It is a "where were you when" day
There aren't all that many of those days in the era in which we live. For some of us who are a bit older, we have other "where were you when" days that we don't talk about as much anymore. In the years after 1963, it was where were you when JFK was shot? After 1968 it was where were when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated? For my friends who lived in the Miami area in 1980, where were you when the riots broke out? I'm sure those who remember the Watts riots of 1965 and of course the riots of 1992 after the cops who beat Rodney King were acquitted, know where they were when those riots began.
I know exactly where I was when 9/11 began. It was 5:46 in the morning in El Segundo when the first plane hit the North Tower. A few minutes later, the friend I was chatting with urged me to turn on CNN and I first saw those images.
12 years have passed since that day and while we remember to pay tribute each year to those whose lives were lost, both victims of the attack and those who perished trying to rescue those who might still have been alive, but have we learned any lessons? Any of the real lessons of the day?
We have much more security when it comes to boarding airplanes at airports. Is the same level of scrutiny applied to those who want to learn to fly a plane? What about small planes? They don't carry the destructive force of a giant, multi-engine jet, but even a small plane loaded with explosives would be a powerful weapon.
We have a country using Sarin gas, a substance so deadly that one 8 ounce glass of it in liquid form could kill more than 200,000 people, on its civilian population.
We have a so-called Patriot Act that was designed to protect us, but some believe the liberties, freedoms and privacy that is lost may be a higher price.
We have hatred of groups by other groups over religion, abortion, and so many other issues where those on opposite sides of the issues may well use violence to achieve their aims.
There is a truth that we fail to realize when we think about what happened on 9/11. The hardest part of one human being taking the lives of other humans is in making the decision to kill. Once that decision is made, the rest is just planning and logistics. How many are killed, how they are to be killed and all that pale in comparison to making the choice to kill.
Once Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols decided they were going to bomb the Murrah building in Oklahoma City, that was it. The rest was just details.
Rather than asking where we were on 9/11/2001, we should be asking "are we any safer today than we were on that day?" It's a better question.
* * *
As if California was not already unfriendly to businesses, now Governor Moonbeam is supporting a bill winding through the state legislature that would increase the minimum wage in the state by 25% over the next two years. Currently, the federal minimum wage is $7.25. California's minimum wage is higher, at $8.00.
Unless things have changed greatly in the fast food industry, the cost of wages and taxes paid by the employer on those wages run about 19% of the cost of putting a hamburger (or whatever) into the hands of a customer. So if you order a combo meal and the price is $5.00, nearly one dollar of that amount was spent on the wages.
Or to look at it another way, if wages go up 25% and wages represent 19% of cost, cost will then be 125% of 19%, or 23.75%. Let's even be more conservative and round down and say it's just a 4% increase in the cost of the labor. So instead of Burger King spending $0.95 to deliver that combo meal to you at the counter, it will now cost them $1.15.
Will you pay 20 cents more for your combo meal in order to raise the standard of living of the fast food worker who made that meal for you? I would. Guess it isn't really going to be that tough on businesses after all, from this perspective. And yes, there is more to it, as the wages at all levels will need to be increased. But it isn't going to drive businesses out of business.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
I guess Anthony Weiner, aka Carlos Danger, told the people of New York City what's what when he flipped them all the bird. Then again, they pretty much had told him what they thought of him by voting for almost anyone else.
Did people really expect that guy who confessed his role in a DUI on YouTube where someone died to plead guilty right away? I would have been shocked if he HAD pleaded guilty right out of the gate. His lawyers are going to want a guarantee of sentence first and the judge said she didn't know how she would sentence him. The range is from 2 to 8 years.
A 30 ton rock fell on a man and he lived. He's seriously injured, but he was conscious and alert the whole time from when he was hit by the rock until he was pulled from beneath it. I'd think someone's mind would shut down from the pain and shock. Guess not.
There are something out there called "man candles" that burn and give off manly scents. So should we be surprised that the scent that is the best-seller is the scent of farts (I was shocked)?
I'm sure there's some kind of twisted Hollywood logic that has the next sequel to Pirate of the Caribbean being placed on "hold" while the next installment of Jurassic Park is being taken off hold and given a firm release date. But I don't understand it.
A relationship "expert" says that mindreading is "outlawed". I wish she'd have told my ex-wives that before they got tired of me being unable to read their minds.
While I wrote yesterday about skepticism of internet stuff being good, the people who are questioning Diana Nyad's achievement need to just STFU. There were way too many people out there on her "support" team who could have spoken out if she had "cheated".
There's just something wrong with the basic concept of Hello Kitty Beer.
Let's hope that karma catches up with whoever broke into a firehouse and robbed the firemen while they were out fighting a wildfire.
* * *
This Date In History:
1185 – Isaac II Angelus kills Stephanus Hagiochristophorites and then appeals to the people, resulting in the revolt that deposes Andronicus I Comnenus and places Isaac on the throne of the Byzantine Empire.
1226 – The Roman Catholic practice of public adoration of the Blessed Sacrament outside of Mass spreads from monasteries to parishes.
1297 – Battle of Stirling Bridge: Scots jointly-led by William Wallace and Andrew Moray defeat the English.
1390 – Lithuanian Civil War (1389–1392): the Teutonic Knights begin a five-week siege of Vilnius.
1541 – Santiago, Chile, is destroyed by indigenous warriors, led by Michimalonco.
1565 – Ottoman forces retreat from Malta ending the Great Siege of Malta.
1609 – Expulsion order announced against the Moriscos of Valencia; beginning of the expulsion of all Spain's Moriscos.
1609 – Henry Hudson discovers Manhattan Island and the indigenous people living there.
1649 – Siege of Drogheda ends: Oliver Cromwell's English Parliamentarian troops take the town and execute its garrison.
1697 – Battle of Zenta.
1708 – Charles XII of Sweden stops his march to conquer Moscow outside Smolensk, marking the turning point in the Great Northern War. The army is defeated nine months later in the Battle of Poltava, and the Swedish Empire ceases to be a major power.
1709 – Battle of Malplaquet: Great Britain, Netherlands and Austria fight against France.
1714 – Siege of Barcelona: Barcelona, capital city of Catalonia, surrenders to Spanish and French Bourbon armies in the War of the Spanish Succession.
1758 – Battle of Saint Cast: France repels British invasion during the Seven Years' War.
1775 – Benedict Arnold's expedition to Quebec leaves Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1776 – British-American peace conference on Staten Island fails to stop nascent American Revolutionary War.
1777 – American Revolution: Battle of Brandywine – The British celebrate a major victory in Chester County, Pennsylvania.
1786 – The beginning of the Annapolis Convention.
1789 – Alexander Hamilton is appointed the first United States Secretary of the Treasury.
1792 – The Hope Diamond is stolen along with other French crown jewels when six men break into the house where they are stored.
1802 – France annexes the Kingdom of Piedmont.
1803 – Battle of Delhi, during the Second Anglo-Maratha War, between British troops under General Lake, and Marathas of Scindia's army under General Louis Bourquin.
1813 – War of 1812: British troops arrive in Mount Vernon and prepare to march to and invade Washington, D.C..
1814 – War of 1812: The climax of the Battle of Plattsburgh, a major United States victory in the war.
1826 – Capt. William Morgan arrested in Batavia, New York for debt. This sets into motion the events that lead to his mysterious disappearance.
1829 – Surrender of the expedition led by Isidro Barradas at Tampico, sent by the Spanish crown in order to retake Mexico. This was the final consummation of Mexican independence.
1830 – Anti-Masonic Party convention; one of the first American political party conventions.
1847 – Stephen Foster's song "Oh! Susanna" is first performed at a saloon in Pittsburgh.
1852 – The State of Buenos Aires secedes from the Argentine Federal government, rejoining on 17 September 17, 1861. Several places are named Once de Septiembre after this event.
1857 – The Mountain Meadows massacre: Mormon settlers and Paiutes massacre 120 pioneers at Mountain Meadows, Utah.
1893 – Parliament of the World's Religions opened in Chicago, where Swami Vivekananda delivers his speech on fanaticism, tolerance and the truth inherent in all religions.
1897 – After months of pursuit, generals of Menelik II of Ethiopia capture Gaki Sherocho, the last king of Kaffa, bringing an end to that ancient kingdom.
1903 – The first race at the Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wisconsin is held. It is the oldest major speedway in the world.
1914 – Australia invades New Britain, defeating a German contingent at the Battle of Bita Paka.
1916 – The Quebec Bridge's central span collapses, killing 11 men. The bridge initially collapsed in toto on August 29, 1907.
1919 – U.S. Marines invade Honduras.
1921 – Nahalal, the first moshav in Palestine, is settled as part of a Zionist plan to colonize Palestine and creating a Jewish state, later to be Israel.
1922 – The Treaty of Kars is ratified in Yerevan, Armenia.
1922 – One of the Herald Sun of Melbourne, Australia's predecessor papers The Sun News-Pictorial is founded.
1931 – Salvatore Maranzano is murdered by Lucky Luciano's hitmen.
1932 – Franciszek Żwirko and Stanisław Wigura, Polish Challenge 1932 winners, are killed when their RWD 6 airplane crashes during a storm.
1939 – World War II: Canada declares war on Germany, the country's first independent declaration of war
1940 – George Stibitz performs the first remote operation of a computer.
1941 – Ground is broken for the construction of The Pentagon.
1941 – Charles Lindbergh's Des Moines Speech accusing the British, Jews and the Roosevelt administration of pressing for war with Germany.
1943 – World War II: German troops occupy Corsica and Kosovo-Metohija.
1943 – World War II: Start of the liquidation of the Ghettos in Minsk and Lida by the Nazis.
1944 – World War II: The first Allied troops of the U.S. Army cross the western border of Germany.
1944 – World War II: RAF bombing raid on Darmstadt and the following firestorm kill 11,500.
1945 – World War II: Australian 9th Division forces liberate the Japanese-run Batu Lintang camp, a POW and civilian internment camp on the island of Borneo.
1954 – Hurricane Edna hits New England as a Category 3 hurricane, causing significant damage and 29 deaths.
1961 – Foundation of the World Wildlife Fund.
1961 – Hurricane Carla strikes the Texas coast as a Category 4 hurricane, the second strongest storm ever to hit the state.
1965 – Indo-Pakistani War: The Indian Army captures the town of Burki, just southeast of Lahore.
1968 – Air France Flight 1611 crashes off Nice, France, killing 89 passengers and 6 crew.
1968 – The International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) was found.
1970 – The Dawson's Field hijackers release 88 of their hostages. The remaining hostages, mostly Jews and Israeli citizens, are held until September 25.
1971 – The Egyptian Constitution becomes official.
1972 – The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit system has its opening day of passenger service.
1973 – A coup in Chile headed by General Augusto Pinochet topples the democratically elected president Salvador Allende. Pinochet exercises dictatorial power until ousted in a referendum in 1988, staying in power until 1990.
1974 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 crashes in Charlotte, North Carolina, killing 69 passengers and two crew.
1976 – A group of Croatian nationalists planted a bomb in a coin locker at Grand Central Terminal. After stating political demands, they revealed the location and provided instructions for disarming the bomb. The disarming operation was not executed properly, killing one NYPD bomb squad specialist.
1978 – Janet Parker is the last person to die of smallpox, in a laboratory-associated outbreak.
1980 – Voters approve a new Constitution of Chile, later amended after the departure of president Pinochet.
1982 – The international forces that were guaranteeing the safety of Palestinian refugees following Israel's 1982 Invasion of Lebanon leave Beirut. Five days later, several thousand refugees are massacred in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps.
1985 – Pete Rose breaks Ty Cobb's baseball record for most career hits with his 4,192nd hit
1988 – The St Jean Bosco massacre takes place in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
1989 – Hungary announces that the East German refugees who had been housed in temporary camps were free to leave for West Germany.
1992 – Hurricane Iniki, one of the most damaging hurricanes in United States history, devastates the Hawaiian islands of Kauai and Oahu.
1997 – NASA's Mars Global Surveyor reaches Mars.
1997 – After a nationwide referendum, Scotland votes to establish a devolved parliament within the United Kingdom.
1997 – 14 Estonian soldiers die in the Kurkse tragedy, drowning in the Baltic Sea
1998 – Opening ceremony for the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Malaysia is the first Asian country to host the games.
2000 – Melbourne hosts World Economic Forum where S11 protests also took place.
2001 – Two hijacked aircraft crash into the World Trade Center in New York City, while a third smashes into The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and a fourth into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, in a series of coordinated suicide attacks by members of Al Qaeda. Altogether, 2,996 people are killed.
Famous Folk Born On This Date:
Carl Zeiss
John Ireland
O. Henry
Felix Dzerzhinsky
D.H. Lawrence
Paul "Bear" Bryant
Ferdinand Marcos (I remember someone once told me a joke about Marcos, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev all flying on Air Force One over the Pacific, when the engines died and there was only one parachute. Reagan wanted it because he was leader of the free world. Gorby wanted it because he was leader of the Communist world. Marcos said the fair thing was that they should take a vote, and he won the parachute 10-2)
Tom Landry
Alan Bergman
Earl Holliman
Brian DePalma
Lola Falana
Mickey Hart
Franz Beckenbauer
Leo Kottke
Felton Perry
Amy Madigan
Tommy Shaw
Tony Gilroy
Roxann Dawson
Anne Ramsey
Virginia Madsen
Kristy McNichol
Moby
Paul Heyman
Harry Connick, Jr.
Taraji P. Henson
Movie quotes today are from "Independence Day" to honor Harry Connick, Jr.:
Capt. Jimmy Wilder: [knows Hiller is worried about Jasmine] Don't worry about it, Big Man. I'm sure she got out before it happened. Or, as the Good Reverend would say:
[switches voice to a Jesse Jackson impression]
Capt. Jimmy Wilder: Why we are on this particular mission, we'll never know. But I do know, here today, that the Black Knights will emerge victorious once again.
#2
Area 51 Guard: I'm sorry, Captain. This is a restricted area. I can't let you pass without clearance.
Captain Steven Hiller: Okay. Come here. You wanna see my clearance?
[shows the guard the alien wrapped up in a parachute. Guard jumps back]
Captain Steven Hiller: Maybe I'll just leave this here with you.
Area 51 Guard: [to other guard blocking entrance] Let them pass! Let them pass!
Captain Steven Hiller: [to other guard blocking entrance] Get the hell out the way!
Area 51 Guard: [to the other guard, freaked out] Did you see that?
#3
Video Newscaster: [TV news anchor reporting] Once again, the L.A.P.D. is asking Los Angelenos not to fire their guns at the visitor spacecraft. You may inadvertently trigger an interstellar war.
#4
Capt. Jimmy Wilder: Man, you know I really like Jasmine. You know that, right? Man, you are never gonna get to fly the space shuttle if you marry a stripper.
I know exactly where I was when 9/11 began. It was 5:46 in the morning in El Segundo when the first plane hit the North Tower. A few minutes later, the friend I was chatting with urged me to turn on CNN and I first saw those images.
12 years have passed since that day and while we remember to pay tribute each year to those whose lives were lost, both victims of the attack and those who perished trying to rescue those who might still have been alive, but have we learned any lessons? Any of the real lessons of the day?
We have much more security when it comes to boarding airplanes at airports. Is the same level of scrutiny applied to those who want to learn to fly a plane? What about small planes? They don't carry the destructive force of a giant, multi-engine jet, but even a small plane loaded with explosives would be a powerful weapon.
We have a country using Sarin gas, a substance so deadly that one 8 ounce glass of it in liquid form could kill more than 200,000 people, on its civilian population.
We have a so-called Patriot Act that was designed to protect us, but some believe the liberties, freedoms and privacy that is lost may be a higher price.
We have hatred of groups by other groups over religion, abortion, and so many other issues where those on opposite sides of the issues may well use violence to achieve their aims.
There is a truth that we fail to realize when we think about what happened on 9/11. The hardest part of one human being taking the lives of other humans is in making the decision to kill. Once that decision is made, the rest is just planning and logistics. How many are killed, how they are to be killed and all that pale in comparison to making the choice to kill.
Once Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols decided they were going to bomb the Murrah building in Oklahoma City, that was it. The rest was just details.
Rather than asking where we were on 9/11/2001, we should be asking "are we any safer today than we were on that day?" It's a better question.
* * *
As if California was not already unfriendly to businesses, now Governor Moonbeam is supporting a bill winding through the state legislature that would increase the minimum wage in the state by 25% over the next two years. Currently, the federal minimum wage is $7.25. California's minimum wage is higher, at $8.00.
Unless things have changed greatly in the fast food industry, the cost of wages and taxes paid by the employer on those wages run about 19% of the cost of putting a hamburger (or whatever) into the hands of a customer. So if you order a combo meal and the price is $5.00, nearly one dollar of that amount was spent on the wages.
Or to look at it another way, if wages go up 25% and wages represent 19% of cost, cost will then be 125% of 19%, or 23.75%. Let's even be more conservative and round down and say it's just a 4% increase in the cost of the labor. So instead of Burger King spending $0.95 to deliver that combo meal to you at the counter, it will now cost them $1.15.
Will you pay 20 cents more for your combo meal in order to raise the standard of living of the fast food worker who made that meal for you? I would. Guess it isn't really going to be that tough on businesses after all, from this perspective. And yes, there is more to it, as the wages at all levels will need to be increased. But it isn't going to drive businesses out of business.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
I guess Anthony Weiner, aka Carlos Danger, told the people of New York City what's what when he flipped them all the bird. Then again, they pretty much had told him what they thought of him by voting for almost anyone else.
Did people really expect that guy who confessed his role in a DUI on YouTube where someone died to plead guilty right away? I would have been shocked if he HAD pleaded guilty right out of the gate. His lawyers are going to want a guarantee of sentence first and the judge said she didn't know how she would sentence him. The range is from 2 to 8 years.
A 30 ton rock fell on a man and he lived. He's seriously injured, but he was conscious and alert the whole time from when he was hit by the rock until he was pulled from beneath it. I'd think someone's mind would shut down from the pain and shock. Guess not.
There are something out there called "man candles" that burn and give off manly scents. So should we be surprised that the scent that is the best-seller is the scent of farts (I was shocked)?
I'm sure there's some kind of twisted Hollywood logic that has the next sequel to Pirate of the Caribbean being placed on "hold" while the next installment of Jurassic Park is being taken off hold and given a firm release date. But I don't understand it.
A relationship "expert" says that mindreading is "outlawed". I wish she'd have told my ex-wives that before they got tired of me being unable to read their minds.
While I wrote yesterday about skepticism of internet stuff being good, the people who are questioning Diana Nyad's achievement need to just STFU. There were way too many people out there on her "support" team who could have spoken out if she had "cheated".
There's just something wrong with the basic concept of Hello Kitty Beer.
Let's hope that karma catches up with whoever broke into a firehouse and robbed the firemen while they were out fighting a wildfire.
* * *
This Date In History:
1185 – Isaac II Angelus kills Stephanus Hagiochristophorites and then appeals to the people, resulting in the revolt that deposes Andronicus I Comnenus and places Isaac on the throne of the Byzantine Empire.
1226 – The Roman Catholic practice of public adoration of the Blessed Sacrament outside of Mass spreads from monasteries to parishes.
1297 – Battle of Stirling Bridge: Scots jointly-led by William Wallace and Andrew Moray defeat the English.
1390 – Lithuanian Civil War (1389–1392): the Teutonic Knights begin a five-week siege of Vilnius.
1541 – Santiago, Chile, is destroyed by indigenous warriors, led by Michimalonco.
1565 – Ottoman forces retreat from Malta ending the Great Siege of Malta.
1609 – Expulsion order announced against the Moriscos of Valencia; beginning of the expulsion of all Spain's Moriscos.
1609 – Henry Hudson discovers Manhattan Island and the indigenous people living there.
1649 – Siege of Drogheda ends: Oliver Cromwell's English Parliamentarian troops take the town and execute its garrison.
1697 – Battle of Zenta.
1708 – Charles XII of Sweden stops his march to conquer Moscow outside Smolensk, marking the turning point in the Great Northern War. The army is defeated nine months later in the Battle of Poltava, and the Swedish Empire ceases to be a major power.
1709 – Battle of Malplaquet: Great Britain, Netherlands and Austria fight against France.
1714 – Siege of Barcelona: Barcelona, capital city of Catalonia, surrenders to Spanish and French Bourbon armies in the War of the Spanish Succession.
1758 – Battle of Saint Cast: France repels British invasion during the Seven Years' War.
1775 – Benedict Arnold's expedition to Quebec leaves Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1776 – British-American peace conference on Staten Island fails to stop nascent American Revolutionary War.
1777 – American Revolution: Battle of Brandywine – The British celebrate a major victory in Chester County, Pennsylvania.
1786 – The beginning of the Annapolis Convention.
1789 – Alexander Hamilton is appointed the first United States Secretary of the Treasury.
1792 – The Hope Diamond is stolen along with other French crown jewels when six men break into the house where they are stored.
1802 – France annexes the Kingdom of Piedmont.
1803 – Battle of Delhi, during the Second Anglo-Maratha War, between British troops under General Lake, and Marathas of Scindia's army under General Louis Bourquin.
1813 – War of 1812: British troops arrive in Mount Vernon and prepare to march to and invade Washington, D.C..
1814 – War of 1812: The climax of the Battle of Plattsburgh, a major United States victory in the war.
1826 – Capt. William Morgan arrested in Batavia, New York for debt. This sets into motion the events that lead to his mysterious disappearance.
1829 – Surrender of the expedition led by Isidro Barradas at Tampico, sent by the Spanish crown in order to retake Mexico. This was the final consummation of Mexican independence.
1830 – Anti-Masonic Party convention; one of the first American political party conventions.
1847 – Stephen Foster's song "Oh! Susanna" is first performed at a saloon in Pittsburgh.
1852 – The State of Buenos Aires secedes from the Argentine Federal government, rejoining on 17 September 17, 1861. Several places are named Once de Septiembre after this event.
1857 – The Mountain Meadows massacre: Mormon settlers and Paiutes massacre 120 pioneers at Mountain Meadows, Utah.
1893 – Parliament of the World's Religions opened in Chicago, where Swami Vivekananda delivers his speech on fanaticism, tolerance and the truth inherent in all religions.
1897 – After months of pursuit, generals of Menelik II of Ethiopia capture Gaki Sherocho, the last king of Kaffa, bringing an end to that ancient kingdom.
1903 – The first race at the Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wisconsin is held. It is the oldest major speedway in the world.
1914 – Australia invades New Britain, defeating a German contingent at the Battle of Bita Paka.
1916 – The Quebec Bridge's central span collapses, killing 11 men. The bridge initially collapsed in toto on August 29, 1907.
1919 – U.S. Marines invade Honduras.
1921 – Nahalal, the first moshav in Palestine, is settled as part of a Zionist plan to colonize Palestine and creating a Jewish state, later to be Israel.
1922 – The Treaty of Kars is ratified in Yerevan, Armenia.
1922 – One of the Herald Sun of Melbourne, Australia's predecessor papers The Sun News-Pictorial is founded.
1931 – Salvatore Maranzano is murdered by Lucky Luciano's hitmen.
1932 – Franciszek Żwirko and Stanisław Wigura, Polish Challenge 1932 winners, are killed when their RWD 6 airplane crashes during a storm.
1939 – World War II: Canada declares war on Germany, the country's first independent declaration of war
1940 – George Stibitz performs the first remote operation of a computer.
1941 – Ground is broken for the construction of The Pentagon.
1941 – Charles Lindbergh's Des Moines Speech accusing the British, Jews and the Roosevelt administration of pressing for war with Germany.
1943 – World War II: German troops occupy Corsica and Kosovo-Metohija.
1943 – World War II: Start of the liquidation of the Ghettos in Minsk and Lida by the Nazis.
1944 – World War II: The first Allied troops of the U.S. Army cross the western border of Germany.
1944 – World War II: RAF bombing raid on Darmstadt and the following firestorm kill 11,500.
1945 – World War II: Australian 9th Division forces liberate the Japanese-run Batu Lintang camp, a POW and civilian internment camp on the island of Borneo.
1954 – Hurricane Edna hits New England as a Category 3 hurricane, causing significant damage and 29 deaths.
1961 – Foundation of the World Wildlife Fund.
1961 – Hurricane Carla strikes the Texas coast as a Category 4 hurricane, the second strongest storm ever to hit the state.
1965 – Indo-Pakistani War: The Indian Army captures the town of Burki, just southeast of Lahore.
1968 – Air France Flight 1611 crashes off Nice, France, killing 89 passengers and 6 crew.
1968 – The International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) was found.
1970 – The Dawson's Field hijackers release 88 of their hostages. The remaining hostages, mostly Jews and Israeli citizens, are held until September 25.
1971 – The Egyptian Constitution becomes official.
1972 – The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit system has its opening day of passenger service.
1973 – A coup in Chile headed by General Augusto Pinochet topples the democratically elected president Salvador Allende. Pinochet exercises dictatorial power until ousted in a referendum in 1988, staying in power until 1990.
1974 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 crashes in Charlotte, North Carolina, killing 69 passengers and two crew.
1976 – A group of Croatian nationalists planted a bomb in a coin locker at Grand Central Terminal. After stating political demands, they revealed the location and provided instructions for disarming the bomb. The disarming operation was not executed properly, killing one NYPD bomb squad specialist.
1978 – Janet Parker is the last person to die of smallpox, in a laboratory-associated outbreak.
1980 – Voters approve a new Constitution of Chile, later amended after the departure of president Pinochet.
1982 – The international forces that were guaranteeing the safety of Palestinian refugees following Israel's 1982 Invasion of Lebanon leave Beirut. Five days later, several thousand refugees are massacred in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps.
1985 – Pete Rose breaks Ty Cobb's baseball record for most career hits with his 4,192nd hit
1988 – The St Jean Bosco massacre takes place in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
1989 – Hungary announces that the East German refugees who had been housed in temporary camps were free to leave for West Germany.
1992 – Hurricane Iniki, one of the most damaging hurricanes in United States history, devastates the Hawaiian islands of Kauai and Oahu.
1997 – NASA's Mars Global Surveyor reaches Mars.
1997 – After a nationwide referendum, Scotland votes to establish a devolved parliament within the United Kingdom.
1997 – 14 Estonian soldiers die in the Kurkse tragedy, drowning in the Baltic Sea
1998 – Opening ceremony for the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Malaysia is the first Asian country to host the games.
2000 – Melbourne hosts World Economic Forum where S11 protests also took place.
2001 – Two hijacked aircraft crash into the World Trade Center in New York City, while a third smashes into The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and a fourth into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, in a series of coordinated suicide attacks by members of Al Qaeda. Altogether, 2,996 people are killed.
Famous Folk Born On This Date:
Carl Zeiss
John Ireland
O. Henry
Felix Dzerzhinsky
D.H. Lawrence
Paul "Bear" Bryant
Ferdinand Marcos (I remember someone once told me a joke about Marcos, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev all flying on Air Force One over the Pacific, when the engines died and there was only one parachute. Reagan wanted it because he was leader of the free world. Gorby wanted it because he was leader of the Communist world. Marcos said the fair thing was that they should take a vote, and he won the parachute 10-2)
Tom Landry
Alan Bergman
Earl Holliman
Brian DePalma
Lola Falana
Mickey Hart
Franz Beckenbauer
Leo Kottke
Felton Perry
Amy Madigan
Tommy Shaw
Tony Gilroy
Roxann Dawson
Anne Ramsey
Virginia Madsen
Kristy McNichol
Moby
Paul Heyman
Harry Connick, Jr.
Taraji P. Henson
Movie quotes today are from "Independence Day" to honor Harry Connick, Jr.:
Capt. Jimmy Wilder: [knows Hiller is worried about Jasmine] Don't worry about it, Big Man. I'm sure she got out before it happened. Or, as the Good Reverend would say:
[switches voice to a Jesse Jackson impression]
Capt. Jimmy Wilder: Why we are on this particular mission, we'll never know. But I do know, here today, that the Black Knights will emerge victorious once again.
#2
Area 51 Guard: I'm sorry, Captain. This is a restricted area. I can't let you pass without clearance.
Captain Steven Hiller: Okay. Come here. You wanna see my clearance?
[shows the guard the alien wrapped up in a parachute. Guard jumps back]
Captain Steven Hiller: Maybe I'll just leave this here with you.
Area 51 Guard: [to other guard blocking entrance] Let them pass! Let them pass!
Captain Steven Hiller: [to other guard blocking entrance] Get the hell out the way!
Area 51 Guard: [to the other guard, freaked out] Did you see that?
#3
Video Newscaster: [TV news anchor reporting] Once again, the L.A.P.D. is asking Los Angelenos not to fire their guns at the visitor spacecraft. You may inadvertently trigger an interstellar war.
#4
Capt. Jimmy Wilder: Man, you know I really like Jasmine. You know that, right? Man, you are never gonna get to fly the space shuttle if you marry a stripper.
posted by me at 4:10 PM
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