Okay, so I have definitely voiced my opinion advocating stronger gun control laws. That does not mean that I want President Obama, or the government in general, actively going around, taking guns away from people. But background checks and other measures to make sure that guns do not wind up in the hands of people that could and probably should raise red flags seems sensible and obvious to me.
But that said, I want to hear both sides of an argument.
So, in fairness, here is the link to an article about a Harvard study that suggests, actually, that there is no evidence that more guns leads to more gun deaths.
"Harvard: More Guns Doesn’t Mean More Deaths posted by M Caulfield September 24, 2013
http://www.exposingthetruth.co/guns-deaths/#axzz2gGoVIBfJ
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Remembering Pearl Jam On This Date at Randall's Island in 1996 and Fleet Center in Boston, 2004
Every year on this day, I remember one of the concerts that I was, and still feel, very grateful for having attended. That would be seeing Pearl Jam at Randall's Island (Downing Stadium) in 1996. Being a big Pearl Jam fan at a time when they really had done very few shows in the New York area, there had been few opportunities to see them. I had gone to some lengths in trying, which I went into some more detail with in the following blog entry, which was originally published last year, and which documented my experiences regarding that concert, which was part of the 1996 tour supporting No Code.
From that point onwards, I always associated September 29th with that Pearl Jam concert. Ironically, this was reinforced even more when I saw Pearl Jam yet again on this date, this time in Boston, in support of the "Vote for Change" tour against George W. Bush.
That, too, was an amazing show! Pearl Jam fans like myself often follow the setlist that the band performed for concerts, and hope to see some rarities. Currently, there are still some songs that I never actually got to see them perform live, including "Hunger Strike" and "Garden". It always seemed that they would play one, or both, either the concert before, or the concert after, the one, or ones, that I went to. Always kept missing them.
But on that day, I was truly blessed! They performed a lot of great tunes, and just had an awesome setlist! The most memorable song (for me) was "I Have a Feeling", a cover of the Beatles. It was one of the songs from their early days, and they had not performed it in years. That felt like a thrill!
There were other songs that I had never seen them perform that day, as well. "The New World" was one of them, as well as "Man of the Hour", which I think was a first for me by then. "American in Me" as well. At the time, I was especially thrilled also to hear them perform "Alone". It was a song that had seemed a relative rarity for a while during their setlists, but which they have begun to play more frequently since. Also, Eddie had come out for a solo acoustic piece, singing "The Patriot in Me".
That really was an awesome night, as well! I would see them in Reading a few nights later (again, I was a fanatic), and I remember being thrilled with them performing "Masters of War" (cover of Bob Dylan), which also had seemed like a rarity, and a real surprise with a cover of the Dead Kennedy's "Bleed for Me". That was incredible and unexpected, and the DK had always been among my favorite punk bands! That entire tout was just a great time to see them, not least of all becaused it was in support of a good (if ultimately unsuccessful) cause: getting the worst President in American history out of the White House!
Still, the most memorable concert of Pearl Jam that I went to would probably still remain the Randall's Island show. There was just something incredible about that first ever time seeing them. It is also probably has the distinction for me, personally, as the only date on the calendar that I immediately associate with a concert that I went to, although perhaps now, December 12th may come close. Then again, that concert, which was huge news at the time, was quickly overshadowed by the tragic events at Sandy Hook Elementary School that transpired maybe 36 hours after the end of the concert.
In any case, here is the blog entry that I wrote one year ago on this day, as a tribute to that concert and my memories of it:
So, I went off on yesterday's blog in a torrent of criticism for what passes for the standard bearer of patriotism here in the United States far too often, which is a prejudices and narrow minded assumption of superiority over the rest of the world. I wanted to tone it down a bit today, and talk about another "greatest" label that perhaps actually can apply: concerts.
You see, the term "greatest" perhaps can be fairly applied to certain things. I'm thinking of sports, for example, because there, the goal is clearly defined: to win. Generally speaking, in sports, you are remembered (or not) based upon the measurable standard of whether you actually won or not. The more you win, the greater you tend to be, especially when it comes to championships. The more championships, or the more dominant you are in campaigns for individual championships, and the more applicable the term "greatest" becomes. To my mind's eye, for example, the 1985 Chicago Bears were the greatest and most dominant sports franchise that I have ever seen, from beginning to end, because they basically started out dominating the season, and ended up possibly even more dominant than ever, blowing out and shutting out consecutive playoff opponents to get to the Super Bowl, where they beat the New England Patriots, 46-10. They accomplished more memorable things in that season than any other sports franchise that I have seen, and so they stand out as "the greatest" team, as such.
Now, it can also apply to other things as well, although again, these become more subjective. When I was growing up as a child of the eighties, it seemed to me that the two preceding generations had been through a lot. I heard a lot from my grandparents generation about World War II and those times, perhaps including the Great Depression that happened just before that war. The events were so monumental, so enormous and had such an huge impact on the world that these events changed, that it seemed almost unfathomable. They seemed almost on a mythological level.
As for my parents generation, they lived in different times, but still quite fascinating. They were young adults during that epic and divisive time, and much like World War II, the huge events that defined those times also seemed to almost inherit a mythical kind of quality to them. There was the Kennedy assassination, which was seen as essentially ending an era (I have heard the often rather cliche sounding "end of innocence" label applied to that fateful day). The Civil Rights movement was gaining steam, and would soon see the dismantling of the legal segregation system then dominant in the South, known as Jim Crow. Soon afterwards, there came the Vietnam War, and then the protests, the music, and all of that experimentation that challenged the traditional conformity that the nation had known and largely abided by up to that point. Things were different than they had ever been. There were monumental events in the late sixties, which saw the so-called "summer of love", the Tet Offensive in Vietnam and the swelling unpopularity and active disapproval of the war there, man walking on the moon, and then, finally, the legendary concert on a New York state farm field.
I was a bit envious of the "greatness" of the times for both of those generations, and just how memorable those things seemed to me. Admittedly, that was mixed with not a small degree of skepticism about just how memorable events in my own times, my own life, would be.
Now, I know that last weekend, there was a concert out in Las Vegas that people have been calling "the greatest" concert ever. A few years back, I entertained the notion of spending a small fortune to attend a couple of concerts at Madison Square Garden that some other people have called "the greatest" concerts of all times, those being the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame. Those concerts all had incredible lineups, but frankly, they likely will not carry with them the same mythology of what seems to me to actually have some legitimacy when we discuss "the greatest" concert of all time: Woodstock. Woodstock just took it to another level. The creativity, not just restricted to the music on stage, was just unparalleled. Say what you want about the drug culture, but there really was some genius present on those three days of peace, love and music in the summer of '69. So much is this the case, in fact, that it is still remembered today. Not surprisingly, it also has taken on almost legendary, mythological status. I myself was thrilled to have attended a concert some years ago (Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band) that was played at the Bethwoods venue, right next to the field where that legendary concert took place. There is a museum, which I did not actually visit, but just seeing the field that you see in the background of documentaries and pictures on the albums and such was a thrill. That, to me, far transcends some concert in superficially sparkling and showy Las Vegas, where each group was allocated about half an hour or so, to my understanding. That concert last weekend might have been really cool, but let's be honest: it was no Woodstock.
I have seen a lot of concerts in my own time, of course. It's approaching two hundred since 1992, when my brother and I went to see Metallica and Guns 'n Roses, with Faith No More as the opening act, at Giants Stadium in the summer of 1992. That concert was intense, particularly Metallica's set. It was so loud, so long, so energetic, and it left a lasting impression. It was quite memorable. More recently, there have been other concerts that were quite memorable, as well. Seeing Pink Floyd at Yankees Stadium in 1994. Seeing the Vote for Change Finale in 2004, with incredible acts like Pearl Jam, REM, the Dave Matthews Band, John Fogerty, John Mellencamp, Jackson Brown, James Taylor, the Dixie Chicks, and with Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band as the closers. That was incredible. I have seen Paul McCartney give a free concert in Quebec on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of that city. Sir Paul was also involved in another incredible concert memory: joining Ringo Starr on stage a couple of years ago on Ringo's 70th Birthday and playing "Birthday". It was as close to a Beatles reunion, or a Beatles show, that I'll have ever seen, most likely, and as a big Beatles fan (could you guess?), that was very memorable!
I started going to see a lot of concerts particularly starting in1992, and especially gaining momentum in 1994. But at that point, there was one major act that I really wanted to see, probably more than all others, but which it sometimes felt I would never see: Pearl Jam. The thing about Pearl Jam was that, at the time, they were phenomenally popular, probably at the height of their power, if you will. Granted, much of that was the cult of personality surrounding lead vocalist Eddie Vedder. He was the iconic leader of the group, if you will. The type of guy that, as cliche as this sounds, women wanted to be with, and me wanted to be. They had an incredible, raw energy to them in those days. They have retained some of that over the years, but at that time, it was their defining trait. Their music was intense, and charged with powerful and meaningful lyrics, with more than a touch of poetry to them. They really were a band that seemed almost to offer at least a little something to everyone. I desperately wanted to see them, and felt, on many levels, that no matter how many concerts and acts I saw, it would not be or feel complete or impressive until I saw Pearl Jam.
But they rarely ever toured, and never seemed to come to my area, the New York greater metropolitan area, at the time. True, they came around for several shows in their earliest days in the early nineties, playing some very memorable, even legendary shows, at places like the Limelight, but I really started getting into Pearl jam early in 1993, and by then, they were becoming a rare act to see in New York. They had actually come in the area and done a show at the Paramount, in Madison Square Garden (but not outright MSG), and I had desperately tried to get tickets, but was unsuccessful. I waited outside on the side of a road in New York City with a group of equally determined friends to try and get stand by tickets to Saturday Night Live, and actually managed to get one of these tickets. But there was literally not one opening that night, and so all stand by tickets were sent home. I even tried to see them at the Boston Gardens, and came somewhat close, but no cigar. I collected bootlegs of their shows by then, and that 1994 tour still looms large in my memory, although the pleasure of actually going to one of those shows was not mine.
Eventually, however, the opportunity did come. I was friends with someone who had a penchant for obtaining rare tickets, and he managed to get tickets to one of the two Randall's Island shows that the band scheduled for September of 1996, to support their latest album, No Code. This came around a month after the release of that album, which I remember having gotten while on a trip to Chicago, in late August. So, knowing that I would finally get to see them, I was incredibly excited. I just couldn't wait to finally see this group in concert.
There were three of us who went to the concert together. We got there early, and I remember kind of just taking in the atmosphere. The Fastbacks finally came out to open the show, and then it was Ben Harper, who I was not familiar with at the time, but was tremendously impressed with. Still, the group that I wanted to see was in the waits, and the excitement grew. It seemed to take forever for them to take the stage, and it was so hot that night, I remember. Maybe it was just because we were all so tightly packed in. There were a lot of people there.
Finally, the lights went out, and I saw candles on the stage that Pearl Jam was about to take. I don't remember having seen candles at a concert before like that, so it seemed like a new touch. The band came on stage, and it was a thrill to see the curls of Vedder's hair, and knowing that they were finally there, that the concert had finally begun.
But the music waited, as Eddie Vedder spoke first. He assured us that while the previous night (they had played Randall's Island the night before, as I understand it, in heavy rain) had been highly charged, tonight, they were going to take it a bit easier. But he had the feeling, he told us, that the music would be better sharper, than it had ever been, and that the concert would be longer, maybe, than any other that they had ever performed.
He was right. It wound up being, at that time, the longest show that the band had ever played (it had since been overtaken, and the longest concert that they have played to date now, to my knowledge, was the third Mansfield show in 2004, when they tried to play mostly all different songs in the three shows combined, and opened that third and final show in the Boston area with an acoustic set prior to their main set).
They opened up with "Sometimes", which is also the opening song of their then new album, No Code. It was a strange choice, I thought. It was followed by an intense version of "Go", and the intensity was on. The crowd was really fired up, and seemed as excited as I was in just seeing the band, finally. The next few songs were also highly charged, despite Vedder's previous prediction. During "Animal", Vedder stopped the song and warned the crowd that people were acting crazy, and given the overly crowded circumstances, he did not want something to happen. He even mentioned that they did not think they could keep playing music if someone was to lose their life at one of their shows, something that a friend of mine mentioned some years later, following the tragic incident at Roskilde during the Pearl Jam set.
In any case, that show indeed was legendary, and just as Vedder had forecast, they did in fact play more sings, and played a longer show, than they had ever done before. Everyone went home satisfied, and that certainly included me. I was flying high for maybe a week or so after, feeling so privileged to have felt like that. Since then, only the shows that I mentioned earlier have really allowed me to feel that way, as far as concerts are concerned. Most recently, it was Ringo's 70th birthday show that made me feel that concert magic. It's a nice feeling, and I remember just feeling so content following that legendary 1996 show. Even the massive traffic jam following the show's end did not bother me. Nothing bothered me after that for a while.
That show was on this date, September 29th, exactly sixteen years ago. I was sure that it would forever be the greatest Pearl Jam show that I would ever see, but I have seen them over twenty times since then. One of the other very memorable shows that I saw of theirs also occurred on this date, back in 2004. It was also part of the Vote for Change tour, about two weeks before that Washington DC finale that I mentioned earlier in this blog. That also had an incredible setlist, and was one of the most intense shows of Pearl Jam's that I had ever seen. Even that was now eight years ago. They were both a long time ago, but, ah, what memories!
Here's a link to Pearl Jam's website with the setlist of this 1996 show (as well as an illustration of the poster from the show, now a real colector's item):
http://pearljam.com/setlists/1011/1996/20122/downing_stadium_randalls_island
And here's a link to the other September 29th show, which I also attended (I was really a Pearl Jam nut!) eight years later in 2004, in Boston's Fleet Center, for the Vote for Change tour, with Death Cab for Cutie as the opener:
http://pearljam.com/setlists/1019/2004/20384/fleet_center
From that point onwards, I always associated September 29th with that Pearl Jam concert. Ironically, this was reinforced even more when I saw Pearl Jam yet again on this date, this time in Boston, in support of the "Vote for Change" tour against George W. Bush.
That, too, was an amazing show! Pearl Jam fans like myself often follow the setlist that the band performed for concerts, and hope to see some rarities. Currently, there are still some songs that I never actually got to see them perform live, including "Hunger Strike" and "Garden". It always seemed that they would play one, or both, either the concert before, or the concert after, the one, or ones, that I went to. Always kept missing them.
But on that day, I was truly blessed! They performed a lot of great tunes, and just had an awesome setlist! The most memorable song (for me) was "I Have a Feeling", a cover of the Beatles. It was one of the songs from their early days, and they had not performed it in years. That felt like a thrill!
There were other songs that I had never seen them perform that day, as well. "The New World" was one of them, as well as "Man of the Hour", which I think was a first for me by then. "American in Me" as well. At the time, I was especially thrilled also to hear them perform "Alone". It was a song that had seemed a relative rarity for a while during their setlists, but which they have begun to play more frequently since. Also, Eddie had come out for a solo acoustic piece, singing "The Patriot in Me".
That really was an awesome night, as well! I would see them in Reading a few nights later (again, I was a fanatic), and I remember being thrilled with them performing "Masters of War" (cover of Bob Dylan), which also had seemed like a rarity, and a real surprise with a cover of the Dead Kennedy's "Bleed for Me". That was incredible and unexpected, and the DK had always been among my favorite punk bands! That entire tout was just a great time to see them, not least of all becaused it was in support of a good (if ultimately unsuccessful) cause: getting the worst President in American history out of the White House!
Still, the most memorable concert of Pearl Jam that I went to would probably still remain the Randall's Island show. There was just something incredible about that first ever time seeing them. It is also probably has the distinction for me, personally, as the only date on the calendar that I immediately associate with a concert that I went to, although perhaps now, December 12th may come close. Then again, that concert, which was huge news at the time, was quickly overshadowed by the tragic events at Sandy Hook Elementary School that transpired maybe 36 hours after the end of the concert.
In any case, here is the blog entry that I wrote one year ago on this day, as a tribute to that concert and my memories of it:
So, I went off on yesterday's blog in a torrent of criticism for what passes for the standard bearer of patriotism here in the United States far too often, which is a prejudices and narrow minded assumption of superiority over the rest of the world. I wanted to tone it down a bit today, and talk about another "greatest" label that perhaps actually can apply: concerts.
You see, the term "greatest" perhaps can be fairly applied to certain things. I'm thinking of sports, for example, because there, the goal is clearly defined: to win. Generally speaking, in sports, you are remembered (or not) based upon the measurable standard of whether you actually won or not. The more you win, the greater you tend to be, especially when it comes to championships. The more championships, or the more dominant you are in campaigns for individual championships, and the more applicable the term "greatest" becomes. To my mind's eye, for example, the 1985 Chicago Bears were the greatest and most dominant sports franchise that I have ever seen, from beginning to end, because they basically started out dominating the season, and ended up possibly even more dominant than ever, blowing out and shutting out consecutive playoff opponents to get to the Super Bowl, where they beat the New England Patriots, 46-10. They accomplished more memorable things in that season than any other sports franchise that I have seen, and so they stand out as "the greatest" team, as such.
Now, it can also apply to other things as well, although again, these become more subjective. When I was growing up as a child of the eighties, it seemed to me that the two preceding generations had been through a lot. I heard a lot from my grandparents generation about World War II and those times, perhaps including the Great Depression that happened just before that war. The events were so monumental, so enormous and had such an huge impact on the world that these events changed, that it seemed almost unfathomable. They seemed almost on a mythological level.
As for my parents generation, they lived in different times, but still quite fascinating. They were young adults during that epic and divisive time, and much like World War II, the huge events that defined those times also seemed to almost inherit a mythical kind of quality to them. There was the Kennedy assassination, which was seen as essentially ending an era (I have heard the often rather cliche sounding "end of innocence" label applied to that fateful day). The Civil Rights movement was gaining steam, and would soon see the dismantling of the legal segregation system then dominant in the South, known as Jim Crow. Soon afterwards, there came the Vietnam War, and then the protests, the music, and all of that experimentation that challenged the traditional conformity that the nation had known and largely abided by up to that point. Things were different than they had ever been. There were monumental events in the late sixties, which saw the so-called "summer of love", the Tet Offensive in Vietnam and the swelling unpopularity and active disapproval of the war there, man walking on the moon, and then, finally, the legendary concert on a New York state farm field.
I was a bit envious of the "greatness" of the times for both of those generations, and just how memorable those things seemed to me. Admittedly, that was mixed with not a small degree of skepticism about just how memorable events in my own times, my own life, would be.
Now, I know that last weekend, there was a concert out in Las Vegas that people have been calling "the greatest" concert ever. A few years back, I entertained the notion of spending a small fortune to attend a couple of concerts at Madison Square Garden that some other people have called "the greatest" concerts of all times, those being the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame. Those concerts all had incredible lineups, but frankly, they likely will not carry with them the same mythology of what seems to me to actually have some legitimacy when we discuss "the greatest" concert of all time: Woodstock. Woodstock just took it to another level. The creativity, not just restricted to the music on stage, was just unparalleled. Say what you want about the drug culture, but there really was some genius present on those three days of peace, love and music in the summer of '69. So much is this the case, in fact, that it is still remembered today. Not surprisingly, it also has taken on almost legendary, mythological status. I myself was thrilled to have attended a concert some years ago (Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band) that was played at the Bethwoods venue, right next to the field where that legendary concert took place. There is a museum, which I did not actually visit, but just seeing the field that you see in the background of documentaries and pictures on the albums and such was a thrill. That, to me, far transcends some concert in superficially sparkling and showy Las Vegas, where each group was allocated about half an hour or so, to my understanding. That concert last weekend might have been really cool, but let's be honest: it was no Woodstock.
I have seen a lot of concerts in my own time, of course. It's approaching two hundred since 1992, when my brother and I went to see Metallica and Guns 'n Roses, with Faith No More as the opening act, at Giants Stadium in the summer of 1992. That concert was intense, particularly Metallica's set. It was so loud, so long, so energetic, and it left a lasting impression. It was quite memorable. More recently, there have been other concerts that were quite memorable, as well. Seeing Pink Floyd at Yankees Stadium in 1994. Seeing the Vote for Change Finale in 2004, with incredible acts like Pearl Jam, REM, the Dave Matthews Band, John Fogerty, John Mellencamp, Jackson Brown, James Taylor, the Dixie Chicks, and with Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band as the closers. That was incredible. I have seen Paul McCartney give a free concert in Quebec on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of that city. Sir Paul was also involved in another incredible concert memory: joining Ringo Starr on stage a couple of years ago on Ringo's 70th Birthday and playing "Birthday". It was as close to a Beatles reunion, or a Beatles show, that I'll have ever seen, most likely, and as a big Beatles fan (could you guess?), that was very memorable!
I started going to see a lot of concerts particularly starting in1992, and especially gaining momentum in 1994. But at that point, there was one major act that I really wanted to see, probably more than all others, but which it sometimes felt I would never see: Pearl Jam. The thing about Pearl Jam was that, at the time, they were phenomenally popular, probably at the height of their power, if you will. Granted, much of that was the cult of personality surrounding lead vocalist Eddie Vedder. He was the iconic leader of the group, if you will. The type of guy that, as cliche as this sounds, women wanted to be with, and me wanted to be. They had an incredible, raw energy to them in those days. They have retained some of that over the years, but at that time, it was their defining trait. Their music was intense, and charged with powerful and meaningful lyrics, with more than a touch of poetry to them. They really were a band that seemed almost to offer at least a little something to everyone. I desperately wanted to see them, and felt, on many levels, that no matter how many concerts and acts I saw, it would not be or feel complete or impressive until I saw Pearl Jam.
But they rarely ever toured, and never seemed to come to my area, the New York greater metropolitan area, at the time. True, they came around for several shows in their earliest days in the early nineties, playing some very memorable, even legendary shows, at places like the Limelight, but I really started getting into Pearl jam early in 1993, and by then, they were becoming a rare act to see in New York. They had actually come in the area and done a show at the Paramount, in Madison Square Garden (but not outright MSG), and I had desperately tried to get tickets, but was unsuccessful. I waited outside on the side of a road in New York City with a group of equally determined friends to try and get stand by tickets to Saturday Night Live, and actually managed to get one of these tickets. But there was literally not one opening that night, and so all stand by tickets were sent home. I even tried to see them at the Boston Gardens, and came somewhat close, but no cigar. I collected bootlegs of their shows by then, and that 1994 tour still looms large in my memory, although the pleasure of actually going to one of those shows was not mine.
Eventually, however, the opportunity did come. I was friends with someone who had a penchant for obtaining rare tickets, and he managed to get tickets to one of the two Randall's Island shows that the band scheduled for September of 1996, to support their latest album, No Code. This came around a month after the release of that album, which I remember having gotten while on a trip to Chicago, in late August. So, knowing that I would finally get to see them, I was incredibly excited. I just couldn't wait to finally see this group in concert.
There were three of us who went to the concert together. We got there early, and I remember kind of just taking in the atmosphere. The Fastbacks finally came out to open the show, and then it was Ben Harper, who I was not familiar with at the time, but was tremendously impressed with. Still, the group that I wanted to see was in the waits, and the excitement grew. It seemed to take forever for them to take the stage, and it was so hot that night, I remember. Maybe it was just because we were all so tightly packed in. There were a lot of people there.
Finally, the lights went out, and I saw candles on the stage that Pearl Jam was about to take. I don't remember having seen candles at a concert before like that, so it seemed like a new touch. The band came on stage, and it was a thrill to see the curls of Vedder's hair, and knowing that they were finally there, that the concert had finally begun.
But the music waited, as Eddie Vedder spoke first. He assured us that while the previous night (they had played Randall's Island the night before, as I understand it, in heavy rain) had been highly charged, tonight, they were going to take it a bit easier. But he had the feeling, he told us, that the music would be better sharper, than it had ever been, and that the concert would be longer, maybe, than any other that they had ever performed.
He was right. It wound up being, at that time, the longest show that the band had ever played (it had since been overtaken, and the longest concert that they have played to date now, to my knowledge, was the third Mansfield show in 2004, when they tried to play mostly all different songs in the three shows combined, and opened that third and final show in the Boston area with an acoustic set prior to their main set).
They opened up with "Sometimes", which is also the opening song of their then new album, No Code. It was a strange choice, I thought. It was followed by an intense version of "Go", and the intensity was on. The crowd was really fired up, and seemed as excited as I was in just seeing the band, finally. The next few songs were also highly charged, despite Vedder's previous prediction. During "Animal", Vedder stopped the song and warned the crowd that people were acting crazy, and given the overly crowded circumstances, he did not want something to happen. He even mentioned that they did not think they could keep playing music if someone was to lose their life at one of their shows, something that a friend of mine mentioned some years later, following the tragic incident at Roskilde during the Pearl Jam set.
In any case, that show indeed was legendary, and just as Vedder had forecast, they did in fact play more sings, and played a longer show, than they had ever done before. Everyone went home satisfied, and that certainly included me. I was flying high for maybe a week or so after, feeling so privileged to have felt like that. Since then, only the shows that I mentioned earlier have really allowed me to feel that way, as far as concerts are concerned. Most recently, it was Ringo's 70th birthday show that made me feel that concert magic. It's a nice feeling, and I remember just feeling so content following that legendary 1996 show. Even the massive traffic jam following the show's end did not bother me. Nothing bothered me after that for a while.
That show was on this date, September 29th, exactly sixteen years ago. I was sure that it would forever be the greatest Pearl Jam show that I would ever see, but I have seen them over twenty times since then. One of the other very memorable shows that I saw of theirs also occurred on this date, back in 2004. It was also part of the Vote for Change tour, about two weeks before that Washington DC finale that I mentioned earlier in this blog. That also had an incredible setlist, and was one of the most intense shows of Pearl Jam's that I had ever seen. Even that was now eight years ago. They were both a long time ago, but, ah, what memories!
Here's a link to Pearl Jam's website with the setlist of this 1996 show (as well as an illustration of the poster from the show, now a real colector's item):
http://pearljam.com/setlists/1011/1996/20122/downing_stadium_randalls_island
And here's a link to the other September 29th show, which I also attended (I was really a Pearl Jam nut!) eight years later in 2004, in Boston's Fleet Center, for the Vote for Change tour, with Death Cab for Cutie as the opener:
http://pearljam.com/setlists/1019/2004/20384/fleet_center
On This Day in History - September 29 Allied Forces Pierce Hindenburg Line, the Last Line of Defense For Germans During World War I
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
Sep 29, 1918: Allied forces break through the Hindenburg Line
On this day in 1918, after a 56-hour-long bombardment, Allied forces breach the so-called Hindenburg Line, the last line of German defenses on the Western Front during World War I.
Built in late 1916, the Hindenburg Line—named by the British for the German commander in chief, Paul von Hindenburg; it was known to the Germans as the Siegfried Line—was a heavily fortified zone running several miles behind the active front between the north coast of France and Verdun, near the border of France and Belgium. By September 1918, the formidable system consisted of six defensive lines, forming a zone some 6,000 yards deep, ribbed with lengths of barbed wire and dotted with concrete emplacements, or firing positions. Though the entire line was heavily fortified, its southern part was most vulnerable to attack, as it included the St. Quentin Canal and was not out of sight from artillery observation by the enemy. Also, the whole system was laid out linearly, as opposed to newer constructions that had adapted to more recent developments in firepower and were built with scattered "strong points" laid out like a checkerboard to enhance the intensity of artillery fire.
The Allies would use these vulnerabilities to their advantage, concentrating all the force built up during their so-called "Hundred Days Offensive"—kicked off on August 8, 1918, with a decisive victory at Amiens, France—against the Hindenburg Line in late September. Australian, British, French and American forces participated in the attack on the line, which began with the marathon bombardment, using 1,637 guns along a 10,000-yard-long front. In the last 24 hours the British artillery fired a record 945,052 shells. After capturing the St. Quentin Canal with a creeping barrage of fire—126 shells for each 500 yards of German trench over an eight-hour period—the Allies were able to successfully breach the Hindenburg Line on September 29.
The offensive was driven ahead by Australian and U.S. troops, who attacked the heavily fortified town of Bellicourt with tank, aircraft and artillery support. After four days of battle, with heavy losses on both sides, the Germans were forced to retreat. With Kaiser Wilhelm II pressured by the military into accepting governmental reform and Germany’s ally, Bulgaria, suing for an armistice by the end of September, the Central Powers were in disarray on the battlefield as well as the home front. The Allies, meanwhile, pressed their advantage on the Western Front throughout the following month, which would, against their predictions, turn out to be the final month of World War I.
Sep 29, 1982: The Tylenol murders
On this day in 1982, a sick 12-year-old girl in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, unwittingly takes an Extra-Strength Tylenol capsule laced with cyanide poison and dies later that day. She would be one of seven people to die suddenly after taking the popular over-the-counter medication, as the so-called Tylenol murders spread fear across America. The victims, all from the Chicago area, ranged in age from 12 to 35 and included three members of the same family. Johnson & Johnson, the maker of Tylenol, launched a massive recall of its product and offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person or people responsible.
Investigators soon determined that the tainted Tylenol capsules hadn't been tampered with at the factories where they were produced. This meant that someone had taken the bottles from store shelves, laced them with poison and then returned them to grocery stores and pharmacies, where the victims later purchased the tampered bottles.
Johnson & Johnson reacted to the crisis swiftly and decisively, launching a massive public relations campaign urging the public not to use Tylenol. The company also ordered a national recall of 264,000 bottles of Tylenol and offered free replacement of the product in safer tablet form. At the time, it was unusual for companies to recall their products.
Before the "Tylenol Terrorist" struck, Tylenol was the nation's leading over-the-counter drug and Johnson & Johnson's bestselling product and some observers speculated that Tylenol would never be able to recover from the disaster. However, within months, Tylenol was back on store shelves with a new safety seal. The recall and re-launch cost Johnson & Johnson over $100 million, but in the end, Johnson & Johnson was praised for its handling of the crisis. Within a year, Tylenol's market share rebounded and its tarnished image was significantly repaired.
The Tylenol murders, which inspired copycat crimes involving other products, were never solved, although various individuals were investigated. However, a positive outcome of the crisis was that it led drug makers to develop tamper-proof packaging, which had been largely nonexistent before the Tylenol Terrorist struck.
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
1789 - A regular army was established by the U.S. War Department with several hundred men. 1829 - The first public appearance by London's re-organized police force was met with jeers from political opponents. The force became known as Scotland Yard. 1902 - David Belasco opened his first Broadway theater. 1930 - Lowell Thomas made his debut on CBS Radio. He was in the radio business for the next 46 years. 1930 - Bing Crosby and Dixie Lee were married. 1940 - The radio quiz show "Double or Nothing" debuted on the Mutual Radio Network. 1943 - U.S. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and Italian Marchal Pietro Badoglio signed an armistice aboard the British ship Nelson. 1946 - "The Adventures of Sam Spade" debuted on CBS Radio. 1951 - The first network football game was televised by CBS-TV in color. The game was between the University of California and the University of Pennsylvania. 1953 - "Make Room for Daddy" premiered on ABC-TV. 1955 - "A View From the Bridge," a play by Arthur Miller, opened in New York at the Coronet Theater. 1957 - The New York Giants played their last game at the Polo Grounds. The next year the Giants were in San Francisco, CA. 1960 - "My Three Sons" debuted on ABC-TV. 1962 - U.S. President John F. Kennedy nationalized the Mississippi National guard in response to city officials defying federal court orders. The orders had been to enroll James Meredith at the University of Mississippi. 1963 - "My Favorite Martian" premiered on CBS-TV. 1963 - "The Judy Garland Show" premiered on CBS-TV. 1967 - The International Monetary Fund reformed monetary systems around the world. 1977 - Eva Shain became the first woman to officiate a heavyweight title boxing match. About 70 million people watched Muhammad Ali defeat Ernie Shavers on NBC-TV. 1982 - In Chicago, IL, seven people died after taking capsules of Extra-Strength Tylenol that had been laced with cyanide. 264,000 bottles were recalled. 1983 - The War Powers Act was used for the first time by the U.S. Congress when they authorized President Reagan to keep U.S. Marines in Lebanon for 18 more months. 1983 - "A Chorus Line" with performance number 3,389 became the longest running show on Broadway. 1984 - Irish officials announced that they had intercepted the Marita Anne carrying seven tons of U.S.-purchased weapons. The weapons were intended for the Irish Republican Army. 1984 - Elizabeth Taylor was voted to be the world's most beautiful woman in a Louis Harris poll. Taylor was at the time in the Betty Ford Clinic overcoming a weight problem. 1986 - Mary Lou Retton announced that she was quitting gymnastics. 1988 - The space shuttle Discovery took off from Cape Canaveral in Florida. It was the first manned space flight since the Challenger disaster. 1990 - "Millie's Book" by First Lady Barbara Bush was the best-selling non-fiction book in the U.S. 1992 - Magic Johnson announced that he was returning to professional basketball. The comeback ended the following November. 1992 - Brazilian lawmakers overwhelmingly voted to impeach President Fernando Collor de Mello. 1993 - Bosnia's parliament voted overwhelmingly to reject an international peace plan unless Bosnian Serbs returned land that had been taken by force. 1994 - The U.S. House voted to end the practice of lobbyist buying meals and entertainment for members of Congress. 1998 - Hasbro announced plans to introduce an action figure of retired U.S. General Colin Powell. 2010 - In China, Canton Tower became operational.
1399 King Richard II became the first English monarch to abdicate his throne. 1829 Sir Robert Peel's police force, the "bobbies," began operations at Scotland Yard. 1895 French chemist Louis Pasteur died. 1978 John Paul I died one month after becoming pope. 1982 Seven people died after taking Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide. This led to the use of safety seals on most consumer products. 1988 The space shuttle Discovery was launched, the first American staffed space flight since the Challenger disaster. 2001 Former South Vietnam president Nguyen Van Thieu died.
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/sep29.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
Sep 29, 1918: Allied forces break through the Hindenburg Line
On this day in 1918, after a 56-hour-long bombardment, Allied forces breach the so-called Hindenburg Line, the last line of German defenses on the Western Front during World War I.
Built in late 1916, the Hindenburg Line—named by the British for the German commander in chief, Paul von Hindenburg; it was known to the Germans as the Siegfried Line—was a heavily fortified zone running several miles behind the active front between the north coast of France and Verdun, near the border of France and Belgium. By September 1918, the formidable system consisted of six defensive lines, forming a zone some 6,000 yards deep, ribbed with lengths of barbed wire and dotted with concrete emplacements, or firing positions. Though the entire line was heavily fortified, its southern part was most vulnerable to attack, as it included the St. Quentin Canal and was not out of sight from artillery observation by the enemy. Also, the whole system was laid out linearly, as opposed to newer constructions that had adapted to more recent developments in firepower and were built with scattered "strong points" laid out like a checkerboard to enhance the intensity of artillery fire.
The Allies would use these vulnerabilities to their advantage, concentrating all the force built up during their so-called "Hundred Days Offensive"—kicked off on August 8, 1918, with a decisive victory at Amiens, France—against the Hindenburg Line in late September. Australian, British, French and American forces participated in the attack on the line, which began with the marathon bombardment, using 1,637 guns along a 10,000-yard-long front. In the last 24 hours the British artillery fired a record 945,052 shells. After capturing the St. Quentin Canal with a creeping barrage of fire—126 shells for each 500 yards of German trench over an eight-hour period—the Allies were able to successfully breach the Hindenburg Line on September 29.
The offensive was driven ahead by Australian and U.S. troops, who attacked the heavily fortified town of Bellicourt with tank, aircraft and artillery support. After four days of battle, with heavy losses on both sides, the Germans were forced to retreat. With Kaiser Wilhelm II pressured by the military into accepting governmental reform and Germany’s ally, Bulgaria, suing for an armistice by the end of September, the Central Powers were in disarray on the battlefield as well as the home front. The Allies, meanwhile, pressed their advantage on the Western Front throughout the following month, which would, against their predictions, turn out to be the final month of World War I.
Sep 29, 1982: The Tylenol murders
On this day in 1982, a sick 12-year-old girl in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, unwittingly takes an Extra-Strength Tylenol capsule laced with cyanide poison and dies later that day. She would be one of seven people to die suddenly after taking the popular over-the-counter medication, as the so-called Tylenol murders spread fear across America. The victims, all from the Chicago area, ranged in age from 12 to 35 and included three members of the same family. Johnson & Johnson, the maker of Tylenol, launched a massive recall of its product and offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person or people responsible.
Investigators soon determined that the tainted Tylenol capsules hadn't been tampered with at the factories where they were produced. This meant that someone had taken the bottles from store shelves, laced them with poison and then returned them to grocery stores and pharmacies, where the victims later purchased the tampered bottles.
Johnson & Johnson reacted to the crisis swiftly and decisively, launching a massive public relations campaign urging the public not to use Tylenol. The company also ordered a national recall of 264,000 bottles of Tylenol and offered free replacement of the product in safer tablet form. At the time, it was unusual for companies to recall their products.
Before the "Tylenol Terrorist" struck, Tylenol was the nation's leading over-the-counter drug and Johnson & Johnson's bestselling product and some observers speculated that Tylenol would never be able to recover from the disaster. However, within months, Tylenol was back on store shelves with a new safety seal. The recall and re-launch cost Johnson & Johnson over $100 million, but in the end, Johnson & Johnson was praised for its handling of the crisis. Within a year, Tylenol's market share rebounded and its tarnished image was significantly repaired.
The Tylenol murders, which inspired copycat crimes involving other products, were never solved, although various individuals were investigated. However, a positive outcome of the crisis was that it led drug makers to develop tamper-proof packaging, which had been largely nonexistent before the Tylenol Terrorist struck.
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
522 BC - Darius I of Persia kills the Magian usurper
Gaumâta, securing his hold as king of the Persian Empire.
480 BC - Battle of Salamis: The Greek fleet under
Themistocles defeats the Persian fleet under Xerxes I.
61 BC - Pompey the Great celebrates his third triumph for
victories over the pirates and the end of the Mithridatic Wars on his 45th
birthday.
219 - Batavian soldiers consecrate altar on Hercules
Magusanus Rome
235 - St Pontianus ends his reign as Catholic Pope
440 - Pope Leo I the Great, installed
855 - Benedict III begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1187 - Saladins army marches into Jerusalem
1227 - Pope Gregory IX excommunicate German emperor Frederik
II
1349 - People of Krems Austria accuse Jews of poisoning
wells
1364 - Battle of Auray, English forces defeat French at
Brittany
1521 - Turkish troops occupy Belgrade
1564 - Robert Dudley becomes earl of Leicester
1567 - War of Religion breaks out in France - Huguenots try
to kidnap king Charles IX
1567 - At a dinner, the Duke of Alba arrests the Count of
Egmont and the Count of Hoorn for treason.
1608 - Captain Newport arrives from England with supplies
for colonists
1650 - 2nd Fronde-uprising ends
1650 - Henry Robinson opens 1st marriage bureau (England)
1678 - France & Brandenburg signs peace treaty
Roman Military and Political Leader Pompey the GreatRoman
Military and Political Leader Pompey the Great 1785 - Chasidic sect is
excommunicated in Cracow Poland
1789 - 1st congress adjourns
1789 - US War Dept established a regular army
1793 - Tennis is 1st mentioned in an English sporting
magazine
1815 - King Willem I forms Order of Dutch Lion
1829 - London's Metropolitan Police Force goes on duty
(Scotland Yard)
1848 - Battle of Pákozd: Hungarian forces defeat Croats at
Pákozd; the first battle of the War of Independence.
1849 - 1st passenger train service to Peekskill NY (New
Haven Railroad)
1853 - Emigrant ship "Annie Jane" sinks off
Scotland, drowning 348
1859 - Great auroral display in US
1863 - Opera "Pescatori di Perle" is produced
(Paris)
1864 - Battle of Battle of Chaffin's Farm & New Market
Heights VA
1872 - "3 Fingers" Mackenzie destroys
Kwahadi-Commanche village
1872 - Kiowa-chief Lone Wolf captures Satanta & Big Tree
1875 - US-Spanish relations decline in wake of Cuban
rebellion
1879 - NL owners meeting in Buffalo adopt reserve clause,
giving each team exclusive rights to their players
1885 - The first practical public electric tramway in the
world is opened in Blackpool, England.
1890 - 1st pro baseball game, NY Metropolitans beat
Washington Nationals 4-2 in 5 innings at Polo Grounds in NYC
1892 - 1st night football game played (Mansfield, Penn)
1898 - French troops reach Guinea & Sudan, Samori caught
1902 - Impresario David Belasco opens his 1st Broadway
theater
1904 - 1st monument honoring Spanish American War erected
(Monroeville Ohio)
1906 - US intervenes in Cuba ousts dictator Estrada Palma
1907 - Construction begins on Washington National Cathedral
1908 - Calgary Rugby Football Union forms
1911 - Gun magazine of French battleship Liberte explode
1911 - Italy declares war on Turkey, starting the
Italo-Turkish War
1911 - Yanks steal 15 bases & get 13 walks, beating
Browns 16-12; with a major-league record 6 stolen bases in 1 inning
1911 - Italy declares war on the Ottoman Empire.
1912 - French/British troops lands on Samoa
1913 - Sam S Shubert Theater opens at 225 W 44th St NYC
1913 - Wash Senator Walter Johnson wins his 36th game
1914 - Boston Braves, who were in last place in mid-July,
clinch NL pennant
1915 - 1st transcontinental radio telephone message is sent
1915 - British army conquerors Chilly al Imara, Mesopotamia
1915 - Dutch Opera's 1st performance
1915 - Herbert/Blossoms musical "Princess Pat,"
premieres in NYC
1915 - Hurricane claims 275 in Mississippi Delta
1915 - Philadelphia Phillies clinch their 1st pennant
Oil Industrialist John D. RockefellerOil Industrialist John
D. Rockefeller 1916 - John D Rockefeller becomes the first billionaire.
1918 - Allied forces scored a decisive breakthrough of
Hindenburg Line
1920 - Babe Ruth sets then home run season record at 54
1920 - Belgium annexes Eupen/Malmö dy
1920 - Joseph Horne Company in Pittsburgh sells radios for
$10
1921 - Pirates drop doubleheader to Cards to allow idle
Giants to clinch NL
1922 - Benito Mussolini ask Vatican for support of fascist
party program
1923 - 6th PGA Championship: Gene Sarazen at Pelham CC
Pelham NY
1923 - Steinhart Aquarium in Golden Gate Park opens to
public
1924 - Santo Domingo joins League of Nations
1924 - Senators clinch pennant, finishing 2 games in front
of Yankees
1925 - French Gen of Morocco, marshal Lyautey, is dismissed
1925 - Greek republican constitution enforced
1926 - Norma Shearer wed Irving Thalberg
1927 - Babe Ruth ties record by hitting grand slams in
consecutive games
Baseball Great Babe RuthBaseball Great Babe Ruth 1927 -
Telephone service begins between US & Mexico
1927 - Tornado strikes St Louis Missouri, 85 die
1928 - Cardinals win NL pennant with a 3-1 win at Boston
1928 - Yanks (17) Tigers (28) set 9 inning hit record
(45)-Tigers win 19-10
1930 - 1st Canadian football game played under lights,
Hamilton-UBC
1930 - Boquerón battle ends Paraguay border dispute
1930 - Lowell Thomas made debuts on CBS Radio replacing
Floyd Gibbons
1930 - NYC College offers 1st course in radio advertising
1932 - "Bill of Divorcement" premieres at the
Mayfair
1933 - Little King, Cartoon Character, by Von Beuren, debut
1935 - 5th Ryder Cup: US wins, 9-3 at Ridgewood Country Club
(Ridgewood, New Jersey, US)
1936 - Radio used for 1st time for a presidential campaign
1937 - Frans Slaats bicycles world record time (45,563 km)
1938 - 1st archival course is offered at Columbia University
in NYC
1938 - Treaty of Munich signed by Hitler, Benito Mussolini,
Daladier & Chamberlain
Dictator of Nazi Germany Adolf HitlerDictator of Nazi
Germany Adolf Hitler 1940 - "Double or Nothing," a radio quiz show,
1st heard on Mutual Radio Net
1940 - "Strike Up Band," opens
1940 - 1st US merchant ship "Booker T. Washington"
commanded by a black captain (Hugh Mulzac), launched at Wilmington Delaware
1941 - Joe Louis TKOs Lou Nova in 6 for heavyweight boxing
title
1941 - Million jam downtown Brooklyn to cheer NL champ
Dodgers in a parade
1941 - Nazi mass murder at Babi Jar, Soviet Union
1942 - 32°F lowest temperature ever recorded in Cleveland in
Sept
1942 - Government of De Gaulle cancels agreement of Munich
1943 - 1st Silbertanne-murder by German occupiers in Meppel
1943 - Eisenhower & Italian Marshal Pietro Badoglio sign
an armistice
1943 - German riots at Amsterdam Jews
1943 - Zjadovs 5th Gardeleger/Managarovs 53rd Army reconquer
Kremenchug
1944 - Browns last in AL attendance,only 6,172 watch them
sweep Yanks in DH
1944 - Soviet troops invade Yugoslavia
1945 - Cubs clinch NL pennant
1946 - "Adventures of Sam Spade" debuts on CBS
Radio
1946 - 1st time NL pennant ends in a tie (Cards &
Dodgers)
1946 - Al Couture knockouts Ralph Walton in Lewiston Maine
in 10 secs
1946 - Los Angeles (previously Cleveland) Rams play 1st NFL
game in LA
1946 - NPS, Nationale Party Suriname, forms
1947 - Dizzy Gillespie presented his 1st Carnegie Hall
concert in NY
1947 - Former Yank manager Joe McCarthy signs to manage Red
Sox
1947 - Record World Series crowd of 73,365 at Yankee Stadium
($325,828)
1948 - Laurence Olivier's "Hamlet" opens at Park
Avenue Cinema
1948 - WBAP (now KXAS) TV channel 5 in Fort Worth-Dallas, TX
(NBC) begins
1948 - WSB TV channel 2 in Atlanta, GA (ABC) begins
broadcasting
1949 - "Front Page," debuts on CBS-TV
1949 - "Inside USA With Chevrolet," debuts on
CBS-TV
1949 - Elia Kazan's "Pinky" starring Ethel Waters
opens at Rivoli
1950 - "Tin Pan Alley TV," last airs on ABC-TV
1950 - Telephone Answering Machine created by Bell
Laboratories
1950 - Yanks clinch 2nd consecutive pennant under Casey
Stengel
1951 - 1st color telecast of football game on network, Phila
(CBS)
1951 - Emile Zatopek runs world record 20,000 m & 10
mile
1951 - S B Nicholson discovers 12th satellite of Jupiter
1952 - "Lights Out," last airs on NBC-TV
1952 - Stan Musial makes his only major league pitching
appearance
1953 - "Buick-Berle Show," debuts on NBC-TV
1953 - "Make Room for Daddy," starring Danny
Thomas, premieres on ABC-TV
1953 - 1st dept store to sell insurance is Carson Pirie
Scott in Chicago Ill
1953 - Balt Mayor D'Alesandro buys Veeck's interest in
Browns for $2,475,000
1953 - Milton Berle Show premieres
1953 - US government gives France $385 million for combat in
Indo-China
1954 - "Barefoot Contessa" starring Ava Gardner
premieres at the Capitol
1954 - "Masquerade Party," TV game Show; moves to
ABC
Actress Judy GarlandActress Judy Garland 1954 - "Star
is Born" starring Judy Garland & James Mason premieres
1954 - Bennekom soccer team forms in Bennekom
1954 - KALB TV channel 5 in Alexandria, LA (NBC/ABC) begins
broadcasting
1954 - Willie Mays famous over-the-shoulder catch of Vic
Wertz' 460' drive
1955 - "Sergeant Preston," debuts on CBS
1955 - Ali Sastroamidjojo's PNI wins elections in Indonesia
1955 - Arthur Millers "View From The Bridge,"
premieres in NYC
1956 - "I Love Mickey" by Mickey Mantle &
Teresa Brewer peaks at #87
1956 - "Oh! Susanna," debuts on CBS-TV
1956 - Yanks Mickey Mantle hits his 52nd HR of season
1957 - "DuPont Show of the Month," debuts on
CBS-TV
1957 - "Paul Winchell Show," debuts on ABC-TV
1957 - 300 die as express train hits stalled train
(Montgomery W Pakistan)
1957 - Buddy Holly & Crickets released 2nd single
"Oh Boy!"/"Not Fade Away"
1957 - NY Giants play & lose their last game at Polo
Grounds (9-1 to Pitts)
Singer Buddy HollySinger Buddy Holly 1957 - Passenger train
& oil train crash in Gambar West Pakistan, 300 die
1958 - "Studio One," TV Anthology Drama last airs
on CBS-TV
1958 - "Summertime Blues" by Eddie Cochran peaks
at #8
1958 - "Texan," debuts on CBS-TV
1958 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1959 - "Many Loves Of Dobie Gillis," debuts on
CBS-TV
1959 - "Philip Marlowe," debuts on ABC-TV
1959 - Dodgers win game 2 of playoff, 6-5, & take NL
pennant
1959 - Little Anthony & the Imperials record
"Shimmy Shimmy Koko Bop"
1959 - Sultan of Brunei promulgates a constitution
1960 - "Johnny Ringo," TV Western Drama; last airs
on CBS-TV
1960 - "My Three Sons" starring Fred MacMurray,
debuts on ABC-TV
1960 - "Outlaws," TV Western Drama; debuts on
NBC-TV
1960 - "Tell Laura I Love Her" by Ricky Valance
peaks at #1 in UK
1960 - "lrma La Douce" opens at Plymouth Theater
NYC for 527 performances
1961 - "Detectives," TV Crime Drama; moves to
NBC-TV
Singer-Songwriter Bob DylanSinger-Songwriter Bob Dylan 1961
- Bob Dylan's 1st recording session-backup harmonica for Caroline Hester
1961 - Mamum Kuzbari becomes premier of Syria
1962 - "Alley Cat" by Bent Fabric & His Piano
peaks at #7
1962 - "Green Onions" by Booker T & MG's peaks
at #3
1962 - "My Fair Lady" closes at Mark Hellinger
Theater NYC after 2,715 perfs
1962 - "Roy Rogers & Dale Evans Show," debuts
on ABC-TV
1962 - "You Can't Judge A Book By Cover" by Bo
Diddley peaks at #48
1962 - Algerian government of Ben Bella forms
1962 - Indians & Angels set AL record of 40 strikeouts
in a doubleheader
1962 - JFK authorized use of federal troops to integrate U
of Mississippi
1962 - Launch of Alouette 1, 1st Canadian satellite (on US
Delta rocket)
1962 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1963 - "Judy Garland Show," debuts on CBS-TV
1963 - "My Favorite Martian," starring Ray
Walston, debuts on CBS-TV
1963 - 2nd session of Ecumenical council, `Vatican II,'
opens in Rome
US President John F. KennedyUS President John F. Kennedy
1963 - Card's Stan Musial's final game, gets his 3,629th & 3,630th hit
1963 - Houston Colt .45 John Paciorek goes 3 for 3 in his
only game
1963 - Mickey Wright wins LPGA Mickey Wright Golf Invitational
1963 - Pope Paul opens 2nd sitting of 2nd Vatican council
1963 - Rolling Stones 1st tour (opening act for Bo Diddley
& Everly Bros)
1963 - Stan Musial Day in St Louis
1964 - Greece & Bulgaria close boundaries
1965 - Ralph Boston of US, sets then long jump record at 27'
4 3/4"
1965 - St L Cards Charlie Johnson passes for 6 touchdowns vs
Cleve (49-13)
1965 - WLVT TV channel 39 in Allentown, PA (PBS) begins
broadcasting
1965 - Phillies catcher Pat Corrales sets record by reaching
base twice on catcher's interference in one game & 6 times in one season
1966 - Bechuanaland gains independence from England, becomes
Botswana
1966 - Sandy Koufax pitches 3rd 300-strikeout season
1966 - The Chevrolet Camaro, originally named Panther, is
introduced.
1967 - -Oct 29] Rome: 1st bishop synod
1967 - Gladys Knight & Pips releases "I Heard it
Through the Grapevine"
1967 - Intl Monetary Fund reforms world monetary system
1967 - Mickey Hart joins the Grateful Dead & plays the
Straightater
1968 - Betsy Rawls wins LPGA Mickey Wright Golf Invitational
1968 - Carl Yastrzemski .3005 avg wins his 2nd straight
batting crown
1968 - Chuck Latourette, sets NFL record 47.7 yd punt return
avg (3 punts)
1969 - "Bright Promise," TV Daytime Soap; debuts
on NBC-TV
1969 - "Letters To Laugh-In," debuts on NBC-TV
1969 - "Love American Style," premieres on ABC-TV
1969 - "Name Droppers," debuts on NBC-TV
1969 - "Sale Of Century," debuts on NBC-TV
1969 - 7th Mayor's Trophy Game, Mets beat Yanks 7-6
1969 - China PR performs nuclear test at Lop Nor PRC
1969 - Jackie DeShannon gets Gold Record for "Put
Little Love in Your Heart"
1969 - Red Sox Rico Petrocelli hits shortstop record 40th HR
of season
1969 - Steve O'Neal of NY Jets, kicks longest NFL punt; 98
yards vs Denver
1970 - "NET Festival," last aired
1971 - "McMillan & Wife," debuts on NBC-TV
1971 - Cyclone & tidal wave off Bay of Bengal kills as
many as 10,000
1971 - Orbiting Solar Observatory VII launched
1971 - Ron Hunt is hit by a pitch for record 50th time in a
season
1971 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1972 - Japan & People's Republic of China begin
diplomatic relations
1973 - "Jimmy Loves Mary-Anne" by Looking Glass
peaks at #33
1973 - "We're An American Band" by Grand Funk
peaks at #1
1973 - Balt Orioles pull their 5th triple play (5-4-3 vs
Detroit)
1973 - Insurance ind announces auto racers get into more
highway accidents
1973 - Soyuz 12 returns to Earth
1974 - 4th NYC Women's Marathon won by Katherine Switzer in
3:07:29
1974 - 5th NYC Marathon won by Norbert Sander in 2:26:30
1974 - Joanne Carner wins LPGA Portland Ladies Golf Classic
1975 - "Three For Money," debuts on NBC-TV
1975 - Jackie Wilson, slips into an irreversible coma; he
dies in 1984
1975 - USSR performs underground nuclear test
1975 - WGPR-TV Detroit, 1st Black-owned station in US, began
broadcasting
1975 - Sharon Dahlonega Raiford Bush becomes American
television's first African-American weathercaster.
1976 - "Alice," debuts on CBS-TV
1976 - 2nd Chamber recognizes Dutch Liberals/social
democratic abortion law
1976 - Boy George expelled from school
1976 - SF Giant John Montefusco no-hits Atlanta Braves, 9-0
1976 - Syria drives Palestinian guerrillas out of Lebanon
1976 - Tommy Lasorda replaces Walter Alston as Dodger
manager
1976 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
Country Singer Jerry Lee LewisCountry Singer Jerry Lee Lewis
1976 - Jerry Lee Lewis, attempting to shoot soda bottles hits his bass player
Norman Owens twice in the chest
1977 - "Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band," by Meco
hits #1
1977 - Eva Shain is 1st woman to referee a heavyweight
championship
1977 - James Brown's band walks out claiming they were
underpaid & overworked
1977 - Muhammad Ali beats Earnie Shavers in 15 for
heavyweight boxing title
1977 - Peter Schats circus opera "Houdini,"
premieres in Amsterdam
1977 - Soviet space station Salyut 6 launched into Earth
orbit
1978 - "Flying High," debuts on CBS
1978 - "For Richer, For Poorer," TV Daytime Soap;
last airs on NBC-TV
1979 - "Ain't That A Shame" by Cheap Trick peaks
at #35
1979 - "Bad Case Of Loving You" by Robert Palmer
peaks at #14
1979 - "Boom Boom (Out Go Lights)" by Pat Travers
peaks at #56
1979 - "Born To Be Alive" by Patrick Hernandez
peaks at #16
1979 - "Cruel To Be Kind" by Nick Lowe peaks at
#12
1979 - "Different Worlds" by Maureen McGovern
peaks at #18
Singer Maureen McGovernSinger Maureen McGovern 1979 -
"Driver's Seat" by Sniff 'n' the Tears peaks at #15
1979 - "Girls Talk" by Dave Edmunds peaks at #65
1979 - "Lonesome Loser" by Little River Band peaks
at #6
1979 - "Message In A Bottle" by Police peaks at #1
in UK
1979 - "What Cha Gonna Do With My Lovin'" by
Stephanie Mills peaks at #22
1979 - Astros' J R Richard strikes out NL season righty
record of 313
1979 - Gold hits record $400.20 an ounce in Hong Kong
1979 - John Huston's "Wine Blood" premieres at NY
Film Festival
1979 - LA Dodger Manny Mota hits record 146th pinch hit
1979 - Pope John Paul II becomes 1st pope to visit Ireland
1980 - Malcolm McDowell wed Mary Steenburgen
1982 - 1st broadcast of "Cheers" on NBC-TV
1982 - Cyanide laced Tylenol capsules kills 7 in Chicago
1982 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1983 - "A Chorus Line" 3,389 performance to become
longest running Bdwy show
264th Pope John Paul II264th Pope John Paul II 1983 - 1st
time Congress invokes War Powers Act
1983 - Airport of Beirut reopens
1983 - Congress authorized President Reagan to keep 1,600 US
Marines in Lebanon
1983 - Oakland A's Mike Warren no-hits Chicago White Sox,
3-0
1984 - "(What) In Name Of Love" by Naked Eyes
peaks at #39
1984 - "Cruel Summer" by Bananarama peaks at #9
1984 - "Drive" by Cars peaks at #3
1984 - "Layin' It On Line" by Jefferson Starship
peaks at #66
1984 - "Let's Go Crazy" by Prince & Revolution
peaks at #1
1984 - "Pretty Mess" by Vanity peaks at #75
1984 - "Torture" by Jacksons peaks at #17
1984 - "When You Close Your Eyes" by Night Ranger
peaks at #14
1984 - "Yes Or No" by Go-Go's peak at #84
1984 - Elizabeth Taylor, undergoing rehabilitation at the Betty
Ford Clinic
1985 - "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," returns to
NBC-TV
Director Steven SpielbergDirector Steven Spielberg 1985 -
"Amazing Stories," by Steven Spielberg, debuts on NBC-TV
1985 - "MacGyver," starring Richard Dean Anderson,
debuts on ABC-TV
1985 - 1st of 5 cyanide-laced Tylenol victims dies
1985 - Deron Cherry, Kansas City vs Seattle, has 4
interceptions!
1985 - Houston QB Warren Moon sacked NFL tying record 12
times (by Cowboys)
1986 - "Airwolf," TV Adventure; moves to USA
1986 - "Designing Women," TV Comedy, debuts on CBS
1986 - Cubs Greg Maddux defeats Phillies Mike Maddux (1st
rookie brothers)
1986 - Indians Jay Bell is 10th to hit a HR on 1st major
league pitch he sees
1986 - Mary Lou Retton retires as a gymnast
1986 - USSR releases US journalist Nicholas Daniloff
confined on spy charges
1987 - "Didn't We Almost Have It All," by Whitney
Houston hits #1
1987 - "thirtysomething," debuts on ABC-TV
1987 - 8th Emmy Sports Award presentation
1987 - NY Yankee Don Mattingly hits record 6th grand slam of
year
Singer Whitney HoustonSinger Whitney Houston 1988 - 26th
Space Shuttle mission, Discovery 7 launched
1988 - China PR performs nuclear test at Lop Nor PRC
1988 - Florence Griffith Joyner of USA sets 200m woman's
record (21.34)
1988 - UN peacekeeping forces win Nobel Peace prize
1988 - Union Station reopens in Wash DC
1989 - Glenn Frey joins Don Henley on-stage (for 1st time
since 1981)
1989 - Zsa Zsa Gabor convicted of slapping a police officer
in Beverly Hills
1990 - "Love & Affection" by Nelson peaks at
#1 on pop singles chart
1990 - "Street Scene" closes at NY State Theater
NYC after 6 perfs
1990 - Reds are 1st NL team to clinch title, staying in 1st
place all year
1990 - US Sect of State James Baker meets with Vietnam's
foreign minister
1990 - Washington National Cathedral construction is
completed after 83 years
1990 - "Millie's Book" written by 1st Lady Barbara
Bush for president's dog is a best-selling non-fiction book
1990 - The YF-22, which would later become the F-22 Raptor,
flies for the first time.
1991 - "My Own Private Idaho" premieres
1991 - 29th Ryder Cup: US beats Europe, 14½-13½ at Ocean
Course (South Carolina, US)
1991 - Pat Bradley wins MBS LPGA Golf Classic
1992 - Atlanta Braves wins 2nd straight NL West title
1992 - Magic Johnson announces return to play basketball (he
doesn't)
1992 - Parliament suspends president Fernando Collor
1993 - "Grace Under Fire," starring Brett Butler
debuts on ABC-TV
1993 - 27th Country Music Association Award: Vince Gill wins
NFL Running Back and Convicted Criminal OJ SimpsonNFL
Running Back and Convicted Criminal OJ Simpson 1994 - 1st phase of OJ Simpson
murder trial jury selection ends (304 chosen)
1994 - House votes to end lobbyists buying meals &
entertainment for Congress
1994 - Pointer Sisters receive a star on the Hollywood Walk
of Fame
1995 - Indians break 1902 Pirates record for largest lead
over 2nd-place team (KC) (27½ games)
1995 - OJ Simpson trial sent to the jury
1995 - Saleem Elahi scores century on ODI debut, Pakistan v
Sri Lanka
1995 - US space probe Ulyssus completes 2nd passage behind Sun
1996 - "Delicate Balance" closes at Plymouth
Theater NYC
1996 - 34th Tennis Fed Cup: USA beats Spain in Atlantic City
USA (5-0)
1996 - Alanis Morissette ends her 1st US tour (Houston
Texas)
1996 - Balt Orioles end season with record 257 HRs
1996 - Houston Astro's retire Nolan Ryan's #34
1996 - Nintendo 64 video game system debuts in USA (3 months
after Japan)
1996 - Orioles Brady Anderson is 14th to hit 50 HRs
1996 - SD Padres sweep LA Dodgers in race for NL West title
Singer-Songwriter Alanis MorissetteSinger-Songwriter Alanis
Morissette 1996 - Trish Johnson wins LPGA Fieldcrest Cannon Golf Classic
1996 - US wins Federation Cup over Spain
1997 - Jury selection in Terry Nichols Oklahoma bombing
trial begins
2001 - The Syracuse Herald-Journal, a U.S. newspaper dating
back to 1839, ceases publication.
2003 - Hurricane Juan makes landfall in Nova Scotia.
2004 - The asteroid 4179 Toutatis passes within four lunar
distances of Earth.
2004 - The Burt Rutan Ansari X Prize entry SpaceShipOne
performed a successful spaceflight, the first of two needed to win the prize.
2005 - Chicago White Sox clinch their first division title
since 2000 and become just the 10th team in the history of baseball to be in
first place on every day of the season
2005 - Amnesty referendum in Algeria.
2006 - US Representative Mark Foley resigns after
allegations of inappropriate emails to house pages were introduced.
2007 - Calder Hall, the world's first commercial nuclear
power station, the magnox reactor and Calder hall was demolished in a
controlled explosion.
2008 - Following the bankruptcies of Lehman Brothers and
Washington Mutual, The Dow Jones Industrial Average falls 777.68 points, the
largest single-day point loss in its history.
2009 - An 8.0 magnitude earthquake near the Samoan Islands
causes a tsunami .
1789 - A regular army was established by the U.S. War Department with several hundred men. 1829 - The first public appearance by London's re-organized police force was met with jeers from political opponents. The force became known as Scotland Yard. 1902 - David Belasco opened his first Broadway theater. 1930 - Lowell Thomas made his debut on CBS Radio. He was in the radio business for the next 46 years. 1930 - Bing Crosby and Dixie Lee were married. 1940 - The radio quiz show "Double or Nothing" debuted on the Mutual Radio Network. 1943 - U.S. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and Italian Marchal Pietro Badoglio signed an armistice aboard the British ship Nelson. 1946 - "The Adventures of Sam Spade" debuted on CBS Radio. 1951 - The first network football game was televised by CBS-TV in color. The game was between the University of California and the University of Pennsylvania. 1953 - "Make Room for Daddy" premiered on ABC-TV. 1955 - "A View From the Bridge," a play by Arthur Miller, opened in New York at the Coronet Theater. 1957 - The New York Giants played their last game at the Polo Grounds. The next year the Giants were in San Francisco, CA. 1960 - "My Three Sons" debuted on ABC-TV. 1962 - U.S. President John F. Kennedy nationalized the Mississippi National guard in response to city officials defying federal court orders. The orders had been to enroll James Meredith at the University of Mississippi. 1963 - "My Favorite Martian" premiered on CBS-TV. 1963 - "The Judy Garland Show" premiered on CBS-TV. 1967 - The International Monetary Fund reformed monetary systems around the world. 1977 - Eva Shain became the first woman to officiate a heavyweight title boxing match. About 70 million people watched Muhammad Ali defeat Ernie Shavers on NBC-TV. 1982 - In Chicago, IL, seven people died after taking capsules of Extra-Strength Tylenol that had been laced with cyanide. 264,000 bottles were recalled. 1983 - The War Powers Act was used for the first time by the U.S. Congress when they authorized President Reagan to keep U.S. Marines in Lebanon for 18 more months. 1983 - "A Chorus Line" with performance number 3,389 became the longest running show on Broadway. 1984 - Irish officials announced that they had intercepted the Marita Anne carrying seven tons of U.S.-purchased weapons. The weapons were intended for the Irish Republican Army. 1984 - Elizabeth Taylor was voted to be the world's most beautiful woman in a Louis Harris poll. Taylor was at the time in the Betty Ford Clinic overcoming a weight problem. 1986 - Mary Lou Retton announced that she was quitting gymnastics. 1988 - The space shuttle Discovery took off from Cape Canaveral in Florida. It was the first manned space flight since the Challenger disaster. 1990 - "Millie's Book" by First Lady Barbara Bush was the best-selling non-fiction book in the U.S. 1992 - Magic Johnson announced that he was returning to professional basketball. The comeback ended the following November. 1992 - Brazilian lawmakers overwhelmingly voted to impeach President Fernando Collor de Mello. 1993 - Bosnia's parliament voted overwhelmingly to reject an international peace plan unless Bosnian Serbs returned land that had been taken by force. 1994 - The U.S. House voted to end the practice of lobbyist buying meals and entertainment for members of Congress. 1998 - Hasbro announced plans to introduce an action figure of retired U.S. General Colin Powell. 2010 - In China, Canton Tower became operational.
1399 King Richard II became the first English monarch to abdicate his throne. 1829 Sir Robert Peel's police force, the "bobbies," began operations at Scotland Yard. 1895 French chemist Louis Pasteur died. 1978 John Paul I died one month after becoming pope. 1982 Seven people died after taking Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide. This led to the use of safety seals on most consumer products. 1988 The space shuttle Discovery was launched, the first American staffed space flight since the Challenger disaster. 2001 Former South Vietnam president Nguyen Van Thieu died.
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/sep29.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
Saturday, September 28, 2013
How Close to "The Point of No Return" Are We?
We have all heard about climate change, and we all know the arguments, or at least think we know them, by now.
Some people don't, simply put. I still remember a coworker telling me, during a very nasty snowstorm, that "this sure beats the shit out of the global warming theory."
I responded by telling him that if he cared enough to actually be informed about what he was so readily dismissing, he would learn that global warming "theory" does not, as the name implies, simply mean the world gets warmer and warmer, without exception, every place in the world. By the logic, every day would be warmer than the previous one, and that is clearly untrue. After all, we have different seasons, and here in the northern hemisphere, as I write this, summer has just ended, and the temperatures will continue to grow colder as winter approaches.
His approach was very simplistic, and betrayed his ignorance. He was entitled to his opinion, but, I advised him to at least try and understand something when you want to blast an entire theory.
"It's not because its a cold day in Pomona, New York, that the entire global warming theory is discredit", I said, or something more or less like it. We were working in Pomona, New York, at the time.
Unfortunately, a lot of people who view themselves as skeptics of this "theory", tend not to bother with even acclimating themselves with this theory. It is as if their disbelief, or their desire for these nightmare scenarios to not be true, trumps all of the evidence that a vast majority of scientists believe points to global warming being more than merely a "theory". Facts do not matter so much, if you listen to political shock jocks of right wing extremism, who express only cynicism, and try to point out the personal failings of those who advocate such a theory, as if the theory is centered on only one or two people (usually politicians). I know someone who points out that Al Gore is, in his words, a "mad man", and a "lunatic", whenever global warming is mentioned, as if the theory revolves only around Al Gore, and if you discredit the man, you discredit the entire concept of global warming.
That a majority, even a vast majority, of scientists agree that global warming is real, and that human activities account for the speed and extremity of global warming, if beyond doubt. That does not mean people cannot express their own doubts, it just means that the experts in the field feel that most of the evidence does indeed point in that way. It is not that people disagree with this theory that bothers me, personally. What does bother me is that many of the people that I met, like that coworker, do not even bother trying to understand the theory before dismissing it. What bothers me is that many of those prominent voices against it try to discredit the person making the arguments for it via character assassination, rather than staying on topic and trying to counter this "theory" with facts that contradict it. What especially bothers me about the people who most vehemently express their cynicism about global warming is that they themselves have something to gain personally in their opposition, whether it be politicians or shock jock radio or television personalities prominently sponsored by corporations that would like to continue to exploit the world's natural resources unabated, or those corporations themselves.
The stakes cannot be higher, and we need to be reminded that, when it comes to serious issues like this, we need to approach it with intelligence and objectivity, and not simply get seduced by the entertainment value of the one speaking.
To that end, I have, once again, relied on the Bill Moyers and his website, "Moyers and Company", for an article that suggests that we are fast approaching the perilous tipping point, that infamous "point of no return", when the catastrophic consequences of global warming will be irreversible. If we do reach that point, and those who gamble that global warming is indeed merely a "theory" prove to be wrong, then the price for that particular gamble will be steep indeed. And, it will be the entire world, human and non-human alike, that will pay the hefty price of our present emphasis on greed. Pretty much all because of an attitude that emphasized not wanting to give up or pay more for our gas, or SUV's, or even try to develop real solutions with alternative energies.
“The IPCC warns of an alarming escalation of impacts but also shows that preventing climate chaos is still possible.”
~ Kumi Naidoo, Greenpeace International
The Fast-Approaching ‘Point of No Return’ for Climate Change September 27, 2013 by Karin Kamp and John Light
http://billmoyers.com/2013/09/27/action-urgently-needed-on-climate-change/
Some people don't, simply put. I still remember a coworker telling me, during a very nasty snowstorm, that "this sure beats the shit out of the global warming theory."
I responded by telling him that if he cared enough to actually be informed about what he was so readily dismissing, he would learn that global warming "theory" does not, as the name implies, simply mean the world gets warmer and warmer, without exception, every place in the world. By the logic, every day would be warmer than the previous one, and that is clearly untrue. After all, we have different seasons, and here in the northern hemisphere, as I write this, summer has just ended, and the temperatures will continue to grow colder as winter approaches.
His approach was very simplistic, and betrayed his ignorance. He was entitled to his opinion, but, I advised him to at least try and understand something when you want to blast an entire theory.
"It's not because its a cold day in Pomona, New York, that the entire global warming theory is discredit", I said, or something more or less like it. We were working in Pomona, New York, at the time.
Unfortunately, a lot of people who view themselves as skeptics of this "theory", tend not to bother with even acclimating themselves with this theory. It is as if their disbelief, or their desire for these nightmare scenarios to not be true, trumps all of the evidence that a vast majority of scientists believe points to global warming being more than merely a "theory". Facts do not matter so much, if you listen to political shock jocks of right wing extremism, who express only cynicism, and try to point out the personal failings of those who advocate such a theory, as if the theory is centered on only one or two people (usually politicians). I know someone who points out that Al Gore is, in his words, a "mad man", and a "lunatic", whenever global warming is mentioned, as if the theory revolves only around Al Gore, and if you discredit the man, you discredit the entire concept of global warming.
That a majority, even a vast majority, of scientists agree that global warming is real, and that human activities account for the speed and extremity of global warming, if beyond doubt. That does not mean people cannot express their own doubts, it just means that the experts in the field feel that most of the evidence does indeed point in that way. It is not that people disagree with this theory that bothers me, personally. What does bother me is that many of the people that I met, like that coworker, do not even bother trying to understand the theory before dismissing it. What bothers me is that many of those prominent voices against it try to discredit the person making the arguments for it via character assassination, rather than staying on topic and trying to counter this "theory" with facts that contradict it. What especially bothers me about the people who most vehemently express their cynicism about global warming is that they themselves have something to gain personally in their opposition, whether it be politicians or shock jock radio or television personalities prominently sponsored by corporations that would like to continue to exploit the world's natural resources unabated, or those corporations themselves.
The stakes cannot be higher, and we need to be reminded that, when it comes to serious issues like this, we need to approach it with intelligence and objectivity, and not simply get seduced by the entertainment value of the one speaking.
To that end, I have, once again, relied on the Bill Moyers and his website, "Moyers and Company", for an article that suggests that we are fast approaching the perilous tipping point, that infamous "point of no return", when the catastrophic consequences of global warming will be irreversible. If we do reach that point, and those who gamble that global warming is indeed merely a "theory" prove to be wrong, then the price for that particular gamble will be steep indeed. And, it will be the entire world, human and non-human alike, that will pay the hefty price of our present emphasis on greed. Pretty much all because of an attitude that emphasized not wanting to give up or pay more for our gas, or SUV's, or even try to develop real solutions with alternative energies.
“The IPCC warns of an alarming escalation of impacts but also shows that preventing climate chaos is still possible.”
~ Kumi Naidoo, Greenpeace International
The Fast-Approaching ‘Point of No Return’ for Climate Change September 27, 2013 by Karin Kamp and John Light
http://billmoyers.com/2013/09/27/action-urgently-needed-on-climate-change/
On This Day in History - September 28 William the Conqueror and the Norman Invasion of England
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
Sep 28, 1066: William the Conqueror invades England
Claiming his right to the English throne, William, duke of Normandy, invades England at Pevensey on Britain's southeast coast. His subsequent defeat of King Harold II at the Battle of Hastings marked the beginning of a new era in British history.
William was the illegitimate son of Robert I, duke of Normandy, by his concubine Arlette, a tanner's daughter from the town of Falaise. The duke, who had no other sons, designated William his heir, and with his death in 1035 William became duke of Normandy at age seven. Rebellions were epidemic during the early years of his reign, and on several occasions the young duke narrowly escaped death. Many of his advisers did not. By the time he was 20, William had become an able ruler and was backed by King Henry I of France. Henry later turned against him, but William survived the opposition and in 1063 expanded the borders of his duchy into the region of Maine.
In 1051, William is believed to have visited England and met with his cousin Edward the Confessor, the childless English king. According to Norman historians, Edward promised to make William his heir. On his deathbed, however, Edward granted the kingdom to Harold Godwine, head of the leading noble family in England and more powerful than the king himself.
In January 1066, King Edward died, and Harold Godwine was proclaimed King Harold II. William immediately disputed his claim. In addition, King Harald III Hardraade of Norway had designs on England, as did Tostig, brother of Harold. King Harold rallied his forces for an expected invasion by William, but Tostig launched a series of raids instead, forcing the king to leave the English Channel unprotected. In September, Tostig joined forces with King Harald III and invaded England from Scotland. On September 25, Harold met them at Stamford Bridge and defeated and killed them both. Three days later, William landed in England at Pevensey.
With approximately 7,000 troops and cavalry, William seized Pevensey and marched to Hastings, where he paused to organize his forces. On October 13, Harold arrived near Hastings with his army, and the next day William led his forces out to give battle. At the end of a bloody, all-day battle, King Harold II was killed--shot in the eye with an arrow, according to legend--and his forces were defeated.
William then marched on London and received the city's submission. On Christmas Day, 1066, William the Conqueror was crowned the first Norman king of England, in Westminster Abbey, and the Anglo-Saxon phase of English history came to an end. French became the language of the king's court and gradually blended with the Anglo-Saxon tongue to give birth to modern English. William I proved an effective king of England, and the "Domesday Book," a great census of the lands and people of England, was among his notable achievements. Upon the death of William I in 1087, his son, William Rufus, became William II, the second Norman king of England.
Sep 28, 1918: British soldier allegedly spares the life of an injured Adolf Hitler
On September 28, 1918, in an incident that would go down in the lore of World War I history—although the details of the event are still unclear—Private Henry Tandey, a British soldier serving near the French village of Marcoing, reportedly encounters a wounded German soldier and declines to shoot him, sparing the life of 29-year-old Lance Corporal Adolf Hitler.
Tandey, a native of Warwickshire, took part in the First Battle of Ypres in October 1914 and the Battle of the Somme in 1916, where he was wounded in the leg. After being discharged from the hospital, he was transferred to the 9th Battalion in France and was wounded again during the Third Battle of Ypres at Passchendaele in the summer of 1917. From July to October 1918, Tandey served with the 5th Duke of Wellington Regiment; it was during this time that he took part in the successful British capture of Marcoing, for which he earned a Victoria Cross for "conspicuous bravery."
As Tandey later told sources, during the final moments of that battle, as the German troops were in retreat, a wounded German soldier entered Tandey’s line of fire. "I took aim but couldn’t shoot a wounded man," Tandey remembered, "so I let him go." The German soldier nodded in thanks, and disappeared.
Though sources do not exist to prove the exact whereabouts of Adolf Hitler on that day in 1918, an intriguing link emerged to suggest that he was in fact the soldier Tandey spared. A photograph that appeared in London newspapers of Tandey carrying a wounded soldier at Ypres in 1914 was later portrayed on canvas in a painting by the Italian artist Fortunino Matania glorifying the Allied war effort. As the story goes, when British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain traveled to Germany in 1938 to engage Hitler in a last-ditch effort to avoid another war in Europe, he was taken by the führer to his new country retreat in Bavaria. There, Hitler showed Chamberlain his copy of the Matania painting, commenting, "That’s the man who nearly shot me."
The authenticity of the Tandey-Hitler encounter remains in dispute, though evidence does suggest that Hitler had a reproduction of the Matania painting as early as 1937—a strange acquisition for a man who had been furious and devastated by the German defeat at Allied hands in the Great War. Twice decorated as a soldier, Hitler was temporarily blinded by a mustard gas attack in Belgium in October 1918 and was in a military hospital in Pacewalk, Germany, when he received news of the German surrender. The experiences of battle—first glory and ultimately disillusion and despondence—would color the rest of Hitler’s life and career, as he admitted in 1941, after leading his country into another devastating conflict: "When I returned from the War, I brought back home with me my experiences at the front; out of them I built my National Socialist community."
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
1542 Portuguese explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo arrived at present-day San Diego. 1781 The closing campaign of the American Revolution at Yorktown Heights, Va. began. 1920 Eight Chicago White Sox players were indicted for fixing the 1919 World Series in the "Black Sox scandal." 1924 Two U.S. Army planes landed in Seattle after completing the first round-the-world-flight in 175 days. 1939 A German-Soviet agreement divided Poland between Nazi Germany and the USSR. 1967 Walter Washington became the first mayor of the District of Columbia. 1972 Japan and Communist China agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations. 1989 Former Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos died in exile in Hawaii. 1991 Jazz great Miles Davis died. 2003 Althea Gibson, the first African-American tennis player to win at Wimbledon, died.
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/sep28.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
Sep 28, 1066: William the Conqueror invades England
Claiming his right to the English throne, William, duke of Normandy, invades England at Pevensey on Britain's southeast coast. His subsequent defeat of King Harold II at the Battle of Hastings marked the beginning of a new era in British history.
William was the illegitimate son of Robert I, duke of Normandy, by his concubine Arlette, a tanner's daughter from the town of Falaise. The duke, who had no other sons, designated William his heir, and with his death in 1035 William became duke of Normandy at age seven. Rebellions were epidemic during the early years of his reign, and on several occasions the young duke narrowly escaped death. Many of his advisers did not. By the time he was 20, William had become an able ruler and was backed by King Henry I of France. Henry later turned against him, but William survived the opposition and in 1063 expanded the borders of his duchy into the region of Maine.
In 1051, William is believed to have visited England and met with his cousin Edward the Confessor, the childless English king. According to Norman historians, Edward promised to make William his heir. On his deathbed, however, Edward granted the kingdom to Harold Godwine, head of the leading noble family in England and more powerful than the king himself.
In January 1066, King Edward died, and Harold Godwine was proclaimed King Harold II. William immediately disputed his claim. In addition, King Harald III Hardraade of Norway had designs on England, as did Tostig, brother of Harold. King Harold rallied his forces for an expected invasion by William, but Tostig launched a series of raids instead, forcing the king to leave the English Channel unprotected. In September, Tostig joined forces with King Harald III and invaded England from Scotland. On September 25, Harold met them at Stamford Bridge and defeated and killed them both. Three days later, William landed in England at Pevensey.
With approximately 7,000 troops and cavalry, William seized Pevensey and marched to Hastings, where he paused to organize his forces. On October 13, Harold arrived near Hastings with his army, and the next day William led his forces out to give battle. At the end of a bloody, all-day battle, King Harold II was killed--shot in the eye with an arrow, according to legend--and his forces were defeated.
William then marched on London and received the city's submission. On Christmas Day, 1066, William the Conqueror was crowned the first Norman king of England, in Westminster Abbey, and the Anglo-Saxon phase of English history came to an end. French became the language of the king's court and gradually blended with the Anglo-Saxon tongue to give birth to modern English. William I proved an effective king of England, and the "Domesday Book," a great census of the lands and people of England, was among his notable achievements. Upon the death of William I in 1087, his son, William Rufus, became William II, the second Norman king of England.
Sep 28, 1918: British soldier allegedly spares the life of an injured Adolf Hitler
On September 28, 1918, in an incident that would go down in the lore of World War I history—although the details of the event are still unclear—Private Henry Tandey, a British soldier serving near the French village of Marcoing, reportedly encounters a wounded German soldier and declines to shoot him, sparing the life of 29-year-old Lance Corporal Adolf Hitler.
Tandey, a native of Warwickshire, took part in the First Battle of Ypres in October 1914 and the Battle of the Somme in 1916, where he was wounded in the leg. After being discharged from the hospital, he was transferred to the 9th Battalion in France and was wounded again during the Third Battle of Ypres at Passchendaele in the summer of 1917. From July to October 1918, Tandey served with the 5th Duke of Wellington Regiment; it was during this time that he took part in the successful British capture of Marcoing, for which he earned a Victoria Cross for "conspicuous bravery."
As Tandey later told sources, during the final moments of that battle, as the German troops were in retreat, a wounded German soldier entered Tandey’s line of fire. "I took aim but couldn’t shoot a wounded man," Tandey remembered, "so I let him go." The German soldier nodded in thanks, and disappeared.
Though sources do not exist to prove the exact whereabouts of Adolf Hitler on that day in 1918, an intriguing link emerged to suggest that he was in fact the soldier Tandey spared. A photograph that appeared in London newspapers of Tandey carrying a wounded soldier at Ypres in 1914 was later portrayed on canvas in a painting by the Italian artist Fortunino Matania glorifying the Allied war effort. As the story goes, when British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain traveled to Germany in 1938 to engage Hitler in a last-ditch effort to avoid another war in Europe, he was taken by the führer to his new country retreat in Bavaria. There, Hitler showed Chamberlain his copy of the Matania painting, commenting, "That’s the man who nearly shot me."
The authenticity of the Tandey-Hitler encounter remains in dispute, though evidence does suggest that Hitler had a reproduction of the Matania painting as early as 1937—a strange acquisition for a man who had been furious and devastated by the German defeat at Allied hands in the Great War. Twice decorated as a soldier, Hitler was temporarily blinded by a mustard gas attack in Belgium in October 1918 and was in a military hospital in Pacewalk, Germany, when he received news of the German surrender. The experiences of battle—first glory and ultimately disillusion and despondence—would color the rest of Hitler’s life and career, as he admitted in 1941, after leading his country into another devastating conflict: "When I returned from the War, I brought back home with me my experiences at the front; out of them I built my National Socialist community."
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
48 BC - Pompey the Great is assassinated on orders of King
Ptolemy of Egypt after landing in Egypt.
235 - Bishop of Rome Pontianus steps down
351 - Battle at Mursa: emperor Constantine II beats emperor
Magnentius
365 - Roman usurper Procopius bribes two legions passing by
Constantinople, and proclaims himself Roman emperor.
935 - Saint Wenceslas is murdered by his brother, Boleslaus
I of Bohemia.
995 - Members of Slavník's dynasty - Spytimír, Pobraslav,
Pořej and Čáslav are murdered by Boleslaus's son, Boleslaus II the Pious.
1066 - William the Conqueror invades England landing at
Pevensey Bay, Sussex
1106 - Battle at Tinchebrai: English King Henry I beats his
brother Robert
1322 - Battle of Muhldorf
1362 - Guillaum de Grimoard elected as Pope Urban V
1394 - Cardinal Pedro de Luna of Aragon chosen (anti)pope
Benedictus XIII
1448 - Christian I is crowned king of Denmark.
1521 - Turkish sultan Suleiman I's troops occupy Belgrade
1528 - Spanish fleet sinks in Florida hurricane; about 380
die
1538 - Battle at Preveza: Turkish fleet under Barbarossa
beats Spanish
1542 - Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo discovers California, at San
Diego Bay
1621 - Battle at Chocim Dniester: King Sigismund II beats
Turks
1652 - English-Dutch sea battle at Kentish Knock
1687 - Venetians take Athens from the Turks
Roman Military and Political Leader Pompey the GreatRoman
Military and Political Leader Pompey the Great 1701 - Divorce legalized in
Maryland, USA
1704 - Maryland allows divorce if wife mispleases
clergyman/preacher
1708 - Battle at Lesnaya: Russian army captures Swedish
convoy
1745 - Bonnie Prince Charlie becomes king of Scotland
1760 - Russian & Austrian army occupies Berlin
1767 - Gentlemen 17 forbid private slave transport India to
Cape of Good Hope
1779 - American Revolution: Samuel Huntington is elected
President of the Continental Congress, succeeding John Jay.
1781 - 9,000 American forces & 7,000 French forces begin
siege of Yorktown
1785 - Napoleon Bonaparte (16) graduates from the military
academy in Paris (42nd in a class of 51)
1787 - Congress sends Constitution to state legislatures for
their approval
1815 - Joachim Murats fleet sails from Corsica to Naples
1829 - Walker's Appeal, racial antislavery pamphlet,
published in Boston
1844 - Oscar I of Sweden-Norway is crowned king of Sweden.
1850 - US Navy abolishes flogging as punishment
1858 - Donati's comet becomes 1st to be photographed
French Emperor Napoleon BonaparteFrench Emperor Napoleon
Bonaparte
1864 - -30) Battle of Fort Harrison VA (Chaffin's Farm New Market
Heights)
1867 - Toronto becomes capital of Ontario
1867 - The United States takes control of Midway Island.
1868 - Battle of Alcolea, causes Queen Isabella II of Spain
to flee to France
1868 - Opelousas Massacre at St Landry Parish Louisiana (200
blacks killed)
1879 - Sydney Australia inaugurates steam motor tram route
1887 - Gele River (Huang Ho) in China floods, kills about
1.5 million
1889 - The first General Conference on Weights and Measures
(CGPM) defines the length of a meter as the distance between two lines on a
standard bar of an alloy of platinum with ten percent iridium, measured at the
melting point of ice.
1892 - 1st night football game played (Mansfield Pa)
1894 - Simon Marks & Tom Spencer open Penny Bazaar in
Manchester
1899 - Transvaal mobilizes
1901 - Guerrilla's assault unarmed US soldiers in Balangiga
Phil, 38 killed
1904 - Woman arrested for smoking a cigarette in a car on
5th Avenue, NYC
1906 - US troops reoccupy Cuba, stay until 1909
1912 - "Kiche Maru" sinks off Japan, killing 1,000
1912 - SS Kichemaru disappears in storm off Japanese coast,
1,000 die
1914 - German forces move into Antwerp Belgium (WW I)
1915 - Battle of Kut-el-Amara: Brits defeat Turks in
Mesopotamia
1919 - Fastest major league game (51 mins), Giants beat
Phillies 6-1
1920 - 8 White Sox indicted, threw 1919 World Series (Black
Sox scandal)
1920 - Dirk Fock appointed as gov-gen of Neth Indies
1921 - 4th PGA Championship: Walter Hagen at Inwood CC Far
Rockaway NY
Italian Dictator Benito MussoliniItalian Dictator Benito
Mussolini 1922 - Benito Mussolini marches on Rome
1923 - Abyssinia (Ethiopia) leaves League of Nations
1923 - Radio Times 1st published
1923 - Yanks slaughter Red Sox 24-4
1924 - 2 US Army planes end around-world flight, Seattle to
Seattle, 57 stops
1924 - French government names Gen Serrail gov-gen of Syria
1924 - Gen Plutarco Calles elected president of Mexico
1926 - Russia & Latvia treaty of neutrality signed
1928 - 1st recording session in Nashville (Warmack's Gully
Jumpers)
1928 - Juan de la Cierva makes 1st helicopter flight over
English Channel
1928 - NY Yanks clinch pennant #6
1928 - Prussia forbids speech from Adolf Hitler
1928 - US acknowledge Chinese government of Chiang Kai-shek
1928 - Valentin Katayev's "Kvadratura Kruga,"
premieres in Moscow
1928 - UK passes the Dangerous Drugs Act outlawing cannabis.
Dictator of Nazi Germany Adolf HitlerDictator of Nazi
Germany Adolf Hitler 1929 - 1st CF interception return for a touchdown (Joe
Hess-U of Alberta)
1930 - Lou Gehrig's errorless streak ends at 885 consecutive
games
1931 - Peking (200,000 demonstrators demand declaration of
war on Japan)
1932 - 1932 Baseball World Series opens with the Chicago
Cubs vs. NY Yankees (6-12)
1933 - Greer Garson wed Edward Snelson
1936 - Bachelor's Children debuts on CBS radio (at 9:45 am)
1936 - Brooklyn & Boston play a penalty free NFL game
1937 - FDR dedicates Bonneville Dam on Columbia River
(Oregon)
1937 - Martha Raye divorces Bud Westmore
1938 - Clare Boothe's "Boys Goodbye," premieres in
NYC
1938 - Dutch Premier Colijn sends radio message "No war
coming"
1939 - Estonia accepts Soviet military bases
1939 - Final broadcast of The Fleischmann Hour was heard on
radio
1939 - Soviet-German treaty agree on 4th partition of Poland
(WW II) & gives Lithuania to USSR, last Polish troops surrender
1940 - Michigan's Tom Harmon runs 72, 86 & 94 yard
touchdowns
32nd US President Franklin D. Roosevelt32nd US President
Franklin D. Roosevelt 1940 - Nazi occupiers present "New Dutch
Culture" in German
1940 - Bud Brennan, a fan at Memorial Stadium, races out of
stands & attempts to tackle Tom Harmon at 3-yard line, Harmon easily evades
Brennan
1941 - Phillies lose club record 111th game
1941 - Ted Williams ended the baseball season with .406
batting avg
1942 - Luftwaffe bombs Stalingrad
1942 - NY Americans NHL team folded
1944 - 1st TV Musical comedy (The Boys from Boise)
1944 - Battle of Arnhem, Germans defeat British airborne in
Netherlands
1944 - Nazi murders in Marzabotto, Italy (SS-major Reder)
1945 - "Mildred Price" starring Joan Crawford
opens at Strand
1945 - Canadian football's Calgary Bronks changes its name
to Stampeders
1945 - Robert T Duncan appears as Tonio in "I
Pagliacci"
1946 - Greek king George II back in Athens
1948 - WBAP-TV, (NBC affiliate) Fort Worth Texas, begins
broadcasting
1949 - "My Friend Irma" is 1st of 12 films
starring Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis
1950 - Indonesia becomes 60th member of UN
1951 - Allie Reynolds' 2nd no-hitter of 1951; Yanks clinch
pennant #18
1951 - Franchot Tone wed Barbara Payton
1951 - Norm Van Brocklin of Rams passes for NFL-record 554
yards
1953 - "Bob & Ray Show," TV Variety; last air
on NBC
1953 - "Juvenile Jury," TV Childrens, last airs on
NBC, moved to CBS
1953 - "Racket Squad," TV Crime Drama, last airs
on CBS
1953 - Dutch government proclaims 5% general pay increase on
Jan 1, 1954
1953 - KOAT TV channel 7 in Albuquerque, NM (ABC/PBS) begins
broadcasting
1955 - 1st World Series color TV broadcast on NBC-TV (Yanks
beat Dodgers)
1955 - WITN TV channel 7 in Washington, NC (NBC) begins
broadcasting
1956 - "Johnny Carson Show," TV Variety; last airs
on CBS-TV
1956 - RCA Records reports Elvis Presley sold over 10
million records
1957 - "Dollar A Second," last airs on NBC-TV
1957 - "Gisele MacKenzie Show," debuts on NBC-TV
1957 - "Honeycomb," by Jimmie Rodgers hits #1
1957 - Dutch Queen Juliana opens Velser Tunnels
1958 - France adopts constitution
Singer & Cultural Icon Elvis PresleySinger &
Cultural Icon Elvis Presley 1958 - Guinea votes for independence from France
1958 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1958 - USAF selects Thor over Jupiter rocket for mass
production as ICBM's
1959 - "Hennesey," debuts on CBS-TV
1959 - Edward Franklin Albee's "zoo story,"
premieres in Berlin
1959 - Explorer VI reveals an intense radiation belt around
Earth
1960 - "Millionaire," last airs on CBS-TV
1960 - "My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own," by Connie
Francis hits #1
1960 - "Queen For A Day," moves to ABC-TV
1960 - "Sunrise at Campobello" premiered at Palace
theater
1960 - Ted Williams hits his final homer #521 (off Jack
Fisher)
1961 - "Doctor Kildare," debuts on NBC-TV
1961 - "Hazel," starring Shirley Booth debuts on
NBC-TV
1961 - "Purlie Victorious," a farce by Ossie
Davis, opens on Broadway
1961 - Syria withdraws from United Arab Republic
Baseball Player Ted WilliamsBaseball Player Ted Williams
1961 - USN Comdr Forrest S Petersen takes X-15 to 30,720 m
1961 - Walt Disney's movie "Grey Friars Bobby"
premieres
1962 - "Brighter Day," last airs on CBS-TV daytime
1962 - "I'm Dickens, He's Fenster," debuts on
ABC-TV
1962 - "Jan Murray Show," last airs on NBC-TV
1962 - "Tonight Show," last airs on NBC-TV
1962 - "Verdict Is Yours," last airs on CBS-TV
1962 - Alouette (Canada), 1st Canadian satellite, launched
1962 - Paddington tram depot fire destroys 65 trams in
Brisbane, Australia.
1963 - "King Leonardo," cartoon last airs on
NBC-TV
1963 - "Little Deuce Coupe" by The Beach Boys
peaks at #15
1963 - "Martian Hop" by The Ran-Dells peaks at #1
1963 - "New Phil Silvers Show," debuts on CBS-TV
1963 - "Nick Teen & Al K Hall" by Rolf Harris
peaks at #95
1963 - "Sally, Go 'Round The Roses" by Jaynetts
peaks at #2
1963 - "Shari Lewis Show," last airs on NBC-TV
1963 - "Surfer Joe" by Surfaris peaks at #62
1963 - "Tennessee Tuxedo," cartoon debuts on
CBS-TV
1963 - Giuseppe Cantarella roller-skates record 25.78 mph
(415 k) for 440 yds
1963 - Murray The K, a NY DJ plays "She Loves You"
on the radio
1964 - 53rd Davis Cup: Australia beats USA in Cleveland
(3-2)
1964 - Suriname governor A Currie resigns
1965 - Jack McKay in X-15 reaches 90 km
1965 - Lava flows kill at least 350 (Taal Philippines)
1965 - Volcano explodes on Luzon Philippines; 500 killed
1967 - Walter Washington elected 1st mayor of Washington, DC
1968 - "Happy Time" closes at Broadway Theater NYC
after 286 performances
1968 - "Noel Coward's Sweet Potato" opens at
Barrymore NYC for 17 perfs
1968 - Alberto Giolani of Italy roller skates record 23.133
miles in 1 hr
1968 - Atlanta Chiefs beat San Diego Toros 3-0 for NASL
championship
1968 - Beatles "Hey Jude," single goes #1 and
stays #1 for 9 weeks
1968 - Chuck Hixson (Southern Methodist) completes 37 of
record 69 passes
1968 - Janis Joplin announces she's leaving "Big
Brother & Holding Co"
1968 - Marisa Danisi of West Germany roller skates record
21.995 miles in 1 hr
1969 - Joe Kapp (Minnesota Vikings) passes for 7 touchdowns
vs Balt Colts (52-14)
1969 - Minnesota vs Baltimore, gains 530 yards passing!
1969 - SPD wins West German Parliament elections
1970 - "Words & Music," debuts on NBC-TV
1970 - Anwar Sadat replaces Egyptian President Nassar
1970 - Intrepid (US) beats Gretel II (Aust) in 22nd
America's Cup
1971 - Cardinal Josef Mindszenty of Hungary took refuge in
US Embassy in
1971 - NY Times reports growing interest of white youth in
black gospel music
1971 - Budapest in 1956 to escape treason charges, ends
exile & flies to Rome
1971 - UK passes the Misuse of Drugs Act banning the
medicinal use of cannabis.
1972 - David Bowie sells out his 1st show in NY Carnegie
Hall
1972 - Japan & Communist China agree to re-establish
diplomatic relations
1972 - Canada defeats the USSR in the eigth and final game
of the ice hockey Summit Series.
1973 - Palestinian Terrorists hijack Austrian train
1973 - ITT Building in New York City bombed to protest ITT's
involvement in the September 11 1973 coup d'état in Chile.
1974 - "Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing" by
Aretha Franklin peaks at #47
1974 - "I'm A Ramblin' Man" by Waylon Jennings
peaks at #75
1974 - "Live It Up Part 1" by Isley Brothers peaks
at #52
Godfather of Soul James BrownGodfather of Soul James Brown
1974 - "Papa Don't Take No Mess Part 1" by James Brown peaks at #31
1974 - "Rock Me Gently" by Andy Kim peaks at #1
1974 - "Surfin' USA" by Beach Boys reenters chart
& peaks at #36
1974 - 1st Lady Betty Ford undergoes a radical mastectomy
1974 - California Angel Nolan Ryan 3rd no-hitter beats Minn
Twin, 4-0
1974 - John Lennon appears as guest dj on WNEW-FM (NYC)
1974 - Mick Ronson joins Mott the Hoople
1975 - 5th NYC Women's Marathon won by Kim Merritt in
2:46:14
1975 - 6th NYC Marathon won by Tom Fleming in 2:19:27
1975 - Bill authorizes admission of women to military
academies
1975 - Oakland A's Vida Blue, Glenn Abbott, Paul Linblad
& Rollie Fingers, no-hits California Angels 5-0
1975 - The Spaghetti House siege, in which nine people were
taken as hostages, takes place in London.
1976 - A&M sues George Harrison who fails to meet
deadline for LP completion
1976 - Congress passes Toxic Substances Control Act
1976 - Muhammad Ali beats Ken Norton in 15 for heavyweight boxing
title
1978 - Israeli Knesset endorses Camp David accord
1978 - Pieter Botha succeeds Vorster as premier of South
Africa
1978 - Syrians & Lebanese engage in heavy fighting in
Lebanon
1979 - Larry Holmes TKOs Earnie Shavers in 11 for
heavyweight boxing title
1980 - "Charlie & Algernon" closes at Helen
Hayes Theater NYC after 17 perfs
1980 - Carl Sagan's 13 part "Cosmos" premieres on
PBS
1980 - Jaromir Wagner is 1st to fly Atlantic standing on
wing
1980 - Jerilyn Britz wins LPGA Mary Kay Golf Classic
1981 - Joseph Paul Franklin, avowed racist, sentenced to
life imprisonment for killing 2 black joggers in Salt Lake City
1982 - 1st reports appear of death from cyanide-laced
Tylenol capsules
1982 - NASA launches Intelsat V satellite, no. 505
1983 - STS-9 vehicle moves to launch pad
1984 - 1st floodlit ODI outside of Australia (India v Aust,
New Delhi)
1984 - Cleve Indians down 0-10 to Minnesota Twins, win 11-10
1985 - "Don't Lose My Number" by Phil Collins
peaks at #4
1985 - "Every Step Of The Way" by John Waite peaks
at #25
1985 - "Freedom" by Wham! peaks at #3
1985 - "Janet" by Commodores peaks at #87
1985 - NASA launches Intelsat VA
1985 - Race riot in London area of Brixton
1986 - Record 23,000 start in a marathon (Mexico City)
1986 - Tight end Brian Foster of RI catches NCAA record 18
passes for 327 yds
1986 - Cleveland Browns' Gerald McNeil sets the team record
for the longest punt return with an 84-yard run (and TD), Browns 24, Detroit 21
1987 - "Star Trek: The Next Generation," debuts on
syndicated TV
1987 - Gladys Knight & Smokey Robinson on "$10,000
Pyramid"
1988 - Bronx Museum for Arts opens
1988 - Javed Miandad scores his 19th Test Cricket century (v
Aus, Faisalabad)
1988 - LA Dodger Orel Hershiser sets record for consecutive
scoreless inns
1990 - Exiled emir of Kuwait visits White House
Singer Marvin GayeSinger Marvin Gaye 1990 - Marvin Gaye gets
a star on Hollywood's walk of fame
1991 - "Commish," debuts on ABC-TV
1991 - "Good Time" by Ziggy Marley & Melody
Makers peaks at #85
1991 - "Love Of A Lifetime" by Firehouse peaks at
#5
1991 - "Shiny Happy People" by REM peaks to #10
1991 - NY Yankees set record of 75 games without a complete
pitched game
1991 - UN weapons inspectors ends 5-day standoff with Iraq
1992 - "Barry Manilow's Showstoppers" closes at
Paramount Theater NYC
1992 - "Dog City," cartoon debuts on Fox-TV
1992 - Oakland A's win AL West title
1992 - Pakistani Airbus A-300 crashes into mountain at
Kathmandu, 167 dies
1993 - Dennis Martinez is 7th to win 100 games in AL &
NL
1993 - Gas field in Caracas explodes, 53 killed
1993 - Ron Wood releases "Slide On Live"
1994 - "Baseball" TV Miniseries last airs on PBS
1994 - "Cats" 5,000th Broadway performance (joins
Chorus Line & Oh! Calcutta!)
1994 - "Ed Wood" premieres
1994 - 909 people died when an Estonian ferry capsized &
sank in Baltic sea
1994 - Ferry boat Estonia capsize & sinks in East Sea,
909 killed
1995 - "Batman Forever" released Czech Republic
1995 - Dennis Martinez pitch breaks Kirby Puckett's jaw in
Indians 12-4 win
1995 - Mary
Tyler Moore returns to series TV in "NY News," on CBS
1995 - Singer Bobby Brown escapes injury in gun battle
1995 - Troy Dixon scores cricket century on 1st-class debut
for Qld v W Prov
1995 - Yitzhak Rabin & Yasir Arafat, sign accord to
transfer West Bank
1995 - Bob Denard and a group of mercenaries take the
islands of Comoros in a coup.
1996 - 1st ODI played in Kenya between home team & Sri
Lanka
1996 - Joyce Giraud, crowned 8th Ms Venus Swimwear
1996 - NY Yankee Jim Leyitz is 2nd catcher to wear a hockey
mask
1996 - Nebraska & Penn State are 5th & 6th major
colleges to win 700
1996 - Orioles' Roberto Alomar suspended 5 games for
spitting at ump
1996 - Troy Davis of Iowa State ran for 378 yards, 3rd
highest in college football games (others: Michigan, Notre Dame, Texas &
Alabama)
1997 - 32nd Ryder Cup: Europe wins 14½-13½ to retain the Cup
at Sotogrande Spain
1997 - Emerald Coast Senior Golf Classic
1997 - Newscaster David Brinkley, 74, retires after 54 years
in broadcasting
1997 - St Louis Card Mark McGwire hits his 58th HR of 1997
(34 with Oak A's)
1997 - Wendy Ward wins LPGA Fieldcrest Cannon Classic
2000 - Al-Aqsa Intifada: Ariel Sharon visits the Temple
Mount in Jerusalem.
2008 - SpaceX launches the first ever private spacecraft,
the Falcon 1 into orbit.
2009 - The military junta leading Guinea, headed by Captain
Moussa Dadis Camara, sexually assaulted, killed and wounded protesters during a
protest rally in a stadium called Stade du 28 Septembre.
2012 - Aircraft crash kills 16 people in Kathmandu, Nepal
2012 - Nigeria suspends flights to Saudi Arabia after
hundreds of Nigerian women travelled without a male escort
1066 - England was invaded by William the Conqueror who claimed the English throne. 1542 - San Diego, CA, was discovered by Portuguese navigator Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo. 1687 - The Turks surrendered Athens to the Venetians. 1781 - During the Revolutionary War, American forces began the siege on Yorktown, VA. 1787 - The U.S. Congress voted to send the new Constitution of the United States to the state legislatures for their approval. 1850 - The U.S. Navy abolished flogging as a form of punishment. 1850 - U.S. President Millard Fillmore named Brigham Young the first governor of the Utah territory. In 1857, U.S. President James Buchanan removed Young from the position. 1892 - The first nighttime football game in the U.S. took place under electric lights. The game was between the Mansfield State Normal School and the Wyoming Seminary. 1915 - The British defeated the Turks in Mesopotamia at Kut-el-Amara. 1924 - The first around-the-world flight was completed by two U.S. Army planes when they landed in Seattle, WA. The trip took 175 days. 1936 - "Bachelor's Children" debuted on CBS Radio. 1939 - During World War II, Germany and the Soviet Union agreed upon a plan on the division of Poland. 1939 - "Fleischmann Hour" aired for the last time on radio. 1944 - "The Boys From Boise" was shown on WABD in New York as the first full-length comedy written for television. 1950 - The United Nations admitted Indonesia. 1955 - The World Series was televised in color for the first time. The game was between the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers. 1961 - "Dr. Kildare" premiered on NBC-TV. 1961 - "Hazel" premiered on NBC-TV. 1967 - The first mayor of Washington, DC, Walter Washington, took office. 1968 - The Atlanta Chiefs won the first North American Soccer League Championship. 1972 - Communist China and Japan agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations. 1974 - First Lady Betty Ford underwent a mastectomy to remove a lump in her breast. 1978 - Heavy fighting occurred in Lebanon between Syrian peacekeeping troops and Lebanese Christian militiamen. 1978 - Don Sherman, editor of Car & Driver, set a new Class E record in Utah. Driving the Mazda RX7 he reached a speed of 183.904 mph. 1984 - Bob Hope showed outtakes of his 34 years in television on NBC. 1991 - In response to U.S. President Bush's reduction of U.S. nuclear arms Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev promised to reciprocate. 1995 - Yasser Arafat of the PLO and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin signed an accord that transferred control of the West Bank. 1997 - The 103rd convention of the Audio Engineering Society (AES) was held in New York City, NY. The official debut of the DVD format was featured. 2000 - The U.S. Federal Drug Administration approved the use of RU-486 in the United States. The pill is used to induce an abortion. 2004 - The U.S. Federal Reserve and the U.S. Secret Service introduced the first newly redesigned $50 bill. 2004 - Nate Olive and Sarah Jones arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border to complete the first known continuous hike of the 1,800-mile trail down the U.S. Pacific Coast. They started the trek on June 8. 2009 - The iTunes Music Store reached 2 billion applications downloaded.
1542 Portuguese explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo arrived at present-day San Diego. 1781 The closing campaign of the American Revolution at Yorktown Heights, Va. began. 1920 Eight Chicago White Sox players were indicted for fixing the 1919 World Series in the "Black Sox scandal." 1924 Two U.S. Army planes landed in Seattle after completing the first round-the-world-flight in 175 days. 1939 A German-Soviet agreement divided Poland between Nazi Germany and the USSR. 1967 Walter Washington became the first mayor of the District of Columbia. 1972 Japan and Communist China agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations. 1989 Former Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos died in exile in Hawaii. 1991 Jazz great Miles Davis died. 2003 Althea Gibson, the first African-American tennis player to win at Wimbledon, died.
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/sep28.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
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