Weekend Funny - The Onion: Health Speculations Swirl After Trump Screams, ‘Fuck! I’m Dying!’

The news has been quite heavy as of late. Democracy too often seems on it's deathbed here in the United States, and wars rage on. The environmental toll from this latest Middle Eastern war has been absolutely ridiculous.

So perhaps it's time to try and get a lighter note in.

Below is a link to an amusing headline from The Onion. I'm sure that people from the Mindless MAGA Moron cult will disagree. Then again, they proudly hailed themselves as the "Fuck Your Feelings!" crowd. So who cares what they feel about this, or pretty much anything else, right?

Take a look at this spoof headline:

Weekend Funny - The Onion: Health Speculations Swirl After Trump Screams, ‘Fuck! I’m Dying!’ Published:  March 13, 2026

https://theonion.com/health-speculations-swirl-after-trump-screams-fuck-im-dying/?fbclid=IwY2xjawQh32FleHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEelcCp0igSPp_-niAMnbeZiwVsaStEqGTR4Z5r99M-EVihGN180ri2vspgvf4_aem_z4SFPiX3oUAC5ObWRA0vlA

Health Speculations Swirl After Trump Screams, ‘Fuck! I’m Dying!’ - The Onion

March 14th - Today is Pi Day: 3.14 - π Day & Albert Einstein's Birthday

That's right! Today is "Pi Day", which only comes around once a year.

If we all remember our math lessons from years past, you should remember this, more or less:

π= 3.141592653...

It goes on forever. it is one of those strange ironies. An important number in mathematics, but there is no rationality to it.

Today is March 14, 2015, which means that it is 3/14/15. Put another way, you can say that it was 3.1415, and at 9:26 and 53 seconds, we could say that we were precisely at Pi time!

I got to spend some time with my son, and tried to explain to him a bit about "Pi Day", and how this only happens once every one hundred years. After misunderstanding what I said initially (he naturally thought I meant the kind of "pie" that you eat), he actually took some interest in "Pi Day", and we had a miniature countdown until we reached precise "Pi time", if you will.

Just an interesting little note.

Also, today happens to be...

The Birthday of Albert Einstein

Bust of Albert Einstein in Princeton, New Jersey, where he lived his final years.

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." 

~ Albert Einstein

Given the mathematical significance of this day it seems fitting that it should also be the birthday of a true genius like Albert Einstein in 1879 in Ulm, Germany.

I will not pretend to be smart enough to understand the actual physics, science, and mathematics behind the wok that he did. And although I certainly know, as everyone else does thanks to Einstein, that E=MC2, I could not begin to explain to you what that actually means, and how it actually works, in any intelligent or capable manner.

However, it is always fascinating to look into the mind of such a man, which we can do when reading about him, or studying him. I read a book about him some years ago, and have read some quotes from him as well.

So, I thought it would be a good idea to add a few good quotes, as well as attach an article about Einstein from Bill Moyers website, which is about the mix between science and faith. It is fascinating to speculate on what Einstein would have had to say on the subject. I am reading a book (have been reading it for some time, admittedly, although it is very think) called "On God", where many of the great thinkers from the last half of the 20th century discuss faith and God, and I believe there is some material and quotes from Einstein in there that I was impressed by. This article should also shed some light on what Einstein had to say about it, and so it comes highly recommended!

Enjoy the article, and try to appreciate that, for the only time on our lives, today is "Pi Day"!

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science." 

~ Albert Einstein

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius --- and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." 

~ Albert Einstein

"Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding." 

~ Albert Einstein

"Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile." 

~ Albert Einstein

Conversations on the Intersection Between Faith and Science January 17, 2014 by Trent Gilliss

http://billmoyers.com/2014/01/17/conversations-on-the-intersection-between-science-faith-and-the-universe/

Also, I thought it would be a good idea to add the link to one of my favorite radio shows, On Being, and particularly the episode that they had specifically about Einstein's faith.  FREEMAN DYSON AND PAUL DAVIES — Einstein's God from the February 25, 2010 On Being show (it may actually have still been called Speaking of Faith at that point). It also seemed like a good idea to add the link for the transcripts as well, which can be found at the very bottom. Enjoy!  

http://www.onbeing.org/program/einsteins-god/90

http://www.onbeing.org/program/einstein039s-god/transcript/842#main_content

March 14th: This Day in History

 

Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

On this day in 1489, the Queen of Cyprus, Catherine Cornaro, sold her kingdom to Venice. She was the last of the Lusignan dynasty. In 1558 on this day, Ferdinand I was appointed Holy Roman Emperor. England granted a royal charter to the Massachusetts Bay Colony on this day in 1629. On this day in 1743, the first American town hall meeting was held at Boston's Faneuil Hall. In 1836 on this day, the HMS Beagle, along with it's most famous passenger Charles Darwin, left Australia. On this day in 1879, Albert Einstein was born, the son of a Jewish electrical engineer in Ulm, Germany. In 1916 on this day during the World War I Battle of Verdun, there was a German attack on Mort-Homme ridge, West of Verdun. Nazi Germany dissolved the Republic of Czechoslovakia on this day in 1939. On this day in 1943 during World War II, the Kraków Ghetto was 'liquidated' in Poland. The white minority ruled government of apartheid South Africa banned the African National Congress (ANC) on this day in 1958. On this day in 1990, the Congress of People's Deputies elected General Secretary Mikhail S Gorbachev into the newly-established and powerful position of President of the Soviet Union. The Cedar Revolution took place on this day in 2005 in Lebanon, when over one and a million Lebanese went into the streets of Beirut to demonstrate against the Syrian military presence in Lebanon, and against the government, following the assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:

• On this day in 1489, the Queen of Cyprus, Catherine Cornaro, sold her kingdom to Venice. She was the last of the Lusignan dynasty.   

• In 1558 on this day, Ferdinand I was appointed Holy Roman Emperor.

1559 - Storm floods ravage Gorinchem, Dordrecht & Woudrichem, Neth

1590 - Battle at Ivry: French King Henri IV beats Catholic League

• England granted a royal charter to the Massachusetts Bay Colony on this day in 1629. 

1644 - England grants patent for Providence Plantations (now Rhode Island)

1647 - Thirty Years' War: Bavaria, Cologne, France and Sweden sign the Truce of Ulm.

1653 - Johan van Galen beats English fleet at Livorno

1689 - Scotland dismisses Willem III & Mary Stuart as king & queen

• On this day in 1743, the first American town hall meeting was held at Boston's Faneuil Hall.

1757 - On-board the HMS Monarch, English Admiral John Byng is executed by firing squad for neglecting his duty.

1794 - Eli Whitney patents cotton gin

1800 - Luigi Chiaramonti crowned Pope Pius VII

1812 - Congress authorizes war bonds to finance War of 1812

1821 - African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church founded (NY)

1826 - General Congress of South American States assembles at Panama

British Naturalist & Botanist Charles Darwin

• In 1836 on this day, the HMS Beagle, along with it's most famous passenger Charles Darwin, left Australia.

1840 - Jose Zorilla's "El Zapatero y el Rey," premieres in Madrid

1843 - Boston conducts its 1st town meeting (Faneuil Hall)

Naturalist Charles DarwinNaturalist Charles Darwin 1845 - -5.3°F (-20.7°C) in Groningen

1862 - Battle of New Bern NC: General Burnside conquers New Bern

1864 - Rossini's "Petite Messe Solennelle," premieres in Paris

1864 - Union troops occupy Fort de Russy, Louisiana

1869 - Defeat of Titokowaru.

1870 - California legislature approves act making Golden Gate Park possible

1875 - Smetana's "Vysehrad," premieres

Bust of Albert Einstein in Princeton, New Jersey, where he lived his final years.

• On this day in 1879, Albert Einstein was born, the son of a Jewish electrical engineer in Ulm, Germany. Einstein's theories of special and general relativity drastically altered man's view of the universe, and his work in particle and energy theory helped make possible quantum mechanics and, ultimately, the atomic bomb.    After a childhood in Germany and Italy, Einstein studied physics and mathematics at the Federal Polytechnic Academy in Zurich, Switzerland. He became a Swiss citizen and in 1905 was awarded a Ph.D. from the University of Zurich while working at the Swiss patent office in Bern. That year, which historians of Einstein's career call the annus mirabilis--the "miracle year"--he published five theoretical papers that were to have a profound effect on the development of modern physics.    In the first of these, titled "On a Heuristic Viewpoint Concerning the Production and Transformation of Light," Einstein theorized that light is made up of individual quanta (photons) that demonstrate particle-like properties while collectively behaving like a wave. The hypothesis, an important step in the development of quantum theory, was arrived at through Einstein's examination of the photoelectric effect, a phenomenon in which some solids emit electrically charged particles when struck by light. This work would later earn him the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics.    In the second paper, he devised a new method of counting and determining the size of the atoms and molecules in a given space, and in the third he offered a mathematical explanation for the constant erratic movement of particles suspended in a fluid, known as Brownian motion. These two papers provided indisputable evidence of the existence of atoms, which at the time was still disputed by a few scientists.    Einstein's fourth groundbreaking scientific work of 1905 addressed what he termed his special theory of relativity. In special relativity, time and space are not absolute, but relative to the motion of the observer. Thus, two observers traveling at great speeds in regard to each other would not necessarily observe simultaneous events in time at the same moment, nor necessarily agree in their measurements of space. In Einstein's theory, the speed of light, which is the limiting speed of any body having mass, is constant in all frames of reference. In the fifth paper that year, an exploration of the mathematics of special relativity, Einstein announced that mass and energy were equivalent and could be calculated with an equation, E=mc2.    Although the public was not quick to embrace his revolutionary science, Einstein was welcomed into the circle of Europe's most eminent physicists and given professorships in Zýrich, Prague, and Berlin. In 1916, he published "The Foundation of the General Theory of Relativity," which proposed that gravity, as well as motion, can affect the intervals of time and of space. According to Einstein, gravitation is not a force, as Isaac Newton had argued, but a curved field in the space-time continuum, created by the presence of mass. An object of very large gravitational mass, such as the sun, would therefore appear to warp space and time around it, which could be demonstrated by observing starlight as it skirted the sun on its way to earth. In 1919, astronomers studying a solar eclipse verified predictions Einstein made in the general theory of relativity, and he became an overnight celebrity. Later, other predictions of general relativity, such as a shift in the orbit of the planet Mercury and the probable existence of black holes, were confirmed by scientists.    During the next decade, Einstein made continued contributions to quantum theory and began work on a unified field theory, which he hoped would encompass quantum mechanics and his own relativity theory as a grand explanation of the workings of the universe. As a world-renowned public figure, he became increasingly political, taking up the cause of Zionism and speaking out against militarism and rearmament. In his native Germany, this made him an unpopular figure, and after Nazi leader Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany in 1933 Einstein renounced his German citizenship and left the country.    He later settled in the United States, where he accepted a post at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. He would remain there for the rest of his life, working on his unified field theory and relaxing by sailing on a local lake or playing his violin. He became an American citizen in 1940.    In 1939, despite his lifelong pacifist beliefs, he agreed to write to President Franklin D. Roosevelt on behalf of a group of scientists who were concerned with American inaction in the field of atomic-weapons research. Like the other scientists, he feared sole German possession of such a weapon. He played no role, however, in the subsequent Manhattan Project and later deplored the use of atomic bombs against Japan. After the war, he called for the establishment of a world government that would control nuclear technology and prevent future armed conflict.    In 1950, he published his unified field theory, which was quietly criticized as a failure. A unified explanation of gravitation, subatomic phenomena, and electromagnetism remains elusive today. Albert Einstein, one of the most creative minds in human history, died in Princeton in 1955.

1885 - Gilbert & Sullivan's comic opera "Mikado," premieres in London

1888 - 2nd largest snowfall in NYC history (21")

1889 - August Strindberg's "Froken Julie," premieres in Copenhagen

1889 - German Ferdinand von Zeppelin patents his "Navigable Balloon"

1896 - Sutro Baths (SF) opens by Cliff House (closed Sept 1, 1952)

1899 - Stanley Cup: Montreal Shamrocks beat Winnipeg Victorias, 6-2

1900 - Hugo de Vries rediscovers Mendel's laws of genetics

1900 - US currency goes on gold standard

Inventor Ferdinand von ZeppelinInventor Ferdinand von Zeppelin 1901 - 1st performance of Anton Bruckner's 6th Symphony in A

1903 - 1st national bird reservation established in Sebastian, FL

1903 - Stanley Cup: Ottawa Silver 7 sweep Rat Portage Thisles in 2 games

1903 - WB Yeats & Lady Gregory's "Hour-glass," premieres in Dublin

1906 - Calgary City Rugby Foot-ball Club forms

1908 - Stanley Cup: Mont Wanderers beat Toronto Trolley Leaguers, 6-4

1909 - Amsterdam Social-Democratic Party (SDP) forms

1910 - Lakeview Gusher, the largest U.S. oil well gusher near Bakersfield, California, vented to atmosphere.

1912 - King Vittorio Emanuel III of Rome injured during assassination attempt

1913 - John D Rockefeller gives $100 million to Rockefeller Foundation

1914 - Serbia & Turkey sign peace treaty

1915 - German cruiser Dresden blows itself up near coast of Chile

• In 1916 on this day during the World War I Battle of Verdun, there was a German attack on Mort-Homme ridge, West of Verdun.

1918 - 1st concrete ship to cross the Atlantic (Faith) is launched, SF

1922 - KGU-AM in Honolulu HI begins radio transmissions

Oil Industrialist John D. RockefellerOil Industrialist John D. Rockefeller 1922 - KSD-AM in Saint Louis MO begins radio transmissions

1922 - WGR-AM in Buffalo NY begins radio transmissions

1923 - Allies accepts Vilnus taking East-Galicia in Poland

1923 - German Supreme Court prohibits NSDAP

1923 - Pres Warren G Harding becomes 1st pres to pay taxes

1926 - A train in Costa Rica falls into the Río Virilla, killing 248 and injuring 93.

1931 - 1st theater built for rear movie projection (NYC)

1933 - Civilian Conservation Corp, begins tree conservation

1935 - 36-Folsom becomes 1st line to use 1-man streetcars

1936 - Federal Register, 1st magazine of the US government, publishes 1st issue

1937 - Battle of the Century: Fred Allen & Jack Benny meet on radio

1937 - Pope Pius XI publishes anti-nazi-encyclical Mit brennender Sorge

1939 - England draw with South Africa at Durban on the 10th day

• Nazi Germany dissolved the Republic of Czechoslovakia on this day in 1939.

1940 - 27 killed, 15 injured when truck full of migrant workers collides with a train outside McAllen, Texas

1941 - Nazi occupiers of Holland forbid Jewish owned companies

1941 - Xavier Cugat & orchestra record "Babalu"

These two pictures are of what I believe to be the last remaining part of the wall that kept the Jews inside of the Ghetto during the German occupation of the city. Sorry, but I really do not know what the plaque says, unfortunately. But it was an interesting thing to see!

• On this day in 1943 during World War II, the Kraków Ghetto was 'liquidated' in Poland.

1945 - RAF bomb cuts railway link Hannover-Hamm

1946 - Belgian government of Spaak, forms

1948 - Freedom Train arrives in SF

1950 - FBI's "10 Most Wanted Fugitives" program begins

1951 - During Korean War, US/UN forces recapture Seoul

1951 - Earthquake at Euskirchen, Germany

1953 - KOLR TV channel 10 in Springfield, MO (CBS) begins broadcasting

1954 - Braves Henry Aaron homers in his 1st exhibition game

1954 - KDAL (now KDLH) TV channel 3 in Duluth-Superior, MN (CBS) begins

1954 - Louise Suggs wins LPGA Titleholders Golf Championship

1954 - NBA Baltimore Bullets end a 32 game road losing streak

1955 - Prince Mahemdra becomes king of Nepal

1956 - Satchel Paige signs with the Birmingham Black Barons (Negro League)

1957 - Indonesian government of Sastroamidjojo resigns

1958 - RIAA certifies 1st gold record (Perry Como's Catch A Falling Star)

1958 - Recording Industry Association of American created

An old button with a ribbon from the anti-apartheid days of the 1980's.

• The white minority ruled government of apartheid South Africa banned the African National Congress (ANC) on this day in 1958.

1958 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1958 - USSR performs atmospheric nuclear test

1960 - 14 die in a train crash in Bakersfield Calif

1960 - Wilt Chamberlain (Phila) sets NBA playoff record of 53 points

1961 - George Weiss becomes pres of NY Mets

1962 - Disarmament conference opens in Geneva without France

1962 - Gordie Howe (Det Red Wings) is 2nd NHLer to score 500 goals

1963 - SF Guy Rogers ties NBA record with 28 assists

1964 - "Girl Who Came to Supper" closes at Broadway NYC after 112 perfs

Night club operator Jack RubyNight club operator Jack Ruby 1964 - Dallas jury sentences Jack Ruby to death in Lee Harvey Oswald murder

1965 - Israeli cabinet approves diplomatic relations with West Germany

1967 - 1st NFL-AFL common draft, Balt Colts pick Bubba Smith

1967 - JFK's body moved from temporary grave to a permanent memorial

1968 - POM performs atmospheric nuclear test at Maralinga Australia

1968 - CBS TV suspends Radio Free Europe free advertising because RFE doesn't make it clear it is sponsored by the CIA

1969 - Barbara Jo Rubin becomes 1st woman jockey to win at Aqueduct

1969 - Seymour Nurse scores 258 in his last Test Cricket innings, WI v NZ

1971 - Barbra Streisand appears on "The Burt Bacharach Special" on CBS TV

1971 - Rolling Stones left England for France to escape taxes

1971 - South Vietnamese troops flee Laos

1971 - The Rolling Stones leave England for France to escape taxes

1972 - NBA's Cincinnati Royals announce they are moving to KC

1973 - Liam Cosgrave appointed president of Ireland

1976 - Jockey Bill Shoemaker wins his 7,000th race

Singer-songwriter & Actress Barbra StreisandSinger-songwriter & Actress Barbra Streisand 1976 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1978 - Marines terminate Molukse action in Province house (1 dead)

1978 - NFL permanently adds 7th official (side judge)

1979 - In China, a Hawker Siddeley Trident crashes into a factory near Beijing, killing at least 200.

1980 - 3rd Emmy Sports Award presentation

1980 - Ice Dance Championship at Dortmund West Germany won by Regoczy & Sallay

1980 - Ice Pairs Championship at Dortmund won by Cherkasova & Shakhrai (USSR)

1980 - Polish airliner crash kills all 87 aboard (22 are US amateur boxers)

1980 - Worlds Ladies Figure Skating Champ in Dortmund won by Anett Potzsch

1982 - Sally Little wins LPGA Olympia Gold Golf Classic

1982 - Sidath Wettimuny scores Sri Lanka's 1st Test Cricket century

1983 - OPEC cut oil prices for 1st time in 23 years

1984 - Challenger moves to Vandenberg AFB for mating of STS 41-C mission

1984 - Gerry Adams, head of Sinn Féin, is seriously wounded in an assassination attempt in central Belfast.

1985 - 11th People's Choice Awards: Bill Cosby wins 4 awards

Actor/Comedian Bill CosbyActor/Comedian Bill Cosby 1985 - Michael Secrest (US) completes 24-hr ride of 516 miles, 427 yards

1986 - European Space Agency's Giotto flies by Halley's Comet (605 km)

1987 - Providence, with Billy Donovan's 25 points, beats Austin Peay 90-87

1987 - Skier Piotr Fijas jumps record 194m

1987 - Worlds Ladies Figure Skating Champ in Cincinnati won by Katarina Witt

1987 - NY Met Darryl Strawberry charges Red Sox pitcher Al Nipper during spring training exhibition game, causes bench clearing brawl

1990 - 4th Soul Train Music Awards: Soul II Soul, Janet Jackson

The flag of the USSR (Soviet Union)

• On this day in 1990, the Congress of People's Deputies elected General Secretary Mikhail S Gorbachev into the newly-established and powerful position of President of the Soviet Union.  While the election was a victory for Gorbachev, it also revealed serious weaknesses in his power base that would eventually lead to the collapse of his presidency in December 1991.    Gorbachev's election in 1990 was far different from other "elections" previously held in the Soviet Union. Since coming to power in 1985, Gorbachev had worked hard to open up the political process in the Soviet Union, pushing through legislation that eliminated the Communist Party's monopoly on power and establishing the Congress of People's Deputies. The public at large elected the Congress by secret ballot. By 1990, however, Gorbachev was facing criticism from both reformers and communist hard-liners. The reformers, such as Boris Yeltsin, criticized Gorbachev for the slow pace of his reform agenda. Communist hard-liners, on the other hand, were appalled by what they saw as Gorbachev's retreat from Marxist principles. In an attempt to push forward his reform program, Gorbachev led a movement that amended the Soviet constitution, including writing a section establishing a new and more powerful presidency, a position that had previously been largely symbolic.    On March 14, 1990, the Congress of People's Deputies elected Gorbachev to a five-year term as president. While this was certainly a victory for Gorbachev, the election also vividly demonstrated the problems he faced in trying to formulate a domestic consensus supporting his political reform program. Gorbachev had worked assiduously to make sure that the Congress gave him the necessary two-thirds majority, including making repeated threats to resign if the majority was not achieved. Had he not received the necessary votes, he would have had to campaign in a general election against other candidates. Gorbachev believed that a general election would result in chaos in an already unsteady Russia; others in the Soviet Union attributed his actions to fear that he might lose such an election. The final vote in the Congress was extremely close, and Gorbachev achieved his two-thirds majority by a slim 46 votes.    Gorbachev won the presidency, but by 1991 his domestic critics were pillorying him for the nation's terrible economic performance and faltering control over the Soviet empire. In December 1991 he resigned as president, and the Soviet Union dissolved. Despite the criticism he received, Gorbachev is credited for instituting a dizzying number of reforms that loosened the tight grip of communism on the Soviet people.  

1991 - Emir of Kuwait returns to Kuwait City, after the Iraqis leave

1991 - Ice Dance Championship at Munich won by Isabel & Phil Duchesnay (FRA)

1991 - Ice Pairs Championship at Munich won by N Mishkutenok & A Dmitriev

1991 - Men's Figure Skating Championship in Munich won by Kurt Browning (CAN)

1991 - British Court of Appeal frees "Birmingham 6" who had been unjustly sentenced in August 1975 to life imprisonment

1992 - Farm Aid V

1992 - NY Met Daryl Boston, Vince Coleman & Dwight Gooden accused of rape

Singer Janet JacksonSinger Janet Jackson 1992 - Soviet newspaper "Pravda" suspends publication

1993 - "Conversations with My Father" closes at Royale NYC after 462 perfs

1993 - "Face Value" closes at Cort Theater NYC after * performances

1993 - "Saint Joan" closes at Lyceum Theater NYC after 49 performances

1993 - 3,000th performance of "Nunsense"

1993 - Johan Koss skates world record 5km (6:36.57)

1993 - Meg Mallon wins LPGA Ping/Welch's Golf Championship

1993 - Ricky Ponting hits twin tons for Tasmania aged 18 years 84 days

1993 - Worlds Ladies Figure Skating Champ in Prague won by Oksana Baiul (UKR)

1994 - Mexican banker/billionaire Alfredo Harp Helu kidnapped

1994 - Soyuz TM-21 launches with V Dezyurov, G Strekalov & N Thagard

1994 - Timeline of Linux development: Linux kernel version 1.0.0 is released.

1995 - 1st time 13 people in space

1996 - Australia beat West Indies by 5 runs in amazing cricket World Cup semi

1996 - Crufts show at NEC Birmingham, (1995 winner, Joshua, an Irish setter)

1997 - 68 year old Gordie Howe signs AHL contract with Syracuse Crunch

1997 - Iranian military plane crashes, killing 80

1997 - Olympic gold medalist Michael Johnson wins 67th James E Sullivan Award

42nd US President Bill Clinton42nd US President Bill Clinton 1997 - President Clinton trips & tears up his knee requiring surgery

1997 - The Chinese city of Chongqing (formerly Chunking) is upgraded to a centrally administered municipality.

1998 - An earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale hits southeastern Iran.

2003 - Start of weekend of protests against war in Iraq that are attended by millions

• The Cedar Revolution took place on this day in 2005 in Lebanon, when over one and a million Lebanese went into the streets of Beirut to demonstrate against the Syrian military presence in Lebanon, and against the government, following the assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

2013 - 25 people are killed and 50 are wounded by a series of car bombings in Baghdad, Iraq

2013 - 7 people are killed after gunmen storm a bar in Cancun, Mexico

2013 - Xi Jinping is named as the new President of the People's Republic of China

1489 - Catherine Cornaro, Queen of Cyprus, sold her kingdom to Venice. She was the last of the Lusignan dynasty.   1629 - A Royal charter was granted to the Massachusetts Bay Colony.   1647 - During the Thirty Years War, France, Sweden, Bavaria and Cologne signed a Treaty of Neutrality.      1757 - British Admiral John Byng was executed by a firing squad on board HMS Monarch for neglect of duty.   1794 - Eli Whitney received a patent for his cotton gin.   1864 - Samuel Baker discovered another source of the Nile in East Africa. He named it Lake Albert Nyanza.   1891 - The submarine Monarch laid telephone cable along the bottom of the English Channel to prepare for the first telephone links across the Channel.   1900 - U.S. currency went on the gold standard with the ratification of the Gold Standard Act.   1900 - In Holland, Botanist Hugo de Vries rediscovered Mendel's laws of heredity.   1901 - Utah Governor Heber M. Wells vetoed a bill that would have relaxed restrictions on polygamy.   1903 - The U.S. Senate ratified the Hay-Herran Treaty that guaranteed the U.S. the right to build a canal at Panama. The Columbian Senate rejected the treaty.   1904 - The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the governments claim that the Northern Securities Company was an illegal merger between the Great Northern and Northern Pacific Railway companies.   1905 - French bankers refused to lend money to Russia until after their war.   1905 - The British House of Commons cited a need to compete with Germany in naval strength.   1906 - The island of Ustica was devastated by an earthquake.   1912 - An anarchist named Antonio Dalba unsuccessfully attempted to kill Italy's King Victor Emmanuel III in Rome.   1914 - Henry Ford announced the new continuous motion method to assemble cars. The process decreased the time to make a car from 12½ hours to 93 minutes.   1915 - The British Navy sank the German battleship Dresden off the Chilean coast.   1918 - An all-Russian Congress of Soviets ratified a peace treaty with the Central Powers.   1923 - President Harding became the first U.S. President to file an income tax report.   1932 - George Eastman, the founder of the Kodak company, committed suicide.   1936 - Adolf Hitler told a crowd of 300,000 that Germany's only judge is God and itself.   1939 - Hungary occupied the Carpatho-Ukraine. Slovakia declared its independence.   1943 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first U.S. President to fly in an airplane while in office.   1945 - In Germany, a 22,000 pound "Grand Slam" bomb was dropped by the Royal Air Force Dumbuster Squad on the Beilefeld railway viaduct. It was the heaviest bomb used during World War II.   1947 - The U.S. signed a 99-year lease on naval bases in the Philippines.   1947 - Moscow announced that 890,532 German POWs were held in the U.S.S.R.   1951 - U.N. forces recaptured Seoul for the second time during the Korean War.   1954 - The Viet Minh launched an assault on Dien Bien Phu in Saigon.   1958 - The U.S. government suspended arms shipments to the Batista government of Cuba.   1964 - A Dallas jury found Jack Ruby guilty of the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald.   1967 - John F. Kennedy's body was moved from a temporary grave to a permanent one.   1976 - Egypt formally abrogated the 1971 Treaty Friendship and Cooperation with the Soviet Union.   1978 - An Israeli force of 22,000 invaded south Lebanon. The PLO bases were hit.   1979 - The Census Bureau reported that 95% of all Americans were married or would get married.   1979 - Near Peking, China, at least 200 people died when a Trident aircraft crashed into a factory.   1980 - A Polish airliner crashed while making an emergency landing near Warsaw. 87 people were killed. A 14-man U.S. boxing team was aboard the plane.   1981 - Three Pakistani airline hijackers surrendered in Syria after they had exchanged 100 passengers and crewmen for 54 Pakistani prisoners.   1983 - OPEC agreed to cut its oil prices by 15% for the first time in its 23-year history.     1989 - Imported assault guns were banned in the U.S. under President George H.W. Bush.   1991 - The "Birmingham Six," imprisoned for 16 years for their alleged part in an IRA pub bombing, were set free after a court agreed that the police fabricated evidence.   1991 - Bolivian interior minister Guillermo Capobianco resigned after U.S. officials accused him of receiving money from drug traffickers.   1995 - American astronaut Norman Thagard became the first American to enter space aboard a Russian rocket.   1996 - U.S. President Bill Clinton committed $100 million for an anti-terrorism pact with Israel to track down and root out Islamic militants.   1998 - An earthquake left 10,000 homeless in southeastern Iran.   2002 - A Scottish appeals court upheld the conviction of a Libyan intelligence agent for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. A five-judge court ruled unanimously that Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi was guilty of bringing down the plane over Lockerbie, Scotland.   2003 - Robert Blake was released from jail on $1.5 million bail. Blake had been jailed for the murder of his wife Bonny Lee Bakley.

1743 The first town meeting was held in Boston, Massachusetts, at Faneuil Hall. 1794 The cotton gin was patented by Eli Whitney. 1939 The Republic of Czechoslovakia was dissolved, soon to be occupied by the Nazis. 1950 The FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” list made its debut. 1958 Perry Como's single "Catch a Falling Star" became the first RIAA gold record. 1964 Jack Ruby was found guilty of the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, alleged assassin of President John F. Kennedy. 1990 The Soviet Congress voted Mikhail Gorbachev into the newly-created and powerful position of president.

The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:

http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php

http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/mar14.htm

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory

A Picture of Me With All Three Cats

We have three cats. And while they take turns sleeping on both of us, it is relatively rare when all three of them will come to relax and snuggle with me. Apparently my girlfriend has all three of them fairly often during the nights, while I am at work. But it is rare when they all come to me at once. Usually, one (the fluffy one) will come to sit on my lap early in the morning, the youngest one (the white, black and orange one) might come to me in the late mornings or early afternoons, and the oldest one (the black and white one I am cradling in this picture will come to me anytime. Most nights when I am home, she is the one who comes to snuggle with me, specifically.

Yet earlier today, all three of them came to snuggle with me, which was a special little treat. 

My girlfriend took a picture, which seemed worth sharing here.

Enjoy. 

One Author in a Recent Article Focuses on the Trump Administration's Tiresome Gimmick Whenever Faced With Serious Scrutiny

This is a picture of a magnet that was being sold at Strand's Book Store in New York City a few years ago. No, I did not buy it, but I liked it and took a picture, which I am sharing here now. 

A few days ago, I ran into this article and read it. And it rang true. In fact, it's an argument that I heard before, and which grew increasingly obvious over time. Indeed, as John Casey suggests in this article, it became especially obvious after Pam Bondi tried to deflect on questions regarding the Epstein List by trying to talk about stock market numbers.

But I suspect that this mostly falls on deaf ears. You never know, because so many Americans are brainwashed into believing whatever Dear Leader tells them.

Most of us, however, have grown tired of hearing about supposedly wonderful stock market numbers, because it does not actually have much of an impact on the live of most Americans, frankly.

Yet, you would never know that listening to officials in the Trump administration. This is particularly true for King Con Don himself, of course. Yet, we have been hearing more and more people trying to say the same thing.

Here is a snippet from the MSN article by John Casey which I am discussing presently:

No matter the topic, no matter the controversy, someone in Trump world brings the conversation back to the same supposed proof of success.  

If critics raise concerns about tariffs or inflation, the response is: Look at the Dow. 

If lawmakers question government misconduct, the answer is: Look at the Dow.  

If scandals erupt — the same old song again. Just look at the Dow.  

Attorney General Pam Bondi delivered perhaps the most jaw-dropping example, during a tense House Judiciary Committee hearing last month. Pressed about why her Justice Department had failed to indict Jeffrey Epstein’s co-conspirators, Bondi didn’t provide an explanation. She didn’t offer new evidence or promise transparency.  

Instead, she blurted out: “The Dow is over 50,000 right now!”  

It was so stupid it sounded like a cruel joke. Epstein survivors were sitting right behind her. Yet Bondi doubled down, insisting Congress should be discussing the booming stock market rather than pressing her about Epstein’s network.

Yup.

Indeed, seemingly believing that most people will simply forget about the Epstein Files - or Trump reneging on his campaign promise to release them once he was back in the Oval Office - seems more than a little naive. 

Yet, what else does the Trump administration have at this point? The economy has not gotten much better (other than the stock market). Trump never got the price of groceries down, as inflation remains out of control. Now, because of Mr. Trump's War, gas prices are quickly going up, as well. The country feels as divided as we have seen it. Democracy seems to be disintegrating before our eyes, with Trump's secret masked police force, ICE, killing people on the streets. America's reputation and leverage the world over is increasingly compromised. Trump never did end the war in Ukraine, let alone in 24 hours as promised. And of course, the Epstein Files.

With all of that going wrong, and with Trump and his administration now squarely the ones to point the finger of blame at, as they have control not only of the White House but also both chambers of Congress and the Supreme Court, no wonder they go to such extraordinary lengths to try and distract the American public. Whether it is the wars (Venezuela and Iran) or whether it is increased bluster and temper tantrums, or this constant focus on stock market numbers.

Who cares about what the Dow Jones or Nasdaq numbers are doing? Who cares that wealthy elites and executive board members are happy when simple groceries and other necessities continue to grow more expensive? Life is getting uncomfortably unaffordable for most of us. And Trump promised Americans he would fix it all. And quickly, at that.

Instead, he has done nothing. Much like campaign promises made and not kept during the first term (making Mexico pay for the wall that he never even built, or creating a healthcare system that would be affordable and cover everyone, or draining the swamp, or paying the national debt off (he said that he would pay it off in eight years, but instead increased it by over 25% in his first term, and has added several trillions to the national debt in the relatively short time he has been back in office). 

You might think that with all of that, and with his proven track record of failures in both business and now politics, that he might lose serious support. Yet whenever poll numbers come out, the numbers are nowhere near as low as they rightly should be by this point, which I feel should probably be around the teens, if that. No, he continues to have, more or less, around 40 % approval ratings. And so these problems, and the tone deaf arguments, will continue until all of that changes. Until, that is, enough Americans get past their conceit and their stubbornness that they finally put this failed president and political movement behind us, once and for all.

Frankly, I am not holding my breath. 

This is Trump's tell that all isn't well | Opinion Opinion by John Casey • March10, 2026:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/this-is-trump-s-tell-that-all-isn-t-well-opinion/ar-AA1XTzrC?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=69b1341d77e9432898638c6460fd9ed4&ei=19

This is Trump's tell that all isn't well | Opinion

March 13th: This Day in History

 

Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

On this day in 483, St Felix III began his reign as Catholic Pope. In 607 on this day came the 12th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet. German King Koenraad II von Hohenstaufen was crowned on this day in 1138. On this day in 1519, Hernán Cortés landed in Mexico. In 1639 on this day, Cambridge College near Boston was renamed Harvard for clergyman John Harvard. On this day in 1781, Sir William Herschel saw what he mistakenly believed to be a comet, but which was really the planet Uranus. British Naturalist & Botanist Charles Darwin departed Valparaiso, Chile, for a crossing of the Andes on this day in 1835. On this day in 1865 in the very late stages of the American Civil War, with the main Rebel armies facing long odds against must larger Union armies, the Confederacy, in a desperate measure, reluctantly approved the use of black troops. In 1881 on this day, Czar Alexander II, who had ruled of Russia since 1855, was assassinated on the streets of St. Petersburg by a bomb thrown by a member of the revolutionary "People's Will" group. On this day in 1930, Clyde Tombaugh announced the discovery of Pluto at Lowell Observatory. Pluto was regarded as the ninth planet in the solar system until Neil de Grasse Tyson downgraded it. On this day in 1961, American President John F. Kennedy proposed the "Alliance for Progress," which was supposed to be a 10-year, multibillion-dollar aid program for Latin America. In 1965 on this day, the Beatles' "Eight Days a Week," single went #1 & stayed there for two weeks. Congo sentenced ex-Premier Moise Tsjombe to death on this day in 1967. In 1968 on this day, the Beatles released "Lady Madonna" in the United Kingdom. In 1972 on this day, Great Britain and China resumed full diplomatic relations after 22 years; Britain withdrew its consulate from Taiwan. On this day in 1979, the European Monetary System was established, ECU was created. The Dunblane massacre took place on this day in 1996 in Dunblane, Scotland, as 16 children and a teacher were shot dead by Thomas Hamilton, a spree killer who then committed suicide. On this day in 2003, a report in the journal "Nature" reported that scientists had discovered 350,000-year-old upright-walking human footprints in Italy. The 56 prints were made by three early, upright-walking humans that were descending the side of a volcano. In 2012 on this day, Encyclopedia Britannica announced that it will discontinue public printed versions of its encyclopedia after 244 years.

Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:

• On this day in 483, St Felix III began his reign as Catholic Pope

• In 607 on this day came the 12th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet

• German King Koenraad II von Hohenstaufen was crowned on this day in 1138.

Spanish Conquistador Hernán Cortés      

• On this day in 1519, Hernán Cortés landed in Mexico.

1560 - Spanish fleet occupies Djerba, at Tripoli

1564 - Cardinal Granvelle flees Brussels

1567 - Battle at Oosterweel: Spanish troops destroy Geuzenleger

1569 - Battle of Jarnac, Count of Anjou defeats Huguenots

1591 - Battle at Tondibi: Moroccans army under Judar beats sultan Askia Ishaq II of Songhai

1634 - Academie Francaise opens

• In 1639 on this day, Cambridge College near Boston was renamed Harvard for clergyman John Harvard.

1656 - Jews are denied the right to build a synagogue in New Amsterdam

1677 - Massachusetts gains title to Maine for $6,000

1735 - 1st US Moravian bishop, David Nitschmann, consecrated in Germany

1759 - 27th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet

1772 - Gotthold Lessing's "Emilia Calotti," premieres in Brunswick

• On this day in 1781, Sir William Herschel saw what he mistakenly believed to be a comet, but which was really the planet Uranus. The German-born English astronomer William Hershel discovers Uranus, the seventh planet from the sun. Herschel's discovery of a new planet was the first to be made in modern times, and also the first to be made by use of a telescope, which allowed Herschel to distinguish Uranus as a planet, not a star, as previous astronomers believed.    Herschel, who was later knighted for his historic discovery, named the planet Georgium Sidus, or the "Georgian Planet," in honor of King George III of England. However, German astronomer Johann Bode proposed the name "Uranus" for the celestial body in order to conform to the classical mythology-derived names of other known planets. Uranus, the ancient Greek deity of the heavens, was a predecessor of the Olympian gods. By the mid-19th century, it was also the generally accepted name of the seventh planet from the sun.    The planet Uranus is a gas giant like Jupiter and Saturn and is made up of hydrogen, helium, and methane. The third largest planet, Uranus orbits the sun once every 84 earth years and is the only planet to spin perpendicular to its solar orbital plane. In January 1986, the unmanned U.S. spacecraft Voyager 2 visited the planet, discovering 10 additional moons to the five already known, and a system of faint rings around the gas giant.

1790 - John Martin, 1st American-born actor, performs in Philadelphia

1797 - Cherubini's opera "Medée," premieres in Paris

British Naturalist & Botanist Charles Darwin

• British Naturalist & Botanist Charles Darwin departed Valparaiso, Chile, for a crossing of the Andes on this day in 1835.

1846 - Friedrich Hebbel's "Maria Magdalena," premieres in Königsberg

1852 - Uncle Sam cartoon figure made its debut in the NY Lantern weekly

• On this day in 1865 in the very late stages of the American Civil War, with the main Rebel armies facing long odds against must larger Union armies, the Confederacy, in a desperate measure, reluctantly approved the use of black troops.    The situation was bleak for the Confederates in the spring of 1865. The Yankees had captured large swaths of Southern territory, General William T. Sherman's Union army was tearing through the Carolinas, and General Robert E. Lee was trying valiantly to hold the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, against General Ulysses S. Grant's growing force. Lee and Confederate President Jefferson Davis had only two options. One was for Lee to unite with General Joseph Johnston's army in the Carolinas and use the combined force to take on Sherman and Grant one at a time. The other option was to arm slaves, the last source of fresh manpower in the Confederacy.    The idea of enlisting blacks had been debated for some time. Arming slaves was essentially a way of setting them free, since they could not realistically be sent back to plantations after they had fought. General Patrick Cleburne had suggested enlisting slaves a year before, but few in the Confederate leadership considered the proposal, since slavery was the foundation of Southern society. One politician asked, "What did we go to war for, if not to protect our property?" Another suggested, "If slaves will make good soldiers, our whole theory of slavery is wrong." Lee weighed in on the issue and asked the Confederate government for help. "We must decide whether slavery shall be extinguished by our enemies and the slaves be used against us, or use them ourselves." Lee asked that the slaves be freed as a condition of fighting, but the bill that passed the Confederate Congress on March 13, 1865, did not stipulate freedom for those who served.    The measure did nothing to stop the destruction of the Confederacy. Several thousand blacks were enlisted in the Rebel cause, but they could not begin to balance out the nearly 200,000 blacks who fought for the Union. 

1868 - Senate begins US President Andrew Johnson's impeachment trial

1869 - Arkansas legislature passes anti-Klan law

1878 - Oxford defeats Cambridge in their 1st golf match

• In 1881 on this day, Czar Alexander II, who had ruled of Russia since 1855, was assassinated on the streets of St. Petersburg by a bomb thrown by a member of the revolutionary "People's Will" group. The People's Will, organized in 1879, employed terrorism and assassination in their attempt to overthrow Russia's czarist autocracy. They murdered officials and made several attempts on the czar's life before finally assassinating him on March 13, 1881.    As czar, Alexander did much to liberalize and modernize Russia, including the abolishment of serfdom in 1861. However, when his authority was challenged, he turned repressive, and he vehemently opposed movements for political reform. Ironically, on the very day he was killed, he signed a proclamation--the so-called Loris-Melikov constitution--that would have created two legislative commissions made up of indirectly elected representatives.    He was succeeded by his 36-year-old son, Alexander III, who rejected the Loris-Melikov constitution. Alexander II's assassins were arrested and hanged, and the People's Will was thoroughly suppressed. The peasant revolution advocated by the People's Will was achieved by Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik revolutionaries in 1917.

1884 - Siege of Khartoum Sudan begins

1884 - US adopts Standard Time

1887 - Chester Greenwood of Maine patents earmuffs

1888 - Great Blizzard of 1888 rages

1894 - J L Johnstone of England invents horse racing starting gate

1897 - San Diego State University is founded.

1900 - British troops occupy Bloemfontein, Orange Free State

1900 - In France the length of the workday for women and children is limited to 11 hours by law.

1904 - Bronze statue of Christ on Argentine-Chilian border dedicated

1911 - Ivan Caryll's musical "Pink Lady," premieres in NYC

1911 - Stanley Cup: Ottawa Senators beat Galt (Ont), 7-4

1912 - Stanley Cup: Quebec Bulldogs sweep Moncton (NB) in 2 games

1913 - Kansas legislature approved censorship of motion pictures

1915 - Dodgers manager Wilbert Robinson tries to catch a baseball dropped from an airplane, but the pilot substituted a grapefruit

1918 - American Red Magen David (Jewish Red Cross) forms

1918 - 1st NHL championship: Mont Canadiens beat Toronto Arenas, outscoring them 10-7 in a 2 game set

1920 - Wolfgang Kapp's coup attempt in Berlin fails

1921 - Mongolia (formerly Outer Mongolia) declares independence from China

Playwright George Bernard ShawPlaywright George Bernard Shaw 1922 - George Bernard Shaws "Back to Methusaleh V," premieres in NYC

1922 - WRR-AM in Dallas TX begins radio transmissions

1922 - NHL Championship: Ottawa Senators outscore Toronto St Pats, 5 to 4, in 2 games

1923 - Lee de Forest demonstrates his sound-on-film moving pictures (NYC)

1924 - German Republic day

1925 - NHL Championship: Montreal Canadiens sweep Toronto Arenas in 2 games

1925 - Tennessee makes it unlawful to teach evolution

1928 - Rudolph Friml's musical "Three Musketeers," premieres in NYC

1929 - Bradman scores 123 Aust v England at MCG, his 2nd Test Cricket ton

•  On this day in 1930, Clyde Tombaugh announced the discovery of Pluto at Lowell Observatory. Pluto was regarded as the ninth planet in the solar system until Neil de Grasse Tyson downgraded it. 

1933 - Banks reopen

1933 - Joseph Goebbels becomes German Minister of Information and Propaganda within Nazi Reich

1935 - Driving tests introduced in Great Britain

1938 - Anschluá-Austria annexed by Nazi Germany

1938 - World News Roundup is broadcast for the first time on CBS Radio in the United States.

Nazi Minister of Propaganda and Information Joseph GoebbelsNazi Minister of Propaganda and Information Joseph Goebbels 1940 - Finland-Russian cease fire signed, Finland gives up Karelische

1940 - The Russo-Finnish Winter War ends.

1941 - A Bougne forms AGRA (Amis du Grand Reich Allemand)

1942 - Julia Flikke, Nurse Corps, becomes 1st woman colonel in US army

1943 - Baseball approves official ball (with cork & balata)

1943 - Failed assassin attempt on Hitler during Smolensk-Rastenburg flight

1943 - Frank Dixon wins Knights of Columbus mile (4:09.6)

1944 - USSR recognizes Italian Badoglio government

1945 - Queen Wilhelmina returns to Netherlands

1945 - Sicherheitsdienst arrest Dutch resistance fighter Henry Werkman

1947 - "Brigadoon" opens at Ziegfeld Theater NYC for 581 performances

1947 - 19th Academy Awards - "Best Years of Lives," De Havilland, March win

1948 - 10th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Kentucky beats Baylor 58-42

1949 - US Ladies Figure Skating championship won by Yvonne C Sherman

1949 - US Mens Figure Skating championship won by Richard Button

Dictator of Nazi Germany Adolf HitlerDictator of Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler 1950 - General Motors reports net earnings of $656,434,232 (record)

1951 - 2nd Dutch government of Drees forms

1951 - Israel demands DM 6.2 billion compensation from Germany

1954 - Braves' Bobby Thomson breaks his ankle, he is replaced by Hank Aaron

1954 - Viet Minh General Giap opens assault on That Bien Phu

1955 - Bir BSD Mahendra succeeds Tribhubana as king of Nepal

1955 - Patty Berg wins LPGA Titleholders Golf Championship

1956 - NZ bowl out WI for 77 at Eden Park to score their 1st Test Cricket win

1957 - Bloody battles after anti-Batista demonstration in Havana Cuba

1958 - Government troops land in Sumatra Indonesia

1960 - Fay Crocker wins LPGA Titleholders Golf Championship

1960 - NFL's Chicago Cardinals moves to St Louis

1960 - White Sox unveil new road uniforms with players' names above number

1961 - Elizabeth Gurley Finn (70) becomes pres of US Communist Party

1961 - Floyd Patterson KOs Ingemar Johansson in 6 for heavyweight boxing title

 Picture of the US Postage stamp commemorating American President John F. Kennedy's "Alliance for Progress"

US President John F. Kennedy 

• On this day in 1961, American President John F. Kennedy proposed the "Alliance for Progress," which was supposed to be a 10-year, multibillion-dollar aid program for Latin America. The program came to be known as the Alliance for Progress and was designed to improve U.S. relations with Latin America, which had been severely damaged in recent years.    When Kennedy became president in 1961, U.S. relations with Latin America were at an all-time low. The Latin American republics were disappointed with U.S. economic assistance after World War II. They argued that they had supported America during the war by increasing their production of vital raw materials and keeping their prices low--when the United States began massive aid programs to Europe and Japan after the war, Latin American nations protested that they also deserved economic assistance. Their anger was apparent during Vice President Richard Nixon's trip through the region in 1958, when a mob attacked his car at a stop in Caracas.    More troubling to American officials was the threat of communism in Latin America. In 1954, the Central Intelligence Agency had funded and supplied a revolution that overthrew the leftist government of Guatemala. In 1959, Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba and by 1961, the United States had severed relations with his government. In response to these developments, Kennedy made his plea for the Alliance for Progress. In requesting funds from Congress, the president stressed the need for improved literacy, land use, industrial productivity, health, and education in Latin America. The United States needed to help Latin America, where "millions of men and women suffer the daily degradations of hunger and poverty" and "discontent is growing." The United States would provide money, expertise, and technology to raise the standard of living for the people of Latin America, which would hopefully make the countries stronger and better able to resist communist influences.    In response to Kennedy's plea, Congress voted for an initial grant of $500 million in May 1961. During the next 10 years, billions were spent on the Alliance, but its success was marginal and there were many reasons that the program was ultimately a failure. American congressmen were reluctant to provide funds for land redistribution programs in Latin America because they felt it smacked of socialism. Latin American elites directed most of the funds into pet projects that enriched themselves but did little to help the vast majority of their people. The Alliance certainly failed in its effort to bring democracy to Latin America: by the time the program faded away in the early-1970s, 13 governments in Latin America had been replaced by military rule.

1961 - Landslide in USSR, kills 145

1961 - Old type, black & white notes cease to be legal tender

1962 - Yugoslavia grants 1,000 prisoners amnesty

1963 - 2 Russian reconnaissance flights over Alaska

1963 - Hindemith & Wilder's opera "Long Christmas Dinner," premieres in NYC

1963 - Indonesia & Netherlands recover diplomatic relations

1964 - Turkey threatens Cyprus with armed attack

   

• In 1965 on this day, the Beatles' "Eight Days a Week," single went #1 & stayed there for two weeks. 

1965 - Jeff Beck replaces Eric Clapton of the Yardbirds

• Congo sentenced ex-Premier Moise Tsjombe to death on this day in 1967.

• In 1968 on this day, the Beatles released "Lady Madonna" in the United Kingdom.

1969 - Apollo 9 returns to Earth

Cuban President and Dictator Fulgencio BatistaCuban President and Dictator Fulgencio Batista 1970 - 100 year Beehive anniversary ends in brawl in Amsterdam

1970 - Digital Equipment Corp introduces PDP-11 minicomputer

1970 - SF city employees begin 4-day strike

1971 - Live at Fillmore East recorded

• In 1972 on this day, Great Britain and China resumed full diplomatic relations after 22 years; Britain withdrew its consulate from Taiwan.

1973 - Syria adopts constitution

1973 - "Irene" opens at Minskoff Theater NYC for 605 performances

1973 - Minskoff Theater opens at 200 W 45th St NYC

1974 - Glenn Turner scores twin tons for NZ's 1st win against Aust

1975 - Bernard Slade's "Same Time, Next Year," premieres in NYC

1977 - Dennis Lillee takes 6-26, England all out 95 in Centenary Test

1978 - Moluccans "suicide commandos" occupies Province house

• On this day in 1979, the European Monetary System was established, ECU was created.

1979 - Gairy dictatorship in Grenada overthrown by New Jewel Movement

1979 - Isle's Mike Bossy's 5th career hat trick

1980 - Eric Heiden skates world record 1000m (1:13.60)

1980 - Ford Motor Co found innocent in death of 3 women in a fiery Pinto

1980 - Men's Figure Skating Championship in Dortmund won by Jan Hoffmann GDR

1981 - NCAA St Joseph's upsets top seed DePaul

1982 - Ice Dance Championship at Copenhagen won by Torvill & Dean (GRB)

1982 - Ice Pairs Championship at Copenhagen won by Baess & Thierbach (GDR)

1982 - Men's Fig Skating Champions in Copenhagen won by Scott Hamilton (USA)

1982 - Worlds Ladies Fig Skate Champs in Copenhagen won by Elaine Zayak (USA)

1982 - Elaine Zayak, lands 6 triple jumps to win world skating championship

1983 - "Woman of the Year" closes at Palace Theater NYC after 770 perfs

1983 - 1st USFL overtime game-Birmingham Stallions beat Oakld Invaders 20-14

1984 - Last day of 1st-class cricket for G Chappell, R Marsh, B Laird

1984 - WA beat Queensland by four wickets to win the Sheffield Shield

1985 - Funeral services held for Konstantin Chernenko (Moscow)

1985 - Michael Secrest (US) begins 24-hr ride of 516 miles, 427 yards

1986 - Soyuz T-15 carries 2 cosmonauts to Soviet space station Mir

1986 - Microsoft has its Initial public offering.

1987 - Ice Dance Championship at Cincinnati won by Bestemianova & Bukin (URS)

1987 - John Gotti is acquitted of racketeering

1987 - Washington Caps score 5 goals against Toronto in 3 mins & 3 secs

Actor/Comedian Bill CosbyActor/Comedian Bill Cosby 1988 - 14th People's Choice Awards: Fatal Attraction, Bill Cosby. win

1989 - 27th shuttle, Discovery 8, launched, 1st woman to do the countdown

1989 - FDA orders recall of all Chilean fruit in US

1989 - US space shuttle STS-29 launched

1990 - Nicholoas Braithwaite elected premier of Grenada

1991 - Exxon pays $1-billion dollars in fines & cleanup of Valdez oil spill

1992 - FCC rules companies can own 30 AM & 30 FM stations (formerly 12)

1992 - Martina Navratilova & Judy Nelson settle their galamony suit

1992 - An earthquake registering 6.8 on the Richter scale kills over 500 in Erzincan, eastern Turkey.

1993 - Blizzard of '93 hits north-east US

1994 - 33.3% of Austria votes for ultra-right Freedom Party

1994 - Donna Andrews wins LPGA Ping Welch's Golf Championship

1994 - Oil tank/airship crash at Bosporus (huge fire/15+ killed)

1994 - President Mangope of Bophuthaswana deposed

1995 - 9th Soul Train Music Awards: Boyz II Men, Anita Baker win

Tennis Player Martina NavratilovaTennis Player Martina Navratilova 1995 - Anti fascist Kazachstan anti-parliament forms

1995 - Hungarian Forint devalued 9%

1995 - Istanbul police shoot dead 16 Alawitische demonstrators

1996 - Sri Lanka beat India in World Cup semi as riots stop play

•  The Dunblane massacre took place on this day in 1996 in Dunblane, Scotland, as 16 children and a teacher were shot dead by Thomas Hamilton, a spree killer who then committed suicide.

1997 - India's Missionaries of Charity chooses Sister Nirmala to succeed Mother Teresa as its leader.

1997 - The Phoenix lights were seen over Phoenix, Arizona by hundreds of people, and by millions on television. They are now a hotly debated controversy.

•  On this day in 2003, a report in the journal "Nature" reported that scientists had discovered 350,000-year-old upright-walking human footprints in Italy. The 56 prints were made by three early, upright-walking humans that were descending the side of a volcano.

2005 - Terry Ratzmann shoots and kills six members of the Living Church of God and the minister at Sheraton Inn in Brookfield, Wisconsin before killing himself.

2008 - Gold prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange hit $1,000.00 an ounce for the first time.

2012 - 19 people are shot dead in a bus attack in Ethiopia

•  In 2012 on this day, Encyclopedia Britannica announced that it will discontinue public printed versions of its encyclopedia after 244 years.

2012 - 110 people are killed and 63 are missing after a ferry collides with an oil tanker near Dhaka, Bangladesh

2012 - 28 people, including 22 children, are killed in a motorway bus crash near Sierre, Switzerland

2013 - 10 people are killed by a suicide bombing in Kunduz province, Afghanistan

2013 - The European Parliament rejects a European Union budget for the first time

2013 - An Embraer 821 aeroplane crashes and kills 9 people in Para, Brazil

2013 - North Korea shreds the Korean Armistice agreement

2013 - Aleqa Hammond’s Siumut party wins the Greenland parliamentary elections

2013 - Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio is elected as the new pope, taking the papal name Pope Francis

0483 - St. Felix III began his reign as Pope.   0607 - The 12th recorded passage of Halley's Comet occurred.   1519 - Cortez landed in Mexico.   1639 - Harvard University was named for clergyman John Harvard.   1660 - A statute was passed limiting the sale of slaves in the colony of Virginia.   1777 - The U.S. Congress ordered its European envoys to appeal to high-ranking foreign officers to send troops to reinforce the American army.   1781 - Sir William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus.   1852 - The New York "Lantern" newspaper published the first "Uncle Sam cartoon". It was drawn by Frank Henry Bellew.   1861 - Jefferson Davis signed a bill authorizing slaves to be used as soldiers for the Confederacy.   1868 - The U.S. Senate began the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson.   1877 - Chester Greenwood patented the earmuff.   1878 - The first collegiate golf match was played between Oxford and Cambridge.   1884 - Standard time was adopted throughout the U.S.   1900 - In South Africa, British Gen. Roberts took Bloemfontein.   1901 - Andrew Carnegie announced that he was retiring from business and that he would spend the rest of his days giving away his fortune. His net worth was estimated at $300 million.   1902 - In Poland, schools were shut down across the country when students refused to sing the Russian hymn "God Protect the Czar."   1902 - Andrew Carnegie approved 40 applications from libraries for donations.   1908 - The people of Jerusalem saw an automobile for the first time. The owner was Charles Glidden of Boston.   1911 - The U.S. Supreme Court approved corporate tax law.   1915 - The Germans repelled a British expeditionary force attack in France.   1918 - Women were scheduled to march in the St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York due to a shortage of men due to wartime.   1925 - A law in Tennessee prohibited the teaching of evolution.   1930 - It was announced that the planet Pluto had been discovered by scientist Clyde Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory.   1933 - U.S. banks began to re-open after a "holiday" that had been declared by President Roosevelt.   1935 - Three-thousand-year-old archives were found in Jerusalem confirming some biblical history.   1940 - The war between Russia and Finland ended with the signing of a treaty in Moscow.   1941 - Adolf Hitler issued an edict calling for an invasion of the U.S.S.R.   1942 - Julia Flikke of the Nurse Corps became the first woman colonel in the U.S. Army.   1943 - Japanese forces ended their attack on the American troops on Hill 700 in Bougainville.   1946 - Reports from Iran indicated that Soviet tanks units were stationed 20 miles from Tehran.   1946 - Premier Tito seized wartime collaborator General Draja Mikhailovich in a cave in Yugoslavia.   1951 - Israel demanded $1.5 billion in German reparations for the cost of caring for war refugees.   1951 - The comic strip "Dennis the Menace" appeared for the first time in newspapers across the country.   1957 - Jimmy Hoffa was arrested by the FBI on bribery charges.   1963 - China invited Soviet President Khrushchev to visit Peking.   1969 - The Apollo 9 astronauts returned to Earth after the conclusion of a mission that included the successful testing of the Lunar Module.   1970 - Cambodia ordered Hanoi and Viet Cong troops to leave.   1970 - Digital Equipment Corp. introduced the PDP-11 minicomputer.   1972 - "The Merv Griffin Show" debuted in syndication for Metromedia Television.   1974 - The U.S. Senate voted 54-33 to restore the death penalty.   1974 - An embargo imposed by Arab oil-producing countries was lifted.   1980 - A jury in Winamac, IN, found Ford Motor Company innocent of reckless homicide in the deaths of three young women that had been riding in a Ford Pinto.   1988 - The board of trustees off Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, chose I. King Jordan to be its first deaf president. The college is a liberal arts college for the hearing-impaired.   1990 - The U.S. lifted economic sanctions against Nicaragua.   1991 - Exxon paid $1 billion in fines and for the clean-up of the Alaskan oil spill.   1995 - The first United Nations World Summit on Social Development concluded in Copenhagen, Denmark.   1997 - Sister Nirmala was chosen by India's Missionaries of Charity to succeed Mother Teresa as leader of the Catholic order.   2002 - Fox aired "Celebrity Boxing." Tonya Harding beat Paula Jones, Danny Banaduce beat Barry Williams and Todd Bridges defeated Vanilla Ice.   2003 - Japan sent a destroyer to the Sea of Japan amid reports that North Korea was planning to test an intermediate-range ballistic missile.   2003 - A report in the journal "Nature" reported that scientists had found 350,000-year-old human footprints in Italy. The 56 prints were made by three early, upright-walking humans that were descending the side of a volcano.

1639 Cambridge College was renamed Harvard University. 1781 The German-born English astronomer Sir William Herschel discovered the planet Georgium Sidus, later known as Uranus. 1852 "Uncle Sam" cartoon appeared for the first time in N.Y. Lantern weekly. 1868 The Senate began President Andrew Johnson's impeachment trial. 1906 Suffragist Susan B. Anthony died. 1925 Tennessee passed a bill prohibiting the teaching of evolution in public schools. . 1996 A man shot dead 16 children and a woman teacher in a school in Dunblane, Scotland. He then shot himself. 

The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:

http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php

http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/mar13.htm

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory