Today in History...

[LongestHorn 759]

[Stoogey 219]

1 hour ago, LongestHorn said:

September 2, 1945. Japanese representatives signed the surrender.

[LongestHorn 759]

forgive me, gentlemen

[Catdaddyhorn 3446]

 

[El Diablo 4232]

August 15th 1935, humorist Will Rogers and aviator Wiley Post were killed when their airplane crashed near Point Barrow in the Alaska Territory.

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

August 15th is Gwangbokjeol (“Restoration of Light Day”) in South Korea. 

It is the Korean Independence Day; August 15th is VJ day (“Victory over Japan Day”) , which in 1945 marked the end of Japanese colonial rule over Korea; three years later, on August 15, 1948, North and South Korea were officially divided. 

Gwangbokjeol is the South Korean public holiday marking the event; it includes official ceremonies either at Independence Hall in Cheonan, or at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts. The government traditionally issues special pardons on this day, which formed the plot twist in a famous South Korean comedy, “Jail Breakers” (Korean title “Gwangbokjeol Teuksa”) where two co-conspirators bust out of prison, only to discover that they had actually been on the special pardon list.

[Stoogey 219]

薩英戦争 (Satsuma War) AKA Bombardment of Kagoshima. August 15 - 17, 1863. 

The British demanded  £100,000 for the Namamugi  Outrage, in which Charles Lennox Richardson was killed for not showing the proper respect to the Japanese regent. The shogun was in Kyoto; the bakufu (Tokugawa shogunate administrators) paid the British but Satsuma Province refused to apologize by executing the two samurai and paying a £25,000 compensation to Richardson's survivors. The reasoning was the Unequal Treaties. An example is white people behaving as they pleased without obeying Japanese law and custom which caused a growing anti-foreigner sentiment. Emperor Komei decreed the "Order to expel barbarians". 

After months of stalled "negotiations", British warships sailed from Yokohama Bay into Kagoshima Harbor. To teach the Japanese a lesson, they pirated several commercial steamships (which they burned to the waterline - pissing off the British sailors as they wouldn't have a share in the plundered prize money).



Meanwhile, Satsuma Province had enough of the British shit . The city was evacuated and shore batteries began firing on the ships. Suffering heavy losses, the British left.

It is curious how often American and European powers resorted to naval and military action against foreign cities and fortresses if things didn't go their way.  

[Gil Bang 25978]

 

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

August 16th is Xicolatada, a festival from the village of Palau-de-Cerdagne in Languedoc-Roussillon (that’s in France, y’all), where for over 300 years on this date the Mestres Xicolaters (“Master Chocolatiers”) ladle out hot chocolate at precisely 11:00 a.m. 

Quaint custom, but with a seedy origin – August 15th used to be a feast day in all of Catalonia; hot chocolate was originally distributed on August 16th as a hangover cure. Still, even though it’s the middle of August, it seems to me that any excuse to drink hot chocolate is a sufficient excuse to drink hot chocolate.

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

August 17th was, in ancient Rome, the Portumnalia, festival of the god Portunes, god of keys, doors and livestock. 

As could be imagined, the Romans had an elaborate ritual for even this minor deity – keys were thrown into a fire in a solemn (if somewhat uninteresting – okay, boring) processional. 

Portunes shared many characteristics with Janus (sometimes conflated with Quirinus)… all three deities were essentially associated with decisions that affect one’s fortune. We get “importune” and “opportunity” from Portunes for this very reason. 

The Temple of Portunus in Rome is often erroneously called the Temple of Fortuna Virilis (“manly fortune”) and in antiquity it overlooked the site of Port Tiberinus at a sharp bend in the Tiber river where cattle barges entered the city from Ostia.

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

August 18th is Long Tan day in Australia, commemorating the Battle of Long Tan in 1966. The battle took place on a rubber plantation near Long Tan, in Phuoc Tuy Province, South Vietnam.

A grand example of the insanity of collective responses to war, both sides claimed Long Tan as a major victory; in Australian eyes, the fact that a force of only the 108 men in D Company, 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, managed to fend off an attack by 1,500 to 2,500 Viet Cong 275th Regiment troops was equivalent to one of the greatest military feats in history. 

For the Viet Cong, the number of casualties was far lower than feared… and their strategic objectives were advanced by stretching invading forces further than they originally intended, or could afford to sustain. 

Reinforcing D Company halted any VC advance… but it also drained Australia’s ability to continue their effective presence in the war, and in many ways changed Australian foreign policy forever. The 60,000 Australians who served tours in Vietnam up until 1973 represented the last time Australia would engage in interventionist efforts in Southeast Asia. 

Long Tan was merely one of any number of pyrrhic tactical victories by forces opposing the VC from the 1940s all the way up to their final strategic victory in 1975.

[El Diablo 4232]

August 20th, 1986, postal employee Patrick Henry Sherrill went on a deadly rampage at a post office in Edmond, Okla., shooting 14 fellow workers to death before killing himself

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

August 20th is World Mosquito Day, an observance founded by Dr. Sir Ronald Ross, who in 1897 discovered that malaria is transmitted by female mosquitoes to humans. 

While not a big party worldwide (some might even say the holiday sucks, though we would never stoop so low), the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine annually hosts parties for students and faculty, and gives exhibitions and demonstrations to the general public. 

Malaria is not as big a problem in the developed world as it once was, but it continues to be a plague in many places where preventative treatments are too costly to implement. There is no vaccine for malaria, and while it is not as frequently deadly (by percentages) as it used to be, prevention is still the best way to deal with the disease. 

In 2010, the World Health Organization estimates that there were 219 million documented cases of malaria worldwide (with Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Central America being hardest hit). Mosquito netting and ongoing research into effective mosquito repellant compounds are the most promising low-cost measures.

[Doc Reeves 6434]

1882 - the “1812 Overture” Premieres in Moscow 

1858 - Charles Darwin’s theory is published in a London Science Journal

1804- The Lewis & Clark Expedition loses it only casualty.  Charles Floyd dies of appendictis.

1920 -NFL was founded

1940 - Under order from Stalin, Leon Trotsky is attacked and fatally wounded by an ice axe in Mexico City. He dies the next day.

1000- The Foundation of the Hungarian State, Hungary, as a Christian Kingdom by Stephen I of Hungary.

 

Birthdays🎂...Its also Demi Lovatos, UT BB alum CoryJoseph, Rachel Leah, James Garfield’s, Amy Adam’s, big Mo’s, Fred Dursts, Al Roker’s, Robert Plant’s, Connie Chung’s, Issac Hayes’s, Ron Paul’s, Don Kings, Salvatore Quasimodo’s, President Benjamin Harrison’s birthday today 

 

[Doc Reeves 6434]

1911 - the Mona Lisa was stolen by a Louvre employee 

1992- Ruby Ridge Stand-off begins

1961- Motown releases what would become its first #1 hit “Hey Mr Postman”

1883- an F5 Tornado hits Rocheste, MN. This disaster lead to the foundation of the Mayo Clinic.

1878- American Bar Ass. Was founded.

1770-  James Cook claims Australia for Britain.

 

 

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

August 21st is the anniversary of the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 (also known as “Popé’s Rebellion”).

The Pueblo Revolt was the natural result of the occupation of roughly 40,000 Pueblo people by Juan de Oñate and about 140 Spanish land-thieves in 1598. The series of waves of soldiers who colonized the region by force were known as “Entradas” – eventually, a Pueblo leader from San Juan (a town known in Pueblo as “Ohkay Owingeh”) named Popé said “enough’s enough” and fought back effectively.

In 1680, the Spaniards were simply overwhelmed; numbering roughly 2,400 (many of whom were mestizos), most of the Spaniards survived and were allowed to flee the territory. The Pueblo were not known for political unity, however, and in Popé’s absence over the next few decades, the Spanish were able to easily reconquer modern day New Mexico.

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

On August 22nd, 564 C.E., St. Columba reportedly “banished a ferocious water beast to the depths of River Ness” after it had killed a Pict and then attacked Columba’s disciple. 

This earliest reported sighting of Nessie appears in the “Life of St. Columba” written by St. Adomnán of Iona. Columba happened upon a group of Picts who were burying their slain companion; after hearing their story, he surprised the Picts by sending his acolyte (with the unlikely name of Luigne moccu Min) to swim across the river; the beast came after him, but Columba made the sign of the Cross and commanded “Go no further, do not touch this man; return at once.” 

Hey, a little cryptozoology and religious mysticism mixed together just as nicely then as they do now. Too bad TMZ wasn’t on hand to get the video. Well, TMZ or the History Channel. Same thing, these days. Anyway, happy birthday to the myth of the Loch Ness Monster.

[El Diablo 4232]

On August 22, 1920—98 years ago today—heart surgeon Dr. Denton Cooley was born in Houston. On May 3, 1968 Cooley performed the first successful human heart transplant in the United States on Everett Thomas at St. Luke’s Hospital in Houston. Thomas lived for 204 days with the heart donated from a 15-year-old girl. The next year Cooley became the first heart surgeon to implant an artificial heart in a man. Cooley died on Nov. 18, 2016 in Houston

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

August 24th is La Noche de la Nostalgia. Every dance club, radio station, and public event in Uruguay is culturally obligated to play “oldies” on this date. 

It’s hard to imagine debating such a topic, but… the origins of “Nostalgia Night” are disputed. Regardless of whose idea it was (though the most accepted claim is that of José Fernández, owner of the Disco Ton Ton Metek), in the years since the first Noche de la Nostalgia in 1978, the event has become successful enough to be officially decreed throughout Uruguay by the Ministry of Tourism. (I wonder how ‘Stayin’ Alive’ sounds on the Andean pan flute…?)

[El Diablo 4232]

On August 24, 1854, the postmaster of Brushy Creek just north of Austin decided to rename the town after a large rock from which he liked to fish. Brushy Creek, of course, is now known as Round Rock, a thriving Austin suburb

[Trey3216 15349]

2 hours ago, El Diablo said:

On August 24, 1854, the postmaster of Brushy Creek just north of Austin decided to rename the town after a large rock from which he liked to fish. Brushy Creek, of course, is now known as Round Rock, a thriving Austin suburb

They were very creative 

[El Diablo 4232]

7 minutes ago, Trey3216 said:

They were very creative 

Simpler times my man, simper times.

[LongestHorn 759]

British troops ordered to burn down our Library of Congress in 1814.  Fucking assholes.

[Parliament 14262]

Forty years after we broke up with them?  Guys, let it go.  We aren't getting back together.

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

16 minutes ago, Parliament said:

Forty years after we broke up with them?  Guys, let it go.  We aren't getting back together.

They just wanted to destroy all evidence of those sappy, forlorn love letters they foolishly sent.

[Rip76 4944]

August 25th, 2017

Last shot of Harvey before nightfall.

[elfenix 34326]

on this day 60 years ago the first instant ramen, nissin chikin ramen, was released to the public.

ironically, at that time instant ramen was a luxury item, costing 6x what fresh ramen noodles were sold for in stores.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissin_Chikin_Ramen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant_noodle

[Jameslaw121 4448]

100 Years ago today - Leonard Bernstein was born - probably America's greatest classical composer 

Edited August 25, 2018 by Jameslaw121

[DoobieWah 1448]

On 8/22/2018 at 7:36 AM, El Diablo said:

On August 22, 1920—98 years ago today—heart surgeon Dr. Denton Cooley was born in Houston. On May 3, 1968 Cooley performed the first successful human heart transplant in the United States on Everett Thomas at St. Luke’s Hospital in Houston. Thomas lived for 204 days with the heart donated from a 15-year-old girl. The next year Cooley became the first heart surgeon to implant an artificial heart in a man. Cooley died on Nov. 18, 2016 in Houston

 

You might at least have mentioned he played basketball for The University of Texas. It's sorta relevant for this board anyway.

[LongestHorn 759]

1883 Krakatoa explodes breaking the eardrums of sailors 10 miles away and can be heard 3000 miles away. 

Edited August 26, 2018 by LongestHorn

[Stoogey 219]

1 hour ago, LongestHorn said:

1883 Krakatoa explodes breaking the eardrums of sailors 10 miles away and can be heard 3000 miles away. 

Krakatoa is west of Java.

[HenryJames 66133]

 

[Stoogey 219]

At this time in 1990, Texan blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan died when his helicopter crashed into a ski hill at Alpine Valley Resort after a concert with Eric Clapton at the Alpine Valley amphitheater in East Troy, Wisconsin.


 

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

August 28th is the birthday of Scientific American.  The first issue rolled out on this date in 1845.  For the past 173 years, active researchers have presented their findings with careful attention to clarity of text designed for consumption by the general public.  For over a century and a half, numerous writers (including Albert Einstein, Martin Gardner, Douglas Hofstadter, Michael Shermer, and many, many more) have made the education of the public in scientific affairs a pleasurable priority.  Happy Birthday, Sci-Am!

[Doc Reeves 6434]

1963- The March on Freedom was held in Washington DC where MLK gives his “I have a dream” speech.

1964- Philly race riot begins 

1968- riots at the democratic National convention in Chicago

1898- Caleb Bradham invents what later will become Pepsi

 

[shakahorn 1645]

On 8/26/2018 at 11:45 PM, Stoogey said:

At this time in 1990, Texan blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan died when his helicopter crashed into a ski hill at Alpine Valley Resort after a concert with Eric Clapton at the Alpine Valley amphitheater in East Troy, Wisconsin.


 

I remember that day.  Thought I heard it on the radio but wasn't sure.  Asked the girl I was dating "did they just say Stevie Ray Vaughan died?"  Her: "yeah, why?"

Nailed her one last time then cut her loose.

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

30 minutes ago, shakahorn said:

I remember that day.  Thought I heard it on the radio but wasn't sure.  Asked the girl I was dating "did they just say Stevie Ray Vaughan died?"  Her: "yeah, why?"

Nailed her one last time then cut her loose.

Similar experience. My then-girlfriend was the one who told me about it. She was insufficiently broken up about it. We didn't last much longer than that.

[Doc Reeves 6434]

1918- Fanni Kaplan shoots Vladimir Lenin in an attempted assassination. He survives but never fully recovers allowing Stalin to take control of the Party from him.

1836 - City of Houston founded

30 BC- Cleopatra comits suicide

1835 - city of Melbourne founded

 

 

Edited August 30, 2018 by Doc Reeves

[Doc Reeves 6434]

1888-  Jack the Ripper murders his first victim Mary Ann Nichols in Whitechaple, London. 

1864- Sherman begins he assault on Atlanta

1997- Princess Diana is killed in a car accident in Paris.

Edited August 31, 2018 by Doc Reeves

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

August 31st is Independence Day for Kyrgyzstan (separated from the Soviet Union in 1991), Malaya (separated from the United Kingdom in 1957) and Trinidad and Tobago (also separated from the United Kingdom, in 1962).

On August 19, 1991, when communists lost power in Moscow, there was a failed coup attempt against the regional government in Kyrgyzstan. After the coup collapsed the Kyrgyzstani president and vice president announced their resignations from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), and the entire bureau and secretariat resigned. This was followed by the Supreme Soviet vote declaring independence from the Soviet Union on August 31, 1991 as the Republic of Kyrgyzstan.

In Malaysia, independence from Britain was more or less a pro forma event -- in 1957, the Federation of Malaya was under British colonial rule, and the British were actively seeking a way out of responsibility for the region. Malaysia actually recognizes two national founding days (August 31st, when Britain turned over authority to the Federation of Malaya; and September 16th, the anniversary of the 1963 formation of 'Malaysia' out of the previously independent states of Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore).

Trinidad and Tobago are twin islands off the northern edge of South America, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela, and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles. Birthplace of steelpah, limbo, calypso, soca and chutney music, the colorful patois of Trinidad and Tobago reflects the multitude of influences on this small nation -- originally a Spanish colony, Tobago changed hands frequently amongst Spanish, British, French, Dutch and Courlander colonizers. Under the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, England got dominance, and retained it until in 1962, control was ceded peacefully by Britain to the locals.

[HenryJames 66133]

 

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

September 4th, 1666 was the worst night of the Great Fire of London, which swept through central London from Sunday, September 2nd through Wednesday, September 6th. 

The fire gutted everything inside the old Roman city wall which encircled the historic City of London (London, like New York, can be thought of as a series of boroughs; the "City of London" is the city center, with numerous cities/boroughs built up outside the walls of the city center). 

A bakery on Pudding Lane was the epicenter of the fire; the major firefighting tool at the time was the creation of firebreaks (gaps between one line of flammable materials and the next -- ie... pulling down houses entire blocks at a time so they won't catch fire). 

Immediate action on September 2nd to pull down houses around Pudding Lane might have prevented more damage, but Sir Thomas Bloodworth (Lord Mayor of London) muddled about and delayed giving the order; chaos, riots, lynching of homeless, false rumors of war and invasion all broke out, and by September 4th, it was clear that the only way the fire would end would be once it burned everything inside the stone walls of the city. 

Amazingly, only 6 people are confirmed to have died in the flames, though over 10,000 buildings (including St. Paul's Cathedral) were destroyed. The death toll was undoubtedly higher than that, but who counts the poor?

[HenryJames 66133]

 

[elfenix 34326]

1995 - Cal Ripken broke Gehrig's consecutive games played streak

[Doc Reeves 6434]

1901 - Leon Czolgosz an unemployed anarchist assassinates President William McKinley at the Pan American Expo in Buffalo, NY. 

[El Diablo 4232]

1972, the International Olympic Committee banned Vince Matthews and Wayne Collett of the U.S. from further competition for talking to each other on the victory stand in Munich during the playing of the "Star-Spangled Banner" after winning the gold and silver medals in the 400-meter run.

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

2 minutes ago, El Diablo said:

1972, the International Olympic Committee banned Vince Matthews and Wayne Collett of the U.S. from further competition for talking to each other on the victory stand in Munich during the playing of the "Star-Spangled Banner" after winning the gold and silver medals in the 400-meter run.

Fuckers were probably chewing gum as well.

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

September 7th is Dia da Independência, more commonly referred to as Sete de Setembro, marking Brazil's independence from Portugal in 1822. 

Brazil's story of independence is in many ways unique, being an entirely political rather than military affair. In 1808, Napolean sent troops to Portugal in retaliation for Portuguese neutrality (really? Vengeance on the neutral? Talk about a Napolean complex...) which forced the Portuguese royalty to flee. As a consequence, they transferred the Portuguese capital from Lisbon on one side of the Atlantic to Rio de Janeiro on the other. 

In 1815, the Portuguese Prince Regent John VI elevated Brazil from colony to "The United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves" making Brazil, in effect, a new Kingdom subordinate to the Portuguese crown. In 1820, political machinations back home in Europe forced the royal family to return; John VI's heir, Pedro, Prince of Brazil, remained in Rio de Janeiro. 

Then things got busy: in 1821, the Portuguese Assembly demanded that Brazil be stripped of its status as a Kingdom and returned to colonial rule; Prince Pedro, however, was advised by the Senado de Câmara (the Brazilian Senate) that it would be a bad idea to try a take-back; January 9, 1822 became known as Dia do Fico ("I'll Stay Day") when Pedro said thanks but no thanks to an order to be recalled to Portugal. 

On September 2, 1822, a decree with Lisbon's demands to return Brazil to colonial status arrived in Rio de Janeiro while Pedro was in São Paulo; Princess Maria Leopoldina (acting in her husband's place) advised the Council of Ministers to craft a letter to Pedro advising that Brazil, instead of being made colony again, be granted independence. Pedro got the letter on September 7th, and that same day made the declaration in a famous scene along the Ipiranga River, ending 322 years of Portuguese colonial dominance over Brazil.

[El Diablo 4232]

2 hours ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

Fuckers were probably chewing gum as well.

And didn't bring enough for everyone.

What's considered proper decorum has certainly changed over the years. Maroney becomes a meme, these guys not so much.

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

On September 8, 1504 C.E., Michelangelo's David was unveiled in Florence. David was a favored theme of Florentine art in the 15th and 16th centuries, symbolizing defense of civil liberties embodied in the Republic of Florence, which was an independent city-state surrounded by powerful rival states, and besieged by political hegemony from the Medici clan, a group on whom you would never want to turn your back, for any length of time, for any reason. 

Michelangelo worked on the statue of David from 1501 thru 1504, but the commission for the piece was actually part of an order from the Arte della Lana for twelve large Old Testament sculptures in 1410; Donatello's Joshua was the first of the 12 to be completed, followed by Agostino di Duccio's Hercules in 1463. Agostino was then contracted in 1464 to do the David piece, but for some reason, he quit the project shortly after starting on the legs. 

Antonio Rossellino was then commissioned... and then fired. The piece sat until an inventory in 1500 convinced the Operai (owners of the chunk of marble with a couple of legs sticking out the bottom) that a new artist must be found. Enter Michelangelo, and the completion of the iconic piece. And it has been causing school-aged art museum visitors to giggle ever since.