On this day in
338 BC, a Macedonian army led by
Philip II defeats the combined forces of Athens and Thebes in the Battle of Chaeronea, securing Macedonian hegemony in Greece and the Aegean.
***
On this day in
216 BC, the Carthaginian army led by
Hannibal defeats a numerically superior Roman army under command of consuls
Lucius Aemilius Paullus and
Gaius Terentius Varro.
***
Predating disco by about six centuries, the first-ever
roller-skating rink opens in London, England, on this day in the year
1375.
***
On this day in
1377, Russian troops are defeated in the Battle on Pyana River... because of drunkenness. Insert sad trombone note here.
***
On this day in
1776, the signing of the
United States Declaration of Independence takes place.
***
On this day in
1790, the first US Census is conducted.
***
On this day in
1932, the positron (antiparticle of the electron) is discovered by
Carl D. Anderson.
***
On this day in
1937, the
Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 is passed in America, the effect of which is to render marijuana and all its by-products illegal.
***
On this day in
1939, world-famous scientist
Albert Einstein (and some dude named
Leó Szilárd) write a letter to
Franklin D. Roosevelt, urging him to begin the
Manhattan Project to develop a nuclear weapon.
***
On this day in
1990, after getting a green-light from U.S. ambassador
April Glaspie, Iraqi dictator
Saddam Hussein orders his military to invade the tiny neighboring monarchy of Kuwait, using weapons supplied by the
U.S. government. Then-President
George Herbert Walker "Poppy" Bush gives his former best buddy Saddam the surprise of a lifetime by going on the TV and calling him a
Hitler, vowing to protect Saudi Arabia and liberate Kuwait, by any means necessary. So America sets up base in Riyadh, near the Muslim holy city of Mecca, which severely pisses off
Osama Bin Laden, a Saudi who'd been among the thousands trained and equipped by the C.I.A. to fight a terror war against Soviet troops in Afghanistan. The subsequent slaughter of
Desert Storm - resulting in the deaths of over 25,000 Iraqi combatants and 200,000 Iraqi civilians - pisses off Osama even MORE. The rest, as they say, is an incredibly depressing, textbook case of
BLOWBACK.
***
On this day in
1991, funkadelic super-freak
Rick James and his equally super-freaky girlfriend
Manya Hijazi are arrested on sexual torture and kidnapping charges after one of their sex slaves escapes from their basement/sex dungeon. James was found guilty and was released in 1996, after which he began his second career as a regularly featured performer on tabloid TV "Where are they now?" segments. James, who died on August 6, 2004, is best remembered for his catch-phrase: "I'm Rick James, bitch!", which was actually coined by stand-up comic
Dave Chappelle.
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