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Today in History...


phdhorn

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1945 The Nuremberg war trials begin as 24 Nazi leaders are put on trial before judges representing the victorious Allied powers

2008 After critical failures in the US financial system began to build up after mid-September, the Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level since 1997.

2014 Nearly 5 million illegal migrants in the US have the threat of deportation deferred, after President Barack Obama announces sweeping immigration changes

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November 21, 1945—74 years ago today—the North Texas town of Thin Gravy (which was also known at various times as Deanville, North Mesquite and Mesquite Tap), was renamed Truman in honor of President Harry S. Truman. Earlier that year, the town’s 200 residents voted to approve the renaming and on Nov. 21 a sign was christened with a bottle of milk on U.S. Highway 80. Neighboring Mesquite absorbed the town in the 1950s.

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1852 Just past midnight, a sharp jolt likely caused by heavy rains causes Lake Merced, California, to drop 30 feet (9m)

1954 For the first time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above the peak it reached just before the 1929 crash.

1979 Pink Floyd's "The Wall" released, sells 6 million copies in 2 weeks

1980 4,800 die in series of earthquakes that devastated southern Italy

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1789 1st national Thanksgiving in America

1922 English archaeologist Howard Carter opens Tutankhamun's virtually intact tomb in Egypt

1941 Japanese naval carrier force left its base & moves east toward Pearl Harbor

1942 "Casablanca" directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman premieres at Hollywood Theater, NYC (Academy Awards Best Picture 1943)

1962 Fab Four have their first recording session under name The Beatles

1963 29th Heisman Trophy Award: Roger Staubach, Navy (QB)

1983 World's greatest robbery; 26 million pounds (sterling) worth of gold, diamonds and cash stolen from Brink's-Mat warehouse at Heathrow Airport, England

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December 2, 1995—24 years ago today, the final Southwest Conference football games were played. Texas beat Texas A&M 16-6 to claim the conference championship in the penultimate game, and Houston beat Rice in the last 60 seconds 18-17 in the SWC’s final game, after which the stadium lights were symbolically extinguished. The Southwest Athletic Conference was organized in 1914 and its charter members included UT, A&M, Baylor, the University of Arkansas, the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma A&M, which is now Oklahoma State, Southwestern of Georgetown and Rice. SMU joined in 1918 and TCU was added in 1923. Texas Technological College, now Texas Tech, joined in 1958 and Houston in 1971. Phillips University of Enid, Okla., participated for a single year in 1920. Southwestern dropped out after 1916 and Oklahoma and Oklahoma A&M dropped out in the mid-20s.

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Happy Krampusnacht!! December 5th!!

Every year in early December, children in Austria get ready for St. Nicholas to visit them. If they’ve been good, he’ll reward them with presents and treats. But if they’ve been bad, they’ll get a lot more than a lump of coal—they’ll have to face Krampus. Who’s Krampus, you ask? He’s the half-man, half-goat who comes around every year to chase naughty children and maybe even drag them to hell ! Krampus is one such character who comes from folklore in Austria’s Alpine region, where he’s been frightening children and amusing adults for hundreds of years. Every year on Krampusnacht, December 5th, men dressed as Krampus drink a bunch of alcohol, run through the streets, and frighten children. Often, they chase delinquent children around and hit them with sticks! 

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2 hours ago, markstanco said:

Just popped up on my FB feed....  Today 10 years ago I was at the B12 Championship at Jerryworld and Colt ran for his life but pulled it off.

 

From the next day until now its been really shitty. 

Same here - sat in the nosebleeds. And I also became eligible for Medicare on that same day.

Fuck Nebraska.... and Suh.

Edited by Armybrat
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  • 2 weeks later...

December 17, 1951—68 years ago today—Austin native John Henry Faulk, made his radio debut on WCBS in New York City. The show featured music and political humor as well as audience participation. Faulk, who was already an accomplished storyteller, broke into radio with the help of folklorist Alan Lomax, also an Austin native. His radio career was short-lived, however. It ended in 1957 after a for-profit corporation that investigated the political leanings of entertainers branded him a Communist. Faulk sued the corporation, AWARE, in 1957 and in June 1962 won a $3.5 million judgement, which at the time was the largest libel award in history. He died in 1990 at the age of 76

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  • 2 weeks later...

 December 27, 1836—183 years ago today—Stephen F. Austin died at the age of 43. Shortly before his death he wrote: “The prosperity of Texas has been the object of my labors, the idol of my existence--it has assumed the character of a religion, for the guidance of my thoughts and actions, for fifteen years." Austin took over the colonization scheme of his father, Moses Austin, on the elder Austin’s death and guided the transformation of a rugged wilderness. He was a reluctant supporter of Texas independence, although on October 10, 1835 Austin was appointed temporary commander-in-chief of the volunteer army during the Texas Revolution. He led volunteers gathered at Gonzales against the Mexican Army at San Antonio and the next month the provisional government elected him to serve with two others as a commissioner to the United States. In January 1836 he arrived in New Orleans and then returned to Texas in June. Austin ran for the presidency after his return, was defeated and accepted the post of secretary of state from the winner, Sam Houston, who later delivered Austin’s eulogy, calling him “The Father of Texas.”

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1496 Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tests a flying machine

1521 Martin Luther is excommunicated by Pope Leo X from the Roman Catholic Church for failing to recant parts of his Ninety-five Theses which started the Protestant Reformation

1823 Stephen F. Austin receives a grant of land in Texas from the government of Mexico.

1834 The government of Mexico imprisons Stephen F. Austin in Mexico City.

1870 Construction begins on Brooklyn Bridge in New York; completed May 24, 1883

1925 Benito Mussolini dissolves the Italian parliament and proclaims himself dictator of Italy, taking the title "Il Duce" (the Leader)

1944 World War II: Top Ace Major Greg "Pappy" Boyington is shot down in his Corsair by Captain Masajiro Kawato flying a Zero.

1946 As a reward for his wartime cooperation, Governor Thomas E. Dewey commutes Charles "Lucky" Luciano's pandering sentence on condition that he does not resist deportation to Italy

1959 Alaska admitted as 49th US state

1961 US breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba

1962 Ground is broken for the Houston Astrodome

1962 Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro

1973 A 12-man syndicate led by Michael Burke and George Steinbrenner III buys MLB's New York Yankees from CBS for US$10 million

1977 Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs incorporate Apple Computer, Inc

1983 Dallas running back Tony Dorsett sets NFL record with 99-yard rush in the Cowboys 31-27 defeat at Minnesota Vikings

1988 Margaret Thatcher becomes longest-serving British PM in the 20th Century

2009 The Bitcoin network is created as the first block of the digital currency is mined by a person or group of people using the name Satoshi Nakamoto
 

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January 4, 1923—97 years ago today—WBAP radio in Fort Worth set the standard for country music variety programming, establishing a format subsequently adopted by Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry. The station aired a program peppered with wisecracks, music and colorful country costumes (that listeners, of course, couldn’t see) that featured a fiddler, a square-dance caller and a Confederate veteran. WBAP went on the air in 1922 and has been an innovator in Texas radio. The station’s popular “hayride” program featured a range of performers including the Light Crust Doughboys and crossover musician Al Stricklin who later joined Bob Wills’ band, and WBAP also had its own studio orchestra.

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49 BC Julius Caesar defies the Roman Senate and crosses the Rubicon, uttering "alea iacta est" (the die is cast), signaling the start of civil war which would lead to his appointment as Roman dictator for life

1776 "Common Sense" Pamphlet by Thomas Paine published, advocating American independence

1901 Oil discovered at Spindletop, Beaumont, marking the start of the Texas oil boom

1982 NFC Championship, Candlestick Park, SF: San Francisco 49ers beat Dallas Cowboys, 28-27; "The Catch" - iconic moment in NFL history - Dwight Clark makes fingertip catch for a TD from Joe Montana with 58 seconds remaining; SF goes on to win Super Bowl

 

 

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1514 Pope Leo X issues a papal bull against slavery.

1784 US Revolutionary War ends with the US Congress of the Confederation ratifying the Treaty of Paris

1943 World War II: Franklin D. Roosevelt travels from Miami to Casablanca to meet with Winston Churchill, becoming the first American president to travel by airplane

1994 The Duchess of Kent converts to Catholicism, the first member of the Royal Family to do so in more than 300 years

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1917 "Zimmermann Telegram" is sent from Germany to Mexico, stating in the event of the US entering World War I on the allied side, Mexico would be given Texas, Arizona and New Mexico. Intercepted by British intelligence and partially deciphered by the next day. It's release in March shifts US public opinion in favor of war against Germany.

1919 The 18th Amendment to the US Constitution, authorizing the prohibition of alcohol, is ratified by a majority of US states

1951 World's largest gas pipeline opens (Brownsville Texas, to 134th St, New York City)

1962 Shooting begins on "Dr No" the first James Bond film

1976 Peter Frampton released platinum live album "Frampton Comes Alive"

2003 The Space Shuttle Columbia takes off for mission STS-107 which would be its final one. Columbia disintegrates 16 days later on re-entry.

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1942 Nazi officials hold notorious Wannsee Conference in Berlin to organize the "final solution", the extermination of Europe's Jews.  HBO/BBC made a very good movie about the conference starring Kenneth Branagh as SS General Heydrich and Stanley Tucci as Lt. Eichmann.  When Heydrich was later assassinated by some Czechs with links to Lidice and Lezaky the nazis razed those towns.  All males over 16 were killed and most women and children were sent to concentration camps and killed.
 

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1942 Nazi officials hold notorious Wannsee Conference in Berlin to organize the "final solution", the extermination of Europe's Jews.  HBO/BBC made a very good movie about the conference starring Kenneth Branagh as SS General Heydrich and Stanley Tucci as Lt. Eichmann.  When Heydrich was later assassinated by some Czechs with links to Lidice and Lezaky the nazis razed those towns.  All males over 16 were killed and most women and children were sent to concentration camps and killed.
 

Floated on a boat by that house on a beautiful summer day last year. People having a nice day on the lake, eating strawberries and sipping our drinks...and there’s the house where unspeakable evil was hatched. It’s jarring as shit.
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January 22, 1883—137 years ago today--the Texas Fifty Cent Act was repealed. The act, which Gov. Oran M. Roberts advocated, was passed in July 1879 and provided for the sale of state land at 50 cents an acre, half of which was to be used to reduce public debt and half to establish a permanent school fund. The state sold about 3.2 million acres for a total of about $1.6 million, but the act was repealed because of fraudulent land speculation.

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1587 Queen Elizabeth I of England signs death warrant for her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots

1861 Texas secedes from the Union

1933 German Parliament is dissolved by President Paul von Hindenburg by the request of new chancellor Adolf Hitler

1953 Flooding in Netherlands kills 1,835

2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates during reentry into the Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard.


 

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1690 - Massachusetts issues the first paper money in the American colonies.

 

1913 - The Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, granting Congress the authority to levy income taxes.

 

1959 - Rock and roll artists Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson were killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, together with pilot Roger Peterson.

 

1995 - Astronaut Eileen Collins became the first woman to pilot a space shuttle, the Discovery.

 

 

 

 

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1690 - Massachusetts issues the first paper money in the American colonies.
 
1913 - The Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, granting Congress the authority to levy income taxes.
 
1959 - Rock and roll artists Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson were killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, together with pilot Roger Peterson.
 
1995 - Astronaut Eileen Collins became the first woman to pilot a space shuttle, the Discovery.
 
 
 
 

The day the music died.
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February 6, 1931—89 years ago today—TV and film actor Rip Torn was born Elmore Rual Torn, Jr. in Temple (the name “Rip” had been given to men of the Torn family for several generations). He grew up in Taylor, attended Texas A&M, graduated from the University of Texas, and then moved to Hollywood. He has a list of stage, screen and television credits including the role of Artie on the comedy series “The Larry Sanders Show” for which he received six consecutive Emmy nominations, winning the Emmy for Best Supporting Actor in a comedy series in 1996. He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the 1983 film “Cross Creek.” He later made headlines for the wrong reasons. In December 2010 Torn pleaded guilty to charges stemming from allegations he broke into a Connecticut bank while drunk and armed after police found him inside the Litchfield Bancorp in Litchfield, Conn., with a loaded revolver. Police said he broke into the bank, thinking it was his home in Salisbury, Conn. He received a 2 1/2-year suspended sentence and three years of probation the conditions of which included a ban on firearm possession and random drug and alcohol tests. He died in July 2019 at the age of 88.

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1952 Queen Elizabeth II succeeds King George VI to the British throne and proclaimed Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms including Canada, Australia and New Zealand

2012 Queen Elizabeth II marks the 60th anniversary of becoming British monarch, becoming only the second to do so

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