Now, I have to admit that this Pope is catching my attention more than any Pope that came before.
Shhh! I can't say that too loudly, because my girlfriend is Polish, and over there, Pope John Paul II, the only Polish Pope in history, is a revered figure that has attained a status almost of sainthood!
But seriously, Pope Francis is sounding more and more like what I imagine a prominent religious leader for about two billion people should sound like. He is taking to task the wasteful consumerist mentality that we take for granted here in the West, but which seems to be spreading fast around the globe.
The latest was rather a bombshell: he called absolute capitalism a "tyranny", and reminded the very rich of their obligation to share their wealth, rather than horde it all.
Why, that is a message that sounds like it came from a Christian who actually took the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount seriously, rather than as some mere window dressing. Pope Francis I is sounding like someone who actually is not merely playing the game of politics once he gets into the highest office of his faith, but is actually placing faith before politics!
It is not the first time that I am writing in admiration of this man, and of course, the church has been mired in myriad controversies now for well over a decade - and these controversies, such as abuse of young boys, are far from resolved. Nor has Pope Francis I exactly resolved these issues, either.
But what he is focusing on is modernizing Catholicism, and reminding practitioners of the greater spirit of charity that was not some minor point in the religion, but the basis of it to begin with. It is supposed to make followers better people. How can that happen, though, when the Papacy itself becomes just one more political office, with political ambitions outweighing moral concerns? After all, making compromises with fascism back in the days of World War II, when it was already generally known that Germany was practicing a policy of extermination of Jews, is not putting the value of human beings before politics.
So, for that matter, is glossing over today's evils of simply ignoring the growing inequality between rich and poor. How convenient for these men to sit on their golden thrones, inside of a palace in a city that is, technically, it's own country, and which owns vast riches and wealth, even while many, if not most, practitioners live in dire poverty!
Ignoring these inconvenient truths does not make them simply go away, although that appeared to be the de facto policy that they all followed, until very recently. Glossing over this issue, which is, in fact, at the very core of what concerns spirituality and the message of Jesus, was more than a little disheartening, and I think it was what led to the decline of the power of this religion in the West.
Yet, this Pope Francis I appears to be truly different. He seems to not flinch or back down when the faith that he believes in and embodies conflicts with those of the major powers and players in the world. He is speaking here from his heart, from what he believes deep down, and understands as the message that his faith has always taught.
Of course, he is not doing this without opposition. A lot of people, including Tea Party conservatives in the United States, have been quite vocal in their opposition, and claim that he is too liberal.
But I, for one, am starting to see less of a conflict between what the Vatican in general, the and Papacy specifically, is supposed to represent, and what this Pope in particular apparently is.
He is, to me, far and away the most impressive Pope that I can remember, and I am beginning to be more and more interested in following his actions and speeches. No, I am not returning to my Catholic roots, per se. But I am going to take him seriously when he speaks, because he already has shown that he is speaking from a higher authority than his own self-interest.
"Pope Francis calls unfettered capitalism 'tyranny' and urges rich to share wealth Pontiff's first major publication calls on global leaders to guarantee work, education and healthcare" Reuters theguardian.com, Tuesday 26 November 2013:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/26/pope-francis-capitalism-tyranny
Saturday, November 30, 2013
On This Day in History - November 30 Soviet Union Invades Finland
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
Nov 30, 1939: USSR attacks Finland
On this day in 1939, the Red Army crosses the Soviet-Finnish border with 465,000 men and 1,000 aircraft. Helsinki was bombed, and 61 Finns were killed in an air raid that steeled the Finns for resistance, not capitulation.
The overwhelming forces arrayed against Finland convinced most Western nations, as well as the Soviets themselves, that the invasion of Finland would be a cakewalk. The Soviet soldiers even wore summer uniforms, despite the onset of the Scandinavian winter; it was simply assumed that no outdoor activity, such as fighting, would be taking place. But the Helsinki raid had produced many casualties-and many photographs, including those of mothers holding dead babies, and preteen girls crippled by the bombing. Those photos were hung up everywhere to spur on Finn resistance. Although that resistance consisted of only small numbers of trained soldiers-on skis and bicycles!--fighting it out in the forests, and partisans throwing Molotov cocktails into the turrets of Soviet tanks, the refusal to submit made headlines around the world.
President Roosevelt quickly extended $10 million in credit to Finland, while also noting that the Finns were the only people to pay back their World War I war debt to the United States in full. But by the time the Soviets had a chance to regroup, and send in massive reinforcements, the Finnish resistance was spent. By March 1940, negotiations with the Soviets began, and Finland soon lost the Karelian Isthmus, the land bridge that gave access to Leningrad, which the Soviets wanted to control.
Nov 30, 1835: Mark Twain is born
Samuel Clemens, later known as Mark Twin, is born in Florida, Missouri, on this day in 1835.
Clemens was apprenticed to a printer at age 13 and later worked for his older brother, who established the Hannibal Journal. In 1857, the Keokuk Daily Post commissioned him to write a series of comic travel letters, but after writing five he decided to become a steamboat captain instead. He signed on as a pilot's apprentice in 1857 and received his pilot's license in 1859, when he was 23.
Clemens piloted boats for two years, until the Civil War halted steamboat traffic. During his time as a pilot, he picked up the term "Mark Twain," a boatman's call noting that the river was only two fathoms deep, the minimum depth for safe navigation. When Clemens returned to writing in 1861, working for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, he wrote a humorous travel letter signed by "Mark Twain" and continued to use the pseudonym for nearly 50 years.
In 1864, he moved to San Francisco to work as a reporter. There, he wrote the story that made him famous: The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.
In 1866, he traveled to Hawaii as a correspondent for the Sacramento Union. Next, he traveled the world writing accounts for papers in California and New York, which he later published the popular book The Innocents Abroad (1869). In 1870, Clemens married the daughter of a wealthy New York coal merchant and settled in Hartford, Connecticut, where he continued to write travel accounts and lecture. In 1875, his novel Tom Sawyer was published, followed by Life on the Mississippi (1883) and his masterpiece Huckleberry Finn (1885). Bad investments left Clemens bankrupt after the publication of Huckleberry Finn, but he won back his financial standing with his next three books--Pudd'Nhead Wilson (1894), Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc (1895), and Following the Equator (1897). In 1903, he and his family moved to Italy, where his wife died. Her death left him sad and bitter, and his work, while still humorous, grew distinctly darker. He died in 1910.
Nov 30, 1917: German foreign minister celebrates revolution in Russia
On this day in 1917, Foreign Minister Richard Von Kuhlmann stands before the German Reichstag government to deliver a speech applauding the recent rise to power in Russia of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and his radical socialist Bolshevik Party.
Soon after November 7, 1917, when the Bolsheviks seized control in Petrograd from the provisional government--in place since the abdication of Czar Nicholas II in March--Lenin moved to secure an immediate armistice with the Central Powers in the First World War. Not surprisingly, Austria-Hungary and Germany welcomed this development with open arms; the latter nation had actually helped smuggle the exiled Lenin back to Russia the previous April. The German chancellor, Count Georg von Hertling, went so far as to suggest to Kuhlmann on November 29 that Germany make the new Russia one of its allies.
The following day, Kuhlmann addressed the Reichstag, declaring that "Our eyes at the present moment are turned toward the east. Russia has set the world ablaze." The mobilization of Russia, he continued, was "the actual and immediate cause" of the entire war; only now was Russia in the hands of leaders who would set things right and seek immediate peace with Germany. According to Kuhlmann, Russia's allies--Britain and France--would do well to consider following its lead, as "the German people will stand up and be prepared to beat force with force until the dawn of the better and more humane understanding which is beginning to appear in the eastern sky shall arise in the nations of the west, which are as yet filled with greed for money and power."
While the Central Powers rejoiced at the turn of events in Petrograd, the Allies were filled with a sense of dread. With Russia out of the war, Germany would be free to transfer more manpower to the Western Front; to the south, Austria-Hungary seemed close to overpowering Italy. Although the United States had entered the war on the side of the Allies in April 1917, it was not expected to deliver troops in significant numbers until the following summer. By the end of 1917, with casualties mounting on the Western Front, the Allies looked ahead with trepidation as the possibility of victory seemed to recede ever further into the distance.
Nov 30, 1965: McNamara warns Johnson that communists are gaining strength in South Vietnam
Following a visit to South Vietnam, Defense Secretary McNamara reports in a memorandum to President Lyndon B. Johnson that the South Vietnamese government of Nguyen Cao Ky "is surviving, but not acquiring wide support or generating actions."
He said that Viet Cong recruiting successes coupled with a continuing heavy infiltration of North Vietnamese forces indicated that "the enemy can be expected to enlarge his present strength of 110 battalion equivalents to more than 150 battalion equivalents by the end of 1966." McNamara said that U.S. policymakers faced two options: to seek a compromise settlement and keep further military commitments to a minimum, or to continue to press for a military solution, which would require substantial bombing of North Vietnam.
In conclusion, McNamara warned that there was no guarantee of U.S. military success and that there was a real possibility of a strategic stalemate, saying that "U.S. killed in action can be expected to reach 1,000 a month." In essence, McNamara cautioned Johnson that sending additional troops was not likely to prevent the stalemate. In the end, however, Johnson chose to seek a military solution. By 1969, there were more than 500,000 U.S. troops in Vietnam.
Nov 30, 1989: "America's First Female Serial Killer" strikes
Richard Mallory, a storeowner in Palm Harbor, Florida, is last seen taking a ride with Aileen Wuornos. The following day, his car—containing his wallet, some condoms, and an empty vodka bottle—was found abandoned in a remote area of Ormond Beach. Nearly two weeks later, his body turned up in a Daytona Beach junkyard with three bullets in his chest. Mallory's murder was the first of seven committed by Aileen Wuornos over the next year. Perhaps because she was one of the few women killers to gain widespread fame and notoriety, she was inaccurately dubbed "America's first female serial killer."
Her case was heavily publicized through television talk show appearances and a documentary, The Selling of a Serial Killer. Wuornos had been the victim of abuse and neglect herself. Her parents split before she was born and her father, who had been arrested for child molesting, killed himself while awaiting trial in a mental institution. When her mother abandoned her at a young age, Aileen was sent to live with her grandparents. But she was kicked out of their home when she got pregnant at age 14. From 1974 to 1976, Wuornos operated under several aliases and amassed an arrest record for offenses including drunk driving, assault, and armed robbery. In 1986, she became romantically and criminally involved with a woman named Tyria Moore.
In late 1989, Wuornos began her infamous killing spree. Five months after Richard Mallory was killed, David Spears was found dead, shot six times with a .22 caliber gun in the woods near Tampa. At around the same time, another male body turned up nearby that appeared to have been killed with the same type of gun. Three additional men met the same demise during the summer of 1990.
When the seventh victim was found in November, the media was alerted to the possibility of a serial killer. After receiving several tips, detectives caught Wuornos in a seedy biker bar in January 1991. With Moore assisting police, Wuornos decided to confess to the killings but claimed that they had all been done in self-defense. When a jury found Wuornos guilty on January 27, 1992, she screamed out, "I'm innocent! I was raped! I hope you get raped! Scumbags of America!" Her outburst was probably ill considered, given the fact that the same jury came back to decide her penalty the next day. Wuornos was sentenced to death.
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
1016 - English King Edmund II died. 1700 - 8,000 Swedish troops under King Charles XII defeated an army of at least 50,000 Russians at the Battle of Narva. King Charles XII died on this day. 1782 - The United States and Britain signed preliminary peace articles in Paris, ending the Revolutionary War. 1803 - Spain completed the process of ceding Louisiana to France. 1804 - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase went on trial accused of political bias. He was later acquitted by the U.S. Senate. 1835 - Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born. He wrote "Tom Sawyer" and "Huckleberry Finn" under the name Mark Twain. 1838 - Three days after the French occupation of Vera Cruz Mexico declared war on France. 1853 - During the Crimean War, the Russian fleet attacked and destroyed the Turkish fleet at the battle of Sinope. 1875 - A.J. Ehrichson patented the oat-crushing machine. 1897 - Thomas Edison's own motion picture projector had its first commercial exhibition. 1936 - London's famed Crystal Palace was destroyed in a fire. The structure had been constructed for the International Exhibition of 1851. 1939 - The Russo-Finnish War began when 20 divisions of Soviet troops invaded Finland. 1940 - Lucille Ball and Cuban musician Desi Arnaz were married. 1949 - Chinese Communists captured Chungking. 1954 - In Sylacauga, AL, Elizabeth Hodges was injured when a meteorite crashed through the roof of her house. The rock weighed 8½-pounds. 1956 - CBS replayed the program "Douglas Edward and the News" three hours after it was received on the West Coast. It was the world's first broadcast via videotape. 1962 - U Thant of Burma was elected secretary-general of the United Nations, succeeding the late Dag Hammarskjold. 1966 - The former British colony of Barbados became independent. 1967 - Julie Nixon and David Eisenhower announced their engagement. 1971 - ABC-TV aired "Brian's Song." The movie was about Chicago Bears' Brian Picolo and his friendship with Gale Sayers. 1981 - The U.S. and the Soviet Union opened negotiations in Geneva that were aimed at reducing nuclear weapons in Europe. 1982 - The motion picture "Ghandi" had its world premiere in New Delhi. 1986 - "Time" magazine published an interview with U.S. President Reagan. In the article, Reagan described fired national security staffer Oliver North as a "national hero." 1988 - Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co. took over RJR Nabisco Inc. with a bid of $24.53 billion. 1989 - Alfred Herrhausen was killed in a bombing. The Red Army Faction claimed responsibility of killing Herrhausen the chairman of West Germany's largest bank. 1989 - PLO leader Yasser Arafat was refused a visa to enter the United States in order to address the U.N. General Assebly in New York City. 1993 - U.S. President Clinton signed into law the Brady Bill. The bill required a five-day waiting period for handgun purchases and background checks of prospective buyers. 1993 - Richard Allen Davis was arrested by authorities in California. Davis confessed to abducting and slaying 12-year-old Polly Klaas of Petaluma. 1995 - President Clinton became the first U.S. chief executive to visit Northern Ireland. 1998 - The Deutsche Bank AG announced that it would acquire Bankers Trust Corp. for $10.1 billion creating the world's largest financial institution. 2000 - David Spade was assaulted with a stun gun by his longtime personal assistant, David Warren Malloy. Malloy attacked Spade during a burglary of Spade's home in Beverly Hills. 2001 - For the first time in its history, McDonald's teamed up with a retail partner on its Happy Meal promotions. Toys R Us provided plush figures from its Animal Alley. 2001 - In Seattle, WA, Gary Leon Ridgeway was arrested for four of the Green River serial killings. He was pled innocent on December 18, 2001. 2004 - In Stockholm, Sweden, the Carl Larsson painting "Boenskoerd" ("Bean Harvest") was sold at auction for $730,000. The work had been in a private collection for more than a century. The Larsson work "Vid Kattegatt" ("By Kattegatt") sold for $640,000 at the same auction.
1804 Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase was tried for political bias. 1900 Irish author Oscar Wilde died in Paris at age 46. 1940 Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were married. 1966 Barbados became independent of Great Britain. 1974 The fossilized remains of a female human ancestor named Lucy (after the Beatles song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds) were found in Ethiopia. 1993 The Brady Bill, requiring a five-day waiting period for handgun purchases, is signed. 1995 President Bill Clinton became the first U.S. president to visit Northern Ireland. 2004 Ken Jennings ended his 74-game winning spree on the game show, Jeopardy!
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/nov30.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
Nov 30, 1939: USSR attacks Finland
On this day in 1939, the Red Army crosses the Soviet-Finnish border with 465,000 men and 1,000 aircraft. Helsinki was bombed, and 61 Finns were killed in an air raid that steeled the Finns for resistance, not capitulation.
The overwhelming forces arrayed against Finland convinced most Western nations, as well as the Soviets themselves, that the invasion of Finland would be a cakewalk. The Soviet soldiers even wore summer uniforms, despite the onset of the Scandinavian winter; it was simply assumed that no outdoor activity, such as fighting, would be taking place. But the Helsinki raid had produced many casualties-and many photographs, including those of mothers holding dead babies, and preteen girls crippled by the bombing. Those photos were hung up everywhere to spur on Finn resistance. Although that resistance consisted of only small numbers of trained soldiers-on skis and bicycles!--fighting it out in the forests, and partisans throwing Molotov cocktails into the turrets of Soviet tanks, the refusal to submit made headlines around the world.
President Roosevelt quickly extended $10 million in credit to Finland, while also noting that the Finns were the only people to pay back their World War I war debt to the United States in full. But by the time the Soviets had a chance to regroup, and send in massive reinforcements, the Finnish resistance was spent. By March 1940, negotiations with the Soviets began, and Finland soon lost the Karelian Isthmus, the land bridge that gave access to Leningrad, which the Soviets wanted to control.
Nov 30, 1835: Mark Twain is born
Samuel Clemens, later known as Mark Twin, is born in Florida, Missouri, on this day in 1835.
Clemens was apprenticed to a printer at age 13 and later worked for his older brother, who established the Hannibal Journal. In 1857, the Keokuk Daily Post commissioned him to write a series of comic travel letters, but after writing five he decided to become a steamboat captain instead. He signed on as a pilot's apprentice in 1857 and received his pilot's license in 1859, when he was 23.
Clemens piloted boats for two years, until the Civil War halted steamboat traffic. During his time as a pilot, he picked up the term "Mark Twain," a boatman's call noting that the river was only two fathoms deep, the minimum depth for safe navigation. When Clemens returned to writing in 1861, working for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, he wrote a humorous travel letter signed by "Mark Twain" and continued to use the pseudonym for nearly 50 years.
In 1864, he moved to San Francisco to work as a reporter. There, he wrote the story that made him famous: The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.
In 1866, he traveled to Hawaii as a correspondent for the Sacramento Union. Next, he traveled the world writing accounts for papers in California and New York, which he later published the popular book The Innocents Abroad (1869). In 1870, Clemens married the daughter of a wealthy New York coal merchant and settled in Hartford, Connecticut, where he continued to write travel accounts and lecture. In 1875, his novel Tom Sawyer was published, followed by Life on the Mississippi (1883) and his masterpiece Huckleberry Finn (1885). Bad investments left Clemens bankrupt after the publication of Huckleberry Finn, but he won back his financial standing with his next three books--Pudd'Nhead Wilson (1894), Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc (1895), and Following the Equator (1897). In 1903, he and his family moved to Italy, where his wife died. Her death left him sad and bitter, and his work, while still humorous, grew distinctly darker. He died in 1910.
Nov 30, 1917: German foreign minister celebrates revolution in Russia
On this day in 1917, Foreign Minister Richard Von Kuhlmann stands before the German Reichstag government to deliver a speech applauding the recent rise to power in Russia of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and his radical socialist Bolshevik Party.
Soon after November 7, 1917, when the Bolsheviks seized control in Petrograd from the provisional government--in place since the abdication of Czar Nicholas II in March--Lenin moved to secure an immediate armistice with the Central Powers in the First World War. Not surprisingly, Austria-Hungary and Germany welcomed this development with open arms; the latter nation had actually helped smuggle the exiled Lenin back to Russia the previous April. The German chancellor, Count Georg von Hertling, went so far as to suggest to Kuhlmann on November 29 that Germany make the new Russia one of its allies.
The following day, Kuhlmann addressed the Reichstag, declaring that "Our eyes at the present moment are turned toward the east. Russia has set the world ablaze." The mobilization of Russia, he continued, was "the actual and immediate cause" of the entire war; only now was Russia in the hands of leaders who would set things right and seek immediate peace with Germany. According to Kuhlmann, Russia's allies--Britain and France--would do well to consider following its lead, as "the German people will stand up and be prepared to beat force with force until the dawn of the better and more humane understanding which is beginning to appear in the eastern sky shall arise in the nations of the west, which are as yet filled with greed for money and power."
While the Central Powers rejoiced at the turn of events in Petrograd, the Allies were filled with a sense of dread. With Russia out of the war, Germany would be free to transfer more manpower to the Western Front; to the south, Austria-Hungary seemed close to overpowering Italy. Although the United States had entered the war on the side of the Allies in April 1917, it was not expected to deliver troops in significant numbers until the following summer. By the end of 1917, with casualties mounting on the Western Front, the Allies looked ahead with trepidation as the possibility of victory seemed to recede ever further into the distance.
Nov 30, 1965: McNamara warns Johnson that communists are gaining strength in South Vietnam
Following a visit to South Vietnam, Defense Secretary McNamara reports in a memorandum to President Lyndon B. Johnson that the South Vietnamese government of Nguyen Cao Ky "is surviving, but not acquiring wide support or generating actions."
He said that Viet Cong recruiting successes coupled with a continuing heavy infiltration of North Vietnamese forces indicated that "the enemy can be expected to enlarge his present strength of 110 battalion equivalents to more than 150 battalion equivalents by the end of 1966." McNamara said that U.S. policymakers faced two options: to seek a compromise settlement and keep further military commitments to a minimum, or to continue to press for a military solution, which would require substantial bombing of North Vietnam.
In conclusion, McNamara warned that there was no guarantee of U.S. military success and that there was a real possibility of a strategic stalemate, saying that "U.S. killed in action can be expected to reach 1,000 a month." In essence, McNamara cautioned Johnson that sending additional troops was not likely to prevent the stalemate. In the end, however, Johnson chose to seek a military solution. By 1969, there were more than 500,000 U.S. troops in Vietnam.
Nov 30, 1989: "America's First Female Serial Killer" strikes
Richard Mallory, a storeowner in Palm Harbor, Florida, is last seen taking a ride with Aileen Wuornos. The following day, his car—containing his wallet, some condoms, and an empty vodka bottle—was found abandoned in a remote area of Ormond Beach. Nearly two weeks later, his body turned up in a Daytona Beach junkyard with three bullets in his chest. Mallory's murder was the first of seven committed by Aileen Wuornos over the next year. Perhaps because she was one of the few women killers to gain widespread fame and notoriety, she was inaccurately dubbed "America's first female serial killer."
Her case was heavily publicized through television talk show appearances and a documentary, The Selling of a Serial Killer. Wuornos had been the victim of abuse and neglect herself. Her parents split before she was born and her father, who had been arrested for child molesting, killed himself while awaiting trial in a mental institution. When her mother abandoned her at a young age, Aileen was sent to live with her grandparents. But she was kicked out of their home when she got pregnant at age 14. From 1974 to 1976, Wuornos operated under several aliases and amassed an arrest record for offenses including drunk driving, assault, and armed robbery. In 1986, she became romantically and criminally involved with a woman named Tyria Moore.
In late 1989, Wuornos began her infamous killing spree. Five months after Richard Mallory was killed, David Spears was found dead, shot six times with a .22 caliber gun in the woods near Tampa. At around the same time, another male body turned up nearby that appeared to have been killed with the same type of gun. Three additional men met the same demise during the summer of 1990.
When the seventh victim was found in November, the media was alerted to the possibility of a serial killer. After receiving several tips, detectives caught Wuornos in a seedy biker bar in January 1991. With Moore assisting police, Wuornos decided to confess to the killings but claimed that they had all been done in self-defense. When a jury found Wuornos guilty on January 27, 1992, she screamed out, "I'm innocent! I was raped! I hope you get raped! Scumbags of America!" Her outburst was probably ill considered, given the fact that the same jury came back to decide her penalty the next day. Wuornos was sentenced to death.
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
306 - St Marcellus I begins his reign as Catholic Pope
722 - Pope Gregory II names Boniface as missionary bishop
1016 - Cnut (or Canute), king of Denmark, claims the English
throne the death of Edmund 'Ironside'.
1215 - Pope Innocent III closes 4th council of Lateranen
1406 - Angelo Correr elected Pope Gregory XII
1523 - Amsterdam bans assembly of heretics
1554 - England reconciles with Pope Julius III
1630 - 16,000 inhabitants of Venice died this month of
plague
1648 - English Parliamentary army captures King Charles I
1678 - Roman Catholics banned from English parliament
1700 - King Charles XII of Sweden defeats Russia at Narva
[NS]
1700 - Turkey declares war on Russia
1700 - Utrecht/Overijssel/Buren/Leerdam/IJsselstein go on
Gregoria calendar
1731 - Beijing hit by Earthquake; about 100,000 die
1735 - States of Holland forbid Free Masonry
1747 - Dutch State of Zealand declare governorship
hereditary for women
1753 - Benjamin Franklin receives Godfrey Copley-Penny
1776 - Capt Cook begins 3rd & last trip to Pacific
(South Sea)
1782 - Britain signs agreement recognizing US independence
United States Founding Father Benjamin FranklinUnited States
Founding Father Benjamin Franklin 1786 - Peter Leopold Joseph of
Habsburg-Lorraine, Grand Duke of Tuscany, promulgates a penal reform making his
country the first state to abolish the death penalty. November 30 is therefore
commemorated by 300 cities around the world as Cities for Life Day.
1787 - Spanish governor leaves Philippines
1803 - Spain cedes her claims to Louisiana Territory to
France
1804 - Impeachment trial of Supreme Court Justice Samuel
Chase begins
1813 - Prince Willem Frederik returns to Netherlands
1824 - First ground is broken at Allenburg for the building
of the original Welland Canal.
1829 - First Welland Canal opens for a trial run, 5 years to
the day from the ground breaking.
1838 - Mexico declares war on France
1861 - Harper's Weekly publishes EE Beers' "All quiet
along the Potomac"
1863 - Confederate troops vacate Fort Esperanza, Texas
1864 - Battle of Franklin Tennessee: Confederate attack
fails, 7,700 casualities
1864 - Battle of Honey Hill SC (Broad River) 96 dead/665
wounded
1866 - Work begins on 1st US underwater highway tunnel,
Chicago
1868 - The inauguration of a statue of King Charles XII of
Sweden takes place in the King's garden in Stockholm.
1872 - 1st intl soccer game, Scotland-England 0-0 (Glasgow)
1885 - Opera "El Cid" premieres (Paris)
1886 - 1st commercially successful AC electric power plant
opens, Buffalo
1886 - The Folies Bergère stages its first revue.
1887 - 1st indoor softball game (Chicago)
1891 - Pope Leo XIII's encyclical "Rerum novarum"
published
1900 - A German engineer patents front-wheel drive for
automobiles
1902 - American Old West: Second-in-command of Butch
Cassidy's Wild Bunch gang, Kid Curry Logan, is sentenced to 20 years
imprisonment with hard labor.
1907 - Pike Place Market dedicated in Seattle
1912 - 4th CFL Grey Cup: Hamilton Alerts defeats Toronto
Argonauts, 11-4
1915 - St John Ervine's "John Ferguson," premieres
in Dublin
1916 - Costa Rica becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires
copyright treaty.
1922 - 1st speed test of 1st genuine Japanese aircraft
carrier Hosho
Dictator of Nazi Germany Adolf HitlerDictator of Nazi
Germany Adolf Hitler 1922 - Hitler speaks to 50,000 national-socialists in
Munich
1923 - Dutch Catholic minority government of Wilhelm Marx
forms
1924 - 1st photo facsimile transmitted across Atlantic by
radio (London-NYC)
1924 - Last French/Belgian troops leave Ruhrgebied
1924 - French/Belgium troops completely withdrawn from the
Rurh
1928 - Test Cricket debut of Don Bradman, who scored 18
& 1 vs England
1929 - 17th CFL Grey Cup: Hamilton Tigers defeats Regina
Roughriders, 14-3
1931 - Crystal Palace in Hyde Park London destroyed by fire
1931 - His Master's Voice & Columbia Records merge into
EMI
1933 - CCC Camps are established in Cleveland Park District
1936 - London's Crystal Palace (built 1851), destroyed by
fire
1937 - 3rd Heisman Trophy Award: Clint Frank, Yale (HB)
1938 - Fascist coup in Romania, fails
1938 - Germany bans Jews being lawyers
1939 - 21 U boats sunk this month (52,000 ton)
1939 - Paul Osborn's "Mornings at 7," premieres in
NYC
1939 - USSR invades Finland, bombs Helsinki
1940 - 28th CFL Grey Cup (Game 1): Toronto Balmy Beach
defeats Ottawa, 8-2
1940 - 32 U boats sunk this month (147,000 ton)
1941 - 101 year old Nyack-Tarrytown (NY) ferry makes its
last run
1941 - 13 U boats sunk this month (62,000 ton)
1941 - Japanese Emperor Hirohito consults with admirals
Shimada & Nagano
1942 - -Dec 1st: Sea battle at Tassafaronga, Guadalcanal
1942 - 109 U boats sunk this month (729,000 ton)
1942 - 30th CFL Grey Cup: Toronto Hurricanes defeats
Winnipeg Bombers, 8-5
1942 - Bill Terry resigns as supervisor of NY Giants minor
league system
1942 - German scout ship Altmark explode & sinks off
Yokohama
1944 - Biggest & last British Battleship HMS Vanguard
runs aground
1945 - 33rd CFL Grey Cup: Toronto Argonauts defeats Winn
Blue Bombers, 35-0
1946 - Bradman scores 187 in 1st Test Cricket v England at
the Gabba
1947 - Arab terrorist campaign opens in Palestine
1947 - Day after UN decree for Israel, Jewish settlements
attacked
1948 - Baseball's Negro National League disbands
1948 - Player-manager Lou Boudreau is selected AL MVP
1948 - Soviets set up a separate municipal government in
East Berlin
1949 - Chinese Communists captured Chungking
1949 - KOTV TV channel 6 in Tulsa, OK (CBS) begins
broadcasting
1950 - US Pres Harry Truman threatens China with atom bomb
Baseball Player Jackie RobinsonBaseball Player Jackie
Robinson 1952 - Jackie Robinson charges NY Yankees with racism
1953 - French parachutist under Col De Castries attacks Dien
Bien Phu
1953 - Edward Mutesa II, the kabaka (king) of Buganda is
deposed and exiled to London by Sir Andrew Cohen, Governor of Uganda.
1954 - 1st meteorite known to strike a woman (Liz
Hodges-Sylacauga Ala)
1954 - 20th Heisman Trophy Award: Alan Ameche, Wisconsin
(FB)
1954 - John Strydom succeeds Malan as premier of South
Africa
1955 - "Pipe Dream" opens at Shubert Theater NYC
for 245 performances
1955 - Argentine government disbands Peronistic party
1956 - 1st use of videotape on TV (Douglas Edwards & the
News)
1956 - Floyd Patterson KOs Archie Moore in 5 for heavyweight
boxing title
1957 - "Happy Hunting" closes at Majestic Theater
NYC after 413 performances
1957 - 45th CFL Grey Cup: Hamilton Tiger-Cats defeats Winn
Blue Bombers, 32-7
1957 - Assassination attempt on Indonesian president
Sukarno, kills 8
1958 - 1st guided missile destroyer launched, Dewey, Bath,
Me
1958 - WKBW TV channel 7 in Buffalo, NY (ABC) begins
broadcasting
Boxing Champ Archie MooreBoxing Champ Archie Moore 1959 -
Joe Foss named 1st commissioner of AFL
1960 - French Senate condemns building own nuclear weapons
1960 - Tad Mosels "All the Way Home" premieres in
NYC
1961 - Billy Williams of the Cubs is voted NL Rookie of Year
1961 - USSR vetoes Kuwaits application for UN membership
1962 - U Thant of Burma elected 3rd Secretary-General of UN
unanimously
1963 - 51st CFL Grey Cup: Hamilton Tiger-Cats defeats BC
Lions, 21-10
1963 - Martin Walser's "Überlebensgross Herr
Krott" premieres in Stuttgart
1964 - USSR launches Zond 2 towards Mars; no data returned
1966 - Barbados gains independence from Britain (National
Day)
1966 - Radio time signal WWV moves from Greenbelt, Maryland
1966 - Barbados becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
1967 - Democratic People's republic of Yemen gains
independence
1967 - Julie Nixon & David Eisenhower announce their
engagement
1967 - Kuria Muria Islands ceded by Britain to Oman
1967 - People's Democratic Republic of Yemen declares
independence from UK
1967 - People's Rep of South Yemen (Aden) gains independence
from Britain
1967 - Senenator Eugene McCarthy begins run for US
presidency
1967 - The Pakistan Peoples Party is founded by Zulfiqar Ali
Bhutto who becomes its first Chairman later as the Head of state and Head of
government after the 1971 Civil War.
1968 - 56th CFL Grey Cup: Ottawa Rough Riders defeat Calgary
Stampeder, 24-21
1969 - 57th CFL Grey Cup: Ottawa Rough Riders defeats
Saskatchewan, 29-11
1969 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk
USSR
1970 - George Harrison releases his triple album set
"All Things Must Pass"
1971 - TV movie "Brian's Song," airs for 1st time
on ABC-TV
1972 - BBC bans Wings' "Hi, Hi, Hi"
1972 - Illegal fireworks factory explodes killing 15 (Rome
Italy)
1973 - M T Ghani scores 104 on FC debut for Commerce Bank
(Pak) age 44
1973 - Firestone World Tournament of Champions won by Jim
Godman
1974 - "Good Evening" closes at Plymouth Theater
NYC after 438 performances
1974 - "Mack & Mabel" closes at Majestic
Theater NYC after 66 performances
1974 - 20th time Islanders shut-out (3-0 vs Canucks)
1974 - Miss Teenage America Pageant
1974 - Most complete early human skeleton (Lucy,
Australopithecus) is discovered by Donald Johanson, Maurice Taieb, Yves Coppens
and Tim White in the Middle Awash of Ethiopia's Afar Depression.
1975 - Dahomey becomes Benin
1976 - 42nd Heisman Trophy Award: Tony Dorsett, Pittsburgh
(RB)
1978 - France performs nuclear test
1979 - Ted Koppel becomes anchor of nightly news on Iranian
Hostages (ABC)
1979 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern
Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1980 - "Banjo Dancing" closes at Century Theater
NYC after 38 performances
1980 - "Perfectly Frank" opens at Helen Hayes
Theater NYC for 16 performances
1980 - "West Side Story" closes at Minskoff
Theater NYC after 341 perfs
1980 - Uruguay's new constitution rejected by referendum
1981 - NY Yankee Dave Righetti wins AL Rookie of Year Award
1981 - Porn star John Holmes arrested on fugitive charges
1981 - South Africa anti apartheid advocate Bulelani Ngcuka
arrested
1981 - Yankees Dave Righetti wins AL Rookie of Year
1981 - Cold War: In Geneva, representatives from the United
States and the Soviet Union begin to negotiate intermediate-range nuclear
weapon reductions in Europe (the meetings ended inconclusively on December 17).
1982 - STS-6 vehicle moves to launch pad
1982 - US sub Thomas Edison collides with US Navy destroyer
in So China Sea
1982 - USSR performs nuclear test
1983 - 6th Emmy Sports Award presentation
1983 - Police free kidnapped beer magnate Alfred Heineken in
Amsterdam
1983 - Radio Shack announces Tandy Model 2000 computer
(80186 chip)
1983 - Raúl Alfonsín wins Argentine presidential election
1983 - Sam Shepards "Fool for love," premieres in
NYC
1983 - Denver Nugget coach Doug Moe, hoplessly behind,
advise team to let Blazers break their scoring record
1986 - "Flamenco Puro" closes at Mark Hellinger
Theater NYC after 40 perfs
1986 - 74th CFL Grey Cup: Hamilton Tiger-Cats defeats
Edmonton Eskimos, 39-15
1986 - Ivan Lendl is 1st tennis player to earn over $10
million, lifetime
1987 - Afghanistan Constitution adopted
1988 - Cyclone lashes Bangladesh, Eastern India; 317 killed
1988 - France performs nuclear test at Fangataufa Island
1988 - NYC furrier sues Mike Tyson for $92,000 for non
payment of purchase
1988 - Soviets stop jamming Radio Liberty; 1st time in 38
yrs
1988 - UN General Assembly (151-2) censures US for refusing
PLO's Arafat visa
1988 - Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. buys RJR Nabisco
for $25.07 billion USD.
1989 - Deutsche Bank board member Alfred Herrhausen is
killed by a Red Army Faction terrorist bomb.
1990 - Actor Burt Lancaster suffers a stroke
1990 - Bush proposes US-Iraq meeting to avoid war
1991 - 1st world championship of women's soccer, US defeats
Norway 2-1
1991 - 93 cars & 11 truck accident near SF during a dust
storm, 17 die
1991 - Rob Pilatus, 27, of Milli-Vanilli attempts suicide
1991 - San Diego State's Marshall Faulk is 1st freshman to
capture national rushing & scoring titles
1992 - David Boon's 14th Test Cricket century, 111 v WI at
Brisbane
1992 - Intercity-train derailed at Village chief, 5 die
1993 - NFL announces 30th franchise - Jacksonville Jaguars
42nd US President Bill Clinton42nd US President Bill Clinton
1993 - President Clinton signs Brady Gun Control Bill
1994 - Beatles' 1st album in 25 years, "Live at
BBC" is released in Britain
1994 - Cruiser Achille Lauro destroyed by fire at Somalia, 4
die
1994 - Man Mohan Adhikary sworn in as 1st communist premier
of Nepal
1995 - Official end of Operation Desert Storm.
1997 - "Eugene Onegin" closes at Martin Beck
Theater NYC
1997 - 86th Davis Cup: Sweden sweeps US in Gothenburg (5-0)
1998 - Deutsche Bank announces a $10 billion USDdeal to buy
Bankers Trust, thus creating the largest financial institution in the world.
1999 - In Seattle, Washington, United States, protests
against the WTO meeting by anti-globalization protesters catch police
unprepared and force the cancellation of opening ceremonies.
1999 - British Aerospace and Marconi Electronic Systems
merge to form BAE Systems, Europe's largest defense contractor and the fourth
largest aerospace firm in the world.
2004 - Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge
resigns.
2004 - Longtime Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings of Salt Lake
City, Utah finally loses, leaving him with $2,520,700 USD, television's
all-time biggest game show haul.
2004 - Lion Air Flight 538 crash lands in Surakarta, Central
Java, Indonesia, killing 26.
2005 - John Sentamu becomes the first black archbishop in
the Church of England with his enthronement as the 97th Archbishop of York.
2007 - Hillary Clinton presidential campaign office hostage
crisis: Leeland Eisenberg entered the campaign office of Hillary Clinton in
Rochester, New Hampshire with a device suspected of being a bomb and held three
people hostage for 5 hours.
2012 - At least 32 people are killed in a
Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane crash in the Congo1016 - English King Edmund II died. 1700 - 8,000 Swedish troops under King Charles XII defeated an army of at least 50,000 Russians at the Battle of Narva. King Charles XII died on this day. 1782 - The United States and Britain signed preliminary peace articles in Paris, ending the Revolutionary War. 1803 - Spain completed the process of ceding Louisiana to France. 1804 - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase went on trial accused of political bias. He was later acquitted by the U.S. Senate. 1835 - Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born. He wrote "Tom Sawyer" and "Huckleberry Finn" under the name Mark Twain. 1838 - Three days after the French occupation of Vera Cruz Mexico declared war on France. 1853 - During the Crimean War, the Russian fleet attacked and destroyed the Turkish fleet at the battle of Sinope. 1875 - A.J. Ehrichson patented the oat-crushing machine. 1897 - Thomas Edison's own motion picture projector had its first commercial exhibition. 1936 - London's famed Crystal Palace was destroyed in a fire. The structure had been constructed for the International Exhibition of 1851. 1939 - The Russo-Finnish War began when 20 divisions of Soviet troops invaded Finland. 1940 - Lucille Ball and Cuban musician Desi Arnaz were married. 1949 - Chinese Communists captured Chungking. 1954 - In Sylacauga, AL, Elizabeth Hodges was injured when a meteorite crashed through the roof of her house. The rock weighed 8½-pounds. 1956 - CBS replayed the program "Douglas Edward and the News" three hours after it was received on the West Coast. It was the world's first broadcast via videotape. 1962 - U Thant of Burma was elected secretary-general of the United Nations, succeeding the late Dag Hammarskjold. 1966 - The former British colony of Barbados became independent. 1967 - Julie Nixon and David Eisenhower announced their engagement. 1971 - ABC-TV aired "Brian's Song." The movie was about Chicago Bears' Brian Picolo and his friendship with Gale Sayers. 1981 - The U.S. and the Soviet Union opened negotiations in Geneva that were aimed at reducing nuclear weapons in Europe. 1982 - The motion picture "Ghandi" had its world premiere in New Delhi. 1986 - "Time" magazine published an interview with U.S. President Reagan. In the article, Reagan described fired national security staffer Oliver North as a "national hero." 1988 - Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co. took over RJR Nabisco Inc. with a bid of $24.53 billion. 1989 - Alfred Herrhausen was killed in a bombing. The Red Army Faction claimed responsibility of killing Herrhausen the chairman of West Germany's largest bank. 1989 - PLO leader Yasser Arafat was refused a visa to enter the United States in order to address the U.N. General Assebly in New York City. 1993 - U.S. President Clinton signed into law the Brady Bill. The bill required a five-day waiting period for handgun purchases and background checks of prospective buyers. 1993 - Richard Allen Davis was arrested by authorities in California. Davis confessed to abducting and slaying 12-year-old Polly Klaas of Petaluma. 1995 - President Clinton became the first U.S. chief executive to visit Northern Ireland. 1998 - The Deutsche Bank AG announced that it would acquire Bankers Trust Corp. for $10.1 billion creating the world's largest financial institution. 2000 - David Spade was assaulted with a stun gun by his longtime personal assistant, David Warren Malloy. Malloy attacked Spade during a burglary of Spade's home in Beverly Hills. 2001 - For the first time in its history, McDonald's teamed up with a retail partner on its Happy Meal promotions. Toys R Us provided plush figures from its Animal Alley. 2001 - In Seattle, WA, Gary Leon Ridgeway was arrested for four of the Green River serial killings. He was pled innocent on December 18, 2001. 2004 - In Stockholm, Sweden, the Carl Larsson painting "Boenskoerd" ("Bean Harvest") was sold at auction for $730,000. The work had been in a private collection for more than a century. The Larsson work "Vid Kattegatt" ("By Kattegatt") sold for $640,000 at the same auction.
1804 Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase was tried for political bias. 1900 Irish author Oscar Wilde died in Paris at age 46. 1940 Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were married. 1966 Barbados became independent of Great Britain. 1974 The fossilized remains of a female human ancestor named Lucy (after the Beatles song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds) were found in Ethiopia. 1993 The Brady Bill, requiring a five-day waiting period for handgun purchases, is signed. 1995 President Bill Clinton became the first U.S. president to visit Northern Ireland. 2004 Ken Jennings ended his 74-game winning spree on the game show, Jeopardy!
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/nov30.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
Friday, November 29, 2013
Some Thoughts For This Thanksgiving Weekend
Well, another Thanksgiving is over, and now, it is the dreaded "Black Friday", that most crazy day of Christmas shopping, immediately after Thanksgiving.
More on that later, because I do have some thoughts on it.
But first and foremost, I wanted to talk about Thanksgiving a little bit. Hopefully, you got to enjoy your Thanksgiving, if you are American. If you are not, and perhaps are unfamiliar with this particular holiday, it was traditionally a day where people take a timeout for one day, in order to enjoy a feast and remember all of those things that they are thankful for. Thus, the name Thanksgiving. And yet I say again, a little more on this in a minute, as well, because there are some contradictions with how this holiday is popularly perceived, versus the historical reality.
Suffice to say, though, that the modern day holiday is a time when Americans traditionally get together with family, and enjoy a feast of turkey and stuffing, sweet potatoes, candied yams, cranberries, and assorted other vegetables and dishes that may be on offer, as well as desserts such as pumpkin pie, among other things.
The main idea behind it, though, is to give thanks. Time out, if you will, to appreciate all that you have, and all that you have been blessed with in life. Generally, that includes those people around you, that you are enjoying the Thanksgiving feast with. You give thanks for having family and friends to be around, and which helps make your life more complete, more full. You give thanks for your good health, as well as those of your family, hopefully. You give thanks, also, simply for being able to enjoy this moment, to enjoy hot food in a warm, family environment, at precisely that time when the weather is growing colder, and far less hospitable and inviting.
Of course, this was by design. The holiday falls at a time when the warmth of the summer and early fall is giving way to the colder season of later fall, and the approach of winter.
Yet, traditionally, Thanksgiving is in honor of when the pilgrims and Indians got together for a feast of goodwill. There was a bit more to the story than that and, in fact, here is an article that suggests that this conventional interpretation of the holiday is actually wrong:
Thanksgiving created by ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’ author — not the Pilgrims BY VALERIE STRAUSS November 26, 2013:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/11/26/how-mary-had-a-little-lamb-author-created-thanksgiving-not-the-pilgrims/
Well, that is interesting. But there is a problem with the history of Thanksgiving: Indians, or Native Americans, do not look at it as a positive thing. Far from being appreciative of the spirit of togetherness and companionship, they recognize in the holiday the tradition of having their land stolen from them, and the genocide that they were victims of. This makes Thanksgiving a holiday of the victors, not celebrated by those who were vanquished. More and more, this viewpoint is getting more exposure. I have read some articles, and even spoken to some native people, and so far, that viewpoint seems more than just common: it seems to be the rule among natives, and it is something that we might want to keep in mind.
I try to but, I must admit, I never reached the point where I no longer celebrated the holiday. Everyone, family and friends, celebrate the holiday, and it is a time - one of the rare opportunities, really - to simply enjoy a nice meal under nice circumstances, and indeed, to try and remember all of those things to be thankful for.
So, yes, I try and keep in mind that the history of this particular holiday has not always been kind to everyone.
But yesterday was a time to enjoy time with loved ones. In my case, in fact, I actually went to two Thanksgiving meals.
The first was with my immediate family. My parents, my brother, and my son. It came early on in the day, because my son was scheduled to go with his mom into the city, to have a second Thanksgiving meal himself with her side of the family. But before then, I was able to enjoy time with him, and to embrace him, even tell him that, for this Thanksgiving, I was appreciative to be sharing this special occasion with him. Also, to be thankful for the relative good health of my family, including my son and myself, as well as a good turn of fortune for my brother recently. My mom retired a few months ago, which means that both of my parents are retired now.
The second meal was with my girlfriend and her close friends, who are really like extended family for her here. Almost all of her family is in Poland, but this is her family here on this side of the pond. So, for the last two years, we enjoyed meals there, including for Thanksgiving and Christmas. And they really do an amazing job with the meals! I mean, the woman that cooks them is a top notch cook! These meals are, generally speaking, better than anything that you can get in a restaurant. She was not feeling too well this time, having undergone medical procedures, and feeling physically exhausted. But last year, she had an amazing assortment of food, including lamb with mint sauce that knocked my socks off! Again, better quality than any restaurant that I have ever been to! It makes my girlfriend jealous to say this (so I try not to say it too often), but I think that ranked among the very best meals that I had in my entire life!
So, we enjoyed a good meal, and towards the end, I was predictably so full, that it was difficult to move. We did move, over to the living room, to the sofas, where I almost fell asleep. But before long, we conversed. They do not have a television in the living room, which is kind of a novelty these days. Truth be told, it was actually a refreshing change. They said that, if there was a television and it would be on, we would all be watching, and not sharing a conversation. They are absolutely right about that, and it was a very fun evening, breaking bread together, and sharing laughs and lively conversation.
Before long, it was getting late, and thus, time to go. It always seems like these days just fly by!
Still feeling full to the brim, we went home. Both my girlfriend and I were determined to enjoy a nice day off the next day (today), on what now has come to be known as Black Friday. It is known as Black Friday, because it is the day when all of the stores have these supposedly ridiculous sales, and people flock to the stores to get the best deals.
Here is the thing, though: it is almost offensively about greed. Greed on such a level, and without any attempt to keep it in check. Commercials are everywhere, encouraging you to rush out to the stores, to the malls, to shop, shop, shop 'til you drop! This, just a day after we are supposed to be appreciative for all that we have been blessed with in life, and with absolutely no sense of irony or contradiction by those who participate in both!
And the level of greed is just getting absurd! It was starting to get more extreme for quite a few years now. Some years ago, rather than waiting to open a bit earlier than usual with extended hours on this day, stores began to open at ridiculous hours in the middle of the night.
As if that weren't enough, now stores are going more extreme! A lot of them opened up on the very evening of Thanksgiving itself! Some, like Kmart, opened up as early as 6am on Thanksgiving morning, with "Black Friday" sales!
To me, this is an unfortunate trend, and what nobility and truly great spirit the holiday still may have represented has truly been compromised.
Maybe, given the paradox and contradiction with the history of the holiday, it is indeed fitting. Certainly, it is a sign of the times, of where we are exactly as a country nowadays. Seriously! Again, think about the irony of rushing to the stores, to the stress of life, to excess greed and trying to grab the best deals for things that are on sale, cheaper perhaps than they are on the other 364 days of the year, and this on the day after we are supposed to take time for a deeper appreciation of all that we have in our lives, all that we have been blessed with! Absolutely absurd! And we see the prominent reports of these excesses of greed, with news reports of violence and death, as people who participate going crazy and acting in shameful ways has become every bit a tradition of this day as turkey is for Thanksgiving.
So, maybe I have not been able to eliminate Thanksgiving as a tradition, as a holiday, that I recognize and participate in. But I can tell you one thing: I want absolutely no part of Black Friday! The very idea, the notion of flocking mindlessly to the stores to allegedly save money to buy shit that we don't need just offends me, and I, for one, will not participate! You won't find me in a store on this day and, hopefully, there are plenty of other people who share this sentiment, and who steadfastly refuse to cheapen our better spirit in order to prostitute ourselves and pervert our values by shredding what remains of our personal, as well as societal, dignity, to participate in the most symbolic and shameful tradition of our age!
More on that later, because I do have some thoughts on it.
But first and foremost, I wanted to talk about Thanksgiving a little bit. Hopefully, you got to enjoy your Thanksgiving, if you are American. If you are not, and perhaps are unfamiliar with this particular holiday, it was traditionally a day where people take a timeout for one day, in order to enjoy a feast and remember all of those things that they are thankful for. Thus, the name Thanksgiving. And yet I say again, a little more on this in a minute, as well, because there are some contradictions with how this holiday is popularly perceived, versus the historical reality.
Suffice to say, though, that the modern day holiday is a time when Americans traditionally get together with family, and enjoy a feast of turkey and stuffing, sweet potatoes, candied yams, cranberries, and assorted other vegetables and dishes that may be on offer, as well as desserts such as pumpkin pie, among other things.
The main idea behind it, though, is to give thanks. Time out, if you will, to appreciate all that you have, and all that you have been blessed with in life. Generally, that includes those people around you, that you are enjoying the Thanksgiving feast with. You give thanks for having family and friends to be around, and which helps make your life more complete, more full. You give thanks for your good health, as well as those of your family, hopefully. You give thanks, also, simply for being able to enjoy this moment, to enjoy hot food in a warm, family environment, at precisely that time when the weather is growing colder, and far less hospitable and inviting.
Of course, this was by design. The holiday falls at a time when the warmth of the summer and early fall is giving way to the colder season of later fall, and the approach of winter.
Yet, traditionally, Thanksgiving is in honor of when the pilgrims and Indians got together for a feast of goodwill. There was a bit more to the story than that and, in fact, here is an article that suggests that this conventional interpretation of the holiday is actually wrong:
Thanksgiving created by ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’ author — not the Pilgrims BY VALERIE STRAUSS November 26, 2013:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/11/26/how-mary-had-a-little-lamb-author-created-thanksgiving-not-the-pilgrims/
Well, that is interesting. But there is a problem with the history of Thanksgiving: Indians, or Native Americans, do not look at it as a positive thing. Far from being appreciative of the spirit of togetherness and companionship, they recognize in the holiday the tradition of having their land stolen from them, and the genocide that they were victims of. This makes Thanksgiving a holiday of the victors, not celebrated by those who were vanquished. More and more, this viewpoint is getting more exposure. I have read some articles, and even spoken to some native people, and so far, that viewpoint seems more than just common: it seems to be the rule among natives, and it is something that we might want to keep in mind.
I try to but, I must admit, I never reached the point where I no longer celebrated the holiday. Everyone, family and friends, celebrate the holiday, and it is a time - one of the rare opportunities, really - to simply enjoy a nice meal under nice circumstances, and indeed, to try and remember all of those things to be thankful for.
So, yes, I try and keep in mind that the history of this particular holiday has not always been kind to everyone.
But yesterday was a time to enjoy time with loved ones. In my case, in fact, I actually went to two Thanksgiving meals.
The first was with my immediate family. My parents, my brother, and my son. It came early on in the day, because my son was scheduled to go with his mom into the city, to have a second Thanksgiving meal himself with her side of the family. But before then, I was able to enjoy time with him, and to embrace him, even tell him that, for this Thanksgiving, I was appreciative to be sharing this special occasion with him. Also, to be thankful for the relative good health of my family, including my son and myself, as well as a good turn of fortune for my brother recently. My mom retired a few months ago, which means that both of my parents are retired now.
The second meal was with my girlfriend and her close friends, who are really like extended family for her here. Almost all of her family is in Poland, but this is her family here on this side of the pond. So, for the last two years, we enjoyed meals there, including for Thanksgiving and Christmas. And they really do an amazing job with the meals! I mean, the woman that cooks them is a top notch cook! These meals are, generally speaking, better than anything that you can get in a restaurant. She was not feeling too well this time, having undergone medical procedures, and feeling physically exhausted. But last year, she had an amazing assortment of food, including lamb with mint sauce that knocked my socks off! Again, better quality than any restaurant that I have ever been to! It makes my girlfriend jealous to say this (so I try not to say it too often), but I think that ranked among the very best meals that I had in my entire life!
So, we enjoyed a good meal, and towards the end, I was predictably so full, that it was difficult to move. We did move, over to the living room, to the sofas, where I almost fell asleep. But before long, we conversed. They do not have a television in the living room, which is kind of a novelty these days. Truth be told, it was actually a refreshing change. They said that, if there was a television and it would be on, we would all be watching, and not sharing a conversation. They are absolutely right about that, and it was a very fun evening, breaking bread together, and sharing laughs and lively conversation.
Before long, it was getting late, and thus, time to go. It always seems like these days just fly by!
Still feeling full to the brim, we went home. Both my girlfriend and I were determined to enjoy a nice day off the next day (today), on what now has come to be known as Black Friday. It is known as Black Friday, because it is the day when all of the stores have these supposedly ridiculous sales, and people flock to the stores to get the best deals.
Here is the thing, though: it is almost offensively about greed. Greed on such a level, and without any attempt to keep it in check. Commercials are everywhere, encouraging you to rush out to the stores, to the malls, to shop, shop, shop 'til you drop! This, just a day after we are supposed to be appreciative for all that we have been blessed with in life, and with absolutely no sense of irony or contradiction by those who participate in both!
And the level of greed is just getting absurd! It was starting to get more extreme for quite a few years now. Some years ago, rather than waiting to open a bit earlier than usual with extended hours on this day, stores began to open at ridiculous hours in the middle of the night.
As if that weren't enough, now stores are going more extreme! A lot of them opened up on the very evening of Thanksgiving itself! Some, like Kmart, opened up as early as 6am on Thanksgiving morning, with "Black Friday" sales!
To me, this is an unfortunate trend, and what nobility and truly great spirit the holiday still may have represented has truly been compromised.
Maybe, given the paradox and contradiction with the history of the holiday, it is indeed fitting. Certainly, it is a sign of the times, of where we are exactly as a country nowadays. Seriously! Again, think about the irony of rushing to the stores, to the stress of life, to excess greed and trying to grab the best deals for things that are on sale, cheaper perhaps than they are on the other 364 days of the year, and this on the day after we are supposed to take time for a deeper appreciation of all that we have in our lives, all that we have been blessed with! Absolutely absurd! And we see the prominent reports of these excesses of greed, with news reports of violence and death, as people who participate going crazy and acting in shameful ways has become every bit a tradition of this day as turkey is for Thanksgiving.
So, maybe I have not been able to eliminate Thanksgiving as a tradition, as a holiday, that I recognize and participate in. But I can tell you one thing: I want absolutely no part of Black Friday! The very idea, the notion of flocking mindlessly to the stores to allegedly save money to buy shit that we don't need just offends me, and I, for one, will not participate! You won't find me in a store on this day and, hopefully, there are plenty of other people who share this sentiment, and who steadfastly refuse to cheapen our better spirit in order to prostitute ourselves and pervert our values by shredding what remains of our personal, as well as societal, dignity, to participate in the most symbolic and shameful tradition of our age!
On This Day in History - November 29 UN Votes to Partition Palestine
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
Nov 29, 1947: U.N. votes for partition of Palestine
Despite strong Arab opposition, the United Nations votes for the partition of Palestine and the creation of an independent Jewish state.
The modern conflict between Jews and Arabs in Palestine dates back to the 1910s, when both groups laid claim to the British-controlled territory. The Jews were Zionists, recent emigrants from Europe and Russia who came to the ancient homeland of the Jews to establish a Jewish national state. The native Palestinian Arabs sought to stem Jewish immigration and set up a secular Palestinian state.
Beginning in 1929, Arabs and Jews openly fought in Palestine, and Britain attempted to limit Jewish immigration as a means of appeasing the Arabs. As a result of the Holocaust in Europe, many Jews illegally entered Palestine during World War II. Radical Jewish groups employed terrorism against British forces in Palestine, which they thought had betrayed the Zionist cause. At the end of World War II, in 1945, the United States took up the Zionist cause. Britain, unable to find a practical solution, referred the problem to the United Nations, which on November 29, 1947, voted to partition Palestine.
The Jews were to possess more than half of Palestine, though they made up less than half of Palestine's population. The Palestinian Arabs, aided by volunteers from other countries, fought the Zionist forces, but the Jews secured full control of their U.N.-allocated share of Palestine and also some Arab territory. On May 14, 1948, Britain withdrew with the expiration of its mandate, and the State of Israel was proclaimed by Jewish Agency Chairman David Ben-Gurion. The next day, forces from Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq invaded.
The Israelis, though less well equipped, managed to fight off the Arabs and then seize key territories, such as Galilee, the Palestinian coast, and a strip of territory connecting the coastal region to the western section of Jerusalem. In 1949, U.N.-brokered cease-fires left the State of Israel in permanent control of those conquered areas. The departure of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs from Israel during the war left the country with a substantial Jewish majority.
Nov 29, 1918: American nurse Maude Fisher writes to mother of war casualty
On November 29, 1918, Maude Fisher, a nurse in the American Red Cross during World War I, writes a heartfelt letter to the mother of a young soldier named Richard Hogan to inform her of her son's death in an army hospital.
"My dear Mrs. Hogan," Fisher began, "If I could talk to you I could tell you so much better about your son's last sickness, and all the little things that mean so much to a mother far away from her boy." Richard Hogan, who survived his front-line service in the war unscathed, had been brought to the hospital with influenza on November 13, 1918--just two days after the armistice was declared. The influenza soon developed into pneumonia. Hogan was "brave and cheerful," Fisher assured Mrs. Hogan, "and made a good fight with the disease....He did not want you to worry about his being sick, but I told him I thought we ought to let you know, and he said all right."
Before two weeks had passed, however, Hogan was dead. Knowing the woman would only receive an official governmental notification of her son's death, Fisher gave a more personal account of his last days, including his joking with the hospital orderly and the other nurses' affection for him. According to Fisher, Hogan was buried in the cemetery at Commercy, in northeastern France, alongside other fallen American soldiers of the Great War.
"A big hill overshadows the place and the sun was setting behind it just as the Chaplain said the last prayer over your boy," Fisher wrote. "He prayed that the people at home might have great strength now for the battle that is before them, and we do ask that for you now. The country will always honor your boy, because he gave his life for it, and it will also love and honor you for the gift of your boy, but be assured, that the sacrifice is not in vain, and the world is better today for it."
Nov 29, 1963: Johnson establishes Warren Commission
One week after President John F. Kennedy was fatally shot while riding in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas, President Lyndon Johnson establishes a special commission, headed by Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren, to investigate the assassination.
After 10 months of gathering evidence and questioning witnesses in public hearings, the Warren Commission report was released, concluding that there was no conspiracy, either domestic or international, in the assassination and that Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin, acted alone. The presidential commission also found that Jack Ruby, the nightclub owner who murdered Oswald on live national television, had no prior contact with Oswald.
According to the report, the bullets that killed President Kennedy and injured Texas Governor John Connally were fired by Oswald in three shots from a rifle pointed out of a sixth-floor window in the Texas School Book Depository. Oswald's life, including his visit to the Soviet Union, was described in detail, but the report made no attempt to analyze his motives. Despite its seemingly firm conclusions, the report failed to silence conspiracy theories surrounding the event, and in 1978 the House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded in a preliminary report that Kennedy was "probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy" that may have involved multiple shooters and organized crime. The committee's findings, as with the findings of the Warren Commission, continue to be widely disputed.
Nov 29, 1864: Native Americans are massacred at Sand Creek, Colorado
On this day in 1864, peaceful Southern Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians are massacred by a band of Colonel John Chivington's Colorado volunteers at Sand Creek, Colorado.
The causes of the Sand Creek massacre were rooted in the long conflict for control of the Great Plains of eastern Colorado. The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 guaranteed ownership of the area north of the Arkansas River to the Nebraska border to the Cheyenne and Arapahoe. However, by the end of the decade, waves of Euro-American miners flooded across the region in search of gold in Colorado's Rocky Mountains, placing extreme pressure on the resources of the arid plains. By 1861, tensions between new settlers and Native Americans were rising. On February 8 of that year, a Cheyenne delegation, headed by Chief Black Kettle, along with some Arapahoe leaders, accepted a new settlement with the Federal government. The Native Americans ceded most of their land but secured a 600-square mile reservation and annuity payments. The delegation reasoned that continued hostilities would jeopardize their bargaining power. In the decentralized political world of the tribes, Black Kettle and his fellow delegates represented only part of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe tribes. Many did not accept this new agreement, called the Treaty of Fort Wise.
The new reservation and Federal payments proved unable to sustain the tribes. During the Civil War, tensions again rose and sporadic violence broke out between Anglos and Native Americans. In June 1864, John Evans, governor of the territory of Colorado, attempted to isolate recalcitrant Native Americans by inviting "friendly Indians" to camp near military forts and receive provisions and protection. He also called for volunteers to fill the military void left when most of the regular army troops in Colorado were sent to other areas during the Civil War. In August 1864, Evans met with Black Kettle and several other chiefs to forge a new peace, and all parties left satisfied. Black Kettle moved his band to Fort Lyon, Colorado, where the commanding officer encouraged him to hunt near Sand Creek. In what can only be considered an act of treachery, Chivington moved his troops to the plains, and on November 29, they attacked the unsuspecting Native Americans, scattering men, women, and children and hunting them down. The casualties reflect the one-sided nature of the fight. Nine of Chivington's men were killed; 148 of Black Kettle's followers were slaughtered, more than half of them women and children. The Colorado volunteers returned and killed the wounded, mutilated the bodies, and set fire to the village.
The atrocities committed by the soldiers were initially praised, but then condemned as the circumstances of the massacre emerged. Chivington resigned from the military and aborted his budding political career. Black Kettle survived and continued his peace efforts. In 1865, his followers accepted a new reservation in Indian Territory.
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
1530 - Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, former adviser to England's King Henry VIII, died. 1864 - The Sand Creek Massacre occurred in Colorado when a militia led by Colonel John Chivington, killed at least 400 peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians who had surrendered and had been given permission to camp. 1890 - Navy defeated Army by a score of 24-0 in the first Army-Navy football game. The game was played at West Point, NY. 1929 - The first airplane flight over the South Pole was made by U.S. Navy Lt. Comdr. Richard E. Byrd. 1939 - The USSR broke off diplomatic relations with Finland prior to a Soviet attack. 1945 - The monarchy was abolished in Yugoslavia and a republic proclaimed. 1947 - The U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution that called for the division of Palestine between Arabs and Jews. 1961 - The Mercury-Atlas 5 spacecraft was launched by the U.S. with Enos the chimp on board. The craft orbited the earth twice before landing off Puerto Rico. 1963 - A Trans-Canada Airlines DC-8F with 111 passengers and 7 crew members crashed in woods north of Montreal 4 minutes after takeoff from Dorval Airport. All aboard were killed. The crash was the worst in Canada's history. 1963 - U.S. President Johnson named a commission headed by Earl Warren to investigate the assassination of President Kennedy. 1967 - U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara announced that he was leaving the Johnson administration to become president of the World Bank. 1971 - The Professional Golf Championship was held at Walt Disney World for the first time. Disney movies, music and books 1974 - In Britain, a bill that outlawed the Irish Republican Army became effective. 1975 - Bill Gates adopted the name Microsoft for the company he and Paul Allen had formed to write the BASIC computer language for the Altair. 1981 - Actress Natalie Wood drowned in a boating accident off Santa Catalina Island, CA, at the age 43. 1982 - The U.N. General Assembly voted that the Soviet Union should withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. 1986- Actor Cary Grant died at the age of 82. 1987 - A Korean jetliner disappeared off Burma, with 115 people aboard. 1987 - Cuban detainees released 26 hostages they'd been holding for more than a week at the Federal Detention Center in Oakdale, LA. 1988 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the rights of criminal defendants are not violated when police unintentionally fail to preserve potentially vital evidence. 1989 - In Czechoslovakia, the Communist-run parliament ended the party's 40-year monopoly on power. 1990 - The U.N. Security Council voted to authorize military action if Iraq did not withdraw its troops from Kuwait and release all foreign hostages by January 15, 1991. 1991 - 17 people were killed in a 164-vehicle wreck during a dust storm near Coalinga, CA, on Interstate 5. 1992 - Dennis Byrd (New York Jets) was paralyzed after a neck injury in a game against the Kansas City Chiefs. 1994 - The U.S. House passed the revised General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. 1994 - Fighter jets attacked the capital of Chechnya and its airport only hours after Russian President Boris Yeltsin demanded the breakaway republic end its civil war. 1996 - A U.N. court sentenced Bosnian Serb army soldier Drazen Erdemovic to 10 years in prison for his role in the massacre of 1,200 Muslims. The sentence was the first international war crimes sentence since World War II. 1998 - Swiss voters overwhelmingly rejected legalizing heroin and other narcotics. 2004 - The French government announced plans to build the Louvre II in northern France. The 236,808 square foot museum was the planned home for 500-600 works from the Louvre's reserves. 2004 - Godzilla received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1924 Italian composer Giacomo Puccini died in Brussels before he could complete his opera "Turandot.'" 1929 Commander Richard E. Byrd and a crew of three became the first to fly over the South Pole. 1947 The United Nations voted to grant the Jewish people a homeland to be established in Palestine. 1963 The Beatles released I Want to Hold Your Hand in Great Britain. 1963 President Johnson named a commission headed by Earl Warren to investigate the assassination of President Kennedy. 1986 Actor Cary Grant died in Davenport, Iowa, at age 82. 2001 Beatle George Harrison died of cancer.
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/nov29.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
Nov 29, 1947: U.N. votes for partition of Palestine
Despite strong Arab opposition, the United Nations votes for the partition of Palestine and the creation of an independent Jewish state.
The modern conflict between Jews and Arabs in Palestine dates back to the 1910s, when both groups laid claim to the British-controlled territory. The Jews were Zionists, recent emigrants from Europe and Russia who came to the ancient homeland of the Jews to establish a Jewish national state. The native Palestinian Arabs sought to stem Jewish immigration and set up a secular Palestinian state.
Beginning in 1929, Arabs and Jews openly fought in Palestine, and Britain attempted to limit Jewish immigration as a means of appeasing the Arabs. As a result of the Holocaust in Europe, many Jews illegally entered Palestine during World War II. Radical Jewish groups employed terrorism against British forces in Palestine, which they thought had betrayed the Zionist cause. At the end of World War II, in 1945, the United States took up the Zionist cause. Britain, unable to find a practical solution, referred the problem to the United Nations, which on November 29, 1947, voted to partition Palestine.
The Jews were to possess more than half of Palestine, though they made up less than half of Palestine's population. The Palestinian Arabs, aided by volunteers from other countries, fought the Zionist forces, but the Jews secured full control of their U.N.-allocated share of Palestine and also some Arab territory. On May 14, 1948, Britain withdrew with the expiration of its mandate, and the State of Israel was proclaimed by Jewish Agency Chairman David Ben-Gurion. The next day, forces from Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq invaded.
The Israelis, though less well equipped, managed to fight off the Arabs and then seize key territories, such as Galilee, the Palestinian coast, and a strip of territory connecting the coastal region to the western section of Jerusalem. In 1949, U.N.-brokered cease-fires left the State of Israel in permanent control of those conquered areas. The departure of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs from Israel during the war left the country with a substantial Jewish majority.
Nov 29, 1918: American nurse Maude Fisher writes to mother of war casualty
On November 29, 1918, Maude Fisher, a nurse in the American Red Cross during World War I, writes a heartfelt letter to the mother of a young soldier named Richard Hogan to inform her of her son's death in an army hospital.
"My dear Mrs. Hogan," Fisher began, "If I could talk to you I could tell you so much better about your son's last sickness, and all the little things that mean so much to a mother far away from her boy." Richard Hogan, who survived his front-line service in the war unscathed, had been brought to the hospital with influenza on November 13, 1918--just two days after the armistice was declared. The influenza soon developed into pneumonia. Hogan was "brave and cheerful," Fisher assured Mrs. Hogan, "and made a good fight with the disease....He did not want you to worry about his being sick, but I told him I thought we ought to let you know, and he said all right."
Before two weeks had passed, however, Hogan was dead. Knowing the woman would only receive an official governmental notification of her son's death, Fisher gave a more personal account of his last days, including his joking with the hospital orderly and the other nurses' affection for him. According to Fisher, Hogan was buried in the cemetery at Commercy, in northeastern France, alongside other fallen American soldiers of the Great War.
"A big hill overshadows the place and the sun was setting behind it just as the Chaplain said the last prayer over your boy," Fisher wrote. "He prayed that the people at home might have great strength now for the battle that is before them, and we do ask that for you now. The country will always honor your boy, because he gave his life for it, and it will also love and honor you for the gift of your boy, but be assured, that the sacrifice is not in vain, and the world is better today for it."
Nov 29, 1963: Johnson establishes Warren Commission
One week after President John F. Kennedy was fatally shot while riding in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas, President Lyndon Johnson establishes a special commission, headed by Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren, to investigate the assassination.
After 10 months of gathering evidence and questioning witnesses in public hearings, the Warren Commission report was released, concluding that there was no conspiracy, either domestic or international, in the assassination and that Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin, acted alone. The presidential commission also found that Jack Ruby, the nightclub owner who murdered Oswald on live national television, had no prior contact with Oswald.
According to the report, the bullets that killed President Kennedy and injured Texas Governor John Connally were fired by Oswald in three shots from a rifle pointed out of a sixth-floor window in the Texas School Book Depository. Oswald's life, including his visit to the Soviet Union, was described in detail, but the report made no attempt to analyze his motives. Despite its seemingly firm conclusions, the report failed to silence conspiracy theories surrounding the event, and in 1978 the House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded in a preliminary report that Kennedy was "probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy" that may have involved multiple shooters and organized crime. The committee's findings, as with the findings of the Warren Commission, continue to be widely disputed.
Nov 29, 1864: Native Americans are massacred at Sand Creek, Colorado
On this day in 1864, peaceful Southern Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians are massacred by a band of Colonel John Chivington's Colorado volunteers at Sand Creek, Colorado.
The causes of the Sand Creek massacre were rooted in the long conflict for control of the Great Plains of eastern Colorado. The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 guaranteed ownership of the area north of the Arkansas River to the Nebraska border to the Cheyenne and Arapahoe. However, by the end of the decade, waves of Euro-American miners flooded across the region in search of gold in Colorado's Rocky Mountains, placing extreme pressure on the resources of the arid plains. By 1861, tensions between new settlers and Native Americans were rising. On February 8 of that year, a Cheyenne delegation, headed by Chief Black Kettle, along with some Arapahoe leaders, accepted a new settlement with the Federal government. The Native Americans ceded most of their land but secured a 600-square mile reservation and annuity payments. The delegation reasoned that continued hostilities would jeopardize their bargaining power. In the decentralized political world of the tribes, Black Kettle and his fellow delegates represented only part of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe tribes. Many did not accept this new agreement, called the Treaty of Fort Wise.
The new reservation and Federal payments proved unable to sustain the tribes. During the Civil War, tensions again rose and sporadic violence broke out between Anglos and Native Americans. In June 1864, John Evans, governor of the territory of Colorado, attempted to isolate recalcitrant Native Americans by inviting "friendly Indians" to camp near military forts and receive provisions and protection. He also called for volunteers to fill the military void left when most of the regular army troops in Colorado were sent to other areas during the Civil War. In August 1864, Evans met with Black Kettle and several other chiefs to forge a new peace, and all parties left satisfied. Black Kettle moved his band to Fort Lyon, Colorado, where the commanding officer encouraged him to hunt near Sand Creek. In what can only be considered an act of treachery, Chivington moved his troops to the plains, and on November 29, they attacked the unsuspecting Native Americans, scattering men, women, and children and hunting them down. The casualties reflect the one-sided nature of the fight. Nine of Chivington's men were killed; 148 of Black Kettle's followers were slaughtered, more than half of them women and children. The Colorado volunteers returned and killed the wounded, mutilated the bodies, and set fire to the village.
The atrocities committed by the soldiers were initially praised, but then condemned as the circumstances of the massacre emerged. Chivington resigned from the military and aborted his budding political career. Black Kettle survived and continued his peace efforts. In 1865, his followers accepted a new reservation in Indian Territory.
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
526 - Antioch in modern day Syria struck by Earthquake,
about 250,000 die
799 - Pope Leo III, aided by Charles the Great, returns to
Rome
1349 - Jews of Augsburg Germany massacred
1516 - Treaty of Freiburg] French/Swiss "eternal"
peace treaty
1561 - Lofland subjects himself on Sigismund August II of
Poland
1573 - Don Luis de Requesensy Zuniga succeeds duke of Alva
as land guardian of Netherlands
1581 - Doornik (Tournai) surrenders to Duke of Parma
1596 - King Philip II devalues Spanish currency
1745 - Bonnie Prince Charlie's army moves into Manchester
& occupies Carlisle
1760 - French commandant Beletre surrenders Detroit to Maj R
Rogers
1775 - Sir James Jay invents invisible ink
1781 - The crew of the slave ship Zong murders 133 Africans
by dumping them into the sea in order to claim insurance.
1803 - Dessalines & Christophe declare St Domingue
(Haiti) independent
1812 - Napoleon's Grand Army crosses Berezina River in
retreat from Russia
1813 - Elias Canneman (Lib) becomes minister of Finance
1825 - 1st Italian opera in US, "Barber of
Seville" premieres (NYC)
1830 - November Uprising: An armed rebellion against
Russia's rule in Poland begins.
1845 - The Sonderbund is defeated by the joint forces of
other Swiss cantons under General Guillaume-Henri Dufour.
1847 - Indians kill Washington state pioneers Marcus &
Narcissa Whitman, and 12 others in Walla Walla Ore
1850 - The treaty, Punctation of Olmütz, signed in Olomouc
means diplomatic capitulation of Prussia to Austrian Empire, which took over
the leadership of German Confederation.
1863 - Battle of Ft Sanders, TN (Ft Loudon), 8-900
casualities
1864 - 4th & last day of skirmishes at Waynesboro,
Georgia
1864 - Battle of Spring Hill, TN (Thomason's Station)
1864 - Sand Creek Massacre, Colorado militia kills about 150
peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians including Cheyenne chief One-Eye
1870 - Compulsory education proclaimed in England
1872 - Indian Wars: The Modoc War begins with the Battle of
Lost River.
Inventor Thomas EdisonInventor Thomas Edison 1877 - Thomas
Edison demonstrates hand-cranked phonograph
1887 - US receives rights to Pearl Harbor, on Oahu, Hawaii
1890 - 1st Army-Navy football game, Score: Navy 24, Army 0
at West Point
1893 - Ziqiang Institute, today known as Wuhan University,
is founded by Zhang Zhidong, governor of Hubei and Hunan Provinces in late Qing
Dynasty of China after his memorial to the throne is approved by the Qing
Government.
1897 - 1st motorcycle race (Surrey England)
1900 - Lord Kitchener succeeds lord Roberts up as supreme
commander in S Afr
1901 - East 182nd Street in Bronx is paved & opened
1902 - Gerhart Hauptmann's "Der arme Heinrich"
premieres in Vienna
1910 - The first US patent for inventing the traffic lights system
is issued to Ernest Sirrine.
1913 - 5th CFL Grey Cup: Hamilton Tigers defeats Toronto
Parkdale, 44-2
1915 - Fire destroys most of the buildings on Santa Catalina
Island, California.
1916 - US declares martial law in Dominican Republic
1918 - Serbia annexes Montenegro
1921 - Coldest day in Nov in Netherlands -14.0°C
1921 - Z Parenteau & Schuyler Green's musical
"Kiki" premieres in NYC
Author and Nobel Laureate Gerhart HauptmannAuthor and Nobel
Laureate Gerhart Hauptmann 1924 - 12th CFL Grey Cup: Queen's University defeat
Toronto Balmy Beach, 11-3
1924 - NHL's Montreal Forum opens
1926 - Tris Speaker resigns as Indians manager
1926 - W Somerset Maughams "Constant Wife"
premieres in NYC
1929 - Lt Cmdr Richard E Byrd sends "My calculations
indicate that we have reached vicinity of South Pole" (He was wrong)
1932 - Cole Porters musical "Gay Divorcee"
premieres in NYC
1932 - France signs non-agression pact with Soviet Union
1932 - USSR & France sign no attack treaty
1933 - 1st state liquor stores authorized (Pennsylvania)
1933 - Japan begins persecution of communists
1934 - Chic Bears beat Detroit (19-16) in 1st NFL game
broadcast nationally
1935 - Michael Savage becomes 1st Labour premier of NZ
1937 - Prince Bernhard injured in auto accident in
Netherlands
1938 - Mayor Oud of Rotterdam forbids soccer match between
Neth-Germany
1939 - Cor Klint swims world record 200 m backstroke
(2:38.8)
1939 - USSR drops diplomatic relations with Finland
1941 - 29th CFL Grey Cup: Winn Blue Bombers defeat Ottawa
Rough Riders, 18-16
1941 - Passenger ship Lurline sends radio signal of sighting
Jap war fleet
1942 - US rations coffee
1943 - Partisan Tito forms temporary government in Jajce
Bosnia
1943 - U-86 sinks in Atlantic Ocean
1943 - US aircraft carrier Hornet launched
1944 - Albania liberated from Nazi control (Natl Day)
1944 - John Hopkins hospital performs 1st open heart surgery
1944 - The first surgery (on a human) to correct blue baby
syndrome is performed by Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas.
1945 - Yugoslavian Socialist Republic proclaimed
1946 - Minister Drees begins emergency rule of old age
facilities
1947 - 35th CFL Grey Cup: Toronto Argonauts defeats Calgary
Stampeders, 10-9
1947 - UN Gen Assembly partitions Palestine between Arabs
& Jews
1948 - "Kukla, Fran, & Ollie" debuted on NBC
1948 - 1st opera to be televised, "Othello,"
broadcast from the Met (NYC)
1948 - KOB TV channel 4 in Albuquerque, NM (NBC) begins
broadcasting
1949 - Nationalist regime of China leaves for Taiwan/Formosa
1949 - Uranium mine explosions in East Germany kills 3,700
1950 - National Council of Church of Christ in US forms
1951 - 1st underground atomic explosion, Frenchman Flat
Nevada
1952 - 40th CFL Grey Cup: Toronto Argonauts defeats Edmonton
Eskimos, 21-11
1952 - Pres-elect Eisenhower visits Korea to assess war
1953 - American Airlines begins 1st regular coml NY-LA air
service
1953 - WSIX TV channel 8 in Nashville, TN (ABC) begins
broadcasting
1955 - Turkish government of Menderes resigns
1956 - "Bells Are Ringing" opens at Shubert Theater
NYC for 925 performances
1957 - NY Mayor Robert Wagner forms a committee to replace
Dodgers & Giants
1958 - 46th CFL Grey Cup: Winn Blue Bombers defeat Hamilton
Tiger-Cats, 35-28
1960 - 26th Heisman Trophy Award: Joe Bellino, Navy (HB)
1961 - Freedom Riders attacked by white mob at bus station
in Miss
1961 - John A McCone replaces Allen W Dulles as 6th director
of CIA
1961 - Mercury-Atlas 5 carries a chimp (Enos) to orbit
1962 - Baseball decides to revert back to 1 all star game
per year
1962 - Great-Britain & France decide to jointly build
Concorde
1963 - Beatles release "I Want to Hold Your Hand"
36th US President Lyndon B. Johnson36th US President Lyndon
B. Johnson 1963 - LBJ sets up Warren Comm to investigate assassination of JFK
1963 - Trans-Canada Airlines Flight 831: A Douglas DC-8
carrying 118, crashes after taking-off from Dorval Airport near Montreal,
Canada
1964 - Roman Catholic Church in US replaces Latin with
English
1965 - "Anya" opens at Ziegfeld Theater NYC for 16
performances
1965 - Dale Cummings does 14,118 consecutive sit-ups
1966 - SS Daniel J Morrell sinks in a storm on Lake Huron,
28 die, 1 survivor.
1966 - 1st NBA game at Oakland Coliseum Arena - Warriors
beat Bulls 108-101
1967 - British troops withdraw from Aden and South Yemen
1967 - Robert McNamara elected president of World bank
1968 - John & Yoko release their 1st album "Two
Virgins" in UK
1969 - The Beatles' "Come Together/Something"
reaches #1
1970 - Charles Ives' "Yale-Princeton," premieres
1970 - Colin Cowdrey becomes Test Crickets' leading run
scorer (7,250)
1971 - 1st pro golf championship at Walt Disney World
1971 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern
Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1972 - Nolan Bushnell (co-founder of Atari) releases Pong
(the first commercially successful video game) in Andy Capp's Tavern in
Sunnyvale, California.
1975 - Kilauea Volcano erupts in Hawaii
1975 - Pres Ford requires states to provide free education
for handicapped
1976 - Free agent Reggie Jackson signs 5 year pact with NY
Yankees
1976 - NY Yankees sign free agent Reggie Jackson to 5-year
contract
1978 - UN observes "international day of solidarity
with Palestinian people," boycotted by US & about 20 other countries
1978 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern
Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1979 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1981 - "My Fair Lady" closes at Uris Theater NYC
after 119 performances
1981 - Greg Chappell scores 201 v Pakistan at The Gabba
(Brisbane)
1982 - USSR performs underground nuclear test
1983 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern
Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1984 - Javed Miandad completes twin Test Cricket tons, v NZ,
Hyderabad
1987 - "Dreamgirls" closes at Ambassador Theater
NYC after 177 performances
1987 - 75th CFL Grey Cup: Edmonton Eskimos defeats Toronto
Argonauts, 38-36
1987 - France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island
1987 - Joe Montana of 49ers completes NFL record 22
consecutive passes
1987 - New Orleans Saints win, assuring their 1st winning
NFL season
1987 - Ranger's Bob Frosse becomes 2nd goalie to score a
goal (vs Isles) It is later ruled that he should not be credited with goal
1987 - A Korean Air Boeing 707 explodes over the
Thai-Burmese border, killing 115
1989 - 8th Largest wrestling crowd (60,000-Tokyo Dome)
1989 - India president Rajiv Gandhi, resigns
1990 - "Shogun - The Musical" opens at Marquis
Theater NYC for 72 perfs
1990 - Expos pres Claude Brochu agrees to buy club from
Charles Bronfman
1990 - UN Security Council sets Jan 15th military deadline
against Iraq
1991 - TV show "Roc" has a gay wedding episode -
Can't Help Loving that Man
1991 - Test Cricket debut of Javagal Srinath, v Australia at
the Gabba
1992 - "Sea Gull" opens at Lyceum Theater NYC for
48 performances
1992 - "Solitary Confinement" closes at Nederlander
NYC after 25 perfs
1992 - 80th CFL Grey Cup: Calgary Stampeders defeats Winn
Blue Bombers, 24-10
1993 - "Abe Lincoln in Illinois" opens at Beaumont
Theater NYC for 40 perfs
1994 - Seoul, Korea, celebrated the 600th anniversary of its
founding
1995 - "Garden District" closes at Circle in the
Sq Theater NYC
1995 - CNN/fn, the financial network by Turner Enterprises,
launched
1997 - USAir Arena closes, hosting Wash Wizards
2005 - The new Croatian Communist Party (KPH) is founded in
Vukovar.
2007 - The Armed Forces of the Philippines lay siege to The
Peninsula Manila after soldiers led by Senator Antonio Trillanes stage a
mutiny.
2007 - A 7.4 magnitude earthquake occurs off the northern
coast of Martinique. This affected the Eastern Caribbean as far north as Puerto
Rico and as south as Trinidad.
2012 - 30 people are killed and 100 are wounded by bombs in
Hillah and Karbala, Iraq
2012 - The UN votes to approve Palestine’s status change
from an observer to an observer state
2012 - Luiz Felipe Scolari takes over as Brazilian Football
coach
1530 - Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, former adviser to England's King Henry VIII, died. 1864 - The Sand Creek Massacre occurred in Colorado when a militia led by Colonel John Chivington, killed at least 400 peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians who had surrendered and had been given permission to camp. 1890 - Navy defeated Army by a score of 24-0 in the first Army-Navy football game. The game was played at West Point, NY. 1929 - The first airplane flight over the South Pole was made by U.S. Navy Lt. Comdr. Richard E. Byrd. 1939 - The USSR broke off diplomatic relations with Finland prior to a Soviet attack. 1945 - The monarchy was abolished in Yugoslavia and a republic proclaimed. 1947 - The U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution that called for the division of Palestine between Arabs and Jews. 1961 - The Mercury-Atlas 5 spacecraft was launched by the U.S. with Enos the chimp on board. The craft orbited the earth twice before landing off Puerto Rico. 1963 - A Trans-Canada Airlines DC-8F with 111 passengers and 7 crew members crashed in woods north of Montreal 4 minutes after takeoff from Dorval Airport. All aboard were killed. The crash was the worst in Canada's history. 1963 - U.S. President Johnson named a commission headed by Earl Warren to investigate the assassination of President Kennedy. 1967 - U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara announced that he was leaving the Johnson administration to become president of the World Bank. 1971 - The Professional Golf Championship was held at Walt Disney World for the first time. Disney movies, music and books 1974 - In Britain, a bill that outlawed the Irish Republican Army became effective. 1975 - Bill Gates adopted the name Microsoft for the company he and Paul Allen had formed to write the BASIC computer language for the Altair. 1981 - Actress Natalie Wood drowned in a boating accident off Santa Catalina Island, CA, at the age 43. 1982 - The U.N. General Assembly voted that the Soviet Union should withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. 1986- Actor Cary Grant died at the age of 82. 1987 - A Korean jetliner disappeared off Burma, with 115 people aboard. 1987 - Cuban detainees released 26 hostages they'd been holding for more than a week at the Federal Detention Center in Oakdale, LA. 1988 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the rights of criminal defendants are not violated when police unintentionally fail to preserve potentially vital evidence. 1989 - In Czechoslovakia, the Communist-run parliament ended the party's 40-year monopoly on power. 1990 - The U.N. Security Council voted to authorize military action if Iraq did not withdraw its troops from Kuwait and release all foreign hostages by January 15, 1991. 1991 - 17 people were killed in a 164-vehicle wreck during a dust storm near Coalinga, CA, on Interstate 5. 1992 - Dennis Byrd (New York Jets) was paralyzed after a neck injury in a game against the Kansas City Chiefs. 1994 - The U.S. House passed the revised General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. 1994 - Fighter jets attacked the capital of Chechnya and its airport only hours after Russian President Boris Yeltsin demanded the breakaway republic end its civil war. 1996 - A U.N. court sentenced Bosnian Serb army soldier Drazen Erdemovic to 10 years in prison for his role in the massacre of 1,200 Muslims. The sentence was the first international war crimes sentence since World War II. 1998 - Swiss voters overwhelmingly rejected legalizing heroin and other narcotics. 2004 - The French government announced plans to build the Louvre II in northern France. The 236,808 square foot museum was the planned home for 500-600 works from the Louvre's reserves. 2004 - Godzilla received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1924 Italian composer Giacomo Puccini died in Brussels before he could complete his opera "Turandot.'" 1929 Commander Richard E. Byrd and a crew of three became the first to fly over the South Pole. 1947 The United Nations voted to grant the Jewish people a homeland to be established in Palestine. 1963 The Beatles released I Want to Hold Your Hand in Great Britain. 1963 President Johnson named a commission headed by Earl Warren to investigate the assassination of President Kennedy. 1986 Actor Cary Grant died in Davenport, Iowa, at age 82. 2001 Beatle George Harrison died of cancer.
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/nov29.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
Thursday, November 28, 2013
On This Day in History - November 28 Magellan Reaches Pacific
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
Nov 28, 1520: Magellan reaches the Pacific
After sailing through the dangerous straits below South America that now bear his name, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan enters the Pacific Ocean with three ships, becoming the first European explorer to reach the Pacific from the Atlantic.
On September 20, 1519, Magellan set sail from Spain in an effort to find a western sea route to the rich Spice Islands of Indonesia. In command of five ships and 270 men, Magellan sailed to West Africa and then to Brazil, where he searched the South American coast for a strait that would take him to the Pacific. He searched the Rio de la Plata, a large estuary south of Brazil, for a way through; failing, he continued south along the coast of Patagonia. At the end of March 1520, the expedition set up winter quarters at Port St. Julian. On Easter day at midnight, the Spanish captains mutinied against their Portuguese captain, but Magellan crushed the revolt, executing one of the captains and leaving another ashore when his ship left St. Julian in August.
On October 21, he finally discovered the strait he had been seeking. The Strait of Magellan, as it became known, is located near the tip of South America, separating Tierra del Fuego and the continental mainland. Only three ships entered the passage; one had been wrecked and another deserted. It took 38 days to navigate the treacherous strait, and when ocean was sighted at the other end Magellan wept with joy. His fleet accomplished the westward crossing of the ocean in 99 days, crossing waters so strangely calm that the ocean was named "Pacific," from the Latin word pacificus, meaning "tranquil." By the end, the men were out of food and chewed the leather parts of their gear to keep themselves alive. On March 6, 1521, the expedition landed at the island of Guam.
Ten days later, they dropped anchor at the Philippine island of Cebu—they were only about 400 miles from the Spice Islands. Magellan met with the chief of Cebu, who after converting to Christianity persuaded the Europeans to assist him in conquering a rival tribe on the neighboring island of Mactan. In fighting on April 27, Magellan was hit by a poisoned arrow and left to die by his retreating comrades.
After Magellan's death, the survivors, in two ships, sailed on to the Moluccas and loaded the hulls with spice. One ship attempted, unsuccessfully, to return across the Pacific. The other ship, the Vittoria, continued west under the command of Basque navigator Juan Sebastian de Elcano. The vessel sailed across the Indian Ocean, rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and arrived at the Spanish port of Sanlucar de Barrameda on September 6, 1522, becoming the first ship to circumnavigate the globe.
Nov 28, 1954: Enrico Fermi, architect of the nuclear age, dies
On this day in 1954, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Enrico Fermi, the first man to create and control a nuclear chain reaction, and one of the Manhattan Project scientists, dies in Chicago at the age of 53.
Fermi was born in Rome on September 1, 1901. He made his career choice of physicist at age 17, and earned his doctorate at the University of Pisa at 21. After studying in Germany under physicist Max Born, famous for his work on quantum mechanics, which would prove vital to Fermi's later work, he returned to Italy to teach mathematics at the University of Florence. By 1926, he had been made a full professor of theoretical physics and gathered around him a group of other young physicists. In 1929, he became the youngest man ever elected to the Royal Academy of Italy.
The theoretical became displaced by the practical for Fermi upon learning of England's Sir James Chadwick's discovery of the neutron and the Curies' production of artificial radioactivity. Fermi went to work on producing radioactivity by means of manipulating the speed of neutrons derived from radioactive beryllium. Further similar experimentation with other elements, including uranium 92, produced new radioactive substances; Fermi's colleagues believed he had created a new, "transuranic" element with an atomic number of 93, the result of uranium 92 capturing a neuron while under bombardment, thus increasing its atomic weight. Fermi remained skeptical, despite his fellow physicists' enthusiasm. He became a believer in 1938, when he was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for "his identification of new radioactive elements." Although travel was restricted for men whose work was deemed vital to national security, Fermi was given permission to go to Sweden to receive his prize. He and his wife, Laura, who was Jewish, never returned; both feared and despised Mussolini's fascist regime.
Fermi left Sweden for New York City, Columbia University, specifically, where he recreated many of his experiments with Niels Bohr, the Danish-born physicist, who suggested the possibility of a nuclear chain reaction. Fermi and others saw the possible military applications of such an explosive power, and quickly composed a letter warning President Roosevelt of the perils of a German atomic bomb. The letter was signed and delivered to the president by Albert Einstein on October 11, 1939. The Manhattan Project, the American program to create its own atomic bomb, was the result.
It fell to Fermi to produce the first nuclear chain reaction, without which such a bomb was impossible. He created a jury-rigged laboratory, complete with his own "atomic pile," in a squash court in the basement of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago. It was there that Fermi, with other physicists looking on, produced the first controlled chain reaction on December 2, 1942. The nuclear age was born. "The Italian navigator has just landed in the new world," was the coded message sent to a delighted President Roosevelt.
The first nuclear device, the creation of the Manhattan Project scientists, was tested on July 16, 1945. It was followed less than a month later by the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After the war, Fermi, now an American citizen, became a Distinguished Service Professor of Nuclear Studies at the University of Chicago, consulting on the construction of the first large-particle accelerator. He went on to receive the Congressional Medal of Merit and to be elected a foreign member of the Royal Society of London.
Among other honors accorded to Fermi: The element number 100, fermium, was named for him. Also, the Enrico Fermi Award, now one of the oldest and most prestigious science and technology awards given by the U.S. government, was created in his honor.
Nov 28, 1925: The Grand Ole Opry begins broadcasting
The Grand Ole Opry, one of the longest-lived and most popular showcases for western music, begins broadcasting live from Nashville, Tennessee. The showcase was originally named the Barn Dance, after a Chicago radio program called the National Barn Dance that had begun broadcasting the previous year.
Impressed by the popularity of the Chicago-based National Barn Dance, producers at WSM radio in Nashville decided to create their own version of the show to cater to southern audiences who could not receive the Chicago signal. Both the Grand Ole Opry and the National Barn Dance aired on Saturday nights and featured folk music, fiddling, and the relatively new genre of country-western music. Both shows created a growing audience for a uniquely American style of music and were launching grounds for many of America's most-loved musicians--the singing cowboy Gene Autry got his first big break on the National Barn Dance. The WSM producers recognized that Americans were growing nostalgic for the rural past, so all live performers at the Grand Ole Opry were required to dress in hillbilly costumes and adopt old-time names.
The four-and-a-half-hour Grand Ole Opry program became one of the most popular broadcasts in the South, and like its Chicago cousin, helped make country-western an enduring part of the popular American musical landscape.
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
1520 - Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan reached the Pacific Ocean after passing through the South American strait. The strait was named after him. He was the first European to sail the Pacific from the east. 1582 - William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway were married. 1757 - English poet, painter and engraver William Blake was born. Two of his best known works are "Songs of Innocence" and "Songs of Experience." 1919 - American-born Lady Astor was elected the first female member of the British Parliament. 1922 - Capt. Cyril Turner of the Royal Air Force gave the first public exhibition of skywriting. He spelled out, "Hello USA. Call Vanderbilt 7200" over New York's Times Square. 1925 - The Grand Ole Opry made its radio debut on station WSM. 1934 - The U.S. bank robber George "Baby Face" Nelson was killed by FBI agents near Barrington, IL. 1942 - 491 people died in a fire that destroyed the Coconut Grove in Boston. 1943 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Leader Joseph Stalin met in Tehran to map out strategy concerning World War II. 1953 - New York City began 11 days without newspapers due to a strike of photoengravers. 1958 - The African nation of Chad became an autonomous republic within the French community. 1963 - U.S. President Johnson announced that Cape Canaveral would be renamed Cape Kennedy in honor of his assassinated predecessor. The name was changed back to Cape Canaveral in 1973 by a vote of residents. 1964 - The U.S. launched the space probe Mariner IV from Cape Kennedy on a course set for Mars. 1977 - Larry Bird was introduced as "College Basketball's Secret Weapon" with a cover story in Sports Illustrated. (NBA) 1978 - The Iranian government banned religious marches. 1979 - An Air New Zealand DC-10 flying to the South Pole crashed in Antarctica killing all 257 people aboard. 1983 - The space shuttle Columbia took off with the STS-9 Spacelab in its cargo bay. 1985 - The Irish Senate approved the Anglo-Irish accord concerning Northern Ireland. 1987 - A South African Airways Boeing 747 crashed into the Indian Ocean. All 159 people aboard were killed. 1989 - Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci arrived in New York after escaping her homeland through Hungary. 1990 - Margaret Thatcher resigned as prime minister of Britain. 1992 - In Bosnia-Herzegovina, 137 tons of food and supplies were to be delivered to the isolated town of Srebrenica. 1992 - In King William's Town, South Africa, black militant gunmen attacked a country club killing four people and injuring 20. 1993 - The play "Mixed Emotions" closed after 48 performances. 1994 - Jeffrey Dahmer, a convicted serial killer, was clubbed to death in a Wisconsin prison by a fellow inmate. 1994 - Norwegian voters rejected European Union membership. 1995 - U.S. President Clinton signed a $6 billion road bill that ended the federal 55 mph speed limit. 2010 - WikiLeaks released to the public more than 250,000 U.S. diplomatic cables. About 100,000 were marked "secret" or "confidential."
1520 Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan passed through the strait which bears his name to the Pacific ocean. 1919 American-born Lady Astor became the first woman to take a seat on the British Parliament. 1942 Almost 500 people died in the Coconut Grove nightclub fire in Boston. 1943 Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin met in Tehran for their first meeting during World War II. 1964 The U.S. spacecraft Mariner 4 launched—on its way to the first successful mission to Mars. 1990 Margaret Thatcher resigned as prime minister of Great Britain; John Major took over.
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/nov28.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
Nov 28, 1520: Magellan reaches the Pacific
After sailing through the dangerous straits below South America that now bear his name, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan enters the Pacific Ocean with three ships, becoming the first European explorer to reach the Pacific from the Atlantic.
On September 20, 1519, Magellan set sail from Spain in an effort to find a western sea route to the rich Spice Islands of Indonesia. In command of five ships and 270 men, Magellan sailed to West Africa and then to Brazil, where he searched the South American coast for a strait that would take him to the Pacific. He searched the Rio de la Plata, a large estuary south of Brazil, for a way through; failing, he continued south along the coast of Patagonia. At the end of March 1520, the expedition set up winter quarters at Port St. Julian. On Easter day at midnight, the Spanish captains mutinied against their Portuguese captain, but Magellan crushed the revolt, executing one of the captains and leaving another ashore when his ship left St. Julian in August.
On October 21, he finally discovered the strait he had been seeking. The Strait of Magellan, as it became known, is located near the tip of South America, separating Tierra del Fuego and the continental mainland. Only three ships entered the passage; one had been wrecked and another deserted. It took 38 days to navigate the treacherous strait, and when ocean was sighted at the other end Magellan wept with joy. His fleet accomplished the westward crossing of the ocean in 99 days, crossing waters so strangely calm that the ocean was named "Pacific," from the Latin word pacificus, meaning "tranquil." By the end, the men were out of food and chewed the leather parts of their gear to keep themselves alive. On March 6, 1521, the expedition landed at the island of Guam.
Ten days later, they dropped anchor at the Philippine island of Cebu—they were only about 400 miles from the Spice Islands. Magellan met with the chief of Cebu, who after converting to Christianity persuaded the Europeans to assist him in conquering a rival tribe on the neighboring island of Mactan. In fighting on April 27, Magellan was hit by a poisoned arrow and left to die by his retreating comrades.
After Magellan's death, the survivors, in two ships, sailed on to the Moluccas and loaded the hulls with spice. One ship attempted, unsuccessfully, to return across the Pacific. The other ship, the Vittoria, continued west under the command of Basque navigator Juan Sebastian de Elcano. The vessel sailed across the Indian Ocean, rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and arrived at the Spanish port of Sanlucar de Barrameda on September 6, 1522, becoming the first ship to circumnavigate the globe.
Nov 28, 1954: Enrico Fermi, architect of the nuclear age, dies
On this day in 1954, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Enrico Fermi, the first man to create and control a nuclear chain reaction, and one of the Manhattan Project scientists, dies in Chicago at the age of 53.
Fermi was born in Rome on September 1, 1901. He made his career choice of physicist at age 17, and earned his doctorate at the University of Pisa at 21. After studying in Germany under physicist Max Born, famous for his work on quantum mechanics, which would prove vital to Fermi's later work, he returned to Italy to teach mathematics at the University of Florence. By 1926, he had been made a full professor of theoretical physics and gathered around him a group of other young physicists. In 1929, he became the youngest man ever elected to the Royal Academy of Italy.
The theoretical became displaced by the practical for Fermi upon learning of England's Sir James Chadwick's discovery of the neutron and the Curies' production of artificial radioactivity. Fermi went to work on producing radioactivity by means of manipulating the speed of neutrons derived from radioactive beryllium. Further similar experimentation with other elements, including uranium 92, produced new radioactive substances; Fermi's colleagues believed he had created a new, "transuranic" element with an atomic number of 93, the result of uranium 92 capturing a neuron while under bombardment, thus increasing its atomic weight. Fermi remained skeptical, despite his fellow physicists' enthusiasm. He became a believer in 1938, when he was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for "his identification of new radioactive elements." Although travel was restricted for men whose work was deemed vital to national security, Fermi was given permission to go to Sweden to receive his prize. He and his wife, Laura, who was Jewish, never returned; both feared and despised Mussolini's fascist regime.
Fermi left Sweden for New York City, Columbia University, specifically, where he recreated many of his experiments with Niels Bohr, the Danish-born physicist, who suggested the possibility of a nuclear chain reaction. Fermi and others saw the possible military applications of such an explosive power, and quickly composed a letter warning President Roosevelt of the perils of a German atomic bomb. The letter was signed and delivered to the president by Albert Einstein on October 11, 1939. The Manhattan Project, the American program to create its own atomic bomb, was the result.
It fell to Fermi to produce the first nuclear chain reaction, without which such a bomb was impossible. He created a jury-rigged laboratory, complete with his own "atomic pile," in a squash court in the basement of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago. It was there that Fermi, with other physicists looking on, produced the first controlled chain reaction on December 2, 1942. The nuclear age was born. "The Italian navigator has just landed in the new world," was the coded message sent to a delighted President Roosevelt.
The first nuclear device, the creation of the Manhattan Project scientists, was tested on July 16, 1945. It was followed less than a month later by the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After the war, Fermi, now an American citizen, became a Distinguished Service Professor of Nuclear Studies at the University of Chicago, consulting on the construction of the first large-particle accelerator. He went on to receive the Congressional Medal of Merit and to be elected a foreign member of the Royal Society of London.
Among other honors accorded to Fermi: The element number 100, fermium, was named for him. Also, the Enrico Fermi Award, now one of the oldest and most prestigious science and technology awards given by the U.S. government, was created in his honor.
Nov 28, 1925: The Grand Ole Opry begins broadcasting
The Grand Ole Opry, one of the longest-lived and most popular showcases for western music, begins broadcasting live from Nashville, Tennessee. The showcase was originally named the Barn Dance, after a Chicago radio program called the National Barn Dance that had begun broadcasting the previous year.
Impressed by the popularity of the Chicago-based National Barn Dance, producers at WSM radio in Nashville decided to create their own version of the show to cater to southern audiences who could not receive the Chicago signal. Both the Grand Ole Opry and the National Barn Dance aired on Saturday nights and featured folk music, fiddling, and the relatively new genre of country-western music. Both shows created a growing audience for a uniquely American style of music and were launching grounds for many of America's most-loved musicians--the singing cowboy Gene Autry got his first big break on the National Barn Dance. The WSM producers recognized that Americans were growing nostalgic for the rural past, so all live performers at the Grand Ole Opry were required to dress in hillbilly costumes and adopt old-time names.
The four-and-a-half-hour Grand Ole Opry program became one of the most popular broadcasts in the South, and like its Chicago cousin, helped make country-western an enduring part of the popular American musical landscape.
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
587 - Treaty of Andelot: King Guntram takes cousin Childebert II as heir
1340 - Battle of Salado Spain: last Moor invasion driven back
1443 - Albanian George Kastriotis Skanderbeg and his forces liberate
Kruja in Middle Albania from the Ottomans and raise the Albanian flag.
1520 - Ferdinand Magellan begins crossing Pacific Ocean
1569 - Duke of Alva forces bishop Nicolaas van Nieuwland of Haarlem to
resign
1660 - The Royal Society forms in London
1670 - Pierre Corneille's "Tite et Berenice" premieres in Paris
1710 - Battle at Brihuega: English General Stanhope captured
1729 - Natchez Indians massacre 138 Frenchmen, 35 French women, and 56
children at Fort Rosalie, near the site of modern-day Natchez, Mississippi.
1745 - -29] French troops attack indians of Saratoga, NY
1757 - England condemns ceasefire of Kloster-Seven
1775 - 2nd Continental Congress formally establishes US Navy
1785 - The Treaty of Hopewell is signed.
1795 - US pays $800,000 & a frigate as tribute to Algiers & Tunis
1813 - Kosacks occupy Utrecht
1814 - The Times in London is for the first time printed by automatic,
steam powered presses built by the German inventors Friedrich Koenig and
Andreas Friedrich Bauer, signaling the beginning of the availability of
newspapers to a mass audience.
1821 - Panama declares independence from Spain
1833 - Charles Darwin rides through Las Pietras, returning to Montevideo
1843 - Ka Lahui: Hawaiian Independence Day - The Kingdom of Hawaii is
officially recognized by the United Kingdom and France as an independent
nation.
Naturalist Charles DarwinNaturalist Charles Darwin 1847 - Bologna: church
San Francisco dei Minori Conventuali initiated with premier of Rossini's Tantum
ergo
1853 - Olympia forms as capital of Washington Territory
1854 - Dutch army stops Chinese uprising in Borneo
1861 - Confederate congress officially admits Missouri to Confederate
Army
1862 - Battle at Cane Hill, Arkansas (475 casualties)
1862 - Battle of Hooly Spring, MS
1864 - 3rd day of Battles at Waynesboro/Jones's Plantation, Georgia
1864 - Battle of New Creek, WV (Rosser's Raid, Ft Kelly)
1871 - Ku Klux Klan trials began in Federal District Court in SC
1875 - Verney Cameroon reaches East Africa
1879 - Battle at Lydenburg South Africa: Gen Wolseley beats Sekhukhenes
Pedi-Zulu
1893 - Women vote in a national election for the first time: the New
Zealand general election.
1895 - America's 1st auto race starts; 6 cars, 55 miles, winner avg 7 MPH
1899 - Battle of Mud river (Boer general. Cronjé beats British gen
Methuen)
1901 - Gustav Mahler's 4th Symphony in G, premieres
1904 - Germany defeats Hottentotten in Warmbad SW-Africa
1905 - Arthur Griffith forms Sinn Fein in Dublin
1906 - Tommy Burns & Jack O'Brien fight to a draw in 20 for hw boxing
title
1907 - In Haverhill, Massachusetts, scrap-metal dealer Louis B. Mayer
opens his first movie theater.
1908 - 154 men die in coal mine explosion at Marianna Pa
1911 - Zapata proclaims Plan of Ayala Mexico
1912 - Albania declares it's Indepenence from Turkey
1913 - Heavyweight Jack Johnson KOs Andre Spaul in Paris
1914 - World War I: Following a war-induced closure in July, the New York
Stock Exchange re-opens for bond trading.
1916 - 1st (German) air attack on London
1917 - Sigmund Rombergs revue "Over the Top" premieres in NYC
1918 - Emperor Wilhelm of Prussia & Germany abdicates
1918 - Bucovina voted for the union with the Kingdom of Romania.
1919 - US-born Lady Astor elected 1st female member of British Parliament
1920 - Kilmichael Ambush, Battle of the Irish War of Independence.
1921 - Ascension of 'Abdu'l-Baha (Baha'i festival-Qawl 6, 78)
1922 - 6 ex-minsters executed in Greece
1922 - Capt Cyril Turner (RAF) gives 1st skywriting exhibition (NYC)
Turner spelled out "Hello USA. Call Vanderbilt 7200." 47,000 called
1924 - Pieter Jelle Troelstra leaves 2nd Chamber
1925 - 7th French government of Briand sworn-in
1925 - Grand Ole Opry premieres as WSM Barn Dance on WSM radio Nashville
Tn
1925 - NHL goalie Georges Vezina collapses & dies of TB 4 months
later
1927 - J McHugh & D Fields' musical "Delmar's Revels"
premieres in NYC
1929 - Adm Richard E Byrd makes 1st South Pole flight
1929 - Ernie Nevers scores all 40 pts for Chic Cards vs Bears (NFL
record)
1930 - Howard Hanson's 2nd Symphony "Romantic" premieres
1931 - Bradman scores 226, the 1st Test Cricket century at Gabba, v South
Africa
1932 - France & USSR signs not-attack treaty
Comedian Groucho MarxComedian Groucho Marx 1932 - Groucho Marx performed
on radio for 1st time
1934 - Churchill tells Premier Baldwin not to under estimate German air
power
1938 - 4th Heisman Trophy Award: Davey O'Brien, Texas Christian (QB)
1939 - Nazi Gov-Gen of Poland, Hans Frank organizes Judenrat
1939 - Soviet government revokes Russian-Finnish non-attack treaty
1940 - Cleveringa arrested by nazis
1941 - German troops vacate Rostov
1942 - 492 die in a fire that destroyed Cocoanut Grove nightclub in
Boston
1943 - FDR, Churchill & Stalin met at Tehran to map out strategy
1944 - 1st allied ship sails into Schelde Antwerp
1944 - 400 Rotterdammers attack coal warehouse
1944 - Hal Newhouser is named AL MVP
1944 - In reprisal 40 Dutch men are executed by Nazis
1944 - US 121st Infantry regiment occupies Hurtgen
1945 - Aust Services draw second Victory Test Cricket v India at Calcutta
32nd US President Franklin D. Roosevelt32nd US President Franklin D.
Roosevelt 1946 - French government of Bidault, resigns
1946 - Landverrader Anton Mussert to death sentenced
1948 - "Hopalong Cassidy" premieres on TV
1948 - 1st Polaroid camera sold
1949 - "Texas, Li'l Darlin'" opens at Mark Hellinger NYC for
293 perfs
1950 - Walter O'Malley fires Burt Shotton as Dodgers manager
1951 - John Van Druten's "I am a Camera," premieres in NYC
1951 - Military coup under Col Adib el-Shishakli in Syria
1953 - "Wish You Were Here" closes at Imperial Theater NYC
after 597 perfs
1953 - 41st CFL Grey Cup: Hamilton Tiger-Cats defeats Winn Blue Bombers,
12-6
1954 - 1st pro football game in Netherlands
1954 - Cleveland Browns' Horace Gillom sets club record with 80-yard punt
1954 - KCKT (now KSNC) TV channel 2 in Great Bend, KS (NBC) 1st broadcast
1955 - KMVI (now WMAU) TV channel 12 in Wailuku, HI (IND) begins
broadcasting
1955 - KTHV TV channel 11 in Little Rock, AR (CBS) begins broadcasting
1956 - Photography begins on "... & God Created Women"
1957 - "Look Homeward, Angel" with Anthony Perkins premieres in
NYC
1957 - Warren Spahn of the Braves wins Cy Young Award
1958 - AL announces Opening Day in 1959 will be earliest ever, April 9
1958 - Chad becomes an autonomous republic within French community
1958 - Congo & Mauritania become autonomous members of French
Community
1958 - George "Punch" Imlach becomes coach of NHL's Toronto
Maple Leafs
1958 - KCOO (now KABY) TV channel 9 in Aberdeen, SD (ABC) begins
broadcasting
1958 - Test Cricket debut for Wes Hall, v India at Bombay
1958 - US reports 1st full-range firing of an ICBM
1959 - 47th CFL Grey Cup: Winn Blue Bombers defeats Hamilton Tiger-Cats,
21-7
1959 - KOMC (now KSNK) TV channel 8 in McCook - Oberlin, NB (NBC) begins
262nd Pope John XXIII262nd Pope John XXIII 1959 - Pope John XXIII
publishes encyclical Princeps Pastorum
1960 - CBS radio expands hourly news coverage from 5 to 10 minutes
1960 - Mauritania gains independence from France (Natl Day)
1961 - Ernest Davis is 1st black to win Heisman Trophy
1961 - General Meeting of UN debates about New-Guinea
1961 - Martin Walser's "Der Abstecher," premieres in Munich
1962 - Telegraph between Netherlands & Indonesia restored
1963 - 1st million copy record prior to release "I Want to Hold Your
Hand"
1963 - Beatles "She Loves You" returns to #1 on UK record chart
1963 - Crusher beats Verne Gagne in St Paul, to become NWA champ
1963 - WHNT TV channel 19 in Huntsville, AL (CBS) begins broadcasting
1964 - 52nd CFL Grey Cup: BC Lions defeats Hamilton Tiger-Cats, 34-24
1964 - France performs underground nuclear test at Ecker Algeria
1964 - Mariner 4 launched; 1st probe to fly by Mars
1965 - Browns' Leroy Kelly sets club record for most punt return yds
(109)
1965 - Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Titleholders Golf Championship
1966 - Coup in Burundi overthrows monarchy; a republic is declared
1966 - Dominican Republic adopts constitution
1967 - 33rd Heisman Trophy Award: Gary Beban, UCLA (QB)
1967 - The 1st pulsating radio source (pulsar) detected
1968 - John Lennon is fined £150 for unauthorized drug possession
1969 - Ted Sizemore becomes 7th Dodger to win NL Rookie of Year
1970 - 58th CFL Grey Cup: Montreal Alouettes defeat Calgary Stampeders,
23-10
1971 - "Me Nobody Knows" closes at Helen Hayes Theater NYC
after 587 perfs
1971 - 59th CFL Grey Cup: Calgary Stampeders defeats Toronto Argonauts,
14-11
1972 - "Via Galactica" opens at Uris Theater NYC for 7
performances
1972 - LA Dodgers trade Frank Robinson to California Angels
1973 - Arab League summit in Algiers recognizes Palestine
1973 - Balt Oriole Al Bumbry wins AL Rookie of Year
New York Yankees Owner George SteinbrennerNew York Yankees Owner George
Steinbrenner 1974 - Bowie Kuhn suspends George Steinbrenner for 2 years
1974 - John Lennon's last concert appearance (Elton John concert in
Madison Square Garden NYC)
1975 - Democratic Republic of East-Timor proclaimed
1975 - Test Cricket debut of Michael Anthony Holding, WI v Australia
Brisbane
1975 - Wings release "Venus & Mars/Rock Show" medley
1975 - As the World Turns and The Edge of Night, the final two American
soap operas that had resisted going to pre-taped broadcasts, air their last
live episodes.
1976 - 64th CFL Grey Cup: Ottawa Rough Riders defeats Saskatchewan, 23-20
1978 - 44th Heisman Trophy Award: Billy Sims, Oklahoma (RB)
1978 - Reds fire manager Sparky Anderson after 9 years
1979 - "King of Schnorrers" opens at Playhouse Theater NYC for
63 perfs
1979 - Air New Zealand DC-10 crashes into Mt Erebus on Antarctica kills
257
1979 - LA Dodger Rick Sutcliffe wins NL Rookie of Year
1981 - "Merrily We Roll Along" closes at Alvin Theater NYC
after 16 perfs
1981 - Bear Bryant wins his 315th game to out distance Alonzo Stagg &
become college football's winningest coach
1982 - "Pirates of Penzance" closes at Uris Theater NYC after
772 perfs
Musician and Beatle John LennonMusician and Beatle John Lennon 1982 -
70th CFL Grey Cup: Edmonton Eskimos defeats Toronto Argonauts, 32-16
1982 - 71st Davis Cup: USA beats France in Grenoble (4-1)
1983 - 9th Space Shuttle Mission-Columbia 6-is launched
1984 - Over 250 years after their deaths, William Penn and his wife
Hannah Callowhill Penn are made Honorary Citizens of the United States.
1985 - 6th Belgium government of Martens forms
1986 - Hilbert van der Duim skates 1 hour world record 39.4928 km
1986 - US Reagan administration exceeds SALT II arms limitations for 1st
time
1987 - South African Airways Boeing 747 crashes into Indian Ocean, 159
die
1988 - Picasso's "Acrobat & Harlequin" sells for $38.46
million
1989 - Rickey Henderson signs record $3,000,000 per year Oak A's contract
1989 - Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci flees to Hungary
1990 - Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew resigns, ending his reign as Singapore's
longest-serving Prime Minister
1990 - Margaret Thatcher resigns as Britain's PM, replaced by John Major
1993 - "Gray's Anatomy" opens at Beaumont Theater NYC for 13
performances
1993 - "Mixed Emotions" closes at John Golden Theater NYC after
48 perfs
British Prime Minister Margaret ThatcherBritish Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher 1993 - 81st CFL Grey Cup: Edmonton Eskimos defeats Winn Blue Bombers,
33-23
1993 - Carlos Reina wins Honduras presidential election
1994 - Norway votes against joining European Union
1994 - In Portage, Wisconsin, convicted serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is
clubbed to death by an inmate in the Columbia Correctional Institution
gymnasium.
1995 - James Brady, former white house press sect, suffers a heart attack
1997 - Final episode of "Beavis & Butt-head" on MTV
1997 - First public appearance of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), an
ethnic Albanian guerrilla group that fought for the independence of Kosovo from
Serbia.
1998 - The people of Albania vote for their new Constitution in a
referendum.
2000 - Ukrainian politician Oleksander Moroz begins the Cassette Scandal
by publicly accusing President Leonid Kuchma of involvement in the murder of
journalist Georgiy Gongadze.
2004 - Male Poʻo-uli dies of Avian malaria in the Maui Bird Conservation
Center in Olinda, Hawaii before it could breed, making the species in all
probability extinct.
2012 - 54 people are killed and 120 are injured by two car bombs in
Damascus, Syria
1520 - Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan reached the Pacific Ocean after passing through the South American strait. The strait was named after him. He was the first European to sail the Pacific from the east. 1582 - William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway were married. 1757 - English poet, painter and engraver William Blake was born. Two of his best known works are "Songs of Innocence" and "Songs of Experience." 1919 - American-born Lady Astor was elected the first female member of the British Parliament. 1922 - Capt. Cyril Turner of the Royal Air Force gave the first public exhibition of skywriting. He spelled out, "Hello USA. Call Vanderbilt 7200" over New York's Times Square. 1925 - The Grand Ole Opry made its radio debut on station WSM. 1934 - The U.S. bank robber George "Baby Face" Nelson was killed by FBI agents near Barrington, IL. 1942 - 491 people died in a fire that destroyed the Coconut Grove in Boston. 1943 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Leader Joseph Stalin met in Tehran to map out strategy concerning World War II. 1953 - New York City began 11 days without newspapers due to a strike of photoengravers. 1958 - The African nation of Chad became an autonomous republic within the French community. 1963 - U.S. President Johnson announced that Cape Canaveral would be renamed Cape Kennedy in honor of his assassinated predecessor. The name was changed back to Cape Canaveral in 1973 by a vote of residents. 1964 - The U.S. launched the space probe Mariner IV from Cape Kennedy on a course set for Mars. 1977 - Larry Bird was introduced as "College Basketball's Secret Weapon" with a cover story in Sports Illustrated. (NBA) 1978 - The Iranian government banned religious marches. 1979 - An Air New Zealand DC-10 flying to the South Pole crashed in Antarctica killing all 257 people aboard. 1983 - The space shuttle Columbia took off with the STS-9 Spacelab in its cargo bay. 1985 - The Irish Senate approved the Anglo-Irish accord concerning Northern Ireland. 1987 - A South African Airways Boeing 747 crashed into the Indian Ocean. All 159 people aboard were killed. 1989 - Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci arrived in New York after escaping her homeland through Hungary. 1990 - Margaret Thatcher resigned as prime minister of Britain. 1992 - In Bosnia-Herzegovina, 137 tons of food and supplies were to be delivered to the isolated town of Srebrenica. 1992 - In King William's Town, South Africa, black militant gunmen attacked a country club killing four people and injuring 20. 1993 - The play "Mixed Emotions" closed after 48 performances. 1994 - Jeffrey Dahmer, a convicted serial killer, was clubbed to death in a Wisconsin prison by a fellow inmate. 1994 - Norwegian voters rejected European Union membership. 1995 - U.S. President Clinton signed a $6 billion road bill that ended the federal 55 mph speed limit. 2010 - WikiLeaks released to the public more than 250,000 U.S. diplomatic cables. About 100,000 were marked "secret" or "confidential."
1520 Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan passed through the strait which bears his name to the Pacific ocean. 1919 American-born Lady Astor became the first woman to take a seat on the British Parliament. 1942 Almost 500 people died in the Coconut Grove nightclub fire in Boston. 1943 Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin met in Tehran for their first meeting during World War II. 1964 The U.S. spacecraft Mariner 4 launched—on its way to the first successful mission to Mars. 1990 Margaret Thatcher resigned as prime minister of Great Britain; John Major took over.
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/nov28.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
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