Thursday, February 13, 2020

PARACULTURAL CALENDAR FOR FEBRUARY 13


On this day in 1935, a jury in Flemington, New Jersey finds Bruno Hauptmann guilty of the 1932 kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby, the son of superstar aviator Charles Lindbergh. Oddly, this didn't prevent Lindbergh from lending his vocal support of German dictator Adolf Hitler during the lead-up to America entering World War II.

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On this day in 1945, Royal Air Force bombers are dispatched to Dresden, Germany to attack the city with a massive aerial bombardment.

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On this day in 1955, Israel obtains 4 of the 7 Dead Sea scrolls.

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On this day in the year 1959, the very first Barbie dolls go on sale in department stores across the nation. To this day, little girls and homosexual doll collectors continue to make Barbie the best-selling toy in the world. This is due in no small part to the nearly infinite variety of Barbie "accessories and apparel" available, as well as all those infamous "specialty" Barbies, including Binge'n'Purge Barbie, Klaus Barbie and Plastic-Ideal-for-a-Lost-Generation-of-Braindead-Consumer-Whores Barbie.

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On this day in 1961, a 500,000-year-old rock nicknamed the Coso Artifact is discovered near Olancha, California, US. It appears to contain an embedded spark plug.

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On this day in 1981, a series of sewer explosions destroys more than two miles of streets in Louisville, Kentucky.

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On this day in 1990, German reunification: An agreement is reached on a two-stage plan to reunite Germany.

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Early morning on this day in 1991, at the height of Desert Storm, American forces attack the Al-Amiriya bomb shelter in Baghdad. The first bomb screws a 15-foot hole in the roof. Five minutes later, a "smart bomb" threads its way through the breach and explodes. Temperatures in the shelter soar to over 1000 degrees, Fahrenheit. Everyone on the first floor is consumed by fire. Those who sought refuge in the lower levels of the building meet an even worse fate when ruptured hot water tanks disgorge their contents, literally boiling dozens of women and children to death. The Pentagon claimed they targeted the shelter because it was a secret Iraqi military base, but British journalists who toured the devastation saw no evidence of this. End result? Four hundred souls - mostly women and children - were wiped off the face of the earth in an instant, probably because some top gun wanted to see if he could pull off such a tricky maneuver. Oh well. I suppose it was worth it in the long run, now that the Iraqis are free and all.

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On this day in 2000, the last original Peanuts comic strip appears in newspapers one day after Charles M. Schulz dies.

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On this day in 2004, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announces the discovery of the universe's largest known diamond, white dwarf star BPM 37093. Astronomers named this star "Lucy" after The Beatles' song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" (see below).

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On this day in 2008, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd makes a historic apology to the Indigenous Australians and the Stolen Generations.

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On this day in 2011, for the first time in more than 100 years the Umatilla, an American Indian tribe, are able to hunt and harvest a bison just outside Yellowstone National Park, restoring a centuries-old tradition guaranteed by a treaty signed in 1855.

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