripper], Russian mass murdered, executed.


CITIES

1764 St. Louis, Mo., was founded as a French fur-trading post.

COMMIES

1984 Leamon Hunt US director-General in Sinai, killed by communists.

BORN

1564 Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa.

1803 John Augustus Sutter Swiss/US colonist of California gold rush fame (New Helvetia CA, Sutter Mill).

1820 Susan Brownell Anthony Adams MA, women's suffragette.

1882 John Barrymore [Blythe], Philadelphia PA, actor (Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, The Tempest, Beloved Rogue).

1907 Cesar Romero New York NY, actor (Joker-Batman, Ocean's 11, The Thin Man).

BIRTHDAYS

Actor Kevin McCarthy is 94. Actor Allan Arbus is 90. Country singer Hank Locklin is 90. Former Illinois Rep. John Anderson is 86. Comedian Harvey Korman is 81. Actress Claire Bloom is 77. Author Susan Brownmiller is 73. Songwriter Brian Holland is 67. Rock musician Mick Avory (The Kinks) is 64. Jazz musician Henry Threadgill is 64. Actress Jane Seymour is 57. Singer Melissa Manchester is 57. Actress Lynn Whitfield is 55. "Simpsons" creator Matt Groening is 54. Model Janice Dickinson is 53. Actor Christopher McDonald is 53. Reggae singer Ali Campbell is 49. Actor Joseph R. Gannascoli is 49. Musician Mikey Craig (Culture Club) is 48. Country singer Michael Reynolds (Pinmonkey) is 44. Actor Michael Easton is 41. Actress Renee O'Connor is 37. Actress Sarah Wynter is 35. Rock singer Brandon Boyd (Incubus) is 32. Rock musician Ronnie Vannucci (The Killers) is 32. Actress Ashley Lyn Cafagna is 25.

DEATH

1943 Thomas "Fats" Waller US jazz pianist (Hot Chocolate), dies at 38.

1973 Wally Cox actor (Mr Peepers, Hollywood Squares), dies at 48.

1984 Ethel Merman singer/actress (Kid Million), dies in her sleep at 76.

February 15, the 46th day of 2008. There are 320 days left in the year.

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

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