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Illjwamh

This Day In History

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49 minutes ago, Scotty said:

There's also the fact that just north of Washington is British Columbia, so..... yeah.

Also: the southernmost significant city in Washington is Vancouver. The southernmost significant city directly north of Washington is Vancouver.

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6 hours ago, Scotty said:

There's also the fact that just north of Washington is British Columbia, so..... yeah.

It's called that because the whole area was once called Columbia (hence why they were considering it as the name for the state), and BC was meant to denote that that part belonged to Britain, i.e. "The part of Columbia that is British".

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12 November

954 – The 13-year-old Lothair III is crowned at the Abbey of Saint-Remi as king of the West Frankish Kingdom.  Just because the kid has a lot of hair, you aren't required to make it his name.  We don't call the Duke of Cambridge "Prince Prematurely Balding".

1439 – Plymouth becomes the first town incorporated by the English Parliament.  Sounds like Parliament is taking their authority out for a test drive.

1893 – The Durand Line is established as the boundary between British India and Afghanistan, by a memorandum of understanding signed by Sir Mortimer Durand, Foreign Secretary of British India, and Abdur Rahman Khan, Amir of Afghanistan.  In simpler terms, the British diplomat scratches a line on the map and the local ruler agrees that the British line is fair.

1905 – Norway holds a referendum resulting in popular approval of the Storting's decision to authorise the government to make the offer of the throne of the newly-independent country.  Norway, do you really want a King?   Or are you just doing this to keep up with the neighbors?

1927 – Snowball Leon Trotsky is expelled from Animal Farm the Soviet Communist Party, leaving Comrade Napoleon Joseph Stalin in undisputed control.

1940 – World War II: Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov arrives in Berlin to discuss the possibility of the Soviet Union joining the Axis Powers.  No.  Please, no.

1941 – World War II: Temperatures around Moscow drop to -12 °C as the Soviet Union launches ski troops for the first time against the freezing German forces near the city.  A tip for everyone still thinking about invading Russia.  Don't.  Russia is large and populous enough that no matter when you start, you will not be done by winter.  And Russians know how to survive and thrive their in native winter with ways your tropically tanned brain can not comprehend.

1970 – The Oregon Highway Division attempts to destroy a rotting beached Sperm whale with explosives, leading to the now infamous "exploding whale" incident.  The explosives expert in charge ordered twenty cases  of dynamite.  Another expert insisted they only needed twenty sticks.  In the analysis of Wikipedia, "The dynamiting of this whale carcass did not go as planned."

2001 – In New York City, American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300 en route to the Dominican Republic, crashes minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing all 260 on board and five on the ground.  It says a lot about America's state of mind at the time when we were relieved that this tragedy was due to pilot error and mechanical failure.

Also, 12 November is World Pneumonia Day.  Nothing to sneeze at.

Edited by Pharaoh RutinTutin
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13 November

1002 – English king Æthelred II orders the killing of all Danes in England, known today as the St. Brice's Day massacre.  Æthelred was convinced that his kingdom would be overthrown by Danes.  So he orders the massacre which results in several Danes being killed in England.  This was followed by the 1003 invasion by Danish King Sweyn Forkbeard.  That led to Sweyn's son Cnut becoming King of England, Denmark, and Norway with additional claims and influence in Sweden and Ireland.  So good job Æthelred.  You turned Saxon fears of Vikings into a Greek tragedy.

1160 – Louis VII of France marries Adela of Champagne.  Champagne would become a fixture at weddings.

1642 – First English Civil War: Battle of Turnham Green: The Royalist forces withdraw in the face of the Parliamentarian army and fail to take London.  Parliamentary forces knew that members of Parliament needed to gather in London to do the work of the Government, so they had to defend London.  Royalist forces knew that the King could hold court wherever he was at the time, so they did not desperately need to take London.

1851 – The Denny Party lands at Alki Point, before moving to the other side of Elliott Bay to what would become Seattle.  You'll want to know this when a child asks that awkward question, "Where does canned salmon come from?"

1927 – The Holland Tunnel opens to traffic as the first Hudson River vehicle tunnel linking New Jersey to New York City.  But that should be the Manhattan Tunnel or the Jersey City Tunnel.  The Holland Tunnel is supposed to go to Holland.  Right?

1940 – Walt Disney's animated musical film Fantasia is first released, on the first night of a roadshow at New York's Broadway Theatre.  Most movie theatres in North America are not equipped to deliver the advanced audio quality of the film.  The War keep the film from being shown in Europe for several years.  And gratuitously racist gags in the Pastoral Symphony section are edited out of early re-releases of the film, leading to complaints about how Disney is giving in to the bleeding heart liberals.

1947 – In the Soviet Union, Mikhail Kalashnikov completes development of the AK-47, one of the first proper assault rifles.  Much like the Shark or the Crocodile or Idiot-from-Florida jokes, sometimes the early form proves to be effective and enduring across many generations.

1974 – Ronald DeFeo, Jr. murders his entire family in Amityville, Long Island.  This was a tragedy by itself.  The liberties taken by book and, even more so, the movies supposedly based on this event are the greater horror.

Also, 13 November is World Kindness Day.  So be kind... OR ELSE!!!

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14 November

1770 – James Bruce discovers the source of the Blue Nile in Ethiopia.  At the time he believes to be the source of the Nile.  Turns out that the White Nile from Lake Victoria is closer to the true source, but the most distant headwaters of Lake Victoria are still disputed.  Because he wouldn't really be a part of the great tradition of European discovery if he didn't get something wrong.

1851 – Moby-Dick, a novel by Herman Melville, is published in the USA.  That was one whale of a book.

1886 – Friedrich Soennecken first developed the hole puncher, a type of office tool capable of punching small holes in paper.  How did we ever create binding paperwork in the days before we could bind our paperwork?

1889 – Pioneering female journalist Nellie Bly (aka Elizabeth Cochrane) begins a successful attempt to travel around the world in less than 80 days. She completes the trip in 72 days.  A living woman does the job in ten percent less time than a fictional man, and yet the fictional man is the one remembered.

1910 – Aviator Eugene Burton Ely performs the first takeoff from a ship in Hampton Roads, Virginia. He took off from a makeshift deck on the USS Birmingham in a Curtiss pusher.  An aero plane launched from a ship?  What possible practical use could that be?

1918 – Czechoslovakia becomes a republic.  Now that it is free of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it is sure to be a stable and independent state with the Czech and Slovak people coexisting peacefully without foreign domination.

1922 – The British Broadcasting Company begins radio service in the United Kingdom.  Their biggest concerns being that British Post Office and News Papers should not lose their monopoly on communications and that radio in the UK should not resemble the system growing in fits and starts in the USA.  Mistakes would be made, lessons would be learned, and the British Broadcasting Corporation would go on the air in 1927.

1948 – Birth of His Royal Highness Prince Charles Philip Arthur George, Prince of Wales, KG, KT, GCB, OM, AK, QSO, PC, ADC, Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland.  Or as he is known by the Inuktitut language in the Canadian Territory of Nunavut, Attaniout Ikeneego.  This officially translates as "Heir Apparent", but is more accurately "The Son of the Big Boss".

1952 – The first regular UK Singles Chart published by the New Musical Express.  Because we need big business telling us which artistic expression we most enjoy.

1957 – The "Apalachin Meeting" in rural Tioga County in upstate New York is raided by law enforcement; many high level Mafia figures are arrested while trying to flee.  So with the police doing the dirty work, a lot of low level operators in the syndicate were able to seize high level positions in organized crime.

1960 – Ruby Bridges becomes the first black child to attend an all-white elementary school in Louisiana
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ed/The-problem-we-all-live-with-norman-rockwell.jpg
Yes, this really happened in America, and not that long ago.

1967 – American physicist Theodore Maiman is given a patent for his ruby laser systems, the world's first laser.  Because the military is so convinced that the laser itself is a weapon, laser-based technologies like printers, scanners, pointers, laser disks, and digital video are delayed about twenty years.

1975 – With the signing of the Madrid Accords, Spain abandons Western Sahara.  This peacefully leads to the Civil Government of...  of...  of...   People, it has been over forty years.  Can't someone form a government that is acceptable to the locals, the neighbors, and the international community?

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Regarding the 14 November entry for 1960
Yes, I have edited that line more that once in less than an hour after posting.
I needed to include the Ruby Bridges story.  But every comment I tried to make just came out worse.  So I left it with just the Rockwell painting.

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32 minutes ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Regarding the 14 November entry for 1960
Yes, I have edited that line more that once in less than an hour after posting.
I needed to include the Ruby Bridges story.  But every comment I tried to make just came out worse.  So I left it with just the Rockwell painting.

Sometimes reality is so absurd that it's really hard to parody.

In fact I consider this the norm for the "leadership" of a certain political party (which I won't identify because this ain't the place for it).

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On November 15 in History:

459 - Mayan king of Palenque, B'utz Aj Sak Chiik, is born. He is also known as Manik, so I'm going to go ahead and call him that.

565 - Justin II succeeds as Byzantine Emperor his uncle Justinian I, who had succeeded his own uncle Justin I, this perpetuating the eternal monarchical tradition of being completely unimaginative when it comes to names.

655 - Oswiu of Northumbria defeats Penda of Mercia at the Battle of the Winwæd, putting an end to pagan kingdoms in the British Isles for good. "You don't say," remark the vikings.

1532 - Incan emperor Atahualpa is met by some weird-looking foreign guy named Hernando de Soto outside the city of Cajamarca. They arrange a more formal meeting with de Soto's boss, Pizarro, in the city plaza for the following day. If he plays his cards right, there's a lot he and his empire can gain from this.

1533 - Francisco Pizarro - why does that name ring a bell? - shows up in the Incan capital, Cuzco. Wonder what he wants.

1777 - The Continental Congress approves the Articles of Confederation, the most flawless and foolproof method for governing a burgeoning republic ever devised.

1864 - William Tecumseh Sherman sets out for the beach with 60,000 of his friends.

1882 - Future U.S. Supreme Court justice and co-founder of the ACLU Felix Frankfurter is born. Upon hearing he has a son, his excited father exclaims, "Hot dog!"

1889 - Brazil's Emperor Pedro II is replaced with what will become the country's most preferred form of government, the military coup.

1920 - The first assembly of the League of Nations takes place in Geneva on the same day that the Free City of Danzig is established. They're both going to be around for a really long time, so we want to make sure we do things right.

1979 - A package from Ted Kaczynski begins smoking on a flight from Chicago to D.C., forcing it to land. Wait for it...

1983 - The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus declares itself independent. Only Turkey agrees. Weird.

1985 - A package from Ted Kaczynski explodes and injures a research assistant at the University of Michigan, allowing the FBI to add "un" to his coded designation upgrading it from the otherwise unimaginative "A bomber".

1990 - The People's Republic of Bulgaria is replaced by the Actual Republic of Bulgaria.

2012 - Winnie the Pooh becomes General Secretary of China's Communist Party.

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16 November

534 – Justinian I, who was an Eastern Roman (Byzantine) emperor in Constantinople, approves and publishes the second and final revision of the Codex Justinianus.  Because it seems that there are people who will obey the law, if they know what law actually says.  Who knew?

1272 – While travelling during the Ninth Crusade, Prince Edward becomes King of England upon Henry III of England's death, but he will not return to England for nearly two years to assume the throne.  Because a futile and symbolic military action is far more important that actually administrating a country.

1491 – An auto-da-fé, held in the Brasero de la Dehesa outside of Ávila, concludes the case of the Holy Child of La Guardia with the public execution of several Jewish and converso suspects.  So the heretics are tortured and humiliated until their guilty souls are purified, and then they are killed so that they can not sin again.

1532 – Francisco Pizarro and his men capture Inca Emperor Atahualpa at the Battle of Cajamarca.  This story would be repeated a few more times across the Americas.

1907 – Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory join to form Oklahoma, which is admitted as the 46th U.S. state.  This would remain an obscure trivia item until 1943 when composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II would add an exclamation point creating Oklahoma!

1920 – Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited (QANTAS) is founded.  Koalas across the continent are outraged.

1974 – The Arecibo message is broadcast from the Arecibo Radio Telescope in Puerto Rico. It was aimed at the current location of the globular star cluster Messier 13 some 25,000 light years away. The message will reach empty space by the time it finally arrives since the cluster will have changed position.  So we did call.   Is it our fault no one will  be home when the message arrives?

1990 – Pop group Milli Vanilli are stripped of their Grammy Award because the duo did not sing at all on the Girl You Know It's True album. Session musicians had provided all the vocals.  You would think that an organization that called itself the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences might have enough technical expertise to detect a fraud before handing out the highest award.

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17 November

1405 – George Takei Sharif ul-Hāshim establishes the Sultanate of Sulu.

1511 – Henry VIII of England concludes the Treaty of Westminster, a pledge of mutual aid against the French, with Ferdinand II of Aragon.  And we can be certain Mr VIII will keep his word to the Catholic monarchs.

1558 – Elizabethan era begins: Queen Mary I of England dies and is succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth I of England.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rBaCp3t5v4

1603 – English explorer, writer and courtier Sir Walter Raleigh goes on trial for treason.  The trial details aren't so important as the overall lesson.  If  you were a good friend of the former monarch, but not friendly with the current monarch, then leave the capital and do not act like you are still in a position of power.  The new monarch is likely to take your presence and pretense as a threat.

 

1777 – Articles of Confederation (United States) are submitted to the states for ratification.  There were no "Make America Great Again" hats and bumper stickers involved in this campaign.  Nope, this was the first attempt to Make America Great.

1800 – The United States Congress holds its first session in Washington, D.C.  Imagine, at one time established cities like New York and Philadelphia wanted to host Congress on a permanent basis.  Now, they and just about every other city is relieved that the government has their own town.

1810 – Sweden declares war on its ally against Napoléon Bonaparte, the United Kingdom, to begin the Anglo-Swedish War, although no fighting ever takes place.  Sweden, stick to fighting Denmark.  Let the Brits and the French fight each other.

1933 – The United States recognizes the Soviet Union.  And we thought the US was doing badly on geography.  Next semester, we'll see if the US can identify Brazil on a map of South America.

1938 – The legend lives on from the Canadians on down of the singer they call Gordon Lightfoot...

1953 – The remaining human inhabitants of the Blasket Islands, Kerry, Ireland, are evacuated to the mainland.  Ireland just couldn't convince enough people to stay and keep Old Ireland alive for the Anthropologists.  Wasn't this the subject of a Gary Larson comic?

1968 – Heidi Bowl.  Viewers of the Raiders–Jets football game in the eastern United States are denied the opportunity to watch its exciting finish when NBC broadcasts Heidi instead, prompting changes to sports broadcasting in the U.S.  To keep it simple, sports now preempt everything else.

1973 – At Walt Disney World's Contemporary Resort Hotel (the one through which the monorail runs) near Orlando, Florida, U.S. President Richard Nixon tells 400 Associated Press managing editors "I am not a crook."  For logistical reasons, the President was unable to gather the reporters for this statement in the more appropriate Fantasy Land.

1978 – No amount of retcons, special editions, or other lies can change this fact.  The Star Wars Holiday Special airs on CBS and CTV, receiving negative reception from critics, fans, and even Star Wars creator George Lucas.  Strong with the Force Bea Arthur is.

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1 hour ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

1968 – Heidi Bowl.  Viewers of the Raiders–Jets football game in the eastern United States are denied the opportunity to watch its exciting finish when NBC broadcasts Heidi instead, prompting changes to sports broadcasting in the U.S.  To keep it simple, sports now preempt everything else.

I'm serious about sports preempting everything.  When Hurricane Irma hit Florida, I spent a few days in a school designated as a shelter.  The first night, the Red Cross tried to issue a 'lights out' order about 10pm.  The school principal intervened. There was a football game being shown on the big screen TV in the cafeteria and the Principal assured everyone that anyone who wanted could keep watching the game.

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18 November

326 – The old St Peter's Basilica is consecrated.  At the time, they just called it St Peter's Basilica. "The Old" part wasn't added until, wait for it...

1247 – According to a 1795 book by Joseph Ritson, this was the day Robin Hood died when he was about 87.  Of course, this scene wasn't in the Errol Flynn movie.

1307 – According to Aegidius Tschudi, writing c. 1570, William Tell shoots an apple off his son's head.  If Tell had been in Britain instead of Switzerland, he could have really messed up Newton's observations.

1626 – The current St Peter's Basilica is consecrated.  Get your tickets now for the 2926 consecration of the third St Peter's Basilica.

1863 – King Christian IX of Denmark (The Father-In-Law of Europe) signs the November constitution that declares Schleswig to be part of Denmark. This is seen by the German Confederation as a violation of the London Protocol and leads to the German–Danish war of 1864.  Annexing a territory may appeal to you as a ruler, the people you currently rule, and maybe even the people in the territory you wish to annex.  But don't do it without the consent (or defeat) of the current ruler of that territory.

1865 – Mark Twain's short story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" is published in the New York Saturday Press.  Quite a way to Jump-Start a literary career.

1883 – American and Canadian railroads institute five standard continental time zones, ending the confusion of thousands of local times.  The ability to tell time by the Sun and stars has been a valuable skill since before the beginning of recorded history.  And now it is useless in a society bound to mechanical clocks.  Progress!

1901 – Britain and the United States sign the Hay–Pauncefote Treaty, which nullifies the Clayton–Bulwer Treaty and withdraws British objections to an American-controlled canal in Panama.  Wait for it...

1903 – The Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty is signed by the United States and Panama, giving the United States exclusive rights over the Panama Canal Zone.  So Panama, America defeated Spain, negotiated with Britain, and "assisted" you in obtaining independence from Columbia.  Now the US wants to effectively own the middle of your new nation.  If you don't agree, to whom are you going to complain?

1905 – Prince Carl of Denmark becomes King Haakon VII of Norway.  See Denmark?  This is what happens if you wait until they ask you.

1928 – Release of the animated short Steamboat Willie, the first fully synchronized sound cartoon, directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, featuring the third appearances of cartoon characters Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse. This is considered by the Disney corporation to be Mickey's birthday.  So what were the two earlier appearances?  Prenatal sonograms?  No, couldn't be.  There wasn't sound with them.

1932 – At the Fifth Academy Awards, Walt Disney receives the first Oscar for the Best Cartoon Short Subject, Flowers and Trees.  He also receives an honorary award for the creation of Mickey Mouse.  I'm starting to suspect that this Mickey Mouse operation is no Mickey Mouse operation.

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19 November

461 – In Rome, St Hilarius becomes Pope following the death of Leo I.  Despite the name, his reign as Pope was not notably funny.

1367 – The Confederation of Cologne is formed as a medieval military alliance against King Waldemar IV of Denmark.  In the opinion of King Waldemar, that Cologne stinks.

1581– Death of Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich.  The cause of death was being attacked by his father three days earlier.  You should probably expect that sort of thing when your father is called "Ivan the Terrible".

1794 – The United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain sign Jay's Treaty, which attempts to resolve some of the lingering problems left over from the American Revolutionary War, including matters of extradition.  A nice attempt, but there are still enough people in power in both countries who will not be satisfied without another war.

1863 – American Civil War: At the dedication ceremony for the military cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address .  Gettysburg National Cemetery  1195 Baltimore Pike, Gettysburg, PA 17325

1944 – World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt announces the 6th War Loan Drive, aimed at selling US$14 billion in war bonds to help pay for the war effort.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh_oc5hQt-A

1959 – The Ford Motor Company announces the discontinuation of the unpopular Edsel.  It wasn't a bad car.  It was just the car that a relatively small number of executives and engineers at Ford wanted to build without considering what the public actually wanted to buy.

1969 – In Hawaii, Pele is the goddess of the Volcano.  In Brazil, Pelé is the god of Football as he scores his 1,000th career goal.

2004 – The Malice at the Palace: At the Palace of Auburn Hills near Detroit, there is the worst brawl in NBA history.  Ron Artest suspended 86 games (rest of season), Stephen Jackson suspended 30 games.  Who would have thought that athletes might get angry when spectators throw garbage at them?

2006 - Nintendo’s first video game console with motion control, the Wii, is released.  Elliot is soon sent to the Scandinavian furniture store to buy a TV stand.

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On Nov. 20 in History:


284 - Lowborn cavalry commander Diocletian looks at the crumbling and chaotic Roman Empire around him and decides that if you want something done right, you’ve got to do it yourself.

869 - King Edmund of East Anglia is shot full of arrows by Ivar the Boneless and his Great Heathen Army, possibly to see if his Christian faith, which he refused to renounce, will save him. It does not.

1407 - Duke John the Fearless of Burgundy signs a truce with Louis of Valois, duke of Orleans (dammit, Europe). Out of respect for this truce, John waits three whole days before assassinating Louis.

1695 - Portuguese colonial authorities execute King Zumbi of Palmares, a breakaway kingdom of escaped African and Afro-Amerindian slaves in Brazil. This will surely put an end to slave rebellions for all time.

1805 - Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio, premiers in Vienna. It is well received, but if you’re wondering if he enjoyed writing it, may I remind you it is Beethoven’s only opera.

1820 - A New England whaling vessel, the Essex, is sunk by an 80 ton sperm whale in the middle of the Pacific, 2,000 miles from the South American coast. Herman Melville is intrigued.

1940 - Hungary signs the Tripartite Pact (Quadpartite?), thereby joining the Axis Powers. This will surely make all the difference.

1947 - Princess Elizabeth of the UK marries Philip Mountbatten, who becomes the Duke of Edinburgh. Only time will tell if they’ll be anything more than a historical footnote.

1962 - JFK cancels the quarantine on Cuba, thus ending the Cuban Missile Crisis, which he will take credit for despite having caused the crisis in the first place. Murica.

1986 - Manga artist Kōhei Horikoshi is born, though sadly without a quirk.

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On Nov. 21 in History:

164 BCE - Judas Maccabeus restores the Temple in Jerusalem, which essentially becomes the first Chanukkah, as everyone knows from the myriad TV specials and nauseatingly prevalent marketing saturation tactics that take place every year.

1386 - Timur of Samarkand (who was not actually from Samarkand) captures and sacks the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. Centuries later, he will become the bane of all who try to play as a Middle Eastern power in the Europa Universalis series.

1620 - Settlers at the Plymouth Colony sign the Mayflower Compact, ensuring - wait, didn't we just do this ten days ago? Damn you, Julian Calendar!!

1789 - North Carolina becomes the 12th state to ratify the Constitution, presumably so the folks in South Carolina won't feel all awkward.

1877 - Thomas Edison reveals his invention of the phonograph, which can both record and play back sound. People in the music industry rail against it, saying it will destroy their livelihoods because no one will want to attend live performances anymore. No, really.

1905 - Albert Einstein publishes a paper concerning energy and mass that eventually leads to a famous equation that everyone knows and nobody understands.

1916 - Titanic sister ship HMHS Britannic hits a mine and sinks in the Aegean Sea. Because it is not the ship's maiden voyage and only 30 people die, no Academy Award statuettes are prepared in advance.

1920 - 31 people are killed during the Irish War for Independence on what comes to be called "Bloody Sunday". I can't think of anything flippant to say about this, which is saying a lot considering my next entry.

1927 - Striking coal miners are gunned down by plainclothes police officers wielding machine guns in the Columbine Mine Massacre. Locals worry that the name Columbine will now be associated with senseless violence and mass shootings.

1942 - The AlCan highway is completed, but not open for use until next year, at which time several lanes will be closed and traffic delayed due to construction.

1967 - American general William Westmoreland declares (re: the Vietnam War) that the enemy is "certainly losing". A banner reading "Mission Accomplished" is prepared for a ceremony to be held aboard our largest aircraft carrier in the region.

1972 - A new Constitution is accepted in South Korea, giving rise to the Fourth Republic and legitimizing the government of Park Chung-hee. I honestly don't know much about this other than Park was from Gumi, where I used to live, so I'm including this basically as a shout-out.

1979 - The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad is attacked and set on fire, killing four Americans. This is treated as a national tragedy and collectively mourned, rather than taking the sensible option of sensationalizing it into a media circus that drags out for over a year with the aim of politically smearing a government official who was not present and only marginally involved at best.

1985 - Carly Rae Jepson is born, in spite of the efforts of numerous time travelers from 2012 who are tired of hearing that damn song every bloody place they go.

2002 - NATO invites Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia to join, assuring them all that the "NA" is just for show.

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21 November

You forgot to mention that 21 November is the United Nations observance of World Television Day.
So go observe television!
You aren't doing this to rot your own brain.  You are doing your share to rot the brains of the entire world.

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This is the first one I ever did, five years ago now.

 

On Nov. 22 in History:

1307 - Clement V issues a Papal bull calling for the arrest of all Templars in Europe and the seizure of all their assets. 700 years later, this became a cornerstone of many a Hollywood movie plot.

1718 - Edward Teach, a.k.a. Blackbeard, is killed in battle with the Royal Navy off the coast of North Carolina. His will remain the most high profile death on this date for nearly 250 years.

1858 - Denver is founded, to the chagrin of future United Airlines passengers everywhere.

1928 - In Paris, Boléro by Maurice Ravel premiers. Despite being a 15 minute loop of the same melody with various instruments, everybody is too polite to say anything.

1943 – Lebanon gains independence from France, who are a little preoccupied at the moment.

1963 - Lee Harvey Oswald succeeds in his goal of becoming a household name.

1967 - UN Security Council Resolution 242 is adopted, with the aim of guiding negotiations for an Arab-Israeli peace agreement. Everything goes swimmingly and we haven't had to worry about the region since.

1968 – The Beatles release The Beatles. For reasons that may be obvious, it is commonly referred to as The White Album. Strom Thurmond is disappointed with his copy.

1975 - Juan Carlos is declared King of Spain following the death of Francisco Franco, and pulls one of history's most awesome and hilarious posthumous "f**k you"s. 37 years later, people cling to the vain hope that Kim Jong Un is a fan of his.

1995 - Toy Story is released, becoming the first full-length motion picture to be entirely computer animated. Michael Eisner loses control of his salivary glands.

2005 - Angela Merkel is the first woman elected Chancellor of Germany. She rests easy with the knowledge that nothing she can do will make her the worst one ever.

2012 - Hamas and Israel agree to a ceasefire in the Gaza strip after eight days of bloodshed. Ambassadors from both sides are quoted as saying, "We totally mean it this time, guys."

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Missed a few days due to 16 hours in the air through various hemispheres, time zones, etc. Let's play catch up.

 

On Nov. 23 in History:

534 BC - Thespis becomes the first actor to portray a character on stage. The first theatre critics also appear, and descriptions of Thespis's performance range from "wooden and unfeeling" to "he makes playing pretend like a child somehow look sophisticated".

1644 - John Milton publishes the pamphlet Areopagitica, criticizing the practice of censorship. At least it appears to; large portions of it are redacted so we may never know what he truly meant to say.

1863 - Battle of Chattanooga begins in the U.S. Civil War. Union reinforcements are late in coming due to the time it required to convince Grant's officers that it is a real place and not just some word he made up while drunk.

1889 - The first jukebox is set up in a saloon in San Francisco. Presumably it is inoperable until a local delinquent youth punches it.

1940 - By way of the Tripartite Pact, Romania officially joins the Axis Powers. Executives at the History Channel conspire to never talk about this ever.

1963 - The first episode of Dr. Who airs. This is a fixed point in time.

1992 - Miley Cyrus is born. Controversy surrounds the birth, as the future starlet is nude, wailing incomprehensibly, and can't seem to control her tongue or her limbs.

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On November 24 in History:

1642 - Abel Tasman discovers an island south of Australia. The brown-noser actually names it Van Diemen's Land, after the Dutch East Indian governor-general. Fortunately, history realizes that name is stupid and fixes it for him.

1784 - Future U.S. president Zachary Taylor is born amidst a cloud of cigar smoke.

1859 - Charles Darwin publishes perhaps his most famous work, "On The Origin of Species". Religious folk flip their shit - much like their simian cousins do on a regular basis.

1932 - The FBI Crime Lab opens. Had they known just how many stock TV shows this would one day launch, they might have reconsidered.

1941 - The U.S. extends Lend-Lease to the Free French forces. But they're still totally not involved in the conflict. No siree.

1963 = Lee Harvey Oswald becomes the first person to be murdered on live television. Jury selection for Jack Ruby's trial is a bitch.

1971 - D.B. Cooper parachutes out of an airplane with $200,000 over Washington State and is never seen again. Reports of well-off wildlife in the area are likely exaggerated.

1974 - On perhaps the best day it could possibly happen - rivaled only by Darwin's birthday - Donald Johanson and Tom Gray unearth the Australopithecus afarensis skeleton that will become known as "Lucy" in Ethiopia.

2015 - Google incorporates Lucy into their "Google Doodle" for the day. Certain religious folk flip their shit - much like Lucy probably did on occasion.

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You might notice a theme in today's.

 

On Nov. 25 in History:

571 BCE - Servius Tullius, the Etruscan king of Rome, celebrates the defeat of the Etruscans. Whatever.

1120 - The White Ship sinks in the English Channel, Henry I of England's heir William, along with dozens of other high profile nobility. This is a calamitous event for the English royal government. A shipwreck, if you will.

1343 - An earthquake creates a tsunami that completely wrecks both Naples and the Republic of Amalfi.

1491 - The Reconquista ends with the Treaty of Granada. Control of the emirate is to be relinquished in January to the Spanish crown, and in exchange the remaining Moors will be told to either convert or GTFO. What was that? I meant be given fair treatment and religious tolerance. Don't know where that other bit came from. Pay it no mind.

1510 - Portugal takes control of the Indian city of Goa, since that's just the thing to do these days.

1667 - An earthquake kills roughly 80,000 people in the Caucasus.

1759 - An earthquake in the Mediterranean destroys Beirut and Damascus, and kills between 30,000 and 40,000 people.

1833 - An earthquake in the vicinity of a 9.0 hits Sumatra, causing Tsunamis all over Indonesia.

1839 - A huge cyclone hits southeast India. A 40 foot storm surge destroys the port city of Coringa (never fully rebuilt). An estimated 20,000 ships and 300,000 human lives are lost.

1905 - Prince Carl of Denmark arrives in Norway to become king. He changes his name to Haakon VII in an attempt to sound more Norwegian. This will end several centuries of Norway being ruled by either Swedes or Danes. Wait...

1926 - The deadliest (in November) tornado outbreak in U.S. history kills 76 people. Hundreds more are injured. No witches are known to be involved.

1936 - Germany and Japan sign a treaty for mutual self defense in the event of Soviet aggression. This ought to dissuade anyone from opening outright hostilities. Wouldn't want a repeat of twenty years ago, right?

1950 - The "Great Appalachian Storm" smashes through 22 states, kills 353 people, injures a bunch more, and causes tens of millions of dollars in damage. That's 1950 tens of millions.

1963 - John F. Kennedy and Lee Harvey Oswald are buried on the same day. This just feels weird somehow.

1975 - Suriname gains independence from the Netherlands. Just wanna get a few cameos out there.

1986 - U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese: "Oh by the way, we've been selling weapons to Iran in order to fund Nicaraguan rebels."

1987 - Typhoon crashes into the Philippines with 165 mph winds, wiping whole villages off the map and killing at least 1,000 people, possibly more.

1992 - Czechoslovakia votes to undergo mitosis.

1996 - An Ice storm rips through the central U.S., killing 26 people, while a non-hurricane windstorm wreaks havoc in Florida.

1999 - Five year-old Elian Gonzales is rescued by fishermen off the Florida coast. What a delightful display of humanity.

2000 - A 7.0 earthquake in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku, strongest in the region in over 150 years, somewhat mercifully kills a mere 26 people.

2008 - Cyclone Nisha hits Sri Lanka. It only kills 15 people. Hooray? Hold on: 90,000 are left without a home to return to, and they get the most rain they've gotten in 90 years.

2009 - Freak rains again, this time in Jeddah, just in time for the Hajj Pilgrimage. 3,000 cars are swept away, 122 people are confirmed dead with at least 300 more missing. Jesus, Nature, what the hell?

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1992 - Miley Cyrus is born. Controversy surrounds the birth, as the future starlet is nude, wailing incomprehensibly, and can't seem to control her tongue or her limbs.



When has she ever NOT been in that state?

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26 November

783 – The Asturian queen Adosinda is held at a monastery to prevent her kin from retaking the throne from Mauregatus the Usurper.  There needs to be a better way to deal with relatives who are more ambitious, organized, and competent than the legitimate first born son.  

1476 – Vlad the Impaler defeats Basarab Laiota with the help of Stephen the Great and Stephen V Báthory and becomes the ruler of Wallachia for the third time.  It is Stephen V Báthory, a member of the Order of the Dragon, who would be deposed for cruelty in Transylvania.  Vlad had the better publicist.

1778 – In the Hawaiian Islands, Captain James Cook becomes the first European to visit Maui.  He would not be the last.

1789 – A national Thanksgiving Day is observed in the United States as proclaimed by President George Washington at the request of Congress.  Even at this point, Ben Franklin still wanted to make the Turkey the National Bird.  A holiday dedicated to the ritual sacrifice of the national symbol would just be creepy.

1842 – The University of Notre Dame is founded.  Athletes ask why they should win one for a "Gipper" who won't even be born for several decades.

1863 – United States President Abraham Lincoln proclaims November 26 as a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated annually on the final Thursday of November.  This gradually gains acceptance until another President decides to move the event up a week as a way to kick start Christmas shopping.

1917 – The Manchester Guardian publishes the 1916 secret Sykes-Picot Agreement between the United Kingdom and France.  Apparently France, Britain, and Russia get to play in the Middle East and opinions of other countries, or the people who live there, don't count.

1917 – The National Hockey League is formed, with the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators, Quebec Bulldogs, and Toronto Arenas as its first teams.  This is why the business of Dentistry grew rapidly in North America and not in Britain.

1922 – Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon become the first people to enter the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun in over 3000 years.  It is so rude when visitors just force their way in without being invited.

1970 – In Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe, 1.5 inches (38.1 mm) of rain fall in a minute, the heaviest rainfall ever recorded.  If it takes more than a second to raise the umbrella, it is already too late.

1977 – An unidentified hijacker named Vrillon, claiming to be the representative of the "Ashtar Galactic Command", takes over Britain's Southern Television for six minutes, starting at 5:12 pm.  Galactic Command was unable to confirm Vrillon's authority or ability to speak on Ashtar's behalf.

1983 – Brink's-Mat robbery: In London, 6,800 gold bars worth nearly £26 million are stolen from the Brink's-Mat vault at Heathrow Airport.  This is perhaps the textbook example of how law enforcement should not investigate a large robbery.

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6 hours ago, ijuin said:
9 hours ago, Illjwamh said:

1992 - Miley Cyrus is born. Controversy surrounds the birth, as the future starlet is nude, wailing incomprehensibly, and can't seem to control her tongue or her limbs.

When has she ever NOT been in that state?

I'm fairly sure I've seen her on TV with clothes on before. I wasn't really paying attention, though, so I can't speak to the rest.

 

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27 November

602 – Death of Byzantine Emperor Maurice.  Emperor Maurice expanded Byzantine territory in the Caucuses and the Balkans across the Danube.  He ended a war with the Sasanian Persians, which meant that the Byzantines no longer had to pay thousands of pounds of gold in tribute to the Persians each year for peace.  He established territories in Italy and North Africa, ruled by Viceroys, which stopped the expansion of the Germanic Lombards.  But another upstart general thought he could do better so Maurice is forced to watch his five sons be executed before being beheaded himself.

1095 – Pope Urban II declares the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont.  The first one was mostly successful in its stated aims, so they do it again, and again, and again, and again...

1703 – The first Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed in the Great Storm of 1703.  This may be a surprise, but Eddystone was NOT a Flintstone's character who invented artificial light by putting fireflies in a jar.

1810 – The Berners Street hoax was perpetrated by Theodore Hook in the City of Westminster, London.  Kids, if you think you're being clever by calling for pizza delivery to a neighbor, realize that it has already been done.  Not only done, but done on a far bigger scale than you could ever hope to accomplish.

1839 – In Boston, Massachusetts, the American Statistical Association is founded.  What are the odds?

1896 – Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss is first performed.  It would be decades until this music would be properly incorporated into Kubrick films and Elvis concerts.

1945 – CARE (then the Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe) was founded to a send CARE Packages of food relief to Europe after World War II.  It seems the cookies my mom sent me in college may have been in mislabeled packages.

1955 – Birth of Bill Nye, (the Science Guy) American engineer, educator, and television host.  His first diaper includes a bow tie.

1968 – Penny Ann Early became the first woman to play major professional basketball, for the Kentucky Colonels in an ABA game against the Los Angeles Stars.  She is also one of the first women licensed a jockey for Para mutual horse races.  Setting aside the question of gender in athletics, isn't there usually a significant difference in size between jockeys and basketball players?

1971 – The Soviet space program's Mars 2 orbiter releases a descent module. It malfunctions and crashes, but it is the first man-made object to reach the surface of Mars.  Greetings from the people of Earth.  We wanted to send you an example of our most advanced scientific technology, but here is a ton of burned and broken metal instead.

1973 – Twenty-fifth Amendment: The United States Senate votes 92–3 to confirm Gerald Ford as Vice President of the United States. (On December 6, the House will confirm him 387–35).  You don't need to run an expensive campaign to reach the White House.  You only need a majority of your friends and colleagues in the Congress to agree that you would be a better replacement for Nixon than Spiro Agnew.

2001 – A hydrogen atmosphere is discovered on the extrasolar planet Osiris by the Hubble Space Telescope, the first atmosphere detected on an extrasolar planet.  So you find a planet with an unbreathable atmosphere that would crush any living being even if it wasn't 1,000OC?  And when it came time to pick a name, you chose a god who would decide your place in the afterlife?  Yeah, I'm sure he declare you heart is lighter than a feather.

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