A Visit to Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia, PA

Back in November, I visited Philadelphia a bit just prior to the Sarah McLachlan concert at "The Met."

Among the sites was historical Carpenter's Hall, which dates back to the days prior to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War of Independence.

Below are some pictures.

Enjoy.

According to Expert, Trump Viewed As An 'Embarrassing Idiot' By World Leaders & is Dragging America's Reputation Through the Mud

Recently, an expert suggested that world leaders generally and genuinely view President Trump very unfavorably. Specifically, he said that they see him as an "embarrassing idiot."

Hey, if the shoe fits...

This American foreign policy, expert was speaking about President Donald Trump's unhinged behavior and speech earlier this month during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. According to an article by Lesley Abravanel (see link below):

David Rothkopf, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations who has taught international affairs at Columbia University’s Graduate School of International and Public Affairs, the Georgetown School of Foreign Service and Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, spoke about Trump’s disastrous Davos appearance and his cognitive decline on The Daily Beast’s podcast.  

On it, he said a “declining” Trump is “dragging American credibility abroad through the mud as he torches alliances that underpinned U.S. security for decades.”

Yup. Sounds about right.

Americans will ultimately pay the price for the hubris and ignorance involved in putting someone like Trump in the Oval Office to begin with, let alone doubling down by putting him in there twice. That shame will last decades. My own prediction is that most of those people who still (somehow) support the regime today will publicly disown him and pretend that they never actually supported him  - not really, surely - ten or fifteen years down the road.

What times we live in. 

Trump slammed as 'embarrassing idiot' Story by Lesley Abravanel • January 23, 2026 • 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-slammed-as-embarrassing-idiot/ar-AA1ULjka?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=697347affc2c40a18e4a560c548e60d0&ei=16

Trump slammed as 'embarrassing idiot'

Book Review: Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill

 

Here is another Joe Hill book which I read before. And while I remembered more of this one than "Horns," there was a surprising amount that had apparently slipped my mind. Again, it was not as extreme as "Horns," a book which I had also previously read, bur which I also remembered so little of as to make it feel like a new read entirely. Yet, much of it only rang a distant bell as I read it again much more recently.

Before I go any farther, however, let me give the usual warnings to stop reading if you intend to read this book, because there will be spoilers ahead.

SPOILER ALERT

SPOILER ALERT

SPOILER ALERT

Okay, so by now if you are still reading this, I have to imagine that you either are familiar with this story already, or perhaps you do not mind the spoilers. Please just don't say that you were not given advanced warning. 

So the major character for this book is Judas Coyne. He is a rock star, having enjoyed success as the frontman of a metal band dating back to the late 1970's. But his band no longer exists, and he is living off of that past fame, not really doing much or creating new music. However, he does collect things. Among them are goth girls, which he has relationships with for about six or so months before setting them free, as he sees it. He usually does not bother to remember their names, simply nicknaming them by the state they come from. Currently, he is going out with "George," who in fact is Marybeth Kimball, who is the second most prominent character in this book. While he seems to almost be just about ready to dump her and send her on her way at the beginning of this story, she becomes a major character, pivotal to how the events occur as they do. 

They live together (for now) at a farm in New York, but Danny Wooten, Jude's assistant, comes to the house to work and assist Jude in myriad ways. One of those ways, we find, is to search for and obtain things for another of the fascinations/collections for Judas, which is macabre items. When Danny finds an auction for a dead man's suit, which comes with a haunted spirit, he brings it to Jude's attention. Sure enough, Jude decides to go for it, and he outright purchases the suit. But both men dismiss this as a likely prank. After all, they may obtain such items purporting to be haunted, but neither of them really truly believe that anything which they acquired really is truly haunted.

But that, however, is about to change. 

The package comes after Jude has seemingly forgotten all about it. Right away, however, there is an unsettling feeling that comes with it's arrival. Jude has two dogs, and they never really react strongly to the mailman. This time, however, they go absolutely crazy, and Jude struggles to hold them back. They seem to react to what is in the box, and the suit he finds is inside of a heart-shaped box which reminds Jude of gifts that he always received during his childhood, which he is haunted by. We learn a lot about Jude's childhood, and particularly the abusive father he had, whom he hates, and whom we find out in time is still alive. 

When it becomes clear that the suit really is apparently haunted, after Judas has encounters with the ghost which comes with it (and which is real), Judas and Danny track the suit back to the sister of one of the "goth girls" in his collection. That would be Anna McDermott, whom he had nicknamed "Florida." She had serious mental issues, to the point where Judas feels that he cannot handle. He sends her packing because he felt unequal to the task. But he learns that Anna has apparently killed herself not long after Judas sent her back home to Florida. It seems that her family wants revenge on Judas for this, and that is why they set up the fake auction, knowing that Judas would be interested enough to make sure that he won the auction. The ghost is that of Anna's stepfather, Craddock McDermott. And Judas knows that Craddock means to kill him, as well as anyone who gets in between the two of them. The person who set up the auction and made sure that Judas would win is Anna's sister, Jessica Price, who currently resides in Florida. 

The ghost's presence grows more severe. Soon, others begin to have encounters, including Danny and Georgia. Judas himself seems hypnotized by the ghost, who commands him to kill Georgia. But just as he is about to do it, the spell is broken. Judas learns that his dogs have the power to have their internal ghosts (if that's the right way of putting it) attack Craddock and this keeps the ghost at bay. But when Danny leaves and quits his position with Judas, he calls Judas at three in the morning, sounding lost. As it turns out, Danny is dead of suicide, an act the Craddock ghost commanded him to do. By this point, after surviving - barely - himself and barely having avoided Craddock's command to kill Georgia, Judas feels that he has to head to Florida to face Jessica Price. Georgia goes with him, and the two of them head down South.

Judas and Georgia grow closer with the drive. The dangerous situation has drawn them closer together. He begins to see her as more than his sex object, as more than someone he is using for selfish purposes. In fact, he sees parallels with Anna/Florida, and this time, he feels maybe he can make right what he got wrong with Florida. The guilt of how he dismissed Anna/Florida still eats at him, and he begins to see Marybeth/Georgia as a real person. No longer will he refer to her as Georgia, she becomes Marybeth for the duration of the book. They are in this together, and so they look out for one another, work as a team.

Still, there are close calls. However, Judas learns through a dreamlike encounter with the ghost of Anna (via Marybeth) that Anna in fact did not kill herself. In fact, it is more sinister than that. Craddock has killed her, and Jessica Price was involved. Now, Judas's mission has changed. He wants the truth to be known about Craddock and Price, and he wants Anna to obtain a measure of revenge. By now, Anna's ghost has spoken to Judas, and he learns that she had sought his help to get out of the abusive situation before she was killed, which is in fact why she was killed. Now, in death, she wants Judas to help expose her stepfather and sister. 

Before going to Florida, they stop at Marybeth's grandmother's place. They get a chance to rest, but they make sure also to keep their distance and not recruit help, knowing that this would lead to a disaster. Still, they are in a relative rush, because they head back on the road very quickly.

Ultimately, there is a showdown as Judas and Marybeth arrive at Jessica Price's house. However, it does not go very well. Price's daughter pulls a gun on Judas, and one of his dogs is killed. Also, Craddock's ghost intervenes. Judas and Marybeth have to retreat, both injured, and with only one dog, who also is seriously injured. They retreat and head to Louisiana, to Judas's old home.

Once there, Judas sees his father alive for one last time. He and Marybeth are confronted, once again, by the ghost of Craddock McDermott. But they manage to recruit Anna's ghost, and finally defeat Craddock. 

After all of that, Judas finally settles down. He and Marybeth marry, and there is a surprise visit by Reese, the daughter of Jessica Price. She regrets pulling a gun on Judas. After that confrontation, the authorities indeed discovered that Jessica Price was incredibly abusive. But judas has helped her along, and he does so one final time at the end of the novel, when Reese is on the way to Buffalo, and her own future. 

All in all, an entertaining novel. I enjoyed the writing and character-building, as I generally have with all of Joe Hill's works. Highly recommended also for fans of horror.

January 31st: This Day in History

 

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

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

On this day in 314, St Silvester I began his reign as Catholic Pope. In 876 on this day, Charles became the King of Italy. On this day in 1504, by the treaty of Lyons, the French ceded Naples to Ferdinand of Aragon. In 1531, King Ferdinand of Austria & King Janos Zapolyai of Hungary accepted each other. The Battle of Gembloers was fought on this day in 1578. The Catholic League dissolved on this day in 1596. The death of Guy Fawkes, a chief conspirator in the plot to blow up the British Parliament building,  came on this day in 1606 at Westminster in London after he jumped to his death moments before his execution for treason was scheduled. On this day in 1814, Gervasio Antonio de Posadas became the Supreme Director of Argentina. On this day in 1865 during the late stages of the American Civil War, the US Congress passed the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery (by a vote of 121-24). On this day in 1901 during the Anglo-Boer War, Boer Generals Jan Smuts and Koos de la Rey conquered the Mud River in Transvaal (in present day South Africa). On this day in 1917, Germany announced that they would renew unrestricted submarine warfare with their U-boats in the Atlantic as German torpedo-armed submarines prepare to attack any and all ships, including neutral merchant ships, civilian passenger carriers, said to be sighted in war-zone waters. Not too much later, Germans sinking the Lusitania got the United States involved in World War I. Just days after taking power as Chancellor, Adolf Hitler promised parliamentary democracy in Germany on this day in 1933. In 1934 on this day, American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt devalued the dollar in relation to gold at $35 per ounce. On this day in 1950, American President Harry Truman publicly announced the development of the H-bomb. In 1968 on this day, the Viet Cong attacked the U.S. Embassy as a part of the Tet Offensive. On this day in 1972, a military coup ousted the civilian government of Ghana. On this day in 1985 during the days of apartheid, South African President PW Botha offered to free Nelson Mandela from prison on the condition that he would denounce violence. Mandela refused the gesture. On this day in 2009 in Kenya, at least 113 people were killed and over 200 injured following an oil spillage ignition in Molo, just days after a massive fire at a Nakumatt supermarket in Nairobi killed at least 25 people.

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

• On this day in 314, St Silvester I began his reign as Catholic Pope. 

• In 876 on this day, Charles became the King of Italy. 

• On this day in 1504, by the treaty of Lyons, the French ceded Naples to Ferdinand of Aragon. 

• In 1531, King Ferdinand of Austria & King Janos Zapolyai of Hungary accepted each other. 

• The Battle of Gembloers was fought on this day in 1578. The Catholic League dissolved on this day in 1596. The death of Guy Fawkes, a chief conspirator in the plot to blow up the British Parliament building,  came on this day in 1606 at Westminster in London after he jumped to his death moments before his execution for treason was scheduled. On the eve of a general parliamentary session scheduled for November 5, 1605, Sir Thomas Knyvet, a justice of the peace, found Guy Fawkes lurking in a cellar of the Parliament building. Fawkes was detained and the premises thoroughly searched. Nearly two tons of gunpowder were found hidden within the cellar. In his interrogation, Fawkes revealed that he was a participant in an English Catholic conspiracy organized by Robert Catesby to annihilate England's entire Protestant government, including King James I. The king was to have attended Parliament on November 5.    Over the next few months, English authorities killed or captured all of the conspirators in the "Gunpowder Plot" but also arrested, tortured, or killed dozens of innocent English Catholics. After a brief trial, Guy Fawkes was sentenced, along with the other surviving chief conspirators, to be hanged, drawn, and quartered in London. On January 30, 1606, the gruesome public executions began in London, and on January 31 Fawkes was called to meet his fate. While climbing to the hanging platform, however, he jumped from the ladder and broke his neck, dying instantly.    In remembrance of the Gunpowder Plot, Guy Fawkes Day is celebrated across Great Britain every year on the fifth of November. As dusk falls in the evening, villagers and city dwellers across Britain light bonfires, set off fireworks, and burn an effigy of Guy Fawkes, celebrating his failure to blow up Parliament and James I.

• 1609 - Wisselbank of Amsterdam established

• 1627 - Spanish government goes bankrupt

• 1675 - Cornelia/Dina Olfaarts found not guilty of witchcraft

• 1679 - Jean-Baptiste Lully's opera "Bellerophon," premieres in Paris

• 1696 - Revolt of undertakers after funeral reforms (Amsterdam)

• 1747 - The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital.

• 1779 - Charles Messier adds M57 (Ring Nebula in Lyra) to his catalog

• 1804 - British vice-admiral William Blighs fleet reaches Curacao

Flag of Argentina

• On this day in 1814, Gervasio Antonio de Posadas became the Supreme Director of Argentina.

• 1817 - Franz Grillparzer's "Die Ahnfrau," premieres in Vienna

• 1846 - After the Milwaukee Bridge War, Juneautown and Kilbourntown unified as the City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

• 1849 - Corn Laws abolished in Britain

• 1851 - Gail Borden announces invention of evaporated milk

• 1851 - SF Orphan's Asylum, 1st in California, founded

• 1854 - Dutch KNMI established (Royal Meteorological Institute)

• 1855 - Western railroads blocked by snow

• 1861 - Friedrich Hebbel's "Siegfrieds Tod," premieres in Weimar

• 1861 - State of Louisiana takes over US Mint at New Orleans

• 1862 - Telescope maker Alvin Clark discovers dwarf companion of Sirius

• 1863 - 1st black Civil War regiment, SC Volunteers, mustered into US army

An image of the iconic "We the People" wording of the Constitution.

The American Bill of Rights (picture that I took of a copy of the Bill of Rights, not the original)

• On this day in 1865 during the late stages of the American Civil War, the US Congress passed the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery (by a vote of 121-24). On this day in 1865, the U.S. House of Representatives passes the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery in America. The amendment read, "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude...shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."  When the Civil War began, President Abraham Lincoln's professed goal was the restoration of the Union. But early in the war, the Union began keeping escaped slaves rather than returning them to their owners, so slavery essentially ended wherever the Union army was victorious. In September 1862, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves in areas that were still in rebellion against the Union. This measure opened the issue of what to do about slavery in border states that had not seceded or in areas that had been captured by the Union before the proclamation.  In 1864, an amendment abolishing slavery passed the U.S. Senate but died in the House as Democrats rallied in the name of states' rights. The election of 1864 brought Lincoln back to the White House along with significant Republican majorities in both houses, so it appeared the amendment was headed for passage when the new Congress convened in March 1865. Lincoln preferred that the amendment receive bipartisan support--some Democrats indicated support for the measure, but many still resisted. The amendment passed 119 to 56, seven votes above the necessary two-thirds majority. Several Democrats abstained, but the 13th Amendment was sent to the states for ratification, which came in December 1865. With the passage of the amendment, the institution that had indelibly shaped American history was eradicated.

• 1865 - Gen Robert E. Lee named Commander-in-Chief of Confederate Armies

• 1867 - Maronite nationalist leader Youssef Karam leaves Lebanon on board of a French ship for Algeria

• 1871 - Millions of birds fly over western SF, darkens sky

• 1874 - Jesse James gang robs train at Gads Hill, Missouri

• 1876 - The United States ordered all Native Americans to move into reservations.

• 1891 - The first attempt of a Portuguese republican revolution breakes out in the northern city of Porto.

• 1893 - "Westminster Gazette" begins publishing

• 1893 - The trademark "Coca-Cola" was first registered in the United States Patent Office.  

• 1895 - Jose Martí & others leave NYC for invasion of Spanish Cuba

Statue of Jan Smuts near Parliament in London, United Kingdom

• On this day in 1901 during the Anglo-Boer War, Boer Generals Jan Smuts and Koos de la Rey conquered the Mud River in Transvaal (in present day South Africa). 

• 1901 - Chekhov's "Three Sisters" opens at Moscow Art Theater

1901 - Winnipeg Victorias sweep Montreal Shamrocks in 2 for Stanley Cup

1904 - Bela Bartok's symphony "Kossuth," premieres

1905 - 1st auto to exceed 100 mph (161 kph), A G MacDonald, Daytona Beach

1905 - Carroll Wright appointed 1st US Commissioner of Labor

• 1906 - Strongest instrumentally recorded earthquake, Colombia, 8.6 Richter

Outlaw Jesse JamesOutlaw Jesse James 

• 1911 - Congress names SF as Panama Canal opening celebration site

• 1915 - 1st (German) poison gas attack, against Russians

1916 - Dutch Girl Guides form

1917 - Germany notifies US that U-boats will attack neutral merchant ship

• On this day in 1917, Germany announced that they would renew unrestricted submarine warfare with their U-boats in the Atlantic as German torpedo-armed submarines prepare to attack any and all ships, including neutral merchant ships, civilian passenger carriers, said to be sighted in war-zone waters. Not too much later, Germans sinking the Lusitania got the United States involved in World War I.    When World War I erupted in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson pledged neutrality for the United States, a position that the vast majority of Americans favored. Britain, however, was one of America's closest trading partners and tension soon arose between the United States and Germany over the latter's attempted blockade of the British isles. Several U.S. ships traveling to Britain were damaged or sunk by German mines and, in February 1915, Germany announced unrestricted warfare against all ships, neutral or otherwise, that entered the war zone around Britain. One month later, Germany announced that a German cruiser had sunk the William P. Frye, a private American merchant vessel that was transporting grain to England when it disappeared. President Wilson was outraged, but the German government apologized, calling the attack an unfortunate mistake.    The Germans' most formidable naval weapon was the U-boat, a submarine far more sophisticated than those built by other nations at the time. The typical U-boat was 214 feet long, carried 35 men and 12 torpedoes, and could travel underwater for two hours at a time. In the first few years of World War I, the U-boats took a terrible toll on Allied shipping.    In early May 1915, several New York newspapers published a warning by the German embassy in Washington that Americans traveling on British or Allied ships in war zones did so at their own risk. The announcement was placed on the same page as an advertisement for the imminent sailing of the British-owned Lusitania ocean liner from New York to Liverpool. On May 7, the Lusitania was torpedoed without warning just off the coast of Ireland. Of the 1,959 passengers, 1,198 were killed, including 128 Americans.    The German government maintained that the Lusitania was carrying munitions, but the U.S. demanded reparations and an end to German attacks on unarmed passenger and merchant ships. In August 1915, Germany pledged to see to the safety of passengers before sinking unarmed vessels, but in November sank an Italian liner without warning, killing 272 people, including 27 Americans. Public opinion in the United States began to turn irrevocably against Germany.    At the end of January 1917, Germany, determined to win its war of attrition against the Allies, announced the resumption of unrestricted warfare. Three days later, the United States broke off diplomatic relations with Germany; just hours after that, the American liner Housatonic was sunk by a German U-boat. None of the 25 Americans on board were killed and they were picked up later by a British steamer.    On February 22, Congress passed a $250 million arms-appropriations bill intended to ready the United States for war. Two days later, British authorities gave the U.S. ambassador to Britain a copy of what has become known as the "Zimmermann Note," a coded message from German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmermann to Count Johann von Bernstorff, the German ambassador to Mexico. In the telegram, intercepted and deciphered by British intelligence, Zimmermann stated that, in the event of war with the United States, Mexico should be asked to enter the conflict as a German ally. In return, Germany would promise to restore to Mexico the lost territories of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. On March 1, the U.S. State Department published the note and America was galvanized against Germany once and for all.    In late March, Germany sank four more U.S. merchant ships and, on April 2, President Wilson appeared before Congress and called for a declaration of war against Germany. On April 4, the Senate voted 82 to six to declare war against Germany. Two days later, the House of Representatives endorsed the declaration by a vote of 373 to 50 and America formally entered World War I.

• 1918 - A series of accidental collisions on a misty Scottish night leads to the loss of two Royal Navy submarines with over a hundred lives, and damage to another five British warships.

• 1919 - The Battle of George Square takes place in Glasgow, Scotland.

1920 - 1st Ukrainian daily newspaper in US (NYC) begins publication

1920 - Joe Malone, Quebec Bulldogs, sets NHL record with 7 goals in a game

1920 - Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, at Howard University, incorporates

1925 - Premier Ahmed Zogu becomes president of Angola

1927 - Intl allies military command in Germany disbands

1927 - NL Pres John Heydler rules Rogers Hornsby can't hold stock in the Cardinals & play for the Giants

1928 - Scotch tape 1st marketed by 3-M Company

• 1929 - Erich Maria Remarque publishes "Im Westen nichts Neues" in Berlin

1929 - Leon Trotsky expelled from Russia to Turkey

Russian Revolutionary Leon TrotskyRussian Revolutionary Leon Trotsky 

• 1930 - 1st US glider flight from a dirigible, Lakehurst, NJ

1931 - NHL's Quebec Bulldogs' Joseph Malone scores a record 7 goals

1931 - Philip Barry's "Tomorrow & Tomorrow," premieres in NYC

1932 - US railway unions accept 10% wage reduction

1933 - French government of Daladier takes power

• Just days after taking power as Chancellor, Adolf Hitler promised parliamentary democracy in Germany on this day in 1933.

Statue at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, DC

• In 1934 on this day, American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt devalued the dollar in relation to gold at $35 per ounce.

1936 - "Green Hornet" radio show is 1st heard on WXYZ Radio in Detroit

1940 - 40 U boats sunk this month (111,000 ton)

1940 - C Turney & J Horwin's "My Dear Children," premieres in NYC

1941 - 21 U boats sunk this month (127,000 ton)

• 1941 - Anti-German demonstration in Haarlem Netherlands

1941 - Joe Louis KOs Red Burman in 5 for heavyweight boxing title

1941 - Layforce set sail.

1942 - 62 U boats sunk this month (327,000 ton)

32nd US President Franklin D. Roosevelt32nd US President Franklin D. Roosevelt 1943 - 39 U boats sunk this month (203,100 ton)

Flag of Chile

• 1943 - Chile breaks contact with Germany & Japan

• On this day in 1943 in the Eastern Front during World War II, German General Friedrich von Paul surrendered to the Soviet Red Army at Stalingrad.

• 1944 - Operation-Overlord (D-Day) postponed until June

• 1944 - U-592 sunk off Ireland

• 1944 - US forces invade Kwajalein Atoll

• 1945 - US 4th Infantry division occupies Elcherrath

• 1946 - Yugoslavia adopts new constitution, becomes a federal republic

• 1948 - J D Salinger's "A Perfect Day for Banana Fish" appears in NY

• 1948 - Magnetic tape recorder developed by Wireway

Bust of American President Harry Truman

• On this day in 1950, American President Harry Truman publicly announced the development of the hydrogen bomb.  U.S. President Harry S. Truman publicly announces his decision to support the development of the hydrogen bomb, a weapon theorized to be hundreds of times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Japan during World War II.    Five months earlier, the United States had lost its nuclear supremacy when the Soviet Union successfully detonated an atomic bomb at their test site in Kazakhstan. Then, several weeks after that, British and U.S. intelligence came to the staggering conclusion that German-born Klaus Fuchs, a top-ranking scientist in the U.S. nuclear program, was a spy for the Soviet Union. These two events, and the fact that the Soviets now knew everything that the Americans did about how to build a hydrogen bomb, led Truman to approve massive funding for the superpower race to complete the world's first "superbomb," as he described it in his public announcement on January 31.    On November 1, 1952, the United States successfully detonated "Mike," the world's first hydrogen bomb, on the Elugelab Atoll in the Pacific Marshall Islands. The 10.4-megaton thermonuclear device, built upon the Teller-Ulam principles of staged radiation implosion, instantly vaporized an entire island and left behind a crater more than a mile wide. The incredible explosive force of Mike was also apparent from the sheer magnitude of its mushroom cloud--within 90 seconds the mushroom cloud climbed to 57,000 feet and entered the stratosphere. One minute later, it reached 108,000 feet, eventually stabilizing at a ceiling of 120,000 feet. Half an hour after the test, the mushroom stretched 60 miles across, with the base of the head joining the stem at 45,000 feet.    Three years later, on November 22, 1955, the Soviet Union detonated its first hydrogen bomb on the same principle of radiation implosion. Both superpowers were now in possession of the "hell bomb," as it was known by many Americans, and the world lived under the threat of thermonuclear war for the first time in history.

1952 - Dutch Lutheran Church reunites after 1½ centuries

1952 - Harry Heilmann & Paul Waner elected to Baseball Hall of Fame

33rd US President Harry Truman33rd US President Harry Truman 1953 - "Princess Victoria" capsized off Stanraer Scotland; 133 die

1953 - Hurricane-like winds flood Netherlands drowning 1,835

1953 - NY, Cleveland, & Boston retaliate at Bill Veeck, forcing the Browns to play afternoon games to avoid sharing TV revenues

1955 - RCA demonstrates 1st music synthesizer

1956 - French government of Mollet forms

1956 - Juscelino Kubitschek becomes president of Brazil

1956 - Guy Mollet becomes Prime Minister of France.

1957 - Liz Taylor's 2nd divorce (Michael Wilding)

1957 - Trans-Iranian oil pipe line finished

1957 - Eight people on the ground in Pacoima, California are killed following the mid-air collision between a Douglas DC-7 airliner and a Northrop F-89 Scorpion fighter jet.

1958 - "Jackpot Bowling" premieres on NBC with Leo Durocher as host

1958 - James van Allen discovers radiation belt

1958 - US launches their 1st artificial satellite, Explorer 1

1959 - Joe Cronin signs 7 year pact to become head of AL

1961 - David Ben-Gurion resigns as Prime Minister of Israel

First Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-GurionFirst Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion 1961 - Ham is 1st primate in space (158 miles) aboard Mercury/Redstone 2

1961 - Houston voters approve bond to finance luxury domed stadium

1961 - Kanhai completes twin tons (117 & 115) v Aust at Adelaide

1961 - NATO secretary-general Paul-Henri Spaak says he'll resign

1961 - USAF launches Samos spy satellite to replace U-2 flights

1962 - Gen Charles P Cabell, USAF, ends term as deputy director of CIA

1962 - Samuel Gravely assumes command of destroyer escort "USS Falgout"

1963 - Tony Sheridan & Beat Brothers record "What'd I Say" & "Ruby Baby"

1964 - US report "Smoking & Health" connects smoking to lung cancer

1965 - Pud Galvin elected to baseball Hall of Fame

1966 - Belgian state police kills 2 striking mine workers

1966 - USSR launches Luna 9 towards Moon

1968 - Bobby Simpson takes 5-59 v India in his last Test for ten years

1968 - Nauru (formerly Pleasant Island) declares independence from Australia

1968 - Record high barometric pressure (1083.8 mb, 32"), at Agata, USSR

Singer-songwriter Tony SheridanSinger-songwriter Tony Sheridan 1968 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

• In 1968 on this day, the Viet Cong attacked the U.S. Embassy as a part of the Tet Offensive. Viet Cong soldiers attack the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. A 19-man suicide squad seized the U.S. Embassy and held it for six hours until an assault force of U.S. paratroopers landed by helicopter on the building's roof and routed them.    The offensive was launched on January 30, when communist forces attacked Saigon, Hue, five of six autonomous cities, 36 of 44 provincial capitals, and 64 of 245 district capitals. The timing and magnitude of the attacks caught the South Vietnamese and American forces off guard, but eventually the Allied forces turned the tide. Militarily, the Tet Offensive was a disaster for the communists. By the end of March 1968, they had not achieved any of their objectives and had lost 32,000 soldiers and had 5,800 captured. U.S. forces suffered 3,895 dead; South Vietnamese losses were 4,954; non-U.S. allies lost 214. More than 14,300 South Vietnamese civilians died.    While the offensive was a crushing military defeat for the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese, the early reporting of a smashing communist victory went largely uncorrected in the media and this led to a great psychological victory for the communists. The heavy U.S. casualties incurred during the offensive coupled with the disillusionment over the earlier overly optimistic reports of progress in the war accelerated the growing disenchantment with President Johnson's conduct of the war. Johnson, frustrated with his inability to reach a solution in Vietnam announced on March 31, 1968, that he would neither seek nor accept the nomination of his party for re-election. 

• 1969 - Beatles perform last live gig (42-min concert on roof of Apple HQs)

1969 - Vice Admiral Rufus L Taylor, USN, ends term as deputy director of CIA

1970 - Grateful Dead members busted on LSD charges

1971 - "My Sweet Lord" by George Harrison hit #1 on UK pop chart

• 1971 - Apollo 14 launched, 1st landing in lunar highlands

1971 - Jake Beckley, Joe Kelley, Harry Hooper, Rube Marquard, Chick Hafey

1971 - US female Figure Skating championship won by Janet Lynn

1971 - US male Figure Skating championship won by John Misha Petkevich

1971 - & Dave Bancroft & George Weiss elected to baseball Hall of Fame

1972 - Aretha Franklin sings at Mahalia Jackson's funeral

• 1972 - Birenda, becomes leader of Nepal

• On this day in 1972, a military coup ousted the civilian government of Ghana.

1972 - US launches HEOS A-2 for interplanetary observations (396/244,998)

MacDonalds Entreprenuer Ray KrocMacDonalds Entreprenuer Ray Kroc 1974 - McDonald's founder Ray Kroc buys San Diego Padres

1975 - Barry Manilow's "Mandy" goes gold

 Ran into this image of John Lennon, and just thought it was cool, as well as appropriate for the day, given that Paul McCartney was in town (Syracuse, New York, June 2022). 

• 1975 - John Lennon releases "#9 Dream"

1975 - UCLA wins NCAA basketball championship

1976 - "Love Rollercoaster" by Ohio Players hits #1

1976 - Lance Gibbs becomes highest Test wicket-taker at 308

1976 - 3rd American Music Award: Olivia Newton-John & John Denver win

1977 - Frenchman Francois Claustre freed, after 33 months as hostage in Chad

1977 - Joe Sewell, Amos Rusie, & Al Lopez elected to baseball Hall of Fame

1977 - 4th American Music Award: Olivia Newton-John & Elton John win

1978 - "Elvis: The Legend Lives!" opens at Palace Theater NYC for 101 perfs

1978 - Israel turns 3 milt outposts in West Bank into civilian settlements

1980 - Police storm occupied Spanish embassy in Guatemala City, killing 41

1981 - "The Tide Is High" by Blondie hits #1

1981 - 38th Golden Globes: Ordinary People, Coal Miner's Daughter

Musician and Beatle John LennonMusician and Beatle John Lennon 1981 - Gaetan Boucher skates world record 1000m (1:13.39)

1982 - 10 Arabian oryx (extinct except in zoos) released in Oman

1982 - 12th AFC-NFC pro bowl, AFC wins 16-13

1982 - 32nd NBA All-Star Game: East beats West 120-118 at New Jersey

1982 - Gustafson skates world record 10 km (14:26.59)

1982 - Hollis Stacy wins LPGA Whirlpool Golf Championship of Deer Creek

1982 - NFL Pro Bowl: AFC beats NFC 16-13

1982 - US male Figure Skating championship won by Scott Hamilton

1984 - 36th NHL All-Star Game: Wales beat Campbell 7-6 at NJ

1984 - Edwin Newman retires from NBC News after 35 years with the network

1984 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1985 - "Harrigan 'n Hart" opens at Longacre Theater NYC for 5 performances

Statue of Nelson Mandela in State Parliament Square, London, UK

• On this day in 1985 during the days of apartheid, South African President PW Botha offered to free Nelson Mandela from prison on the condition that he would denounce violence. Mandela refused the gesture.

1986 - Mary Lund of Minn, is 1st female recipient of an artificial heart

1987 - 44th Golden Globes: Platoon, Marlee Matlin win

Deaf Actress Marlee MatlinDeaf Actress Marlee Matlin 1987 - United Steel workers union ratified a concessionary with USX Corp

1988 - Barge sinks near Anacortes, WA, spills 70,000 gallons of oil

🏈🏈🏈🏈

Washington Redskins

• Super Bowl XXII was played on this day in 1988 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego, California. After falling behind 10-0 in the first quarter, the underdog Washington Redskins scored a record 35 unanswered points in the second quarter alone en route to a decisive 42-10 victory over the Denver Broncos. Washington quarterback Doug Williams was named the MVP of the game, and became the first black quarterback ever to win a Super Bowl. 

1990 - 1st McDonalds in Russia opens in Moscow, world's biggest McDonalds

1990 - 1st ever all-sports daily "National" begins publishing

1990 - Jushin "Thunder" Liger beats Naoki Sano to become New Japan IWGP champ

1990 - The first McDonald's in the Soviet Union opens in Moscow, USSR.

1991 - Nugget's Michael Adams becomes shortest NBAer to get a triple-double

1991 - Robert Gibson flies record 27,040 feet altitude

1992 - MTA raised tolls on most NYC bridges from $2.50 to $3.00

1993 - "St Joan" opens at Lyceum Theater NYC for 49 performances

1993 - 81st Australian Mens Tennis: Jim Courier beats S Edberg (62 61 26 75)

🏈🏈🏈🏈

Dallas Cowboys

• Super Bowl XXVII was played on this day in 1993 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. The Dallas Cowboys defeated the Buffalo Bills, 52-17, to complete an incredible turnaround under head coach Jimmy Johnson. They had a record of 1-15 in his first season in 1989. Cowboys Quarterback Troy Aikman won the Super Bowl MVP award..

1994 - Barcelona opera theater "Gran Teatro del Liceo" burns down

1994 - Dow Jones hits a record 3,978.36

42nd US President Bill Clinton42nd US President Bill Clinton 

Bust of Bill Clinton in front of the Arkansas Governor's Mansion in Little Rock

• American President Bill Clinton authorized a $20 billion loan to Mexico to stabilize its economy on this day in 1995.

1998 - 72nd Australian Womens Tennis: Martina Hingis beats C Martinez (63 63)

1998 - STS 89 (Endeavour 12) lands

2000 - Alaska Airlines flight 261 MD-83, experiencing horizontal stabilizer problems, crashes in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Point Mugu, California, killing all 88 persons aboard.

• 2001 - In the Netherlands a Scottish court convicts a Libyan and acquits another for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 which crashed into Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.

• 2003 - The Waterfall rail accident occurs near Waterfall, New South Wales, Australia.

• 2007 - Suspects are arrested in Birmingham in the UK, accused of plotting the kidnap, holding and eventual beheading of a serving Muslim British soldier in Iraq.

• On this day in 2009 in Kenya, at least 113 people were killed and over 200 injured following an oil spillage ignition in Molo, just days after a massive fire at a Nakumatt supermarket in Nairobi killed at least 25 people.

• 2013 - 300 people are injured in a train collision in Pretoria, South Africa

• 2013 - 36 people are killed and 126 are injured in an explosion at Torre Ejecutiva Pemex, Mexico

1606 - Guy Fawkes was executed after being convicted for his role in the "Gunpowder Plot" against the English Parliament and King James I.   1747 - The first clinic specializing in the treatment of venereal diseases was opened at London Dock Hospital.   1858 - The Great Eastern, the five-funnelled steamship designed by Brunel, was launched at Millwall.   1865 - In America, General Robert E. Lee was named general-in-chief of the Confederate armies.   1865 - The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. It was ratified by the necessary number of states on December 6, 1865. The amendment abolished slavery in the United States.   1876 - All Native American Indians were ordered to move into reservations.    1917 - Germany announced its policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.   1929 - The USSR exiled Leon Trotsky. He found asylum in Mexico.   1930 - U.S. Navy Lt. Ralph S. Barnaby became the first glider pilot to have his craft released from a dirigible, a large blimp, at Lakehurst, NJ.   1934 - Jim Londos defeated Joe Savoldi in a one-fall match in Chicago, IL. The crowd of 20,000 was one of the largest crowds to see a wrestling match.   1936 - The radio show "The Green Hornet" debuted.   1940 - The first Social Security check was issued by the U.S. Government.   1944 - During World War II, U.S. forces invaded Kwajalein Atoll and other areas of the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.   1945 - Private Eddie Slovik became the only U.S. soldier since the U.S. Civil War to be executed for desertion.   1946 - A new constitution in Yugoslavia created six constituent republics (Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia) subordinated to a central authority, on the model of the USSR.   1949 - The first TV daytime soap opera was broadcast from NBC's station in Chicago, IL. It was "These Are My Children."  1958 - Explorer I was put into orbit around the earth. It was the first U.S. earth satellite.   1960 - Julie Andrews, Henry Fonda, Rex Harrison and Jackie Gleason, appeared in a two-hour TV special entitled "The Fabulous ’50s".   1971 - Astronauts Alan B. Shepard Jr., Edgar D. Mitchell and Stuart A. Roosa blasted off aboard Apollo 14 on a mission to the moon.   1971 - Telephone service between East and West Berlin was re-established after 19 years.   1982 - Sandy Duncan gave her final performance as "Peter Pan" in Los Angeles, CA. She completed 956 performances without missing a show.   1983 - The wearing of seat belts in cars became compulsory in Britain.   1983 - JCPenney announced plans to spend in excess of $1 billion over the next five years to modernize stores and to accelerate a repositioning program.   1985 - The final Jeep rolled off the assembly line at the AMC plant in Toledo, OH.   1990 - McDonald's Corp. opened its first fast-food restaurant in Moscow, Russia.   1995 - U.S. President Clinton invoked presidential emergency authority to provide a $20 billion loan to Mexico to stabilize its economy.   1996 - In Columbo, Sri Lanka, a truck was rammed into the gates of the Central Bank. The truck filled with explosives killed at least 86 and injured 1,400.   2000 - John Rocker (Atlanta Braves) was suspended from major league baseball for disparaging foreigners, homosexuals and minorities in an interview published by Sports Illustrated.   2000 - An Alaska Airlines jet crashed into the ocean off Southern California. All 88 people on board were killed.   2001 - A Scottish court in the Netherlands convicted one Libyan and acquitted a second in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, that occurred in 1988.   2005 - Keanu Reeves received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1606 Guy Fawkes, a co-conspirator in the Gunpowder Plot, was executed. 1865 Robert E. Lee was appointed commander-in-chief of the Confederate forces. 1865 The House of Representatives approved the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished slavery in the United States. 1940 The first social security check was issued to Ida Fuller for $22.54. 1958 The first U.S. earth satellite, Explorer I, was launched. 1990 The first McDonald's opened in Russia.

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/jan31.htm

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

http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory