Thursday, December 21, 2023

PARACULTURAL CALENDAR FOR DECEMBER 21


On this day in 1620, William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims land on what is now known as Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
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On this day in 1844, the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers commences business at its cooperative in Rochdale, England, United Kingdom starting the Cooperative movement.

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On this day in 1879, the world première of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark.

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On this day in 1907, the Chilean Army commits a massacre of at least 2,000 striking saltpeter miners in Iquique, Chile.
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On this day in 1913, Arthur Wynne's "word-cross", the first crossword puzzle, is published in the New York World.

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On this day in 1919, American anarchist Emma Goldman is deported to Russia.

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On this day in 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the world's first full-length animated feature, premieres at the Carthay Circle Theatre.

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Wowie Zowie! On this day in 1940, American iconoclast and unmitigated musical genius Frank Zappa was born. Didja get any onya?!

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On this day in 1967, Louis Washkansky, the first man to undergo a heart transplant, dies in Cape Town, South Africa, having lived for 18 days after the transplant.

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On this day in 1968, Apollo 8 is launched from the Kennedy Space Center, placing its crew on a lunar trajectory for the first visit to another celestial body by humans.

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On this day in 1969, the United Nations adopts the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. And we all lived happily ever after.

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On this day in 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 from London to New York explodes in midair over Lockerbie, Scotland, an hour after departure. An altitude-sensitive bomb in a boom box detonated when the plane hit 31,000 feet. All 259 passengers on board - including five CIA field agents - were killed in the explosion, and 11 Lockerbie residents were crushed in the resulting avalanche of fiery wreckage. Merry Fuckin' Christmas.

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On this day in 1989, President George Herbert Walker "Poppy" Bush uses the American military as his own personal goon squad when he orders them to invade Panama to oust a former partner-in-crime from his CIA days, General Manuel Noriega. (Dude! Deja vu!) The invasion of Panama was a costly, militarily useless endeavor, and the case against Noriega was mostly based on lies that didn't unravel until after the invasion was over and done with, so nobody cared. (Double deja vu!) It cost a shitload of money, and cost thousands of innocent civilians their lives. (Wow!) It almost seems like the Bush Crime Family gets some sort of perverse thrill out of invading sovereign nations under false pretenses in order to kidnap leaders whom they, themselves, initially helped rise to power. (Any editorial comment I could add would be redundant at this point. But do read this!)

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On this day in 1991, "Hanoi Jane" Fonda marries CNN-founding billionaire redneck Ted Turner. Chaos ensues.

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