DBKP Today in Weird History: February 8, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTERS, BEHEADING, EDUCATION, POLITICS, GROUPS, MOVIES, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, EXECUTION, STRONGMAN, ASSASSINATION, SUICIDE, PROGRESS, CLOSE CALLS, PATENTS, PAPERS, NANNY STATE, METEORS, WATERGATE, KIDNAPPED, WEDDINGS, SPORTS, MUSIC, HOAX, ANGER MANAGEMENT, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH



1968 Three college students were killed in a confrontation with highway patrolmen in Orangeburg, S.C., during a civil rights protest against a whites-only bowling alley.

WAR!

1862 Battle of Roanoke Island NC, Federals gain control of Pamlico Sound.

1904 the Russo-Japanese War, a conflict over control of Manchuria and Korea, began as Japanese forces attacked Port Arthur.

1916 French cruiser "Admiral Charner" torpedoed off Syrian coast, kills 374.

2003 The chief U.N. arms inspectors arrived in Baghdad for a new round of crucial talks with Iraqi officials. In a jab at major U.S. allies, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told a security conference in Munich that countries such as France and Germany that favored giving Iraq another chance to disarm were undermining what slim chance existed to avoid war.

TERRORISM

2007 Rival Palestinian leaders signed an agreement on a power-sharing government at Saudi-brokered talks in Mecca.

DISASTER

1905 Cyclone hit Tahiti & adjacent islands, killing some 10,000 people.

1923 Coal mine explosion at Dawson NM kills 120.

1931 Gas explosion; Fire in Fushun-coal mine, Manchuria kills 3,000.

1965 Eastern DC-7B crashes into Atlantic off Jones Beach NJ, kills 84.

1989 144 people were killed when an American-chartered Boeing 707 filled with Italian tourists slammed into a fog-covered mountain in the Azores.

1995 6.4 earthquake at Trujillo, Colombia (46+ killed).

HOAX!

1993 GM sues NBC, alleging that "Dateline NBC" program had rigged 2 car-truck crashes to show that 1973-87 GM pickups were prone to fires.

ANGER MANAGEMENT

1994 Jack Nicholson uses a golf club to attack a car.

PROGRESS

1883 Louis Waterman begins experiments to invent the fountain pen.

1933 1st flight of all-metal Boeing 247.

KIDNAPPED

1983 Champion thoroughbred Shergar kidnapped in Ireland; never found Lloyds of London pays $10.6 million insurance.

CLOSE CALL

1743 Comet C/1743 C1 approaches within 0.0390 astronomical units (AUs) of Earth.

METEORS

1969 Meteorite weighing over 1 ton falls in Chihuahua, México.

PATENTS

1802 Simon Willard patents banjo clock.

1898 John Ames Sherman patents 1st envelope folding & gumming machine (Massachusetts).

MUSIC

1992 "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred peaks at #1.

NANNY STATE

1960 Congress opens hearings looking into payola.

PRO WRESTLING

1971 Pedro Morales beats Ivan Koloff in New York, to become WWF wrestling champion.

WEDDINGS

1975 1800 Unification church couples' wed in Korea in mass ceremony.

SPORTS

1986 5' 7" Spud Webb of Atlanta Hawks wins NBA Slam Dunk Competition.

BEHEADING

1587 Mary, Queen of Scots was beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle in England after she was implicated in a plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I.

WATERGATE

1973 Senate names 7 members to investigate Watergate scandal.

ADVICE

1942 Congress advises FDR that, Americans of Japanese descent should be locked up en masse so they wouldn't oppose the US war effort.

CLIMATE

1989 5 cm of snow falls in outskirts of Los Angeles.

PAPERS

1918 "Stars & Stripes", weekly US armed forces newspaper, 1st published.

EDUCATION

1693 A charter was granted for the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va.

POLITICS

1837 The Senate selected the vice president of the United States, choosing Richard Mentor Johnson after no candidate received a majority of electoral votes.

GROUPS

1910 The Boy Scouts of America was incorporated.

ASSASSINATION

1963 Abdul Karim Kassem PM of Iraq (58-63), assassinated in Baghdad at 48.

MOVIES

1915 D.W. Griffith's groundbreaking as well as controversial silent movie epic about the Civil War, "The Birth of a Nation," premiered in Los Angeles.

SUICIDE

1990 Del Shannon Coopersville MI, rock vocalist (Runaway), shoots self at 55.

EXECUTION

1924 The first execution by gas in the United States took place at the Nevada State Prison in Carson City as Gee Jon, a Chinese immigrant convicted of murder, was put to death.

1932 Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll mobster, killed by Dutch Schultz gang.

2007 A federal judge in Fargo, N.D., sentenced Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. to death for the slaying of college student Dru Sjodin.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1978 The deliberations of the Senate were broadcast on radio for the first time as members opened debate on the Panama Canal treaties.

1990 "60 Minutes" commentator Andy Rooney suspended by CBS for racial remarks attributed to him by a gay magazine.

STRONGMAN

2003 Tens of thousands of Venezuelans marched in support of 9,000 oil workers fired for leading a two-month strike against President Hugo Chavez.

BORN

1820 William Tecumseh Sherman Major General (Union Army), dies in 1891 (War is hell).

1918 John Intoxication resistance fighter.

1920 Lana Turner Wallace ID, actress (Survivors, Falcon Crest).

1931 James Dean Marion IN, stage/film actor (Giant, Rebel Without a Cause).

BIRTHDAYS

Composer-conductor John Williams is 76. Actor Jack Larson is 75. Former ABC News anchor Ted Koppel is 68. Actor Nick Nolte is 67. Comedian Robert Klein is 66. Actor-rock musician Creed Bratton is 65. Country singer Dan Seals is 60. Singer Ron Tyson is 60. Actress Brooke Adams is 59. Actress Mary Steenburgen is 55. Author John Grisham is 53. Rock singer Vince Neil (Motley Crue) is 47. Rock singer-musician Sammy LLanas (The BoDeans) is 47. Actor Gary Coleman is 40. Actress Mary McCormack is 39. Actor Seth Green is 34. Actor Josh Morrow is 34. Rock musician Phoenix (Linkin Park) is 31. Actor Ryan Pinkston is 20. Actress Karle Warren ("Judging Amy") is 16.

DEATH

1725 Peter the Great Tsar of Russia dies at 52.

2007 Model, actress and tabloid sensation Anna Nicole Smith died in Florida at age 39 of an accidental drug overdose.

February 8, the 39th day of 2008. There are 327 days left in the year.

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



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 7, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTERS, TRIAL, RATIONING, IKE, WOMEN, SCIENCE, EXECUTION, QUACKS, POLITICS, BARE KNUCKLES, CLIMATE, CARTOONS, PREDICTIONS, MOVIES, JEWS, FLAVORS, MUSLIMS, SURGERY, NANNY STATE, UNREST, SHOCK JOCKS, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH



1964 The Beatles began their first American tour as they arrived at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.

WAR!

1861 The general council of the Choctaw Indian nation adopted a resolution declaring allegiance with the South "in the event a permanent dissolution of the American Union takes place."

1862 Federal fleet attack on Roanoke Island NC.

1864 Federal troops occupy Jacksonville FL.

2003 President Bush courted the leaders of France and China in an uphill struggle to win U.N. backing for war with Iraq.

2007 U.S. officials confirmed a new security operation was under way in Baghdad; U.S. armor rushed through streets, and Iraqi armored personnel carriers guarded bridges and major intersections. A Marine CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter was shot down by insurgents in Anbar, killing all seven people on board.

TERRORISM

1969 Al-Fatah-leader Yasser Arafat becomes president of PLO.

2003 The government raised its terror threat level to "high risk" orange, warning of a growing possibility that the al-Qaida network would launch an attack against the United States to coincide with Muslim holy days.

2003 Colombian guerillas bombed the exclusive El Nogal social club in Bogota, killing 36 people and injuring 160 others.


DISASTER

1812 8.2 earthquake shakes New Madrid MO; this is the last of Midwest quakes (see 12/16).

1904 A fire began in Baltimore that raged for about 30 hours and destroyed more than 1,500 buildings in 80 blocks.

1962 Gas explosion in Luisanthal coal mine Voelklingen Germany kills 298.

FLAVORS

1964 Baskin-Robbins introduces Beatle Nut ice cream.

RATIONING

1943 the government announced the start of shoe rationing, limiting consumers to buying three pairs per person for the remainder of the year.

QUACKS

1979 Josef Mengele concentration camp doctor, drowns.

WEDDINGS

1993 Pebbles Flintstone & Bamm Bamm Rubble wed.

SURGERY

1965 George Harrison of the Beatles, has his tonsils removed.

BUBBLE BOY

1984 David (born without immunity system) at 12, touches mom for 1st time.

SPORTS

1985 Marshall University's Bruce Morris scores a basket from 92'5¼".

UNREST

1990 Karachi police kill 22 anti-nationalistic demonstrators.

EXECUTIONS

1920 Alexander Koltsjak Admiral/leader Russian counter-revolutionary, executed.

SHOCK JOCKS

1994 Howard Stern stops a would-be jumper on the George Washington Bridge.

POLITICS

1839 Henry Clay declares in Senate "I had rather be right than president".

1905 Oklahoma admitted to statehood.

BARE KNUCKLES

1882 Last bare knuckle champion John L Sullivan KOs Paddy Ryan in Mississippi.

PREDICTIONS

1945 General Douglas MacArthur returns to Manila.

NANNY STATE

1976 FCC raids & shuts down pirate radio station WCPR (Brooklyn NY).

JEWS

1947 Arabs & Jews reject British proposal to split Palestine.

MUSLIMS

1964 Cassius Clay becomes a Muslim & adopts the name Muhammad Ali.


TRIAL

1857 A French court acquitted author Gustave Flaubert of obscenity for his serialized novel "Madame Bovary."

CLIMATE

1891 Great Blizzard of 1891 begins.

COMMIES

1950 Senator Joe McCarthy finds communists in US Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

IKE

1948 Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower resigned as Army chief of staff; he was succeeded by General Omar Bradley.

WOMEN

1983 Elizabeth H. Dole was sworn in as the first female secretary of transportation by the first woman to sit on the Supreme Court, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

SCIENCE

1984 Space shuttle astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart went on the first untethered space walk.

CARTOONS

1936 Felix the Cat, Cartoon Character, by Van Beuren from Otto Messmer.

MOVIES

1940 Walt Disney's 2nd feature-length movie, "Pinocchio", premieres (New York NY).

1974 Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles" opens in movie theaters.

BORN

1478 Sir Thomas More lawyer/lord chancellor of England/saint (Utopia).

1804 John Deere pioneer manufacturer of agricultural implements.

1812 Author Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth, England.

1817 Frederick Douglass Maryland, 1st high ranking black in US government.

1885 Sinclair Lewis novelist/social critic (Main Street, Nobel 1930).

1908 Clarence Clarence Linden "Buster" Crabbe Oakland CA, swimmer (Olympics-gold-1932)/actor (Tarzan the Fearless, Flash Gordon).

BIRTHDAYS

Country singer Wilma Lee Cooper is 87. Author Gay Talese is 76. Actor Miguel Ferrer is 53. Reggae musician Brian Travers (UB40) is 49. Actor James Spader is 48. Country singer Garth Brooks is 46. Rock musician David Bryan (Bon Jovi) is 46. Actor-comedian Eddie Izzard is 46. Actor-comedian Chris Rock is 43. Actor Jason Gedrick is 41. Actor Ashton Kutcher is 30. Actress Tina Majorino is 23.

DEATH

1993 Arthur Ashe tennis star (Wimbledon 1975), dies of AIDS at 49.

1998 It was announced that Carl Wilson, a founding member of The Beach Boys, had died in Los Angeles from complications of lung cancer; he was 51.

2003 Tom Christerson, the longest-living recipient of a fully self-contained artificial heart, died at Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Ky., after 512 days on the AbioCor; he was 71.

February 7, the 38th day of 2008. There are 328 days left in the year. This is the Lunar New Year of the Rat.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: rhythms-riffs
Sources:
* 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 4, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTERS, EXECUTIONS, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH, POLITICS, PROGRESS, EDUCATION, JEWS, BOOMS, RELIGION, ASSASSINATION, PATENTS, SPORTS, RIOTS, DEPORTED, BANKRUPT, RECORDS, CHIMPS, MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1789 Electors chose George Washington to be the first president of the United States. They also elected John Adams as Vice-President. (However, the results of the balloting were not counted in the U.S. Senate until two months later).

WAR!

1783 Britain declared a formal cessation of hostilities with its former colonies, the United States of America.

1861 Confederate constitutional convention meets for 1st time, Montgomery AL. Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi & South Carolina elect Jefferson Davis President of Confederacy.

1945 President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin began a wartime conference at Yalta.

TERRORISM

1990 10 Israeli tourists murdered near Cairo.

1994 20 die in armed assault on mosque in Khartum Sudan.

DISASTERS

1783 Worst quake in 8 years kills some 50,000 (Calabria, Italy).

1797 Earthquake in Quito, Ecuador kills 40,000.

1966 All-Nippon Airways 727 crashes off Haneda Airport (Japan); kills 133.

1971 Government exhibit under construction collapses, kills 65 in Brazil.

1976 7.5 earthquake kills 22,778 in Guatemala & Honduras.

1977 Elevated train jumps track, crashes onto Chicago st (11 die, 200 hurt).

1997 73 Israelis die when army copters collide.

1998 More than 2,300 people were killed when an earthquake hit northeast Afghanistan with a magnitude of 5.9, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

RECORDS

1982 Indoor distance record for a paper airplane (47 meters) Tacoma WA.

1984 Frank Aquilera sets world frisbee distance record (168 meters) Las Vegas.

RIOTS

1971 National Guard mobilized to quell rioting in Wilmington NC.

CHIMPS

1974 Chimpanzee Nim Chimsky signs his 1st word, at 2½ months.

BOOMS

1964 FAA begins 6 month test of reactions to sonic booms over Oklahoma City OK.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

2003 A rare television interview with Saddam Hussein aired in which the Iraqi leader charged that U.S. claims of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons in his country were a pretext to seize Iraq's oil fields.

EDUCATION

1849 University of Wisconsin begins in 1 room with 20 students.

BANKRUPT

1971 British car maker Rolls Royce declared itself bankrupt.

DEPORTED

1972 Senator Strom Thurmond suggests John Lennon be deported.

NAZIs

1938 Hitler seizes control of German army & puts Nazi in key posts.

RELIGION

1866 Mary Baker Eddy cures her injuries by opening a bible.

ASSASSINATION

1949 Failed assassination attempt on Shah of Persia.

JEWS

1855 Soldiers shoot Jewish families in Coro, Venezuela.

1959 Israel begins exporting copper ore.

1997 Secretary of State Madeline Albright announces she just discovered that her grandparents were Jewish.

SPORTS

1932 New York Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt opened the Winter Olympic Games at Lake Placid.

1969 John Madden is named head coach of the NFL's Oakland Raiders.

PATENTS

1913 Louis Perlman patents demountable auto tire-carrying wheel rim.

PROGRESS

1824 J W Goodrich introduces rubber galoshes to the public.

1930 1st tieless, soundless, shockless streetcar tracks, New Orleans.

1957 1st electric portable typewriter placed on sale (Syracuse NY).

EXECUTIONS

1699 350 rebellious Streltsi executed in Moscow.

BORN

1902 Charles A Lindbergh Detroit MI, pilot (1st fly solo across Atlantic).

1904 MacKinlay Kantor Webster City IA, novelist (Andersonville).

1913 Woody Hayes [Wayne], college football coach (Ohio, 1968 coach of year).

BIRTHDAYS

Actor William Phipps is 86. Actor Conrad Bain is 85. Actor Gary Conway is 72. Movie director George A. Romero is 68. Rock musician John Steel (The Animals) is 67. Singer Florence LaRue (The Fifth Dimension) is 64. Former Vice President Dan Quayle is 61. Rock singer Alice Cooper is 60. Actor Michael Beck is 59. Actress Lisa Eichhorn is 56. Rock singer Tim Booth is 48. Rock musician Henry Bogdan is 47. Country singer Clint Black is 46. Country musician Dave Buchanan (Yankee Grey) is 42. Actress Gabrielle Anwar is 38. Singer David Garza is 37. Actor Michael Goorjian is 37. Rock musician Rick Burch (Jimmy Eat World) is 33. Singer Natalie Imbruglia is 33. Rapper Cam'ron is 32. Rock singer Gavin DeGraw is 31. Olympic gold medal gymnast-turned-singer Carly Patterson is 20.

DEATH

1957 Joseph Hardaway creator of Bugs Bunny, dies at 66.

1983 Karen Carpenter singer/drummer (Carpenters), dies of anorexia at 32.

1987 Pianist Liberace died at his Palm Springs, Calif., home at age 67.

1989 Kenneth "Jethro" Burns country singer (Homer & Jethro), dies at 69.

2003 Opera singer Jerome Hines died in New York at age 81.

2007 Singer-actress Barbara McNair died in Los Angeles at age 72.

February 4, the 35th day of 2008. There are 331 days left in the year.




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



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP's Today in Weird History: February 3, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTERS, DISCO, PESTHOUSE, FORBIDDEN, CHEESE, ELEPHANTS, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, MURDER, EXECUTIONS, NANNY STATE, CHEATING, CLIMATE, LEVIATHAN, SPORTS, POLITICS, SPIES, LABOR, MUSIC, SHOCK JOCK, SUPREME COURT, CAUGHT, SCIENCE, PEDOPHILES, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH


1894 Norman Rockwell US, artist/illustrator (Sat Evening Post covers).

WAR!

1864 Sherman's march through Georgia.

1943 During World War II, the U.S. transport ship Dorchester, which was carrying troops to Greenland, sank after being hit by a German torpedo. (Four Army chaplains gave their life belts to four other men, and went down with the ship.)

TERRORISM

1969 The Palestine National Congress appointed Yasser Arafat head of PLO.

2007 A suicide truck bomber struck a Baghdad market in a predominantly Shiite area, killing more than 130 people. President Bush designated four central Florida counties disaster areas in the wake of tornadoes that ripped through the region, leaving 21 dead.

DISASTERS

1959 a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, claimed the lives of rock-'n'-roll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson.

1959 An American Airlines Lockheed Electra crashed into New York's East River while approaching LaGuardia Airport, killing 65 of the 73 people on board.

1998 A U.S. Marine plane sliced through the cable of a ski gondola in Italy, sending the car plunging hundreds of feet, killing all 20 people inside.

DISCO

1982 John Sharples of England finishes disco dancing 371 hours.

PESTHOUSE

1743 Philadelphia establishes a "pesthouse" to quarantine immigrants.

FORBIDDEN

1752 Dutch States-General forbid export of windmills.

CHEESE

1815 World's 1st commercial cheese factory established, in Switzerland.

ELEPHANTS

1882 Circus owner PT Barnum buys his world famous elephant Jumbo.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1953 J Fred Muggs, a chimp, becomes a regular on NBC's Today Show.

MURDER

1889 Belle Starr US female gangster, murdered at 40.

1969 Eduardo C Mondlane President of Mozambique, murdered.

1982 Porn star John Holmes ordered to stand trial for murder.

NANNY STATE

1973 President Nixon signs Endangered Species Act into law.

CHEATING

1965 105 USAF cadets resigned for cheating on exams.

CLIMATE

1961 6th largest snowfall in NYC history (17.4" (44.2cm)).

LEVIATHAN

1690 1st paper money in America issued (colony of Massachusetts).

1913 The 16th Amendment to the Constitution, providing for a federal income tax, was ratified.

1941 Supreme Court upheld Federal Wage & Hour law, sets minimum wages & maximum hours.

2003 President Bush sent lawmakers a $2.23 trillion budget for 2004.

SPORTS

1876 Albert Spalding with $800 starts sporting goods company, manufacturing 1st official baseball, tennis ball, basketball, golf ball, & football.

EXECUTION

1377 Mass execution of population of Cesena Italy.

1998 The state of Texas executed Karla Faye Tucker for the pickax killings of two people in 1983; she was the first woman executed in the United States since 1984.

POLITICS

1809 Congress passed an act establishing the Illinois Territory.

SPIES

1950 Nuclear physicist Klaus Fuchs arrested on spy charges.

LABOR

1908 The U.S. Supreme Court, in Loewe v. Lawlor, ruled the United Hatters Union had violated the Sherman Antitrust Act by organizing a nationwide boycott of Danbury Hatters of Connecticut.

2003 Abandoning a two-month-long general strike that failed to oust President Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's workers returned to work in all sectors but the vital oil industry.

MUSIC

1967 "Purple Haze" recorded by Jimi Hendrix.

1979 "YMCA" by Village People peaks at #2 on pop singles chart.

SHOCK JOCK

1997 Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Detroit MI on WKRK 97.1 FM.

FIRE

1916 Canada's original Parliament Buildings, in Ottawa, burned down.

SUPREME COURT

1930 the chief justice of the United States, William Howard Taft, resigned for health reasons. (He died just over a month later.)

CAUGHT

2003 Record producer Phil Spector was arrested in the shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson at his mansion in Alhambra, Calif. (Spector's murder trial ended in a jury deadlock in September 2007.)

SCIENCE

1966 The Soviet probe Luna 9 became the first manmade object to make a soft landing on the moon.

1984 1st baby conceived by embryo transplant born in Long Beach CA.

1994 The space shuttle Discovery lifted off, carrying Sergei Krikalev, the first Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard a U.S. spacecraft.

1995 Discovery blasted off with a woman, Air Force Lt. Col. Eileen Collins, in the pilot's seat for the first time in NASA history.

PEDOPHILES

1998 Mary Kay LeTourneau, 36, former teacher, violates probation with 14 year-old father of her baby

BORN

1811 Horace Greeley editor ("Go west, young man").

1879 Charles Follis 1st black US football player (Shelby OH).

1935 Johnny "Guitar" Watson rock guitarist.

1947 Melanie [Safka], Astoria, singer/songwriter (Candles in the Rain).

BIRTHDAY

Comedian Shelley Berman is 82. Football Hall-of-Famer Fran Tarkenton is 68. Actress Bridget Hanley is 67. Actress Blythe Danner is 65. Singer Dennis Edwards is 65. Football Hall-of-Famer Bob Griese is 63. Singer-guitarist Dave Davies (The Kinks) is 61. Singer Melanie is 61. Actress Morgan Fairchild is 58. Actor Nathan Lane is 52. Rock musician Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) is 52. Actor Thomas Calabro is 49. Actor-director Keith Gordon is 47. Actress Michele Greene is 46. Country singer Matraca Berg is 44. Actress Maura Tierney is 43. Actor Warwick Davis is 38. Reggaeton singer Daddy Yankee is 32. Musician Grant Barry is 31. Singer-songwriter Jessica Harp (The Wreckers) is 26. Rapper Sean Kingston is 18.

DEATH

1924 The 28th president of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, died in Washington, D.C., at age 67.

Feb. 3, the 34th day of 2008. There are 332 days left in the year.


compiled by Mondoreb
image:
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 Weird History: February 1, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTERS, CLINTONS, OOPS, SHIPWRECK, MOUNTIES, EXPOSED, SERIAL KILLERS, PIRATES, FEDERAL PEN, PATENTS, PEDOPHILES, MUSIC, HOMOS, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, NGOs, UNIONS, HOLLYWOOD, JEWS, CIVIL RIGHTS, POLITICS, ASSASSINATION, LABOR, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH



WAR!

1968 during the Vietnam War, South Vietnam's police chief executed a Viet Cong officer with a pistol shot to the head in a scene captured by Associated Press photographer Eddie Adams and NBC News.

1861 Texas voted to secede from the Union.

1865 General Sherman's march through South Carolina begins.

1943 German occupiers make Vidkun Quisling Norwegian premier.

2007 The departing top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. George Casey, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that improving security in Baghdad would take fewer than half as many extra troops as President Bush had chosen to commit.

TERRORISM

1979 Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini received a tumultuous welcome in Tehran as he ended nearly 15 years of exile.

2007 President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad launched anniversary celebrations for Iran's Islamic Revolution with a defiant promise to push ahead with the country's controversial nuclear program.

DISASTERS

1814 Volcano Mayon on Luzon Philippines erupts killing 1,200.

1953 Flooding in Netherlands, kills 1,835.

1967 Severe brush fires in Tasmania destroy $11 million & 60 lives.

1970 Stalled commuter train rammed by express in Argentina, 139 die.

1977 Heavy blizzard in New England claims 100 lives.

1991 34 people were killed when a USAir jetliner crashed atop a commuter plane on a runway at Los Angeles International Airport.

1991 Afghanistan/Pakistan hit by earthquake, 1,200 die.

2003 At least 50 people were killed in a Zimbabwe train collision.

2003 The space shuttle Columbia broke up during re-entry, killing all seven of its crew members: Commander Rick Husband; pilot William McCool; Michael Anderson; Kalpana Chawla; David Brown; Laurel Clark; and Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli in space.

CLINTONS

1998 In a round of Sunday talk show appearances, Monica Lewinsky's attorney, William Ginsburg, predicted that the controversy over whether the former White House intern had had an affair with President Bill Clinton would "go away" and that the president would survive unscathed.

OOPS!

1966 Nicholas Piantanida sets balloon flight record & dies in descent.

SHIPWRECK

1709 British sailor Alexander Selkirk is rescued after being marooned on a desert island (Fernandez Island) for 5 years, his story is the inspiration for Daniel Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe".

MOUNTIES

1920 The Royal Canadian Mounted Police came into existence.

EXPOSED

1969 Jim Morrison arrested for exposing himself in concert.

SERIAL KILLERS

1974 Lynda Ann Healy 1st Bundy murder victim, abducted in Seattle.

PIRATES!

1662 Dutch garrison on Formosa surrenders for Chinese pirates.

FEDERAL PEN

1906 1st federal penitentiary building completed, Leavenworth KS.

PATENTS

1793 Patent granted Ralph Hodgson, New York, for oiled silk & linen.

PEDOPHILE

1978 Director Roman Polanski skips bail & fled to France after pleading guilty to charges of engaging in sex with a 13-year-old girl.

MUSIC

1949 RCA releases 1st single record ever (45 rpm).

HOMOS

1975 Otis Francis Tabler is 1st open homosexual to get security clearance to work for the Defense Department.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1953 "General Electric Theater" premieres on CBS TV; Reagan later hosts.

NGOs

1946 Norwegian statesman Trygve Lie was chosen to be the first secretary-general of the United Nations.

UNIONS

1958 The United Arab Republic, a union of Egypt and Syria, was established. (The union ended in 1961.)

HOLLYWOOD

1887 Harvey Wilcox of Kansas subdivides 120 acres he owned in Southern California & starts selling it off as a real estate development (Hollywood).

JEWS

1860 1st rabbi to open House of Representatives, Morris Raphall of New York NY.

1948 Palestine Post building in Jerusalem bombed.

CIVIL RIGHTS

1865 JS Rock, 1st black lawyer to practice in Supreme Court, admitted to bar.

1871 Jefferson Long of Georgia is 1st black to make an official speech in House of Representatives (opposing leniency to former Confederates).

1960 Four black college students began a sit-in protest at a lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C., where they had been refused service.

1965 Martin Luther King Jr & 700 demonstrators arrested in Selma AL.

POLITICS

1968 Richard M. Nixon announced his bid for the Republican presidential nomination.

ASSASSINATIONS

1908 Carlos I King of Portugal (1889-1908), assassinated by mob at 44.

LABOR

1867 Bricklayers start working 8-hour days.


BORN

1901 Clark Gable Cadiz OH, actor (Gone With the Wind).

BIRTHDAYS

Actor Stuart Whitman is 80. Singer Don Everly is 71. Actor Garrett Morris is 71. Singer Ray Sawyer (Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show) is 71. Actor Sherman Hemsley is 70. Bluegrass singer Del McCoury is 69. Jazz musician Joe Sample is 69. Comedian Terry Jones is 66. Actor-writer-producer Bill Mumy is 54. Rock musician Mike Campbell (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers) is 54. Rock singer Exene Cervenka is 52. Princess Stephanie of Monaco is 43. Country musician Dwayne Dupuy (Ricochet) is 43. Actress Sherilyn Fenn is 43. Lisa Marie Presley is 40. Comedian and actor Pauly Shore is 40. Actor Brian Krause is 39. Jazz musician Joshua Redman is 39. Rock musician Patrick Wilson (Weezer) is 39. Actor Michael C. Hall is 37. Rock musician Ron Welty is 37. Rapper Big Boi (Outkast) is 33. Country singer Julie Roberts is 29. Actor Jarrett Lennon is 26.

DEATH

1650 Rene Descartes philosopher "I think therefore I am", stops thinking.

1851 Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley novelist (Frankenstein), dies at 53.

1966 Buster Keaton [Joseph Francis], US comic (General), dies at 69.

1988 Heather O'Rourke "Poltergeist" star dies of intestinal ailment at 12.

2003 Former Agriculture Secretary Richard Lyng died in Modesto, Calif., at age 84.

2007 Pulitzer Prize-winning opera composer Gian Carlo Menotti died in Monaco at age 95.

February 1, the 32nd day of 2008. There are 334 days left in the year.

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



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.