DBKP Today in Weird History: January 26, 2008

CLINTONS, WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTERS, FALLS, NANNY STATE, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, CROWDS, LOTTO, DISCOVERY, ESCAPES, PRO WRESTLING, ROCKS, REST STOPS, PATENTS, JEWS, COMPUTERS, POLITICS, CIVIL RIGHTS, TAKEOVERS, RATIONING, BACK, MASSACRES, MURDERS, ASSASSINATION, NATIONS, SCIENCE, CELEBRATIONS, PARKS, TRIALS, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH


CLINTONS

1998 President Bill Clinton forcefully denied having an affair with a former White House intern, telling reporters: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky."

WAR!

1861 Louisiana seceded from the Union.

1862 Lincoln issues General War Order #1, calling for a Union offensive McClellan ignores order.

1942 The first American expeditionary force to go to Europe during World War II went ashore in Northern Ireland.

2003 Secretary of State Colin Powell, citing Iraq's lack of cooperation with U.N. inspectors, said he'd lost faith in the inspectors' ability to conduct a definitive search for banned weapons programs.

TERRORISM

2007 The White House said President Bush had authorized U.S. forces in Iraq to take whatever actions were necessary to counter Iranian agents deemed a threat to American troops or the public at large.

DISASTERS

1531 Lisbon hit by Earthquake; about 30,000 die.

1932 British submarine M-2 sinks in Channel (60 dead).

1947 KLM Dakota crashes near Copenhagen, 22 die.

1968 Israeli submarine Dakar crashes in Mediterranean Sea, 69 die.

FALLS

1972 Stewardess Vesna Vulovic survives 10,160m (6.31 miles) fall without parachute.

NANNY STATE

1838 Tennessee becomes 1st state to prohibit alcohol.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1979 "The Dukes of Hazzard" premieres on CBS's vast wasteland.

CROWDS

1980 175,000 pay to hear Frank Sinatra sing in Rio de Janeiro.

LOTTO

1991 New York Lotto pays $90 million to nine winner (#s are 5-15-30-35-46-50).

DISCOVERY

1788 The first European settlers in Australia, led by Capt. Arthur Phillip, landed in present-day Sydney.

ESCAPES

1920 Amadeo Modigliani's mistress jumps out of a window.

PRO WRESTLING

1987 Hart Foundation beat British Bulldogs for WWF tag team title.

ROCKS

1905 World's largest diamond, the 3,106-carat Cullinan, is found in South Africa.

REST STOP

1995 New Jersey Governor Christine Whitman, dedicates a rest stop to Howard Stern.

PATENTS

1875 Electric dental drill is patented by George F Green.

JEWS

1940 Nazis forbid Polish Jews to travel on trains.

1958 H Laskow replaces Moshe Dayan as Israeli minister of Defense.

COMPUTERS

1998 Intel launches 333 MHz Pentium II chip.

POLITICS

1837 Michigan became the 26th state.

2007 Defense Secretary Robert Gates told a news conference that a congressional resolution opposing President Bush's troop buildup in Iraq undercut U.S. commanders and emboldened the enemy.

CIVIL RIGHTS

1948 Executive Order 9981, end segregation in US Armed Forces signed.

TAKEOVERS

1841 Britain formally occupied Hong Kong, which the Chinese had ceded to the British.

RATIONING

1918 US food administrator Hoover calls for "wheatless" & "meatless" days for war effort.

MASSACRES

1885 Charles George Gordon, British Governor-General, executed (slain with troops by Sudanese in Khartoum) at 51.

BACK

In 1870, Virginia rejoined the Union.

MURDERS

1920 Matthias Enzberger German minister of finance, murdered.

1939 Professor Cristescu Romania's iron guard leader, murdered.

1965 Ali Mansoer premier of Persia, murdered.

1989 Stéphane Steinier Belgian journalist, kidnapped & murdered.

ASSASSINATIONS

1939 Armand Calinescu Romania's PM, assassinated by the iron guard.

NATIONS

1950 India officially proclaimed itself a republic as Rajendra Prasad took the oath of office as president.

SCIENCE

1962 the United States launched Ranger III to land scientific instruments on the moon — but the probe missed its target by more than 22,000 miles.

CELEBRATIONS

1988 Australians celebrated the 200th anniversary of their country as a grand parade of tall ships re-enacted the voyage of the first European settlers.

PARKS

1954 Ground breaking begins on Disneyland.

TRIALS

2007 Nine black youths were convicted in juvenile court in Long Beach, Calif., of beating three white women in a racially charged attack on Halloween night.

BIRTHDAYS

Actress Anne Jeffreys is 85. Actor Paul Newman is 83. Actress Joan Leslie is 83. Cartoonist Jules Feiffer is 79. Sportscaster-actor Bob Uecker is 73. Actor Scott Glenn is 69. Singer Jean Knight is 65. Activist Angela Davis is 64. Rock musician Corky Laing (Mountain) is 60. Actor David Strathairn is 59. Singer Lucinda Williams is 55. Rock singer-musician Eddie Van Halen is 53. Reggae musician Norman Hassan (UB40) is 50. Actress-comedian Ellen DeGeneres is 50. Hockey star Wayne Gretzky is 47. Musician Andrew Ridgeley is 45. Rhythm-and-blues singer Jazzie B. (Soul II Soul) is 45. Actor Paul Johansson is 44. Gospel singer Kirk Franklin is 38. Actress Jennifer Crystal is 35. Rock musician Chris Hesse (Hoobastank) is 34. Actress Sarah Rue is 30. Country musician Michael Martin (Marshall Dyllon) is 25.

DEATH

1979 former Vice President Nelson A. Rockefeller died in New York at age 70.

January 26, the 26th day of 2008. There are 340 days left in the year.


compiled by Mondoreb
images:
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP's Today in History: January 19, 2008

SUICIDES, WAR!, TERRORISM, DISASTERS, PREDICTIONS, CHICKENS, BICYCLES, EXECUTIONS, CREEPY, PATENTS, COURTS, PROGRESS, DISCOVERY, COMMIES, NAZIS, PROGRESS, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, WOMEN, LABOR, CROWDS, WOMEN, JEWS, SUPREME COURT, WATERGATE, MASONS, REPUBLICANS, PARDONS, SOCIETIES, BEAURACRACY, GAMES, DIPLOMACY, PRO WRESTLING, WILLS, SPORTS, SCANDAL, BIRTHDAYS, BORN, and DEATH



SUICIDES

1981 Muhammad Ali talks a despondent 21 year old out of committing suicide.

WAR!

1861 Georgia becomes 5th state to secede.

1861 MS troops take Fort Massachusetts an Ship Island.

1862 Battle of Mill Springs, Kentucky (Fishing Creek, Logan's Crossroads).

1915 1st German Zeppelin attack over Great Britain, 4 die.

1941 British offensive in Eritrea.

1941 British troops occupy Kassalaf Sudan.

1942 Japanese forces invade Burma

TERRORISM

1975 4 mail truck assault on El Al B-747 in Paris, escape to Iraq.

DISASTERS

1917 Silvertown Essex's ammunition factory explodes; 300 die.

1947 SS Himera runs aground at Athens, kills 392.

1982 Heater explodes at Star Elementary School-Oklahoma, kills 6 kids & teacher.

1985 4 die in a car & train crash in Buda IL.

PREDICTIONS

1922 Geological survey says US oil supply would be depleted in 20 years.

CHICKENS

1939 Ernest Hausen of Wisconsin sets chicken-plucking record-4.4 seconds.

BICYCLES

1903 New bicycle race "Tour de France" announced.

1984 Francesco Moser bicycles world record time 50,808 km (he is the first man to break the 50 km/h barrier).

EXECUTIONS

1793 French King Louis XVI sentenced to death.

CREEPY

1809 Edgar Allan Poe - Boston, author (Pit & the Pendulum) born.

1971 Beatles' Helter Skelter is played at the Charles Manson trial.

PATENTS

1825 Ezra Daggett & nephew Thomas Kensett patent food storage in tin cans.

1915 Neon Tube sign patented by George Claude.

COURTS

1984 California Supreme Court refuses to allow quadriplegic Elizabeth Bouvia to starve herself to death in a public hospital, she appeals and is later granted the right to die.

PROGRESS

1903 1st regular transatlantic radio broadcast between US & England.

1937 Millionaire Howard Hughes set a transcontinental air record by flying his monoplane from Los Angeles to Newark in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds.

DISCOVERY

1840 Antarctica discovered, Charles Wilkes expedition (US claim).

COMMIES

1970 UCLA fires Angela Davis for being a communist.

NAZIS

1983 Klaus Barbie, SS chief of Lyon in Nazi-France, arrested in Bolivia.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1955 "The Millionaire" TV program premieres on CBS.

1955 1st Presidential news conference filmed for TV (Eisenhower).

1961 1st episode for "The Dick Van Dyke Show" is filmed.

1988 "48 Hours" premieres on CBS-TV.

WOMEN

1966 Indira Gandhi elected India's 3rd prime minister.

WATERGATE

1979 John N Mitchell (former AG) released on parole from federal prison.

LABOR

1944 The federal government relinquished control of the nation's railroads following settlement of a wage dispute.

CROWDS

1977 World's largest crowd-12.7 million-for Indian religious festival.

JEWS

1986 Israeli premier Simon Peres visits Netherlands.

1986 Spain recognizes Israel.

1993 Israel recognizes PLO as no longer criminal.

SUPREME COURT,

1970, President Richard Nixon nominated G. Harrold Carswell to the Supreme Court; however, the nomination was defeated because of controversy over Carswell's past racial views.

MASONS,

1871 1st Negro lodge of US Masons approved, New Jersey.

REPUBLICANS

1987 Guy Hunt becomes Alabama's 1st Republican governor since 1874.

PARDONS

1977 In one of his last acts of office, President Gerald Ford pardoned Iva Toguri D'Aquino, an American who had made wartime broadcasts for Japan.(Tokyo Rose)

SOCIETIES

1886 Aurora Ski Club, 1st in US, founded in Minnesota.

BUREAUCRACY

1998 During a ceremony in Atlanta commemorating the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, Vice President Gore announced that the Clinton administration would propose increasing spending on civil rights by $86 million.

GAMES

1955 "Scrabble" debuts on board game market.

PRO WRESTLING

1991 Sergeant Slaughter defeats Ultimate Warrior for WWF championship belt.



1992 Nature Boy Ric Flair becomes WWF champ at Royal Rumble.

1992 Rowdy Roddy Piper beats Mountie to become WWF Intercontinental Champ.

DIPLOMACY

1920 US Senate votes against membership in League of Nations.

WILLS

1967 Herr Karl Tausch writes shortest will "Vse Zene" (All to wife).

DICTATORS

2003 President Fidel Castro and millions of other Cubans voted in parliamentary elections where all 609 candidates ran uncontested.

SPORTS

1952 PGA approves allowing black participants.

SCANDAL

2007 Former Republican Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for his role in a lobbying scandal.

BIRTHDAYS

Actress Jean Stapleton is 85. Actor Fritz Weaver is 82. Actress Tippi Hedren is 78. Former PBS newsman Robert MacNeil is 77. Movie director Richard Lester is 76. Singer Phil Everly is 69. Actor-singer Michael Crawford is 66. Actress Shelley Fabares is 64. Country singer Dolly Parton is 62. ABC newswoman Ann Compton is 61. TV chef Paula Deen is 61. Rock singer Martha Davis is 57. Singer Dewey Bunnell (America) is 56. Actor Desi Arnaz Jr. is 55. Comedian Paul Rodriguez is 53. Actress Katey Sagal is 51. Reggae musician Mickey Virtue (UB40) is 51. Actor Paul McCrane is 47. Actor William Ragsdale is 47. Tennis player Stefan Edberg is 42. Rock singer Whitfield Crane (Ugly Kid Joe) is 40. Singer Trey Lorenz is 39. Actor Shawn Wayans is 37. Rock singer-musician John Wozniak (Marcy Playground) is 37. Actress Drea de Matteo is 36. Comedian-impressionist Frank Caliendo is 34. Actress Marsha Thomason is 32. Actress Jodie Sweetin is 26. Actor Logan Lerman is 16.

BORN

570 Mohammed Islamic prophet (Koran)

1736 James Watt, inventor of the steam engine, was born in Scotland.

1807 Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was born in Westmoreland County, Va.

DEATH

1990 Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh Indian guru, dies at 58

1998 "Rockabilly" pioneer Carl Perkins died in Jackson, Tenn., at age 65.

2007 Denny Doherty, a member of the 1960s folk-rock group the Mamas and the Papas, died near Toronto at age 66.

January 19, the 19th day of 2008. There are 347 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
[images: bigrock]
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Giant Two-Ton Rats Once Walked the Earth

New Scientific Discovery!



Terminex couldn't have stopped them.

De-con would have been powerless, too.

And they would have laughed in the face of Orkin.

What earthly power could have possibly kept rodents from ruling the Earth?

It was:

The Rat That Was Big As a Car

The fossilised skull of the rat has been discovered.

Humanity never knew how close to the edge it came.

Sheer rodent domination would have made adaptation of the species a joke.

The creature lived about four million years ago, weighed about a ton and ate mostly soft vegetation. It was so big that it probably spent much of its life semi-submerged in water, like a hippo, to reduce the stresses caused by its size.

Palaeontologists found the skull in rock deposits in Uruguay. It is believed to date back two to four million years to a time when giant wildlife was commonplace in South America.

Rats as big are a hippo?

You bet.

Homo Sapien just dodged a rodentian bullet when it couldn't adapt.

Ten feet long--and teeth a foot long!

Better mousetrap indeed!

The rodent, Josephoartigasia monesi, was uncovered by Andrés Rinderknecht and Ernesto Blanco. It has been nicknamed Mighty Mouse and is thought to have been similar to the capybara and pacarana, much smaller creatures that are still found in South America. Capybaras are the biggest living rodents at just over 60kg fully grown, while pacaranas weigh 15kg. The common rat weighs about 300g.

J. monesi is thought to have weighed about a ton and the biggest specimens could have been more than 2.5 tons — about the same as hippopotamuses, which range from 1.4 tonnes to 3.2 tons.

The rodent was estimated to be about 3m (10 feet) long and 1.5m tall. Its huge incisors were more than 30cm (12in) long, of which 10cm would have been exposed.

A rat with large teeth and a liking for fresh plants?

This sounds like a paleontological Wonder-Rat.

The incisors puzzled the researchers because they were much tougher than necessary for an animal that ate only soft plants. Dr Blanco suggested that they could have been used to fell trees like beavers do, or to fight off predators or courtship rivals.

“It probably ate aquatic plants and fruits, and the environment probably was a forest near fresh water,” Dr Blanco said. “But much work is needed to have a definitive picture. We are working on biomechanical determination of the bite force to better understand this point.”

The thousand-pound Rat roamed the earth with the other early hard-bodies.

It shared the Earth with sabre-tooth cats and giant predatory birds that did not fly but could run down prey at terrifying speeds. Its great bulk would have protected it from the killer birds, but its young would have been at risk.

The near-complete skull delighted palaeontologists studying giant South American rodents. Before, they had been limited to bone fragments.

The rest of the announcement is more sedate and centers on such mundane items as number of teeth and types of food eaten.

You may usually skip over the details, but here's the fine print.

Other teeth in the skull were too small to have allowed the animal to have chewed food well. Researchers concluded that it must have consumed soft vegetation, including fruit.

Rodents make up about 40 per cent of all mammals but the new South American species was still about twice the size of the next biggest, a South American species called Phoberomys.

The skull came from a type of rodent, known as dinomyids, that include today’s pacaranas and which during the Miocene and Pliocene periods, from about 2 to 23 million years ago, underwent an evolutionary explosion creating many species in modern-day Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Venezuela, Bolivia and Colombia.

Dr Rinderknecht, of the National Museum of Natural History and Anthropology in Montevideo, the Uruguayan capital, and Dr Blanco, of the Institute of Physics in Montevideo, reported their findings in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

So now there confirmation.

At one time, a 2 1/2-ton rat walked the earth.

Science fiction writers missed a sure-fire story:

Man vs. Rodent in a match of death.

But, now, homo sapiens superior evolutionary skill left it in the dust.

It's only a worthy opponent for a night at the dump: drunk beyond recognition, with a pellet gun and a bottle of Annie Green Springs.

Still, day after day: truth proves stranger than fiction.


by Mondoreb & RidesAPaleHorse
[image: RidesAPaleHorse]
Source: Giant Rat once Roamed the Earth



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.