Today in Weird History: March 28, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, NUKES, HOSTAGES, IMMIGRATION, SWAP, PATENTS, SUICIDE, TRIAL LAWYERS, JEWS, BAGGED, ZULUS, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH


BAGGED

1939 Dutch hunter shoots English bombers down.

WAR!

1738 English parliament declares war on Spain (War of Jenkin's Ear).

2003 American-led forces in Iraq dropped thousand-pound bombs on Republican Guard units guarding the gates to Baghdad and battled for control of the strategic city of Nasiriyah. President Bush warned of "further sacrifice" ahead in the face of unexpectedly fierce fighting.

TERRORISM

1986 Extremist Sikhs kill 13 hindus in Ludhiana India.

2007 Iran aired a video of 15 captured British sailors and marines; the lone female captive, shown in a white tunic and a black head scarf, said the British boats had "trespassed." (The crew members were released April 4, 2007.)

DISASTER

1960 Scotch factory explodes burying 20 firefighters (Glasgow Scotland).

1970 1,086 die when 7.3 earthquake destroys 254 villages (Gediz Turkey).

TRIAL LAWYERS

1866 1st ambulance goes into service.

PATENTS

1797 Nathaniel Briggs of New Hampshire patents a washing machine.

NUKES

1979 America's worst commercial nuclear accident occurred inside the Unit 2 reactor at the Three Mile Island plant near Middletown, Pa.

HOSTAGES

2007 In the Philippines, dozens of children were taken hostage on a bus by a day-care center owner armed with grenades and guns; the crisis ended peacefully 10 hours later with the hostage-taker's surrender.

SUICIDE

1941 Filling her pockets with stones, novelist and critic Virginia Woolf walked into a river near her home and died in Lewes, England.

IMMIGRATION

1898 The Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Wong Kim Ark that a child born in the United States to Chinese immigrants was a U.S. citizen.

SWAP

1930 The names of the Turkish cities of Constantinople and Angora were changed to Istanbul and Ankara.

JEWS

1917 Jews are expelled from Tel Aviv & Jaffa by Turkish authorities.

ZULUS

1994 Armed Zulus demonstrate in Johannesburg, over 53 killed.

BIRTHDAYS

Former White House national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski is 80. Country musician Charlie McCoy is 67. Movie director Mike Newell is 66. Actress Conchata Ferrell is 65. Actor Ken Howard is 64. Actress Dianne Wiest is 60. Country singer Reba McEntire is 53. Olympic gold-medal gymnast Bart Conner is 50. Actress Tracey Needham is 41. Actor Max Perlich is 40. Movie director Brett Ratner is 39. Country singer Rodney Atkins is 39. Actor Vince Vaughn is 38. Rapper Mr. Cheeks (Lost Boyz) is 37. Actor Ken L. is 35. Rock musician Dave Keuning is 32. Actress Julia Stiles is 27.

DEATH

1953 Athlete Jim Thorpe died in Lomita, Calif.

1958 W.C. Handy, the "Father of the Blues," died in New York at age 84.

1969 Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th president of the United States, died in Washington at age 78.

March 28, the 88th day of 2008. There are 278 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: azgfd
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History


DBKP.com - Bigger, Better!.
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Kidnapper Demands and Chinese Release Negotiations

Chinese Hostage Negotiations
A Recent Case Study

"I have 3 demands or I'll kill the boy!"

Negotiators assess the situation from next door.

Head Negotiator dispatched

Negotiations begin

Negotiations concluded

In this country, we would block off the street, take 12 hours to talk him out of it, spend $5 million giving him a fair trial, and pay his food and lodging for life.

No wonder their products are cheaper than ours.

by RidesAPaleHorse

images: RAPH
DBKP.com - Bigger, Better!.
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Iran Celebrates National Day Against Global Arrogance: Less Celebration in America

Celebrating the first notch on the belt of the Great Satan's warriors. Wonder if they had any barbecue?

Iranians took to the streets last week to commemorate National Day Against Global Arrogance (NDAGA). One of the events it celebrated was the Iranian shin-kicking of the "Great Satan" in 1979.

More on this colorful Iranian tradition from Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting:

The rallies marking this year's National Day Against Global Arrogance, an Iranian tradition since the victory of the Islamic Revolution, started Sunday across the country.

Students from schools and universities converged at the site of the former US embassy in Tehran, better known in the Iranian history as the "Den of Spies."

November 4 holds great significance in Iranian history because of three decisive events: the conquest of the former US embassy in Tehran by Muslim Students (1979), the sending to exile of the late Founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini by the ex-shah (1964) and the designation of the day as Students Day (in remembrance of several students martyred in 1978 while taking part in a protest rally against the former shah).

Americans remember the event a bit differently.

Some shouted slogans against the "occupying Qods regime. Some shouted slogans against the United States. Some, one imagines, shouted slogans to attract attention to themselves.

The Iranian celebration of NDAGA prompts a thought: some of the same Americans whose policies turned out so wrong then, are urging American leaders to follow their policies presciptions now. Those policies are the familiar mix of thumbsucking, handwringing and enemy-coddling that helped to create the Islamic Republic 28 years ago.

Those policies have led the world to a situation where a country has, for the first time, vowed to erase another from the map if given the means to do so. Those means are being pursued furiously every day. If Iranian policy is not changed, a day beckons when Israel will be a memory.

And if past statements by Iran's leaders are to be believed, other sites down the memory hole might be Denver, St. Louis, Miami, or Boston.

Bad policy and inaction 28 years ago started this thorniest of problems. Bad policy and inaction today will make the first NDAGA celebration seem like a quiet picnic.

by Mondoreb
& Little Baby Ginn



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