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's Today in Weird History: February 6, 2008

WAR, DISASTERS, CREEPY, WHISKERS, BOO, RECORDS, PAGE TWO, BANDITS, GAMES, HOBBIES, NANNY STATE, POLITICS, CIVIL RIGHTS, SMOKE NAZIS, PRO WRESTLING, GOLF, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, POPULATION, PIRATES, SPERM CONTROL, JEWS, GEEZERS, CLINTONS, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH


1911 Ronald Wilson Reagan, the 40th president of the United States, was born in Tampico, Ill.

WAR!

1778 France recognizes US, signs treaty of aid in Paris; 1st US treaty. England declares war on France.

1862 Victory for General Ulysses S Grant in Tennessee, capturing Fort Henry, and ten days later Fort Donelson; Grant earns the nickname "Unconditional Surrender" Grant.

1899 A peace treaty between the United States and Spain was ratified by the U.S. Senate.

2003 Edging closer to war, President Bush declared "the game is over" for Saddam Hussein and urged skeptical allies to join in disarming Iraq.

DISASTERS

1911 Great fire destroys downtown Constantinople/Istanbul Turkey.

1951 "Broker Special" train crashes in Woodbridge NJ, killing 84

1958 7 soccer players of Manchester United die in an air crash at Munich.

1992 16 people were killed when a C-130 military transport plane crashed in Evansville, Ind.

1996 A Turkish-owned Boeing 757 jetliner crashed into the Atlantic Ocean shortly after takeoff from the Dominican Republic, killing 189 people, mostly German tourists.

CREEPY

2003 ABC's "20/20" aired a British documentary on Michael Jackson in which the singer revealed he sometimes let children sleep in his bed.

WHISKERS

1869 Harper's Weekly publishes 1st picture of Uncle Sam with chin whiskers.

BOO!

1956 French premier Guy Mollet pelted with tomatoes in Algiers.

PAGE TWO

1951 Radio commentator Paul Harvey arrested for trying to sneak into the Argonne National Laboratory, Chicago IL.

RECORDS

1990 Steve Briers of Wales recited the entire lyrics of Queen's album "A Night At The Opera" in 9 minutes & 58.44 seconds backwards!

BANDITS

1891 1st great train robbery by Dalton Gang (Southern Pacific #17).

GAMES

1935 Board game "Monopoly" goes on sale for the 1st time.

PRO WRESTLING

1977 Harley Race beats Terry Funk in Toronto, to become NWA wrestling champion.

HOBBIES

1948 1st radio-controlled airplane flown.

GOLF

1968 Former President Dwight Eisenhower shot a hole-in-one.

1971 1st time a golf ball is hit on the Moon (by Alan Shepard).

NANNY STATE

1953 US controls on wages & some consumer goods were lifted.

CIVIL RIGHTS

1956 University of Alabama refuses admission to Autherine Lucy (because he's black).

SMOKE NAZIS



1987 No-smoking rules take effect in federal buildings.

POLITICS

1778 The United States won official recognition from France with the signing of a Treaty of Alliance in Paris.

1788 Massachusetts became the sixth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1933 the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, the so-called "lame duck" amendment, was proclaimed in effect by Secretary of State Henry Stimson.

SPERM CONTROL

1997 Diane Blood, 32, in England, won right to use her dead husbands sperm.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1959 Fidel Castro is interviewed by Edward R Murrow.

POPULATION

1820 US population announced at 9,638,453 (1,771,656 blacks (18.4%)).

PIRATES!

1832 US ship destroys Sumatran village in retaliation for piracy.

JEWS

1902 Young Women's Hebrew Association organized in New York NY.

GEEZERS

1911 1st old-age home opened in Prescott AZ.

CLINTONS

1998 President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair redoubled their pledge to use military force against Iraq if necessary; during a joint news conference in which the subject of former White House intern Monica Lewinsky came up, Clinton said he would "never" resign. President Clinton signed a bill changing the name of Washington National Airport to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

BORN

1756 America's third vice president, Aaron Burr, was born in Newark, N.J.

1833 James Ewell Brown "JEB" Stuart Major General (Commander of Cavalry, Confederate Army).

1895 George Herman (Babe) Ruth Baltimore MD, baseball great (Yankees).

1912 Eva Braun mistress of Adolf Hitler.

BIRTHDAYS

Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor is 91. Actor Patrick Macnee is 86. Actor Rip Torn is 77. Actress Mamie Van Doren is 77. Actor Mike Farrell is 69. Former NBC News anchorman Tom Brokaw is 68. Singer Fabian is 65. Actress Gayle Hunnicutt is 65. Actor Michael Tucker is 64. Producer-director-writer Jim Sheridan is 59. Singer Natalie Cole is 58. Actor Jon Walmsley is 52. Actress Kathy Najimy is 51. Rock musician Simon Phillips (Toto) is 51. Actor-director Robert Townsend is 51. Actor Barry Miller is 50. Actress Megan Gallagher is 48. Rock singer Axl Rose (Guns N' Roses) is 46. Country singer Richie McDonald is 46. Singer Rick Astley is 42. Rock musician Tim Brown (Boo Radleys) is 39. Actor Brandon Hammond is 24.

DEATH

1804 Joseph Priestley England/US theologist/philosopher/chemist, dies at 70.

1952 Britain's King George VI died; he was succeeded by his daughter, Elizabeth II.

2007 Singer Frankie Laine died in San Diego at age 93.

February 6, the 37th day of 2008. There are 329 days left in the year. Today is Ash Wednesday.

compiled by Mondoreb
images: red state leader;RidesAPaleHorse
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

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



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in History: January 15, 2008

WAR!, DISASTERS, QUEENS, ICE CREAM, FREEDOM, RECORDS, GEEZERS, EDUCATION, POLITICS, LANDMARKS, MURDERS, SPORTS, SERIAL KILLERS, SCANDAL, FINANCE, SUPREME COURT, EXECUTIONS, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, POPES, KINGS, RIOTS, PRO WRESTLING, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH and MORE


1870 Donkey 1st used as symbol of Democratic Party, in Harper's Weekly

WAR!

1865 Fort Fisher, NC falls to Union troops

1940 German U-Boot torpedoes Dutch trade ship Arendskerk (Eagle's Church)
1942 FDR asks commissioner to continue baseball during WWII
1942 Cubs, drop plans to install lights at Wrigley due to WWII
1943 Japanese driven off Guadalcanal
1944 European Advisory Commission decides to divide Germany
1944 General Eisenhower arrives in England
1944 Vught Concentration Camp puts 74 women in 1 cell, 10 die
1945 Red Army frees Crakow-Plaszow concentration camp
1949 Mao's Red army conquers Ten-tsin
1955 USSR ends state of war with German Federal Republic
1973, President Nixon announced the suspension of all U.S. offensive action in North Vietnam, citing progress in peace negotiations.

DISASTER

1919 2 million gallons of molasses "Tidal wave" Boston MA, drowning 21

1934 8.4 earthquake in India/Nepal, 10,700 die

1951 "Cloud of Death" rolls down Mount Lamington, New Guinea kills 3-5,000

1993 7.5 earthquake strikes northern Japan, 2 die

ICE CREAM

1935 300 Dutch ice cream salesmen protest against Italian competition

QUEENS

1559 England's Queen Elizabeth I was crowned in Westminster Abbey.

1994 Queen Elizabeth falls off her horse & breaks her left wrist

FREEDOM

1777 the people of New Connecticut declared their independence. (The tiny republic later became the state of Vermont.)

GEEZERS

1998 NASA announces John Glenn, 76, may fly in space again

EDUCATION

1844, the University of Notre Dame received its charter from the state of Indiana.

POLITICS

1942, Jawaharlal Nehru was named to succeed Mohandas K. Gandhi as head of India's Congress Party.

RECORDS

1983 Thom Syles keeps a life saver intact in his mouth for over 7 hours

LANDMARKS

1943, work was completed on the Pentagon, headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense.

MURDERS

1947 The mutilated remains of Elizabeth Short, the 22-year-old aspiring actress now known as the "Black Dahlia," were found in a vacant Los Angeles lot.

SPORTS

1934 Babe Ruth signs a 1934 contract for $35,000 ($17,000 cut)

1967 The Green Bay Packers of the National Football League defeated the Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League 35-10 in the first AFL-NFL World Championship Game, retroactively known as Super Bowl I.

SERIAL KILLERS

1978 Two students at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Lisa Levy and Margaret Bowman, were murdered in their sorority house. (Ted Bundy was later convicted of the crime, and executed.)

SCANDAL

1992 Cleaning woman finds intimate photos of Sarah Ferguson with US man

1998 Henry Cisneros' ex-mistress, Linda Medlar Jones, pleaded to misleading federal authorities investigating the former U.S. housing secretary's payment of alleged hush money to her. (Jones served nearly 18 months in prison; she was later pardoned by President Clinton.) Labor Secretary Alexis Herman denied allegations that she had sold her influence in the White House. (Herman was cleared in 2000 by Independent Counsel Ralph I. Lancaster.)

FINANCE

2003 White House budget director Mitchell Daniels predicted federal deficits would balloon to the $200- to $300 billion range over the next two years.

SUPREME COURT

1951 Supreme Court rule "clear & present danger" of incitement to riot is not protected speech & can be a cause for arrest

2003 Mickey Mouse and The Walt Disney Co. scored a big victory as the Supreme Court upheld longer copyright protections for cartoon characters, songs, books and other creations worth billions of dollars.

EXECUTIONS

2008 The Iraqi government hanged two of Saddam Hussein's henchmen, including a half-brother (Barzan Ibrahim) who was accidentally decapitated by the noose.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1973 Gene Shalit joins the Today Show panel

1974 "Happy Days" begins an 11 year run on ABC

1977 Coneheads debut on "Saturday Night Live"

1981 "Hill Street Blues" premieres on NBC-TV

1988 Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder makes remarks about black athletes

1993 Soap opera "Santa Barbara" final show on NBC TV

POPES

708 Sisinnius begins his reign as Catholic Pope (dies 20 days later)

KINGS

1535 Henry VIII declares himself head of English Church

RIOTS

1754 Riot at burial of doelist Daniel Raap in Amsterdam

FASHION

1797 1st top hat worn (John Etherington of London)

PROGRESS

1831 1st US-built locomotive to pull a passenger train makes 1st run; Mr & Mrs Pierson of Charleston SC make 1st US railroad honeymoon trip

1863 1st US newspaper printed on wood-pulp paper, Boston Morning Journal

1936 1st all-glass windowless structure in US completed, Toledo, Ohio

SCIENCE

1833 HMS Beagle anchors at Goeree Tierra del Fuego

PATENTS

1861 Steam elevator patented by Elisha Otis

1907 3-element vacuum tube patented by Dr Lee de Forest

INVENTIONS

1907 Gold dental inlays 1st described by William Taggart, who invented them

JEWS

1943 1st transport of Jews from Amsterdam to concentration camp Vught

1973 Pope Paul VI has an audience with Golda Meir at Vatican

1988 Arab uprising in Israel begins

RATIONING

1945 Every Amsterdammer gets 3 kg sugar beets

CIVIL RIGHTS

1950 4,000 attend National Emergency Civil Rights Conference in Washington DC

MUSIC

1961 Supremes signed with Motown Records

1965 Rock group The Who releases 1st album "I Can't Explain"

LABOR

1964 Teamsters negotiate 1st national labor contract

WATERGATE

1973 4 Watergate burglars plead guilty in federal court

1974 Expert panel reports 18½-m gap in Watergate tape, 5 separate erasures

ASSASSINATION

1976 Sara Jane Moore sentenced to life for attempting to shoot President Ford

PRO WRESTLING

1989 Big John Studd wins WWF's 1st Royal Rumble

BIRTHDAYS

Actress Margaret O'Brien is 71. Singer Don Van Vliet (aka "Captain Beefheart") is 67. Actress Andrea Martin is 61. Actor-director Mario Van Peebles is 51. Actor James Nesbitt is 43. Singer Lisa Lisa (Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam) is 41. Actor Chad Lowe is 40. Actress Regina King is 37. Actor Eddie Cahill is 30. Rapper/reggaeton artist Pitbull is 27.

DEATH

1998 Amos "Junior" Wells blues harpist, dies at 63

January 15, the 15th day of 2008. There are 351 days remaining in the year.


compiled by Mondoreb
[image: publicdomainclipart]
Sources:
*Today in History
* Today in History



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.