DBKP Today in Weird History: March 16, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, ROCKETS, NAZIS, SCANDALS, ST. PANCAKE, SURE, BOBBIES, JEWS, ASSASSINATION, BYE, QUIET, NANNY STATE, WOMEN, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, DRAMA, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

ACADEMIES

1802 President Jefferson signed a measure authorizing the establishment of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.

WAR!

1945 US defeats Japan at Iwo Jima.

1968 My Lai massacre occurs (Vietnam War); 450 die.

2003 Five years ago: Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein warned that if Iraq were attacked, it would take the war anywhere in the world "wherever there is sky, land or water." President Bush gave the United Nations one more day to find a diplomatic solution to the standoff.

TERRORISM

1977 US President Carter pleads for Palestinian homeland.

1978 Italian politician Aldo Moro was kidnapped by left-wing urban guerrillas, who later murdered him.

1984 William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, was kidnapped by gunmen; he died in captivity.

1985 Terry Anderson, chief Middle East correspondent for The Associated Press, was abducted in Beirut; he was released in December 1991.

1988 North-Ireland Protestant fires on Catholic funeral, 3 killed.

DISASTER

1941 Blizzard hits North Dakota & Minnesota killing 60.

1969 Viasa DC-9 crashes at Maracaibo's Grano de Oro airport, killing 155.

1991 7 members of Reba McIntire's band killed in a plane crash.

DRAMA

1994 Tonya Harding pleads guilty to felony attack on Nancy Kerrigan.

QUIET

1830 New York Stock Exchange slowest day ever (31 shares traded).

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1966 "Man From Uncle" star David McCallum receives huge welcome in London.

WOMEN

1876 Nelly Saunders & Rose Harland fight 1st female boxing match (New York).

BOBBIES

1830 London's re-organised police force (Scotland Yard) forms.

ROCKETS

1926 rocket science pioneer Robert H. Goddard successfully tested the first liquid-fueled rocket, in Auburn, Mass.

BYE

1861 Arizona Territory votes to leave the Union.

NAZIS

1935 Adolf Hitler decided to break the military terms set by the Treaty of Versailles by ordering the rearming of Germany.

ST. PANCAKE

2003 Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old American in Gaza to protest Israel operations, was killed when she was run over by a bulldozer while trying to block troops from demolishing a Palestinian home.

NANNY STATE

1871 1st fertilizer law enacted.

SCANDALS

1988 A federal grand jury indicted former National Security Adviser John Poindexter, fired White House aide Oliver North, retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard Secord and Secord's business partner, Albert Hakim, on charges related to the Iran-Contra affair. (Poindexter and North were later convicted, but had their convictions overturned; Secord and Hakim received probation after each pleaded guilty to a single count.)

ASSASSINATION

1978 Aldo Moro 5 times Prime Minister of Italy, assassinated by terrorists.

JEWS

1190 Jews of York England commit mass sucide rather than submit to baptism.

1998 In a long-awaited document that Jewish leaders immediately criticized, the Vatican expressed remorse for the cowardice of some Christians during the Holocaust, but defended the actions of Pope Pius XII.

SURE

2007 Former CIA operative Valerie Plame told a House committee that White House and State Department officials had "carelessly and recklessly" blown her cover in a politically motivated smear of her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, for publicly disputing President Bush's assertion that Saddam Hussein was on the brink of acquiring a nuclear bomb.

BORN

1751 James Madison, fourth president of the United States, was born in Port Conway, Va.

1849 James E Smith became father at 100 with woman 64 years younger.

BIRTHDAYS

Comedian-director Jerry Lewis is 82. Movie director Bernardo Bertolucci is 67. Game show host Chuck Woolery is 67. Singer-songwriter Jerry Jeff Walker is 66. Country singer Robin Williams is 61. Actor Erik Estrada is 59. Actor Victor Garber is 59. Actress Kate Nelligan is 57. Country singer Ray Benson (Asleep at the Wheel) is 57. Rock singer-musician Nancy Wilson (Heart) is 54. Golfer Hollis Stacy is 54. Actress Isabelle Huppert is 53. Actor Clifton Powell is 52. Rapper Flavor Flav (Public Enemy) is 49. Rock musician Jimmy DeGrasso is 45. Folk singer Patty Griffin is 44. Actress Lauren Graham is 41. Actor Alan Tudyk is 37. Actress Brooke Burns is 30. Rock musician Wolfgang Van Halen is 17.

DEATH

37 Roman emperor Tiberius died; he was succeeded by Caligula.

March 16, the 76th day of 2008. There are 290 days left in the year. Today is Palm Sunday.

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

DBKP.com - Bigger, Better!.
Also posted at Death by 1000 Papercuts.

DBKP Today in Weird History: March 13, 2008

WAR, DISASTER, SCIENCE, RESIGNING, MURDER, TRAGEDY, ABORTION, JEWS, DEALS, ICONS, PATENTS, ATTEMPTS, ASSASSINATION, NAZIS, CLIMATE, INVENTIONS, TRIALS, POLITICALLY CORRECT, ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH
Then...

ICONS

1852 Uncle Sam cartoon figure made its debut in the New York Lantern weekly.

...and later

WAR!

2003 U.S. officials said President Bush might delay a vote on his troubled United Nations resolution or even drop it - and fight Iraq without the international body's backing.

DISASTER

1895 Spanish cruiser Reina Regente sinks off Gibraltar, 402 die.

1928 Hundreds of people died when the San Francisquito Valley in California was inundated with water after the St. Francis Dam burst just before midnight the evening of March 12.

1961 Landslide in USSR, kills 145.

1992 570 die in a Turkish earthquake.

1994 Oil tank/airship crash at Bosporus (huge fire/15+ killed).

ATTEMPTS

1915 Dodgers manager Wilbert Robinson tries to catch a baseball dropped from an airplane, but the pilot substituted a grapefruit.

PATENTS

1887 Chester Greenwood of Maine patents earmuffs.

DEALS

1677 Massachusetts gains title to Maine for $6,000.

CLIMATE

1888 Great Blizzard of 1888 rages.

1993 Blizzard of '93 hits north-east US.

INVENTIONS

1894 J L Johnstone of England invents horse racing starting gate.

ASSASSINATION

1981 Attempt on Pope John Paul II by Mehemet Ali Agca.

NAZIS

1933 Josef Göbbels becomes German minister of Information & Propaganda.

1938 Anschluß-Austria annexed by Nazi Germany.

TRIALS

1998 Sgt. Maj. Gene McKinney, once the Army's top enlisted man, was acquitted at his court-martial of pressuring military women for sex, but was convicted of trying to persuade his chief accuser to lie.

SCIENCE

1781 The planet Uranus was discovered by Sir William Herschel. He thought it was a comet.

1925 A law went into effect in Tennessee prohibiting the teaching of the theory of evolution.

JEWS

1656 Jews are denied the right to build a synagogue in New Amsterdam.

1951 Israel demands DM 6.2 billion compensation from Germany.

MURDER

1964 Bar manager Catherine "Kitty" Genovese, 28, was stabbed to death near her New York home; the case generated controversy over charges that Genovese's neighbors had failed to respond to her cries for help.

RESIGNING

1980 Ford Motor Co. Chairman Henry Ford II announced he was stepping down, the same day a jury in Winamac, Ind., found the company innocent of reckless homicide in the fiery deaths of three young women in a Ford Pinto.

2007 Attorney General Alberto Gonzales admitted mistakes in how the Justice Department handled the dismissal of eight federal prosecutors but said he wouldn't resign.

POLITICALLY CORRECT

1988 yielding to student protests, the board of trustees of Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., a liberal arts college for the hearing-impaired, chose I. King Jordan to become the school's first deaf president.

TRAGEDY

1996 a gunman burst into an elementary school in Dunblane, Scotland, and opened fire, killing 16 children and one teacher before killing himself.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

2007 President Bush sought to soothe strained ties with Mexico by promising to prod Congress to overhaul tough U.S. immigration policies, but Mexican President Felipe Calderon criticized U.S. plans for a 700-mile border fence.

ABORTION

2003 The Senate voted 64-33 to ban partial birth abortion.

BORN

1733 Joseph Priestly England, clergyman/scientist (discovered oxygen).

1770 Daniel Lambert England, giant (weighed 739 lbs (334 kg) at death).

1908 American billionaire, publisher and diplomat Walter Annenberg (TV Guide) was born in Milwaukee.

BIRTHDAYS

Jazz musician Roy Haynes is 83. Country singer Jan Howard is 78. Songwriter Mike Stoller is 75. Singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka is 69. Actor William H. Macy is 58. Actress Deborah Raffin is 55. Comedian Robin Duke is 54. Actress Glenne Headly is 53. Actress Dana Delany is 52. Rock musician Adam Clayton (U2) is 48. Jazz musician Terence Blanchard is 46. Actor Christopher Collet is 40. Actress Annabeth Gish is 37. Actress Tracy Wells is 37. Rapper Common is 36. Rapper Khujo (Goodie Mob, The Lumberjacks) is 36. Singer Glenn Lewis is 33. Actor Danny Masterson is 32. Actor Emile Hirsch is 23. Singers Nicole and Natalie Albino (Nina Sky) are 22.

DEATH

1901 Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd president of the United States, died in Indianapolis.

1938 Clarence S Darrow Scopes Monkey Trial attorney, dies in Chicago at 80.

Today is March 13, the 73rd day of the year. There are 293 days left in 2008.

images:
* sonofthesouth
* allposters
Sources:
* today in history
* Today in History
DBKP.com - Bigger, Better!.
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's Today in Weird History: February 2, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTERS, EXHIBITS, TOILETS, POOL, RECORDS, TOYS, MEATS, SNACKS, STUNTS, NAZIs, GANGSTERS, STING, CLIMATE, CITIES, HOAX, SPORTS, ETHYL, JEWS, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, ASTROLOGY, CIVIL RIGHTS, INVENTIONS, PATENTS, EXECUTION, OVERDOSE, FIRE, LIES, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH



Today is Groundhog Day.

WAR!

1848 The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the Mexican-American War, was signed.

1943 The remainder of Nazi forces from the Battle of Stalingrad surrendered in a major victory for the Soviets in World War II.

1944 4th US marine division conquerors Roi, Marshall Islands.

1944 Allied troops 1st set foot on Japanese territory.

TERRORISM

1968 Springer Publishers in West Berlin, bombed.

DISASTERS

1897 fire destroyed the Pennsylvania state capitol in Harrisburg. (A new statehouse was dedicated on the same site nine years later.)

1998 Philippine DC-9 crashes apparently killing all 104 on board.

2003 The search continued for pieces of the space shuttle Columbia, a day after the spacecraft disintegrated during re-entry over Texas, killing all seven astronauts.

2003 A hotel fire in northeastern China killed some three dozen people.

2003 An explosion destroyed a bank building in Lagos, Nigeria, killing at least 46 people.

2007 Tornadoes killed 21 people in central Florida.

EXHIBITS

1802 1st leopard exhibited in US, Boston (admission 25¢).

TOILETS

1852 1st British public men's toilet opens (Fleet St London).

POOL

1960 Michale Eufemia sinks 625 balls in pool match without a miss.

RECORDS

1926 3 men dance the Charleston for 22½ hours.

TOYS

1964 GI Joe, debuts as a popular American boy's toy.

MEAT

1880 SS Strathleven arrives in London with 1st Australian frozen mutton.

SNACKS

1993 Frito Lay pays court ordered $2,500,000 to Tom Waits for using his song, "Step Right Up".

STUNTS

1912 Frederick R Law, parachutes from Statue of Liberty (stunt for Pathe).

NAZIs

1933 2 days after becoming chancellor, Adolf Hitler dissolves Parliament.

GANGSTERS

1932 Al Capone sent to prison (Atlanta GA).

STINGS

1980 FBI releases details of Abscam, a sting operation that targeted 31 elected & public officials for bribes for political favors.

CLIMATE

1989 0ºF (-18ºC) or below in 15 US states.

CITIES

1536 The Argentine city of Buenos Aires was founded by Pedro de Mendoza of Spain.

1653 New Amsterdam — now New York City — was incorporated.

HOAX

1870 The "Cardiff Giant," supposedly the petrified remains of a human discovered in Cardiff, N.Y., was revealed to be nothing more than carved gypsum.

2007 A grim report from the world's leading climate scientists and government officials said that global warming was so severe, it would "continue for centuries" and that humans were to blame.

SPORTS

1876 The National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs was formed in New York.

ETHYL

1923 Ethyl gasoline 1st marketed, Dayton OH.

JEWS

1957 UN adopts a resolution calling for Israeli troops to leave Egypt.

ASTROLOGY

1962 8 of 9 planets align for 1st time in 400 years.

CIVIL RIGHTS

1948 President Harry Truman sent to Congress a 10-point civil rights program calling for measures against lynching, poll taxes and job discrimination.

INVENTIONS

1869 James Oliver invents the removable tempered steel plow blade.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1942 Los Angeles Times urges security measures against Japanese-Americans.

1950 1st broadcast of "What's My Line" on CBS-TV.

1988 In a speech the broadcast television networks declined to carry live, President Reagan pressed his case for aid to the Nicaraguan Contras.

EXECUTION

1945 Karl F Goerdeler mayor (Leipzig)/"July 20th plot", hanged at 60.

OVERDOSE

1979 Sid Vicious [John Simon Ritchie], bassist (Sex Pistols), dies of a heroin overdose at 31

FIRE

1829 Madman Jonathan Martin sets York Cathedral afire, does £60,000 damage.

PATENTS

1892 Bottle cap with cork seal patented by William Painter (Baltimore).

LIES

1935 Lie detector 1st used in court (Portage WI).

BORN

1754 Charles-Maurice duke of Talleyrand-Périgord French bishop/premier (1815).

1861 Mehmed VI Vahideddin last sultan of Ottoman Empire (1918-22).

1882 Irish poet and novelist James Joyce was born near Dublin.

1895 George S Halas [Papa Bear], end/coach (Bears), co-founder NFL.

1905 Ayn Rand writer (Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead).

2338 Data android character on Star Trek Next Generation.

BIRTHDAYS

Actress Elaine Stritch is 83. Actor Robert Mandan is 76. Comedian Tom Smothers is 71. Rock singer-guitarist Graham Nash is 66. Actor Bo Hopkins is 66. Television executive Barry Diller is 66. Country singer Howard Bellamy (The Bellamy Brothers) is 62. Actress Farrah Fawcett is 61. Actor Jack McGee is 59. Actor Brent Spiner is 59. Rock musician Ross Valory (Journey) is 59. Model Christie Brinkley is 54. Actor Michael Talbott is 53. Actress Kim Zimmer is 53. Rock musician Robert DeLeo (Army of Anyone and Stone Temple Pilots) is 42. Rock musician Ben Mize (Counting Crows) is 37. Rapper T-Mo is 36. Actress Lori Beth Denberg is 32. Singer Shakira is 31.

DEATH

1969 Boris Karloff [Pratt], British actor (Frankenstein), dies at 81.

1996 dancer, actor and choreographer Gene Kelly died at his Beverly Hills, Calif., home; he was 83.

February 2, the 33rd day of 2008. There are 333 days left in the year. This is Groundhog Day.

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



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