Ideals and reality
In an ideal world, the people who live within a geographic area should be able to engage in self-determination in establishing how they are governed. More importantly, they should get to determine who will govern them. In that ideal world, people who want to secede an area or region from its current status should have the right to conduct a referendum on the subject.
I draw a parallel between what's going on in Ukraine and here in California, although there's no potential for military intervention in our state's struggle to actually conduct a referendum. In the Ukraine, the issue involves areas with large populations of ethnic Russians. In California, there is a drive to split the state into six different states. There is a rising tide in that area of the Ukraine toward secession. It has been fueled by the recent ouster of President Viktor Yanukovich by Parliament.
In the Ukraine, what would happen to the rest of the country were this area to be allowed to secede and fall under Russian influence; possibly Russian control? Who knows? But will the rest of the nation suffer a consequence over this? Odessa is in this region. It is the only warm water seaport the country has. Will economic engines in this nation that are dependent on Odessa suddenly lose access to it? Or more likely, be forced to pay for that access. What of the natural resources of that area that currently belong to the nation?
Here in California the majority of the water resources are in the Central Valley. That groundwater is not an unlimited resource. Most of the surface water in California is in the North. In fact, the Association of California Water Agencies tells us that 75% of the state's water comes from north of Sacramento while 80% of the demand for water comes from the southern two-thirds of the state. If the state becomes six states, what happens to "West California" when "North California" turns off the faucet?
This is why any referendum on secession must, repeat must, include all of those who will wind up being impacted by the proposed change. It isn't fair for the San Fernando Valley to secede from Los Angeles unless the vote to do so includes all of the city's residents. That's why Measure F, a vote to allow the Valley to secede from Los Angeles failed back in 2002. The referendum passed in the Valley, albeit by a slight margin. But it failed miserably in the rest of the city, mostly due to strong opposition from the city's elected leadership.
Therefore, it is perfectly reasonable to allow the people in any area of the Ukraine to hold a referendum on secession. But only if everyone in the Ukraine (of age) is allowed to vote on the measure.
As for Russian military intervention, the United States should not use military force as a first measure. They should force the Russians to veto intervention by the United Nations; and then President Obama would be justified to work with the rest of NATO to do something to force Russia to respect the independence of the Ukraine.
* * *
What do Philip Seymour Hoffman, River Phoenix and John Belushi all have in common? They all died from mixing cocaine and heroin.
"Speedballing" is what this is popularly known as. But apparently that wasn't enough for Mr. Hoffman. The coroner's report also states that amphetamines and benzodiazepines were found in his system.
Although I've written about this before I was still pondering the apparent prevalence of drug usage among celebrities. Let's agree upfront to ignore marijuana use. I doubt anyone has ever died from smoking too much pot, although that ignores deaths where people do stupid shit while high. When I was in the service, one of the trainees tried to leap from the third floor of his barracks to a nearby tree, and he was apparently high as a kite on pot when it happened. That's more about being stupid than being high.
So I did some research. Turns out it isn't just among celebrities. The leading cause of "injury death" in 2010 in the U.S. for people between ages 25 to 64 was an overdose on drugs. More people died from that than died from motor vehicle deaths. That's from the CDC. 78% of those deaths were unintentional. The CDC also reports that drug misuse and abuse caused about 2.5 million visits to emergency rooms in the U. S. in 2011.
A study done by the National Institutes of Health shows that we're paying a heavy price just for the abuse of prescription drugs. This study showed that in 2007 we lost $55.7 billion due to prescription opioid abuse. 46% in lost productivity, 45% in increased healthcare costs and 7% in increased criminal justice expense.
I don't have an answer to this one. What can we do to turn this around?
* * *
Reading that Claudia Schiffer was once offered $1 million to date an Arab prince (she declined) reminds me of an old quotation, attributed to George Bernard Shaw, Winston Churchill, Groucho Marx, Mark Twain and many others. It goes something like this. A man of letters is at a party and he walks up to a beautiful woman guest and asks her if she would have sex with him for $1 million. She agrees. Then he asks if she'd do it for $100. And she replies "$100? Do you think I'm a prostitute?" And he replies "Madame, we've already established that. Now we're just haggling."
I wondered where this really came from. Apparently it dates back to 1937 and a syndicated newspaper columnist named O. O. McIntyre. Someone I'd never heard of.
The reason this was on my mind is something that happened in Wednesday night's trivia game. We were given a category where someone is known for having said something they never actually said. As soon as this category was announced I 'pre-called' Sarah Palin as definitely being one of the answers, since it was really Tina Fey who said "I can see Russia from my bedroom" and not the former Alaska governor.
We were given the quote "the ends justify the means" and I was pretty sure that Oliver North was the answer. The correct answer was Machiavelli. Now when Iran/Contra was going on, there was a slew of articles and op-ed pieces about the concept of "the ends justify the means" and I was certain that even though this was being attributed to Lt Col North, he didn't actually say it.
The internet is filled with references attributing this quote to Machiavelli and none to North, so obviously I was wrong. That's going to happen. But the clear conviction so many of these sources display by this attribution is very interesting.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
How did a woman who was supposed to get a Fed-Ex package of breakfast cereal wind up with someone's sensitive, personal papers?
What kind of moron goes on Facebook to brag about something that's supposed to be a secret, costing their parents $80,000?
Is anyone surprised that Aaron Hernandez was sued by the families of the two people he stands accused of murdering?
When I read that two signed copies of "Mein Kampf" were going on the auction bloc, I lamented the fact I'm not obscenely rich. If I were, I'd buy both of them and then hold a public burning. The words of the book should be preserved to prevent another Holocaust, but the signature of the author is not worthy of collection.
Apparently the folks at TMZ.com are all out trying to gather Oscar "dish" and there's no one home to let them know they are having website problems.
I don't know if Rafael Peralta does or doesn't deserve to have his Navy Cross upgraded to the Medal of Honor. But I'm pretty sure if he weren't of Mexican heritage, columnist Ruben Navarette wouldn't be writing about it.
I have no words regarding the guy who woke up just before being embalmed.
$60 million for a high school football stadium and less than two years later they're finding cracks in the concrete?
It's pretty interesting that two different actresses up for Oscars this year both had roles on "The Bill Engvall Show."
There is definitely something wrong with a system where the NFL dictates that tight ends tagged as franchise players get $6.8 million next season and wide receivers get $11.8 million. This could cost Jimmy Graham $5 million next season in spite of the fact he lined up twice as often at wide out as he did as tight end.
I suppose it is possible that Ellen was the inspiration for "Miss Congeniality" but that doesn't mean she was the right person to star in it.
* * *
February 28th in History:
202 BC – coronation ceremony of Liu Bang as Emperor Gaozu of Han takes place, initiating four centuries of the Han Dynasty's rule over China.
628 – Khosrau II is executed by Mihr Hormozd under the orders of Kavadh II.
870 – The Fourth Council of Constantinople closes.
1246 – The Siege of Jaén ends in the context of the Spanish Reconquista resulting in the Castilian takeover of the city from the Taifa of Jaen.
1525 – The Aztec king Cuauhtémoc is executed by Hernán Cortés's forces.
1638 – The Scottish National Covenant is signed in Edinburgh.
1700 – Today is followed by March 1 in Sweden, thus creating the Swedish calendar.
1710 – In the Battle of Helsingborg, 14,000 Danish invaders under Jørgen Rantzau are decisively defeated by an equally sized Swedish force under Magnus Stenbock. This is the last time Swedish and Danish troops meet on Swedish soil.
1784 – John Wesley charters the Methodist Church.
1811 – Cry of Asencio, beginning of the Uruguayan War of Independence
1827 – The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad is incorporated, becoming the first railroad in America offering commercial transportation of both people and freight.
1838 – Robert Nelson, leader of the Patriotes, proclaims the independence of Lower Canada (today Quebec)
1844 – A gun on USS Princeton explodes while the boat is on a Potomac River cruise, killing eight people, including two United States Cabinet members.
1849 – Regular steamboat service from the west to the east coast of the United States begins with the arrival of the SS California in San Francisco Bay, 4 months 22 days after leaving New York Harbor.
1867 – Seventy years of Holy See-United States relations are ended by a Congressional ban on federal funding of diplomatic envoys to the Vatican and are not restored until January 10, 1984.
1870 – The Bulgarian Exarchate is established by decree of Sultan Abd-ul-Aziz of the Ottoman Empire.
1874 – One of the longest cases ever heard in an English court ends when the defendant is convicted of perjury for attempting to assume the identity of the heir to the Tichborne baronetcy.
1883 – The first vaudeville theater opens in Boston
1885 – The American Telephone and Telegraph Company is incorporated in New York State as the subsidiary of American Bell Telephone. (American Bell would later merge with its subsidiary.)
1893 – The USS Indiana, the lead ship of her class and the first battleship in the United States Navy comparable to foreign battleships of the time, is launched.
1897 – Queen Ranavalona III, the last monarch of Madagascar, is deposed by a French military force.
1900 – The Second Boer War: The 118-day "Siege of Ladysmith" is lifted.
1914 – The Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus is proclaimed in Gjirokastër, by the Greeks living in southern Albania.
1922 – The United Kingdom ends its protectorate over Egypt through a Unilateral Declaration of Independence.
1925 – The Charlevoix-Kamouraska earthquake strikes northeastern North America.
1928 – C.V. Raman discovers the Raman effect.
1933 – Gleichschaltung: The Reichstag Fire Decree is passed in Germany a day after the Reichstag fire.
1935 – DuPont scientist Wallace Carothers invents nylon.
1939 – The erroneous word "dord" is discovered in the Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition, prompting an investigation.
1940 – Basketball is televised for the first time (Fordham University vs. the University of Pittsburgh in Madison Square Garden).
1942 – The heavy cruiser USS Houston is sunk in the Battle of Sunda Strait with 693 crew members killed, along with HMAS Perth which lost 375 men.
1947 – 228 massacre: In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down with the loss of an estimated 30,000 civilians.
1953 – James D. Watson and Francis Crick announce to friends that they have determined the chemical structure of DNA; the formal announcement takes place on April 25 following publication in April's Nature (pub. April 2).
1954 – The first color television sets using the NTSC standard are offered for sale to the general public.
1958 – A school bus in Floyd County, Kentucky hits a wrecker truck and plunges down an embankment into the rain-swollen Levisa Fork River. The driver and 26 children die in what remains one of the worst school bus accidents in U.S. history.
1959 – Discoverer 1, an American spy satellite that is the first object intended to achieve a polar orbit, is launched. It failed to achieve orbit.
1972 – Sino-American relations: The United States and People's Republic of China sign the Shanghai Communiqué.
1975 – In London an underground train fails to stop at Moorgate terminus station and crashes into the end of the tunnel, killing 43 people.
1980 – Andalusia approves its statute of autonomy through a referendum.
1985 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army carries out a mortar attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary police station at Newry, killing nine officers in the highest loss of life for the RUC on a single day.
1986 – Olof Palme, prime minister of Sweden, is assassinated in Stockholm.
1991 – The first Gulf War ends.
1993 – Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents raid the Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas with a warrant to arrest the group's leader David Koresh. Four BATF agents and five Davidians die in the initial raid, starting a 51-day standoff.
1995 – Former Australian Liberal party leader John Hewson resigns from the Australian parliament almost two years after losing the Australian federal election, 1993.
1997 – An earthquake in northern Iran is responsible for about 3,000 deaths.
1997 – The North Hollywood shootout takes place, resulting in the injury of 19 people and the deaths of both perpetrators.
1997 – GRB 970228, a highly luminous flash of gamma rays, strikes the Earth for 80 seconds, providing early evidence that gamma-ray bursts occur well beyond the Milky Way.
1998 – First flight of RQ-4 Global Hawk, the first unmanned aerial vehicle certified to file its own flight plans and fly regularly in U.S. civilian airspace.
1998 – Kosovo War: Serbian police begin the offensive against the Kosovo Liberation Army in Kosovo.
2001 – The Nisqually Earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter Scale hits the Nisqually Valley and the Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia area of the U.S. state of Washington.
2001 – Six passengers and four railway staff are killed and a further 82 people suffer serious injuries in the Selby rail crash.
2002 – During the religious violence in Gujarat, the 97 people killed in the Naroda Patiya massacre and 69 in Gulbarg Society massacre.
2004 – Over one million Taiwanese participating in the 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally form a 500-kilometre (310 mi) long human chain to commemorate the 228 Incident in 1947
2005 – A suicide bombing at a police recruiting centre in Al Hillah, Iraq kills 127.
2013 – Pope Benedict XVI resigns as the pope of the Catholic Church becoming the first pope to do so since 1415.
Famous Folk Born on February 28th:
Henry the Young King
Benjamin Wadsworth
Ben Hecht
Linus Pauling (only person to win 2 unshared Nobel Prizes)
Vicente Minnelli
Bugsy Siegel
Alfred Marshall
Charles Durning (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl8ajhu_e5Y) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ax1Kzi8D_g Durning pipes up just before the one minute mark)
Hayden Fry
Gavin McLeod
Dean Smith
Tommy Tune
Mario Andretti
Frank Bonner (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFE31-GzjaY)
Brian Jones
Charles Bernstein
Bubba Smith (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuI2mCfByII)
Brian Jones
Merle "Mimsy" Farmer
Mike Figgis (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMlYWZgCIgo he directed this awesome film)
Bernadette Peters
Mercedes Ruehl (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyBKt7fifqc)
Geoff Nicholls
Ilene Graff
Ricky Steamboat (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PWXvCsa344)
Gilbert Gottfried (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pk-fzM1Fz0)
Adrian Dantley
John Turturro (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFhYEfw0QmY)
Cindy Wilson (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqNQb0_s8v4)
Jack Abramoff
Megan McDonald
Dorothy Stratten
Rae Dawn Chong (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU-g-xijZ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJMXPXRLkp0 )
Robert Sean Leonard
Eric Lindros
Rory Cochrane
Ali Larter (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JotMJ4AKV4 What do you mean you can't???)
Tayshaun Prince
Movie quotes are from 2009's "Obsessed" in honor of the lovely Ali Larter's birthday:
[Brutal catfight continues]
Sharon Charles: [to Lisa] Come here, bitch! I'ma wipe the floor with yo skinny ass.
[Lisa grabs the railing]
Sharon Charles: Oh, you wanna hold on? Who's screaming now?
#2
Sharon Charles: Did you not get my message?
Lisa Sheridan: I'm so sorry. We didn't want you to find out this way.
Sharon Charles: I knew it would come to this.
Lisa Sheridan: I know how hard it must be to have someone fall out of love with you. I know.
Sharon Charles: You are completely delusional. I'm gonna have the cops deal with your crazy ass.
Lisa Sheridan: Wait, it doesn't...
Sharon Charles: Don't touch me.
Lisa Sheridan: We can talk...
Sharon Charles: [furious] I told you, don't touch ME!
#3
Sharon Charles: Get out of my house!
Derek Charles: This is crazy, Sharon. Can't you see what's happening?
Sharon Charles: Get out of my house.
Derek Charles: Nothing happened with this...
Derek Charles: Alright, you just tell me whatever you want me to do, and that's what I'll do.
Sharon Charles: Well, first, I suggest you pack your toothbrush. And then I want you to get your shaving kit, your underwear, your prophylactics if you think you need them and get your ass out!
Derek Charles: And go where, Sharon?
Sharon Charles: To hell! But, until then, I suggest maybe the four seasons.
I draw a parallel between what's going on in Ukraine and here in California, although there's no potential for military intervention in our state's struggle to actually conduct a referendum. In the Ukraine, the issue involves areas with large populations of ethnic Russians. In California, there is a drive to split the state into six different states. There is a rising tide in that area of the Ukraine toward secession. It has been fueled by the recent ouster of President Viktor Yanukovich by Parliament.
In the Ukraine, what would happen to the rest of the country were this area to be allowed to secede and fall under Russian influence; possibly Russian control? Who knows? But will the rest of the nation suffer a consequence over this? Odessa is in this region. It is the only warm water seaport the country has. Will economic engines in this nation that are dependent on Odessa suddenly lose access to it? Or more likely, be forced to pay for that access. What of the natural resources of that area that currently belong to the nation?
Here in California the majority of the water resources are in the Central Valley. That groundwater is not an unlimited resource. Most of the surface water in California is in the North. In fact, the Association of California Water Agencies tells us that 75% of the state's water comes from north of Sacramento while 80% of the demand for water comes from the southern two-thirds of the state. If the state becomes six states, what happens to "West California" when "North California" turns off the faucet?
This is why any referendum on secession must, repeat must, include all of those who will wind up being impacted by the proposed change. It isn't fair for the San Fernando Valley to secede from Los Angeles unless the vote to do so includes all of the city's residents. That's why Measure F, a vote to allow the Valley to secede from Los Angeles failed back in 2002. The referendum passed in the Valley, albeit by a slight margin. But it failed miserably in the rest of the city, mostly due to strong opposition from the city's elected leadership.
Therefore, it is perfectly reasonable to allow the people in any area of the Ukraine to hold a referendum on secession. But only if everyone in the Ukraine (of age) is allowed to vote on the measure.
As for Russian military intervention, the United States should not use military force as a first measure. They should force the Russians to veto intervention by the United Nations; and then President Obama would be justified to work with the rest of NATO to do something to force Russia to respect the independence of the Ukraine.
* * *
What do Philip Seymour Hoffman, River Phoenix and John Belushi all have in common? They all died from mixing cocaine and heroin.
"Speedballing" is what this is popularly known as. But apparently that wasn't enough for Mr. Hoffman. The coroner's report also states that amphetamines and benzodiazepines were found in his system.
Although I've written about this before I was still pondering the apparent prevalence of drug usage among celebrities. Let's agree upfront to ignore marijuana use. I doubt anyone has ever died from smoking too much pot, although that ignores deaths where people do stupid shit while high. When I was in the service, one of the trainees tried to leap from the third floor of his barracks to a nearby tree, and he was apparently high as a kite on pot when it happened. That's more about being stupid than being high.
So I did some research. Turns out it isn't just among celebrities. The leading cause of "injury death" in 2010 in the U.S. for people between ages 25 to 64 was an overdose on drugs. More people died from that than died from motor vehicle deaths. That's from the CDC. 78% of those deaths were unintentional. The CDC also reports that drug misuse and abuse caused about 2.5 million visits to emergency rooms in the U. S. in 2011.
A study done by the National Institutes of Health shows that we're paying a heavy price just for the abuse of prescription drugs. This study showed that in 2007 we lost $55.7 billion due to prescription opioid abuse. 46% in lost productivity, 45% in increased healthcare costs and 7% in increased criminal justice expense.
I don't have an answer to this one. What can we do to turn this around?
* * *
Reading that Claudia Schiffer was once offered $1 million to date an Arab prince (she declined) reminds me of an old quotation, attributed to George Bernard Shaw, Winston Churchill, Groucho Marx, Mark Twain and many others. It goes something like this. A man of letters is at a party and he walks up to a beautiful woman guest and asks her if she would have sex with him for $1 million. She agrees. Then he asks if she'd do it for $100. And she replies "$100? Do you think I'm a prostitute?" And he replies "Madame, we've already established that. Now we're just haggling."
I wondered where this really came from. Apparently it dates back to 1937 and a syndicated newspaper columnist named O. O. McIntyre. Someone I'd never heard of.
The reason this was on my mind is something that happened in Wednesday night's trivia game. We were given a category where someone is known for having said something they never actually said. As soon as this category was announced I 'pre-called' Sarah Palin as definitely being one of the answers, since it was really Tina Fey who said "I can see Russia from my bedroom" and not the former Alaska governor.
We were given the quote "the ends justify the means" and I was pretty sure that Oliver North was the answer. The correct answer was Machiavelli. Now when Iran/Contra was going on, there was a slew of articles and op-ed pieces about the concept of "the ends justify the means" and I was certain that even though this was being attributed to Lt Col North, he didn't actually say it.
The internet is filled with references attributing this quote to Machiavelli and none to North, so obviously I was wrong. That's going to happen. But the clear conviction so many of these sources display by this attribution is very interesting.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
How did a woman who was supposed to get a Fed-Ex package of breakfast cereal wind up with someone's sensitive, personal papers?
What kind of moron goes on Facebook to brag about something that's supposed to be a secret, costing their parents $80,000?
Is anyone surprised that Aaron Hernandez was sued by the families of the two people he stands accused of murdering?
When I read that two signed copies of "Mein Kampf" were going on the auction bloc, I lamented the fact I'm not obscenely rich. If I were, I'd buy both of them and then hold a public burning. The words of the book should be preserved to prevent another Holocaust, but the signature of the author is not worthy of collection.
Apparently the folks at TMZ.com are all out trying to gather Oscar "dish" and there's no one home to let them know they are having website problems.
I don't know if Rafael Peralta does or doesn't deserve to have his Navy Cross upgraded to the Medal of Honor. But I'm pretty sure if he weren't of Mexican heritage, columnist Ruben Navarette wouldn't be writing about it.
I have no words regarding the guy who woke up just before being embalmed.
$60 million for a high school football stadium and less than two years later they're finding cracks in the concrete?
It's pretty interesting that two different actresses up for Oscars this year both had roles on "The Bill Engvall Show."
There is definitely something wrong with a system where the NFL dictates that tight ends tagged as franchise players get $6.8 million next season and wide receivers get $11.8 million. This could cost Jimmy Graham $5 million next season in spite of the fact he lined up twice as often at wide out as he did as tight end.
I suppose it is possible that Ellen was the inspiration for "Miss Congeniality" but that doesn't mean she was the right person to star in it.
* * *
February 28th in History:
202 BC – coronation ceremony of Liu Bang as Emperor Gaozu of Han takes place, initiating four centuries of the Han Dynasty's rule over China.
628 – Khosrau II is executed by Mihr Hormozd under the orders of Kavadh II.
870 – The Fourth Council of Constantinople closes.
1246 – The Siege of Jaén ends in the context of the Spanish Reconquista resulting in the Castilian takeover of the city from the Taifa of Jaen.
1525 – The Aztec king Cuauhtémoc is executed by Hernán Cortés's forces.
1638 – The Scottish National Covenant is signed in Edinburgh.
1700 – Today is followed by March 1 in Sweden, thus creating the Swedish calendar.
1710 – In the Battle of Helsingborg, 14,000 Danish invaders under Jørgen Rantzau are decisively defeated by an equally sized Swedish force under Magnus Stenbock. This is the last time Swedish and Danish troops meet on Swedish soil.
1784 – John Wesley charters the Methodist Church.
1811 – Cry of Asencio, beginning of the Uruguayan War of Independence
1827 – The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad is incorporated, becoming the first railroad in America offering commercial transportation of both people and freight.
1838 – Robert Nelson, leader of the Patriotes, proclaims the independence of Lower Canada (today Quebec)
1844 – A gun on USS Princeton explodes while the boat is on a Potomac River cruise, killing eight people, including two United States Cabinet members.
1849 – Regular steamboat service from the west to the east coast of the United States begins with the arrival of the SS California in San Francisco Bay, 4 months 22 days after leaving New York Harbor.
1867 – Seventy years of Holy See-United States relations are ended by a Congressional ban on federal funding of diplomatic envoys to the Vatican and are not restored until January 10, 1984.
1870 – The Bulgarian Exarchate is established by decree of Sultan Abd-ul-Aziz of the Ottoman Empire.
1874 – One of the longest cases ever heard in an English court ends when the defendant is convicted of perjury for attempting to assume the identity of the heir to the Tichborne baronetcy.
1883 – The first vaudeville theater opens in Boston
1885 – The American Telephone and Telegraph Company is incorporated in New York State as the subsidiary of American Bell Telephone. (American Bell would later merge with its subsidiary.)
1893 – The USS Indiana, the lead ship of her class and the first battleship in the United States Navy comparable to foreign battleships of the time, is launched.
1897 – Queen Ranavalona III, the last monarch of Madagascar, is deposed by a French military force.
1900 – The Second Boer War: The 118-day "Siege of Ladysmith" is lifted.
1914 – The Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus is proclaimed in Gjirokastër, by the Greeks living in southern Albania.
1922 – The United Kingdom ends its protectorate over Egypt through a Unilateral Declaration of Independence.
1925 – The Charlevoix-Kamouraska earthquake strikes northeastern North America.
1928 – C.V. Raman discovers the Raman effect.
1933 – Gleichschaltung: The Reichstag Fire Decree is passed in Germany a day after the Reichstag fire.
1935 – DuPont scientist Wallace Carothers invents nylon.
1939 – The erroneous word "dord" is discovered in the Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition, prompting an investigation.
1940 – Basketball is televised for the first time (Fordham University vs. the University of Pittsburgh in Madison Square Garden).
1942 – The heavy cruiser USS Houston is sunk in the Battle of Sunda Strait with 693 crew members killed, along with HMAS Perth which lost 375 men.
1947 – 228 massacre: In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down with the loss of an estimated 30,000 civilians.
1953 – James D. Watson and Francis Crick announce to friends that they have determined the chemical structure of DNA; the formal announcement takes place on April 25 following publication in April's Nature (pub. April 2).
1954 – The first color television sets using the NTSC standard are offered for sale to the general public.
1958 – A school bus in Floyd County, Kentucky hits a wrecker truck and plunges down an embankment into the rain-swollen Levisa Fork River. The driver and 26 children die in what remains one of the worst school bus accidents in U.S. history.
1959 – Discoverer 1, an American spy satellite that is the first object intended to achieve a polar orbit, is launched. It failed to achieve orbit.
1972 – Sino-American relations: The United States and People's Republic of China sign the Shanghai Communiqué.
1975 – In London an underground train fails to stop at Moorgate terminus station and crashes into the end of the tunnel, killing 43 people.
1980 – Andalusia approves its statute of autonomy through a referendum.
1985 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army carries out a mortar attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary police station at Newry, killing nine officers in the highest loss of life for the RUC on a single day.
1986 – Olof Palme, prime minister of Sweden, is assassinated in Stockholm.
1991 – The first Gulf War ends.
1993 – Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents raid the Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas with a warrant to arrest the group's leader David Koresh. Four BATF agents and five Davidians die in the initial raid, starting a 51-day standoff.
1995 – Former Australian Liberal party leader John Hewson resigns from the Australian parliament almost two years after losing the Australian federal election, 1993.
1997 – An earthquake in northern Iran is responsible for about 3,000 deaths.
1997 – The North Hollywood shootout takes place, resulting in the injury of 19 people and the deaths of both perpetrators.
1997 – GRB 970228, a highly luminous flash of gamma rays, strikes the Earth for 80 seconds, providing early evidence that gamma-ray bursts occur well beyond the Milky Way.
1998 – First flight of RQ-4 Global Hawk, the first unmanned aerial vehicle certified to file its own flight plans and fly regularly in U.S. civilian airspace.
1998 – Kosovo War: Serbian police begin the offensive against the Kosovo Liberation Army in Kosovo.
2001 – The Nisqually Earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter Scale hits the Nisqually Valley and the Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia area of the U.S. state of Washington.
2001 – Six passengers and four railway staff are killed and a further 82 people suffer serious injuries in the Selby rail crash.
2002 – During the religious violence in Gujarat, the 97 people killed in the Naroda Patiya massacre and 69 in Gulbarg Society massacre.
2004 – Over one million Taiwanese participating in the 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally form a 500-kilometre (310 mi) long human chain to commemorate the 228 Incident in 1947
2005 – A suicide bombing at a police recruiting centre in Al Hillah, Iraq kills 127.
2013 – Pope Benedict XVI resigns as the pope of the Catholic Church becoming the first pope to do so since 1415.
Famous Folk Born on February 28th:
Henry the Young King
Benjamin Wadsworth
Ben Hecht
Linus Pauling (only person to win 2 unshared Nobel Prizes)
Vicente Minnelli
Bugsy Siegel
Alfred Marshall
Charles Durning (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl8ajhu_e5Y) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ax1Kzi8D_g Durning pipes up just before the one minute mark)
Hayden Fry
Gavin McLeod
Dean Smith
Tommy Tune
Mario Andretti
Frank Bonner (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFE31-GzjaY)
Brian Jones
Charles Bernstein
Bubba Smith (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuI2mCfByII)
Brian Jones
Merle "Mimsy" Farmer
Mike Figgis (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMlYWZgCIgo he directed this awesome film)
Bernadette Peters
Mercedes Ruehl (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyBKt7fifqc)
Geoff Nicholls
Ilene Graff
Ricky Steamboat (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PWXvCsa344)
Gilbert Gottfried (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pk-fzM1Fz0)
Adrian Dantley
John Turturro (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFhYEfw0QmY)
Cindy Wilson (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqNQb0_s8v4)
Jack Abramoff
Megan McDonald
Dorothy Stratten
Rae Dawn Chong (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU-g-xijZ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJMXPXRLkp0 )
Robert Sean Leonard
Eric Lindros
Rory Cochrane
Ali Larter (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JotMJ4AKV4 What do you mean you can't???)
Tayshaun Prince
Movie quotes are from 2009's "Obsessed" in honor of the lovely Ali Larter's birthday:
[Brutal catfight continues]
Sharon Charles: [to Lisa] Come here, bitch! I'ma wipe the floor with yo skinny ass.
[Lisa grabs the railing]
Sharon Charles: Oh, you wanna hold on? Who's screaming now?
#2
Sharon Charles: Did you not get my message?
Lisa Sheridan: I'm so sorry. We didn't want you to find out this way.
Sharon Charles: I knew it would come to this.
Lisa Sheridan: I know how hard it must be to have someone fall out of love with you. I know.
Sharon Charles: You are completely delusional. I'm gonna have the cops deal with your crazy ass.
Lisa Sheridan: Wait, it doesn't...
Sharon Charles: Don't touch me.
Lisa Sheridan: We can talk...
Sharon Charles: [furious] I told you, don't touch ME!
#3
Sharon Charles: Get out of my house!
Derek Charles: This is crazy, Sharon. Can't you see what's happening?
Sharon Charles: Get out of my house.
Derek Charles: Nothing happened with this...
Derek Charles: Alright, you just tell me whatever you want me to do, and that's what I'll do.
Sharon Charles: Well, first, I suggest you pack your toothbrush. And then I want you to get your shaving kit, your underwear, your prophylactics if you think you need them and get your ass out!
Derek Charles: And go where, Sharon?
Sharon Charles: To hell! But, until then, I suggest maybe the four seasons.
posted by me at 3:45 PM
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