DBKP Today in Weird History: March 16, 2008

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

ACADEMIES

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

WAR!

1945 US defeats Japan at Iwo Jima.

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

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

TERRORISM

1977 US President Carter pleads for Palestinian homeland.

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

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

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

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

DISASTER

1941 Blizzard hits North Dakota & Minnesota killing 60.

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

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

DRAMA

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

QUIET

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

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

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

WOMEN

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

BOBBIES

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

ROCKETS

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

BYE

1861 Arizona Territory votes to leave the Union.

NAZIS

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

ST. PANCAKE

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

NANNY STATE

1871 1st fertilizer law enacted.

SCANDALS

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

ASSASSINATION

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

JEWS

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

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

SURE

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

BORN

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

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

BIRTHDAYS

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

DEATH

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

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

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

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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 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 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.