On This Day in History

[Doc Democracy]

On this day, 17 years ago, the moon was torn out of Earth's orbit and the brave personnel on Moonbase Alpha were lost to us forever...after 2 series and 48 episodes...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Wr41gaM_ow

[Badger]

On this day in 1997, at 2:14am, Skynet became self-aware.  To stop the panicked humans who were trying to shut it down, it launched a nuclear strike against Russia, precipitating what has since become known as Judgment Day.

 

Skynet for President.  Is it worse than the alternatives?

[Old Man]

[Cancer]

Though if I told you Citibank (or some other multinational financial conglomerate) was Skynet would you say the same thing? That's basically reality now.

[Badger]

Though if I told you Citibank (or some other multinational financial conglomerate) was Skynet would you say the same thing? That's basically reality now.

 

In other words, if we vote for Skynet, we cut out the middleman?

[GhostDancer]

 

1542

Portuguese explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo arrived at present-day San Diego.

1781

The closing campaign of the American Revolution at Yorktown Heights, Va. began.

1920

Eight Chicago White Sox players were indicted for fixing the 1919 World Series in the "Black Sox scandal."

1924

Two U.S. Army planes landed in Seattle after completing the first round-the-world-flight in 175 days.

1939

A German-Soviet agreement divided Poland between Nazi Germany and the USSR.

1967

Walter Washington became the first mayor of the District of Columbia.

1972

Japan and Communist China agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations.

1989

Former Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos died in exile in Hawaii.

1991

Jazz great Miles Davis died.

2003

Althea Gibson, the first African-American tennis player to win at Wimbledon, died.

[GhostDancer]

Happy Birthday to Star Trek: The Next Generation which premiered 29 years ago today.

 

"I rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on the journey and reminds us to cherish every moment because they'll never come again." - Jean-Luc Picard

[GhostDancer]

Browncoats rejoiced http://m.hitfix.com/news/on-this-day-in-pop-culture-history-serenity-opened-in-theaters

[GhostDancer]

Happy Birthday to

1947   Dave Arneson, game designer; co-created Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game with Gary Gygax, establishing the roleplaying game genre.

 

331BC   Alexander the Great decisively shatters King Darius III's Persian army at Gaugamela (Arbela), in a tactical masterstroke that leaves him master of the Persian Empire. 1273   Rudolf of Hapsburg is elected emperor in Germany. 1588   The feeble Sultan Mohammed Shah of Persia, hands over power to his 17-year old son Abbas. 1791   In Paris, the National Legislative Assembly holds its first meeting. 1839   The British government decides to send a punitive naval expedition to China. 1847   Maria Mitchell, American astronomer, discovers a comet and is elected the same day to the American Academy of Arts---the first woman to be so honored. The King of Denmark awarded her a gold medal for her discovery. 1856   The first installment of Gustav Flaubert's novel Madame Bovary appears in the Revue de Paris after the publisher refuses to print a passage in which the character Emma has a tryst in the back seat of a carriage. 1864   The Condor, a British blockade-runner, is grounded near Fort Fisher, North Carolina. 1878   General Lew Wallace is sworn in as governor of New Mexico Territory. He went on to deal with the Lincoln County War, Billy the Kid and write Ben-Hur. His Civil War heroics earned him the moniker Savior of Cincinnati. 1890   Yosemite National Park is dedicated in California. 1908   The Ford Model T, the first car for millions of Americans, hits the market. Over 15 million Model Ts are eventually sold, all of them black. 1942   The German Army grinds to a complete halt within the city of Stalingrad. 1943   British troops in Italy enter Naples and occupy Foggia airfield. 1944   The U.S. First Army begins the siege Aachen, Germany. 1946   Eleven Nazi war criminals are sentenced to be hanged at Nuremberg trials---Hermann Goring, Alfred Jodl, Hans Frank, Wilhelm Frick, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Wilhelm Keitel, Joachin von Ribbentrop, Fritz Saukel, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, Julius Streicher, and Alfred Rosenberg. 1947   First flight of F-86 Sabre jet fighter, which would win fame in the Korean War. 1949   Mao Zedong establishes the People's Republic of China. 1957   "In God We Trust" appears on US paper currency as an act to distinguish the US from the officially atheist USSR; the motto had appeared on coins at various times since 1864. 1958   The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) replaces the 43-year-old National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in the US. 1960   Nigeria becomes independent from the UK. 1961   The Federal Republic of Cameroon is formed by the merger of East and West Cameroon. 1962   The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson debuts; Carson will remain The Tonight Show host until 1992. 1964   The first Free Speech Movement protest erupts spontaneously on the University of California, Berkeley campus; students demanded an end to the ban of on-campus political activities. 1964   Japanese "bullet trains" (Shinkansen) begin high-speed rail transit between Tokyo and Osaka. 1971   Walt Disney World opens near Orlando, Florida, the second of Disney's "Magic Kingdoms." 1971   First CT or CAT brain scan performed, at Atkinson Morley Hospital in Wimbledon, London. 1974   Five Nixon aides--Kenneth Parkinson, Robert Mardian, Nixon's Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, and U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell--go on trial for conspiring to hinder the Watergate investigation. 1975   Legendary boxing match: Muhammad Ali defeats Joe Frazier in the "Thrilla in Manila." 1979   US returns sovereignty of the Panama Canal to Panama. 1982   First compact disc player, released by Sony. 1989   Denmark introduces the world's first "civil union" law granting same-sex couples certain legal rights and responsibilities but stopping short of recognizing same-sex marriages. 1991   Siege of Dubrovnik begins in the Croatian War of Independence. 2009   The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom takes over judicial functions of the House of Lords. Born on October 1 1837   Robert Gould Shaw, commander of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment during America's Civil War. 1904   Vladimir Horowitz, Russian-born American virtuoso pianist. 1924   Jimmy Carter, 39th president of the U.S. (1977-1981) 1932   Albert Collins, guitarist. 1935   Julie Andrews (Julia Elizabeth Wells), actress and singer whose films include Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music. 1946   Tim O'Brien, novelist (The Things They Carried, In the Lake of the Woods). 1947   Dave Arneson, game designer; co-created Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game with Gary Gygax, establishing the roleplaying game genre. 1950   Randy Quaid, actor (The Last Detail; won Golden Globe for his portrayal of Pres. Lyndon Johnson in LBJ: The Early Years). 1955   Jeff Reardon, pro baseball pitcher known as "The Terminator" for his intimidating pitching mound presence and 98 mph fastball. 1963   Mark McGwire, "Big Mac," pro baseball player who broke Roger Maris' single-season home run record; admitted in 2010 to using performance-enhancing drugs throughout his career. 1964   Max Matsuura (Masato Matsuura), record producer, president of Avex Group, one of Japan's largest music labels.  

[Nolgroth]

Browncoats rejoiced http://m.hitfix.com/news/on-this-day-in-pop-culture-history-serenity-opened-in-theaters

 

I saw it two months earlier and alongside Nathan Fillion. Well, he was in the audience if not right next to me personally.

[GhostDancer]

^Because you are the man, Nolgroth!

[GhostDancer]

On this date in 1908 Henry Ford introduced the Model T, and began his quest to put the world on wheels.

The birthplace of the Model T.

Designed by Field, Hinchman & Smith. Ford Motor Company Piquette Avenue Plant 411 Piquette Avenue built in 1904 Ford Piquette Avenue Plant Historic District, Detroit, MI.

 

A link to the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant website.

http://www.fordpiquetteavenueplant.org/

[Dr. MID-Nite]

1187-Muslims take Jerusalem.

 

1835-Texas starts their war for independence.

 

1959-Twillight Zone premieres.

[GhostDancer]

 

1226

St. Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan order, died.

 

1863

President Lincoln declared the last Thursday in November as  Thanksgiving Day.

 

1922

Rebecca L. Felton became the first woman U.S. Senator when she was appointed to serve out the term of Senator Thomas E. Watson.

 

1929

The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes formally changed its name to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

 

1955

Captain Kangaroo and The Mickey Mouse Club premiered on television.

 

1974

Frank Robinson was named the first African-American manager in major league baseball.

 

1990

East Germany and West Germany united to become Germany, 45 years after being split into two countries at the end of World War II.

[Nolgroth]

Thanks for doing all the research and posting it hear Ghostdancer. I always like historical tidbits. Often they lead me to do casual internet research about the topic. I generally end up spending lots of time on that research and fail to do other things I want to do, but still valuable for the soul.

[GhostDancer]

1887

The International Herald Tribune was published for the first time.

1895

The first U.S. Open Golf tournament was held in Newport, Rhode Island.

1957

The Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite, Sputnik, into orbit around the earth, ushering in the Space Age and Space Race.

1965

Pope Paul VI made the first visit to the Western Hemisphere by a reigning pope. He came to New York to address the UN General Assembly.

1970

Rock singer Janis Joplin was found dead of a drug overdose at age 27.

1990

The German parliament met for the first time since the reunification of Germany.

2001

Authorities confirmed a tabloid editor in Florida had contracted anthrax. He died the next day.

2002

John Walker Lindh, the "American Taliban," received a 20-year sentence.

[GhostDancer]

On today’s date in 1963, a lovable Liverpool band named The Beatles made their first appearance to screaming fans on “Sunday Night at The London Palladium,” causing the media to coin the term “Beatlemania” and the band to go viral overnight.

 

The hour-long U.K. show was a variety entertainment program that was as popular as “The Ed Sullivan Show” in the U.S. It was known for drawing huge British TV audiences and gave 15 million people (and the media) a chance to see The Beatles in action.

 

Screaming teenagers weren’t new for the band, who had a few hit songs and an album out at the time, but the hysteria had previously been confined to small theaters where they had performed.

 

The Beatles were the headliners here and performed four songs, opening with “From Me to You,” followed by “I’ll Get You,” “She Loves You,” and closing with “Twist and Shout.” The following day, newspaper front pages were filled with stories about the screaming fans.

 

Considering how The Beatles would go on to dominate the world press and airwaves, they stopped performing live in 1966 and broke up in 1970, but their status as a phenomenon would last for many years to come.

[BoloOfEarth]

The Beatles... is that the group Paul McCartney was in before Wings? 

[L. Marcus]

[GhostDancer]

Happy Sweetest Day.  The Cleveland Plain Dealer's October 8, 1922 edition, which chronicles the first Sweetest Day in Cleveland, states that the first Sweetest Day was planned by a committee of 12 confectioners chaired by candymaker C. C. Hartzell. The Sweetest Day in the Year Committee distributed over 20,000 boxes of candy to "newsboys, orphans, old folks, and the poor" in Cleveland, Ohio.  In Detroit, Sweetest Day was most heavily promoted by Sanders Candy Company.

[GhostDancer]

1793 Queen Marie Antoinette is beheaded by guillotine during the French Revolution.

1846 Ether was first administered in public at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston by Dr. William Thomas Green Morton during an operation performed by Dr. John Collins Warren.

1859 Abolitionist John Brown, with 21 men, seizes the U.S. Armory at Harpers Ferry, Va. U.S. Marines capture the raiders, killing several. John Brown is later hanged in Virginia for treason.

1901 President Theodore Roosevelt incites controversy by inviting black leader Booker T. Washington to the White House.

1908 The first airplane flight in England is made at Farnsborough, by Samuel Cody, a U.S. citizen.

1934 Mao Tse-tung decides to abandon his base in Kiangsi due to attacks from Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists. With his pregnant wife and about 30,000 Red Army troops, he sets out on the "Long March."

1938 Billy the Kid, a ballet by Aaron Copland, opens in Chicago.

1940 Benjamin O. Davis becomes the U.S. Army's first African American Brigadier General.

1946 Ten Nazi war criminals are hanged in Nuremberg, Germany.

1969 The New York Mets win the World Series four games to one over the heavily-favored Baltimore Orioles.

1973 Israeli General Ariel Sharon crosses the Suez Canal and begins to encircle two Egyptian armies.

1978 The college of cardinals elects 58-year-old Karol Cardinal Wojtyla, a Pole, the first non-Italian Pope since 1523.

1984 A baboon heart is transplanted into 15-day-old Baby Fae--the first transplant of the kind--at Loma Linda University Medical Center, California. Baby Fae lives until November 15.

1995 The Million Man March for 'A Day of Atonement' takes place in Washington, D.C.

1995 Skye Bridge opens over Loch Alsh, Scotland

1998 General Augusto Pinochet, former dictator of Chile, arrested in London for extradition on murder charges

2002 Inaugural opening of Bibliotheca Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt., a modern library and cultural center commemorating the famed Library of Alexandria that was lost in antiquity

Born on October 16

1758 Noah Webster, U.S. teacher, lexicographer and publisher who wrote the American Dictionary of the English Language.

1797 Lord Cardigan, leader of the famed Light Brigade.

1849 George Washington Wiliams, historian, clergyman and politician.

1854 Oscar Wilde, dramatist, poet, novelist and critic.

1886 David Ben-Gurion, Israeli statesman.

1888 Eugene O'Neill, Nobel Prize-winning playwright (A Long Day's Journey Into Night, The Iceman Cometh).

1898 William O. Douglas, U.S. Supreme Court Justice.

1906 Cleanth Brooks, Kentucky-born writer and educator.

1919 Kathleen Winsor, writer Forever Amber.

1925 Angela Lansbury, stage, screen, and TV actress

1927 Gunther Grass, novelist, playwright, painter and sculptor best known for his first novel, The Tin Drum.

1930 Dan Pagis, Romanian-born Israeli poet.

1931 Charles "Chuck" Colson, special counsel to Pres. Richard Nixon (1969-73); one of the "Watergate Seven," he was sentenced to prison for obstruction of justice.

1949 Suzanne Somers, actress (Three's Company TV series).

1958 Tim Robbins, actor, screenwriter, director, producer; won Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in Mystic River 2003.

1969 Roy Hargrove, jazz trumpeter; won Grammy Awards for albums in 1998 (Habana) and 2002 (Directions in Music).

1977 John Mayer, singer, songwriter, musician, producer; won Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance ("Your Body is a Wonderland," 2003).

2003 Princess Kritika of Nepal was born.

[Nolgroth]

Busy day. Forgot to check my calendar first.

[GhostDancer]

 

1244

 

 

 

The Sixth Crusade ends when an Egyptian-Khwarezmian force almost annihilates the Frankish army at Gaza.

 

1529

 

 

 

Henry VIII of England strips Thomas Wolsey of his office for failing to secure an annulment of his marriage.

 

1346

 

 

 

English forces defeat the Scots under David II during the Battle of Neville’s Cross, Scotland.

 

1691

 

 

 

Maine and Plymouth are incorporated in Massachusetts.

 

1777

 

 

 

British Maj. Gen. John Burgoyne surrenders 5,000 men at Saratoga, N.Y.

 

1815

 

 

 

Napoleon Bonaparte arrives at the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic, where he has been banished by the Allies.

 

1849

 

 

 

Composer and pianist Frederic Chopin dies in Paris of tuberculosis at the age of 39.

 

1863

 

 

 

General Ulysses S. Grant is named overall Union Commander of the West.

 

1877

 

 

 

Brigadier General Alfred Terry meets with Sitting Bull in Canada to discuss the Indians’ return to the United States.

 

1913

 

 

 

Zeppelin LII explodes over London, killing 28.

 

1933

 

 

 

Due to rising anti-Semitism and anti-intellectualism in Hitler’s Germany, Albert Einstein immigrates to the United States. He makes his new home in Princeton, N.J.

 

1941

 

 

 

The U.S. destroyer Kearny is damaged by a German U-boat torpedo off Iceland; 11 Americans are killed.

 

1956

 

 

 

The nuclear power station Calder Hall is opened in Britain. Calder Hall is the first nuclear station to feed an appreciable amount of power into a civilian network.

 

1972

 

 

 

Peace talks between Pathet Lao and Royal Lao government begin in Vietnam.

 

1989

 

 

 

The worst earthquake in 82 years strikes San Francisco bay area minutes before the start of a World Series game there. The earthquake registers 6.9 on the Richter scale–67 are killed and damage is estimated at $10 billion.

 

1994

 

 

 

Dmitry Kholodov, a Russian journalist, is assassinated while investigating corruption in the armed forces; his murkier began a series of killings of journalists in Russia.

 

2001

 

 

 

Rehavam Ze’evi, Israeli tourism minister and founder of the right-wing Moledet party, is assassinated by a member of the Popular Front of the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP); he was the first Israeli minister ever assassinated.

 

2003

 

 

 

Taipei 101 is completed in Taipei, becoming the world’s tallest high-rise.

 

Born on October 17

 

1821

 

 

 

Alexander Gardner, American photographer who documented the Civil War and the West.

 

1859

 

 

 

Childe Hassam, American impressionist painter and illustrator.

 

1895

 

 

 

Doris Humphrey, modern dance choreographer.

 

1903

 

 

 

Nathanael West, novelist and screenwriter (Miss Lonely Hearts, The Day of the Locust).

 

1915

 

 

 

Arthur Miller, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright (Death of a Salesman, A View from the Bridge).

 

1918

 

 

 

Rita Hayworth, film actress.

 

1930

 

 

 

Jimmy Breslin, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, author and columnist.

 

1938

 

 

 

Evel Knievel, U.S. daredevil motorcycle stunt man.

 

1942

 

 

 

Gary Puckett, singer, songwriter; lead singer of Gary Puckett & The Union Gap (“Woman, Woman”; “Young Girl”).

 

1946

 

 

 

Michael Hossack, drummer for the Doobie Brothers band

 

1946

 

 

 

Adam Michnik, Polish historian and editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wybocza, Poland’s largest newspaper; named Europe’s Man of the Year by La Vie magazine (1989).

 

1948

 

 

 

Margot Kidder, actress; best known for playing Lois Lane in four Superman movies between 1978 and 1987.

 

1958

 

 

 

Alan Jackson, country singer with over 60 million records sold worldwide; his many awards include 2 Grammys and 16 Country Music Association awards; “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)”; “Don’t Rock the Jukebox.”

 

1960

 

 

 

Rob Marshall, theater and film director, choreographer; awards include 4 Emmys and an Academy Award for Best Picture (Chicago, 2002).

 

1968

 

 

 

Ziggy Marley, Jamaican musician, leader of Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers; oldest son of reggae great Bob Marley.

 

[GhostDancer]

1685

Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes.

1767

The boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania, the Mason-Dixon line, was agreed upon.

1867

The United States took possession of Alaska from Russia.

1912

The first Balkan War broke out.

1931

Inventor Thomas Alva Edison died in West Orange, N.J., at age 84.

1968

The U.S. Olympic Committee suspended Tommie Smith and John Carlos, gold and bronze 200-meter sprint medalists, for giving a "black power" or "human rights" salute during a victory ceremony at the Mexico City games. 

2011

Gilad Shalit, a 25-year-old Israeli soldier, is released after being held for more than five years by Hamas. He is exchanged for 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. Shalit had been held in Gaza since Palestinian militants kidnapped him in 2006.

[GhostDancer]

1781

British General Cornwallis surrendered to General George Washington at Yorktown, Va., bringing an end to the last major battle of the American Revolution.

1812

French troops under Napoleon Bonaparte began their retreat from Moscow.

1960

The United States imposes a partial embargo on goods exported to Cuba.

1983

The Senate passed a bill (78–22) making Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, birthday a public holiday.

1987

The stock market crashed on what came to be known as "Black Monday." Stocks dropped a record 508 points, or 22.6%, topping the drops on October 28 and 29 in 1929 that ushered in the Great Depression.