Thank you
While I never know much about who reads my writings, it is nice to know that there are at least some who do. I know this because on Saturday I failed to publish. On Sunday I managed to publish, albeit it later than normal. Saturday there were four page views, possibly people who thought I might have written something and failed to inform anyone; or more likely, people who wandered here by accident.
Now the count for page views today sits above 60, almost all from Sunday's blog. I don't mind the lack of feedback. I write for me as well as for my limited audience. It is just pleasing to discover that at least a few dozen people are paying attention.
* * *
The lead story on the CNN website at this hour is the middle school shooting in Sparks, Nevada. An employee of the school and the shooter are reported to have died, with initial reports indicating that the shooter took his own life. Troubling. Very troubling in fact.
Another story that is in the news today is that one person is dead and three more wounded in a shooting at an after-hours club at Bally's on the Las Vegas Strip. Apparently a patron who was allowed to look around before paying the $30 cover charge was angry after he was denied a refund after spending more than two hours in the club after having paid the cover charge. Very troubling.
I'm fairly certain that in the first incident we will be told after the fact that the shooter had issues, probably undiagnosed and/or unreported mental health problems and so on. The absurdity of shooting people over a $30 refund speaks volumes about what was in the mind of that shooter.
But the shooting death that is really upsetting me today is the one that's getting the least amount of news coverage. In North Carolina during the past weekend, a 2 year shot and killed herself with a gun that her 19 year old father, a convicted felon, had hidden under the sofa. He's a convicted felon. He had outstanding arrest warrants. She's the third child under the age of 6 who has died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound since June of this year.
That a middle school student managed to get his (or her) hands on a gun is very troubling. But not nearly as troubling as the idea that more than one child under the age of six had unrestricted access to a gun in their home over the past few months. Responsible parenting includes removing obvious hazards from the reach of those so young. If we can go to the trouble of putting toxic substances behind locked cabinets, can't we insist that people who fail to put guns out of the way so they don't harm children pay a heavy price for their failure?
* * *
In the comments section of the article about that two year old who died so tragically (and in a way that was easily prevented), there's a debate raging about the actual cost of raising a child from birth to the age of 18. Some estimate it to be $200,000. Others are trying to argue it is far less, and some that it is much more.
So I checked. In August of this year the USDA released a report saying that on average, it will cost parents over $241,000 to raise a child to age 18. In the urban Northeast, for families earning more than $105,000, that average figure rises to more than $446,000. Conversely, in the rural areas of the U.S., families earning less than $62,000 will spend "only" $143,000 to raise that child to age 18.
Obviously location is a major factor.
As are life choices. If a family were to have enrolled a child at the school where I used to work in September of this year, my estimate is that they would have spent over $533,000 in tuition and fees alone by the time the child would graduate. That isn't counting books, trips and so on, which would raise the cost to some degree.
On the other hand, if the same family were to enroll the same child at a nearby Catholic school and continue the child's education through that system, they would have spent "only" a little more than $105,000 for tuition over the same period. 1/5th of the above.
Then if that same family were to have used the public school system, their tuition expense over that period would have been zero.
The other costs, books, trips and so on don't change all that much; although public schools don't usually have required trips that involve costs of more than $100.
You get what you pay for. The student's educational experience, on average, is going to be superior in the most expensive of private schools. Ratios of students to teacher are the smallest there. The most individual attention is obtained there. Such schools get to pick from the best of the best among the applicant pool. We just can't forget that people spending this kind of money are skewing the average cost of raising a child, just a tad.
* * *
President Obama is upset that the website for the federal government's "exchange" for people who want to sign up for healthcare coverage is not working. He's right.
The problem is nothing more than government doing business as usual, signing contracts with companies who are far better at navigating the government's onerous procurement system than they are at actually doing the work. IT experts are saying that the healthcare.gov website is using older technology and poorly written software. Steve Buscemi, as "Rockhound" in "Armageddon" may have said it best when it comes to describing the problem here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuAUE58MQt4
The Obama Administration (and every single one of its predecessors) hasn't hesitated to interfere in the process of bidding on government contracts when it will benefit their campaign contributors. One need only review the bidding process for a contract to furnish a smallpox drug that most experts say will never be needed; to know that this is true. So why didn't they make sure that the programmers who created the exceptional websites for the president's campaigns get this job? I'd rather have seen a rigged bidding for this and the resulting website work well.
Frankly I'm tired of people attacking Obamacare for silly reasons, like seniors having to have coverage for benefits they will never need (just heard a talking head say this on CNN). When it comes to valid attacks, like a website that sucks (which could have been prevented), better planning would have kept them from being available to the critics.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Are the comments sections of the internet nearly devoid of civility because of their anonymity? What if we required people to provide proof of identity and to have their full name (the real one) attached to what they write?
Since actress Lori Loughlin ducked questions about whether or not she had a crush on John Stamos whey they worked together on TV's "Full House", can I duck questions about whether or not I had a crush on her? I did, for a short time.
Former member of the House Barney Frank claiming he deserves "little of the blame" for the housing crisis, and that he didn't advocate home ownership for low-income Americans is hypocrisy of the highest order. His own words prove he not only favored this, but kept the Republicans from trying to limit Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Mexico and France are upset at revelations that the NSA is monitoring communications inside of those two nations. As though they aren't doing the same to us? The DGSE (successor to the SDECE) and the other French agencies connected to the gathering of intelligence are certainly monitoring what they can of both Americans travelling in France, and of U.S. communications at home. Mexico has at least five intelligence agencies, three military and two civilian and there are rumors of a sixth that is kept very "hush-hush". While much of their capability is being used to try to monitor the drug cartels, some of it is definitely pointed to the North.
Sears and J.C. Penney were once the vanguard of U.S. retail when it came to big box stores in large shopping malls. Now both are in economic free-fall and there is no sign of turnaround on the horizon. Why? Poor management, not the economy. Costco is growing. WalMart is growing.
Dick Cheney is defending the actions of the Tea Party movement. No surprise there. I'm still in shock he didn't disown his daughter when she came out.
A man punched a woman in the face after a NFL game? Because she was wearing a Patriots jersey, while he was wearing his Jets gear? Sheesh.
Those who are blaming the Affordable Care Act for the increase in premiums for health coverage through their employers are looking in the wrong place for the cause. The real reason healthcare premiums are rising for next year for such plans is an improving economy which is driving more people to go to the doctor. More demand = reduced supply = higher costs.
I have three words for the guy who paid plastic surgeons $100,000 so he could look like Justin Bieber. "See a psychiatrist" are those words.
Model Kate Upton wanted to be either a zookeeper or a CIA agent when she was growing up. I think she made the right move, career wise.
I feel sorry for whoever lands the gig as publicist for Mr. Conrad Murray when he gets out of jail in a week. They will almost certainly never get paid.
Aside from the improper attire and footwear, Kate Middleton looked every inch a volleyball player.
* * *
This Date In History:
1096 – People's Crusade: The Turkish army annihilates the People's Army of the West.
1097 – First Crusade: Crusaders led by Godfrey of Bouillon, Bohemund of Taranto, and Raymond IV of Toulouse, begin the Siege of Antioch.
1209 – Otto IV is crowned emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by Pope Innocent III.
1392 – Nanboku-chō: Emperor Go-Kameyama abdicates in favor of rival claimant Go-Komatsu.
1512 – Martin Luther joins the theological faculty of the University of Wittenberg.
1520 – Ferdinand Magellan discovers a strait now known as Strait of Magellan.
1520 – João Álvares Fagundes discovers the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, bestowing them their original name of "Islands of the 11,000 Virgins".
1600 – Tokugawa Ieyasu defeats the leaders of rival Japanese clans in the Battle of Sekigahara, which marks the beginning of the Tokugawa shogunate that in effect rules Japan until the mid-nineteenth century.
1774 – First display of the word "Liberty" on a flag, raised by colonists in Taunton, Massachusetts in defiance of British rule in Colonial America.
1797 – In Boston Harbor, the 44-gun United States Navy frigate USS Constitution is launched.
1805 – Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Trafalgar: A British fleet led by Vice Admiral Lord Nelson defeats a combined French and Spanish fleet off the coast of Spain under Admiral Villeneuve. It signals almost the end of French maritime power and leaves Britain's navy unchallenged until the 20th century.
1816 – The Penang Free School is founded in George Town, Penang, Malaysia, by the Rev Hutchings. It is the oldest English-language school in Southeast Asia.
1824 – Joseph Aspdin patents Portland cement.
1854 – Florence Nightingale and a staff of 38 nurses are sent to the Crimean War.
1861 – American Civil War: Battle of Ball's Bluff – Union forces under Colonel Edward Baker are defeated by Confederate troops in the second major battle of the war. Baker, a close friend of Abraham Lincoln, is killed in the fighting.
1867 – Manifest Destiny: Medicine Lodge Treaty – Near Medicine Lodge, Kansas a landmark treaty is signed by southern Great Plains Indian leaders. The treaty requires Native American Plains tribes to relocate to a reservation in western Oklahoma.
1892 – Opening ceremonies for the World's Columbian Exposition are held in Chicago, though because construction was behind schedule, the exposition did not open until May 1, 1893.
1895 – The Republic of Formosa collapses as Japanese forces invade.
1902 – In the United States, a five-month strike by United Mine Workers ends.
1910 – HMS Niobe arrives in Halifax Harbour to become the first ship of the Royal Canadian Navy.
1912 – During the First Balkan War, Kardzhali is liberated by Bulgarian forces
1921 – President Warren G. Harding delivers the first speech by a sitting President against lynching in the deep south.
1921 – George Melford's silent film, The Sheik, starring Rudolph Valentino, premiers.
1931 – The Sakurakai, a secret society in the Imperial Japanese Army, launches an abortive coup d'état attempt.
1940 – The first edition of the Ernest Hemingway novel For Whom the Bell Tolls is published.
1941 – World War II: In Kragujevac (Serbia), Wehrmacht killed about 7000 citizens, including schoolchildren and professors (see Kragujevac massacre).
1943 – The Provisional Government of Free India is formally declared by Subhas Chandra Bose.
1944 – World War II: The first kamikaze attack: A Japanese plane carrying a 200-kilogram (440 lb) bomb attacks HMAS Australia off Leyte Island, as the Battle of Leyte Gulf began.
1944 – World War II: Battle of Aachen: The city of Aachen falls to American forces after three weeks of fighting, making it the first German city to fall to the Allies.
1945 – Women's suffrage: Women are allowed to vote in France for the first time.
1950 – Korean War: heavy fighting begins between British and Australian forces from the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade and the North Korean 239th Regiment during the Battle of Yongju.
1956 – Kenyan rebel leader Dedan Kimathi is captured by the British Army, signalling the ultimate defeat of the Mau Mau Uprising, and essentially ending the British military campaign.
1959 – In New York City, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, opens to the public.
1959 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs an executive order transferring Wernher von Braun and other German scientists from the United States Army to NASA.
1965 – Comet Ikeya-Seki approaches perihelion, passing 450,000 kilometers from the sun.
1966 – Aberfan disaster: A slag heap collapses on the village of Aberfan in Wales, killing 144 people, mostly schoolchildren.
1967 – Vietnam War: More than 100,000 war protesters gather in Washington, D.C.. A peaceful rally at the Lincoln Memorial is followed by a march to The Pentagon and clashes with soldiers and United States Marshals protecting the facility. Similar demonstrations occurred simultaneously in Japan and Western Europe.
1969 – A coup d'état in Somalia brings Siad Barre to power.
1971 – A gas explosion kills 22 people at a shopping centre in Clarkston, East Renfrewshire, near Glasgow, Scotland.
1973 – John Paul Getty III's ear is cut off by his kidnappers and sent to a newspaper in Rome; it doesn't arrive until November 8.
1973 – Fred Dryer of the then Los Angeles Rams becomes the first player in NFL history to score two safeties in the same game.
1977 – The European Patent Institute is founded.
1978 – Australian civilian pilot Frederick Valentich vanishes in a Cessna 182 over the Bass Strait south of Melbourne, after reporting contact with an unidentified aircraft.
1979 – Moshe Dayan resigns from the Israeli government because of strong disagreements with Prime Minister Menachem Begin over policy towards the Arabs.
1983 – The metre is defined at the seventeenth General Conference on Weights and Measures as the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second.
1986 – In Lebanon, pro-Iranian kidnappers claim to have abducted American writer Edward Tracy (he is released in August 1991).
1987 – Jaffna hospital massacre is carried out by Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka killing 70 ethnic Tamil patients, doctors and nurses.
1994 – North Korea nuclear weapons program: North Korea and the United States sign an agreement that requires North Korea to stop its nuclear weapons program and agree to inspections.
1994 – In Seoul, 32 people are killed when the Seongsu Bridge collapses.
Famous Folk Born On This Date:
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Alfred Nobel
Emperor Higashiyama of Japan
Edogawa Rampo
Mary Blair
Whitey Ford
Joyce Randolph
Ursula Le Guin
Vivian Pickles
Manfred Mann
Steve "The Colonel" Cropper
Elvin Bishop
Judge Judith Sheindlin
Everett McGill
Jim Hill
Lee Loughnane
Tom Everett
Benjamin Netanyahu
Ronald McNair
Patti Davis
Charlotte Caffey
Marc Johnson
Carrie Fisher
Steve Lukather
Ken Watanabe
Melora Waters
Kim Kardashian
Zack Greinke
Natalee Holloway
Movie quotes today come from "Under Siege 2: Dark Territory":
[addressing the passengers by videophone]
Travis Dane: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This is your captor speaking. There's been a slight change in your travel plans tonight. You have, you will note, been moved to the last two cars of the train for your own well-being. First, I'd like to call your attention to the highly trained men with the automatic weapons in your cars. In the event of an emergency, they may be called upon to shoot you. Your safety IS our primary concern. However, if you try anything stupid, Federal Regulations require that I kill you. So please, no hero shit!
#2
Travis Dane: [Dane is looking through Ryback's palm-pilot] Ryback's tactics.
Penn: Ryback?
Travis Dane: That's what is says... Ryback.
Mercenary # 2: Casey fuckin' Ryback?
Mercenary #1: Jesus Christ.
Travis Dane: Who's Casey fucking Ryback?
Penn: Casey Ryback is an ex-Navy SEAL captain. A counter-terrorism expert.
Mercenary #1: He was my instructor at Fort Bragg.
Mercenary # 2: He's the best there is.
Travis Dane: I thought you were the best there is, Penn.
#3
[seeing Captains Linda Gilder and David Trilling having sex in a train compartment]
Travis Dane: Well, here you are. The last place anyone would expect to find you. Amazing.
Now the count for page views today sits above 60, almost all from Sunday's blog. I don't mind the lack of feedback. I write for me as well as for my limited audience. It is just pleasing to discover that at least a few dozen people are paying attention.
* * *
The lead story on the CNN website at this hour is the middle school shooting in Sparks, Nevada. An employee of the school and the shooter are reported to have died, with initial reports indicating that the shooter took his own life. Troubling. Very troubling in fact.
Another story that is in the news today is that one person is dead and three more wounded in a shooting at an after-hours club at Bally's on the Las Vegas Strip. Apparently a patron who was allowed to look around before paying the $30 cover charge was angry after he was denied a refund after spending more than two hours in the club after having paid the cover charge. Very troubling.
I'm fairly certain that in the first incident we will be told after the fact that the shooter had issues, probably undiagnosed and/or unreported mental health problems and so on. The absurdity of shooting people over a $30 refund speaks volumes about what was in the mind of that shooter.
But the shooting death that is really upsetting me today is the one that's getting the least amount of news coverage. In North Carolina during the past weekend, a 2 year shot and killed herself with a gun that her 19 year old father, a convicted felon, had hidden under the sofa. He's a convicted felon. He had outstanding arrest warrants. She's the third child under the age of 6 who has died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound since June of this year.
That a middle school student managed to get his (or her) hands on a gun is very troubling. But not nearly as troubling as the idea that more than one child under the age of six had unrestricted access to a gun in their home over the past few months. Responsible parenting includes removing obvious hazards from the reach of those so young. If we can go to the trouble of putting toxic substances behind locked cabinets, can't we insist that people who fail to put guns out of the way so they don't harm children pay a heavy price for their failure?
* * *
In the comments section of the article about that two year old who died so tragically (and in a way that was easily prevented), there's a debate raging about the actual cost of raising a child from birth to the age of 18. Some estimate it to be $200,000. Others are trying to argue it is far less, and some that it is much more.
So I checked. In August of this year the USDA released a report saying that on average, it will cost parents over $241,000 to raise a child to age 18. In the urban Northeast, for families earning more than $105,000, that average figure rises to more than $446,000. Conversely, in the rural areas of the U.S., families earning less than $62,000 will spend "only" $143,000 to raise that child to age 18.
Obviously location is a major factor.
As are life choices. If a family were to have enrolled a child at the school where I used to work in September of this year, my estimate is that they would have spent over $533,000 in tuition and fees alone by the time the child would graduate. That isn't counting books, trips and so on, which would raise the cost to some degree.
On the other hand, if the same family were to enroll the same child at a nearby Catholic school and continue the child's education through that system, they would have spent "only" a little more than $105,000 for tuition over the same period. 1/5th of the above.
Then if that same family were to have used the public school system, their tuition expense over that period would have been zero.
The other costs, books, trips and so on don't change all that much; although public schools don't usually have required trips that involve costs of more than $100.
You get what you pay for. The student's educational experience, on average, is going to be superior in the most expensive of private schools. Ratios of students to teacher are the smallest there. The most individual attention is obtained there. Such schools get to pick from the best of the best among the applicant pool. We just can't forget that people spending this kind of money are skewing the average cost of raising a child, just a tad.
* * *
President Obama is upset that the website for the federal government's "exchange" for people who want to sign up for healthcare coverage is not working. He's right.
The problem is nothing more than government doing business as usual, signing contracts with companies who are far better at navigating the government's onerous procurement system than they are at actually doing the work. IT experts are saying that the healthcare.gov website is using older technology and poorly written software. Steve Buscemi, as "Rockhound" in "Armageddon" may have said it best when it comes to describing the problem here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuAUE58MQt4
The Obama Administration (and every single one of its predecessors) hasn't hesitated to interfere in the process of bidding on government contracts when it will benefit their campaign contributors. One need only review the bidding process for a contract to furnish a smallpox drug that most experts say will never be needed; to know that this is true. So why didn't they make sure that the programmers who created the exceptional websites for the president's campaigns get this job? I'd rather have seen a rigged bidding for this and the resulting website work well.
Frankly I'm tired of people attacking Obamacare for silly reasons, like seniors having to have coverage for benefits they will never need (just heard a talking head say this on CNN). When it comes to valid attacks, like a website that sucks (which could have been prevented), better planning would have kept them from being available to the critics.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Are the comments sections of the internet nearly devoid of civility because of their anonymity? What if we required people to provide proof of identity and to have their full name (the real one) attached to what they write?
Since actress Lori Loughlin ducked questions about whether or not she had a crush on John Stamos whey they worked together on TV's "Full House", can I duck questions about whether or not I had a crush on her? I did, for a short time.
Former member of the House Barney Frank claiming he deserves "little of the blame" for the housing crisis, and that he didn't advocate home ownership for low-income Americans is hypocrisy of the highest order. His own words prove he not only favored this, but kept the Republicans from trying to limit Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Mexico and France are upset at revelations that the NSA is monitoring communications inside of those two nations. As though they aren't doing the same to us? The DGSE (successor to the SDECE) and the other French agencies connected to the gathering of intelligence are certainly monitoring what they can of both Americans travelling in France, and of U.S. communications at home. Mexico has at least five intelligence agencies, three military and two civilian and there are rumors of a sixth that is kept very "hush-hush". While much of their capability is being used to try to monitor the drug cartels, some of it is definitely pointed to the North.
Sears and J.C. Penney were once the vanguard of U.S. retail when it came to big box stores in large shopping malls. Now both are in economic free-fall and there is no sign of turnaround on the horizon. Why? Poor management, not the economy. Costco is growing. WalMart is growing.
Dick Cheney is defending the actions of the Tea Party movement. No surprise there. I'm still in shock he didn't disown his daughter when she came out.
A man punched a woman in the face after a NFL game? Because she was wearing a Patriots jersey, while he was wearing his Jets gear? Sheesh.
Those who are blaming the Affordable Care Act for the increase in premiums for health coverage through their employers are looking in the wrong place for the cause. The real reason healthcare premiums are rising for next year for such plans is an improving economy which is driving more people to go to the doctor. More demand = reduced supply = higher costs.
I have three words for the guy who paid plastic surgeons $100,000 so he could look like Justin Bieber. "See a psychiatrist" are those words.
Model Kate Upton wanted to be either a zookeeper or a CIA agent when she was growing up. I think she made the right move, career wise.
I feel sorry for whoever lands the gig as publicist for Mr. Conrad Murray when he gets out of jail in a week. They will almost certainly never get paid.
Aside from the improper attire and footwear, Kate Middleton looked every inch a volleyball player.
* * *
This Date In History:
1096 – People's Crusade: The Turkish army annihilates the People's Army of the West.
1097 – First Crusade: Crusaders led by Godfrey of Bouillon, Bohemund of Taranto, and Raymond IV of Toulouse, begin the Siege of Antioch.
1209 – Otto IV is crowned emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by Pope Innocent III.
1392 – Nanboku-chō: Emperor Go-Kameyama abdicates in favor of rival claimant Go-Komatsu.
1512 – Martin Luther joins the theological faculty of the University of Wittenberg.
1520 – Ferdinand Magellan discovers a strait now known as Strait of Magellan.
1520 – João Álvares Fagundes discovers the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, bestowing them their original name of "Islands of the 11,000 Virgins".
1600 – Tokugawa Ieyasu defeats the leaders of rival Japanese clans in the Battle of Sekigahara, which marks the beginning of the Tokugawa shogunate that in effect rules Japan until the mid-nineteenth century.
1774 – First display of the word "Liberty" on a flag, raised by colonists in Taunton, Massachusetts in defiance of British rule in Colonial America.
1797 – In Boston Harbor, the 44-gun United States Navy frigate USS Constitution is launched.
1805 – Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Trafalgar: A British fleet led by Vice Admiral Lord Nelson defeats a combined French and Spanish fleet off the coast of Spain under Admiral Villeneuve. It signals almost the end of French maritime power and leaves Britain's navy unchallenged until the 20th century.
1816 – The Penang Free School is founded in George Town, Penang, Malaysia, by the Rev Hutchings. It is the oldest English-language school in Southeast Asia.
1824 – Joseph Aspdin patents Portland cement.
1854 – Florence Nightingale and a staff of 38 nurses are sent to the Crimean War.
1861 – American Civil War: Battle of Ball's Bluff – Union forces under Colonel Edward Baker are defeated by Confederate troops in the second major battle of the war. Baker, a close friend of Abraham Lincoln, is killed in the fighting.
1867 – Manifest Destiny: Medicine Lodge Treaty – Near Medicine Lodge, Kansas a landmark treaty is signed by southern Great Plains Indian leaders. The treaty requires Native American Plains tribes to relocate to a reservation in western Oklahoma.
1892 – Opening ceremonies for the World's Columbian Exposition are held in Chicago, though because construction was behind schedule, the exposition did not open until May 1, 1893.
1895 – The Republic of Formosa collapses as Japanese forces invade.
1902 – In the United States, a five-month strike by United Mine Workers ends.
1910 – HMS Niobe arrives in Halifax Harbour to become the first ship of the Royal Canadian Navy.
1912 – During the First Balkan War, Kardzhali is liberated by Bulgarian forces
1921 – President Warren G. Harding delivers the first speech by a sitting President against lynching in the deep south.
1921 – George Melford's silent film, The Sheik, starring Rudolph Valentino, premiers.
1931 – The Sakurakai, a secret society in the Imperial Japanese Army, launches an abortive coup d'état attempt.
1940 – The first edition of the Ernest Hemingway novel For Whom the Bell Tolls is published.
1941 – World War II: In Kragujevac (Serbia), Wehrmacht killed about 7000 citizens, including schoolchildren and professors (see Kragujevac massacre).
1943 – The Provisional Government of Free India is formally declared by Subhas Chandra Bose.
1944 – World War II: The first kamikaze attack: A Japanese plane carrying a 200-kilogram (440 lb) bomb attacks HMAS Australia off Leyte Island, as the Battle of Leyte Gulf began.
1944 – World War II: Battle of Aachen: The city of Aachen falls to American forces after three weeks of fighting, making it the first German city to fall to the Allies.
1945 – Women's suffrage: Women are allowed to vote in France for the first time.
1950 – Korean War: heavy fighting begins between British and Australian forces from the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade and the North Korean 239th Regiment during the Battle of Yongju.
1956 – Kenyan rebel leader Dedan Kimathi is captured by the British Army, signalling the ultimate defeat of the Mau Mau Uprising, and essentially ending the British military campaign.
1959 – In New York City, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, opens to the public.
1959 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs an executive order transferring Wernher von Braun and other German scientists from the United States Army to NASA.
1965 – Comet Ikeya-Seki approaches perihelion, passing 450,000 kilometers from the sun.
1966 – Aberfan disaster: A slag heap collapses on the village of Aberfan in Wales, killing 144 people, mostly schoolchildren.
1967 – Vietnam War: More than 100,000 war protesters gather in Washington, D.C.. A peaceful rally at the Lincoln Memorial is followed by a march to The Pentagon and clashes with soldiers and United States Marshals protecting the facility. Similar demonstrations occurred simultaneously in Japan and Western Europe.
1969 – A coup d'état in Somalia brings Siad Barre to power.
1971 – A gas explosion kills 22 people at a shopping centre in Clarkston, East Renfrewshire, near Glasgow, Scotland.
1973 – John Paul Getty III's ear is cut off by his kidnappers and sent to a newspaper in Rome; it doesn't arrive until November 8.
1973 – Fred Dryer of the then Los Angeles Rams becomes the first player in NFL history to score two safeties in the same game.
1977 – The European Patent Institute is founded.
1978 – Australian civilian pilot Frederick Valentich vanishes in a Cessna 182 over the Bass Strait south of Melbourne, after reporting contact with an unidentified aircraft.
1979 – Moshe Dayan resigns from the Israeli government because of strong disagreements with Prime Minister Menachem Begin over policy towards the Arabs.
1983 – The metre is defined at the seventeenth General Conference on Weights and Measures as the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second.
1986 – In Lebanon, pro-Iranian kidnappers claim to have abducted American writer Edward Tracy (he is released in August 1991).
1987 – Jaffna hospital massacre is carried out by Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka killing 70 ethnic Tamil patients, doctors and nurses.
1994 – North Korea nuclear weapons program: North Korea and the United States sign an agreement that requires North Korea to stop its nuclear weapons program and agree to inspections.
1994 – In Seoul, 32 people are killed when the Seongsu Bridge collapses.
Famous Folk Born On This Date:
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Alfred Nobel
Emperor Higashiyama of Japan
Edogawa Rampo
Mary Blair
Whitey Ford
Joyce Randolph
Ursula Le Guin
Vivian Pickles
Manfred Mann
Steve "The Colonel" Cropper
Elvin Bishop
Judge Judith Sheindlin
Everett McGill
Jim Hill
Lee Loughnane
Tom Everett
Benjamin Netanyahu
Ronald McNair
Patti Davis
Charlotte Caffey
Marc Johnson
Carrie Fisher
Steve Lukather
Ken Watanabe
Melora Waters
Kim Kardashian
Zack Greinke
Natalee Holloway
Movie quotes today come from "Under Siege 2: Dark Territory":
[addressing the passengers by videophone]
Travis Dane: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This is your captor speaking. There's been a slight change in your travel plans tonight. You have, you will note, been moved to the last two cars of the train for your own well-being. First, I'd like to call your attention to the highly trained men with the automatic weapons in your cars. In the event of an emergency, they may be called upon to shoot you. Your safety IS our primary concern. However, if you try anything stupid, Federal Regulations require that I kill you. So please, no hero shit!
#2
Travis Dane: [Dane is looking through Ryback's palm-pilot] Ryback's tactics.
Penn: Ryback?
Travis Dane: That's what is says... Ryback.
Mercenary # 2: Casey fuckin' Ryback?
Mercenary #1: Jesus Christ.
Travis Dane: Who's Casey fucking Ryback?
Penn: Casey Ryback is an ex-Navy SEAL captain. A counter-terrorism expert.
Mercenary #1: He was my instructor at Fort Bragg.
Mercenary # 2: He's the best there is.
Travis Dane: I thought you were the best there is, Penn.
#3
[seeing Captains Linda Gilder and David Trilling having sex in a train compartment]
Travis Dane: Well, here you are. The last place anyone would expect to find you. Amazing.
posted by me at 6:38 PM
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