I knew a girl like that in high school.

The pictures bring history to life for me.

One of the things on my theoretical bucket list is to see a night launch of NASA's.

I think I might know who you're talking about. Was she also a big Sprite drinker?

http://cdn.wg.uproxx.com/wp-content/...te-blowjob.jpg

Well, it took longer than normal for a ChiefsPlanet thread, but I suppose something like this was inevitable....


:D

December 15

1256. The Mongols under Hulagu Khan (grandson of Genghis) capture and destroy the stronghold of Alamut, which is located in present-day Iran. Alamut was the then-fabled headquarters of the Hashshanin, built on a mountain top. The Hashshashin, from which the word "assassin" is derived, were a group of fabled killers whose shadowy tendrils held the extended Muslim world in thrall and terror. Alamut was believed to be impregnable, but the Mongols were far more than just the "hordes of cavalry" that western-centric history has tried to paint them as. Ultimately, the sect surrendered their fortress without a fight, after seeing what may well have been the largest army of the Middle Ages. This army, sent by Great Khan Mongke, commanded by Hulagu, was ordered to contain 2 of every 10 fighting men in the Mongol Empire, which at this point was already massive.

Interestingly, the name Hashshanin may be related to the word Hashish, as it was commonly believed that the Hashshanins used hash before going on missions.

The capture of Alamut was but a step in the Mongol invasion of the now thoroughly Muslim dominated southwest Asia.

Hulagu Khan would go on to crush Baghdad and Damascus, ending the dynasties that had ruled those states, and shifting the center of Muslim power to the Mamluk Dynasty in Egypt. He was headed to crush Egypt when the Great Khan, Mongke, died, forcing Hulagu to return to Mongolia to select Mongke's successor, leaving a token force behind, which eventually was routed. The Mongols were never able to retake some of the territory they lost, and the Ilkhanate established under the Mongols saw its borders remain on the Tigris River for the remainder of Hulagu's rule.

Hulagu's attempts to ally with European states for joint attack on the Islamic world never amounted to much, but the diplomatic exchanges themselves are worthy of note.

1864. At the Battle of Nashville, the Union forces of General Thomas (the Rock of Chickamuaga) annihilate the forces of Confederate General Hood (attack, always!), basically eliminating them from the war.

1917. The new Bolshevik government agrees to an Armistice with the Central Powers.

1933. The 21st Amendment to the Constitution becomes effective, once again legalizing alcohol.

1973. The American Psychiatric Association votes unanimously to remove homosexuality from its list of official psychiatric disorders

Here's a map of the Ilkhanate.

http://bss.sfsu.edu/behrooz/Map-ilkhanate1300.gif

http://www.albany.edu/~wm731882/goodolddaysreturn.jpg

http://media.ebaumsworld.com/picture...Drunkgirls.png

ROFL ROFL

Surely if we can repeal such a mistake as the 18th Amendment, we can repeal the even bigger mistake of the 19th?

:toast:

December 16

1431. Highlighting the issues that caused the two nations to be at war on and off for the better part of a millenium, King Henry VI of England is crowned King of France at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Despite this seeming success, Henry's many limitations (including mental instability) will lead to the collapse of the House of Lancaster and the rise of the House of York.

1653. Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector during the English Interregnum.

1773. The Boston Tea Party is held when the Sons of Liberty, disguised as Mohawks, dump crates of tea into Boston Harbor in protest of English taxes.

1812. The first of the New Madrid Quake (megaquakes) is recorded). Named after New Madrid, Missouri, some of the quakes were felt strongly over an area of 50,000
square miles, and moderately across nearly 3 million square miles. Residents as far away as Pittsburgh, Pennsylvnia, and Norfolk, Virginia were awakened by the shaking. They are estimated to have been at 7.5 to 8.0 on the Richter scale.

1907. President Theodore Roosevelt's "Great White Fleet" begins its circumnavigation of the globe. A fleet of modern warships, the fleet was designed to show that American power was rising.

1944. The Battle of the Bulge begins when three German armies launch a surprise assault through the Ardennes forest into a relative weak spot in Allied lines. Those of you who have seen the movie Patton and may remember the scene where Patton predicted that this attack might occur at this timeframe and in this location should be advised that there is little/no evidence in support of that. What is not total bs was the quick response by allied troops, including those under Patton certainly, in reacting to contain the German offensive.

1985. On the orders of John Gotti, Mafia kingpin "Big Paul" Castellano is shot dead, leaving Gotti in charge of the Gambino crime family.

The original New Madrid townsite now lies under the Mississippi River which has obviously changed course. They say that the quakes made the river run backward for a while. Here is the town as it appears today. It's a pretty typical small town Missouri look for those not familiar with the area:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_po4-mq-g7j...id,+MO-500.jpg

The Great White Fleet -- which I remember reading about some time ago and hearing a former seaman say that it was ridiculous how often they had to keep repainting the ships to keep them white. As anyone's mother will tell you -- white stains, and ships at sea, especially ships with very dirty smokestacks -- didn't stay clean very well. So they're on this diplomatic thing going around the world, painting and painting and painting... :D

This is the Battleship USS Kentucky:

http://www.navsource.org/archives/01/010634.jpg

http://www.navytimes.com/xml/news/20..._fleet_800.JPG


Big Paul Costellano

http://www.topmobs.com/wp-content/up...castellano.jpg

http://www.topmobs.com/wp-content/up...astellano2.jpg

And new Don John Gotti, the "Teflon Don" for his sharp suits and slippery ability to avoid going to prison, though eventually the feds got him.

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:V...0gotti.jpg&t=1

December 17

1398. Timur, sometimes known as Tamerlane, crushes the Sultan's armies outside Delhi. The conqueror will enter the city and his armies will rampage for eight days, killing 100,000.

1777. France formally recognizes the USA.

1862. US General Ulysses S. Grant issues the infamous General Order No 11, expelling all Jews from his military districts, which were then comprised of Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky. The order was predicated on an effort to stop a black market around cotton smuggling, which was used to financially support the South, and which Grant believed was mostly being carried out by those of Jewish origin. President Lincoln would soon revoke the order, and Grant would claim (dubiously) that it had been drafted by a subordinate and that he has signed it without reading it.

1903. Having effected repairs to their plane after the failed effort of a few days ago, the Wright Brothers successfully test their heavier-than-air flying machine.

1944. Elements of the SS Sixth German Panzer Army, under Sepp Dietrich, massacre captured US soldiers. The massacre will become part of the Dachau Trials of 1946, and Dietrich will admit that Hitler had ordered that under the Third Reich's dire circumstances, the far more brutal "tactics" of the Eastern Front were to be used in the West to hopefully terrorize the Allied forces. Dietrich will be sentenced to 25 years, serving 10, for these acts, and then retried and serve some additional time for other crimes committed during the Nazi years.

1989. First episode of the Simpsons airs in the US.

17 Dec 1939: German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee was scuttled in Montevideo, Uruguay
http://ww2db.com/images/ship_grafspee2.jpg

It may have been "The Man Show" that set up a booth on an LA street asking people to sign a petition to "End Women's Suffrage." People were signing it left and right. It was obvious people had no idea what they were signing until they were told afterward... and hilarity, with some pissed off people, ensued.

In Season 7 Episode 9 of the Simpsons (Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming), Sideshow Bob takes Bart hostage on the Wright Brother's plane.

http://sharetv.org/images/guide/350517.jpg

Yep, it was The Man Show and it was hilarious.

http://www.sanchi.ro/view_video.php?...f7fac026ead455

That's what I love about history - how two seemingly unrelated events actually were related.

Wow. That's news to me.

There are some very interesting stories around Grant and, especially, Sherman. Sherman in all likelihood would have rounded up and shot all the newspapermen around the army if he could. He literally thought of them all as traitors.

Sherman, FWIW, was clearly no abolitionist. While he didn't come out and say it, he was probably not a big fan of abolition or the 14th Amendment. There was a very unpleasant episode during Sherman's March where the Union Army, ostensibly to prevent Confederate troops from continuing to follow them and their baggage train (a legitimate concern) destroyed a pontoon bridge they had made over a river, making it harder for the Confederates to follow. There is some considerable argument as to whether Sherman was aware of this, as this wing of his army was commanded by Union General Jefferson C. Davis (no relation, and one of the weirdest coincidences of the war), who was VERY clearly a racist.

As a result of the cutting of the bridge, the very large number of slaves who had escaped their plantations and were following the Union Army to, hopefully, freedom, were suddenly cut off. Many, in desperation, sought to swim the river, and many drowned. Many of the runaway slaves were older, or women with children.

The Confederate forces who had been trailing the Union Army, once they saw the runaway slaves bereft of Sherman's protection, did the inevitable, and unspeakable.

Word of this somehow got back to Washington, and the abolitionist movement, and in particular Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, were absolutely irate. There was discussion of relieving Sherman -- who had just accomplished one of the most amazing feats in modern military history -- of command. Grant stepped in and mediated.

Stanton was also extremely vexed by the cease-fire/armistice agreement made between Sherman and General Joseph Johnston of the Confederacy, which Stanton, and ultimately President Johnson, thought far too generous (and over-reaching) and they ordered revoked/null. Sherman thought he was carrying otu Lincoln's oft-stated wishes regarding peace, but was overruled and publicly embarrassed.

Weeks later, when the Union armies paraded through Washington DC, the Army of the Potomac, nominally under Meade but really under Grant, were camped closer to the city, and paraded on the first day. Sherman's Army was across the river, and when his men marched through the city, they and Sherman refused pointedly to acknowledge the Secretary of War.

Me too. Well done, Amnorix.

December 18

1271. Kublai Khan renames his empire (China, mostly) Yuan, marking the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty.

1912. "Piltdown Man" is discovered in England. It won't be firmly proven to be perhaps the most famous paleontological hoax until 1953. You can still have a drink at The Piltdown Man Pub, near the site of the "discovery", which is still in business under that name.

1915. President Woodrow Wilson, while in office, marries Edith Bolling Galt. A few years later she will effectively run the government after her husband is incapacitated by a serious stroke that is hidden by the public.

1932. The Chicago Bears defeat the Portsmouth Spartans 9-0 in the NFL Championship. Because of a blizzard, the game was moved to the indoor Chicago Stadium, which could only accomodate an 80 yard field.

December 19

1777. The Continental Army and George Washington go into winter quarters in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

1828. John C. Calhoun pens a pamphlet triggering the Nullification Crisis of 1828, which primarily relates to a tariff.

1916. The Battle of Verdun ends, with the French having successfully thwarted a German offensive, though hundreds of thousands of casualties occur on both sides.

1924. The last Rolls Royce Silver Ghost is sold.

1993. The House of Representatives forwards articles of impeachment against President Clinton to the Senate.

December 22

1807. Congress passes, at President Jefferson's urging, the much-despised Embargo Act of 1807. The Act prohibits all trade with foreign countries. During the lead-up to the War of 1812, this Act was designed to (theoretically) protect America's interests as it was increasinbly being drawn into the war(s) between England and France during the Napoleonic era. The law was fairly effective at throttling trade between America and her trade partners, and Jefferson thought that he could bring Europe to heel by this method of economic coercion. Instead, American ships rotted at their wharves and American crops could not find their way to markets. England switched to South America as a primary trade partner, and English shipping interests were thrilled to have competition from America eliminated. This Act, without doubt one of the stupidest law in early American history, was replaced in...

1809. ...with the Non-Intercourse Act, which repealed the Embargo Act, four days before Jefferson's Presidency ended. The Non-Intercourse Act prohibited foreign trade only with England and France, and was basically completely unenforceable.

It should be noted, however, that the Embargo Act and Non-Intercourse Act had an unintended side-benefit -- due to the inability to import manufactured goods from Europe and the stifling of foreign trade, the development of America's manufacturing sector boomed during this period, as investors sought something to invest in, and there was a serious shortage of manufactured products.

1864. William T. Sherman captures Savannah, Georgia, and sends a note to President Lincoln about it.
to which Lincon replied

This concludes Sherman's March to the Sea, as he had successfully reached the coast and replenishment via the US Navy. He would go on, however, to march North, through the Carolinas, inflicting as much damage there as he had in Georgia.

1894. The Dreyfus Affair begins when French officer Alfred Dreyfus is wrongly convicted of treason, mainly on antisemitic grounds.

1944. German troops demand the surrender of Bastogne, Belgium, which is stubbornly being held and defended by American troops of the 101st Airborne Division actively commanded by General Anthony McAuliffe. The 101st's usual commanding officer was in the United States at a staff meeting when the Germans launched their surprise assault. The 101st was soon completely encircled by German forces, prompting this exchange.

The response was not really understood by the Germans, and the Americans delivering the message under truce explained that it meant "Go to hell".

Following this exchange, the American forces under McAuliffe held out for four days until relief arrived from American forces rolling back the German assault. Shortly after this, McAuliffe received his own division, the 103rd. He would remain in the Army following the war, eventually retiring after serving as Commander in Chief of US Army forces in Europe.

1984. During a time when crime in New York City was at an all-time high, a white man named Bernhard Goetz shoots four African-American would-be muggers on an express train in New York, prompting national discourse regarding crime, race relations and vigilantes. All four victims were seriously wounded, but survived. Goetz would be charged with attempted murder, assault, reckless endangerment and other crimes, but would be found not guilty by a Manhattan jury of all counts except the possession of an unlicensed firearm charge, for which he served an eight month sentence.

1989. Ion Iliescu takes over the government of Romania after a week of bloody demonstrations, ending Nickolai Ceausescu's repressive Communist regime.

1978. Deng Xiaoping reverses Mao's economic policies, and replaces them with plans that would lead to China's growing economic power and ascendancy which continues through today.

1992. Dr. Martin Almada, a human-rights activist and lawyer, trolls through files in Paraguay searching for information regarding a former prisoner. He instead finds the "Archives of Terror" -- detailed files regarding the murder of 50,000 people and imprisonment of 40,000 more Latin Americans by the former government under General Pinochet. The files detail the kidnapping, capture and brutal torture of victims, often before execution, and how other Latin American countries' military and intelligence services helped by providing information regarding the victims. Some of these other countries then used the files to prosecute certain fo their own military officers who had helped Pinochet.

2001. Richard Reid attempts his shoe-bombing.

If I recall correctly, this game is where moving the ball to the hashmarks comes from, as well.




Sent from my Cuisinart using Tapatalk

So, nothing happened on the 20th and 21st? Was time travel invented?

December 21

2010. Amnorix flies out to wherever the hell Donger is and kills him.


Typo fixed, bastidge.

:cuss:

patteeu, when do you think you'll have pictures up?

LMAO

December 21

69. Vespasian is crowned Roman Emperor, ending the Roman Civil War that had erupted after the suicide of Nero a year earlier. He is the last of four men to have worn the crown of Emperor during the year, which has since been known as "The Year of Four Emperors". The death of Nero brought an end to the Judio-Claudian line and Vespasian's ascension begins the Flavian line which will only last for three Emperors, but will greatly strengthen an empire that had been brought to its knees by the last few rulers of the last dynasty.

1620. The Mayflower lands at Plymouth Rock.

1913. The first crossword puzzle is published in the New York World.

http://www.crosswordtournament.com/m...ages/wynne.gif

If you want to see the clues, etc.: http://www.crosswordtournament.com/more/wynne.html

1937. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, the world's first feature length animated film, premiers.

Damn illegal immigrants! I hope they plan on getting jobs!:evil:

Urf. I screwed up. All that stuff that I posted, originally as occurring on the 22nd, but then Donger pointed out my mistake, so I changed the date to the 20th? Yeah, that stuff did happen on the 22nd. I fat-fingered it or whatever. So I've now re-edited that date back to the 22nd, and will post what happened on the 20th today.

December 20

1192. After signing a treaty with Saladin ending the Third Crusade, Richard the Lion Heart is imprisoned by Leopold V, Duke of Austria, who will hand him over to the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry VI. He will famously (for the time) refuse to show deference to the Emperor, claiming to be born of a rank that recognizes no superior but God. The Emperor will demand, and receive, a ransom equal to 2-3 times the annual income of the British crown, forcing Eleanor of Aquitane to impose a tax of 1/4th of the wealth of the British population and clergy, and empty many churches of their gold and silver.

1860. South Carolina secedes from the United States, the first state to do so. Four years later she is looking down the barrel of Sherman's army, about to capture Savannah Georgia and then rampage northward through the Carolinas that had started it all.

1924. Hitler is released from Landsberg Prison. In retrospect, this wasn't the best move from anyone's point of view.

1989. The US invades Panama to overthrow the corrupt regime of Manuel Noreiga.

2007. Queen Elizabeth II becomes the oldest monarch in British history, surpassing Queen Victoria.

One of their more frumpy queens. Well, they're all frumpy, aren't they?

December 23

1823. "A Visit from St. Nicholas", more commonly known by its opening line of "The Night Before Christmas" is published anonymously.

1913. The Federal Reserve Act is signed into law by President Wilson.

1970. The North Tower of the World Trade Center is topped out at 1,368 feet, making it the tallest building in the world.

1979. Soviet forces occupy Kabul, Afghanistan.

December 24

1814. The Treaty of Ghent, ending the misbegotten War of 1812, is signed.

1851. The Library of Congress loses 2/3rds of its books to fire. This includes about 2/3rds of the contribution made by Thomas Jefferson.

1865. The Ku Klux Klan is formed in Pulaski, Tennessee by Confederate veterans. This "first" Klan incarnation never had any organization beyond the local level, but was widely copied throughout the South during the period of Reconstruction.

1943. Dwight David Eisenhower is named Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Force (SCAEF). General Marshall and British Field Marshal Alanbrooke had hoped for the appointment, but Marshall could not be spared by President Roosevelt as Marshall's clout before Congress was tremendous, and Alanbrooke and the British had to give way to the eventual vast superiority of American numbers in Europe. IIRC, by December 1944, American forces on continental Europe would outnumber the British by 2:1.

1955. North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD)'s predecessor tracks Santa for the first time in what will become an annual holiday tradition. The tradition began when a Sears department store placed an advertisement in a Colorado newspaper, telling children they could call Santa and providing a phone number which was actually the number for the Colorado Springs' Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) Center. Colonel Shoup, commanding officer that night, told the phone operators to give the children who called a "current location" for Santa.

In 1958 CONAD was replaced with NORAD. NORAD continues the tradition to this day, using volunteers -- mostly at Peterson Air Base and Cheyenne Mountain -- to staff the effort. The volunteers handle approximately 12,000 emails and 70,000 telephone calls each year.

December 25.

800. Charlesmagne is crowned as Holy Roman Emperor in Rome.

1066. William the Conqueror is crowned King of England.

1130. Count Roger II is crowned first King of Sicily.

1261. On his eleventh birthday, John IV Laskaris, co-Emperor of the Byzantine Empire is blinded and deposes on the orders of his co-Emperor, Michael VIII Palaiologis. His blinding made John IV ineligible for the throne. His actions, however, will cause Michael VIII's excommunication and a revolt against his rule. John IV will spend the remainder of his life as a monk, and is visited 30 years later by Andronikos II Palaiologis, who will seek forgiveness for his father's actions. John IV will later be consecrated as a saint.

1776. George Washington and his men cross the Delaware River to assault the Hessian mercenaries of the British crown camped at Trenton, New Jersey.

1818. First performance of "Silent Night", in Austria.

1868. President Johnson grants an executive pardon of all Confederate Civil War veterans.

1941. Admiral Nimitz arrives in Hawaii and assumes command of the Pacific Fleet (CINCPAC) (prounounced "sink-pack").

1991. Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as President of the Soviet Union, which will dissolve the next day.

Rumor has it that a major religious leader was also born on this date.

This is why you should always do backups.

:mad:
...over Christmas vacation, put forth by one Congressman.

Also today, in various years: Christmas Island was discovered, Ceaucescu and his wife were unceremoniously killed by special forces, Jon-Benet Ramsey was murdered, and Jimmy Buffett was born.

Washington taking Trenton was one of the greatest ass-kickings in military history, and ol' George was literally leading the charge from the front. We took almost 900 prisoners, and lost 2. To exposure.

Also, Charlemagne was crowned by surprise; he knelt to pray in St. Peter's and boom Leo III dropped the crown on his head. William the Conqueror, on the other hand, had shouting inside and riots outside, and his men started torching houses in response. Then came the mass looting. Good times.

There are some good Christmas-day stories.

Don't ty to posture this as some kind of midnight sneak through Congress. The plan had been in play for years, and the final acts were pretty overwhelmingly approved.

<SUP></SUP>
<SUP></SUP>

I'm not particularly familiar with Charlesmagne, but BOY do I not believe that one. Sounds more like Chuck had some great PR people. The reluctant king always plays better with the masses....

December 26th, 2010

THE CHIEFS ARE AFC WEST CHAMPIONS!

December 26

1871. Gilbert and Sullivan collaborate on their first piece, the now lost opera Thespis. It fares only moderately well, and they won't collaborate again until four years later.

1919. Babe Ruth is sold by Boston Red Sox owner Harry Frazee to the New York Yankees. After winning the WS 1918, they won't finish above .500 until 1934. Ironically, given the future long-running animosity between the teams, this deal helped seal an alliance of the Yankees and Red Sox, which also included the White Sox, against the American League Commissioner Ban Johnson and the so-called "Loyal Five", who basically did Johnson's bidding all the time (unlike the Yanks, WS and RS).

1933. FM radio is patented.

1944. Patton's Third Army penetrates the German forces encircling Bastogne.

1991. The Supreme Soviet meets for the last time and formally dissolves the Soviet Union.

1996. Six year old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey is found beaten and strangled in her family home basement.

I'll pretend to drink to that!

December 27

537. The Hagia Sophia, in Constantinople, is completed. This is the third and final chruch built on the site, is one of the greatest churches of Christendom, and is later converted to a mosque after the capture of the city by the Ottoman Turks.

1831. Charles Darwin embarks upon the HMS Beagle.

1922. The Japanese complete the aircraft carrier Hosho, the first ship built expressly as an aircraft carrier in the world.

1932. Radio City Music Hall opens.

Congrats on the division young fella ;) are you enjoying the blizzard?

Are you sure you arent dreaming?

December 28

1065. Westminster Abbey is consecrated.

1612. Galileo becomes the first astronomer to view Neptune, though he mistakenly thinks its a fixed star.

1867. The United States claims Midway Atoll, the first claim the US makes to territory beyond North America itself.

1973. The Endangered Species Act is passed.

2000. Retail giant Montgomery Ward announces that, after 128 years, it is going out of business.

Sorry for asking a stupid question....

Are there parts of Westminster that are still actually standing that were put up in 1065?

December 29

1170. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, is murdered inside Canterbury Cathedral on the orders of King Henry II. Becket will be anointed a saint and matyr in the eyes of the Catholic, then Anglican, Church.

1778. The British capture Savannah Georgia without firing a shot.

1812. After a three hour battle, the USS Constitution captures the British HMS Java off the coast of Brazil. The Java had been rendered a complete hulk in the battle, utterly dismasted, and all the Constitution could do was sink her.

1845. Texas is admitted as the 28th US state, in furtherance of "manifest destiny."

1890. The Wounded Knee Massacre occurs when members of the US Seventh Cavalry Regiment kill over 150, and wound an additional 50, men, women and children of the Lakota Sioux. The key to the battle were four rapid fire "Hotchkiss Guns", or revolving cannons, shooting 37 mm bullets at a rate of 43 bullets per minute.

1911. Sun Yat-Sen becomes the provincial President of the Republic of China. In future years this instrumental leader will be cited by both the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek and the Communists under Mao Zedong.

1934. The increasingly militaristic Japan renounces the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of 1930, which limited the navies of the world.

Well, it's certainly not stupid in my book, as I had no idea what the answer was.

Some research indicates that the Church has been repeatedly enlarged and expanded, most importantly in the 1200s. As I find no evidence that the building was ever razed, as compared to the first and second Hagia Sophia, I'd imagine that there is at least some portion of the building that utilizes the original structure.

Apparently, the only existing depiction of the original Abbey is a part of the Bayeux Tapestry.

This one hurts.
1890. The Wounded Knee Massacre occurs when members of the US Seventh Cavalry Regiment kill over 150, and wound an additional 50, men, women and children of the Lakota Sioux. The key to the battle were four rapid fire "Hotchkiss Guns", or revolving cannons, shooting 37 mm bullets at a rate of 43 bullets per minute.

To me, history being told through the centuries is one thing, actually being able to go look at a structure built hundreds of years that is still standing is another.

For example we drove through parts of NE this fall, some based on your suggestions, and observed rock walls along the roads that had to have been a couple hundred years old. For some reason that just amazed me.

Heck, my folks were married in a church that was built in the early 1200s, and the "new" part was added in 1475.

Yeah well I'm from the midwest where stuff was built with mud for centuries. :doh!:

December 30

1853. The Gadsden Purchase is signed, by which the US buys about 30,000 square miles of land from Mexico in present-day New Mexico and Arizona to facilitate railroad building. The cities of Tucson and Yuma are in the area purchased.

1922. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is formed.

1924. Edwin Hubble, for whom the Hubble Telescope is named, announces the existence of other galaxies.

2006. Deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is executed by hanging.

2009. The last roll of Kodachrome film is processed by the last processor of such film, ending its 74 year run as a staple of photography.

Wow. Based on my calculations, that's 1,591 mm per minute.

How would someone figure that out? I would guess that there are little drug stores all over the U.S. that still develop film, unless maybe Kodachrome film always got sent to some sort of Kodak specialist.

I think my mother still uses a film camera.

Well, that is a tad slower than a ZSU-23-4's rate of firing 4000 23-mm rounds a minute (1000 rounds per barrel), but considering they weren't firing the Hotchkiss at Sioux aircraft, it's probably fast enough. :evil:

My understanding from the entry is that the last processing shop in the US to which such film was sent stop doing that work.

It appears to be legit -- this is from an NPR story on the matter.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow...114/kodachrome

December 31.

535. The great Byzantine general Belisarius completes his conquest of Sicily, ending his Consulship for the year.

1600. The British East India Company is chartered.

1695. England institutes a window tax, causing many to brick up their windows to avoid having to pay the tax. The tax would also have important ramifications on architecture over a very protracted period of time in both England and France, which also introduced the tax (it wasn't repealed in FRance until 1926).

1759. Arthur Guinness signs a lease for up to 9,000 years at an unused brewery and begins brewing Guinness.

1862. Abraham Lincoln signs an act admitting a portion of what was then Virginia into the Union, thus creating what we now now as West Virginia and forever splintering the former Old Dominion.

1904. First New Year's Eve celebration in New York's Times Square.

1909. Opening of the Manhattan Bridge.

1951. The Marshall Plan official ends, after dispensing $13.3 billion in US aid.

1955. GM is the first company to make over $1 billion in a single year.

1983. AT&T Bell is broken up.

1999. Boris Yeltsin resigns, elevating Vladimir Putin to the office of President of Russia.

1999. The US turns over control of the Panama Canal to Panama.

That's a wrap. It's been fun, and I certainly learned quite alot in the process. Hope everyone that was interested enjoyed it.

Happy New Year to all.

Wait, what? It's stopping?

There are all sorts of things I still don't know.

:clap:

There still hasn't been a quality substitute to this thread.

Mar 12, 1944 - 1st B-29 Superfortress lands on Iwo Jima following the island's capture from the Japanese

July 9



0118 - Hadrian, Rome's new emperor, made his entry into the city.

0455 - Avitus, the Roman military commander in Gaul, became Emperor of the West.

1540 - England's King Henry VIII had his 6-month-old marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, annulled.

1553 - Maurice of Saxony was mortally wounded at Sievershausen, Germany, while defeating Albert of Brandenburg-Kulmbach.

1609 - In a letter to the crown, the emperor Rudolf II granted Bohemia freedom of worship.

1755 - General Edward Braddock was killed when French and Indian troops ambushed his force of British regulars and colonial militia.

1776 - The American Declaration of Independence was read aloud to Gen. George Washington's troops in New York.

1789 - In Versailles, the French National Assembly declared itself the Constituent Assembly and began to prepare a French constitution.

1790 - The Swedish navy captured one third of the Russian fleet at the naval battle of Svensksund in the Baltic Sea.

1792 - S.L. Mitchell of Columbia College in New York City became the first Professor of Agriculture.

1808 - The leather-splitting machine was patented by Samuel Parker.

1816 - Argentina declared independence from Spain.

1847 - A 10-hour work day was established for workers in the state of New Hampshire.

1850 - U.S. President Zachary Taylor died in office at the age of 55. He was succeeded by Millard Fillmore. Taylor had only served 16 months.

1868 - The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. The amendment was designed to grant citizenship to and protect the civil liberties of recently freed slaves. It did this by prohibiting states from denying or abridging the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, depriving any person of his life, liberty, or property without due process of law, or denying to any person within their jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

1872 - The doughnut cutter was patented by John F. Blondel.

1877 - Alexander Graham Bell, Gardiner Greene Hubbard, Thomas Sanders and Thomas Watson formed the Bell Telephone Company.

1878 - The corncob pipe was patented by Henry Tibbe.

1900 - The Commonwealth of Australia was established by an act of the British Parliament, uniting the separate colonies under a federal government.

1918 - 101 people were killed when an inbound local train collided with an outbound express in Nashville, TN.

1922 - Johnny Weissmuller became the first person to swim the 100 meters freestyle in less than a minute.

1935 - Norman Bright ran the two mile event in the record time of 9 minutes, 13.2 seconds at a meet in New York City.

1943 - American and British forces made an amphibious landing on Sicily.

1947 - The engagement of Britain's Princess Elizabeth to Lt. Philip Mountbatten was announced.

1951 - U.S. President Truman asked Congress to formally end the state of war between the United States and Germany.

1953 - New York Airways began the first commuter passenger service by helicopter.

1968 - The first All-Star baseball game to be played indoors took place at the Astrodome in Houston, TX.

1971 - The United States turned over complete responsibility of the Demilitarized Zone to South Vietnamese units.

1982 - A Pan Am Boeing 727 crashed in Kenner, LA, all 146 people aboard and eight people on the ground were killed.

1985 - Herschel Walker of the New Jersey Generals was named the Most Valuable Player in the United States Football League (USFL).

1985 - Joe Namath signed a five-year pact with ABC-TV to provide commentary for "Monday Night Football".

1997 - Mike Tyson was banned from the boxing ring and fined $3 million for biting the ear of opponent Evander Holyfield.

2005 - Danny Way, a daredevil skateboarder, rolled down a large ramp and jumped across the Great Wall of China. He was the first person to clear the wall without motorized aid.

I'm a lurker...and like this page. Keep it going Amnorix or whomever else. This is why I like the planet.

I think he retired it because after a year of cherry picking the most interesting things that happened on each day, there's not much new to add.

That's basically right. I keep considering spin off threads, focusing on some particular topic or series of events. Eventually I will likely do one.

Have you considered my suggestion of doing a "this day in the future" thread? That one would get all sorts of readership.

I would, but the damn crystal ball I ordered is on backorder...

does Crystal have balls?

Something that I think would be fun, but which I don't have the time or inclination to do, would be to do something like a "this week in WWII" thread, which discusses weekly what was going on in the war starting at probably December 7, 1941, or earlier if you're not American-centric in your worldview. It could probably be fed by the New York Times archives or something, and it would be interesting to read it as it was happening.

I think a "this week in Dick Cheney's life" thread would be fascinating.

ROFL


I'll admit, that one is NOT on my short list.

The WWII spin off is one I considered, but that is a helluva project. Don't think I'm keen to make that much of a commitment to be honest. My other projects that I have in mind are much more limited in scope (months, not years).