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Post by pegasus on Jul 21, 2013 11:44:28 GMT -7
Celebration of The Horse Day
Today in History: July 21st, the 202nd day of 2013 with 163 left in the year
365--a powerful earthquake off the coast of Greece caused a tsunami that devastated the city of Alexandria, Egypt. 1733--John Winthrop was granted the first honorary Doctor of Law Degree by Harvard College of Cambridge, Mass. 1773--Pope Clement XIV issued an order suppressing the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits. (It was restored by Pope Pius VII in 1814.) 1775--patriot minutemen in whaleboats, commanded by Maj. Joseph Vose, raided Little Brewster Island, in Boston Harbor, Mass., temporarily driving off the island's British guard and confiscating supplies. 1798--Napoleon defeated the Mamelukes at the Battle of the Pyramids in Egypt. 1831--Belgium became independent as Leopold I was proclaimed King of the Belgians. 1861--the first Battle of Bull Run was fought at Manassas, Va resulting in a Confederate victory. 1865--Wild Bill Hickok shot Dave Tutt dead in the market square of Springfield, Mo. in what may be the first western showdown. 1873--Jesse James and his gang conducted the first train robbery in America at Adair, Iowa, taking $3,000 from the Rock Island Express. 1899--Ernest Hemingway, Nobel Prize-winning American novelist and short story writer, was born in Oak Park, Ill.; died 1961 at age 61. 1906--"The Dreyfus case" concluded when Frenchman Alfred Dreyfus was declared innocent of espionage charges, a conviction for which he served 10 years in prison. 1922--Kay Starr, pop singer ("Wheel of Fortune," "The Rock And Roll Waltz"), turns 91 today. 1925--the ''monkey trial'' ended in Dayton, Tenn., with John T. Scopes convicted of violating state law for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution. (The conviction was later overturned.) 1930--Pres. Hoover signed an executive order establishing the Veterans Administration, which later became the Department of Veterans Affairs. 1944--the Democratic National Convention in Chicago nominated Sen. Harry S. Truman to be vice president. 1944--American forces landed on Guam during World War II. 1949--the US Senate ratified the North Atlantic Treaty. 1954--France surrendered North Vietnam to the Communists. 1957--Althea Gibson became the first black woman to win a major United States tennis title, the national clay-court singles.. 1959--the NS Savannah, the first nuclear-powered merchant ship, was christened by first lady Mamie Eisenhower at Camden, N.J. 1960--the German government passed the "Law Concerning the Transfer of the Share Rights in Volkswagenwerk Limited Liability Company into Private Hands" that turned Europe's largest automaker into a joint stock corporation and limiting any stockholder to 20% of the company stock. 1961--Capt. Virgil "Gus" Grissom became the second American to rocket into a sub-orbital pattern around the Earth, flying on the Liberty Bell 7. 1969--Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin blasted off from the moon aboard the lunar module. 1970--the Aswan High Dam across the Nile River in Egypt is completed, ending the cycle of flood and drought in the Nile River region. 1972--the Irish Republican Army carried out 22 bombings in Belfast, Northern Ireland, killing nine people and injuring 130 in what became known as "Bloody Friday." 1973--Israeli agents in Lillehammer, Norway, killed Ahmed Bouchikhi, a Moroccan waiter, in a case of mistaken identity, apparently thinking he was an official with Black September, the group that attacked Israel's delegation at the 1972 Munich Olympics. 1980--draft registration began in the US for 19- and 20-year-old men. 1985--1984 Horse of the Year John Henry, purchased for a mere $1,100, who had career winnings of $6.5 million, retired from the track. 1998--astronaut Alan Shepard died at age 74 in Monterey, Calif. 2002--telecommunications giant WorldCom Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection after disclosing it had inflated profits by nearly $4 billion through deceptive accounting. 2007--Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final volume in the book series by J.K. Rowling, went on sale. 2008--Eric Dowling, who helped excavate tunnels used in the breakout from a World War II German prison camp that became known as the "Great Escape," died in Bristol, England, a day before his 93rd birthday. 2008--former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, one of the world's top war crimes fugitives, was arrested in a Belgrade suburb by Serbian security forces. 2010--Pres. Obama signed into law the most sweeping overhaul of US lending and high finance rules since the 1930s. 2011--the space shuttle program came to an end after 30 years as the space shuttle Atlantis landed at Cape Canaveral, Fla.. 2012--Staff Sgt. Luis Walker, an Air Force training instructor at Lackland Air Force base in San Antonio, Tex., was sentenced to 20 years in prison for crimes that included rape and sexual assault. 2012--the president of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, rejected the latest calls for a minute of silence for the Israeli victims of the 1972 Munich massacre at the opening ceremony of the London Olympics.
Thought for Today: "Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you get." — --Ingrid Bergman (1915-1982) 4-time Academy Award-winning Swedish actress
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Post by pegasus on Jul 22, 2013 9:54:04 GMT -7
National Zoo Keeper Week
Today in History: July 22nd, the 203rd day of 2013 with 162 left in the year
1298--King Edward I defeated the Scots under William Wallace at Falkirk. 1376--according to legend, a Pied Piper rid the German town of Hamelin of its rats. 1587--a 2nd English colony, also fated to vanish under mysterious circumstances, was established on Roanoke Island off North Carolina. 1598-neilmaxwell.edublogs.org/files/2008/05/shakespearepa_449x600.thumbnail.jpg [/img]-William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice was entered on the Stationers' Register for licensing that gave the Crown tight control over all published material. 1604- -King James I and Bishop Bancroft worked out a set of 14 instructions to the translators of the King James version of the Bible to ensure that it would be a Protestant Bible. 1779--Mohawk Indian Chief Joseph Brant led a mixed force of Loyalists and Indians in surrounding a force of 120 colonial militiamen from New York and New Jersey at Minisink, NY. 1793--Alexander Mackenzie reached the Pacific Ocean, becoming the first Euro-American to complete a transcontinental crossing north of Mexico. 1796--the city of Cleveland was founded by Gen. Moses Cleaveland. 1864--Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood attacked Gen. Sherman on Bald Hill and failed to loosen the Yankees hold on Atlanta, Ga. 1893- -Wellesley College professor Katharine Lee Bates visited the summit of Pikes Peak, where she was inspired to write the original version of her poem "America the Beautiful." 1894--the first automobile road race, covering 78 miles, took place in France from Paris to Rouen and won by Count De Dion. 1916--a bomb went off during a Preparedness Day parade in San Francisco, killing 10 people. 1932- -Oscar de la Renta, Paris haute couture fashion designer, turns 81 1933--American aviator Wiley Post completed the first solo flight around the world in seven days, 18 1/2 hours. 1934--bank robber John Dillinger was shot to death by federal agents outside Chicago's Biograph Theater. 1937--the US Senate rejected Pres. Roosevelt's proposal to add more justices to the Supreme Court. 1940--Alex Trebek, TN game show host ( Jeopardy), turns 73 1942- -the Nazis began transporting Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka concentration camp. 1942--gasoline rationing involving the use of coupons began along the Atlantic seaboard. 1943- -US forces led by Gen. George S. Patton captured Palermo, Sicily. 1946--Jewish extremists blew up a wing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, killing 90 people. 1963- -Sonny Liston knocked out Floyd Patterson in the first round of their rematch in Las Vegas to retain the world heavyweight title. 1975--the House of Representatives joined the Senate in voting to restore the American citizenship of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. 1981--Turkish extremist Mehmet Ali Agca was sentenced in Rome to life in prison for shooting Pope John Paul II. (He served 19 years.) 1987- -Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev indicated he was willing to negotiate a ban on intermediate range nuclear missiles. 1990--American cyclist Greg LeMond, riding for Team Z, won his 2nd consecutive Tour de France. 1991- -police in Milwaukee arrested cannibal and serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, who later confessed to murdering 17 men and boys. 1994--O.J. Simpson pleaded innocent to the slaying of his ex-wife, Nicole, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. 1995- -Susan Smith was convicted by a jury in Union, S.C., of first-degree murder for drowning her two sons. (She is serving life in prison.) 1998--Iran tested a medium-range missile capable of reaching Israel or Saudi Arabia. 2002- -over the strenuous opposition of the United Auto Workers (UAW) and the auto industry, Gov. Gray Davis of California signed a stringent law regulating emissions from automobiles. 2004--the Sept. 11 commission issued a report saying America's leaders failed to grasp the gravity of terrorist threats before the 9/11 attacks. 2006--Israeli tanks, bulldozers and armored personnel carriers knocked down a fence and barreled over the Lebanese border as forces seized the village of Maroun al-Ras from Hezbollah. 2008--Tropical Storm Dolly spun into a hurricane as it headed toward the U.S.-Mexico border. 2008- -European Union foreign ministers agreed to toughen sanctions against Zimbabwe's Pres. Robert Mugabe to pressure him to share power with the opposition. 2011- -Anders Breivik massacred 69 people at a Norwegian island youth retreat after detonating a bomb in nearby Oslo that killed eight others in the nation's worst violence since World War II. 2012--15 people were killed in South Texas when a pickup truck ran off the road and hit trees about 90 miles southeast of San Antonio. 2012- -SPORTS: Bradley Wiggins became the first British cyclist to win the Tour de France. Ernie Els won his fourth major championship, rallying to beat Adam Scott in the British Open when the Australian bogeyed the last four holes. Thought for Today: "Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value." -- Albert Einstein (1879-1955) Mobel Prize-winning German-born theoretical physicist [/size][/color]
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Post by pegasus on Jul 23, 2013 11:09:28 GMT -7
Family Golf Month
Today in History: July 23rdt, the 204th day of 2013 with 161 left in the year
636--Arabs gained control of most of Palestine from the Byzantine Empire. 685--John V began his reign as Catholic Pope 1253---Jews were expelled from Vienne, France by order of Pope Innocent III 1298--Jews were massacred at Wurzburg, Germany 1715--the US' first lighthouse was given authorization to be constructed at Little Brewster Island, Mass. 1798--Napoleon Bonaparte and the French Army captured Alexandria, Egypt 1829--William Austin Burt of Mount Vernon, Mich., received a patent for his typographer, a forerunner of the typewriter. 1862--Gen. Henry W. Halleck assumed the role of general-in-chief of all Union forces in an effort to better coordinate the overall Union war effort. 1878--Black Bart struck again, robbing a Wells Fargo stagecoach and stealing the small safe box with less than $400 and a passenger's diamond ring and watch. 1885--Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th President of the United States, died in Mount McGregor, N.Y., at age 63. 1888--Raymond Chandler. American detective novelist and screenwriter, was born in Chicago; died 1969 at age 70. 1904--the ice cream cone was created by Charles E Menches during the St Louis, Mo. Expo 1914--Austria-Hungary issued a list of demands to Serbia following the killing of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a Serb assassin; the dispute led to World War I. 1918--Della Sorenson killed the first of her seven victims in rural Nebraska by poisoning her sister-in-law's infant daughter, going on to kill friends, relatives, and acquaintances before anyone finally realized what she was doing. 1936--Anthony Kennedy, Supreme Court justice, turns 77 1938--the US Fish and Wildlife Service approved the first federal game preserve, which was located on 2,000 acres of land located in Utah. 1945--French Marshal Henri Petain, who had headed the Vichy government during World War II, went on trial, charged with treason. 1952--Egyptian military officers led by Col. Gamal Abdel Nasser overthrew King Farouk I. 1962--the first live television broadcast to Europe was sent by the "Telstar" communications satellite. 1962--an accord on Laos was reached between the US and Soviet Union. 1967--a week of race-rioting that claimed some 43 lives erupted in Detroit, Mich., 43 dead, 342 injured, and nearly 1,400 buildings burned. 1976--members of the American Legion arrived in Philadelphia to celebrate the US bicentennial, when many began suffering from a mysterious form of pneumonia That came to be known as Legionnaires' disease. 1977--a jury in Washington, D.C., convicted 12 Hanafi Muslims of charges stemming from the hostage siege at three buildings the previous March. 1982--actor Vic Morrow and two children were killed when a helicopter crashed on top of them during the filming for Twilight Zone: The Movie. 1984--Vanessa Williams became the first Miss America to resign her title, because of nude photographs published in Penthouse magazine. 1986--Britain's Prince Andrew, Duke of York, married Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey in London. (The couple divorced in 1996.) 1997--the search for Andrew Cunanan, the suspected killer of designer Gianni Versace and others, ended as police found his body on a houseboat in Miami Beach, an apparent suicide. 1996--at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Ga., the US women’s gymnastics team wins its first-ever team gold. 2000--Tiger Woods became the youngest golfer to complete a career Grand Slam when he won the British Open at age 24. 2001--Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Eudora Welty died in Jackson, Miss., at age 92. 2003--Massachusetts' attorney general issued a report saying clergy members and others in the Boston Archdiocese probably sexually abused more than 1,000 people over six decades. 2003--New York City Councilman James Davis was shot to death by political rival Othniel Askew at City Hall and was shot and killed by police. 2008--Hurricane Dolly slammed into the South Texas coast with punishing rain and winds of 100 mph. 2008--Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met North Korea's top diplomat, Pak Ui Chun, in Singapore, ending a four-year hiatus in cabinet-level contacts between the two countries. 2011--singer Amy Winehouse, 27, was found dead in her London home from accidental alcohol poisoning 2012--Penn State's football program was all but leveled by penalties for its handling of the allegations against former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky as the NCAA imposed an unprecedented $60 million fine, a four-year ban from postseason play and a cut in the number of football scholarships it could award.
Thought for Today: "The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud." --Coco Chanel (1883-1971) French fashion designer
The newborn royal prince made his world debut at age one day on Tuesday shortly after 2 p.m. ET. Prince William and Duchess Kate showed off their brand new baby boy on the steps of St. Mary's hospital as they exited the Lindo Wing, where Kate gave birth Monday. The prince said the couple is still "working on a name," assuring the crowd the couple would have one "as soon as we can." Prince Charles and Princess Diana took a week to announce Will's name. Other couples who became parents on Tuesday will receive a special silver coin from Britain's Royal Mint. First to receive the limited-edition silver penny were Marc and Beverley Miell, who gave birth to Adam Michael at 4:34 p.m. on Monday, just 10 minutes after the prince was born.
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Post by pegasus on Jul 24, 2013 13:02:12 GMT -7
Amelia Earhart Day
Today in History: July 24th, the 205th day of 2013 with 160 left in the year
1567--Mary Queen of Scots was forced to abdicate in favor of her one-year-old son, later crowned King James VI of Scotland. 1651--Anthony Johnson, a free black, received a grant of 250 acres in Virginia 1704--Great Britain captured Gibraltar from Spain. 1758--George Washington was admitted to the Virginia House of Burgess. 1783--South American revolutionary, soldier and statesman Simon Bolivar was born in Caracas, Venezuela, died 1830 at age 47. 1802--Alexander Dumas, French author (The Three Musketeers) and dramatist, was born; died 1870 at age 68. 1847--Mormon leader Brigham Young and his followers arrived in the valley of the Great Salt Lake in present-day Utah. 1862--Martin Van Buren, the eighth president of the United States and the first to have been born a US citizen, died at age 79 in Kinderhook, N.Y., the town where he was born in 1782. 1864--Confederate Gen. Jubal Early defeated Union troops under Gen. George Crook to keep the Shenandoah Valley clear of Yankees. 1866--Tennessee became the first state to be readmitted to the Union after the Civil War. 1897--Amelia Earhart, American aviator; the first woman to fly alone over the Atlantic, was born; disappeared 1937 over the Pacific Ocean at age 40. 1908--Sultan Abdul Hamid decreed restoration of the Turkish constitution, at the demand of the Young Turk reformers. 1911--Yale University history professor Hiram Bingham III found the "Lost City of the Incas," Machu Picchu, in Peru. 1915--the steamer Eastland overturned in the Chicago River, drowning between 800 and 850. 1923--the Treaty of Lausanne, which settled the boundaries of modern Turkey, was concluded in Switzerland. 1937--Alabama dropped charges against five black men accused of raping two white women in the Scottsboro case. 1943--British bombers raided Hamburg, Germany, by night in Operation Gomorrah, while Americans bomb it by day in its own "Blitz Week." 1952--Pres. Truman announced a settlement in a 53-day steel strike. 1959--Vice Pres. Nixon and Soviet Premier Khrushchev compared the merits of capitalism and communism in the "kitchen debate" at a model kitchen at a US exhibition in Moscow. 1969--Apollo 11, the first manned mission to the moon, splashed down safely in the Pacific. 1974--the US Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Pres. Nixon had to turn over subpoenaed White House tape recordings to the Watergate special prosecutor. 1979--a Miami, Fla. jury convicted Ted Bundy of first-degree murder in the slayings of two Florida State University sorority sisters. 1990--Iraq massed tens of thousands of troops and hundreds of tanks along its border with Kuwait. 1998--a gunman burst into the US Capitol, killing two police officers before being shot and captured 2002--the US House expelled Rep. James Traficant, D-Ohio, who had been convicted of bribery, racketeering and tax evasion. 2002--nine coal miners became trapped in a flooded tunnel of the Quecreek Mine in western Pennsylvania; the story ended happily 77 hours later with the rescue of all nine 2003--the House and Senate intelligence committees issued their final report on the attacks of September 11, 2001, citing countless blunders, oversights and miscalculations that prevented authorities from stopping the attackers. 2008--Ford Motor Co. posted the worst quarterly performance in its history, losing $8.67 billion. 2008--Zvonko Busic, who'd served 32 years in a US prison for hijacking a TWA jetliner and planting a bomb that killed a policeman, was paroled and returned home to Croatia.
Thought for Today: "I think all great innovations are built on rejections." — --Louise Nevelson (1900-1988) Russian-American artist
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Post by pegasus on Jul 26, 2013 11:50:27 GMT -7
Cell Phone Courtesy Month
Today in History: Juy 26th, the 207th day of the year with 158 days left
1526--Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon and colonists sailed from Santo Domingo for Florida. 1529--Francisco Pizarro received a royal warrant to "discover and conquer" Peru. 1758--British forces captured France's Fortress of Louisbourg after a seven-week siege. 1759--the French relinquished Fort Ticonderoga in New York to the British under Gen. Jeffrey Amherst. 1775--the US postal system was established by the 2nd Continental Congress, with Benjamin Franklin as its first postmaster general. 1788--New York became the 11th state to ratify the Constitution. 1790--an attempt at a counter-revolution in France was put down by the National Guard at Lyons. 1847--Liberia became the first African colony to become an independent state. 1856--playwright George Bernard Shaw was born in Dublin, Ireland; died 1950 at age 94.. 1863--Confederate cavalry leader John Hunt Morgan and 360 of his men were captured at Salineville, Ohio, during a spectacular raid on the North. 1863--Sam Houston, former president of the Republic of Texas, died in Huntsville at age 70. 1875--Carl (Gustav) Jung , Swiss psychologist and one of the founders of analytic psychology, was born; died 1961 at age 85. 1878--Deputy Marshal Wyatt Earp traded shots with a band of drunken cowboys, fatally wounding one of them. 1882--the Richard Wagner opera Parsifal premiered in Bayreuth, Germany. 1908--Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte ordered creation of a force of special agents that was a forerunner of the FBI. 1911--a swarm of grasshoppers descended on crops throughout the American heartland, devastating millions of acres. Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota, already in the midst of a bad drought. 1912--the Edison Studios production What Happened to Mary, one of the first, if not very first, movie serials. 1916--during the Battle of the Somme, Australian troops in their first offensive action on the Western Front battle the Germans at Pozieres, near the Somme River in France. 1941--Pres. Roosevelt seized all Japanese assets in the US in retaliation for the Japanese occupation of French Indo-China. 1945--Sir Winston Churchill resigned as Britain's prime minister after his Conservatives were soundly defeated by the Labor Party. 1947--Pres. Truman signed the National Security Act, creating the Department of Defense, the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 1948--Pres. Truman signed executive orders prohibiting discrimination in the US armed forces and federal employment. 1952--Adlai E. Stevenson was nominated for president by the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. 1952--at the XV Olympiad in Helsinki, Finland, American Bob Mathias won his second straight gold medal in the Olympic decathlon. 1952--Argentina's first lady, Eva Peron, died in Buenos Aires at age 33. 1953--Fidel Castro began his revolt against Fulgencio Batista with an unsuccessful attack on an army barracks in eastern Cuba. 1956--Egyptian Pres. Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal. 1956--the Italian liner Andrea Doria sank off New England, some 11 hours after colliding with the Swedish liner Stockholm; at least 51 people died. 1964--Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa and six others were convicted of fraud and conspiracy in the handling of a union pension fund. 1971--Apollo 15 was launched from Cape Kennedy on America's fourth manned mission to the moon. 1986--kidnappers in Lebanon released the Rev. Lawrence Martin Jenco, an American hostage held for nearly 19 months. 1990--the House of Representatives reprimanded Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., for ethics violations. 1990--Pres. Bush signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act. 1990--the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that a young woman had been infected with the AIDS virus, apparently by her dentist. 1998--the US 500 in the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) series dissolved into tragedy when three fans were killed and six others wounded by flying debris from a crash at Michigan Speedway. 2000--a federal judge approved a $1.25 billion settlement between Swiss banks and more than a half million plaintiffs who alleged the banks had hoarded money deposited by Holocaust victims. 2003--Backers of a drive to oust California Gov. Gray Davis held a boisterous celebration at the state Capitol in Sacramento, more than two months before the October 7 recall election. 2006--a jury in Houston found Andrea Yates not guilty by reason of insanity in the drowning of her children in a bathtub in her second trial. 2008--at least 22 small bombs exploded in Ahmadabad (n the Indian state of Gujarat, killing 58 people.
Thought for Today: "Government is too big and important to be left to the politicians." — --Chester Bowles (1901-1986) American diplomat, politician, businessman and author
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Post by pegasus on Jul 31, 2013 11:13:02 GMT -7
66th Annual Maine Lobster Festival
Today in History: July 31st, the 212th day of 2013 with 153 left in the year
1556--St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), died in Rome. 1777--the Marquis de Lafayette, a 19-year-old French nobleman, was made a major-general in the American Continental Army. 1875--the 17th president of the United States, Andrew Johnson, died in Carter County, Tenn., at age 66. 1919--Germany's Weimar Constitution was adopted by the republic's National Assembly. 1930--the radio character "The Shadow" made his debut as narrator of the Detective Story Hour on CBS Radio. 1953--Sen. Robert A. Taft of Ohio, known as "Mr. Republican," died in New York at age 63. 1964--the American space probe Ranger 7 transmitted pictures of the moon's surface. 1972--Democratic vice-presidential candidate Thomas Eagleton withdrew from the ticket with George McGovern following disclosures that Eagleton had once undergone psychiatric treatment. 1973--Delta Air Lines Flight 723, a DC-9, crashed while trying to land at Boston's Logan International Airport, killing all 89 people on board. 1989--a pro-Iranian group in Lebanon released a grisly videotape showing the body of American hostage Marine Lt. Col. William R. Higgins dangling from a rope. 1991--Pres. Bush and Soviet Pres. Gorbachev signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in Moscow. 2003--the Vatican launched a global campaign against gay marriages, warning Catholic politicians that support of same-sex unions was "gravely immoral" and urging non-Catholics to join the offensive. 2008--three teenagers were shot to death when a gunman opened fire on a group of young people who'd gathered to go swimming in the Menominee River near Niagara, Wis. 2008--scientists reported the Phoenix spacecraft had confirmed the presence of frozen water in Martian soil. 2012--three Indian electric grids collapsed in a cascade, cutting power to 620 million people in the world's biggest blackout. 2012--at the London Olympics, the US won the first women's title in gymnastics since 1996.
Thought for Today "History is idle gossip about a happening whose truth is lost the instant it has taken place." --Gore Vidal (1925-2012) American author (Marjorie Morningstar)
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Post by pegasus on Aug 7, 2013 11:09:58 GMT -7
National Lighthouse Day
Today in History: August 7th, the 219th day of 2013 with 146 days left in the year
768--Stephen III began his reign as Pope. 1498--Christopher Columbus arrived in the Caribbean. 1782--Gen. Washington created the Order of the Purple Heart, a decoration to recognize merit in enlisted men and noncommissioned officers. 1789--the US War Department was established by Congress. 1864--Union troops captured part of Confederate Gen. Jubal Early's army at Moorefield, West Virginia. 1882--the famous feud between the Hatfields of West Virginia and the McCoys of Kentucky erupted into full-scale violence. 1888--Theophilus Van Kannel of Philadelphia received a patent for the revolving door. 1912--the Progressive Party nominated Theodore Roosevelt for president. 1927--the already opened Peace Bridge connecting Buffalo, NY, and Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada, was officially dedicated. 1942--US forces landed at Guadalcanal, marking the start of the first major allied offensive in the Pacific during World War II. 1947--the balsa wood raft Kon-Tiki, which had carried a six-man crew 4,300 miles across the Pacific Ocean, crashed into a reef in a Polynesian archipelago; all six crew members reached land safely. 1959--the US launched the Explorer 6 satellite, which sent back images of Earth. 1964--the US Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, giving Pres. Johnson broad powers to deal with reported North Vietnamese attacks. 1971--Apollo 15 returned to Earth after a manned mission to the moon. 1989--a plane carrying US Rep. Mickey Leland, D-Texas, and 14 others disappeared over Ethiopia. 1990--Pres. Bush ordered US troops and warplanes to Saudi Arabia to guard the oil-rich desert kingdom against a possible invasion by Iraq. 1993--the public got its first glimpse inside Buckingham Palace as people were given the opportunity to tour the London home of Queen Elizabeth II. 1998--terrorist bombs at US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania killed 224 people, including 12 Americans. 2000--Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore chose Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman as his running mate, making him the first Jewish candidate on a major party ticket. 2002--major league baseball players and owners agreed on the sport's first tests for steroids. 2003--a bombing outside the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad killed 19 people. 2003--an Indonesian court sentenced Amrozi bin Nurhasyim to death in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people 2003--West African peacekeepers entered Liberia's rebel-besieged capital. 2005--a Russian Priz AS-28 mini-submarine, with seven crew members on board, was rescued from deep in the Pacific Ocean. 2007--Barry Bonds became baseball's career home run leader when he hit No. 756 during a home game in San Francisco, passing Hank Aaron's mark. 2008--Georgia shelled the capital of breakaway republic South Ossetia. (Russia responded by occupying much of Georgia in a five-day war.) 2008--Pres. Bush, speaking in Bangkok, Thailand, praised the spread of freedom in Asia while sharply criticizing oppression and human rights abuses in China, Myanmar and North Korea. 2010--Elena Kagan was sworn in as the 112th justice and fourth woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. 2012--Jared Lee Loughner agreed to spend the rest of his life in prison, after he went on a deadly shooting rampage at an Arizona political gathering. 2012--Syrian Pres. Bashar Assad made his first appearance on state TV in nearly three weeks. 2012--Aly Raisman became the first US woman to win Olympic gymnastic gold on floor exercise, and picked up a bronze on balance beam on the final day of the gymnastics competition at the London Games.
Thought for Today: "Happiness, it seems to me, consists of two things: first, in being where you belong, and second — and best — in comfortably going through everyday life, that is, having had a good night's sleep and not being hurt by new shoes." — --Theodor Fontane (1819-1898).German author
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Post by pegasus on Aug 10, 2013 14:35:51 GMT -7
Skyscraper Appreciation Day
Today in History: August 10th, the 222nd day of 2013 with 143 days left in the year
1680--Pueblo Indians launched a successful revolt against Spanish colonists in present-day New Mexico. 1792--during the French Revolution, mobs in Paris attacked the Tuileries Palace, where King Louis XVI resided. 1821--Missouri became the 24th state. 1846--the US Congress chartered the Smithsonian Institution, named after English scientist James Smithson, whose bequest of $500,000 made it possible. 1874--Herbert Clark Hoover, the 31st president of the United States, was born in West Branch, Iowa; died 1964 at age 90. 1885--America's first commercially operated electric streetcar began operation in Baltimore, Md. 1913--the Treaty of Bucharest was signed, ending the Second Balkan War. 1921--Franklin D. Roosevelt was stricken with polio at his summer home on the Canadian island of Campobello. 1944--US forces overcame Japanese resistance on the island of Guam. 1949--the National Military Establishment was renamed the Department of Defense. 1962--Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man made his debut in issue 15 of Amazing Fantasy. 1969--Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were murdered in their Los Angeles home by members of Charles Manson's cult, one day they murdered actress Sharon Tate and four other people. 1977--David Berkowitz, the suspect in the "Son of Sam" murders in New York, was arrested. 1988--Pres. Reagan signed a measure providing $20,000 payments to Japanese-Americans interred by the US during World War II. 1993--Ruth Bader Ginsburg was sworn in as the second female Supreme Court justice. 2003--Liberian President Charles Taylor delivered a farewell address to a nation bloodied by 14 years of war. 2003--During a heat wave plaguing Europe, Britain topped 100 degrees Fahrenheit for the first time in recorded history. 2003--Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, aboard the international space station, married his earthbound bride, Ekaterina Dmitriev, who was at Johnson Space Center in Houston, in the first wedding ever conducted from space. 2006--British authorities announced they had thwarted a terrorist plot to simultaneously blow up 10 aircraft heading to the United States. 2008--American swimmer Michael Phelps won the first of a record eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics in the 400-meter individual medley. 2012--a man in an Afghan army uniform shot and killed three American service members in southern Afghanistan. 2012--the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, an American nuns group rebuked by the Vatican, said it would hold talks with the Roman Catholic bishops appointed to overhaul the organization but would not "compromise its mission." 2012--the US won the women's 4x100-meter track relay in a world-record time of 40.82 seconds to give the Americans their first victory in the event since 1996.
Thought for Today: "There is no adequate defense, except stupidity, against the impact of a new idea." --Percy Williams Bridgeman (1882-1961) American scientist
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Post by pegasus on Aug 11, 2013 11:37:45 GMT -7
Ingersoll Day.
Robert Green Ingersoll was a famous American orator, who lived and became famous during the nineteenth century. Ingersoll Day celebrates his contributions to society, which he made through passionate campaigning for women's’ and minority rights.[/b] Today in History: August 11th, the 223rd day of 2013 with days142 left in the year1492--Spanish-born Rodrigo de Borja was proclaimed pope, upon, taking the name of Alexander VI. 1772--AN Explosive eruption blew 4,000 FEET off Papandayan Java, kilIing 3,000 1786--Capt. Francis Light arrived in Penang to claim the Malaysian island for Britain. 1856--a hurricane hit Isle Derniere, a resort community on the Louisiana coast that was totally submerged by storm surges, killing more than 400 people. 1860--the nation's first successful silver mill began operation near Virginia City, Nev. 1864--Confederate Gen. Jubal Early pulled out of Winchester, Va., as Union Gen. Philip Sheridan approached in order to avoid conflict. 1909--the steamship SS Arapahoe became the first ship in North America to issue an S.O.S. distress signal, off North Carolina's Cape Hatteras. 1919--Scottish-born American industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie died at 83. 1919--Friedrich Ebert, a member of the Social Democratic Party and the provisional president of the German Reichstag signed a new constitution, known as the Weimar Constitution, into law, officially creating the first parliamentary democracy in Germany. 1934--the first federal prisoners arrived at Alcatraz Island (a former military prison) in San Francisco Bay. 1942--Pierre Laval, prime minister of Vichy France, publicly declared that "the hour of liberation for France is the hour when Germany wins the war." 1943--German forces began a six-day evacuation of Sicily, having been beaten back by the Allies, who invaded the island in July. 1952--Hussein bin Talal was proclaimed King of Jordan, beginning a reign lasting nearly 47 years. 1954--a formal peace took hold in Indochina, ending more than seven years of fighting between the French and the Communist Vietminh. 1962--Andrian Nikolayev became the Soviet Union's third cosmonaut in space as he was launched on a 94-hour flight. 1965--deadly rioting and looting that claimed 34 lives broke out in the predominantly black Watts section of Los Angeles. 1967--US pilots were cleared to bomb the Hanoi-Haiphong area in North Vietnam. 1970--Philadelphia Phillies Jim Bunning became the first pitcher since Cy Young to win 100 games in both of the two major leagues. (He would later become a US Senator.) 1972--the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry was the last US ground combat unit to depart South Vietnam. 1984--during a voice test for a paid political radio address, Pres. Reagan joked that he had "signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes." 1992--the Mall of America, the biggest shopping mall in the country, opened in Bloomington, Minn. 1993--Pres. Clinton named Army Gen. John Shalikashvili to be the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, succeeding the Gen. Colin Powell. 1994--the longest work stoppage in major league history began and the World Series was cancelled because of the strike. 1997--Pres. Clinton made the first use of the historic line-item veto, rejecting three items in spending and tax bills. (It was later struck down as unconstitutional.) 1998--British Petroleum stunned the markets when it announce it had agreed to purchase Amoco Ciro, for $49 billion. 2000--Pat Buchanan won the Reform Party presidential nomination. 2002--US Airways filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. 2003--NATO took command of the 5,000-strong peacekeeping force in Afghanistan. 2003--Charles Taylor resigned as Liberia's president and went into exile in Nigeria. 2006--the Transportation Security Administration ()TSA banned all liquids, gels and aerosols from passenger cabins on airliners one day after a thwarted terrorist attack. 2008--Pres. Bush warned of a "dramatic and brutal escalation" of violence by Russia in the former Soviet republic of Georgia and pressed Moscow to accept an immediate cease-fire and to pull back its troops. 2009--Eunice Kennedy Shriver, sister of President John F. Kennedy and founder of the Special Olympics, died at age 88. 2012--Usain Bolt capped his perfect Summer Games by leading Jamaica to victory in a world-record 36.84 seconds in the 4x100 meters. Allyson Felix won her third gold medal as the Americans rolled to an easy victory in the women's 4x400 relay. The heavily favored U.S. women's basketball team won a fifth straight gold medal with an 86-50 victory over France. Thought for Today: "A pessimist is a man who looks both ways when he's crossing a one-way street." -- Laurence J. Peter (1919-1990) , Canadian-born educator and author of The Peter Principle[/size][/color]
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Post by pegasus on Aug 12, 2013 15:09:20 GMT -7
World Elephant Day
Today in History: August 12th, the 224th day of 2013 with 141 days left in the year
1099--during the First Crusade the Crusaders defeated the Egyptians at Ascalon on the Palestine coast. 1332--disinherited Scottish barons under Edward Baliol defeated superior forces under David, King of Scotland at the battle of Dupplin. 1450--during the Hundred Years War the English surrendered Cherbourg, completing Charles VII's conquest of Normandy. 1530--Florence was restored to the Medici by imperial troops after a siege of 10 months. 1676--in colonial New England, King Philip's War effectively comes to an end when Philip, chief of the Wampanoag Indians, is assassinated. 1687--during the Ottoman Wars the Austrians under Louis of Baden and the Hungarians decisively beat the Turks under Mohammed IV. 1759--the Russians and the Austrians defeated 40,000 Prussians under Frederick the Great at the Battle of Kunersdorf in the Seven Years War. 1776--Gen. Washington feared that the superior British navy might blockade New York, thus isolating the city from communications with other states. 1813--Austria declared war on France. 1851--Isaac Singer was granted a patent on his double-treadle sewing machine. 1862--Confederate cavalry leader Gen. John Hunt Morgan captured a small Federal garrison in Gallatin, Tenn., just north of Nashville. 1865--Joseph Lister (namesake for Listerine mouthwash) became the first doctor to utilize disinfectant during surgery. 1867--Pres. Andrew Johnson sparked a move to impeach him as he defied Congress by suspending Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. 1898--the peace protocol ending the Spanish-American War was signed. 1898--Hawaii was formally annexed to the United States. 1902--International Harvester Co. was formed by a merger of McCormick Harvesting Machine Co., Deering Harvester Co. and several other manufacturers. 1912--comedy producer Mack Sennett founded the Keystone Pictures Studio in California. 1914--the British Parliament passed the Defense of the Realm Act, aimed at providing the British government with the means to support the country’s war effort against Austria-Hungary and Germany. 1915--W. Somerset Maugham's novel, Of Human Bondage, was published 1939--The Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland and featuring words and music by E.Y. "Yip" Harburg and Harold Arlen, received its world premiere in Oconomowoc, Wis. 1941--Pres. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill met on board a ship at Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, to confer on issues ranging from support for Russia to threatening Japan to postwar peace. 1944--Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., eldest son of Joseph and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, was killed when an explosives-laden Navy plane blew up over England during World War II. 1953--the Soviet Union conducted a secret test of its first hydrogen bomb. 1965--Henry Cabot Lodge was sworn aas ambassador to South Vietnam in by Pres. Johnson. 1960--the first balloon satellite, Echo 1, was launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla. 1951--East Germany began the construction of the Berlin Wall. 1962--one day after launching Andrian Nikolayev into orbit, the Soviet Union also sent up cosmonaut Pavel Popovich; both men landed safely August 15. 1964--the British author and journalist Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond, the world’s most famous fictional spy, died of a heart attack at age 56 in Kent, England. 1966--At the beginning of the Beatles' last tour, John Lennon apologized at a news conference in Chicago for saying "the Beatles are more popular than Jesus." 1973--Jack Nicklaus broke the almost 50 year old record set by Bobby Jones when he won his 14th major golf title and his rd PGA Championship. win for Nicklaus. 1977--The space shuttle Enterprise passed its first solo flight test by taking off atop a Boeing 747, separating and then touching down in 1981--IBM introduced its first personal computer, the model 5150. 1985--the world's worst single-aircraft disaster occurred as a crippled Japan Air Lines Boeing 747 on a domestic flight crashed into a mountain, killing 520 people. (Four people survived.) 1988--the controversial movie The Last Temptation of Christ, directed by Martin Scorsese, opened in nine cities despite objections by some who felt the film was sacrilegious. 1990--fossil hunter Susan Hendrickson discovered three huge bones jutting out of a cliff near Faith, SD that turned out to be part of the largest-ever Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever discovered, a 65 million-year-old specimen dubbed Sue, after its discoverer. 1998--Swiss banks agreed to pay $1.25 billion as restitution to Holocaust survivors to settle claims for their assets. 2000--the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk and its 118-man crew were lost during naval exercises in the Barents Sea. 2003--Liberia's leading rebel movement agreed to lift its siege of the capital and vital port, allowing food to flow to hundreds of thousands of hungry people. 2004--New Jersey Gov. James E. McGreevey announced his resignation and proclaimed himself "a gay American." 2004--the California Supreme Court voided the nearly 4,000 same-sex marriages sanctioned in San Francisco earlier in the year. 2008--Russia halted its devastating five-day assault on Georgia that left homes in smoldering ruins and uprooted 100,000 people. 2012--Irishman Rory McIlroy won the PGA Championship with a 6-under par 66 for an eight-shot victory at Kiawah Island, SC.
Thought for Today: "Wisdom is born, stupidity is learned." — Russian proverb
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Post by pegasus on Aug 14, 2013 11:14:42 GMT -7
V-J DAY
Today in History: August 14th, the 226th day of 2013 with 139 days left in the year
1040--Macbeth murdered King Duncan of Scotland and became king for 17 years. 1385--Portuguese forces thwarted an attempted invasion by John I of Castile at the battle of Aljubarrota, securing independence for the Portuguese. 1551--Turkish forces captured Tripoli. 1598--Earl of Tyrone, Irish rebel, annihilated the English force at Yellow Ford on Blackwater River. 1678--William of Orange attacked the French army near Mons, but the French rallied and repulsed William who lost several thousand men. 1733 - The War of Polish Succession began between the Bourbon powers of France and Spain and Hapsburg Austria. 1784--the first Russian colony in Alaska was founded on Kodiak Island. 1811--Paraguay declared itself independent of Spain. 1842--the second of three Seminole wars ended with the forced relocation of most Seminoles from Florida to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). 1848--the Oregon Territory was established. 1867--John Galsworthy, 1932-Nobel Prize-winning English novelist and playwright, was born; died 1933 at age 65. 1880--the construction of the Cologne Cathedral, which began in 1248, was finally completed. 1886--Arthur J. Dempster, the American physicist who built the first device for measuring charged particles, was born; died 1950 at age 63.. 1893--France became the first country to introduce motor vehicle registration plates. 1900--international forces entered Beijing to put down the Boxer Rebellion, which was aimed at purging China of foreigners. 1908--a race riot erupted in Springfield, Ill., as a white mob began setting black-owned homes and businesses on fire; at least two blacks and five whites were killed in the violence. 1917--China declared war on Germany and Austria during World War I. 1935--Pres. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law. 1941--Pres. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Churchill issued the Atlantic Charter, a statement of principles that renounced aggression. 1945--Pres. Truman announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally, ending World War II. 1947--Islamic Pakistan became independent of British rule, separate from Hindu India. 1951--William Randolph Hearst, newspaper founder-publisher died at age 86 in Beverly Hills, Calif. 1962--robbers held up a U.S. mail truck in Plymouth, Mass., making off with more than $1.5 million; the loot was never recovered. 1963--playwright Clifford Odets, age 57, died in Los Angeles, Dalif. 1969--British troops arrived in Northern Ireland to intervene in sectarian violence between Protestants and Roman Catholics. 1973--US bombing of Cambodia came to a halt. 1980--workers went on strike at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk, Poland - a job action that resulted in the creation of the Solidarity labor movement. 1993--Pope John Paul II denounced abortion and euthanasia as well as sexual abuse by American priests in a speech at McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, Colo. 1997--an unrepentant Timothy McVeigh was sentenced to death for the Oklahoma City bombing. 2003--a huge blackout hit the northeastern US and part of Canada; 50 million people lost power. 2003--the chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, Roy Moore, said he would not remove a Ten Commandments monument from the state judicial building, defying a federal court order to remove the granite monument. 2003--rebels lifted their siege of Liberia's capital. 2006--Israel halted its offensive against Hezbollah guerrillas as a UN-imposed cease-fire went into effect after a month of warfare that killed more than 900 people. 2008--Pres. Bush signed consumer-safety legislation that banned lead from children's toys 2009--Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a Charles Manson follower who tried to assassinate Pres. Ford in 1975, was released from a Texas prison hospital after more than three decades behind bars.
Thought for Today: "The old forget. The young don't know." — Japanese proverb.
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Post by pegasus on Aug 16, 2013 15:26:38 GMT -7
Native American Heritage Month
Today in History: August 16th, the 228th day of 2013 with 137 days left in the year
1513--English and German forces under Henry VIII defeated the French at Guinegate, in what was called "The Battle of the Spurs." 1743--the earliest boxing code of rules was formulated in England bu Jack Broughton. 1777--American forces won the Revolutionary War Battle of Bennington in what is now Vermont. 1780--American Gen. Horatio Gates sufferrf a humiliating defeat by the British led by Gen. Lord Cornwallis at Camden, SC. 1812--Detroit fell without a fight to British and Indian forces in the War of 1812. 1858--a telegraphed message from Britain's Queen Victoria to Pres. Buchanan was transmitted over the recently laid trans-Atlantic cable. 1861--Pres. Lincoln issued Proclamation 86, which prohibited the states of the Union from engaging in commercial trade with states in rebellion — i.e., the Confederacy. 1888--T.E. Lawrence, the British archaeologist, military strategist and author who gained fame as "Lawrence of Arabia," was born in Tremadoc, Wales; died 1935 at age 46. 1896--Skookum Jim, Dawson Charlie and George Carmack found gold in Klondike River tributary, Rabbit Creek, starting the famous Klondike Gold Rush. 1914--In Belgium, Liege fell to the Germans after unexpectedly fierce Belgian resistance and heavy German casualties. 1920--Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman was struck in the temple by a ball pitched by NY Yankee pitcher Carl Mays and died 12 hours later. 1923--an 8 hour work day was established for workers at Carnegie Steel Corporation. 1925--Charlie Chaplin's silent comedy classic, The Gold Rush, opened in the US. 1930--the first British Empire Games (now the British Commonwealth games) were held at Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. 1937--Harvard University became the first to offer a graduate study course in traffic engineering and administration. 1948--Baseball Hall of Famer Babe Ruth died at age 53 of throat cancer. 1949--Margaret Mitchell, the 49-year-old author of Gone With the Wind, died in a hospital in Atlanta, Ga., where she was taken after being struck by a taxi. 1955--famous African American entertainer and civil rights activist Paul Robeson lost his court appeal to try to force the Department of State to grant him a passport. 1954--Sports Illustrated was first published by Time Inc. 1960--Britain granted independence to the island of Cyprus, with Archbishop Makarios as its first president. 1962--the Beatles fired their original drummer, Pete Best, replacing him with Ringo Starr. 1972--Morocco's King Hassan II escaped unhurt when an airliner carrying him to Rabat was fired on by Moroccan Air Force pilots. 1977--rock icon Elvis Presley died at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., at age 42, from coronary arrhythmia. 1984--the US Junior Chamber of Commerce voted to allow women to have full membership in the organization. 1984--John De Lorean was acquitted in Los Angeles of charges that he conspired to import 100 kg of cocaine, and use the proceeds to save his financially-troubled sports car company. 1987--thousands of people worldwide began a two-day celebration of the "harmonic convergence," which believers called the start of a new, purer age of humankind. 1987--156 people were killed when Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashed while trying to take off from Detroit. 1988--Vice President George H.W. Bush tapped Indiana Sen. Dan Quayle to be his running mate on the Republican ticket. 1993--New York police rescued business executive Harvey Weinstein from a covered 14-foot-deep pit, where he'd been held nearly two weeks for ransom. 1995--Bermudans voted to remain a British colony. 2002--terrorist mastermind Abu Nidal was found shot to death in Baghdad, Iraq. 2003--Idi Amin, the former dictator of Uganda who was believed to have been about 80, died in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia. 2007--Jose Padilla, a US citizen held for 3-1/2 years as an enemy combatant, was convicted in Miami of helping Islamic extremists and plotting overseas attacks. 2008--Michael Phelps won the 100-meter butterfly by a hundredth of a second for his seventh gold medal of the Beijing Olympics, tying Mark Spitz's 1972 record. 2010--China eclipsed Japan as the world's second biggest economy after three decades of blistering growth. 2012--a US military helicopter crashed during a firefight with insurgents in southern Afghanistan, killing seven Americans and four Afghans. 2012--Ecuador decided to identify WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as a refugee and give him asylum in its London embassy.
Thought for Today: "In politics people give you what they think you deserve and deny you what they think you want." —Cyril Northcote Parkinson (1908-1993) British naval historian and author.
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Post by pegasus on Aug 21, 2013 13:33:59 GMT -7
American Artists Appreciation Month
Today in History: August 21st, the 233rd day of 2013 with 132 days left in the year
1567--St. Francis De Sales, French Roman Catholic bishop of Geneva and religious writer, was born in the duchy of Savoy; died 1622 at age 55 in Lyon, France. 1808--Arthur Wellesley, later Duke of Wellington, and his British troops defeated the French at the Battle of Vimiero in the Iberian Peninsular War. 1810--one of Napoleon's generals, Marshall Bernadotte, was elected Crown Prince of Sweden using the name Charles John. 1831--Nat Turner launched a short-lived, violent slave rebellion in Virginia. 1841--venetian blinds were patented by John Hampton of New Orleans, Louisiana. 1858--the first of seven debates between US Senate candidates Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas took place in Ottawa, Ill. 1863--pro-Confederate raiders attacked Lawrence, Kan., massacring the men and destroying the town's buildings. 1878--the American Bar Association was founded in Saratoga, N.Y. 1888--the adding machine was patented by William Burroughs of St. Louis, Missouri. 1897--Ransom Eli Olds of Lansing, Mich., founded Olds Motors Works that later become Oldsmobile. 1904--William "Count" Basie, jazz pianist, composer and bandleader, was born in Red Bank, N.J.; died 1984 at age 79. 1911--Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" was stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris. 1914--the second and third of what would be four "Battles of the Frontiers" fought between German and Allied forces during a four-day period begin near Ardennes and Charleroi in northern France. 1931--Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees hit his 600th home run. 1940--exiled Russian Communist revolutionary Leon Trotsky died in Mexico City from wounds inflicted by an assassin. 1944--representatives from the US, Great Britain, the USSR and China meet in the Dumbarton Oaks estate at Georgetown, Washington, D.C., to formulate the formal principles of the future United Nations. 1959--Pres. Eisenhower signed an executive order proclaiming Hawaii the 50th state of the union. 1961--country singer Patsy Cline recorded the Willie Nelson song "Crazy" in Nashville for Decca Records. 1963--martial law was declared in South Vietnam as police and army troops began a violent crackdown on Buddhist anti-government protesters. 1965--US pilots were given the freen light to go after anti-aircraft missiles in North Vietnam. 1971--anti-war protestors associated with the Catholic Left raided draft offices in Buffalo, NY. 1983--the musical play La Cage Aux Folles opened on Broadway. 1983--Philippine opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino Jr., ending a self-imposed exile, was shot dead moments after stepping off a plane at Manila International Airport. 1986--an eruption of lethal gas from Lake Nyos in Cameroon killed nearly 2,000 people and wiped out four villages 1987--Sgt. Clayton Lonetree, the first Marine ever court-martialed for spying, was convicted in Quantico, Va., of passing secrets to the KGB. 1991--a hardline coup against Soviet Pres. Gorbachev collapsed in the face of a popular uprising led by Russian federation Pres. Boris Yeltsin. 1992--an 11-day siege began at the cabin of white separatist Randy Weaver in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, as government agents tried to arrest him for failing to appear in court on charges of selling two illegal sawed-off shotguns. 1993--in a serious setback for NASA, engineers lost contact with the Mars Observer spacecraft as it was about to reach the red planet on a $980 million mission. 2002--a jury in San Diego convicted David Westerfield of kidnapping and killing 7-year-old Danielle van Dam. 2003--Palestinian militants abandoned a 2-month-old truce after Israel killed a Hamas leader in a missile attack. 2003--the French government acknowledged that as many as 10,000 people might have died in the country's heat wave. 2003--Paul Hamm became the first American man to win the all-around gold medal at the World Gymnastics Championship. 2006--British prosecutors announced that 11 people had been charged in an alleged plot to blow up trans-Atlantic jetliners bound for the US. 2008--Pres. Bush issued a federal disaster declaration for parts of Florida affected by Tropical Storm Fay. 2008--twin Taliban suicide bombings at Pakistan's largest weapons complex killed at least 67 people. 2009--leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America voted to lift a ban that prohibited sexually active gays and lesbians from serving as ministers. 2012--Missouri Rep. Todd Akin defied the nation's top Republicans and refused to abandon a Senate bid hobbled by fallout over his comments that women's bodies could prevent pregnancies in cases of "legitimate rape." . Thought for Today: "To know a little less and to understand a little more: that, it seems to me, is our greatest need." —James Ramsey Ullman (1907-1971) American author
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Post by pegasus on Aug 24, 2013 13:39:56 GMT -7
National Waffle Day
Today in History: August 24th, the 236th day of 2013 with129 days left in the year
79--Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in volcanic ash. An estimated 20,000 people died. 410--Rome was overrun by Alaric and his Visigoths, a major event in the fall of the Western Roman Empire. 1516--Ottoman Sultan Selim I defeated the Mameluke army near Aleppo, securing Syria for the empire 1572--St. Bartholomew's Day massacre: the slaughter of thousands of French Protestants at the hands of Catholics began in Paris at the order of Charles IX under the influence of his mother Catherine de Medici.. 1776--Gen. Charles Lee informs Congress that Georgia was more valuable than he had originally suspected and made it mandatory to keep out of enemy hands. 1814--British forces invaded Washington, D.C., and set fire to the Capitol and the White House, as well as other buildings. 1821--the Treaty of Cordoba was signed, granting independence to Mexico from Spanish rule. 1857--the New York branch of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Co. failed, sparking the Panic of 1857. 1873--William Henry Jackson becomes the first person to photograph Colorado's elusive Mount of the Holy Cross, a natural cross of snow, providing reliable proof of its existence. 1891--Thomas Edison applied for a patent on the movie camera. 1893--fire in the south of Chicago left 5,000 people homeless. 1912--the US Congress passed a measure creating the Alaska Territory. 1932--Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly nonstop across the US, traveling from Los Angeles to Newark, N.J., in just over 19 hours. 1939--the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed a 10-year nonaggression pact. 1942--US forces delivered a crushing blows to the Japanese, sinking the aircraft carrier Ryuho in the Battle of the East Solomon Islands with the help of coastwatchers, a group of volunteers whose job it is to report on Japanese ship and aircraft movement. 1949--the North Atlantic Treaty (NATO) went into effect. 1954--Pres. Eisenhower signed the Communist Control Act, virtually outlawing the Communist Party in the US. 1954--Getulio Vargas, president of Brazil from 1930-45 and 1951-54, committed suicide. 1968--France became the world's fifth thermonuclear power as it exploded a hydrogen bomb in the South Pacific. 1970--an explosives-laden van left by anti-war extremists blew up outside the University of Wisconsin's Sterling Hall, killing 33-year-old researcher Robert Fassnacht. 1981--Mark David Chapman was sentenced in New York to 20 years to life in prison for the murder of rock musician John Lennon. 1989--Baseball Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti banned Pete Rose from the game for gambling on baseball games. 1992--Hurricane Andrew smashed into Florida, causing record damage and 55 deaths in Florida, Louisiana and the Bahamas. 2003--Israeli missiles killed four Hamas fighters, including a fugitive commander. 2006--the International Astronomical Union declared that Pluto was no longer a planet, demoting it to the status of a "dwarf planet." 2007--a judge in Inverness, Fla., sentenced John Evander Couey to death for kidnapping 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford, raping her and burying her alive. 2007--James Ford Seale, a reputed Ku Klux Klansman, was sentenced to three life terms for his role in the 1964 abduction and murder of two black teenagers in Mississippi. 2007--the NFL suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick for his involvement in dogfighting. 2008--a suicide bomber struck a welcome-home celebration on Baghdad's outskirts for an Iraqi detainee released from U.S. custody, killing at least 25 people. 2008--an Iran-bound passenger jet carrying 90 people crashed in Kyrgyzstan, killing some 70 people. 2011--Steve Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple Inc. 2012--a suit-clad gunman, Jeffrey Johnson, opened fire outside New York's Empire State Building, killing a former co-worker, Steve Ercolino, before being gunned down by police. 2012--the US Anti-Doping Agency wiped out 14 years of Lance Armstrong's cycling career — including his record seven Tour de France titles — and barred him for life from the sport after concluding he'd used banned substances. 2012--a Norwegian court found Anders Behring Breivik guilty of terrorism and premeditated murder for twin attacks that killed 77 people. ; he received a 21-year prison sentence that can be extended as long as
Thought for Today: "No one knows his true character until he has run out of gas, purchased something on the installment plan and raised an adolescent." —Marcelene Cox, American writer.
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Post by pegasus on Aug 26, 2013 11:32:12 GMT -7
Be Kind To Humankind Week
Today in History: August 26th, the 238th day of 2013 with 127 days left in the year
1346--during the Hundred Years War, Edward III's English army annihilated a French force under Philip VI at the Battle of Crecy in Normandy in the first battle at which the English used only infantry and longbow men. . 1498--Michelangelo, Italian Remaissance master artist, was commissioned to make the "Pieta". 1541--Suleiman I of Turkey captured Buda and annexed Hungary after his dispute with Archduke Ferdinand over claims to the kingdom. 1742--Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier , French nobleman and chemist who is widely considered to be the "Father of Modern Chemistry," was born; died 1794 at age 60 in the Place de la Concorde, Paris, France. 1776--confident that the British would not attack New York's Manhattan Island, Gen. Washington poured additional reinforcements into the lines around Brooklyn Heights on Long Island. 1794--Pres. Washington wrote to Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee, Virginia's governor and a former revolutionary general, regarding the Whiskey Rebellion, the first great test of Washington's authority as president 1819--Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, German-born prince consort of Queen Victoria, was born in the Saxon duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld; died 1861 at age 42 in Windsor Castle, Berkshire, England after a long illness. 1847--Liberia was proclaimed an independent republic. 1858--the Treaty of Edo was signed which provided for the opening up of Japan to British trade. 1862--the 2nd Bull Run campaign began when Confederate cavalry under Gen. Fitzhugh Lee entered Manassas Junction and captured the rail center. 1873--the St. Louis, Mo. school board established the first public school kindergarten in the US. 1883--the Indonesian island volcano Krakatoa began cataclysmic eruptions, leading to a massive explosion the following day. 1896--Armenian revolutionaries attacked the Ottoman Bank in Constantinople, provoking a three-day battle in which at least 6,000 Armenians died. 1896--in the Philippines, an insurrection began against the Spanish government. 1910--Mother Teresa, Roman Catholic religious sister who founded the Missionaries of Charity and 1979 Nobel Peace Prize winner, was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje, Macedonia; died 1997 at age 87 of chronic heart disease in Kolkata, India 1914--the German 8th Army struck with lethal force against the advancing Russian 2nd Army in East Prussia, during the opening weeks of World War I. 1920--the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing women the right to vote, was declared in effect by Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby. 1934--Adolf Hitler demanded that France turn over the Saar region to Germany. 1936--the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty, calling for most British troops to leave Egypt, was signed in Montreux, Switzerland. 1939--Major league baseball was televised for the first time with a doubleheader broadcast between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field. 1944--French Gen. Charles de Gaulle entered Paris, which had formally been liberated from Nazi Germany the day before. Bulgaria announced that it had withdrawn from the war and that German troops were to be disarmed. 1948--the temperature hits 108 degrees Fahrenheit in New York City during a week-long heat wave that kills at least 33 people. 1957--the Soviet Union announced that it had successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile. 1958--Alaskans went to the polls to overwhelmingly vote in favor of statehood. 1961--the original Hockey Hall of Fame opened in Toronto, Canada. 1964--Pres. Johnson was nominated for a term of office in his own right at the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, NJ. 1968--at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, thousands of antiwar demonstrators took to Chicago's streets to protest the Vietnam War. 1971--New Jersey Gov. William T. Cahill announced that the New York Giants football team had agreed to leave Yankee Stadium for a new sports complex to be built in East Rutherford, NJ. 1972--the summer Olympics games opened in Munich, West Germany. 1974--aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh died at age 72 of cancer in Kipahulu, Maui, Hawaii.. 1976 - Prince Bernhard, husband of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, agreed to resign his positions with the Dutch armed forces and industry following severe criticism of his behavior in a Lockheed bribery scandal. 1978--following the death of Pope Paul VI, Cardinal Albino Luciani of Venice was elected the 264th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and took the name John Paul I. 1986--in the so-called "preppie murder case" in which 18-year-old Jennifer Levin was found strangled in New York's Central Park, ended with Robert Chambers pleading guilty to manslaughter. 1993--Dorothea Puente was convicted in Monterey, Calif., of murdering three of her boardinghouse tenants. (She died in prison in 2011.) 2003--investigators concluded that NASA's overconfident management and inattention to safety doomed the space shuttle Columbia as much as damage to the craft did. 2008--Russia recognized the independence claims of two Georgian breakaway regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. 2008--Hurricane Gustav struck Haiti, causing widespread flooding and landslides; the storm went on to kill at least 78 people in the Caribbean. 2012--in the face of approaching Tropical Storm Isaac, Republicans pushed back the start of their national convention in Tampa, Fla., by a day.
Thought for Today: "Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory. --Dr. Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) German-born French theologian, organist, philosopher, physician, and medical missionary who won the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize
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