October 11

Pretty slow day. I'll ignore some middling possibilities and just go with this.

1975. Saturday Night Live premiers, with George Carlin as host, and Andy Kaufman among the guests.

Yea, I think I got my first blowjob about then too.

October 12

1492. Christopher Columbus' expedition makes landfall in the Bahamas, though the explorer believes he is in Southern Asia.

1692. Governor Phips of Massachusetts issues orders to stop the increasingly controversial and unpopular Salem Witch Trials, and will eventually order the special court convened to try the accused disbanded. After 19 hangings and one person being crushed to death, the madness is stopped. Something like 200 individuals accused of witchcraft are pardoned.

1892. Partly in celebration of Columbus' voyage, school children first recite the PLedge of Allegiance. In 1942 Congress will recognize it as the official pledge of the United States. Originally, the pledge did not include the words "under God". In 1954, President Eisenhower, originally raised as a Jehovah's Witness but having previously converted to Presbyterianism a few years before his election, signs legislation including the religious phrasing to the pledge.

1901. Theodore Roosevelt officially renames the "Executive Mansion" the "White House".

1933. The Department of Justice obtains the Army Disciplinary Barracks on Alcatraz Island.

1960. Soviet Premier Nikita Kruschev embarrasses himself and his country by removing his shoe and pounding it on his desk while attending a United Nations meeting. He was protesting allegations by the Phillipines that the Soviet Union was embarking on colonialism in Eastern Europe.

1972. A racial brawl breaks out on the USS Kitty Hawk, an aircraft carrier en route to the Gulf of Tonkin. More than 200 sailors are involved and 50 are injured. A Congressional inquiry follows.

1979. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is published.

October 13

54. Nero ascends to the throne of Rome.

1307. Agents of Philip the Fair, better known as King Philip IV of France, who was heavily indebted to the Knights Templar, orders hundreds arrested and put to the test, torturing confessions of heresy etc. from them. Under heavy pressure from King Philip, Pope Clement V disbands the order by 1312. The quick dissolution of what had been for two centuries a powerful sect leads to legends that live on to this day.

This sad state of affairs is only a variation of actions performed by sovereigns (especially French sovereigns) throughout history to avoid their debts, with the Jews especially being a repeated victim. Ironically, if the Knights Templar had only stuck to their names, and avoided amassing any wealth, none of this may have come to pass. The Knights' formal name: The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon.

1792. The cornerstone of the White House is laid.

1884. Greenwich, in London, England, is established as the Universal Time meridian of longitude.

Wow, I can't recall this happening; I was even in the Navy at the time. But then again I was stationed in sunny California experimenting with some Panama Red etc. Maybe its like the 60's? Can't seem to remember them too well either. :D

October 14

1066. The Battle of Hastings. The forces of William II of Normandy defeat the forces of Harold II of England. Henceforth, William is known as William I, King of England, or William the Conqueror. Before all is said and done, the influence of the Normans will be felt far and wide across Europe and even in the Middle East as part of the Crusades. Closer to home, however, the rulership over both England and a part of France will drive English/French politics, and Western European politics, for hundreds of years.

1322. Robert the Bruce of Scotland defeats King Edward II of England at Byland, forcing England to (for now) accept Scottish independence.

1586. Mary, Queen of Scots, goes on trial for her efforts to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I. Her own letters condemned her, though she put up a spirited defense. Found guilty, she was sentenced to execution by beheading. Queen Elizabeth was reluctant to order the sentence carried out, however, mostly out of concern that her son, James of Scotland, might form an alliance with the Catholic powers of Europe. By early the next year, however, she ordered her death, and on February 8, 1587 her head was separate from her shoulders by two or three (there is some dispute) blows from an axe.

1656. The hypocritcal Puritans of Massachusetts, who had fled England to avoid religious persecution, enact punitive legislation against the Religious Society of Friends, better known as the Quakers. The close relationship between church and state in Massachusetts results in the Quakers being, effectively, politically subversive and religiously apostate.

1834. An election battle in Philadelphia turns violent, with a block of the city burning down in the wake of the brick, stone and firearms battle between Whigs and Democrats to control the results in one township.

1867. The last Shogun, of the Tokugawa Shogunate, of Japan resigns as a critical part of the Meiji Restoration and the revival in power of the Emperor.

1912. While campaigning, former President Theodore Roosevelt is shot and slightly wounded by a wanna-be assassin. Carrying the bullet in his chest, Roosevelt gives the planned speech.

1926. Winnie-the-Pooh is first published.

1939. A German U-Boat sinks the British battleship Royal Oak at her mooring at Scapa Flow, Scotland, a main British navy base. While their political leaders are, for lack of a better term, complete s**theads, there's no denying that this is a truly amazing act of bravery and resourcefulness by the Kriegsmarine.

1943. Black Thursday. One of the most dramatic air battles in history takes place in the skies over Germany as the US Army Air Force returns for a second daylight attack on the ball bearing plants at Schweinfurt. Over 60 bombers are shot down by the German fighter swarms and deadly 88mm cannons. Out of 350 bombers, only 17 return undamaged. American bomber command suspends daylight activities due to the losses, only resuming them in February when longer range fighters are available to provide more air support to the bombers.

1944. Athens, Greece, is liberated by British troops. Rumors that the population celebrated by putting nearly everyone on the public dole and avoiding taxes are unfounded.

1962. The Cuban Missile Crisis begins when an American U-2 reconnaissance plane flies over Cuba and takes pictures of Soviet missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads being installed.

1964. Partly as a result of the events that will unfold around the Cuban Missile Crisis, on this date Leonid Brezhnev ascends to power in the Soviet Union, sending his predecessor, Nikita Khrushchev, into forced retirement. Khrushchev's name will be systematically erased from nearly all Soviet histories, including his achievements during WWII.

1982. President Reagan declares a war on drugs.

Should we see the Puritans as more hypocritical for their actions, or tyrannical? I think the latter. I see the entire English Puritan/Anglican/Catholic back-and-forth as much more of a battle for religious supremacy, not a battle for political/religious freedoms. Certainly the Puritans never saw Roger Williams' ideas of religious freedom as worth a grain of salt. I don't think it's til Locke that it's an idea that is taken seriously, politically.

You're probably right on that.

The Sigil of Baphomet was born and metal gets its banner.

Just get to the 21st already. Give us a good write up on nelson final great battle.

Big fan, huh? :p

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It's kind of quaint that Greenwich is still used.

You've come to the right man. I've got the upcoming weekend to prepare, and a book on Trafalgar to use as a resource for some detail. And I'm glad to take requests since I've suddenly got all this unwanted competition from Fax....


:D

what book? Finished off a monster book about ships of the line last month.

Pretty sure it's this one, though the cover isn't what I remember.

http://www.amazon.com/Nelsons-Trafal...7075379&sr=1-1


Two very interesting books that I have read on the warships of that era are Six Frigates, and If by Sea. They both deal with some of the political stuff around the building of the US navy's first ships, etc. If by Sea covers alot of stuff, and has generally fewer battles, etc. Six Frigates is a easier reading and goes into some fascinating detail about the construction methods employed by Joshua Humphreys.

What book did you recently complete?