Today in History

[TimSJ]

Jan 16 1919
The 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibited the sale or transportation of alcoholic beverages, was ratified. It was later repealed by the 21st Amendment.

Jan 16 1936
Serial killer cannibal Albert Fish executed at Sing Sing. God wanted him to castrate boys, and who was he to disagree. At his electrocution, the twenty-nine needles he had inserted into his crotch meant he needed a second jolt.

Jan 16 1942
Raising money for the war, actress Carol Lombard and her mother are killed along with a score of others in a Las Vegas airplane crash.

Jan 16 1969
Jan Palach self-immolates in Wenceslas Square, Prague, to protest the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia. His gasoline powered sacrifice starts a wave of copycat suicides, seven of which are successful.

Jan 16 1985
Playboy magazine announced that its 30-year tradition of stapling centerfold models in the bellybutton (and elsewhere) would come to an immediate end.

Jan 16 1987
President Leon Cordero of Ecuador is kidnapped by followers of Gen. Frank Vargas, held in a Quito prison for a 1986 coup attempt. Vargas is free and so was the President. Lesson: crime pays.

Jan 16 1989
Three days of race riots begin in Overtown, Miami when a black man fleeing on motorcycle is killed by a Hispanic police officer. 125 blocks are sealed off during the riots.

Jan 16 1991
Operation Desert Storm commences as Baghdad is pummeled live on CNN. Targeted with smartbombs are "command and control facilities" and Saddam Hussein himself. We seem to miss both, but do manage to kill about 100,000 Iraqi soldiers in the surreal bombardments that follow.

Jan 16 1997
Bill Cosby's 27 year old son Ennis William Cosby is shot to death at Skirball Center in Sepulveda Pass, near Los Angeles CA. It was a robbery attempt while he was attempting to change a flat tire

[TimSJ]

Jan 17 1893
White people, businessmen and sugar planters helped by U.S. troops, overthrow Queen Liliʻuokalani of Hawaiʻi. The islands become the Republic of Hawaiʻi before being annexed by the U.S. in 1898.

Jan 17 1899
Al Capone's birthday.

Jan 17 1950
Seven men wearing Halloween masks rob the Brink's office in Boston of $1.2M cash, and $1.5M securities. One of the robbers confesses to the job in 1953, eleven days before the statute of limitations was to expire.

Jan 17 1961
President Eisenhower warns us of the evils of the "military industrial complex". Did we listen carefully enough?

Jan 17 1966
An American B-52 collides with its tanker aircraft during refueling over the town of Palomares, Spain. Seven crew members are killed in the resulting jet fuel explosion. Also, three 10-megaton hydrogen bombs crash near the town. Although none of them detonates, two rupture, scattering powdered plutonium over 558 acres of farmland. The USA hauls away 1,600 tons of soil and tomato plants and disposes of them in Aiken, South Carolina.

Jan 17 1977
After refusing appeals and demanding his death sentence, double murderer Gary Gilmore is given a hood and shot by a Utah Firing Squad in the first U.S. execution in ten years.

Jan 17 1994
The massive "Northridge Earthquake" strikes Los Angeles, producing a ground pulse far greater than its 6.7 magnitude would indicate. It causes 61 deaths and damages reaching $20 billion. The quake is by far the most expensive cataclysm in U.S. history.

Jan 17 1995
One year after the Northridge quake in California, a large 7.2 quake strikes Kobe Japan, killing 5,090, leaving 1.5 million homeless, and causing damage of approximately $200 billion dollars. It is the most destructive quake in Japan since the 1923 Kanto disaster.

[TimSJ]

Jan 18 1912
British explorer, Robert Scott, and his expedition team successfully reach the South Pole, but find evidence that a Norwegian explorer had reached the spot a month earlier. Tragically, Scott and his team will perish while trying to return to their home base.

Jan 18 1945
The Auschwitz Death March began.

Jan 18 1978
"Most rock journalism is people who can't write, interviewing people who can't talk, for people who can't read. -- Frank Zappa, Chicago Tribune

Jan 18 1983
During a broadcast of "The Magic Christian," Bruce Blackman shoots and kills his family. He claims that he acted on orders received while watching the movie.

Jan 18 1990
Rusty Hamer, the actor who played Danny Thomas's son on Make Room For Daddy, shoots himself in the head with a .357 Magnum in DeRidder, Louisiana. Rusty was 42 years old.

Jan 18 1990
Washington DC mayor Marion Barry is arrested on cocaine possession charges at the Vista International Hotel, as he tokes on a glass crack pipe while being videotaped with his mistress Rasheeda.

Jan 18 1991
The United States admits that the CIA paid Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega over $300,000 during his career as undercover narc.

Jan 18 1998
An advertisement in Norway's primary daily newspaper Verdens Gang today depicted a used tampon made to resemble the Japanese flag, with the caption "We wish the female participants luck in Nagano" (the site of the 1998 Winter Olympics). The Japanese Embassy in Oslo has filed a protest.

[TimSJ]

Jan 19 1847
A group of Mexicans and Indians enters the Taos home of New Mexican Territory Governor Charles Bent, and scalps him.

Jan 19 1985
Houston daredevil Karel Soucek is dropped in a barrel from the roof of the Astrodome. Though he was aiming for a water tank on the field, his barrel strikes the edge of the tank. He suffers a fatal skull fracture.

Jan 19 1991
Wendy O. Williams, of the Plasmatics, arrested for masturbating herself onstage with a sledgehammer.

Jan 19 1995
The eternally skanky Singaporan porn star Annabel Chong has sex with 80 men a total of 251 times, in a single day. She was paid $12,000 for this appearance in World's Biggest Gang Bang I.

Jan 19 1997
Todd Bridges, "Willis" on Diff'rent Strokes, booked in Marina Del Rey on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. He repeatedly rammed the weapon, his car, into another vehicle after an argument in a video arcade.

[Looger]

Originally Posted by TimSJ

Jan 19 1847
A group of Mexicans and Indians enters the Taos home of New Mexican Territory Governor Charles Bent, and scalps him.

well, at least this particular case wasn't a group of settlers, it was an actual facilitator of their genocide. well, the indians, not the mexicans - they don't get a pass on this one!

Originally Posted by TimSJ

Jan 19 1985
Houston daredevil Karel Soucek is dropped in a barrel from the roof of the Astrodome. Though he was aiming for a water tank on the field, his barrel strikes the edge of the tank. He suffers a fatal skull fracture.

he knew the risks.

Originally Posted by TimSJ

Jan 19 1991
Wendy O. Williams, of the Plasmatics, arrested for masturbating herself onstage with a sledgehammer.

this is something that needs elaboration...

Originally Posted by TimSJ

Jan 19 1995
The eternally skanky Singaporan porn star Annabel Chong has sex with 80 men a total of 251 times, in a single day. She was paid $12,000 for this appearance in World's Biggest Gang Bang I.

hygenic! let's see, 251 into $12,000 - something like 48 bucks a throw plus a freebie!

Originally Posted by TimSJ

Jan 19 1997
Todd Bridges, "Willis" on Diff'rent Strokes, booked in Marina Del Rey on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. He repeatedly rammed the weapon, his car, into another vehicle after an argument in a video arcade.

didn't he also knock off a liquor store?

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by TimSJ

Jan 19 1847
Jan 19 1991
Wendy O. Williams, of the Plasmatics, arrested for masturbating herself onstage with a sledgehammer.

And ticket sales soared for plasmatic concerts as the common phrase is "I've gotta see that"

Originally Posted by TimSJ

Jan 19 1995
The eternally skanky Singaporan porn star Annabel Chong has sex with 80 men a total of 251 times, in a single day. She was paid $12,000 for this appearance in World's Biggest Gang Bang I.

There was actually a documentary on her, and no documentary is not another term for porn. Where they followed her through the after effects of getting the record (Was guiness on hand for that one?). She was actually a pretty bright girl (Sociology PHD candidate IIRC). But her life was just brutal, she was paid poorly for her film career, her family felt a lot of shame about her career choices. But she was well spoken and fairly sympathetic, and understood the consequences of being involved in an industry that she felt trapped in. She was also ****ed when another girl stole her thunder with an even larger "Party". It was actually a good flick (The documentary not the porn)

Originally Posted by TimSJ

Jan 19 1997
Todd Bridges, "Willis" on Diff'rent Strokes, booked in Marina Del Rey on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. He repeatedly rammed the weapon, his car, into another vehicle after an argument in a video arcade.

I wonder if he was running over the actor who played the neighbour that wanted to help Arnold fix his bike in the basement.

[TimSJ]

Jan 20 1936
King George V of England is euthanized with injections of cocaine and morphine, after a painful cancer illness. His physician was motivated not only to ameliorate the king's suffering, but also to break the story in the morning edition of the newspapers, "rather than the less appropriate evening journals."

Jan 20 1942
The Wannsee Conference is held in Berlin, determining the Final Solution of European Jews.

Jan 20 1969
Richard M. Nixon inaugurated at 35th president.

Jan 20 1982
Rock musician Ozzy Osbourne is hospitalized in Des Moines IA after he bites the head off of a dead bat. The bat was tossed on stage by a fan during a live performance.

Jan 20 1990
Alan Hale Jr, "Skipper", dead of thymus cancer.

Jan 20 1998
Nepalese police seized a shipment of 272 human skulls in Kathmandu, stashed atop a bus, apparently destined for sale to tourists as curios.

[TimSJ]

Jan 21 1793
The King of France, Louis XVI, is guillotined at age 39. An early "urban legend" has the King months earlier suggesting a slant and bevelling of the blade, for better cutting action.

Jan 21 1924
Lenin dead of stroke -- they keep him on ice, expertly preserved. Now after the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russian gangsters employ the use of the same scientists who taxidermied Lenin to preserve each other after they get whacked.

Jan 21 1959
Former Our Gang child star Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer (age 32) was shot to death in a knifefight in Mission Hills, Los Angeles, California.

Jan 21 1960
At Coalbrook, South Africa, a mine collapse traps 437 miners, 417 of whom die from methane poisoning.

Jan 21 1960
The U.S. sends a space monkey, "Miss Sam", nine miles high aboard a Mercury rocket. The six pound monkey is successfully returned to Earth.

Jan 21 1976
The first passenger supersonic plane, the Concorde, able to travel at twice the speed of sound and developed as a joint venture between the French and English, is put into service by Air France and British Airways.

Jan 21 1992
Former child star Dana Plato (Diff'rent Strokes) arrested on charges of armed robbery for holding up a video store in Las Vegas. She served 200 hours of community service as sentence.

[Looger]

Originally Posted by TimSJ

Jan 21 1793
The King of France, Louis XVI, is guillotined at age 39. An early "urban legend" has the King months earlier suggesting a slant and bevelling of the blade, for better cutting action.

ah yes, the french revolution. the peasants are fooled again, meet the new boss same as the old boss...

Originally Posted by TimSJ

Jan 21 1924
Lenin dead of stroke -- they keep him on ice, expertly preserved. Now after the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russian gangsters employ the use of the same scientists who taxidermied Lenin to preserve each other after they get whacked.

never heard of this nuveau-preservation after lenin... that's a little creepy.

Originally Posted by TimSJ

Jan 21 1959
Former Our Gang child star Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer (age 32) was shot to death in a knifefight in Mission Hills, Los Angeles, California.

brought a knife to a gun-fight more like...

Originally Posted by TimSJ

Jan 21 1960
At Coalbrook, South Africa, a mine collapse traps 437 miners, 417 of whom die from methane poisoning.

jeez, i wonder what the all-time record is. this has got to be up there, if not #1.

Originally Posted by TimSJ

Jan 21 1960
The U.S. sends a space monkey, "Miss Sam", nine miles high aboard a Mercury rocket. The six pound monkey is successfully returned to Earth.

he returns super-intelligent. but we won't be hearing aboot that...

Originally Posted by TimSJ

Jan 21 1976
The first passenger supersonic plane, the Concorde, able to travel at twice the speed of sound and developed as a joint venture between the French and English, is put into service by Air France and British Airways.

what was that russian one, similar, tu-144? crashed at an airshow, i guess it started a russian tradition.

Originally Posted by TimSJ

Jan 21 1992
Former child star Dana Plato (Diff'rent Strokes) arrested on charges of armed robbery for holding up a video store in Las Vegas. She served 200 hours of community service as sentence.

different strokes seems to have a lot of this - something aboot that show i don't know? i've never seen it.

[TimSJ]

Jan 22 1905
In 1905, thousands of demonstrating Russian workers were fired on by Imperial army troops in St. Petersburg on what became known as "Red Sunday" or "Bloody Sunday". 96 people were killed, and over 300 were wounded. This incident marks the beginning of the so-called 1905 revolution.

Jan 22 1918
Manitoba, Canada film censor board decides to ban comedies, on the grounds that they make audiences "too frivolous".

Jan 22 1951
Cuban dictator Fidel Castro's baseball career is ended after he is thrown out of a winter league game, during the tryouts for the Washington Senators.

Jan 22 1957
Mad Bomber captured.

Jan 22 1968
"Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" premieres. This sketch comedy show will go on to win a number of Emmy Awards and launch the careers of Goldie Hawn, Arte Johnson and Lily Tomlin, among others.

Jan 22 1972
In an interview with Melody Maker, musician David Bowie announces that he is gay. Actually he is bisexual, and his wife Angela did catch him in bed with Mick Jagger.

Jan 22 1973
The U.S. Supreme Court strikes down Texas' abortion laws, settling the debate once and for all.

Jan 22 1973
176 people are killed in Kano, Nigeria when a Nigerian Airlines flight crashes on its way back from Mecca.

Jan 22 1987
The State Treasurer of Pennsylvania, R. Budd Dwyer, proclaims his innocence to fraud charges at a crowded press conferences and then pulls a gun out of an envelope and blows his brains out.

[Frank the Tank]

Originally Posted by TimSJ

[B]Jan 22 1987
The State Treasurer of Pennsylvania, R. Budd Dwyer, proclaims his innocence to fraud charges at a crowded press conferences and then pulls a gun out of an envelope and blows his brains out.

Oh man. I watched that video with a friend not knowing what it was. Sick sick sick.

[TimSJ]

Jan 23 1556
The most devastating earthquake in history kills 830,000 people in Shanxi province, China. Many were killed when their clay caves, carved from cliffs, collapsed.

Jan 23 1812
A huge 7.8 magnitude earthquake shakes New Madrid, Missouri.

Jan 23 1968
North Koreans seize the CIA intelligence ship U.S.S. Pueblo while it is in their waters and hold its crew hostage. After a humiliating series of trials, the crew is released.

Jan 23 1972
An unscrupulous New Delhi bootlegger sells wood alcohol to a wedding party, killing 100 guests.

Jan 23 1978
Terry Kath of band Chicago accidentally suicides in Woodland Hills. Moral: don't pretend to play Russian Roulette.

Jan 23 1989
Salvador Dali dead.

Jan 23 1996
A professional bungee jumper practicing for the Superbowl was killed during rehearsal. Laura Patterson, 43, died of massive head injuries at the New Orleans Superdome. Way to go, Laura!

Jan 23 1998
Montana hermit Ted Kaczynski admits to four Unabomber attacks, pleading guilty in in a federal plea bargain that spares him the death penalty, but denies him the right of appeal.

[TimSJ]

Jan 24 41
Roman emperor Caligula is assassinated by his bodyguards.

Jan 24 1848
Gold is discovered in California. Few initially believe the claim, and the "California Gold Rush" won't truly begin until President James K. Polk confirms the discovery in December -- 11 months later.

Jan 24 1908
The first Boy Scout troop is organized in England by its founder, Robert Baden-Powell. He enjoyed watching the boys swim naked, and as a hobby he collected photographs of them.

Jan 24 1978
The nuclear-powered Soviet Cosmos 954 satellite plunges through Earth's atmosphere and disintegrates, scattering radioactive debris over parts of Canada's Northwest Territories. Much of the satellite lands in the Great Slave Lake; only about 1% of the radioactive material is recovered.

Jan 24 1984
Changing the computer industry forever, the Apple Macintosh is unveiled.

Jan 24 1986
Crackpot and founder of the fraudulent Scientology movement, L. Ron Hubbard dies. His bad science fiction writing has grown alarmly prolific in the years since his death.

Jan 24 1989
Ted Bundy put to death in the Electric Chair for the murder of Kimberly Leach, after ten years trying to appeal.

[Looger]

Originally Posted by TimSJ

Jan 24 41
Roman emperor Caligula is assassinated by his bodyguards.

too bad his horse didn't take over...

Originally Posted by TimSJ

Jan 24 1848
Gold is discovered in California. Few initially believe the claim, and the "California Gold Rush" won't truly begin until President James K. Polk confirms the discovery in December -- 11 months later.

that's funny, polk sure jumped into action when the mexicans 'attacked'...

Originally Posted by TimSJ

Jan 24 1908
The first Boy Scout troop is organized in England by its founder, Robert Baden-Powell. He enjoyed watching the boys swim naked, and as a hobby he collected photographs of them.

yeah... that's not something they tell you when you join!

Originally Posted by TimSJ

Jan 24 1978
The nuclear-powered Soviet Cosmos 954 satellite plunges through Earth's atmosphere and disintegrates, scattering radioactive debris over parts of Canada's Northwest Territories. Much of the satellite lands in the Great Slave Lake; only about 1% of the radioactive material is recovered.

in other news, the north has some interesting people!

Originally Posted by TimSJ

Jan 24 1984
Changing the computer industry forever, the Apple Macintosh is unveiled.

with one of the strangest commercials of all time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFtuNPTBZ2k

Originally Posted by TimSJ

Jan 24 1986
Crackpot and founder of the fraudulent Scientology movement, L. Ron Hubbard dies. His bad science fiction writing has grown alarmly prolific in the years since his death.

i tried reading one of the 'mission earth' books once. wow was it bad. i mean real bad. bad.

never read the one they adapted to the movie but chances are it was a faithful rendition.

Originally Posted by TimSJ

Jan 24 1989
Ted Bundy put to death in the Electric Chair for the murder of Kimberly Leach, after ten years trying to appeal.

wasn't he one of those serial killers with an alarmingly high IQ? they made a movie aboot this guy recently, anyone know if it's worth watching?

[Frank the Tank]

Originally Posted by TimSJ

Jan 24 1986
Crackpot and founder of the fraudulent Scientology movement, L. Ron Hubbard dies. His bad science fiction writing has grown alarmly prolific in the years since his death.

But Tom Cruise said he's still alive!!

[Frank the Tank]

Originally Posted by Looger

ti tried reading one of the 'mission earth' books once. wow was it bad. i mean real bad. bad.

Have you read A Piece of Blue Sky, Looger? Really interesting and frightening look at Scientology.

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by Looger

wasn't he one of those serial killers with an alarmingly high IQ? they made a movie aboot this guy recently, anyone know if it's worth watching?

If you're talking about the A&E production - I saw it. Not bad. Carey Elwes (Princess Bride guy) plays Bundy and he's OK. Bruce Greenwood is very good in it though. For a television production its a pretty good film.

[Looger]

Originally Posted by Frank the Tank

Have you read A Piece of Blue Sky, Looger? Really interesting and frightening look at Scientology.

nah - is it aboot that compound they take people to to starve and induce 'visions'?

i read an article or two in, ahem, playboy...

[Looger]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

If you're talking about the A&E production - I saw it. Not bad. Carey Elwes (Princess Bride guy) plays Bundy and he's OK. Bruce Greenwood is very good in it though. For a television production its a pretty good film.

so i can't rent it? i'll watch for it on a&e, thanks.

[Frank the Tank]

Originally Posted by Looger

nah - is it aboot that compound they take people to to starve and induce 'visions'?

i read an article or two in, ahem, playboy...

Well there are parts of that in there, but its written by a former member who was getting fairly high up in the organization. Its pretty good.