Today in History

Alligatorob said:
Having mostly grown up not too far from Orlando in the pre-Disney era I have always disliked the idea of Disney World. I have so far managed not to ever visit, and don't think I ever will. Have always like Carl Hiaasen's take on Disney ( http://www.carlhiaasen.com/book-detail.shtml?bid=16 )

Don't really understand why we get so many either, the standard answer is our "continental" climate, but we aren't the only continent with a climate. I think dust devils share some characteristics with tornadoes but form differently, and rarely get as powerful. Waterspouts on the other hand are tornadoes that form on the water. Not usually as powerful as many tornadoes though. They do sometimes come ashore becoming tornadoes and have done damage. Tornadoes moving offshore, into water, become waterspouts.
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I think I cursed myself, we just had a tornado that hit a few km out of Bathurst.
 


This day in History October 2nd

1928 U.S.A. Opium
3,000 cups of Opium with a street value in excess of $1,500,000 have been seized from the Dollar Liner Steamer, President Harrison at Jersey City docks and a number of the crew including the captain have been charged with attempted smuggling. This is the largest single haul of smoking Opium ever made at a US port.

1933 U.S.A. NRA
President Roosevelt has asked the NRA to reduce codal hours to 30 to increase the number of jobs available and share the work and the wages more evenly.

1942 World War II Stalingrad
The Russian red army is fighting back house to house fighting in Stalingrad as part of a counterattack, this is coupled with Soviet offensives outside of the city and an increased presence of aircraft that are having greater success at shooting down German aircraft.

World War II Warsaw Uprising
The Warsaw Uprising ends when the few surviving Polish rebels surrender to German forces.
 
2nd October

1901 Despite Admiral Sir Arthur Wilson's opinion of the use of submarines as “underhand, unfair and damned un-English”, on this day in 1901 the Royal Navy launched its first submarine, Holland 1. Launched secretly from Yacht Shed No 1 at the Vickers Yard, Barrow-in-Furness, the submarine was armed with just one torpedo tube and three torpedoes. The crew of 8 volunteers relied on white mice to detect noxious fumes and other dangerous gases.

1925 John Logie Baird (Scottish born engineer born at Helensburgh) performed the first test of a working television system. Although Baird's electromechanical system was eventually displaced by purely electronic systems, his early successes earned him a prominent place in television's invention.

1942 The British cruiser Curacao sank with the loss of 338 lives, after colliding with the liner Queen Mary off the coast of Donegal.

1991 Ron Chassidy (who had been jailed for not paying his poll tax) was released after a 'whip-round' at his local pub so that he could play in a dominoes match!
 

1866
J Osterhoud patents tin can with key opener
1902
children's author, Beatrix Potter's book'The Tales of Peter Rabbitt' is published in England
1967
Thurgood Marshall,the 1st black Supreme Court Justice is sworn in
2016
After a record 67 Major League Baseball seasons,veteran sportscaster, Vin Scully calls his final Los Angeles Dodgers game.Dodgers lost to San Francisco Giants 7-1
 
This day in History October 3rd

1920 France Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe
The First Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe Horse Race open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older is run at Longchamp Race Course, Paris, France.

1921 Russia Famine
One of the worst famines in modern times is gripping Russia due to the failure of crops and refugees are travelling the country trying to find food before the winter sets in fully. Together with low food supplies, Black Typhus is taking a large toll including killing 4 out of each 10 doctors trying to help treat the disease.

1928 U.S.A. Taxicab War
The ongoing Taxicab war in Chicago is increasing in intensity as Two Yellow Cab Garages were bombed with dynamite this week. Both companies are staying tight-lipped about the feud and have not passed details on to the local police.

1932 Iraq Independence
Iraq, became a sovereign State gaining full independence from Great Britain.

1942 World War II V2 Rocket
Germany tests its latest rocket the V2 for the first time which travels 118 miles. In 1944, Germany launched over a thousand of these rockets against Great Britain killing thousands due to little warning or defence against it.
 
1863
Pres. Abe Lincoln designates the last Thurs in Nov" Thanksgiving Day",U.S. federal holiday
1899
JS Thurman patents motor driven vacuum cleaner
1990
reunifaction of East&West Germany,West Germany flag is raised above Brandenburg Gate at midnight
2018
the most expensive bottle of whiskey ever sold at auction in Edinburgh,Scotland."The Macallan Valerio Adami 1926 $ 1.1 million
 
moviequeen1 said:
1863
Pres. Abe Lincoln designates the last Thurs in Nov" Thanksgiving Day",U.S. federal holiday
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Yes, Thanksgiving was originally to celebrate the Union victory at Gettysburg in the US Civil war the Pilgrim story/myth got added later (see https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/lincoln-proclaims-official-thanksgiving-holiday#:~:text=On October 3, 1863, expressing,holiday on November 26, 1863. ).

My great great grandfather fought against the Union at Gettysburg and was taken prisoner. He spent the next 2 years as a POW on Johnson's island in Lake Erie. I grew up on stories of his having to catch and eat rats for 2 years to survive. Thanksgiving just ain't the same for some of us.
 
1537
The 1st complete English language Bible is printed with translations by William Tynsdale,Miles Coverdale
1675
Christiaan Hugyens,a Dutch mathematican patents the pocket watch
1883
The Orient Express, a luxury train leaves on its 1st offical trip from Paris to Istanbul
1949
The United Nations permanent HQ in New York City is dedicated
2006
internet activist, Julian Assange launches Wikileaks
 
This day in History October 5th

1910 Portugal Republic
Portugal established a republic after the Portuguese monarchy is ousted by revolutionaries.

1925 Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry a weekly country music radio program broadcast live on WSM radio in Nashville, Tennessee launches on the WSM Radio Station.

1928 China Fossils
The American Museum of Natural History has returned to Peking with a wealth of fossils from animals never seen before from outer Mongolia, they had been in constant battles with Chinese outlaws trying to get the food, supplies and cars that the expedition had but they managed to outwit and outrun the outlaws using brain work and the much faster cars than the outlaw's horses.

1930 Great Britain Airship
Great Britons largest dirigible the R-101 Airship crashes in Beauvais, France, killing all on board.

1933 Machine Gun Kelly
Machine Gun Kelly has pleaded not guilty to charges of being a co-conspirator in the Urschel kidnapping.
 
5th October

1936 The start of the 'Jarrow March' - around 200 unemployed shipyard workers from Jarrow in north east England began walking to London to protest about the lack of jobs. The protestors arrived on 31st October. The closure in 1934 of its main employer, Palmer's shipyard, had left over 70% of the workforce in the town unemployed. The march has become a defining event of the 1930s.

1962 In Britain, an emerging pop group, 'The Beatles' released their first hit record 'Love Me Do'.

1962 Dr. No, the first James Bond film, was released. Based on the 1958 Ian Fleming novel of the same name it starred Sean Connery as the secret agent 007.

1967 For the first time in Britain, a court in Brighton accepted a 'majority verdict' from a jury instead of the usual 'unanimous verdict' required previously.
 
1905
Wilbur&Orville Wright make a circling flight on 'Flyer 111" of 24.2 miles,took 39 min,23 secs
1947
Pres Harry Truman makes 1st Presidental address televised from the White House
1981
Swedish diplomat, Raoul Wallenberg becomes honorary American,postumously
2018
at an auction in London,a record price by a living female artist as Jenny Savelle's 'Propped' was sold for 9.5 mill pounds
 
1783
Benjamin Hanks patents self winding clock
1893
Nabisco Foods invents 'Cream Of Wheat'
1921
International PEN is established in London,founded by Catherine Amy Dawson Scott. Its a worldwide org of writers to promote friendship,exchanges with other writers in 100 countries PEN stands for poets/editors/essayists& novelists
1948
paleoanthropologist,Mary Leakey finds 1st partial fossil of 'proconsul africanus' ancestor of apes&humans on Rusinga Island, Kenya
2010
Kevin Systrem,Mike Kreiger launch Instagram
 
7th October

1918 The death of Hubert Parry, English composer. As a composer he is best known for the choral song 'Jerusalem', based on Blake's poem that begins with the lines - 'And did those feet in ancient time. Walk upon England's mountains green.' The term 'dark Satanic Mills', referenced in the poem, is interpreted as referring to the early Industrial Revolution that destroyed nature and human relationships.

1920 The first women were admitted to study for full degrees at Oxford University.

1959 Three hundred people were rescued after being cut off by a blaze on Southend's pier, (the world's longest pleasure pier on England's south-east coast).

1977 Ninety sets of Swedish identical twins travelled to Felixstowe for a brief shopping trip. The twins were taking part in studies by researchers from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm.
 
1765
Stamp Act Congress meets in NYC to devise a protest against new British taxation
1806
carbon paper is patent by Ralph Wedgwood in London
1916
the most lopsided college football game in history Georgia Tech coached by John Heisman defeated Cumberland 222-0
1998
a 21 yr old gay Univ of Wyoming student,Matthew Shepard was found tied to a fence,savagely beaten in Laramie,Wyoming,died 6 days later.The 2 suspects,Aaron McKenney, Russell Henderson were sentenced to 2 consecutive life terms. This hate crime murder shocked the nation
2008
music podcast&video streaming service,Spotify was launched by Daniel Ek,Martin Lorentzon
 
This day in History October 8th

1871 Great Chicago Fire
The Great Chicago Fire started on Sunday, October 8, and burned for three days before it finally burned itself out Tuesday, October 10, 1871.

1919 U.S.A. Air Races
The first transcontinental air race in the United States begins with 63 planes competing between California and New York.

1921 U.S.A. Still
A 100-gallon capacity still, three barrels of mash and 50 gallons of whisky were found when prohibition agents raided a home in a fashionable neighbourhood in Toledo, Ohio.

1929 U.S.A. Obscene Language
A Man is charged with Speaking Offensively in Front of a Lady and found guilty for using obscene language in front of a woman in Ohio.

1933 Moratorium on Farm Foreclosures
As the nation's farmers continue to struggle the National Farmers Union has asked President Roosevelt to intervene and place a moratorium on farm mortgage foreclosures and that farm prices be pegged at the cost of production.
 
8th October

1744 The birth of Henry Duncan, a minister of the Church of Scotland who founded the world's first commercial savings bank, paying interest on its investors' modest savings.

1908 The Wind In The Willows, Kenneth Grahame's classic children's book, was published. It has never been out of print in its entire history.

1915 The Battle of Loos, one of the fiercest of World War I, ended with virtually no gains for either side. Almost 430,000 French, British and Germans were killed. The British used poison gas for the first time in the battle.

1990 Women were first deployed to sea in the Royal Navy, setting sail on HMS Brilliant (a type 22 frigate) during the Gulf War.

1999 A survey for the UK's National Farmer's Union discovered that pop music increased egg production in chicken.
 
1918
WWI in France a group of U.S. soldiers were fighting the Germans. Sgt Alvin York, killed 26 soldiers because of his expert shooting abilities.He&his men returned to base with 132 German captured soldiers .He was later awarded the Medal of Honor
1927
a short,silent film'The 2nd Hundred Years' is released,the 1st Laurel&Hardy film where they appear as a team
1945
U. S. inventor, Percy Spencer patents the microwave oven
2001
Pres. George W. Bush announces the establishment of Office of Homeland Security after the 9/11 attacks
2019
Steven Reed is elected the 1st black mayor in over 200 yrs in Montgomery,Alabama,home of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement
 
This day in History October 9th

1921 U.S.A. Royal Flush
A once in a lifetime hand left a man dead, A retired tailor in New York was playing poker in a 10 cent limit poker game when he was dealt a royal flush. The medical examiner diagnosed Cerebral Hemorrhage bought on by the Royal Flush.

1934 Yugoslavia King Assassinated
King Alexander, I of Yugoslavia is shot and assassinated.

1936 U.S.A. Hoover Dam
The Hoover Dam begins creating hydroelectric power which it sends over transmission lines spanning 266 miles of mountains and deserts to run the lights, radios, and stoves of Los Angeles.

1940 World War II St. Paul's Cathedral
The German Luftwaffe launches a heavy nighttime air raid on London and the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral a masterpiece by the architect Sir Christopher Wren takes a direct hit from a Nazi bomb.

1952 Korea Total Dead 120,269
The US Defense Department has released the latest figures on those killed so far in the Korean War, it now stands at 120,269. The Army draft call for the month of December has been announced and it will be 47,000.
 
1855
U. S. inventor,Isaac Singer patents his sewing machine motor
1938
Cleveland Rams and Chicago Bears played 1 of only 4 no penalty games in NFL history.The Bears won 14-7. The other games:
Brooklyn Dodgers vs Pittsburgh Steelers 10/28/34
Brooklyn Dodgers vs Boston Redskins 9/28/36
Pittsburgh Steelers vs Philadelphia Eagles11/10/40
1984
astronaut,Kathy Sullivan becomes 1st U.S. woman to walk in space during Space Shuttle Challenger
2019
Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to John Goodenough,Stanley Whittingham,Akira Yoshino for development of lithium-ion batteries. Goodenough became the oldest person to win age 97
 
This day in History October 10th

1922 Mexico Oil Supplies
America has long been the worlds largest supplier of oil but many believe the oil reserves will be depleted in America in 25 years while oil reserves in Mexico may well be bigger and last longer with current estimates at 40 years of reserves and it is believed they have the largest oil reserves in the world. American Oil companies continue to work with the Mexican Government to develop these new oil fields but they are facing stiff competition from British and French Oil companies.

1939 World War II French Lines
After five weeks of war German attacks on French lines are increasing daily but the French is continuing to hold using hand grenades against the Germans, many believe the current attacks are a prelude to a full-scale German invasion force.

1944 World War II Auschwitz
800 Gypsy children are murdered when they are gassed to death at Auschwitz concentration camps. As well as Jews the Nazi party had decided Gypsies should also be exterminated and approximately 1.5 million Gypsies were murdered by the Nazis.

1957 World's First Nuclear Accident Windscale
Part of the radioactive core at pile 1 at Windscale Nuclear Plant in West Cumbria used to make weapons-grade plutonium was on fire and as there had never been a similar experience it was the best guess as to how to distinguish the fire, but a combination of water pumped into the reactor and turning off the air supply to the reactor worked. The combination of a lack of oxygen and gallons of water did the trick and the fire was eventually put out.

1964 Japan Olympics
The Summer Olympics open in Japan when Emperor Hirohito of Japan opened the 18th Olympic Games in Tokyo.
 
10th October

1881 The Savoy Theatre, the first public building to be lit by electricity, opened with a performance of Gilbert and Sullivan's 'Patience'.

1903 Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst formed the Women's Social and Political Union to fight for women's emancipation in Britain.

1961 Following a volcanic eruption, the entire population of the South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha was evacuated to Britain.Most families returned to the island in 1963.

1996 A Scottish fisherman found a message in a bottle. It had been thrown in the North Sea in 1914 to chart the currents.

1999 Thousands gathered to watch the giant Millennium wheel become the latest landmark on the London skyline.
 
1845
The Naval School{now known as U.S. Naval Academy} opens in Annapolis,Maryland
1865
John Wesley Hyatt patents the billiard ball made from cellulose nitrate
1957
a fire at Windscale nuclear plant in Cumbria England is the world's 1st major nuclear accident
1973
U. S. Vice-Pres Spiro Agnew resigns after pleading 'no contest' to allegations of tax fraud
2009
after 200 yrs, Armenia&Turkey sign protocols in Zurich,Switerzland to open their borders
 

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