DBKP Today in Weird History: March 10, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, CHIX R DIX, MURDER, TREASON, ARMY, DIPLOMACY, JEWS, PATENTS, CANCEL, BOWLING, NANNY STATE, WHAT IF, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, FUNERALS, PROGRESS, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

PROGRESS

1876 the first successful voice transmission over Alexander Graham Bell's telephone took place in Boston as his assistant heard Bell say, "Mr. Watson — come here — I want to see you." (The words were recounted by Bell in his lab notebook.)

WAR!

1848 The Senate ratified the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the war with Mexico.

2003 Facing almost certain defeat, the United States and Britain delayed a vote in the U.N. Security Council to give Saddam Hussein an ultimatum to disarm.

2007 President Bush, in Uruguay as part of his Latin America tour, asked Congress for $3.2 billion to pay for 8,200 more U.S. troops needed in Afghanistan and Iraq on top of the 21,500-troop buildup he had announced in January 2007.

TERRORISM

1982 President Reagan proclaims economic sanctions against Libya.

1995 Car bomb explodes in Karachi at shiite mosque, 17+ killed.

2007 In their first direct talks since the Iraq war began, U.S. and Iranian envoys traded harsh words and blamed each other for Iraq's crisis at a one-day international conference.

DISASTER

1902 Earthquake destroys Turkish city of Tochangri.

1906 Coal dust explosion kills 1,060 at Courrieres France.

1939 17 villages damaged by hailstones in Hyderabad India.

1946 Train derailment kills 185 near Aracaju Brazil.

CANCEL

1893 New Mexico State University cancels its 1st graduation ceremony, its only graduate Sam Steele was robbed & killed the night before

PATENTS

1849 Abraham Lincoln applies for a patent; only US President to do so.

1975 Dog spectacles patented in England.

WHAT IF?

1951 FBI director J Edgar Hoover declines post of baseball commissioner.

NANNY STATE

1933 Nevada becomes 1st US state to regulate narcotics.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1980 Willard Scott becomes the weather forecaster on the Today Show.

FUNERALS

1994 1 million Greeks attend Melina Mercouri's funeral.

CHIX R DIX

2003 Natalie Maines, lead singer of the Dixie Chicks, told a London audience: "Just so you know ... we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas."

BOWLING

1913 William Knox, becomes 1st in American Bowling Congress to bowl 300.

FINANCE

1995 Dow-Jones hits record 4035.64.

DIPLOMACY

1785 Thomas Jefferson was appointed minister to France, succeeding Benjamin Franklin.

ARMY

1880 the Salvation Army arrived in the United States from England.

TREASON

1949 Nazi wartime broadcaster Mildred E. Gillars, also known as "Axis Sally," was convicted in Washington, D.C., of treason. (She served 12 years in prison.)

MURDER

1948 The body of the anti-communist foreign minister of Czechoslovakia, Jan Masaryk, was found in the garden of Czernin Palace in Prague. Authorities said that his death was a suicide, but others continue to claim that he was murdered.

1980 "Scarsdale Diet" author Dr. Herman Tarnower was shot to death in Purchase, N.Y. (Tarnower's former lover, Jean Harris, was convicted of murder; she served nearly 12 years in prison before being released in January 1993.)

JEWS

418 Jews are excluded from public office in the Roman Empire.

BORN

1888 Barry Fitzgerald Dublin Ireland, actor (Academy Award-Going My Way).

1918 Heywood Hale Broun journalist.

1920 Jethro Burns country singer (Homer & Jethro).

1923 Ara Parseghian football coach (Northwestern, Notre Dame).

BIRTHDAYS

Talk show host Ralph Emery is 75. Bluegrass/country singer-musician Norman Blake is 70. Actor Chuck Norris is 68. Playwright David Rabe is 68. Singer Dean Torrence (Jan and Dean) is 68. Actress Katharine Houghton is 63. Rock musician Tom Scholz (Boston) is 61. Producer-director-writer Paul Haggis is 55. Actress Shannon Tweed is 51. Actress Sharon Stone is 50. Rock musician Gail Greenwood is 48. Magician Lance Burton is 48. Actress Jasmine Guy is 46. Rock musician Jeff Ament (Pearl Jam) is 45. Music producer Rick Rubin is 45. Britain's Prince Edward is 44. Singer Edie Brickell is 42. Actor Stephen Mailer is 42. Actress Paget Brewster is 39. Country singer Daryle Singletary is 37. Rapper-producer Timbaland is 36. Actor Cristian de la Fuente is 34. Singer Robin Thicke is 31. Actress Bree Turner is 31. Olympic gold-medal gymnast Shannon Miller is 31. Country singer Carrie Underwood is 25. Actress Emily Osment is 16.

DEATH

1985 Konstantin U. Chernenko, who was the Soviet Union's leader for just 13 months, died at age 73.

1988 Pop singer Andy Gibb died in Oxford, England, at age 30 of heart inflammation.

1998 Actor Lloyd Bridges died in Westwood, Calif., at age 85.

2007 Standup comedian Richard Jeni, 49, died at a Los Angeles hospital of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

March 10, the 70th day of 2008. There are 296 days left in the year.

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

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Originally posted at DBKP at Blogger.

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 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 History: January 17, 2008

WAR!, TERRORISM, DISASTERS, CLINTONS, DIPLOMACY, ABDICATION, JEWS, SPORTS, SOLD, PATENTS, COMICS, CIVIL RIGHTS, MUSIC, PROGRESS, LINES, WITCHES, WHEW!, EXECUTIONS, DIVORCE, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, BUREAUCRACY, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

On Jan. 17, 1945, Soviet and Polish forces liberated Warsaw during World War II. Shown above, US and Soviets meet at Elbe River.

WAR!

1943 Tin Can Drive Day

2003 On the 12th anniversary of the Gulf War, a defiant Saddam Hussein called on his people to rise up and defend the nation against a new U.S.-led attack.

TERRORISM

1979 Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi flees Iran. Iran completely in hands of the forces of the Islamic Republic.

DISASTERS

1718 Avalanche destroys every building in Leukerbad, Switzerland; kills 53

1994, a 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck Southern California, killing at least 72 people.

1995, more than 6,000 people were killed when an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 devastated the city of Kobe, Japan.

CLINTONS

1998 President Bill Clinton gave a deposition in Paula Jones' sexual harassment lawsuit against him; during the nearly six hours of sworn testimony, Clinton denied having had a sexual relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

1998 President Clinton faces sexual harassment charges from Paula Jones.

DIPLOMACY

1946 United Nations Security Council holds its 1st meeting.

ABDICATION

1893, Hawaii's monarchy was overthrown as a group of businessmen and sugar planters forced Queen Liliuokalani to abdicate. Kingdom of Hawaii becomes a republic.

SPORTS

1997 NBA suspends Dennis Rodman indefinitely/$25,000 for kicking cameraman

SOLD

1917, the United States paid Denmark $25 million for the Virgin Islands.

PATENTS

1861 Flush toilet (with separate water tank and a pull chain) patented by Mr Thomas Crapper.

1905 Punchboards patented by Charles Brewer & C G Scannell, Chicago IL

JEWS

1945 Auschwitz concentration camp begins evacuation

1945, Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, credited with saving tens of thousands of Jews, arrested in Hungary and disappeared while in Soviet custody.

COMICS

1929 Popeye makes 1st appearance, in comic strip "Thimble Theatre".

CIVIL RIGHTS

1966 Martin Luther King Jr opens campaign in Chicago.



MUSIC

1969 Debut album of Led Zeppelin released in US.

PROGRESS

1955 Submarine USS Nautilus begins 1st nuclear-powered test voyage

LINES

1961, in his farewell address, President Dwight Eisenhower warned against the rise of "the military-industrial complex."

WITCHES

1775 9 old women burnt as witches for causing bad harvests, Kalisk, Poland

WHEW!

1966, a U.S. Air Force B-52 carrying four unarmed hydrogen bombs crashed on the Spanish coast. (Three of the bombs were quickly recovered, but the fourth wasn't recovered until April.)

EXECUTIONS

1977, convicted murderer Gary Gilmore, 36, was shot by a firing squad at Utah State Prison in the first U.S. execution in a decade.

DIVORCE

1997, a court in Ireland granted the first divorce in the Roman Catholic country's history.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1954 Jacques Cousteau's 1st network telecast airs on "Omnibus" (CBS)

BUREAUCRACY

2003 Tom Ridge sailed through Senate confirmation hearings on his way to becoming the nation's first Homeland Security Department chief.

BIRTHDAYS

Actress Betty White is 86. Singer-actress Eartha Kitt is 81. Actor James Earl Jones is 77. Talk show host Maury Povich is 69. Former heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali is 66. Rhythm-and-blues singer William Hart (The Delfonics) is 63. Rock musician Mick Taylor is 60. Rhythm-and-blues singer Sheila Hutchinson (The Emotions) is 55. Singer Steve Earle is 53. Singer Paul Young is 52. Actor-comedian Steve Harvey is 51. Singer Susanna Hoffs (The Bangles) is 49. Actor-comedian Jim Carrey is 46. Actor Joshua Malina is 42. Singer Shabba Ranks is 42. Actor Naveen Andrews is 39. Rapper Kid Rock is 37. Actor Freddy Rodriguez is 33. Actress Zooey Deschanel is 28. Singer Ray J is 27. Country singer Amanda Wilkinson is 26.

DEATH

1893 Rutherford B Hayes 19th US President (1877-81), dies in Fremont OH at 70.

1998 Emil Sitka actor (3 Stooges shorts), dies of stroke at 82.

2003 Actor Richard Crenna died in Los Angeles at age 76.

2003 Gertrude Janeway, the last known widow of a Union veteran from the Civil War, died in Blaine, Tenn., at age 93 (she had married John Janeway in 1927 when he was 81 and she was barely 18).

2007 Pulitzer Prize-winning satirist Art Buchwald died in Washington, D.C., at age 81.

January 17, the 17th day of 2008. There are 349 days left in the year.


compiled by Mondoreb
[images: mtmestas;mp3.com]
Source:
* Today in History
* Today in History



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.