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Post by Flying Horse on Aug 1, 2011 8:33:38 GMT -5
MTV DAY MTV (Music Television) made its debut at 12:01 a.m. on this day in 1981. The first music video shown on the rock-video cable channel was, appropriately, "Video Killed the Radio Star", by the Buggles. MTV’s original five veejays were Martha Quinn, Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, J.J. Jackson and Alan Hunter. Since MTV is targeted to 18- to 24-year-olds, its music videos feature rock, rap, R&B and heavy metal. Today, the radio-with-pictures TV channel does more than play wall-to-wall music. Watch MTV and you’ll see news, drama, game shows, comedy, dance shows and inaugural balls. In 1987, having reached the near-saturation point on U.S. cable systems, MTV expanded internationally with MTV Europe. Two years later, and just two days before the Berlin Wall came down, MTV went on the air in East Berlin. A big push into Asia was launched in September of 1991, and in the fall of 1993, MTV went Latin with MTV Latino. Wow! Zillions of households worldwide all want... and can get... their MTV!
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Post by Flying Horse on Aug 1, 2011 20:25:36 GMT -5
1 Aug Good evening to my fellow history buffs from Tuxy and me. Today is 213th day of 2011 with 152 days left in the year. Today in History: 1009—a large Danish army landed at Sandwich and attacked London. 1096—the 1st Crusaders under Peter the Hermit reached Constantinople. 1291—a pact was made to form the Swiss Confederation. The anniversary of this founding has been celebrated as National Day in Switzerland since 1891, the 600th anniversary of the Swiss Confederation. 1464—Piero de Medici succeeded his father, Cosimo, as ruler of Florence. 1498—Christopher Columbus landed on Isla Santos (Venezuela). 1619—the first blacks (20) landed at Jamestown, Va. 1641—the Court of Star Chamber was abolished in England. 1664—the Turkish army was defeated by French and German troops at St. Gotthard, Hungary. 1714—Anne, Queen of Great Britain & Ireland, (1702-14)) died childless at age 49 of suppressed gout, ending in erysipelas in Kensington Palace, London. She was the last monarch of the House of Stuart and was succeeded by her 2nd cousin, George I of the House of Hanover. 1740—Thomas Arne’s song "Rule Britannia" was performed for the first time. 1759—British and Hanoverian armies defeated the French at the Battle of Minden, Germany. 1774—oxygen was isolated from air successfully by chemist Carl Wilhelm and scientist Joseph Priestly. 1785—Caroline Herschel became the first woman to discover a comet. 1790—the first US census was completed, showing a population of 3,929,214 recorded in 16 states and the Ohio Territory. Virginia is the most populous state with 747,610 inhabitants. It cost $44,377. 1791—Robert Carter III, a Virginia plantation owner, frees all 500 of his slaves in the largest private emancipation in U.S. history. An 1839 mutiny aboard a Spanish ship in Cuban waters raised basic questions about freedom and slavery in the US. 1798—Adm. Horatio Nelson routed the French fleet in the Battle of the Nile at Aboukir Bay, Egypt. 1801—the American schooner Enterprise captured the Barbary cruiser Tripoli. Often venturing into harm's way, America's most famous sailing ship, the Constitution, twice came close to oblivion. 1834—Slavery was outlawed in the British empire with an emancipation bill. 1852—black Methodists in San Francisco established the first black church, Zion Methodist. 1861—Capt. John Baylor claimed most of the territories of Arizona and New Mexico for the Confederacy. 1864—Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant appointed Gen. Philip Sheridan commander of the Army of the Shenandoah with the mission of clearing the valley of Confederate forces after nearly 10 months of trench warfare. Confederate resistance at Petersburg, Va., suddenly collapsed. 1872—the first long-distance gas pipeline in the US was completed. Designed for natural gas, the two-inch pipe ran five miles from Newton Wells to Titusville, Pennsylvania.. 1873—San Francisco’s first cable cars began running, operated by Andrew S. Hallidie’s Clay Street Hill Railroad Co. 1876—Colorado was admitted as the 38th state. 1880—Sir Frederick Roberts freed the British Afghanistan garrison of Kandahar from Afghan rebels. 1893—a machine for making shredded wheat breakfast cereal was patented by Henry Perky and William Ford of Watertown, NY. 1894—George Samuelson and Frank Harbo completed a 3,000-mile journey across the Atlantic Ocean -- in a rowboat! They landed in England after having left New York on June 6th. 1894—the First Sino-Japanese War erupted over control of Korea. 1907—the US Army Signal Corps established an aeronautical division, the forerunner of the US Air Force. 1911—Harriet Quimby became the first woman to receive a U.S. pilot's certificate from the Aero Club of America. (Quimby's accomplishments included being the first woman to fly across the English Channel; she was killed in an accident in July 1912 at age 37. 1914—Germany declared war on Russia at the onset of World War I. 1936—the Summer Olympics opened in Berlin with a ceremony presided over by Adolf Hitler. 1937—The Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany became operational. 1938—in Germany, Jewish doctors lost their insurance under the Nuremburg Laws. 1939—synthetic vitamin K was produced for the first time. 1941— Parade magazine called it “...the Army’s most intriguing new gadget” — “a tiny truck which can do practically everything.” Gen. Eisenhower said that America couldn’t have won World War II without it. The tiny truck was the Jeep, built at the time by the Willys Truck Co. Parade was so enthusiastic about the Jeep that it devoted three pages to the vehicle. 1941—the Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo plane made its first flight. 1942—Ensign Henry C. White, while flying a J4F Widgeon plane, sank U-166 as it approached the Mississippi River, the first U-boat sunk by the U.S. Coast Guard. 1943—race-related rioting erupted in New York City's Harlem section, resulting in several deaths. 1943—this day marked the groundbreaking ceremony in Oak Ridge, Tenn. for the first uranium 235 plant. (Uranium 235 was needed to build the A-bomb.) The uranium manufacturing facility cost $280,000,000 to build and was completed in the summer of 1944. 1943—over 177 B-24 Liberator bombers attacked the oil fields in Ploesti, Rumania, for a 2nd time. 1944—an uprising broke out in Warsaw, Poland, against Nazi occupation; the revolt lasted two months until 2 October before collapsing. 1944—Anne Frank made her last diary entry; a diary she had kept for two years while hiding with her family to escape Nazi deportation to a concentration camp. Three days later the Grune Polizei raided the secret annex in Amsterdam, Holland, where the Jewish family was in hiding. Anne died in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp at age 15. 1946—Pres. Truman signed the Fulbright Program into law. 1946—the Atomic Energy Commission was established. 1950—lead elements of the US 2nd Infantry Division arrived in Korea from the US. 1950—pitcher Curt Simmons of the Philadelphia Phillies became the first major-league baseball player to be called to active military duty during the Korean War. 1953—the first aluminum-faced building was completed, the first of this type in America — the Alcoa Building in Pittsburgh, Pa.. 1954—the Geneva Accords divided Vietnam into two countries at the 17th parallel. 1956—the Social Security Act was amended to provide benefits to disabled workers aged 50-64 and disabled adult children. 1957—the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) was created by the United States and Canada. 1958—after 26 years at 3 cents, the cost of mailing a first-class letter in the US went up a penny. 1960—Elvis Presley was named Public Enemy #1 by the East German newspaper, Young World. — Chubby Checker’s “The Twist” was released, inspiring the dance craze of the 1960s. 1964—Arthur Ashe was the first African-American to play on the US Davis Cup tennis team. 1966—Charles Joseph Whitman, age25, went on a shooting rampage from a tower at the University of Texas in Austin, killing 14 people and injuring 31. Whitman, who had also murdered his wife and mother hours earlier, was gunned down in the tower by police. 1971— The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour debuted on CBS-TV. 1971—the Concert for Bangladesh was held at Madison Square Garden in New York City and, together with the album, raised over $11 million to help the starving inhabitants of Bangladesh. 1971—Mohammed Oudeh, a mastermind of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre of Israeli athletes, survived an attempt on his life in Warsaw, Poland. 1971—[Sidney Aaron] Paddy Chayefsky, 3-time Oscar-winning screenwriter ( Marty [1955], The Hospital [1971], Network [1976], The Goddess, The Bachelor Party, The Americanization of Emily, Paint Your Wagon), playwright ( Middle of the Night, The Tenth Man, Gideon) & novelist (Altered States), died at age 58 of cancer in New York City. 1973—the movie American Graffiti opened. 1975— The Helsinki accords were signed pledging the signatory nations to respect human rights. 1976—the expansion Seattle Seahawks played their first (preseason) game, losing 27-20 to San Francisco 49ers 1978—Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds ended his streak of hitting in 44 consecutive games.. 1981—the rock music video cable channel MTV made its debut. The first video to be shown was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Buggles. 1984—in Tehran, Iran, terrorists hijacked an Air-France jet and demanded freedom for five people in jail in France. 1986—Pres. Reagan was given a note by freed hostage Rev. Lawrence Jenco, from his captors, that still held hostages, in Lebanon. 1986—Bert Blyleven became only the 10th pitcher to strike out 3,000 batters in his career. 1987—Mike Tyson ‘out-pointed’ Tony Tucker in 12 rounds at Las Vegas, Nev. winning the right to call himself the “Undisputed world heavyweight champion” as he won the IBF heavyweight title and retained the WBA/WBC heavyweight titles. 1988—conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh began broadcasting his nationally syndicated radio program. 1988—Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ opened. 1995—Westinghouse Electric Corp. struck a deal to buy CBS for $5.4 billion. 1998—the US books and music chain Borders opened its first European outlet with a 40,000-square-foot store on London's Oxford Street. (In July 2011, it declared bankruptcy and began liquidating its chain of stores.) 1998—Sandra Crouch, Gospel singer, drummer & songwriter, was ordained as pastor of her church, in spite of the ban on women ministers by the Church of God in Christ. 2000—a US military court in Germany sentenced Army Staff Sergeant Frank Ronghi to life in prison without parole for sexually assaulting and killing Merita Shabiu, an 11-year-old ethnic Albanian girl, while on peacekeeping duty in Kosovo. 2001—the Federal Trade Commission cleared the way for PepsiCo to acquire Quaker Oats for about $13.4 billion in stock. 2001—Pro Bowl tackle Korey Stringer, died of heat stroke at age 27, a day after collapsing at the Minnesota Vikings' training camp on the hottest day of the year. 2002—Iraq unexpectedly invited chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix to Baghdad for talks it said could lead to a return of inspectors. 2005—Baltimore Orioles first baseman Rafael Palmeiro was suspended for 10 days following a positive test for steroids and pointing his finger at Congressmen saying he didn’t do steroids. 2005—King Fahd of Saudi Arabia died. Crown Prince Abdullah, the king's half-brother, became the country's new monarch 2006—Mel Gibson issued a statement in which he denied being a bigot; he also apologized to "everyone in the Jewish community for the vitriolic and harmful words" he'd used when he was arrested for investigation of drunken driving. 2006—Fidel Castro released a statement a day after temporarily ceding power to his brother Raul in which he sought to reassure Cubans that his health was stable after intestinal surgery. 2006—Iranian Pres. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rejected a UN Security Council resolution that gave his nation until August 31 to suspend uranium enrichment. 2007—Denmark withdrew its troops from Iraq. 2008—NASA announced that it was extending the Phoenix probe mission by five weeks. 2009—former Philippine Pres. Corazon Aquino, the democracy icon who'd swept away a dictator, died in Manila at age 76 2010—the US announced that it would provide Pakistan with $10 million in humanitarian assistance in the wake of deadly flooding. 2010—Lolita Lebron, a Puerto Rico independence activist who'd spent 25 years in prison for participating in a gun attack on the U.S. Congress in 1954, died at age 90 in San Juan
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Post by Flying Horse on Aug 2, 2011 3:22:52 GMT -5
Today’s Birthdays: 1930—Geoffrey Richard Holder, Trinidadian actor ( Dr. Dolittle, Live and Let Die, Annie), choreographer (Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, The Dance Theater of Harlem),-director ( The Wiz revival [1984]), dancer, painter, Tony-winning costume designer ( The Wiz revival [1975]), singer & voice actor 1931—Ramblin' Jack Elliott [aka Elliot Charles Adnopoz], folk singer & performer 1931—Tom Wilson, ret. cartoonist ( Ziggy, 1971-87) is 80 & a survivor of lung cancer. 1937—Alfonse Marcello D'Amato, lawyer & US Senator (R-N.Y., 1981-99). 1939—Robert James Waller, author ( The Bridges of Madison County, Slow Waltz in Cedar Bend), professor of economics & business management 1942—Giancarlo Giannini, Italian actor ( Anzio, The Secret of Santa Vittoria, Swept Away, Seven Beauties, Hannibal, A Walk in the Clouds, Once Upon a Crime, Goodnight Michael Angelo, Casino Royale, Quantum of Silence) & dubber (Jack Nicolson in The Shining & Batman, Al Pacino) 1947—[Erik Michael] Rick Anderson, bassist (The Tubes) 1950—Roy Allen Williams, 2007 Basketball Hall of Fame coach (North Carolina, Kansas) with a career record of 643-163 1951—[Timothy Gregg] Tim Bachman, Canadian guitarist & vocalist (Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Brave Belt) who was one of the founding members of BTO with his brothers Randy (guitar/vocals) and Robbie (drums) as well as Fred Turner (bass/vocals). Since 1991 he has worked as a realtor in the Fraser Valley in British Columbia, Canada. In 2010 he was charged with child sex abuse. 1958—Robert Cray, 2011 Blues Hall of Fame blues singer (“Smokin’ Gun”) & guitarist of the Robert Cray Band 1958—Michael Penn, singer (Doll Congress), songwriter & film composer ( Hard Eight, Boogie Nights, The Last Kiss, That Evening Sun). He is the eldest son of actor/director Leo Penn and the brother of actors Sean Penn and the late Chris Penn. 1958—Taylor Negron, stand-up comedian, writer (show The Unbearable Lightness of Being Taylor Negron—A Fusion of Story and Song, plays Gangster Planet, Downward Facing Bitch) & actor ( Hope & Gloria, Angels In The Outfield, Young Doctors In Love, Easy Money, Punchline, The Last Boy Scout)1959—[Joseph Thomas] Joe Elliott, English rock lead vocalist-songwriter & guitarist (Def Leppard, Down ‘n’ Outz). He is one of the three members to perform on every Def Leppard album. 1960—[Suzanne] Suzi Gardner, rock singer-singer & guitarist (all-female grunge band L7) 1960—Chuck D [Carlton Douglas Ridenhour], politically & socially conscious rapper (Public Enemy), producer (Slam Jamz) & author (Fight the Power: Rap, Race, and Reality) 1962—Jesse Borrego, Mexican-American actor ( Blood in, Blood out/Bound by Honor, Follow Me Home, New York Stories, Con Air, Dexter; stage: Tribal Players) 1963—Coolio [aka Artis Leon Ivey, Jr.], rapper (“Fantastic Voyage”, “Gangsta’s Paradise”), musician, actor (Reality TV: Celebrity Big Brother 2009 [UK], The Surreal Life) & record producer. 1963—John Carroll Lynch, actor ( Gothika, Zodiac, Fargo; TV: The Drew Carey Show, HBO: Carnivale) 1964—Adam Fredric Duritz, rock lead vocalist-songwriter (Counting Crows), musician, record producer & film producer 1965—[Samuel Alexander] Sam Mendes, English theatre (revivals: Cabaret, Oliver!, Company, Gypsy)& Oscar-winning movie director ( American Beauty [1999]), 1966—George Ducas [aka George Evnochides], country singer (“Lipstick Promises”) & songwriter (w/ Radney Foster “A Real Fine Place to Start”, w/ David Lee Murphy “Always the Love Songs”) 1970—Jennifer Gareis, actress ( Private Parts, Miss Congeniality, Venus on the Halfshell, TV: Gangland) 1972—Charles Malik Whitfield, actor (TV: The Guardian, Supernatural, The Temptations miniseries) 1972—Tanya Reid, Canadian TV actress ( Stargate SG-1, CTV’s The Eleventh Hour) 1973—Tempestt Bledsoe, actress ( Monsters, Fire & Ice; TV: The Cosby Show, Style Network: Clean House). 1979—{Joseph}Jason Namakaeha Momoa, actor ( Conan the Barbarian, TVs: Stargate: Atlantis, HBO: Game of Thrones) & model 1981—Ashley Parker [ ], singer (O-Town: “Liquid Dreams”, “All or Nothing”) & actor ( Wild Things: Foursome, Pizza Man, Amelia’s 25th; stage Hairspray) 1981—Taylor Fry, actress ( Die Hard; TVs: Nightingales, Get a Life) 1986—Elijah Kelley, actor ( Take the Lead, 28 Days, Hairspray), singer & dancer
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Post by Flying Horse on Aug 2, 2011 8:15:09 GMT -5
sus- -don't you look at this anymore? I always enjoyed your comments.
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Post by Flying Horse on Aug 2, 2011 8:19:23 GMT -5
DEAD MAN'S HAND DAY. profile.ak.fbcdn.net/hprofile-ak-snc4/50555_51374369172_173514_n.jpg [/img]Wild Bill (James Butler) Hickok was gunned down by Jack McCall, a desperado from Texas, in Saloon #10 at Deadwood, in the Dakota Territory on this day in 1876. Hickok was playing poker (with his back to the door) at the time of the shooting. McCall shot Wild Bill in the back, and was hanged for the shooting, never revealing his motive. Hickok, a Union army spy, a scout for General Custer, a marshal for Abilene, Kansas, and a crack shot with a pistol, was handsome, longhaired, and a flamboyant gambler. Doc Pierce, who prepared Wild Bill for burial was quoted as saying, “Wild Bill was the prettiest corpse I have ever seen.” The poker hand Hickok was holding when he died consisted of a pair of black aces and a pair of black eights. This combination became known as the dead man’s hand.
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Post by Flying Horse on Aug 2, 2011 21:09:49 GMT -5
2 Aug Good evening to my fellow history buffs from Tuxy and me. Today is 214th day of 2011 with 151 days left in the year. Today in History: 216 BC—Hannibal Barca won his greatest victory over the Romans at Cannae. After avidly studying the tactics of Hannibal, Scipio Africanus eventually bested his Carthaginian adversary. 47 BC—Caesar defeated Pharnaces at Zela in Syria and declared, "veni, vidi, vici," (I came, I saw, I conquered). 1100—William II, “Rufus”, King of England, killed in a hunting accident 1191—the Third Crusaders received the first installment of freed prisonefs and ransom money from Saladin from Acre. 1307—the Knights Templars are exempted by the Pope from paying a tax levied by King Edward of England 1332—Donald, Earl of Mar, was made Regent of Scotland. 1552—the treaty of Passau gave religious freedom to Protestants living in Germany. 1553—an invading French army was destroyed at the Battle of Marciano in Italy by an imperial army. 1589—during France's religious war, a fanatical monk stabbed King Henry II to death. 1610—during his 4th voyage to the Western Hemisphere, English explorer Henry Hudson sailed into what is now known as Hudson Bay. 1769—the city of Los Angeles was named on this day when Gaspar de Portola, a Spanish army captain, and Juan Crespi, a Franciscan priest, stopped on their way north from San Diego. They really liked the area and decided to name it Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula, which means Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of Porciuncula (a chapel in Italy). 1776—members of the Continental Congress began attaching their signatures to the Declaration of Independence. 1791—Samuel Briggs and his son Samuel Briggs, Jr. received a joint patent for their nail-making machine. They were the first father-son pair to receive a patent. 1802—Napoleon Bonaparte was proclaimed "Consul for Life" by the French Senate after a plebiscite from the French people. 1819—the first parachute jump from a balloon was made by Charles Guille in New York City. 1823— The New York Mirror and Ladies Literary Gazette was founded. The weekly newspaper later became the daily New York Mirror. 1824—in New York City, Fifth Avenue was opened and became one of the most famous thoroughfares in the world, the home of many beautiful, fashionable stores. 1832—troops under Gen. Henry Atkinson massacred Sauk Indian men, women and children who were followers of Black Hawk at the Bad Axe River in Wisconsin. Black Hawk himself finally surrendered three weeks later, bringing the Black Hawk War to an end. 1847—William A. Leidesdorff launched the first steam boat in San Francisco Bay. 1858—in Boston and New York City the first mailboxes were installed along streets. 1861—the US Congress passed the first income tax. The revenues were intended for the war effort against the South. The tax was never enacted. 1862—Union Gen. John Pope captured Orange Court House, Virginia. 1862—the Army Ambulance Corps was established by Maj. Gen. George McClellan. 1865—the CSS Shenandoah accepted that the South had lost the war. The Shenandoah was still searching for Yankee ships in the Pacific when they were informed by a British vessel. Captain James I. Waddell then sailed the ship from the northern Pacific to Liverpool, England, without stopping at any ports. The ship was surrendered to British officials upon arrival at Liverpool on November 6th. 1867—the first patent for barbed wire was issued to Lucien B. Smith of Kent, Ohio 1876—frontiersman "Wild Bill" Hickok was shot and killed while playing poker at a saloon in Deadwood, Dakota Territory, by Jack McCall, who was later hanged. (Legend holds that Hickok died holding a pair of aces and a pair of eights, now known in poker parlance as "the Dead Man's Hand.”) 1892—Charles A. Wheeler patented the first escalator. 1907—Walter Johnson pitched his first professional baseball game for the Washington Senators. He went on to fan 3,499 batters in his career. 1909—the original Lincoln "wheat" penny first went into circulation, replacing the "Indian Head" cent. 1914—Germany invaded Luxembourg. 1918—a British force landed in Archangel, Russia, to support White Russian opposition to the Bolsheviks. 1921—a jury in Chicago acquitted several former members of the Chicago White Sox baseball team and two others of conspiring to defraud the public in the notorious "Black Sox" scandal. 1921—Enrico Caruso, famed Italian operatic tenor who sang at the major opera houses of Europe, North and South America in a wide variety of roles from the Italian and French repertoires, ranging from the lyric to the dramatic, died at age 48 on his way for medical treatment in Rome from peritonitis due to a burst subrenal abscess in Naples, Italy. He made approx. 290 commercially released recordings (1902-20), all of which are available today on CD and digital downloads. 1922—Alexander Graham Bell, scientist (hearing and speech), inventor (first practical telephone), engineer & innovator (optical telecommunications, hydrofoils, aeronautics), died at age 75 from complications from diabetes & pernicious anemia at his private estate, Beinn Bhreagh, Nova Scotia, Canada. He was one of the founders of the National Geographic Society. 1923—Warren Gamaliel Harding, 29th Pres. of the US (1921-23), US Senator (R-Ohio 1915-21), 28th Lt Gov. of Ohio (1904-06), died in office at age 57 probably from a heart attack in San Francisco, Calif. Vice Pres. Calvin Coolidge was sworn in as president. 1926—John Barrymore and Mary Astor starred in the first showing of the Vitaphone System. The system was the combining of picture and sound for movies. 1934—Paul von Hindenburg, German field marshal (Chief of the German General Staff, 1916-19) & 2nd President of Germany (1925-34), died at age 86 from lung cancer at home in Neudeck near Rosenberg, East Prussia, Germany. His death paved the way for Hitler’s complete takeover of Germany. 1938—bright yellow baseballs were used in a major league baseball game between the Dodgers and the Cardinals. It was hoped that the balls would be easier to see. 1939—Albert Einstein signed a letter to Pres. Roosevelt urging creation of an atomic weapons research program. 1939—Pres. Roosevelt signed the Hatch Act, prohibiting civil service employees from taking an active part in political campaigns. 1943—US Navy patrol torpedo boat PT-109, commanded by Lt. John F. Kennedy, sank after being rammed by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri off the Solomon Islands. Kennedy was credited with saving members of the crew. 1944—Turkey ended all relations with the Nazis after stopping the export of chrome to Germany on April 20th. 1945—Pres. Truman, Soviet leader Josef Stalin & British Prime Minister Churchill concluded the Potsdam conference. 1950—the US 1st Provisional Marine Brigade arrived in Korea from the US. 1961—the Beatles began their engagement as regular headliners at Liverpool's Cavern Club and performed about 300 shows over the next two years. 1962—Robert Zimmerman legally changed his name to Bob Dylan. 1964—the Pentagon reported the first of two attacks on US destroyers on the USS Maddox by North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin. 1965—newsman Morley Safer filmed the destruction of a Vietnamese village by US Marines. 1974—former White House counsel John W. Dean III was sentenced to one to four years in prison for obstruction of justice in the Watergate cover-up. (Dean ended up serving four months.) 1980—a bomb exploded in a train station in Bologna, Italy, killing 85 people. 1983—the US House of Representatives approved 338-90 a law that designated the 3rd Monday of January as a federal holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The law was signed by President Reagan on November 2nd. 1984—Charles Schulz’ award-winning comic strip was picked up by the Daily Times in Portsmouth, Ohio. With the addition of that paper, Peanuts, featuring Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, Pigpen, Linus, Peppermint Pattie, Woodstock and the gang, became the first comic strip to appear in 2,000 newspapers. 1985—135 people were killed when a Delta Air Lines jumbo jetliner crashed while attempting to land at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. 1987—The 50-year-old Disney movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was re-released. The film was the most popular animated film in motion picture history. It grossed almost $20 million in its first 2 weeks. 1987—more than a million people gathered in Tehran, calling for the overthrow of the sheiks of Saudi Arabia, where hundreds of Iranian pilgrims had died in rioting in the Muslim holy city of Mecca. 1988—US military investigators concluded that "crew errors" were the cause of the shooting down of an Iranian passenger jet on 3 July 1988. 1990—Iraq invaded Kuwait, seizing control of the oil-rich emirate, claiming that Kuwait had driven down oil prices by exceeding production quotas set by OPE C. The UN Security Council unanimously condemned the Iraqi occupation and not only imposed a complete blockade on Iraq, but authorized member states to reverse the invasion by any and all means. (The Iraqis were later driven out in Operation Desert Storm.) 1992—at the Barcelona Summer Olympics, Jackie Joyner-Kersee of the US repeated as heptathlon champion. 1995—Hurricane Erin came ashore near Vero Beach;, Fla., the storm was blamed for 11 deaths. 1995—China ordered the expulsion of two US Air Force officers., said to have been caught spying on military sights. 1997—William S. Buroughs, author ( Junkie, Naked Lunch, based on his experience as a drug addict) & the godfather of the ‘Beat generation’, died at age 83 from a heart attack in Lawrence, Kan.. 1998—Shari Lewis [aka Sonia Phyllis Hurwitz], ventriloquist, puppeteer (Lamb Chop, Charlie Horse, Hush Puppy) & children’s TV host ( The Shari Lewis Show, Lamb Chop’s Play-Along), died at age 65 of viral pneumonia due to treatment of uterine cancer in Los Angeles 1999—in eastern India, at least 278 people were killed when two trains collided at a station. 2000—Republicans nominated Texas Gov. George W. Bush for president and Dick Cheney for vice president at the party's convention in Philadelphia, 2000—Pres. Clinton postponed the scheduled execution of Juan Raul Garza, a Texas drug kingpin and murderer (Garza was executed by lethal injection June 19th, 2001.) 2001—the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal handed down its first conviction for genocide, finding a Bosnian Serb general (Radislav Krstic) guilty of the deaths of up to 8,000 Muslims. (He's serving a 35-year prison term.) 2001—solid Democratic opposition sank Pres. Bush's nomination of Mary Sheila Gall to be chairwoman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. 2001—Ron Townson, the centerpiece singer for the pop group the 5th Dimension (1966-97), died at age 68 of renal failure at home in Las Vegas, Nev. 2003—Saddam Hussein's sons, Odai and Qusai, were buried by leaders of Hussein's tribe. They were buried with their bodies wrapped in flags in a sign the family considered them to be martyrs. 2003—Israel’s Defense Ministry ordered police and soldiers to remove six Jewish outposts in the West Bank and evict the settlers. The move was part of a US-backed peace plan. 2005—Russia banned ABC News following an interview with an anti-Chechen rebel leader. 2006—five days after being pulled over by police, actor-director Mel Gibson was charged with misdemeanor drunken driving, having an elevated blood-alcohol level and having an open container of liquor in his car. (Gibson later pleaded no contest to drunken driving under a deal in which he received three years' probation, paid a fine and agreed to attend alcohol rehabilitation classes.) 2006—bombs killed several during Iraq football game. 2007—Mattel recalled nearly a million Chinese-made toys from its Fisher-Price division that were found to have excessive amounts of lead. 2007—it was announced that Whoopi Goldberg would take Rosie O’Donnell’s place on The View. 2007—in Hibhib, Iraq, a suicide bomber killed at least 13 people outside of a police station. 2007—Russia claimed the North Pole by planting its flag on the seabed. 2008—the world’s first double arm transplant was undertaken in Munich, Germany. 2010—Pres. Obama , addressing the Disabled American Veterans in Atlanta, said the US would leave Iraq "as promised and on schedule," portraying the end of America's combat role in the 7-year war as a personal promise kept. 2010—actress Lindsay Lohan was released from a Los Angeles jail after serving 14 days of a 90-day sentence for violating her probation in a 2007 drug case. 2010—the Washington Post Co. announced that billionaire Sidney Harman would buy Newsweek for $1 and assume the magazine's debts. 2010—Grig Biffle won his fifteenth career NASCAR Sprint Cup race. 2010—a cargo plane crashed in Alaska’s Denali Park and sparked a wildfire.
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Post by susala on Aug 2, 2011 21:50:21 GMT -5
I'm having a little trouble re-establishing a routine, Peg. I've spent way too much time lately signing up for new accounts in a fruitless effort to keep on doing things the "old way" and looking for a new place to discuss politics. Some things have fallen through the cracks. Sorry. You know I love this thread.
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Post by susala on Aug 2, 2011 22:26:56 GMT -5
Wild Bill was a good looking man! I don't make it a point to go to Fifth Avenue anymore when I go to NYC but I remember the first time I saw it. I was eighteen and I so wanted to go into Tiffany's. I was a big fan of the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's. But I knew that I couldn't afford to buy anything and I really didn't look like I belonged there anyway. It was years before I got up the nerve and then I only popped in. It's a very intimidating store. I'd have to dress up and take a cab there to feel the least bit comfortable actually shopping there. Jeans, tennies and sweat from walking for blocks (my regular look in NYC) just doesn't cut it.
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Post by Flying Horse on Aug 3, 2011 11:45:36 GMT -5
You're a braver woman than I am sus. I've only window shopped on 5th avenue, never ventured within. I did get down to the city at Christmas time to see the windows. What a fabulous experience is Rockefeller Center and the window dressings for Christmas!!
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Post by Flying Horse on Aug 3, 2011 11:54:17 GMT -5
SEEING-EYE REPORTER DAY2.bp.blogspot.com/_oiGRRtmpVJk/S04PI2Xa42I/AAAAAAAAAkM/ptB1ri5RF9w/s400/Ernie-Pyle_Journalist_16c_USA.gif [/img]Steven Spielberg captured ‘reality’ with film, cast, crew, and the technology of the 1990s in his award-winning film, Saving Private Ryan. Some five decades earlier, Ernie Pyle, using the hunt and peck method on a beat-up old typewriter (on display at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.), drew word pictures of the landing at Normandy. He watched the landings from a ship. The next day, he walked where the troops had gone before. The popular war correspondent wrote, “I took a walk along the historic coast of Normandy in the country of France. It was a lovely day for strolling along the seashore. Men were sleeping in the sand, some of them sleeping forever. Men were floating in the water, but they didn’t know they were in the water, for they were dead.” “... There in a jumbled row for mile on mile were soldiers’ packs. There were socks and shoe polish, sewing kits, diaries, Bibles, hand grenades. There were the latest letters from home, with the address on each one neatly razored out -- one of the security precautions enforced before the boys embarked ...” Ernie Pyle was born on this day in 1900 in Indiana. He grew up on a farm near the town of Dana (the location of the Ernie Pyle Museum and Historic Site), the only child of Will and Maria Pyle. Although his military career was brief, having enlisted in the Naval Reserve shortly before the end of WWI, it was his career in journalism that took him to the front lines. Pyle studied journalism at Indiana University, but left before getting his degree to work in the real world. His first job as reporter was for the LaPorte Herald, but he moved on to the Washington Daily News in Washington D.C. It was for this Scripps Howard newspaper that Pyle wrote an aviation column, the first of its kind in America. He was then given the managing editor’s position which was followed by the job of roving reporter for all Scripps Howard papers. Ernie Pyle’s first reporting of a battle scene (the Battle of Britain) was in 1940. A year later, he started what would become one of the most widely read columns in journalism history, as he covered the US’ involvement in WWII. Pyle’s stories were written from the trenches where he became one with the infantrymen he preferred to write about. His gripping accounts of the bloody fighting in North Africa, Sicily and Anzio captured the attention of all America. After Normandy and the liberation of Paris, Pyle began covering the war in the Pacific. It was on Ie Shima, a small island off Okinawa, that his career came to an end. Worrying more about his Army buddies than himself, he didn’t take cover but turned to ask if they were OK while under Japanese sniper fire. He took a bullet in the left temple. A memorial stands on the site where Ernest T. Pyle was killed on April 18, 1945. Once buried there, his remains now lie at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Punchbowl Crater on Oahu, Hawaii. Pyle was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously. The man referred to by the Army and Navy Journal as ‘the seeing-eye reporter’ said of himself, “I want to make people see what I see.” You can still see through the eyes of Ernie Pyle. The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist compiled his columns in several books, Here is Your War, Brave Men, and Last Chapter.
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Post by Flying Horse on Aug 4, 2011 0:14:50 GMT -5
3 Aug Good evening to my fellow history buffs from Tuxy and me. Today is 215th day of 2011 with 150 days left in the year. Today in History: 1347—six burghers of the surrounded French city of Calais surrendered to Edward III of England in hopes of relieving the siege. 1422—death of Henry V, King of England 1460—James II, King of Scotland, killed at Roxburgh Castle 1480—the Turks gave up their unsuccessful siege of Rhodes 1492—Christopher Columbus set sail on the Santa Maria, accompanied by a crew of 90 and two more ships, the Nina and the Pinta. They left Spain half an hour before sunrise to begin the search for a water passage to Cathay. Instead, Columbus and company landed on October 12th at Guanahani, San Salvador Island in the Bahamas — not India but the New World of the Americas.. 1546—French Etienne Dolet, accused of heresy, blasphemy and sedition, was hanged and burned at the stake for printing reformist literature. 1553—Mary Tudor, the new Queen of England, entered London. 1610—Henry Hudson of England discovered a great bay on the east coast of Canada and named it for himself. 1692—French forces under Marshal Luxembourg defeated the English at the Battle of Steenkerke in the Netherlands. 1750—Christopher Dock completed the first book of teaching methods, A Simple and Thoroughly Prepared School Management. 1778—the opera house La Scala opened in Milan, Italy, with a performance of Antonio Salieri's Europa riconosciuta. 1807—former Vice Pres. Aaron Burr went on trial before a federal court in Richmond, Va., charged with treason. (He was acquitted less than a month later.) 1862—the Confederate ironclad Arkansas was ordered south to Baton Rouge to support operations there. The ship suffered engine problems and ran aground. The crew blew up the ship before the Union ship Essex could capture it. The Arkansas was only in action for 23 days. 1864—Union Gen. John Schofield and his forces arrived at Utoy Creek, Ga. 1864—federal gunboats attacked but did not capture Fort Gains, at the mouth of Mobile Bay, Ala. 1880—the American Canoe Association was formed at Lake George, NY. 1882—the US passed the Immigration Act, banning Chinese immigration for ten years. 1900—the Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. was founded. 1908—Allan Allensworth filed the site plan for the first African-American town, Allensworth, Calif. 1911—airplanes were used for the first time in a military capacity when Italian planes reconnoitered Turkish lines near Tripoli. 1914—Germany declared war on France at the onset of World War I — British Foreign Secretary Edward Grey remarked: “The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime” and World War I began the next day with Britain declaring war on Germany. 1916—Sir Roger Casement was hanged for treason in England. 1921—baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis refused to reinstate the former Chicago White Sox players implicated in the "Black Sox" scandal, despite their acquittals in a jury trial. 1922—WGY radio in Schenectady, NY, presented the first full-length melodrama on radio, The Wolf, by Eugene Walter. 1923—Calvin Coolidge was sworn in as the 30th president of the US, one day after Pres. Harding died of a heart attack. 1933—the Mickey Mouse Watch was introduced for the price of $2.75. A Mickey Mouse Clock sold for $1.50. New models now sell for $25 or more and the original watches and clocks are worth hundreds of dollars. 1933—with Lefty Grove pitching, the Philadelphia Athletics whipped the New York Yankees, 7-0. The Yankees had gone 308 games without being shutout. 1936—Jesse Owens of the US won the first of his four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics as he took the 100-meter sprint. 1936—the US State Department advised Americans to leave Spain due to the Spanish Civil War. 1940—Italy began its occupation of British Somaliland in East Africa. 1941—Catholic Bishop Clemems von Galen delivered a sermon in Münster Cathedral in which he attacked the Nazi euthanasia program calling it "plain murder." 1943—Gen. George S. Patton slapped a private at an army hospital in Sicily, accusing him of cowardice. (Patton was later ordered by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower to apologize for this and a second, similar episode.) 1945—Chinese troops under American Gen. Joseph Stilwell took the town of Myitkyina from the Japanese. 1948—Whittaker Chambers, a former Communist, publicly accused former State Department official Alger Hiss of having been part of a Communist underground, a charge Hiss denied. 1949—the National Basketball Association (NBA) was formed as a merger of the Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball League. 1956—Bedloe’s Island had its name changed to Liberty Island. 1958—the nuclear-powered submarine USS Nautilus became the first vessel to cross the North Pole underwater on a mission known as “Operation Sunshine.” 1960—the African country of Niger achieved full independence from French rule. 1966—Lenny Bruce [aka Leonard Alfred Schneider], stand-up comedian, social critic & satirist, was found dead at age 40 of an accidental overdose of morphine at his home in Los Angeles. 1967—Pres. Johnson announced plans to send 45,000 more troops to Vietnam. 1971—Paul McCartney formed a new band called Wings. Joining McCartney in the group were Denny Laine, formerly of The Moody Blues, Denny Seilwell and McCartney’s wife, Linda. 1979— More American Graffiti was released. 1979—Johnny Carson, the Tonight Show host, was on the cover of the Burbank, Calif., telephone directory. 1981—US air traffic controllers with PATCO (the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization) went on strike, despite a warning from Pres. Reagan they would be fired, which they were. 1983—Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn resigned after 14 years on the job. Originally, he had been asked to take the job for six months or so. 1984—Mary Lou Retton won the all-around woman’s gymnast gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympics with a perfect 10 on the vault in he final routine. 1985—mail service returned to a nudist colony in Paradise Lake, Fla. When residents promised that they’d wear clothes or stay out of sight when the mailperson came to deliver. 1985—in South Africa, thousands of chanting mourners, defying a government decree banning mass funerals, buried 11 victims of rioting in the eastern Cape township of Zwide. 1987—Joe Niekro was suspended for 10 days for throwing scuffed baseballs. He first denied the charge made by the home plate umpire, but an emery board fell right out of his pocket during an inspection! 1988—the Iran-Contra hearings ended with no ties found between Pres. Reagan and the Nicaraguan Rebels. 1988—the Soviet Union released Mathias Rust, taken into custody on May 28, 1987 for landing a plane in Moscow's Red Square. 1989—the ABC news magazine Primetime Live debuted, with Sam Donaldson and Diane Sawyer reporting/starring. Just one of many creations of ABC News president Roone Arledge, the show ran through Sept 9, 1998, when it was merged with ABC’s 20/20. 1989—Shiite Muslim kidnappers suspended their threat to execute another hostage. It had been reported that the terrorist in Lebanon had hung Lt. Col. William R. Higgins three days before. 1989—Hashemi Rafsanjani was sworn in as the president of Iran. 1990—1000s of Iraqi troops pushed within a few miles of the border of Saudi Arabia, heightening world concerns that the invasion of Kuwait could spread. 1992—the US Senate voted to restrict and eventually end the testing of nuclear weapons. 1992—Russia and Ukraine agreed to put the Black Sea Fleet under joint command in an agreement that was to last for three years. 1992—millions of South African blacks joined a nationwide strike against white-led rule. 1993—the US Senate voted 96-to-3 to confirm Supreme Court nominee Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 1993—the body of basketball star Michael Jordan's father, James Jordan, was found in a South Carolina creek, eleven days after he was slain; his remains weren't identified until August 13th. 1994—Arkansas carried out the nation's first triple execution in 32 years. 1994—Stephen G. Breyer was sworn in as a Supreme Court justice in a private ceremony at Chief Justice William Rehnquist’s Vermont summer home.. 1995—a Palestinian, Eyad Ismoil, was flown from Jordan to the US from Jordan to face charges that he had driven the van that blew up in New York's World Trade Center. (The 1993 explosion killed six people and injured more than 1,000.) 1997—Iran’s new president, moderate Muslim cleric Mohammad Khatami, took office with a message of peace to the world but said his country opposes the "high-handedness of certain big countries," a reference to the United States. 1999—Congressional Republicans, shrugging off a presidential veto threat, nailed down the details of an agreement for a ten-year, $792 billion tax cut. 2000—George W. Bush accepted the Republican presidential nomination at the party's convention in Philadelphia, presenting himself as an outsider who would return "civility and respect" to Washington politics. 2001—US Fulbright scholar John Tobin was released from a Russian prison on parole after serving half of a one-year drug sentence. 2001—Christopher Hewett, English stage ( My Fair Lady, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Sleuth) & screen ( The Producers; TV: Mr. Belvedere, Fantasy Island) actor & theatre (revue: From A to Z, The Marriage Go-Round, Beyond the Fringe, Camelot; Off: By Jupiter revival) director, died at age 80 in Los Angeles 2003—LPGA golfer Annika Sorenstam from Sweden completed a career Grand Slam by winning the Women's British Open. 2004—in New York, the Statue of Liberty re-opened to the public, closed since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. 2004—NASA launched the spacecraft Messenger on a 6 1/2 year journey planned to arrive at the planet Mercury in March 2011. 2004—Pres. Bush signed the U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement. 2005—the San Diego Zoo got a new baby giant panda. 2005—the German Addidas bought the American company Reebok 2006—in Afghanistan, 21 civilians were killed in a suicide car bombing near Canadian military vehicles in a town market in Kandahar province; U.S. forces killed 25 Taliban in a raid in Helmand province. 2006—Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, German-born Austrian-British soprano who'd won global acclaim for her renditions of Mozart, Schubert, Wol and Strauss, died at age 90 in her sleep in Schruns, Vorarlberg, western Austria. She was an only child and thus is NOT the aunt of Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf. 2008—Alexander Solzhenitsyn, 1970 Nobel Prize-winning novelist ( One Day in the Life of Ivan Danisovich), dramatist & historian ( The Gulag Archipelago), died at age 89 of heart failure near Moscow. He was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1974 and returned in 1994 after the Soviet system collapsed. 2009—Bolivia became the first South American country to declare the right of indigenous people to govern themselves. 2009—Iran’s supreme leader formally endorsed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for a second term as president 2010—engineers began pumping heavy drilling mud into the blown-out Gulf of Mexico oil well in an attempt to permanently plug the leak. 2010—warehouse driver Omar Thornton killed eight co-workers and himself in a shooting rampage at a Manchester, Conn. beer distributorship.
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Post by susala on Aug 4, 2011 0:28:16 GMT -5
I prefer Ernie Pyle's version to Steven Spielberg's.
I didn't know that Pyle was killed in battle. How sad.
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Post by susala on Aug 4, 2011 0:32:41 GMT -5
1984—Mary Lou Retton won the all-around woman’s gymnast gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympics with a perfect 10 on the vault in he final routine. ********************************************************* What a moment that was!!
As for Reagan...#*&^%# him!
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Post by Flying Horse on Aug 4, 2011 0:40:00 GMT -5
I'll second that. He was the start of all the problems we're facing today with the debt. With his doubling the defense budget and the supply side economic theory which is a bust!! All it's done is widen the gap between the haves and have nots.
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Post by Flying Horse on Aug 4, 2011 9:08:11 GMT -5
WALLENBERG DAY
usstampgallery.com/images/stamps/c308e2b1468e825eb1dc8493db11c31532657dc2.gif [/img]It was 1912, the scene was Stockholm, Sweden. The event was the birth of a child named Raoul Wallenberg. Three decades later, Raoul made his mark in history. Wallenberg grew up to become an architect but this was not how he became famous. The upper-class Swedish gentleman also imported luxury goods from Hungary; and in his business dealings, learned of the plight of Hungarian Jews at the hands of the Nazis. Unlike others of his stature and position in society during World War II, Wallenberg went to work to save thousands ... ultimately rescuing at least 100,000 Jews from certain death ... 65,000 of them from the Budapest ghetto. Were his motives purely humanitarian? This is one question that will never be answered. In 1945, Soviet troops entered Budapest and arrested Wallenberg. Although no one actually knows what happened to this brave individual, Tass, the Soviet press agency, reported that he died in prison two years after his arrest. Raoul Wallenberg has been honored posthumously by the U.S. government. In 1981 the U.S. House of Representatives voted to award Mr. Wallenberg with honorary American citizenship, only the second person ever to receive such recognition (Winston Churchill was the first). He has also been immortalized in books, film and in a miniseries on television. [/size][/color][/font]
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Post by Flying Horse on Aug 4, 2011 17:51:19 GMT -5
4 Aug Good evening to my fellow history buffs from Tuxy and me. Today is 216th day of 2011 with 149 days left in the year. Today in History: 70—destruction of the 2nd Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans. 1265—Henry III, King of England, put down a revolt of English barons lead by Simon de Montfort. 1374—Calais surrendered to Edward III of England. 1578—s crusade against the Moors of Morocco was routed at the Battle of Alcazar-el-Kebir with King Sebastian of Portugal and 8,000 of his soldiers killed. 1693—champagne was accidentally invented by a French monk, Dom Perignon. 1717—a friendship treaty was signed between France and Russia. 1735—Freedom of the press established: a jury found John Peter Zenger, publisher of the New York Weekly Journal, not guilty of committing seditious libel against the colonial governor of New York, William Cosby. 1762—George Washington became a Master Mason. 1777—retired British cavalry officer Philip Astley established the first circus. 1789—the Constituent Assembly in France abolished the privileges of nobility. 1790—the US Coast Guard had its beginnings as the Revenue Cutter Service. 1821—The Saturday Evening Post was published for the first time as a weely. 1830—plans for the city of Chicago were laid out. 1864—Union Gen. William T. Sherman moved Gen. John Schofield from the east side of Atlanta to the west in an attempt to cut the supply rail lines. Due to Gen. John Palmer refusing to accept orders from anyone other than Gen. George Thomas at Utoy Creek. 1864—federal troops failed to capture Fort Gaines on Dauphin Island, one of the Confederate forts defending Mobile Bay. 1875—the first Convention of Colored Newspapermen was held in Cincinnati, Ohio. 1879—a law was passed in Germany making Alsace Lorraine a territory of the empire. 1892—Andrew and Abby Borden were axed to death in their home in Fall River, Mass. Lizzie Borden, Andrew's daughter from a previous marriage, was accused of the killings, but acquitted at trial.
1914—Germany invades Belgium causing Great Britain declared war on Germany while the US proclaimed its neutrality. 1916—the US reached agreement with Denmark to purchase the Danish Virgin Islands for $25 million. 1922—the death of Alexander Graham Bell, two days earlier, was recognized by AT&T and the Bell Systems by shutting down all of its switchboards and switching stations. The shutdown affected 13 million phones. 1927—the Peace Bridge between the US and Canada opened. 1936—Jesse Owens of the US won the 2nd of his four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics as he prevailed in the long jump over German Luz Long, who was the first to congratulate him. 1942—the British government charged that Mohandas Gandhi and his All-Indian Congress Party favored "appeasement" with Japan. 1944—15-year-old diarist Anne Frank was arrested with her sister, parents and four others by the Gestapo after hiding for two years inside a building in Amsterdam. (Anne died the following year at Bergen-Belsen.) 1944—RAF pilot T. D. Dean becomes the first pilot to destroy a V-1 buzz bomb when he tips the pilotless craft's wing, sending it off course. 1949—an earthquake in Ecuador destroyed 50 towns and killed more than 6,000 people. 1952—helicopters from the U.S. Air Force Air Rescue Service land in Germany, completing the first transatlantic flight by helicopter in 51 hours and 55 minutes of flight time. 1954—the uranium rush began in Saskatchewan, Canada. 1956—Wilhelm Herz was clocked at 210 miles per hour at Wendover, Utah. He became the first person to race a motorcycle over 200 mph. 1957—Juan Fangio won his final auto race and captured the world auto driving championship. It was his the fifth consecutive year to win. 1958—the first potato flake plant was completed in Grand Forks, N.D. 1958—in Cyprus, Greek rebels called a truce with Turks and British. 1962—Jamaica gained its independence from Great Britain. 1964—the bodies of missing civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney were found buried in an earthen dam in Mississippi. 1964—the U.S.S. Maddox and Turner Joy exchanged fire with North Vietnamese patrol boats. 1972—Arthur Bremer was found guilty of shooting George Wallace, the governor of Alabama. Bremer was sentenced to 63 years in prison. 1977—Pres. Carter signed a measure establishing the Department of Energy. 1983—New York Yankee outfielder Dave Winfield threw a baseball during warm-ups and accidentally killed a seagull. After the game, Toronto police arrested him for "causing unnecessary suffering to an animal." 1984—the African Republic of Upper Volta, an African republic, changed its name to Burkina Faso (“the land of upright men”). 1985—two milestones were achieved in MLB asTom Seaver of the Chicago White Sox gained his 300th victory and Rod Carew of the California angels got his 3,000th major league hit. 1987—the Federal Communications Commission voted to abolish the Fairness Doctrine, which required radio and television stations to present balanced coverage of controversial issues. 1987—s new 22-cent U.S. stamp honoring noted author William Faulkner, went on sale in Oxford, Miss. Faulkner had been fired as postmaster of that same post office in 1924. 1988—Congressman Mario Biaggi of New York was sentenced to prison for extortion, tax evasion, and acceptance of bribes in relation to the Wedtech scandal. Biaggi was paroled in 1990. 1989—Iranian Pres. Hashemi Rafsanjani offered to assist in ending the hostage crisis in Lebanon. 1990—the European Community imposed an embargo on oil from Iraq and Kuwait to protest the Iraqi invasion of the oil-rich Kuwait. 1991—the Greek luxury liner Oceanos sank in heavy seas off South Africa's southeast coast; all 402 passengers and 179 crew members survived. 1992—Wang Hongwen died of a liver ailment. Hongwen was a member of the radical "Gang of Four" that had terrorized China during the Cultural Revolution. 1993—Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell, Los Angeles police officers were sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for violating Rodney King's civil rights. 1994—Serb-dominated Yugoslavia withdrew its support for Bosnian Serbs, sealing the 300-mile border between Yugoslavia and Serb-held Bosnia. 1996—Josia Thugwane won a gold medal after finishing first in the marathon. He became the first black South African to win a gold medal. 1997—the Teamsters began a 15-day strike against UPS (United Parcel Service). The strikers eventually won an increase in full-time positions and defeated a proposed reorganization of the companies pension plan. 1999—Victor Mature, actor (Samson and Delilah, Million Dollar Mermaid, Red, Hot and Blue, My Darling Clementine, The Robe, Cry of the City), died at age 86 of leukemia in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.
2001—1000s of admirers turned out in London to celebrate the 101st birthday of Britain's Queen Mother Elizabeth in what would be the last such celebration. (The Queen Mother died in March 2002.) 2001—North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin held talks in Moscow. 2002—a Palestinian suicide bomber blew up a bus in northern Israel during rush hour, killing nine passengers. 2005—Ayman al-Zawahri, Al-Qaeda's No. 2, threatened more destruction in London and that British Prime Minister Tony Blair would be to blame. Al-Zawahri also threatened the U.S. with tens of thousands of military dead if it did not withdraw its troops from Iraq immediately. 2005—a mini-submarine carrying seven Russians became caught on an underwater antenna 600 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean; the men were rescued three days later with help from a British vessel 2006—authorities in Phoenix announced the arrests of two suspects in a string of apparently random late-night killings that had terrorized residents for months. (Dale Hausner was convicted in March 2009 of killing six people and attacking 19 others and was given six death sentences; Samuel Dieteman testified against Hausner and was sentenced to life in prison.) 2006—Israeli warplanes destroyed four key bridges on Lebanon's last untouched highway, severing the country's final major connection to Syria. 2007—Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees became at age 32 the youngest player in major league history to hit his 500th career home run. 2009—North Korean leader Kim Jong Il pardoned American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee for entering the country illegally and ordered their release during a surprise visit by former Pres. Clinton. 2010—BP PLC reported the broken well head at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico was plugged up with mud; President Barack Obama said the battle to contain one of the world's worst oil spills was "finally close to coming to an end." 2010—Eight days after turning 35, Alex Rodriguez hit his 600th home run, becoming the youngest player to attain the milestone.
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Post by Flying Horse on Aug 5, 2011 10:59:03 GMT -5
AMERICAN BANDSTAND DAY
It all began when a radio disc jockey working for WFIL Radio was pressed into hosting duties for a local, after-school dance show on WFIL-TV 6 in Philadelphia. Originally hosted by Bob Horn, the show was American Bandstand; the young, handsome DJ/host from Utica, N.Y. was Dick Clark. And on this day in 1957, Dick Clark’s American Bandstand caught the attention of network executives at ABC-TV in New York, who decided to put the show on its afternoon schedule. However, the one thing they couldn’t do was disrupt an airing of the hugely popular Mickey Mouse Club at 5 p.m. What to do? Halfway through the American Bandstand show, Clark would tell listeners to come back for more of the show ... but “right now ... here comes the Mouse!” At that time, the network would cut away from Philadelphia and show Walt Disney’s Mouseketeers. Following the show ... American Bandstand would return for another 30 minutes.
Many artists, acts and groups of the rock ’n’ roll era debuted on American Bandstand -- Simon and Garfunkel, Frankie Avalon, Fabian, Bobby Rydell, Chubby Checker -- catapulting Clark into the spotlight as one of TV’s most prolific producers and hosts. Clark is still working, often using clips of early American Bandstand acts in rock-music nostalgia shows; and still resembles the oldest living teenager, as he has been called for oh, so many years.
If only the writers at Billboard magazine could have seen the future when they wrote some forty years ago that Clark’s show “has teen appeal ... but is not entertainment.” American Bandstand lasted until 1987 on the network, ABC-TV’s longest-running show. And syndicated versions of the original shows, with Dick Clark as host, are still running on cable. A permanent exhibition of American Bandstand memorabilia and personal histories, featuring the Original Bandstanders, is on display at the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg.
We’d have to say ... that’s entertainment!
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Post by Flying Horse on Aug 5, 2011 19:21:57 GMT -5
5 Aug Good evening to my fellow history buffs from Tuxy and me. Today is 217th day of 2011 with 148 days left in the year. Today in History: 642—death of St. Oswald, King of Northumbria, by the hand of Penda, King of Mercia. 1192—the Jaffa cavalry was defeated by Richard I of England with 3,000 infantry, 54 knights and 15 horses. 1391—Castilian sailors in Barcelona, Spain set fire to a Jewish ghetto, killing 100 people and setting off four days of violence against Jews. 1583—the first English settlement in the New World was founded at St. John's, Newfoundland. 1620—the Mayflower and Speedwell set sail from England. 1762—Russia, Prussia and Austria signed a treaty agreeing on the partition of Poland. 1763—Col. Henry Bouquet decisively defeated the Indians at the Battle of Bushy Run in Pennsylvania during Pontiac's rebellion. 1815—a peace treaty with Tripoli, which followed treaties with Algeria and Tunis, brought an end to the Barbary Wars. 1858—the first transatlantic cable was completed. 1861—Pres. Lincoln signed the Revenue Act of 1861, which included the first-ever federal personal income tax, a 3% levy on incomes above $800 (however, no income tax ended up actually being collected under this law.) 1883—the village of Chicago was incorporated with a population of 250. 1864—Union Adm. David G. Farragut led his fleet to victory in the Battle of Mobile Bay, Ala. 1884—the cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty was laid on Bedloe's Island in New York Harbor. The actual statue was accepted as a gift to the US from the people of France by Pres. Grover Cleveland on 28 Oct 1886. 1892—Harriet Tubman received a pension from Congress for her work as a nurse, spy and scout during the Civil War.
1914—the first electric traffic lights were installed in Cleveland, Ohio with Euclid Ave. and East 105th St. becoming the first intersection in he US equipped with traffic lights. 1914—the British Expeditionary Force mobilized for World War I. 1915—the Austro-German Army took Warsaw, in present-day Poland, on the Eastern Front. 1916—the British navy defeated the Ottomans at the naval battle off Port Said, Egypt. 1920—Leon Theremin gave the first public display of an electronic musical instrument at the Moscow Polytechnic Institute—he called it a Thereminovox but it came to be known as the Theremin. 1921—the cartoon On the Road to Moscow, by Rollin Kirby, was published in the New York World, the first cartoon to win a Pulitzer Prize. 1921—a baseball game was broadcast for the first time as KDKA radio announcer Harold Arlin described the action between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Philadelphia Phillies from Forbes Field. (The Pirates won, 8-5.) 1921—Mustapha Kemal was appointed virtual ruler of the Ottoman Empire. 1924—the comic strip Little Orphan Annie, by Harold Gray, made its debut in the New York Daily News. 1936—Jesse Owens of the US won the 200-meter dash at the Berlin Olympics, collecting the third of his four gold medals. 1941—the German army completed taking 410,000 Russian prisoners in Uman and Smolensk pockets in the Soviet Union. 1944—Polish insurgents liberated a German labor camp in Warsaw. 348 Jewish prisoners were freed. 1951—the UN Command suspended armistice talks with the North Koreans when armed troops were spotted in neutral areas. 1953—Operation Big Switch began as prisoners taken during the Korean conflict were exchanged at Panmunjom. 1954—the International Boxing Hall of Fame inducted its first boxers: John L. Sullivan, Jack Johnson, Jack Dempsey, Gentleman Jim Corbett, Joe Louis, and Henry Armstrong 1957—American Bandstand made its network debut on ABC-TV, hosted by Dick Clark. Until this day the show had been a local show in Philadelphia since 1952. 1960—in an unprecedented move, two major league baseball clubs traded managers. Detroit traded Jimmy Dykes for Cleveland's Joe Gordon. 1961—the amusement park Six Flags Over Texas had its official grand opening day in Arlington. 1962—Marilyn Monroe, actress (Bus Stop, Some Like It Hot, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes), died at age 36 as a possible suicide from an overdose of sleeping pills at home in Los Angeles. 1963—the US, Great Britain and the Soviet Union signed the Limited Test Ban Treaty in Moscow banning nuclear tests in the atmosphere, in space and underwater. 1964—US aircraft bombed North Vietnam after North Vietnamese boats attacked US destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin. 1969—the US space probe Mariner 7 flew by Mars, sending back photographs and scientific data. 1974—Pres. Nixon said that he expected to be impeached., admitting that he had ordered a cover-up of Watergate for political as well as national security reasons. 1974—Tank McNamara, the comic strip, premiered in 75 newspapers. Jeff Millar and Bill Hinds created the 6-foot, 4-inch, 225-pound former defensive tackle of the State University Sand Crabs; and who became a jock/sportscaster. 1981—the federal government began firing air traffic controllers who had gone out on strike. 1983—David Crosby, charged with drug and firearm possession, was sentenced to eight years in prison. (He was paroled in 1986.) 1984—Joan Benoit won the first women’s Olympic marathon at the Summer Games in Los Angeles, Calif. 1984—Richard Burton, Welshman & one of show business’s greatest and most colorful actor (My Cousin Rachel, The Robe, Becket, Cleopatra, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Taming of the Shrew, Anne of the Thousand Days, Equus; stage: Camelot [1961 Tony]), died at age 58 of a stroke in Celigny, Switzerland 1984—Toronto’s Cliff Johnson set a major league baseball record by hitting the 19th pinch-hit home run in his career. 1986—It was revealed that artist Andrew Wyeth had, over 15 years, secretly created 240 drawings and paintings of his neighbor, a woman named Helga Testorf, in Chadds Ford, Pa. 1989—In Honduras, five Central American presidents began meeting to discuss the timetable for the dismantling of the Nicaraguan Contra bases. 1990—the world’s tallest cake was baked and served at the Shiawassee County Fair in Corunna, Michigan. The cake was 101 feet tall. 1990—Pres. Bush angrily denounced the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. 1990—the US sent a Marine company into Monrovia, Liberia's capital, to evacuate U.S. citizens because of a rebel threat to arrest Americans in order to provoke foreign intervention in the country's civil war. 1991—an investigation was formally launched by Democratic congressional leaders to find out if the release of American hostages was delayed until after the Reagan-Bush presidential election. 1991—Iraq admitted to misleading U.N. inspectors about secret biological weapons. 1992—federal civil rights charges were filed against four Los Angeles police officers. The officers had been acquitted on California State charges. Two of the officers were convicted and jailed on violation of civil rights charges. 1992—Jeff Porcaro (Toto) died of cardiac arrest at age 38. He was spraying insecticide in his yard and developed an allergic reaction that triggered the heart attack. 1993—Japan’s Cabinet resigned, paving the way for the end of 38 years of rule by the Liberal Democratic Party 1994—a 3-juddge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington chose Kenneth W. Starr to take over the Whitewater investigation from Robert Fiske. 1995—Secretary of State Warren Christopher arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam, to ''build a bridge of cooperation.'' (Christopher was the first U.S. secretary of state to visit Vietnam since the war and the first ever to go to Hanoi.) 1998—Marie Noe of Philadelphia, Pa. was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, accused of smothering eight of her children to death between 1949 and 1968. (She received 20 years' probation.) 1998—Iraqi Pres. Hussein broke off cooperation with UN weapons inspectors and demanded the commission monitoring the weapons be reorganized. 1999—in Malibu, Calif., Robert Downey Jr. was sentenced to three years in prison for missing scheduled drug tests. 1999—Mark McGwire (St. Louis Cardinals, Oakland A’s) hit his 500th career homerun, becoming the 16th player to reach that mark and doing it in the fewest at-bats. 1999—music written by Johann Sebastian Bach was found in the Ukraine. The music was thought to have been destroyed over 50 years ago during World War II. The material was found in the musical estate of Carl Phillipp Emanuel Bach, who was on of J.S. Bach's children.
2000—Pres. Clinton vetoed a Republican-sponsored tax cut for married couples, describing it as "the first installment of a fiscally reckless tax strategy." 2000—Sir Alec Guinness, Oscar-winning English actor (The Bridge on the River Kwai [1957], Star Wars trilogy, Lawrence of Arabia, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Kind Hearts and Coronets), died at age 96 from liver cancer in a hospital in Midhurst, West Sussex.. 2001—Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban jailed eight foreign aid workers, including two Americans, for allegedly preaching Christianity. (The workers were rescued in Nov. 2001 during US military operations launched in the wake of 9/11. 2002—the US closed its consulate in Karachi, Pakistan after local authorities removed large concrete blocks and reopened the road in front of the building to normal traffic. 2006—Floyd Landis was fired by his team and the Tour de France no longer considered him its champion after his second doping sample tested positive for higher-than-allowable levels of testosterone. 2006—the late Reggie White was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame along with Troy Aikman, Warren Moon, John Madden, Rayfield Wright and Harry Carson. 2006—Susan Butcher, dog musher & 4-time Iditarod champion (the 2nd woman to win the race), died at age 51 of acute myelogenous leukemia and graft-vs.-host disease (bone marrow transplant) in Seattle, Wash. 2006—flooding killed dozens in North Korea and left 1000s more homeless. 2008—scientists at the National Institutes of Health announced that vitamin C can help prevent cancer. 2008—John Gotti Jr., the Teflon Don, was arrested on murder charges. 2009—four died and at least 15 were injured after a gunman opened fire at a fitness center in Bridgeville, Pa. 2009—Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was sworn in for a second term as Iran's president. 2010—the US Senate confirmed Elena Kagan, 63-37, as the Supreme Court's 112th justice and the fourth woman in its history. 2010—BP finished pumping cement into the blown Deepwater Horizon oil well in the Gulf of Mexico. 2010—10 members of a Christian medical team from the International Assistance Mission were gunned down in Afghanistan (the Taliban initially said it was responsible, but the IAM has cast doubt on that claim.) 2010—33 workers were trapped in a copper mine in northern Chile after a tunnel caved in (all 33 were rescued after being entombed for 69 days). 2010—a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit New Britain, Papua New Guinea.
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Post by Flying Horse on Aug 6, 2011 13:32:01 GMT -5
CY YOUNG DAY Denton ‘Cy’ Young pitched his first major-league baseball game on this day in 1890. He led the Cleveland Spiders past the Chicago White Sox. Young went on to enjoy a great baseball career, winning a total of 511 games (95 more than second place Walter Johnson) ... averaging more than 23 victories over 22 seasons, playing for Cleveland, St. Louis, and Boston (where he played in the first World Series, and won). The Cy Young Award was established in 1956, when the Baseball Writer’s Association of America bestowed the honor on the best pitcher in major-league baseball for that year. The award has been presented every year since. In fact, from 1967 on, two Cy Young awards have been presented annually to the best pitcher in each major league. Where did Denton get the nickname, Cy? It seems that Denton Young, a six-foot, two-inch, 210-pound player, could throw a re-e-e-ally fast curve ball, kind of like a cyclone spinning through the air. A story told about the Baseball Hall of Famer says that one time, before a game, he was warming up by throwing balls at a wooden fence. Afterwards, a remark was made that the fence looked like a cyclone had hit it. Yeah! A cyclone named Denton Young aka Cy Young.
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Post by Flying Horse on Aug 6, 2011 21:42:58 GMT -5
6 Aug[/i] Good evening to my fellow history buffs from Tuxy and me. Today is 218th day of 2011 with 147 days left in the year. Today in History: 258—St. Sixtus II, Pope (257-58) who was beheaded while celebrating services in a cemetery. 1221—St. Dominic, Spanish founder of the Order of Friar Preachers (Dominicans) died at about age 50. The Dominican Order combines the contemplative life of the monk with the active work of the evangelist. 1223—Louis VIII was crowned King of France. 1480—Alfonso of Portugal ceded the Canary Islands to Ferdinand & Isabella of Spain in the Treaty of Alcova. 1497—John Cabot returned to England after his first successful journey to the Labrador coast. 1787—the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia began where the articles of the U.S. Constitution draft were to be debated. 1806—the Holy Roman Empire went out of existence as Emperor Francis II abdicated. 1825—Upper Peru became the autonomous republic of Bolivia, declaring its independence from Peru. 1862—near Baton Rouge, La., the Confederate ship CSS Arkansas ran aground after experiencing mechanical difficulties during a battle with the USS Essex. The crew destroyed the ship to prevent it from falling into Union hands. 1863—the CSS Alabama captured the USS Sea Bride near the Cape of Good Hope. 1864—Union forces attacked the Confederates at Utoy Creek and were repulsed. 1888—Martha Turner was murdered by an unknown assailant, believed to be Jack the Ripper, in London, England 1890—convicted murderer William Kemmler became the first person to be executed in the electric chair as he was put to death at Auburn State Prison in New York. 1890—Hall of fame pitcher Cy Young made his major league debut with the Cleveland Spiders of the National League winning the first of his 511 career victories.
1904—the Japanese army in Korea surrounded a Russian army retreating to Manchuria. 1914—Austria-Hungary declared war against Russia, and Serbia declared war against Germany at the outbreak of World War I. 1926—19-year-old Gertrude Ederle of New York became the first woman to swim the English Channel, arriving in Kingsdown, England, from France in 14 1/2 hours, breaking the men’s record by two hours. 1926—Warner Bros. premiered its Vitaphone system in New York with the movie was Don Juan, starring John Barrymore. 1927—a Massachusetts high court hears the final plea from Sacco and Vanzetti, two Italians convicted of murder. 1930—Joseph Force Crater, age 41, a New York Supreme Court Justice, mysteriously disappeared. His wife Estelle had him declared legally dead in 1937. 1942—Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands became the first reigning queen to address a joint session of Congress, telling lawmakers that despite Nazi occupation, her people's motto remained, "No surrender 1942—the Soviet city of Voronezh falls to the German army. 1945—the American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, commanded by Paul Tibbets, dropped the first atomic bomb (“Little Bou”) on Hiroshima, Japan, resulting in an estimated 140,000 deaths. 1948—American Bob Mathias, age 17, won the decathlon at the London Olympic Games. 1952—Satchel Paige, age 46, became the oldest pitcher to complete a major league baseball game, shutting out the Detroit Tigers 1-0. 1952—the Arab League denounced Israel’s attempts to restore relations with Germany. 1956—The Dumont Television Network made its last broadcast — a boxing match. 1960—nationalization of US and foreign-owned property in Cuba began. 1961—Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov became the 2nd man to orbit Earth as he flew aboard Vostok 2, call sign "Eagle" (hence his repeated exclamation over the radio, “I am Eagle.”) 1962—Jamaica became an independent dominion within the British Commonwealth. 1965—Pres. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act , outlawing the literacy test for voting eligibility in the South.. 1969—Willie "Pops" Stargell, of the Pittsburgh Pirates, hit the first fair ball to sail completely out of Dodger Stadium — 506 feet from home plate. 1973—Stevie Wonder was seriously injured in a car accident. He was in a coma for ten days and permanently lost his sense of smell. 1978—Pope Paul VI [aka Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini], Pope of the Catholic Church (1963-78) died at age 80 from a massive heart attack at Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer residence. 1981—fire fighters in Indianapolis, Ind., answered a false alarm. When they returned to their station it was ablaze due to a grease fire. 1986—Timothy Dalton became the 4th actor to be named “Bond…James Bond.” Other stars to play the role of the suave, debonair and deadly double agent include: Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, with Pierce Brosnan as the James Bond for the 1990s. Daniel Crag is the present incarnation since 2006. 1986—William J. Schroeder died after living 620 days with the Jarvik 7 artificial heart. 1990—the UN Security Council ordered a worldwide trade embargo with Iraq to punish Iraq for invading Kuwait. 1990—the president of Pakistan dismissed Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and her government, alleging rampant corruption, and declared a state of emergency. 1991—the World Wide Web made its public debut as a means of accessing webpages over the Internet. 1991—Harry Truman Reasoner, TV journalist (ABC, CBS News) & a founder of 60 Minutes, died at age 68 from a blood clot on his brain suffered in a fall at his home in Norwalk, Conn. 1992—Pres. Bush granted full diplomatic recognition to the former Yugoslav republics of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia and Croatia, the same day Britain's Independent Television News showed videotape of emaciated detainees at a pair of Serb prison camps. 1993—the US Senate confirmed Louis Freeh to be the director of the FBI. 1994—Randolph County High School, Wedowee, Ala., was destroyed by fire. The principle’s stand against interracial dating had caused much tension in the school. 1995—1000s of glowing lanterns were set afloat in rivers in Hiroshima, Japan, on the 50th anniversary of the first atomic bombing. 1996—NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin announced the discovery of evidence of primitive life on Mars. The evidence came in the form of a meteorite that was found in Antarctica. The meteorite was believed to have come from Mars and contained a fossil. 1997—Apple Computer and Microsoft agreed to share technology in a deal giving Microsoft a stake in Apple's survival. 1997—a Korean Air Boeing 747, Flight 801, plowed into a hillside short of the Guam International Airport, killing 226 of the 254 aboard. “There was a big ball of fire just before the crash,” said Rudy Delos-Santos, a reporter at radio station KOKU who lives near the crash site. The South Korean plane “plowed through the jungle for a minute or so before it came to a rest.” The impact broke the fuselage into six pieces. The tail, with its distinctive Korean Air logo, was the only part of the plane still recognizable. 1999—In Canton, Tex., a 36-year-old woman who faced lifelong heart problems she blamed on the diet drug combination fen-phen was awarded $23.3 million in the first such lawsuit to reach a jury. (The case was settled for less than a tenth of that amount during an appeal.) 1999—Tony Gwynn became the 22nd major leaguer to reach 3,000 hits.
2000—workers at Verizon, the nation's largest local telephone company, went on an 18-day strike over working conditions and union representation. 2000—it was announced that Ice-T would play a detective on the TV series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. 2001—ending months of speculation, former Pres. Clinton said he would write his much sought-after memoirs for publisher Alfred A. Knopf. 2001—Gen. Duong Van "Big" Minh, who was the president of South Vietnam for just a few days before the country fell to Communist invaders in 1975, died in Pasadena, Calif., at age 85. 2001—Jorge Amado [aka Jorge Leal Amado de Faria], Brazilian author of the Modernist school (Dona Flor and her Two Husbands) & educator at the Brazilian Academy of Letters (1961-2001), died at age 88 in Itabuna, Bahia, Brazil. 2005—a senior citizen group sought recovery of Medicare expenses from US cigarette makers. 2006—oil giant BP announced an indefinite shutdown of the biggest oilfield in the US, at Prudhoe Bay in Alaska, after finding a pipeline leak. 2007—the Crandall Canyon Mine in central Utah collapsed, trapping six coal miners. (All six miners died, along with three rescuers. 2007—MLB left handed pitcher Tom Glavine (Atlanta Braves, NY Mets) attained his 300th win 2008—a US military jury convicted Osama bin Laden's former driver, Salim Hamdan, of supporting terrorism in the first war crimes trial at Guantanamo Bay. 2009—Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed as the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice by a Senate vote of 68-31. 2010—in a stunning announcement, Hewlett-Packard Co. said it had ousted CEO Mark Hurd after an investigation of a sexual harassment complaint found that he had falsified expense reports and other documents to conceal a relationship with a contractor.
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