This Day in History

[glatt]

1999 – A lorry carrying margarine and flour catches fire inside the Mont Blanc Tunnel. The resulting inferno...

as I read this, I started off thinking it was the set-up for a joke.

And then the punchline:

kills 38 people.

Wait. That's not funny. That's horrible.

[xoxoxoBruce]

1663 – The Province of Carolina is granted by charter to eight Lords Proprietor in reward for their assistance in restoring Charles II of England to the throne.

Crony Capitalism, the roots of America.

[BigV]

Re: Fresnel

I have a large Fresnel lens I scavenged from a big projection TV. On a sunny day it can concentrate enough sunlight to make a dark rag burst into flame in about six seconds.

[Gravdigr]

March 25

Today is the International Day Of The Unborn Child.

Also, today is marked as an International Day Of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

Today is observed as International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members by the United Nations General Assembly.

This date also marks Maryland Day, in the U.S. state of Maryland, while Tolkien fans can celebrate Tolkien Reading Day, and Sweden celebrates Waffle Day.

There are 281 days remaining in the year, and 274 days until Christmas. Don't want it to sneak up on ya, dontcha know.


Events

1199 – Richard I (Richard The Lion Heart) is wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting France, leading to his death on April 6.

1306 – Robert the Bruce becomes King of Scots (Scotland).

1584 – Sir Walter Raleigh is granted a patent to colonize Virginia.

1807 – The Swansea and Mumbles Railway, then known as the Oystermouth Railway, becomes the first passenger-carrying railway in the world.

1811 – Percy Bysshe Shelley is expelled from the University of Oxford for publishing the pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism.

1911 – In New York City, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire kills 146 garment workers.

1931 – The Scottsboro Boys are arrested in Alabama and charged with rape.

1948 – The first successful tornado forecast predicts that a tornado will strike Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma.

1949 – More than 92,000 kulaks are suddenly deported from the Baltic states to Siberia.

1957 – United States Customs seizes copies of Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl" on obscenity grounds.

1965 – Civil rights activists led by Martin Luther King Jr. successfully complete their 4-day 50-mile march from Selma to the capitol in Montgomery, Alabama.

1969 – During their honeymoon, John Lennon and Yoko Ono hold their first Bed-In for Peace at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel (until March 31).

1979 – The first fully functional Space Shuttle orbiter, Columbia, is delivered to the John F. Kennedy Space Center to be prepared for its first launch.

1995 – WikiWikiWeb, the world's first wiki, and part of the Portland Pattern Repository, is made public by Ward Cunningham.

1999 - 73-year-old country music singer Ray Price was arrested in his Texas home for possession of marijuana. He was fined $200 after pleading no contest to the charges. According to Price in a 2008 interview, old friend Willie Nelson - no stranger to marijuana arrests - phoned and told him he'd just earned $5 million in free publicity with the drug bust.

2000 - Former Bay City Rollers drummer Derek Longmuir was given 300 hours community service after being caught with a hoard of child pornography including 150 videos and 73 floppy disks.

2006 – Capitol Hill massacre: A gunman kills six people before taking his own life at a party in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Births

1840 – Myles Keogh, 1867 – Gutzon Borglum (designed Mount Rushmore), 1867 – Arturo Toscanini♪ ♫, 1881 – Béla Bartók, 1901 – Ed Begley, 1903 – Binnie Barnes, 1908 – David Lean, 1918 – Howard Cosell, 1921 – Simone Signoret, 1922 – Eileen Ford (co-founded Ford Models), 1925 – Flannery O'Connor, 1928 – Jim Lovell, 1934 – Gloria Steinem, 1937 – Tom Monaghan (founded Domino's Pizza), 1938 – Hoyt Axton♪ ♫, 1942 – Aretha Franklin♪ ♫, 1947 – Elton John♪ ♫, 1948 – Bonnie Bedelia, 1950 – Ronnie McDowell♪ ♫, 1965 – Sarah Jessica Parker, 1966 – Jeff Healey, 1967 – Doug Stanhope, 1967 – Debi Thomas, 1976 – Wladimir Klitschko, 1981 – Danica Patrick, 1984 – Katharine McPhee

Deaths

1918 – Claude Debussy♪ ♫, 1969 – Max Eastman, 1982 – Goodman Ace, 1988 – Robert Joffrey (co-founded the Joffrey Ballet), 1992 – Nancy Walker, 1999 – Cal Ripken, Sr., 2005 – Paul Henning (developed several "rural" comedies for CBS including The Beverly Hillbillies), 2006 - Buck Owens♪ ♫, 2008 – Herb Peterson (created the McMuffin), 2009 – Dan Seals♪ ♫(England Dan & John Ford Coley), 2012 – John Crosfield (founded Crosfield Electronics), 2014 – Ralph Wilson (founded the Buffalo Bills)

[DanaC]

1872 – Illinois becomes the first state to require gender equality in employment.

Wow, that was ahead of the curve.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Yes ahead of the curve, Dana, but when did they start enforcing it?

1306 – Robert the Bruce becomes King of Scots (Scotland).

Ah, one of my forebearers. One of the many dead ones.

[Gravdigr]

Almost all of mine are dead, dead I tell ya.

[Gravdigr]

March 26

Today the U.S. state of Hawaii celebrates Prince Kuhio Day, one of only two holidays in the U.S. to commemorate royalty (the other is also a Hawaiian holiday, King Kamehameha Day).

Today is also Purple Day in Canadia and the U.S..


Events

590 – Emperor Maurice proclaims his son Theodosius as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire. Some people call him Maurice, because he speaks of the pompitous of love.

1169 – Saladin becomes the emir of Egypt.

1351 – Combat of the Thirty: Thirty Breton knights call out and defeat thirty English knights. Shouldn't that be the Combat of the Sixty, then?

1484 – William Caxton prints his translation of Aesop's Fables.

1812 – A political cartoon in the Boston Gazette coins the term "gerrymander" to describe oddly shaped electoral districts designed to help incumbents win reelection.

1830 – The Book of Mormon is published in Palmyra, New York.

1934 – The United Kingdom driving test is introduced.

1945 – World War II: The Battle of Iwo Jima ends as the island is officially secured by American forces.

1954 – Nuclear weapons testing: The Romeo shot of Operation Castle is detonated at Bikini Atoll. Yield: 11 megatons.

1965 - Mick Jagger, Brian Jones and Bill Wyman all received electric shocks from a faulty microphone on stage during a Rolling Stones show in Denmark. Bill Wyman was knocked unconscious for several minutes.

1967 – Ten thousand people gather for one of many Central Park be-ins in New York City.

1970 - Peter Yarrow of Peter Paul and Mary pleaded guilty to 'taking immoral liberties' with a 14 year old girl in Washington D.C. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three months in jail.

1975 – The Biological Weapons Convention comes into force.

1979 – Anwar al-Sadat, Menachem Begin and Jimmy Carter sign the Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty in Washington, D.C..

1981 – Social Democratic Party (UK) is founded as a party.

1982 – A groundbreaking ceremony for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is held in Washington, D.C..

1997 – Thirty-nine bodies are found in the Heaven's Gate mass suicides.

2005 – The BBC broadcasts "Rose" (starring Christopher Eccleston), the first returning episode Doctor Who, after its cancellation in 1989. It is now the world's longest running science fiction drama.

Births

1860 – André Prévost, 1874 – Robert Frost ("...and miles to go before I sleep"), 1875 – Syngman Rhee (1st President of South Korea), 1879 – Othmar Ammann (designed the George Washington Bridge and Verrazano–Narrows Bridge), 1881 – Guccio Gucci, 1898 – Rudolf Dassler (founded Puma athletic wear), 1911 – Tennessee Williams, 1914 – William Westmoreland, 1916 – Sterling Hayden (Johnny Guitar, The Asphalt Jungle, The Killing (1956)), 1917 – Rufus Thomas♪ ♫, 1919 – Strother Martin ("What we've got here, is a failure to communicate..."), 1923 – Bob Elliott (Bob & Ray), 1929 – Edwin Turney (co-founded Advanced Micro Devices(AMD)), 1930 – Sandra Day O'Connor, 1931 – Leonard Nimoy, 1934 – Alan Arkin, 1935 – Mahmoud Abbas, 1938 – Norman Ackroyd, 1940 – James Caan, 1940 – Nancy Pelosi, 1941 – Richard Dawkins, 1942 – Erica Jong, 1943 – Bob Woodward, 1944 – Diana Ross♪ ♫, 1946 – Johnny Crawford (The Rifleman's son), 1948 – Richard Tandy(ELO), 1948 – Steven Tyler♪ ♫(Aerosmith), 1949 – Vicki Lawrence (The Carol Burnett Show, Mama's Family), 1949 – Fran Sheehan(Boston), 1950 – Teddy Pendergrass♪ ♫, 1950 – Martin Short, 1953 – Elaine Chao, 1954 – Curtis Sliwa (founded Guardian Angels), 1956 – Charly McClain♪ ♫, 1957 – Leeza Gibbons, 1959 – Chris Hansen, 1960 – Marcus Allen (1st NFL player to gain more than 10,000 rushing yards and 5,000 receiving yards, only NFL player to have won a Heisman Trophy, an NCAA National Championship, a Super Bowl, and be named NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP), 1960 – Jennifer Grey, 1966 – Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos, Good Fellas, High Roller: The Stu Unger Story), 1968 – Kenny Chesney♪ ♫, 1968 – James Iha♪ ♫(The Smashing Pumpkins), 1973 – Larry Page (co-founded Google), 1973 – T. R. Knight (Grey's Anatomy), 1984 – Sara Jean Underwood(Playmate), 1985 – Keira Knightley (English twig)

Deaths

1776 – Samuel Ward, 1827 – Ludwig van Beethoven, 1892 – Walt Whitman, 1932 – Henry M. Leland (founded Cadillac and Lincoln), 1959 – Raymond Chandler (created detective Philip Marlowe), 1973 – Noël Coward, 1990 – Halston, 1996 – Edmund Muskie, 1996 – David Packard (co-founded Hewlett-Packard), 2002 – Randy Castillo(Ozzy Osbourne, Lita Ford, Mötley Crüe), 2003 – Daniel Patrick Moynihan, 2006 – Paul Dana, 2011 – Geraldine Ferraro

[xoxoxoBruce]

1934 – The United Kingdom driving test is introduced.

So Carruthers got his license without testing!

[Gravdigr]

Ooh, snap!

[Carruthers]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

So Carruthers got his license without testing!

I shall be instructing Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel first thing tomorrow morning.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Bwahahahahahahaha.

[Gravdigr]

March 27

Today is International Whisk(e)y Day.

Also today, World Theatre Day is observed internationally.


Events

1513 – Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León reaches the northern end of The Bahamas on his first voyage to Florida.

1625 – Charles I becomes King of England, Scotland and Ireland as well as claiming the title King of France.

1836 – Texas Revolution: On the orders of General Antonio López de Santa Anna, the Mexican army massacres 342 Texas POWs at Goliad, Texas.

1884 – A mob in Cincinnati, Ohio, attacks members of a jury which had returned a verdict of manslaughter in what was seen as a clear case of murder; over the next few days the mob would riot and eventually destroy the courthouse.

1886 – Apache warrior, Geronimo, surrenders to the U.S. Army, ending the main phase of the Apache Wars.

1915 – Typhoid Mary, is put in quarantine, where she would remain for the rest of her life.

1964 – The Good Friday earthquake, the most powerful earthquake in U.S. history at a magnitude of 9.2 strikes Southcentral Alaska, killing 125 people and inflicting massive damage to the city of Anchorage.

1971 - New York radio station WNBC banned the song 'One Toke Over the Line' by Brewer & Shipley because of its alleged drug references. Other stations around the country followed suit.

1977 – Tenerife airport disaster: Two Boeing 747 airliners collide on a foggy runway on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, killing 583 (all 248 on KLM and 335 on Pan Am). Sixty-one survived on the Pan Am flight. This is the worst aviation accident in history.

1979 - Eric Clapton married Patti Harrison (the ex wife of George) at Temple Bethel, Tucson, Arizona.

1980 – The Norwegian oil platform Alexander L. Kielland collapses in the North Sea, killing 123 of its crew of 212.

1980 – Silver Thursday: A steep fall in silver prices, resulting from the Hunt Brothers attempting to corner the market in silver, leads to panic on commodity and futures exchanges.

1990 – The United States begins broadcasting TV Martí, an anti-Castro propaganda network, to Cuba.

1998 – The Food and Drug Administration approves Viagra for use as a treatment for male impotence, the first pill to be approved for this condition in the United States. And there was much rejoicing.

1999 – Kosovo War: A Yugoslav surface-to-air missile downed a U.S. F-117A, the first and only kill of the stealth aircraft.

2015 - Country singer Willie Nelson announced that he and his family were hard at work on a new brand of marijuana called Willie's Reserve. Stores of that same name were being planned and were to include his signature brand and other strains that would be grown to meet quality standards.

Births

1845 – Wilhelm Röntgen, 1863 – Henry Royce (of Rolls-Royce), 1886 – Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (designed IBM Plaza and Seagram Building), 1899 – Gloria Swanson ('Norma Desmond' in Sunset Boulevard), 1914 – Richard Denning (Creature From The Black Lagoon), 1921 – Phil Chess (co-founded Chess Records), 1924 – Sarah Vaughan♪ ♫, 1929 – Anne Ramsey (Throw Momma from the Train), 1931 – David Janssen ('Dr. Richard Kimble' in The Fugitive (1963)), 1932 – Junior Parker♪ ♫, 1939 – Cale Yarborough, 1942 – Michael Jackson (no, the writer), 1942 – Michael York, 1952 – Maria Schneider (Last Tango In Paris), 1959 – Andrew Farriss♪ ♫(INXS), 1963 – Quentin Tarantino, 1970 – Mariah Carey♪ ♫, 1970 – Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost), 1971 – Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Castle), 1975 – Fergie♪ ♫(Black-Eyed Peas)

Deaths

1900 – Joseph A. Campbell (founded the Campbell Soup Company), 1945 – Vincent Hugo Bendix (founded Bendix Corporation), 1968 – Yuri Gagarin, 1991 – Aldo Ray, 1994 – Lawrence Wetherby (48th Governor of Kentucky), 2002 – Milton Berle, 2002 – Dudley Moore, 2002 – Billy Wilder, 2009 – Irving R. Levine, 2011 – Farley Granger (Rope, Strangers On A Train), 2016 – Mother Angelica

[xoxoxoBruce]

1998 – The Food and Drug Administration approves Viagra for use as a treatment for male impotence, the first pill to be approved for this condition in the United States. And there was much rejoicing.

For less than four hours.

[Gravdigr]

Tell the doctor, hell, I'm telling everybody!