This Day in History

[Amnorix]

Today...

[seclark]

Originally Posted by Sully

That may be true.

seen it on an episode of gunsmoke.
sec

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by seclark

seen it on an episode of gunsmoke.
sec

On this day in 1961, the Gunsmoke episode, Big Man, originally aired. To protect Kitty, Matt was forced to physically (and publicly) subdue fractious troublemaker Pat Swarner. When Swarner was subsequently found murdered, oft-inebriated Jud Sloan's claim that the Marshal was the killer seemed uncomfortably credible. This probably wasn't the episode with the arrowhead in it.

[seclark]

Originally Posted by patteeu

On this day in 1961, the Gunsmoke episode, Big Man, originally aired. To protect Kitty, Matt was forced to physically (and publicly) subdue fractious troublemaker Pat Swarner. When Swarner was subsequently found murdered, oft-inebriated Jud Sloan's claim that the Marshal was the killer seemed uncomfortably credible. This probably wasn't the episode with the arrowhead in it.

might have been bonanza...
sec

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by seclark

might have been bonanza...
sec

LOL, it could have been, but since there were a zillion other episodes of Gunsmoke you might have been right the first time. I was just posting about a "this day in history" episode that didn't really have anything to do with the arrowhead issue.

[Rain Man]

The arrowhead thing is interesting. I would've also thought that an arrowhead would be helpful in keeping an arrow on course if it wasn't perfectly linear or had a messed-up feather in the back.

[Sully]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

The arrowhead thing is interesting. I would've also thought that an arrowhead would be helpful in keeping an arrow on course if it wasn't perfectly linear or had a messed-up feather in the back.

Yeah, I would think that, as well.
But they did accuracy testing, and there was no difference.

[Rain Man]

Those cavemen and Indians sure wasted a lot of labor.


Hey, wait a minute. An pointed arrow shaft would make a hole the size of a dime or something. An arrowhead would make a big rip beyond the dime-sized hole. It seems like that might be a difference.

[Amnorix]

Hey, look, I'm way behind. Sorry. If any of you are dissatisfied, I offer a full refund...

March 23.

1801 Tsar Paul I of Russia is murdered in his own bedroom by a group of dissident senior officers. They roust his son, Alexander, now Tsar Alexander I, all of 23 years of ago, and tell him "Time to grow up! Go and rule!"

1857. Elisha Otis's first elevator becomes operational at 488 Broadway, New York City.

1889. President Benjamin Harrison signs legislation to open the state of Oklahoma to white settlement. Over two million acres are available, on a first come, first staked-out basis (no more than 160 acres, and they had to settle the land and improve it to gain title). The land will be available at high noon on April 22. A few people illegally enter the land early and stake their claims before the proper time, and come to be known as "Sooners", leading to hundreds of legal disputes.



1919. Benito Mussolini founds his fascist movement in Milan, Italy.

1933. The German Reichstag passes the Enabling Act, effectively appointing Hitler dictator of Germany.

1956. Pakistan becomes the first Islamic republic.

[Amnorix]

March 24.

1401. One of the most fascinating, controversial and complex conquerors in all of history -- Temur (sometimes Timur), better known in the west by the bastardized name of Tamerlane, conquers the ancient and extremely wealthy city of Damascus. After the city peacefully surrenders, all seems well, but a surprising and sudden uprising of local inhabitants leads to the complete sack, looting, raping and pillaging of the city. Tens of thousands of citizens are massacred, and as usual for Temur -- his "signature" if you will -- the decapitated heads are piled up in a pyramid shape. To this day the field where teh heads were piled, now in the northeast corner of the city, is called burj al-ru'us -- "the tower of heads".

Regrettably, during the sack the city goes up in flames, and one fo the oldest and most impressive mosques in Islamdom is lost, the original Umayyad Mosque.

As a result, Temur, who styled himself the Sword of Islam, is declared an enemy of Islam. Indeed, one of the more fascinating aspects of his career is that most of his conquests were of fellow Muslims, leaving him with a very mixed record in the eyes of Islamic historians. There is no questioning his prowess, however -- no one other than Genghis Khan had such success in Asian warfare, and Temur never lost a battle.

1944. 76 Allied prisoners begin breaking out of the German prisoner of war camp Stalag Luft III. The events are memorialized in the movie The Great Escape.

1989. The Exxon Valdez runs aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska, spilling 240,000 barrels (10.8 million gallons) of petroleum into the sensitive ecological habitat. The oil eventually covered 11,000 square miles of ocean. Despite its seemingly impressive size and the fame of the incident, it is only the 53rd largest spill on record. The ship's captain, Joseph Hazelwood, was accused of being drunk at the time of the accident. He ends up being exonerated of all felony charges against him, and is only convicted of the misdemeanor charge of negligent discharge of oil, fined $50,000, and sentenced to 1,000 hours of community service.

[Amnorix]

March 25.

Wow, light day.

1807. The British Slave Trade Act becomes law, banning the trading fo slaves within the British Empire.

1821. The Greek uprising against their Ottoman rulers begins the Great War of Independence. It ends successfully, the first successful effort to throw off the Ottoman yoke in hundreds of years.

[Amnorix]

March 26.

1830. The Book of Mormon is published in New York City.

1953. Jonas Salk announces the polio vaccine.

1979. Anwar al-Sadat, Menachem Begin and President Jimmy Carter sign the Israeli-Egyptian Peace Treaty.

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

1889. President Benjamin Harrison signs legislation to open the state of Oklahoma to white settlement. Over two million acres are available, on a first come, first staked-out basis (no more than 160 acres, and they had to settle the land and improve it to gain title). The land will be available at high noon on April 22. A few people illegally enter the land early and stake their claims before the proper time, and come to be known as "Sooners", leading to hundreds of legal disputes.

I knew where the name "Sooners" came from, but I never put 2 and 2 together until now to recognize that OU chose a group of cheaters as their mascot.

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by patteeu

I knew where the name "Sooners" came from, but I never put 2 and 2 together until now to recognize that OU chose a group of cheaters as their mascot.

I hadn't even known where the name "Sooners" came from. Pretty cool.

And I've despised the Sooners for years, so yes, it was interesting to find out that they adopted cheaters as their official mascot.

[Amnorix]

March 27

1309. Pope Clement V excommunicates the entire city of Venice and all of its denizens. The excommunication was one of a series of maneuvers by the Pope that were generally disastrous for Italy during Clement's papacy.

1513. Ponce de Leon sights Florida for the first time.

1794. The United States estabilshes a permanent navy and orders the building of six frigates. The result of a vociferous debate between the Adams-led Federalists and the Jefferson/Madison led Democrats, the Federalists prevail over the no-standing-military minded Democrats. The six frigates go down in history for their service during the next 25 years, including the Barbary Pirates battles and the War of 1812 -- ironically each of which was under the Administrations of Jefferson and Madison, respectively. One of the frigates ordered to be built was teh USS Constitution.

The frigates were a work of genius. Much larger and sturdier than European frigates, they were also faster than European ships of the line. This was the intent of Joshua Humphreys, the brilliant naval architect. Accordingly, the frigates could in theory pick their battles -- slaughtering European frigates and fleeing from the much heavier ships of the line. Skillfully handled, this is precisely what happened, leading to several victories over British frigates in the War of 1812, and resulting in a confidential order from the British Admiralty that no British frigates were to engage in single battle with the American frigates.

1814. In the War of 1812, current General and future President Andrew Jackson defeats the Creek at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. The battle had little to do with the British with whom the Americans were fighting, but it did result in early fame for Jackson, as well as freeing Jackson to move his forces en masse to New Orleans. The combined results of those two battles -- Horseshoe Bend and New Orleans -- paved Jackson's path to the White House.

1854. The United Kingdom declares war on Russia, leading to the Crimean War.

1970. The Concorde makes its first supersonic flight

1975. Construction of the Trans-Alaskan pipeline begins.

1998. The FDA approves Viagra as a treatment for male impotence.

[Amnorix]

By the way, if anyone has any particular interest in naval history and enjoyed the snippet regarding the six frigates, I would particularly recommend the aptly named "Six Frigates" by Ian Toll, which covers the controversy over the early American navy, the ships' construction and careers.

Wider in scope but a bit more ponderous is "If by Sea" by George Daughan, which covers the entire development of the US Navy through the War of 1812.

Neither would be of interest to the casual reader, however. You must have an interest in military and/or naval history for either book to have any appeal.