DBKP Today in Weird History: February 17, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTERS, BURNED, POLITICS, PROGRESS, CHINA CARD, CHESS, HANGED, VEGETABLES, JIHAD, TOILETS, NANNY STATE, CARTOONS, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, JEWS, MUSIC, FINANCE, ENVIRONMENTAL SCARE, KILLERS, HUSTLER, CLINTONS, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

click on image to read Newsweek's "The Cooling World"

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1933 1st issue of "Newsweek" magazine published.

WAR!

1864 The Confederate submarine Hunley, equipped with an explosive at the end of a protruding spar, rammed and sank the Union's ship Housatonic off the coast of Charleston, S.C.

1865 Columbia, S.C., burned as the Confederates evacuated and Union forces moved in. (It's not clear which side set the blaze.)

1915 Edward Stone, 1st US combatant to die in WWI, is mortally wounded.

1979 China invades Vietnam.

2003 European Union leaders declared their solidarity with the United States, warning Saddam Hussein that Iraq faced one "last chance" to disarm peacefully but calling war a last resort.

2007 Senate Republicans foiled a Democratic bid to repudiate President Bush's deployment of 21,500 additional combat troops to Iraq.

2007 Marine Lance Cpl. Robert B. Pennington was sentenced to eight years in military prison for his role in the kidnapping and killing of an Iraqi civilian.

TERRORISM

1986 Libyan bombers attack N'djamena Airport in Chad.

1988 US Lieutenant Colonel William Higgins kidnapped by Lebanese terrorists & later killed.

1993 Alfredo de Leon leader (Philippines Red Scorpio Gang), killed.

1998 Larry Wayne Harris & Bill Levitt arrested for possession of anthrax.

DISASTER

1926 Avalanche buries 75 in Sap Gulch Bingham UT, 40 die.

1950 31 die in a train crash in Rockville Center, New York.

1957 Fire in Warreton MO, kills 72.

1962 Storm in Hamburg, kills 265.

1974 49 die in stampede for seats at soccer match, Cairo, Egypt.

1993 Haitian ferry boat capsize in storm, 800-2,000 die.

2003 Twenty-one people were killed in a stampede at the crowded E2 nightclub in Chicago.

HANGED

1688 Reverend James Renwick hanged in Scotland for being a Presbyterian.

VEGETABLES

1795 Thomas Seddal harvests 8.3-kg potato from his garden Chester, England.

TOILETS

1883 A Ashwell patents free-toilet in London.

ENVIRONMENTAL SCARE

1989 6-week study of Arctic atmosphere shows no ozone "hole".

MUSIC

1962 Beach Boys introduced a new musical style with their hit "Surfin".

HUSTLER

1997 Weekly Standard shows evidence Larry Flint sex abused his daughter.

CARTOONS

1933 Blondie Boopadoop marries Dagwood Bumstead; Dagwood's father promptly disinherits him.

1958 Comic strip "BC" 1st appears.

JIHAD

1568 Holy Roman Emperor agrees to pay annual tribute to Sultan for peace.

CLINTONS

1998 President Clinton, preparing Americans for possible air strikes against Iraq, said military force is never the first answer "but sometimes it's the only answer."

KILLERS

1970 Jeffrey McDonald slices up his wife & daughter.

1995 Colin Fergusson found guilty of killing 6 people on the Long Island Railroad in New York.

1998 Diane Zamora, 20, Naval Academy cadet convicted of capital murder.

FINANCE

1981 Chrysler Corp reports largest corporate losses in US history.

NANNY STATE

1913 1st minimum wage law in US takes effect (Oregon).

BURNED

1600 Italian philospher, alchemist, and Copernican theory advocate Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake for heresy by the Inquisition.

JEWS

1943 Dutch churches protest at Seyss-Inquart against persecution of Jews.

1949 Chaim Weizman elected 1st President of Israel.

1969 Golda Meir sworn in as Israel's 1st female prime minister.

2007 Former French Cabinet minister Maurice Papon, convicted of complicity in crimes against humanity for his role in deporting Jews during World War II, died near Paris at age 96.

POLITICS

1801 The electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr was broken by the House of Representatives who elected Jefferson president.

CHINA CARD

1972 President Richard Nixon left on his trip to China.

PROGRESS

1817 Baltimore became the first U.S. city lit by gas.

CHESS

1996 Chess champion Garry Kasparov beat the IBM computer, Deep Blue, winning the six-game match.

BORN

1817 Frederick Douglass famous African-American.

1844 A. Montgomery Ward founded mail-order business (Montgomery Ward).

1854 Friedrich A Krupp German arms manufacturer.

1908 sportscaster Walter Lanier "Red" Barber was born in Columbus, Miss.

BIRTHDAYS

Bandleader Orrin Tucker is 97. Actor Hal Holbrook is 83. Mystery writer Ruth Rendell is 78. Singer Bobby Lewis is 75. Comedian Dame Edna (AKA Barry Humphries) is 74. Country singer-songwriter Johnny Bush is 73. Football Hall-of-Famer Jim Brown is 72. Actress Mary Ann Mobley is 69. Actress Brenda Fricker is 63. Actress Rene Russo is 54. Actor Richard Karn is 52. Actor Lou Diamond Phillips is 46. Basketball player Michael Jordan is 45. Actor-comedian Larry, the Cable Guy is 45. TV personality Rene Syler is 45. Movie director Michael Bay is 44. Singer Chante Moore is 41. Rock musician Timothy J. Mahoney (311) is 38. Actor Dominic Purcell is 38. Actress Denise Richards is 37. Rock singer-musician Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day) is 36. Actor Jerry O'Connell is 34. Country singer Bryan White is 34. Actress Kelly Carlson is 32. Actor Jason Ritter is 28. TV personality Paris Hilton is 27. Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt is 27.

DEATH

1908 Geronimo Apache chief, dies at about 79.

1982 Theolonious S Monk US, jazz pianist/composer (Blue Monk), dies at 64.

1990 Keith Haring US graffiti-artist, dies at 31.

February 17, the 48th day of 2008. There are 318 days left in the year.

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



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 16, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, PIRATES, SOCIETIES, TOMBS, DICTATORS, 911, RAMPAGE, DEMONSTRATIONS, DEMOCRATS, SPORTS, ELECTROCUTED, EXECUTED, SNEEZE, JEWS, CHECKS, WOMEN, CLUBS, DOORS, PATENTS, LEVIATHAN, NAZIS, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, DEATH PENALTY, SWIM, BEATLES, TRAFFIC, RADICALS, BLIMPS, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH


WAR!

1862 during the Civil War, some 14,000 Confederate soldiers surrendered at Fort Donelson, Tenn. (Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's victory earned him the nickname "Unconditional Surrender Grant.")

1942 German submarines attack Aruba oil refinery.

1945 American troops landed on the island of Corregidor in the Philippines during World War II.

TERRORISM

1992 Abbas Musawi leader of Hezbollah, assassinated.

2007 An Italian judge indicted 25 suspected CIA agents and a U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel in the alleged kidnapping of an Egyptian terror suspect. (The proceedings have been suspended pending a ruling on the Italian government's request to throw out the indictments.)

DISASTER

1994 6.5 earthquake strikes SE Sumatra, kills 200.

1996 11 people were killed in a fiery collision between an Amtrak passenger train and a Maryland commuter train in Silver Spring, Md.

1998 A China Airlines Airbus A300-600R trying to land in fog near Taipei, Taiwan, crashed, killing all 196 people on board and six people on the ground.

SNEEZE

600 Pope Gregory the Great decrees saying "God bless You" is the correct response to a sneeze.

WOMEN

1838 Kentucky passes law permitting women to attend school under conditions.

TRAFFIC

1980 Continuous traffic jam extends 176 km north of Lyons, France.

BLIMPS

1992 Former silver Goodyear blimps are now painted yellow & blue.

CLUBS

1905 1st US Esperanto club organizes in Boston.

NAZIS

1943 Sign on Munich facade "Out with Hitler! Long live freedom!" done by "White Rose" student group, caught on 2/18, beheaded on 2/22.

PATENTS

1932 1st patent issued for a tree, to James Markham for a peach tree.

1937 DuPont Corp patents nylon, developed by employee Wallace H Carothers.

PIRATES!

1804 Lt. Stephen Decatur led a successful raid into Tripoli Harbor to burn the U.S. Navy frigate Philadelphia, which had fallen into the hands of pirates.

DOORS

1909 1st subway car with side doors goes into service (New York NY).

BEATLES

1968 Beatles George Harrison & John Lennon & wives fly to India for transcendental meditation study with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

JEWS

1349 Jews are expelled from Burgsdorf Switzerland.

1917 1st synagogue in 425 years opens in Madrid.

SWIM

1963 1st round-trip swim of Strait of Messina, Italy (Mary Revell of US)

CHECKS

1659 1st known check (£400) (on display at Westminster Abbey).

LEVIATHAN

1938 US Federal Crop Insurance program authorized.

DEATH PENALTY

1956 Britain abolishes the death penalty.

RADICALS

1989 Jane Fonda & Tom Hayden separate after 16 years of marriage.

DEMONSTRATION

2003 More than 100,000 people demonstrated in the streets of San Francisco to protest a possible U.S. invasion of Iraq.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1948 1st newsreel telecast, "20th Century Fox-Movietone News" shown on NBC.

1950 Longest-running prime-time game show, "What's My Line" begins on CBS.

EXECUTED

1979 Nematullah Nassiri Iran General/head of Savak, executed.

DEMOCRATS

2007 The Democratic-controlled House issued a symbolic rejection of President Bush's decision to deploy more troops to Iraq, approving the nonbinding resolution by a vote of 246-182.

SOCIETIES

1868 The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks was organized in New York City.

TOMBS

1923 The burial chamber of King Tutankhamen's recently unearthed tomb was unsealed in Egypt by English archaeologist Howard Carter.

DICTATORS

1959 Fidel Castro became premier of Cuba after the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista.

ELECTROCUTED

1936 Tommy Ward South African cricket wicket keeper (23 Tests), electrocuted.

911

1968 the nation's first 911 emergency telephone system was inaugurated, in Haleyville, Ala.

RAMPAGE

1988, Seven people were shot to death during an office rampage in Sunnyvale, Calif., by a man who was obsessed with a co-worker. (The gunman, Richard Farley, is under sentence of death.)

SPORTS

2003 Michael Waltrip raced past leader Jimmie Johnson to win the rain-shortened Daytona 500 for the second time in three years.

BORN

1903 Edgar Bergen Chicago IL, ventriloquist (Charlie McCarthy).

1906 Vera Menchik Moscow, 1st official women's world chess champion (1927).

BIRTHDAYS

Singer Patty Andrews is 90. Kim Jong Il, the president of North Korea, is 66. Actor Jeremy Bulloch is 62. Actor Pete Postlethwaite is 62. Actor William Katt is 57. Actor LeVar Burton is 51. Actor-rapper Ice-T is 50. Actress Lisa Loring is 50. Tennis Hall of Fame player John McEnroe is 49. Rock musician Andy Taylor is 47. Rock musician Dave Lombardo (Slayer) is 43. Rock musician Taylor Hawkins (Foofighters) is 36. Singer Sam Salter is 30. Rapper Lupe Fiasco is 26. Actor Mike Weinberg is 15.

DEATH

1977 Janani Luwum, the Anglican archbishop of Uganda, and two other men were killed in what Ugandan authorities said was an automobile accident.

2003 Eleanor "Sis" Daley, the matriarch of Chicago's Daley political clan, died at age 95.

February 16, the 47th day of 2008. There are 319 days left in the year.

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



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 15, 2008

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



WAR!

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

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

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

1942 Singapore surrenders to the Japanese.

1984 500,000 Iranian soldiers move into Iraq.

TERRORISM

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

DISASTER

1864 Fire in Rotterdam Netherlands damages Museum Boymans.

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

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

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

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

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

DREAMS

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

VAMPIRES

1931 1st Dracula movie released.

SERIAL KILLERS

1978 Escaped mass murderer Ted Bundy recaptured, Pensacola FL.

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

CLINTONS

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

TOYS

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

FINANCE

1995 Dow-Jones closes at record 3986.17

CONDIMENTS

1768 1st mustard manufactured in America advertised, Philadelphia.

BEETLES

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

BEATLES

1965 John Lennon passes his driving test.

BOOTLEG

1967 1st anti-bootleg recording laws enacted.

FAKES

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

GLOBAL WARMING

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

CARTOONS

1950 Walt Disney's "Cinderella" released.

COMMIES

1933 Karl Radek praises invincible force of German communist party.

POPULATION

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

MEAT

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

SPORTS

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

SLAVERY

1804 New Jersey becomes last northern state to abolish slavery.

JEWS

1989 Israel attacks border strip Taba near Egypt.

CLIMATE

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

CHESS

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

SCANDAL

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

TREASON

1869 Charges of Treason against Jefferson Davis are dropped.

RESCUE

1851 Black abolitionists invade Boston courtroom rescuing a fugitive slave.

TREES

1876 Historic Elm at Boston blown down.

WOMEN

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

ASSASSINATION

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

EXECUTED

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

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


CITIES

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

COMMIES

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

BORN

1564 Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa.

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

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

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

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

BIRTHDAYS

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

DEATH

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

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

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

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

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



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 14, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTERS, GANGSTERS, POLITICS, FATWAS, EDUCATION, FRACAS, CARTOONS, JEWS, PATENTS, FRUIT, BUSINESS, COMMIES, DRUGS, WATERGATE, MARRIAGE, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH


GANGSTERS

1929 Members of Al Capone's gang killed rival gang members in the St. Valentine's Day massacre.

WAR!

1945 8th Air Force bombs Dresden.

2003 In a dramatic showdown, major powers rebuffed the United States in the U.N. Security Council and insisted on more time for weapons inspections in Iraq. Earlier, chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix told the Council his teams had not found any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

TERRORISM

1975 Bomb explodes at annex of Amsterdam metro station.

1979 Adolph Dubs, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, was kidnapped in Kabul by Muslim extremists and killed in a shootout between his abductors and police.

1985 Hostage CNN reporter Jeremy Levin is released in Beirut.

1998 Authorities officially declared Eric Rudolph a suspect in the bombing of a Birmingham, Ala., abortion clinic and offered a $100,000 reward.

2007 Challenged on the accuracy of U.S. intelligence, President Bush told a news conference there was no doubt the Iranian government was providing armor-piercing weapons to kill American soldiers in Iraq, and he said he would fight any attempt by the Democratic-controlled Congress to cut off money for the war.

DISASTER

1989 Union Carbide agrees to pay $470 million damages for Bhopol disaster.

FATWAS

1989 Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, calling for the death of Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses.

WATERGATE

1971 Richard Nixon installs secret taping system in White House.

FRUIT

1889 1st trainload of fruit (oranges) leaves Los Angeles for the east.

COMMIES

1956 Khrushchev denounces Stalin at USSR Communist Party Conference.

PATENTS

1803 Apple parer patented by Moses Coats, Downington PA.

FRACAS

1779 James Cook British explorer, murdered by natives in fracas with Hawaiians.

JEWS

1349 2,000 Jews burned at the stake in Strasbourg France.

DRUGS

1959 $3.6 million heroin seizure in New York NY.

BUSINESS

1924 IBM Corporation founded by Thomas Watson.

EDUCATION

2001 The Kansas Board of Education reversed its 1999 ruling and restored evolution to the state's science curriculum.

MARRIAGE

1952 Comedian Joey Adams marries gossip columnist Cindy Heller.

1995 Roseanne weds bodyguard Ben Thomas.

MURDER

1943 Frieda Reiss French 11 month old baby, murdered in Auschwitz.

CARTOONS

1921 Skeezix of "Gasoline Alley" discovered on Wallets' doorstep.

POLITICS

1859 Oregon became the 33rd state in the United States.

1912 Arizona became the 48th state in the United States.

BORN

1894 comedian Jack Benny was born Benjamin Kubelsky in Waukegan, Ill.

1913 Jimmy Hoffa Teamsters leader who disappeared in 1975.

BIRTHDAYS

TV personality Hugh Downs is 87. Actress-singer Florence Henderson is 74. Country singer Razzy Bailey is 69. Jazz musician Maceo Parker is 65. Movie director Alan Parker is 64. Journalist Carl Bernstein is 64. Sen. Judd Gregg (R-New Hampshire) is 61. TV personality Pat O'Brien is 60. Magician Teller (Penn and Teller) is 60. Cajun singer-musician Michael Doucet is 57. Actor Ken Wahl is 51. Opera singer Renee Fleming is 49. Actress Meg Tilly is 48. Singer-producer Dwayne Wiggins is 47. Actor Enrico Colantoni is 45. Actor Zach Galligan is 44. Actor Valente Rodriguez is 44. Rock musician Ricky Wolking (The Nixons) is 42. Tennis player Manuela Maleeva is 41. Rock musician Kevin Baldes (Lit) is 36. Rock singer Rob Thomas (Matchbox Twenty) is 36. Actor Freddie Highmore is 16.

DEATH

1969 Vito Genovese US mafia chief, dies at 71.

1994 Gary "BB" Coleman blues vocal/guitarist/producer, dies at 47.

2003 Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal, was euthanized because of incurable lung cancer.

February 14, the 45th day of 2008. There are 321 days left in the year. Today is Valentine's Day.

image: unbsj
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 13, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, BEHEADED, IMPRISONED, TRIALS, JEWS, RIOT, OUTLAWS, PATENTS, TOMBS, INTRO, TOYS, GOLF, MAN-EATERS, FINANCE, SPORTS, EDUCATION, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, MUSIC, RIGGED, NUKES, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH


NUKES

1960 France exploded its first atomic bomb.

WAR!

1942 Hitler's Operation Seelöwe (invasion of England) cancelled.

1945 Allied planes bomb Dresden Germany; 135,000 die.

1945 USSR captures Budapest, after 49-day battle with Germany; 159,000 die.

1968 US sends 10,500 additional soldiers to Vietnam.

2007 With Democrats in control, House members debated Iraq in an emotional and historic faceoff over a war that Speaker Nancy Pelosi condemned as a commitment with "no end in sight."

TERRORISM

2003 A U.S. government plane carrying four Americans and a Colombian went down in rebel territory in southern Colombia; the executed bodies of an American and the Colombian were found in the wreckage.

DISASTER

1994 Ship disaster near Ranong Thailand, kills 200.

MAN-EATERS

1970 Man-eating tiger is reported to have killed 48, 80 km from New Delhi.

TOMBS

1924 King Tut's tomb opened.

OUTLAWS

1866 Jesse James holds up his 1st bank, Liberty MO ($15,000).

RIOT

1837 Riot in New York over high price of flour.

GOLF

1971 Golfing Vice President Spiro Agnew hits 2 tee shots into the crowd, injuring 2.

TOYS

1959 Barbie doll goes on sale.

IMPRISONED

1777 Marquis de Sade arrested without charge, imprisoned in Vincennes fortress.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1981 Longest sentence published by New York Times-1286 words.

RIGGED

2002 The French judge was accused of throwing the pairs skating decision to the Russians at the Olympics.

MUSIC

1982 Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" is on the charts for 402nd week.

EDUCATION

1795 The University of North Carolina became the first U.S. state university to admit students with the arrival of Hinton James, who was the only student on campus for two weeks.

PATENTS

1895 Moving picture projector patented.

POLITICS

2007 Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney officially entered the 2008 presidential race in Michigan, the place of his birth.

FINANCE

1973 US dollar devalues 10%.

1985 Dow Jones closes at 1297.92 (record high) after topping 1300 earlier.

INTRO

1932 "Free Eats" introduces George "Spanky" McFarland to "Our Gang".

TRIALS

1633 Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei arrived in Rome for trial before Inquisition for professing belief that earth revolves around the Sun.

1935 Bruno Hauptmann found guilty of kidnap & murder of Lindbergh's infant.

2003 Clara Harris, who'd run down her cheating husband with her Mercedes after catching him with his mistress, was convicted by a Houston jury of murder despite her claim that she'd hit him accidentally while in a heartsick daze. (Harris was sentenced to 20 years in prison.)

JEWS

1349 Jews are expelled from Burgsordf Switzerland.

1941 Nazi leaders attack Dutch Jewish Council.

1955 Israel acquires 4 of 7 Dead Sea scrolls.

SPORTS

1974 James "Cool Papa" Bell is named to baseball's Hall of Fame.

BEHEADED

1542 Catherine Howard queen of England/5th wife of Henry VIII, is beheaded.

BORN

1766 Thomas Malthus Rookery Surrey UK, economist/demographer/population expert (Law of Malthus).

1849 Lord Randolph Churchill England, politician, Winston's father.

1875 Kanouse quintuplets Watertown WI, 1st quintuplets in US, born to Edna Kanouse.

1919 Tennessee Ernie Ford Bristol TN, country singer/actor (pea picker).

BIRTHDAYS

Former test pilot Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager is 85. Actress Kim Novak is 75. Actor George Segal is 74. Actress Carol Lynley is 66. Singer-musician Peter Tork (The Monkees) is 66. Actress Stockard Channing is 64. Talk show host Jerry Springer is 64. Actor Bo Svenson is 64. Singer Peter Gabriel is 58. Actor David Naughton is 57. Rock musician Peter Hook is 52. Actor Matt Salinger is 48. Singer Henry Rollins is 47. Actor Neal McDonough is 42. Singer Freedom Williams is 42. Actress Kelly Hu is 40. Rock musician Todd Harrell (3 Doors Down) is 36. Singer Robbie Williams is 34. Rhythm-and-blues performer Natalie Stewart (Floetry) is 29. Actress Mena Suvari is 29.

DEATH

1980 David Janssen [Meyer], actor (Fugitive, Harry O), dies at 49.

1982 Zeng Jinlian Hunan China, grew to 8'1" (tallest woman), dies at 17.

2003 Walt W. Rostow, an adviser to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, died in Austin, Texas, at age 86.

February 13, the 44th day of the year. There are 322 days left in 2008.

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



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 12, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTERS, FREE, BEHEADED, WOMEN, RACE, CIVIL RIGHTS, ABDICATE, MEMORIALS, CLINTONS, COMICS, GUNMAN, STARTS, FIREBALL, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, VIETNAM, CLASH, BUSTED, RECORDS, THIEF, TABLOID, OJ, BORN, BIRTHDAY, DEATH



THIEF!

1994 Edvard Munch's painting "The Cry" stolen (in Oslo).

WAR!

1861 State troops seize US munitions in Napoleon AK.

1973 Operation Homecoming began as the first release of American prisoners of war from the Vietnam conflict took place.

TERRORISM

2003 The U.N. nuclear agency declared North Korea in violation of international treaties, sending the dispute to the Security Council.

2007 Car bombs shattered Baghdad's oldest and largest market, killing at least 78 people.

DISASTERS

1998 250-car Italy pile-up due to fog, 4 die & 50 hurt.

FIREBALL

1947 Daytime fireball & meteorite fall seen in eastern Siberia.

CLINTONS

1998 A federal judge threw out President Clinton's new line-item veto authority.

1999 The Senate acquitted President Clinton of perjury and obstruction of justice.

STARTS

1876 Al Spalding opens his sporting good shop.

BUSTED

1967 Keith Richards, Mick Jagger & Marianne Faithful busted for drugs.

OJ

1997 Fred Goldman says he will settle for a signed murder confession from O J Simpson in lieu of his $20.5 million judgment.

VIETNAM

1955 President Eisenhower sends 1st US advisors to South Vietnam.

PATENTS

1878 Frederick Thayer patents the catcher's mask (pat # 200,358).

RECORDS

1981 Pete Squires sets record for 1575 steps of Empire State Building, 10m.

TABLOID

1994 Model Anna Nicole Smith hospitalized for drug overdose.

CLASH

1960 Chinese army kills 12 Indian soldiers.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1924 President Calvin Coolidge makes 1st presidential radio speech.

JEWS

1941 Jewish Council for Amsterdam forms, under Ascher/Cohen; Occupation Police arrest "Jewish Foursome".

BEHEADED

1554 Lady Jane Grey, who'd claimed the throne of England for nine days, and her husband, Guildford Dudley, were beheaded after being condemned for high treason.

FREE

1818 Chile officially proclaimed its independence, more than seven years after initially renouncing Spanish rule.

MURDER

1976 Sal Mineo actor (Exodus, Rebel Without a Cause), stabbed at 37.

WOMEN

1870 women in the Utah Territory gained the right to vote. (However, that right was taken away in 1887).

RACE

1908 the first round-the-world automobile race began in New York. (It ended in Paris the following July with the drivers of the American car, a Thomas Flyer, declared the winners over teams from Germany and Italy.)

CIVIL RIGHTS

1909 the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was founded.

ABDICATE

1912 Pu Yi, the last emperor of China, abdicated, marking the end of the Qing Dynasty.

MEMORIALS

1915 the cornerstone for the Lincoln Memorial was laid in Washington, D.C., a year to the day after groundbreaking.

COMICS

1940 The radio play "The Adventures of Superman" debuted with Bud Collyer as the Man of Steel.

GUNMAN

2007 Teen gunman Sulejman Talovic shot nine people, killing five, at a Salt Lake City mall before he was shot and killed by police.

BORN

1809 Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was born in present-day Larue County, Ky.

1880 John Llewellyn Lewis union leader (United Mine Workers, 1920-60).

1904 Ted Mack Denver CO, TV host (Original Amateur Hour).

BIRTHDAYS

Movie director Franco Zeffirelli is 85. Actor Louis Zorich is 84. Baseball Hall-of-Fame sportscaster Joe Garagiola is 82. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Penn.) is 78. Basketball Hall-of-Famer Bill Russell is 74. Actor Joe Don Baker is 72. Author Judy Blume is 70. Rock musician Ray Manzarek (The Doors) is 69. Country singer Moe Bandy is 64. Actress Maud Adams is 63. Actor Cliff DeYoung is 63. Actor Michael Ironside is 58. Rock musician Steve Hackett is 58. Rock singer Michael McDonald is 56. Actress Joanna Kerns is 55. Actor-former talk show host Arsenio Hall is 53. Actress Christine Elise is 43. Actor Josh Brolin is 40. Singer Chynna Phillips is 40. Rock musician Jim Creeggan (Barenaked Ladies) is 38. Rhythm-and-blues musician Keri Lewis is 37. Actor Jesse Spencer ("House, M.D.") is 29. Actress Sarah Lancaster is 28. Actress Christina Ricci is 28.

DEATH

1983 Eubie Blake ragtime-composer/pianist (Memories of You), dies at 100.

2003 Holiday Inn chain founder Kemmons Wilson died in Memphis, Tenn., at age 90.

February 12, the 43rd day of 2008. There are 323 days left in the year.

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



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 11, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTERS, PHILOSOPHERS, MOTORISTS, MURDER, SUICIDE, OOPS, BEHEADED, OCEANS, ENERGY, REBELS, WOMEN, POLITICS, ALMOST, CLIMATE, PROGRESS, COMICS, SPIES, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, JEWS, NAZIS, PRO WRESTLING, LOBSTERS, COMMIES, CLINTONS, FREE, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH



1812 Massachusetts Governor Gerry signs a redistricting bill favoring his party-the 1st "gerrymander.

WAR!

1943 General Eisenhower selected to command the allied armies in Europe.

2003 Addressing a historic rift within NATO, Secretary of State Colin Powell told a congressional hearing the future of the military alliance was at risk if it failed to confront the crisis with Iraq.

2007 Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, marking the 28th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, vowed his country would not give up uranium enrichment.

TERRORISM

1979 Iran's premier Bakhtiar resigns, Ayatollah Khomeini seizes power.

1985 Jordan king Hussein & PLO leader Arafat sign accord.

2003 The al-Jazeera Arab satellite station broadcast what was believed to be a new audio statement from Osama bin Laden urging Iraqis to carry out suicide attacks on Americans.

DISASTERS

1907 Passenger ship Larchmont sinks by Block Island, 322 die.

WOMEN

1852 1st British public female toilet opens (Bedford Street London).

MOTORISTS

1899 George Morgan 1st English motorist to die in an motor accident, dies.

ALMOST

1905 James Blackstone, Seattle, bowls 299½-last pin breaks but stands.

LOBSTERS

1977 20.2-kg lobster caught off Nova Scotia (heaviest known crustacean).

COMMIES

1978 China lifts a ban on Aristotle, Shakespeare, & Dickens.

CLINTONS

1998 KVBC-FM (Las Vegas) offers Monica Lewinsky $5M for interview.

VISIONS

1858 A French girl, Bernadette Soubirous, claimed to have experienced the first of 18 visions of a lady dressed in white in a grotto near Lourdes. (The Catholic Church later accepted that the visions were of the Virgin Mary; Bernadette, who died in 1879 at age 35, was canonized in 1933.)

POLITICS

1861 US House unanimously passes resolution guaranteeing noninterference with slavery in any state.

1975 Margaret Thatcher defeats Edward Heath for Conservative leadership.

1998 Attorney General Janet Reno asked for an independent prosecutor to investigate whether Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt had misled Congress in connection with an Indian casino controversy. (The counsel, Carol Elder Bruce, found no wrongdoing on Babbitt's part.)

PRO WRESTLING

1938 Steve Casey beats Lou Thesz in Boston, to become wrestling champion.

1969 Dorey Funk Jr beats Gene Kiniski in Tampa, to become NWA champion.

CLIMATE

1932 73ºF highest temperature ever recorded in Cleveland in February. No media mention of "man-made climate change".

1983 4th largest snowfall in NYC history (18"(46 cm)).

FREE!

1929 The Lateran Treaty was signed, with Italy recognizing the independence and sovereignty of Vatican City.

1990 South African resistance leader, Nelson Mandela, was released from prison after more than 27 years.

OCEANS

1573 1st European, Francis Drake sees the Pacific (from Panamá).

PROGRESS

1935 1st US airplane flight with auto slung beneath the fuselage, New York.

PHILOSOPHERS

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

COMICS

1942 "Archie" comic book debuts.

REBELS

1766 Stamp Act declared unconstitutional in Virginia.

JEWS

1953 Russia breaks diplomatic relations with Israel.

1968 Israeli-Jordan border fight.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1960 Jack Paar walks off his TV show.

1979 43 million watch "Elvis!" on ABC.

NAZIS

1961 Trial of Adolf Eichmann begins in Jerusalem.

SPIES

1953 President Eisenhower refuses clemency appeal for Rosenberg couple.

MURDER

1961 Patrice Lumumba 1st premier Congo, murdered at 34.

ENERGY

1808 Anthracite coal 1st burned as fuel, experimentally, Wilkes-Barre PA.

SUICIDE

1963 Sylvia Plath poet/novelist (Ariel), kills herself in London at 30.

OOPS!

1994 Antonio Martin Spanish cyclist, dies in cycling accident at 23.

BEHEADED

1554 Lady Jane Grey deposed Queen of England, beheaded after 9 day rule at 17.

BORN

1847 Thomas Alva Edison Milan OH, lit up your life (held 1200 patents).

1920 Farouk I Cairo, last King of Egypt (1936-52).

BIRTHDAYS

Actor Leslie Nielsen is 82. Actor Conrad Janis is 80. Actress Tina Louise is 74. Actor Burt Reynolds is 72. Songwriter Gerry Goffin is 69. Bandleader Sergio Mendes is 67. Rhythm-and-blues singer Otis Clay is 66. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt is 57. Actor Philip Anglim is 56. Actress Catherine Hickland is 52. Rock musician David Uosikkinen (The Hooters) is 52. Actress Carey Lowell is 47. Singer Sheryl Crow is 46. Actress Jennifer Aniston is 39. Actor Damian Lewis is 37. Actress Marisa Petroro is 36. Singer D'Angelo is 34. Actor Brice Beckham is 32. Rock MC/vocalist Mike Shinoda (Linkin Park) is 31. Singer-actress Brandy is 29. Actor Matthew Lawrence is 28. Rhythm-and-blues singer Kelly Rowland is 27. Actress Q'orianka Kilcher is 18. Actor Taylor Lautner is 16.

DEATH

1976 Lee J Cobb actor (12 Angry Men, On the Waterfront), dies at 64.

February 11, the 42nd day of 2008. There are 324 days left in the year.

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



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.