DBKP Today in Weird History: April 4 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, ASSASSINATION, FLAGS, WILE E. PELOSI, IMPEACHED, PC VICTIM, PATENTS, JEWS, REVENGE, 1984, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

ASSASSINATION

1968 The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., 39, was shot to death as he stood on a balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn.; the killing sparked a wave of riots across the U.S. (James Earl Ray later pleaded guilty to assassinating King, then spent the rest of his life claiming his innocence and attempting to withdraw his guilty plea; he died in prison in 1998.)

WAR!

1945 During World War II, U.S. troops on Okinawa encountered the first significant resistance from Japanese forces at the Machinato Line.

2003 U.S. forces seized Saddam International Airport outside Baghdad.

TERRORISM

2007 Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced the surprise release of 15 captive British sailors and marines.

DISASTER

1905 Earthquake in Kangra India, kills 370,000.

1933 US Dirigible Akron crashes off coast of New Jersey, 73 die.

1971 Marine clay under houses liquifies, 31 die (St-Jean-Vianney Québec).

1975 More than 130 people, most of them children, were killed when a U.S. Air Force transport plane evacuating Vietnamese orphans crash-landed shortly after takeoff from Saigon.

1994 KLM Saab 340B crashes at Schiphol, 3 killed.

1998 Sixty-three people were killed in an explosion inside a Ukrainian coal mine.

PATENTS

1828 Casparus van Wooden patents chocolate milk powder (Amsterdam).

REVENGE

1975 Steve Miller is arrested for burning his girlfriend's clothes.

1984

1984 Winston Smith in Orwell's "1984" begins his secret diary.

JEWS

1920 Arabs attack Jews in Jerusalem.

1949 Israel & Jordan sign armistice agreement.

WILE E. PELOSI

2007 House Speaker Nancy Pelosi held talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad despite White House objections.

FLAGS

1818 Congress decided the United States flag would consist of 13 red and white stripes and 20 stars, with a new star to be added for every new state.

PC VICTIM

2007 Radio host Don Imus made offensive on-air remarks about the Rutgers University women's basketball team. (Despite a subsequent apology, Imus was fired by CBS Radio and cable network MSNBC; he was hired elsewhere by year's end.)

IMPEACHED!

1988 The Arizona Senate convicted Gov. Evan Mecham of two charges of official misconduct, and removed him from office. (Mecham was the first governor to be impeached and removed from office in nearly six decades.)

BORN

1821 Linus Yale US, portrait painter/inventor (Yale cylinder lock).

1908 Ernestine Gilbreth Carey author (Cheaper by the Dozen).

1915 Muddy Waters [McKinley Morganfield], guitarist (Hoochie Coochie Man).

BIRTHDAYS

Author-poet Maya Angelou is 80. Sen. Richard Lugar, R.-Ind., is 76. Recording executive Clive Davis is 76. Bandleader Hugh Masekela is 69. Author Kitty Kelley is 66. Actor Craig T. Nelson is 64. Actor Walter Charles is 63. Actress Caroline McWilliams is 63. Actress Christine Lahti is 58. Country singer Steve Gatlin (The Gatlin Brothers) is 57. Writer-producer David E. Kelley is 52. Actor Phil Morris is 49. Actress Lorraine Toussaint is 48. Actor Hugo Weaving is 48. Rock musician Craig Adams (The Cult) is 46. Actor David Cross is 44. Actor Robert Downey Jr. is 43. Actress Nancy McKeon is 42. Actor Barry Pepper is 38. Country singer Clay Davidson is 37. Rock singer Josh Todd (Buckcherry) is 37. Singer Jill Scott is 36. Rock musician Magnus Sveningsson (The Cardigans) is 36. Magician David Blaine is 35. Singer Kelly Price is 35. Rhythm-and-blues singer Andre Dalyrimple (Soul For Real) is 34. Actor James Roday is 32. Actress Natasha Lyonne is 29. Actress Jamie Lynn Spears is 17.

DEATH

1841 President William Henry Harrison succumbed to pneumonia one month after his inaugural, becoming the first U.S. chief executive to die in office.

1979 Edgar Buchanan actor (Uncle Joe-Petticoat Junction), dies at 77.

1979 Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto former Pakistani President, hanged in Pakistan at 51.

April 4, the 95th day of 2008. There are 271 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History
* DBKP Today in Weird History: April 4 2008
* Today in Weird History: April 4 2008


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Today in Weird History: March 28, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, NUKES, HOSTAGES, IMMIGRATION, SWAP, PATENTS, SUICIDE, TRIAL LAWYERS, JEWS, BAGGED, ZULUS, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH


BAGGED

1939 Dutch hunter shoots English bombers down.

WAR!

1738 English parliament declares war on Spain (War of Jenkin's Ear).

2003 American-led forces in Iraq dropped thousand-pound bombs on Republican Guard units guarding the gates to Baghdad and battled for control of the strategic city of Nasiriyah. President Bush warned of "further sacrifice" ahead in the face of unexpectedly fierce fighting.

TERRORISM

1986 Extremist Sikhs kill 13 hindus in Ludhiana India.

2007 Iran aired a video of 15 captured British sailors and marines; the lone female captive, shown in a white tunic and a black head scarf, said the British boats had "trespassed." (The crew members were released April 4, 2007.)

DISASTER

1960 Scotch factory explodes burying 20 firefighters (Glasgow Scotland).

1970 1,086 die when 7.3 earthquake destroys 254 villages (Gediz Turkey).

TRIAL LAWYERS

1866 1st ambulance goes into service.

PATENTS

1797 Nathaniel Briggs of New Hampshire patents a washing machine.

NUKES

1979 America's worst commercial nuclear accident occurred inside the Unit 2 reactor at the Three Mile Island plant near Middletown, Pa.

HOSTAGES

2007 In the Philippines, dozens of children were taken hostage on a bus by a day-care center owner armed with grenades and guns; the crisis ended peacefully 10 hours later with the hostage-taker's surrender.

SUICIDE

1941 Filling her pockets with stones, novelist and critic Virginia Woolf walked into a river near her home and died in Lewes, England.

IMMIGRATION

1898 The Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Wong Kim Ark that a child born in the United States to Chinese immigrants was a U.S. citizen.

SWAP

1930 The names of the Turkish cities of Constantinople and Angora were changed to Istanbul and Ankara.

JEWS

1917 Jews are expelled from Tel Aviv & Jaffa by Turkish authorities.

ZULUS

1994 Armed Zulus demonstrate in Johannesburg, over 53 killed.

BIRTHDAYS

Former White House national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski is 80. Country musician Charlie McCoy is 67. Movie director Mike Newell is 66. Actress Conchata Ferrell is 65. Actor Ken Howard is 64. Actress Dianne Wiest is 60. Country singer Reba McEntire is 53. Olympic gold-medal gymnast Bart Conner is 50. Actress Tracey Needham is 41. Actor Max Perlich is 40. Movie director Brett Ratner is 39. Country singer Rodney Atkins is 39. Actor Vince Vaughn is 38. Rapper Mr. Cheeks (Lost Boyz) is 37. Actor Ken L. is 35. Rock musician Dave Keuning is 32. Actress Julia Stiles is 27.

DEATH

1953 Athlete Jim Thorpe died in Lomita, Calif.

1958 W.C. Handy, the "Father of the Blues," died in New York at age 84.

1969 Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th president of the United States, died in Washington at age 78.

March 28, the 88th day of 2008. There are 278 days left in the year.

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


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DBKP Today in Weird History: March 20, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, ESCAPES, BEATLES, WOW, CLINTONS, HANGED, RESCUED, MUPPETS, PATENTS, JEWS, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, CLUELESSLY IMPOTENT, GODLESS, DICTATORS, MURDER, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

WAR!

1942 General MacArthur vows, "I shall return".

2003 A subdued Saddam Hussein appeared on state-run television after the initial U.S. air strike on Baghdad, accusing the United States of a "shameful crime" and urging his people to "draw your sword" against the invaders. American combat units rumbled across the desert into Iraq from the south and U.S. and British forces bombed limited targets in Baghdad. The start of war in Iraq triggered one of the heaviest days of anti-government protesting in years, leading to thousands of arrests across the United States and prompting pro-war counter-demonstrations.

TERRORISM

1993 IRA-bomb kills 3 year old in Warrington England.

1995 In Tokyo, 12 people were killed, more than 5,500 others sickened when packages containing the poisonous gas sarin were leaked on five separate subway trains by Aum Shinrikyo cult members.

DISASTER

1760 Great Fire of Boston destroys 349 buildings.

1972 19 mountain climbers killed on Japan's Mount Fuji during an avalanche.

1998 A tornado in rural northeast Georgia killed at least 13 people and injured 100.

WOW!

1988 8-year-old DeAndra Anrig found herself airborne when the string of her kite was snagged by an airplane flying over Shoreline Park in Mountain View, Calif. (DeAndra was lifted 10 feet off the ground and carried some 100 feet until she let go; she was not seriously hurt.)

MUPPETS

??? Big Bird muppet was born today on in an unknown year.(Sesame Street)

DICTATORS

1992 Manuel Noriega's (Panama) wife Felicidad arrested for stealing buttons from dresses.

PRO WRESTLING

1994 Wrestlemania X at Madison Square Garden New York, Bret "The Hitman" Hart pins Yokozuna to win WWF championship.

PATENTS

1885 John Matzeliger of Suriname patents shoe lacing machine.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1954 1st newspaper vending machine used (Columbia Pennsylvania).

MURDER

1996 Erik & Lyle Menendez found guilty of killing their parents.

ESCAPES

1815 Napoleon Bonaparte returned to Paris after escaping his exile on Elba, beginning his "Hundred Days" rule.

CLINTONS

1998 President Clinton's lawyer, appearing before a federal court in Little Rock, Ark., declared that Paula Jones' evidence of sexual harassment was "garbage" unworthy of a trial.

CLUELESSLY IMPOTENT

1980 US appeals to International Court on hostages in Iran.

JEWS

1939 7,000 Jews flee German occupied Memel Lithuania.

BEATLES

1969 John Lennon married Yoko Ono in Gibraltar.

HANGED

2007 Saddam Hussein's former deputy, Taha Yassin Ramadan, was hanged in Baghdad, the fourth man to be executed in the killings of 148 Shiites.

GODLESS

1984 Senate rejects amendment to permit spoken prayer in public schools.

RESCUED

2007 Rescuers found Michael Auberry, a 12-year-old Boy Scout, who was dehydrated and disoriented after four days in the wooded mountains of North Carolina.

BORN

1902 Edgar Buchanan Humansville MO, actor (Uncle Joe-Petticoat Junction).

1906 Ozzie Nelson Jersey City NJ, actor (Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet).

1908 American broadcasting pioneer Frank Stanton, the president of CBS for 26 years, was born in Muskegon, Mich.

BIRTHDAYS

Producer-director-comedian Carl Reiner is 86. Actor Hal Linden is 77. Singer Jerry Reed is 71. Former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney is 69. Country singer Don Edwards is 69. TV producer Paul Junger Witt is 65. Country singer-musician Ranger Doug (Riders in the Sky) is 62. Hockey Hall-of-Famer Bobby Orr is 60. Blues singer-musician Marcia Ball is 59. Actor William Hurt is 58. Rock musician Carl Palmer (Emerson, Lake and Palmer) is 58. Rock musician Jimmie Vaughan is 57. Country musician Jimmy Seales (Shenandoah) is 54. Movie director Spike Lee is 51. Actress Theresa Russell is 51. Actress Vanessa Bell Calloway is 51. Actress Holly Hunter is 50. Rock musician Slim Jim Phantom (The Stray Cats) is 47. Actress-model Kathy Ireland is 45. Actor David Thewlis is 45. Rock musician Adrian Oxaal (James) is 43. Actress Liza Snyder is 40. Actor Michael Rapaport is 38. Actor Alexander Chaplin is 37. Rock singer Chester Bennington (Linkin Park) is 32. Actor Michael Genadry is 30. Actress Bianca Lawson is 29.

DEATH

1727 Sir Issac Newton English physicist/astronomer, dies in London at 84.

1991 Conor Clapton Eric Clapton's son, falls out of 53rd floor window at 4.

March 20, the 80th day of 2008. There are 286 days left in the year. Spring's arrival: 1:48 a.m. Eastern time.

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


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DBKP Today in Weird History: March 14 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, PATENTS, IMMIGRATION, LEVIATHAN, GUILTY, NOT GUILTY, SPIES, POLITICS, JEWS, TOP TEN, NICE GUYS, CLINTONS, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

TOP TEN

1950 FBI's "10 Most Wanted Fugitives" program begins.

WAR!

1951 During the Korean War, United Nations forces recaptured Seoul.

TERRORISM

1991 a British court overturned the convictions of the "Birmingham Six," who had spent 16 years in prison for an Irish Republican Army bombing, and ordered them released.

2007 The Pentagon released the transcript of a military hearing in which Khalid Sheikh Mohammed said he "was responsible for the 9/11 operation from A to Z."

DISASTER

1940 27 killed, 15 injured when truck full of migrant workers collides with a train outside McAllen TX.

1960 14 die in a train crash in Bakersfield CA.

1980 A Polish airliner crashed while making an emergency landing near Warsaw, killing all 87 people aboard, including 22 members of a U.S. amateur boxing team.

1997 Iranian military plane crashes, killing 80.

1998 An earthquake killed at least five people and left some 10,000 homeless in southeastern Iran.

NICE GUYS

1983 OPEC cut oil prices for 1st time in 23 years.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1968 CBS TV suspends Radio Free Europe free advertising because RFE doesn't make it clear it is sponsored by the CIA.

PATENTS

1794 Eli Whitney received a patent for his cotton gin, an invention that revolutionized America's cotton industry.

NOT GUILTY

2003 Actor Robert Blake was released from jail on $1.5 million bail, 11 months after he was arrested on charges of murdering his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley. (Blake was later acquitted at trial.)

IMMIGRATION

1907 President Theodore Roosevelt signed an executive order designed to prevent Japanese laborers from immigrating to the United States as part of a "gentlemen's agreement" with Japan.

CLINTONS

1997 President Clinton trips & tears up his knee requiring surgery.

LEVIATHAN

1923 President Harding became the first chief executive to file an income tax return.

1971 The Rolling Stones leave England for France to escape taxes.

JEWS

1965 Israeli cabinet approves diplomatic relations with West Germany.

GUILTY

1964 A jury in Dallas found Jack Ruby guilty of murdering Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President Kennedy.

POLITICS

1629 England granted a royal charter to Massachusetts Bay Colony.

1644 England grants patent for Providence Plantations (now Rhode Island).

SPIES

2003 Christopher Boyce, whose Cold War spying was immortalized on film in "The Falcon and the Snowman," was released from a halfway house in San Francisco after a quarter-century in prison.

BORN

1879 Albert Einstein Ulm Germany, (E=mc²/Theory of Relativity, Nobel 1921).

BIRTHDAYS

Former astronaut Frank Borman is 80. Singer Phil Phillips is 77. Actor Michael Caine is 75. Composer-conductor Quincy Jones is 75. Former astronaut Eugene Cernan is 74. Actor Raymond J. Barry is 69. Movie director Wolfgang Petersen is 67. Country singer Michael Martin Murphey is 63. Rock musician Walt Parazaider (Chicago) is 63. Actor Steve Kanaly is 62. Comedian Billy Crystal is 60. Country singer Jann Browne is 54. Actor Adrian Zmed is 54. Prince Albert II, the ruler of Monaco, is 50. Actress Tamara Tunie is 49. Actress Penny Johnson Jerald is 47. Producer-director-writer Kevin Williamson is 43. Actor Gary Anthony Williams is 42. Actress Megan Follows is 40. Rock musician Michael Bland is 39. Country singer Kristian Bush is 38. Rock musician Derrick (Jimmie's Chicken Shack) is 36. Actor Jake Fogelnest is 29. Actor Chris Klein is 29. Actress Kate Maberly is 26. Singer-musician Taylor Hanson (Hanson) is 25. Actor Jamie Bell is 22.

DEATH

1883 German political philosopher Karl Marx died in London.

1932 George Eastman US industrialist (Kodak-camera), suicide at 77.

1961 Akiba Rubinstein Polish chess player (opening theorist), dies at 78.

March 14, the 74th day of 2008. There are 292 days left in the year.


compiled by Mondoreb
image: morning-calm
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History
DBKP.com - Bigger, Better!.
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: March 13, 2008

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

ICONS

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

...and later

WAR!

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

DISASTER

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

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

1961 Landslide in USSR, kills 145.

1992 570 die in a Turkish earthquake.

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

ATTEMPTS

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

PATENTS

1887 Chester Greenwood of Maine patents earmuffs.

DEALS

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

CLIMATE

1888 Great Blizzard of 1888 rages.

1993 Blizzard of '93 hits north-east US.

INVENTIONS

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

ASSASSINATION

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

NAZIS

1933 Josef Göbbels becomes German minister of Information & Propaganda.

1938 Anschluß-Austria annexed by Nazi Germany.

TRIALS

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

SCIENCE

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

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

JEWS

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

1951 Israel demands DM 6.2 billion compensation from Germany.

MURDER

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

RESIGNING

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

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

POLITICALLY CORRECT

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

TRAGEDY

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

ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

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

ABORTION

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

BORN

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

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

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

BIRTHDAYS

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

DEATH

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

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

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

compiled by Mondoreb
images:
* sonofthesouth
* allposters
Sources:
* today in history
* Today in History
DBKP.com - Bigger, Better!.
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page

DBKP Today in Weird History: March 10, 2008

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

PROGRESS

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

WAR!

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

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

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

TERRORISM

1982 President Reagan proclaims economic sanctions against Libya.

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

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

DISASTER

1902 Earthquake destroys Turkish city of Tochangri.

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

1939 17 villages damaged by hailstones in Hyderabad India.

1946 Train derailment kills 185 near Aracaju Brazil.

CANCEL

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

PATENTS

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

1975 Dog spectacles patented in England.

WHAT IF?

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

NANNY STATE

1933 Nevada becomes 1st US state to regulate narcotics.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

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

FUNERALS

1994 1 million Greeks attend Melina Mercouri's funeral.

CHIX R DIX

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

BOWLING

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

FINANCE

1995 Dow-Jones hits record 4035.64.

DIPLOMACY

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

ARMY

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

TREASON

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

MURDER

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

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

JEWS

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

BORN

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

1918 Heywood Hale Broun journalist.

1920 Jethro Burns country singer (Homer & Jethro).

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

BIRTHDAYS

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

DEATH

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

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

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

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

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

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

DBKP.com - Bigger, Better!.
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: March 7, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, POLITICS, PATENTS, PROGRESS, COMING WAR, ASSASSINATION, PRONOUNCEMENTS, JAZZ, LABOR, PRO WRESTLING, SPORTS, JEWS, OH NO, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, HEALTH NAZIS, CIVIL RIGHTS,BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

GAMES

1933 Game of "Monopoly" invented.

WAR!

1945 during World War II, U.S. forces crossed the Rhine River at Remagen, Germany, using the damaged but still usable Ludendorff Bridge.

1991 Iraq continues to explode oil fields in Kuwait.

TERRORISM

1981 anti-government guerrillas in Colombia executed kidnapped American Bible translator Chester Allen Bitterman, whom they accused of being a CIA agent.

2007 A suicide attacker blew himself up in a cafe northeast of Baghdad, killing 30 people.

DISASTER

2007 Ten people were killed in the Bronx, N.Y., when fire tore through their home.

CIVIL RIGHTS

1965 A march by civil rights demonstrators was broken up in Selma, Ala., by state troopers and a sheriff's posse.

PRONOUNCEMENTS

1908 Cincinnati Mayor Mark Breith stood before city council & announced that, "women are not physically fit to operate automobiles".

SPORTS

1955 Baseball commissioner Ford Frick says he favors legalization of the spitter.

PRO WRESTLING

1940 Ray Steele beats B Nagurski in St Louis, to become wrestling champion.

HEALTH NAZIS

1997 5 sue Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, because his smoking has violated the country's constitution guaranteeing a wholesome life.

OH NO

1981 1st homicide at Disneyland, 18 year old is stabbed to death.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1993 Diff'rent Stroke actor Todd Bridges arrested for stabbing a tenant.

JAZZ

1917 1st jazz record "Dixie Jazz Band One Step", recorded by Nick LaRocca Original Dixieland Jazz Band, released by RCA Victor in Camden NJ.

LABOR

1932 Riots at Ford-factory Dearborn MI, kills 4.

1967 Teamster president Jimmy Hoffa begins 8-year jail sentence at Lewisburg Federal Prison for defrauding the union & jury tampering (commuted Dec 23, 1971).

KILLERS

2007 Sex offender John Evander Couey was found guilty in Miami of kidnapping, raping and murdering 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford, who was buried alive.

POLITICS

1850 In a 3-hour speech to the U.S. Senate, Daniel Webster endorsed the Compromise of 1850 as a means of preserving the Union.

1975 The Senate revised its filibuster rule, allowing 60 senators to limit debate in most cases, instead of the previously required two-thirds of senators present.

PATENTS

1854 Charles Miller patents 1st US sewing machine to stitch buttonholes

1876 Alexander Graham Bell received a patent for his telephone.

PROGRESS

1926 The first successful trans-Atlantic radio-telephone conversations took place, between New York and London.

JEWS

1977 Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin meets President Carter.

COMING WAR

1774 British close port of Boston to all commerce.

1936 Adolf Hitler ordered his troops to march into the Rhineland, thereby breaking the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Pact.

1998 Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, speaking in Rome, said the U.S. wouldn't tolerate any more violence in Kosovo, which she blamed on Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

ASSASSINATION

1951 Ali Razmara Shah of Iran (1950-51), assassinated.

BORN

1849 horticulturist Luther Burbank was born in Lancaster, Mass.

BIRTHDAYS

Comedian Alan Sues is 82. Photographer Lord Snowdon is 78. TV personality Willard Scott is 74. Auto racer Janet Guthrie is 70. Actor Daniel J. Travanti is 68. Former Walt Disney Co. chief executive officer Michael Eisner is 66. Rock musician Chris White (The Zombies) is 65. Actor John Heard is 62. Rock singer Peter Wolf is 62. Rock musician Matthew Fisher (Procol Harum) is 62. Football Hall of Famer Franco Harris is 58. Football Hall of Famer Lynn Swann is 56. Rhythm-and-blues singer-musician Ernie Isley (The Isley Brothers) is 56. Actor Bryan Cranston is 52. Actress Donna Murphy is 49. Actor Nick Searcy is 49. Tennis Hall of Famer Ivan Lendl is 48. Actor Bill Brochtrup is 45. Opera singer Denyce Graves is 44. Comedian Wanda Sykes is 44. Singer-actress Taylor Dayne is 43. Rock musician Randy Guss (Toad the Wet Sprocket) is 41. Actor Peter Sarsgaard is 37. Actress Rachel Weisz is 37. Classical singer Sebastien Izambard (Il Divo) is 35. Rock singer Hugo Ferreira (Tantric) is 34. Actress Jenna Fischer is 34. Actress Audrey Marie Anderson is 33. Actress Laura Prepon is 28.

DEATH

322 -BC- Aristotle dies.

1959 Hinsdale Smith developer of roll-down auto windows, dies at 88.

1985 Victor W Farris inventor of paper milk carton, etc, dies.

1988 Divine [Harris Glenn Milstead] transvestite actor (Hairspray, Polyester, Pink Flamingos), dies in Los Angeles at 42.

1999 movie director Stanley Kubrick died in Hertfordshire, England, at age 70.

March 7, the 67th day of 2008. There are 299 days left in the year.

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

DBKP.com - Bigger, Better!.
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 27, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, POLITICS, UNREST, WOMEN, LIMITS, MIRACLES, NAZIS, INDIANS, UPSETS, ROYALS, FINANCE, SWEET, PATENTS, TIRED, STARS, GOLF, HAUNTED, DEATH PENALTY, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, KILLERS, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH


NAZIS

On Feb. 27, 1933, Germany's parliament building, the Reichstag, was gutted by fire. Chancellor Adolf Hitler, blaming the Communists, used the fire as justification for suspending civil liberties.

WAR!

1864 6th & last day of Battle at Dalton, Georgia (about 600 casualties).

1991 President George H.W. Bush declared that "Kuwait is liberated, Iraq's army is defeated," and announced that the allies would suspend combat operations at midnight, Eastern time.

2003 Iraq agreed in principle to destroy its Al Samoud II missiles, two days before a U.N. deadline.

TERRORISM

1962 South-Vietnam President Ngo Dinh Diem's palace bombed, 1st US killed.

1969 General Hafez al-Assad becomes head of Syria via military coup.

1980 Terrorists occupies Dominican embassy in Bogota.

1994 Maronite church near Beirut bombed, 10 killed.

1995 Car bomb explodes in Zakho, North-Iraq (54-80 killed).

2003 The Bush administration lowered the national terror alert from orange to yellow.

2007 A suicide bomber struck Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan during a visit by Vice President Dick Cheney, who was rushed to a bomb shelter. (Twenty-three people were killed; Cheney was unhurt.)

DISASTER

1803 Great fire in Bombay, India.

1932 Explosion in coal mine Boissevain, Virginia, USA (38 dead).

GOLF

1927 For 2nd Sunday in a row golfers in South Carolina arrested for violating Sabbath.

STARS

1908 Star #46 was added to US flag for Oklahoma.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1957 Premiere of only prime-time network TV show beginning with an "X" "Xavier Cugat Show" on NBC (until X-Files).

1974 "People" magazine begins sales.

HAUNTED

1939 English Spook house Borley Rectory destroyed in a fire.

SWEET

1879 Constantine Fahlberg discovers saccharin (artificial sweetener).

TIRED

1890 D Needham & P Kerrigan box 100 rounds (6 hours 39 minutes), San Francisco; match is draw.

PATENTS

1883 Oscar Hammerstein patents 1st cigar-rolling machine.

DEATH PENALTY

1987 NCAA cancels SMU's entire 1987 football schedule for gross violations of NCAA rules regarding athletic corruption.

KILLERS

1982 Wayne Williams found guilty of murdering 2 of 28 blacks in Atlanta GA.

1998 FBI arrests 10 most wanted suspected serial killer Tony Ray Amati.

POLITICS

1801 the District of Columbia was placed under the jurisdiction of Congress.

JEWS

1670 Jews are expelled from Austria by order of Leopold I.

1949 Chaim Weizmann becomes 1st Israeli President.

SPORTS

1901 NL Rules Committee decrees that all fouls are to count as strikes except after two strikes.

UNREST

1861 in Warsaw, Russian troops fired on a crowd protesting Russian rule over Poland; five marchers were killed.

WOMEN

1922 The Supreme Court, in Leser v. Garnett, unanimously upheld the 19th Amendment to the Constitution that guaranteed the right of women to vote.

LIMITS

1951 The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, limiting a president to two terms of office, was ratified.

MIRACLES

1960 The U.S. Olympic hockey team defeated the Soviets, 3-2, at the Winter Games in Squaw Valley, Calif. (The U.S. team went on to win the gold medal.)

INDIANS

1973 Members of the American Indian Movement occupied the hamlet of Wounded Knee in South Dakota, the site of the 1890 massacre of Sioux men, women and children. (The occupation lasted until May.)

UPSETS

1979 Jane M. Byrne confounded Chicago's Democratic political machine as she upset Mayor Michael A. Bilandic to win their party's mayoral primary. (Byrne went on to win the election.)

ROYALS

1998 With the approval of Queen Elizabeth II, Britain's House of Lords agreed to end 1,000 years of male preference by giving a monarch's first-born daughter the same claim to the throne as any first-born son.

FINANCE

2007 The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 416.02 points, the worst drop since the 2001 terrorist attacks.

BORN

1807 poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine.

1920 Reg Simpson cricketer (prolific England opener 1948-55).

BIRTHDAYS

Actress Joanne Woodward is 78. Actress Elizabeth Taylor is 76. Consumer advocate Ralph Nader is 74. Actress Barbara Babcock is 71. Actor Howard Hesseman is 68. Actress Debra Monk is 59. Rock singer-musician Neal Schon (Journey) is 54. Rock musician Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden) is 51. Actor Timothy Spall is 51. Rock musician Paul Humphreys (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark) is 48. Country singer Johnny Van Zant (Van Zant) is 48. Rock musician Leon Mobley (Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals) is 47. Basketball Hall-of-Famer James Worthy is 47. Actor Adam Baldwin is 46. Actor Grant Show is 46. Rock musician Mike Cross (Sponge) is 43. Actor Donal Logue is 42. Rhythm-and-blues singer Chilli (TLC) is 37. Rock musician Jeremy Dean (Nine Days) is 36. Rhythm-and-blues singer Roderick Clark is 35. Country-rock musician Shonna Tucker (Drive-By Truckers) is 30. Chelsea Clinton is 28. Rhythm-and-blues singer Bobby Valentino is 28. Singer Josh Groban is 27. Actress Kate Mara is 25.

DEATH

1939 Nadezjda K Krupskaya Russian revolutionary/wife of Lenin, dies at 70.

1985 J Pat O'Malley actor (My Favorite Martian, Maude), dies at 83.

2003 Children's television host Fred Rogers died in Pittsburgh at age 74.


February 27, the 58th day of 2008. There are 308 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: 911 review
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 25, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, LEVIATHAN, BUSINESS, PATENTS, COMMIES, ACTIVIST COURT, SPORTS, RUN, SPEECH, EXECUTED, GUILLOTINED, LYNCHED, EXCOMMUNICATION, MONKEYS, E PLURIBUS PLURIBUS, RECORDS, GREENBACKS, CONDEMNED, DALI LAMA, TAXES, INFLATION, NAZIS, JEWS, MOONIES, SERIAL KILLERS, BICYCLES, AH ONE AND AH TWO, FAST, TV BREAKDOWNS, HOOKERS, WHEN HE'S DOWN, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

LEVIATHAN

1913 the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, giving Congress the power to levy and collect income taxes, was declared in effect by Secretary of State Philander Chase Knox.

WAR!

1779 American forces led by George Rogers Clark routed the British from Fort Sackville in the Revolutionary War Battle of Vincennes in present-day Indiana.

1991 During the Persian Gulf War, 28 Americans were killed when an Iraqi Scud missile hit a U.S. barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

2003 Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix said Iraq was showing new signs of real cooperation, but President Bush was dismissive, predicting Saddam Hussein would try to "fool the world one more time."

TERRORISM

1995 Bomb attack on train in Assam India (27 soldiers killed).

1995 Moslem fundamentalists shoot 20 Shiite mosque goers dead.

2007 A female suicide bomber triggered a ball bearing-packed charge, killing at least 41 people at a mostly Shiite college in Baghdad.

DISASTERS

1977 Oil tanker explosion west of Honolulu spills 31 million gallons.

1984 Oil fire in Cubatao Brazil kills 500.

1994 Peruvian Yak-40 crashes into mountain near Tingo Maria, kills 31.

MONKEYS

1751 1st performing monkey exhibited in America, NYC (admission 1¢).

RECORDS

1838 London pedestrian walks 20 miles backward then forward in 8 hours.

CONDEMNED

1885 US Congress condemns barbed wire around government grounds.

PATENTS

1836 inventor Samuel Colt patented his revolver.

TV BREAKDOWNS

1990 On a BBC taped interview, rock star Stevie Nicks breaks down, saying that she will never have children & no man can stand her for long.

DALI LAMA

1910 Dali Lama flees Tibet from Chinese troop to British-Indies.

WHEN HE'S DOWN

1995 British heavyweight Nigel Benn hits Gerard McClellan in hospital.

HOOKERS

1998 Switzerland's 1st legal brothel opens in Zurich.

INFLATION

1923 Bread in Berlin rises to 2,000 mark.

AH ONE AND AH TWO

1982 Final episode of "The Lawrence Welk Show" airs.

GUILLOTINED

1922 Henri-Désiré Landru French sex murderer, guillotined at 52.

TAXES

1919 Oregon is 1st state to tax gasoline (1¢ per gallon).

GREENBACKS

1862 Paper currency (greenbacks) introduced in US by President Abraham Lincoln.

EXCOMMUNICATION

1570 Pius V excommunicates Elizabeth, absolves her subjects from allegiance.

NAZIS

1932 Immigrant Adolf Hitler gets German citizenship.

CHOKED

1983 Tennessee Williams writer (Streetcar Named Desire), reportedly chokes to death on a bottle cap at 71.

SERIAL KILLERS

1973 Juan Corona sentenced to 25 life sentences for 25 murders.

E PLURIBUS PLURIBUS

1803 1,800 sovereign German states unite into 60 states.

LYNCHED

1994 Baruch Goldstein physician/murderer (53 in mosque), lynched at 42.

BICYCLES

1974 Veronica & Colin Scargill (England) begin tandem bicycle ride a record 18,020 miles around the world, completed on August 27, 1975.

FAST

1982 Record speed for a snowmobile (239 kph).

BUSINESS

1901 U.S. Steel Corp. was incorporated by J.P. Morgan.

JEWS

1941 February strike against persecution of Jews, in Amsterdam.

MOONIES

1968 430 Unification Church couples wed in Korea.

COMMIES

1948 Communists seized power in Czechoslovakia.

ACTIVIST COURT

1957 The Supreme Court, in Butler v. Michigan, overturned a Michigan statute making it a misdemeanor to sell books containing obscene language that would tend to corrupt "the morals of youth."

SPEECH

2007 In Detroit, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan stressed religious unity during what was billed as his final major speech, saying the world was at war because Christians and Muslims were divided.

EXECUTED

1601 Robert Devereux Earl of Essex, executed for treason against Elizabeth.

SPORTS

1964 Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali), a 7-1 underdog, became world heavyweight boxing champion by defeating Sonny Liston in Miami Beach, Fla.

1989 Dallas Cowboys fire coach Tom Landry after a 29-year career.

RUN!

In 1986, President Ferdinand Marcos fled the Philippines after 20 years of rule in the wake of a tainted election; Corazon Aquino assumed the presidency.

BORN

1841 Pierre Auguste Renoir Limoges France, Impressionist painter/sculptor.

1901 [Herbert] Zeppo Marx New York NY, comedian/actor (Marx Brothers).

1906 Domingo Ortega Spanish bullfighter.

BIRTHDAYS

Country singer Ralph Stanley is 81. TV writer-producer Larry Gelbart is 80. Actor Tom Courtenay is 71. CBS newsman Bob Schieffer is 71. Actress Diane Baker is 70. Actress Karen Grassle is 64. Movie director Neil Jordan is 58. Rock musician Dennis Diken (The Smithereens) is 51. Rock singer-musician Mike Peters (The Alarm) is 49. Actress Veronica Webb is 43. Actor Alexis Denisof is 42. Actress Tea Leoni is 42. Comedian Carrot Top is 41. Actress Lesley Boone is 40. Actor Sean Astin is 37. Singer Daniel Powter is 37. Latin singer Julio Iglesias Jr. is 35. Rhythm-and-blues singer Justin Jeffre is 35. Rock musician Richard Liles is 35. Actor Anson Mount is 35. Actress Rashida Jones is 32. Actor Justin Berfield is 22. Actors Oliver and James Phelps ("Harry Potter" movies) are 22.

DEATH

1994 Jersey Joe Walcott boxer, dies at 80.

February 25, the 56th day of 2008. There are 310 days left in the year.

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



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 23, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, LAST STANDS, POLITICS, MASS INOCULATION, FAKE SHEEP, WHO, RUMORS, IRONY, BUSY, SERIAL KILLERS, PERSECUTION, PATENTS, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, CANDY, LEASES, PROGRESS, QUICKIE, FASCISTS, PRO WRESTLING, JEWS, KIDNAPPED, SUSPENDED, GOLD, SUPERNOVA, SHORT PEOPLE, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

WAR!

1945 During World War II, U.S. Marines on Iwo Jima captured Mount Suribachi, where they raised the American flag.

1847 The Battle of Buena Vista took place during the Mexican-American War. U.S. troops led by General Zachary Taylor fought Mexican General Santa Anna's forces, who ended up withdrawing.

1916 French artillery kills entire French 72nd division at Samogneux Verdun.

1942 Japanese sub fires on oil refinery in Ellwood CA.

1967 US troops begin largest offensive of Vietnam War.

TERRORISM

1969 Nayif Hawatimah forms Democratic People's Front for Liberation of Palestine.

1997 Ali Abu Kamal opens fire in Empire State Building & kills 1.

2007 Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport became the first in the United States to begin testing new X-ray screening technology that can see through people's clothes.

DISASTER

1887 French/Italian Riviera struck by Earthquake; 2,000 die.

1980 Oil tanker explosion off Pilos, Greece, causes 37-million-gallon spill.

1998 Forty-two people were killed, some 2,600 homes and businesses damaged or destroyed, by tornadoes in central Florida.

2003 In West Warwick, R.I., relatives of the 100 victims of a deadly nightclub fire were allowed to walk up to the charred rubble to pray and say goodbye.

IRONY

1994 Stuart Berger doctor (Immune Power Diet), dies from obesity at 40.

LAST STANDS

1836 the siege of the Alamo began in San Antonio, entire garrison eventually killed.

BUSY

1922 Henri Landru executed for having 11 wives, in France.

SHORT PEOPLE

1993 Gary Coleman wins $1,280,000 lawsuit against parents for high fees.

PROGRESS

1910 1st radio contest held (Philadelphia).

1936 1st rocket air mail flight, Greenwood Lake NY.

QUICKIE

1915 Nevada enforces convenient divorce law.

GOLD

1973 Gold goes up $10 overnight to record $95 an ounce in London.

WHO?

2007 Democrat Tom Vilsack abandoned his bid for the presidency.

LEASES

1903 Cuban state of Guantanamo leased to USA.

SUSPENDED

1971 George Harrison is fined & his driving license is suspended for 1 year as a result of several speeding tickets and a dispute with the police.

SPORTS

1983 USFL New Jersey Generals sign Heisman winner Herschel Walker (3 years-$5 million).

1985 Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight throws a chair during a game.

POPULAR

1861 By popular referendum, Texas becomes 7th state to secede from US.

SUPERNOVA

1987 Supernova 1987A in LMC 1st seen; 1st naked-eye supernova since 1604

SERIAL KILLERS

1906 Johann Hoch US murderer, executed.

PRO WRESTLING

1939 Lou Thesz beats E Marshall in St Louis, to become wrestling champion.

PATENTS

1874 Major Walter Winfield patents game called "sphairistike" (lawn tennis)

RUMORS

1970 Rumors spread that females born on this day were better looking and more vivacious.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1886 London Times publishes world's 1st classified ad.

JEWS

1947 General Eisenhower opens drive to raise $170 million in aid for European Jews.

CANDY

1896 Tootsie Roll introduced by Leo Hirshfield.

KIDNAPPED

1958 5-time world driving champion Juan Fangio kidnapped by Cuban rebels.

BURNED

155 Polycarp disciple of Apostle John, arrested & burned at stake.

FASCISTS

1919 Benito Mussolini founds the Fascist party of Italy.

POLITICS

1861 President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrived secretly in Washington to take office, following word of an assassination plot in Baltimore.

1870 Mississippi was readmitted to the Union.

PERSECUTION

303 Emperor Diocletian orders general persecution of Christians.

MASS INOCULATION

1954 The first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine began in Pittsburgh.

COUP

1981 an attempted coup began in Spain as 200 members of the Civil Guard invaded the Parliament, taking lawmakers hostage. (However, the attempt collapsed 18 hours later.)

FAKE SHEEP

1997 Scientists in Scotland announced they had succeeded in cloning an adult mammal, producing a lamb named Dolly. (Dolly, however, was later put down after a short life marred by premature aging and disease.)

JURIES

2007 A Mississippi grand jury refused to bring any new charges in the 1955 slaying of Emmett Till, a black teenager who was beaten and shot after whistling at a white woman, declining to indict the woman, Carolyn Bryant Donham, for manslaughter.

BORN

1633 English diarist Samuel Pepys (The Great Fire of London) was born in London.

1865 Barney Dreyfuss baseball owner (Pittsburgh Pirates).

BIRTHDAYS

Country songwriter Bob Willis is 74. Actor Peter Fonda is 68. Author John Sandford is 64. Singer-musician Johnny Winter is 64. Country-rock musician Rusty Young is 62. Actress Patricia Richardson is 57. Rock musician Brad Whitford (Aerosmith) is 56. Singer Howard Jones is 53. Rock musician Michael Wilton (Queensryche) is 46. Country singer Dusty Drake is 44. Actress Kristin Davis is 43. Tennis player Helena Sukova is 43. Actor Marc Price is 40. Actress Niecy Nash is 38. Rock musician Jeff Beres (Sister Hazel) is 37. Country singer Steve Holy is 36. Rock musician Lasse Johansson (The Cardigans) is 35. Actress Dakota Fanning is 14.

DEATH

1848 The 6th president of the United States, John Quincy Adams, died in Washington, D.C., at age 80.

1884 Tambo Tambo Australian aboriginal/US circus attraction, dies at 23.


February 23, the 54th day of 2008. There are 312 days left in the year.


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



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 20, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, PROGRESS, LEVIATHAN, DUELS, RESIGN, FALSE ALARMS, JEWS, MISTAKES, IMMIGRATION, KILLED, WINE, SCALPED, WIND, PATENTS, SURF, GOLF, ASSASSINATION, IRAN, NANNY STATE, VOLCANO, OOPS, RACES, PRO WRESTLING, SPORTS, SCIENCE, THAT SUCKING SOUND, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

SCIENCE

1962 Astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth as he flew aboard the Mercury spacecraft Friendship 7.

WAR!

1942 Lieutenant E H O'Hare single-handedly shoots down 5 Japanese heavy bombers.

1944 During World War II, U.S. bombers began raiding German aircraft manufacturing centers in a series of attacks that became known as "Big Week."

1998 With the U.S. military poised to attack Iraq, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan began a final campaign to end the crisis over weapons inspections without bloodshed.

TERRORISM

1869 Tennessee Governor W C Brownlow declares martial law in Ku Klux Klan crisis.

1987 Bomb blamed on Unabomber explodes by computer store in Salt Lake City.

1994 3 Afghans take 70 Pakistani children hostage.

2007 In a victory for President Bush, a divided federal appeals court ruled that Guantanamo Bay detainees could not use the U.S. court system to challenge their indefinite imprisonment.

DISASTER

1835 Concepción, Chile destroyed by earthquake.

1856 John Rutledge, Liverpool-New York steamer, hits iceberg; many die.

1917 Ammunitions ship explodes in Archangelsk harbor, about 1,500 die.

1988 500 die in heavy rains in Rio de Janeiro Brazil.

2003 A fire broke out during a rock concert at The Station nightclub in West Warwick, R.I., killing 100 people and injuring about 200 others.

IMMIGRATION

1907 President Theodore Roosevelt signed an immigration act which excluded "idiots, imbeciles, feebleminded persons, epileptics, insane persons" from being admitted to the United States.

FALSE ALARMS

1971 The National Emergency Warning Center in Colorado erroneously ordered U.S. radio and TV stations off the air; some stations heeded the alert, which was not lifted for about 40 minutes.

RACE

1949 1st International Pancake Race held (Liberal KS).

THAT SUCKING SOUND

1992 Ross Perot says he'll run for President on Larry King Show.

GOLFERS

1927 Golfers in South Carolina arrested for violating Sabbath.

PRO WRESTLING

1978 Bob Backland beats Billy Graham in New York, to become WWF wrestling champion.

OOPS!

1947 Chemical mixing error causes explosion that destroys 42 blocks in Los Angeles CA.

VOLCANO

1943 New volcano Paracutin erupts in farmer's corn patch (México).

DUELS

1839 Congress prohibited dueling in the District of Columbia.

WINE

1673 1st recorded wine auction held (London).

WIND

1861 Steeple of Chichester Cathedral blown down during a storm.

SURF

1902 Heavy surf breaks over Seal Rocks & damages Sutro Baths, San Francisco.

SCALPED!

1725 10 sleeping Indians scalped by whites in New Hampshire for £100/scalp bounty.

SPORTS

1989 Members of 1949 Oklahoma football team cancelled an April reunion because of the deplorable conduct of Oklahoma players.

NANNY STATE

1933 House of Representatives completes congressional action to repeal Prohibition.

PROGRESS

1792 President Washington signed an act creating the U.S. Post Office.

SCIENCE

1989 Total eclipse of the Moon.

PATENTS

1872 Hydraulic electric elevator patented by Cyrus Baldwin.

1872 Luther Crowell patents a machine that manufactures paper bags.

1872 Silas Noble & JP Cooley patents toothpick manufacturing machine.

LEVIATHAN

1809 The Supreme Court, in United States v. Peters, ruled the power of the federal government is greater than that of any individual state.

MISTAKES

2003 A 17-year-old Mexican girl mistakenly given a heart and lungs with the wrong blood type received a second set of organs at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina; however, Jesica Santillan suffered brain damage and later died.

KILLED

1983 Ray Vitte actor (Doc, Cody-Quest), killed by police at 33.

ASSASSINATION

1919 French premier Clemenceau injured during assassination attempt.

IRAN

1921 Riza Khan Pahlevi seizes control of Iran.

RESIGN

1938 Anthony Eden resigned as British foreign secretary following Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's decision to negotiate with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.

SPIES

2003 Former Air Force Master Sgt. Brian Patrick Regan was convicted in Alexandria, Va., of offering to sell U.S. intelligence to Iraq and China but acquitted of attempted spying for Libya. (Regan was later sentenced to life without parole.)

JEWS

1941 Nazis order Polish Jews barred from using public transportation.

1941 1st transport of Jews to concentration camps leave Plotsk Poland.

1987 Soviet authorities released Jewish activist Josef Begun.

1995 Shlomo Averbach Rabbi, buried in Jerusalem, 250,000 attend.

BORN

1914 John Daly South Africa, newscaster/TV game show host (What's My Line).

1967 Kurt Cobain rock vocalist (Nirvana)/husband of Courtney Love.

BIRTHDAYS

Fashion designer Gloria Vanderbilt is 84. Actor Sidney Poitier is 81. Actress Marj Dusay is 72. Jazz-soul singer Nancy Wilson is 71. Singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie is 67. Hockey Hall-of-Famer Phil Esposito is 66. Movie director Mike Leigh is 65. Actress Brenda Blethyn is 62. Actress Sandy Duncan is 62. Rock musician J. Geils is 62. Actor Peter Strauss is 61. Rock singer-musician-producer Walter Becker (Steely Dan) is 58. Country singer Kathie Baillie is 57. Newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst is 54. Actor Anthony Stewart Head is 54. Country singer Leland Martin is 51. Actor James Wilby is 50. Rock musician Sebastian Steinberg is 49. Comedian Joel Hodgson is 48. Basketball player Charles Barkley is 45. Rock musician Ian Brown (Stone Roses) is 45. Actor French Stewart is 44. Actor Ron Eldard is 43. Model Cindy Crawford is 42. Actor Andrew Shue is 41. Actress Lili Taylor is 41. Singer Brian Littrell is 33. Actress Lauren Ambrose is 30. Actor Jay Hernandez is 30. Actress Majandra Delfino is 27. Singer-musician Chris Thile is 27. Actor Jake Richardson is 23. Singer Rihanna is 20.

DEATH

1790 Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II died.

1976 Kathryn Kuhlman religious leader/faith healer, dies.

1992 Dick York actor (Darren on Bewitched), dies of emphysema at 63.

February 20, the 51st day of 2008. There are 315 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
Image: wikipedia
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 19, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, TREASON, POLITICS, PATENTS, NANNY STATE, MASSACRE, BURNED, DIPLOMACY, LABOR, PROGRESS, INSANE, CEREAL, PRIZE, MARRIAGE, JEWS, PRO WRESTLING, CROCS, FAST, CARTOONS, HELP, PLAGIARISM, COKE, MICKEY, HEALTH NAZIS, PORN, TRASHED, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH


WAR!

1945 during World War II, some 30,000 U.S. Marines began landing on Iwo Jima, where they commenced a successful monthlong battle to seize control of the island from Japanese forces.

1634 Battle at Smolensk Polish king Wladyslaw IV beats Russians.

1942 President Roosevelt signed an executive order that gave the military the authority to relocate and intern U.S. residents, including citizens, of Japanese ancestry.

1942 Japanese warplanes, attacking in two waves, raided the Australian city of Darwin; at least 243 people were killed.

TERRORISM

1986 Jordanian King Hussein severs ties with PLO.

DISASTER

1884 Tornadoes in Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky & Indiana kill 800 people. No claims of climate change made.

1985 150 killed when a Spanish jetliner crashed approaching Bilbao, Spain.

2003 An Iranian military plane carrying 275 members of the elite Revolutionary Guards crashed in southeastern Iran, killing all on board.

PRIZE!

1913 1st prize inserted into a Cracker Jack box.

INSANE

1859 Dan Sickles is acquitted of murder on grounds of temporary insanity 1st time this defense is successfully used.

HEALTH NAZIS

1987 Anti-smoking ad airs for 1st time on TV, featuring Yul Brynner.

CEREAL

1906 W K Kellogg & Charles D Bolin incorporate Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company, Battle Creek MI.

CROCS

1945 900 Japanese soldiers reportedly killed by crocodiles in 2 days.

HELP!

1964 UK flies ½ ton of Beatle wigs to US.

TRASHED

1998 US hockey team destroys their rooms at Olympics village in Japan.

PORN

1992 Porn producer Jim Mitchell found guilty of killing his brother Artie.

COKE

1985 Canned & bottled Cherry Coke introduced by Coca-Cola.

PRO WRESTLING

1942 Bill Longson beats Managoff & Sandor Szabo, to become wrestling champion.

PLAGIARISM

1981 George Harrison is ordered to pay ABKCO Music $587,000 for "subconscious plagiarism" "My Sweet Lord" with "He's So Fine"

LABOR

1537 Weavers of Leiden Netherlands strike.

FAST!

1959 USAF rocket-powered rail sled attains Mach 4.1 (4970 kph), New Mexico.

TREASON

In 1807, former Vice President Aaron Burr, accused of treason, was arrested in the Mississippi Territory, in present-day Alabama. (Burr was acquitted at trial.)

MARRIAGE

1934 Bob & Dolores Hope marry.

MICKEY

1985 Mickey Mouse welcomed in China.

BURNED

1401 William Sawtree 1st English religious martyr, burned in London.

1545 Pierre Brully [Peter Brulius], calvinist minister, burned to death.

JEWS

1941 Nazis raid Koco Amsterdam & round up 429 young Jews for deportation.

PROGRESS

1831 1st practical US coal-burning locomotive makes 1st trial run, Pennsylvania.

CARTOONS

1960 Bil Keane's "Family Circus" cartoon strip debuts.

POLITICS

1846 the Texas state government was formally installed in Austin, with J. Pinckney Henderson taking the oath of office as governor.

2003 Missouri Congressman Dick Gephardt announced his second candidacy for president with a pledge to repeal most of President Bush's tax cuts.

PATENTS

1878 Thomas Edison received a U.S. patent for "an improvement in phonograph or speaking machines."

NANNY STATE

1881 Kansas prohibited the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages.

DIPLOMACY

1998 U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan set out for Iraq on a last-chance peace mission, saying he was "reasonably optimistic" about ending the standoff over weapons inspections without the use of force.

2007 Three-way talks between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Israeli and Palestinian leaders, initially billed as a new U.S. push to restart peace efforts, ended with little progress other than a commitment to meet again.

MASSACRE

1983 13 people were found shot to death at a gambling club in Seattle's Chinatown in what became known as the "Wah Mee Massacre." (Two Chinese immigrants were convicted of the killings and sentenced to life in prison.)

BORN

1473 Nicolaus Copernicus Torún, Poland, astronomer (heliocentrism).

1916 Eddie Arcaro jockey (1958 Racing Hall of Fame, 2 triple crowns).

1943 "Mama" Cass Elliot actress (Mamas & Papas-Monday Monday).

BIRTHDAYS

Singer Smokey Robinson is 68. Singer Bobby Rogers (Smokey Robinson & the Miracles) is 68. Actress Carlin Glynn is 68. Singer Lou Christie is 65. Actor Michael Nader is 63. Rock musician Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath, Heaven and Hell) is 60. Author Amy Tan is 56. Actor Jeff Daniels is 53. Rock singer-musician Dave Wakeling is 52. Talk show host Lorianne Crook is 51. Actor Ray Winstone is 51. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is 49. Britain's Prince Andrew is 48. Tennis Hall-of-Famer Hana Mandlikova is 46. Singer Seal is 45. Country musician Ralph McCauley (Wild Horses) is 44. Actress Justine Bateman is 42. Actor Benicio Del Toro is 41. Rock musician Daniel Adair is 33. Pop singer-actress Haylie Duff is 23.

DEATH

1980 Bon Scott Australian rock vocalist (AC/DC-Whole Lotta Rosie), dies at 33.

1997 Deng Xiaoping, the last of China's major Communist revolutionaries, died at age 92.

1998 Grandpa Jones country comic/banjo wizard (Hee Haw), dies at 84.

2007 Actress Janet Blair died in Santa Monica, Calif., at age 85.


February 19, the 50th day of 2008. There are 316 days left in the year.

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



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP Today in 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.