Thursday, April 27, 2023

PARACULTURAL CALENDAR FOR APRIL 27



On this day in 1667, a blind and impoverished John Milton sells the copyright to his prose magnum opus Paradise Lost… for £10.

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On this day in 1813, during the War of 1812, US troops capture the capital of Upper Canada in the Battle of York, in present day Toronto.

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On this day in 1865, only two weeks after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and one day after the killing of his assassin, John Wilkes Booth, the worst maritime disaster in the history of the United States takes place when a boiler on the steamboat paddlewheeler SS Sultana explodes and she sinks on the Mississippi, killing 1,700 of her 2,400 passengers. The Sultana’s official carrying capacity was only 376, and most of the dead were Union survivors of the Andersonville and Cahaba Confederate war prisons.

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On this day in 1950, the Group Areas Act is formally passed in South Africa, segregating the races in an official policy of Apartheid.

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On this day in 1981, Xerox introduces the computer mouse. Kinda cute, isn't it?

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On this day in 1997, disgruntled gay man Andrew Cunanan begins his "Homogeddon" murder spree that will culminate with the July murder of multi-millionaire fashion designer - and former trick - Gianni Versace.

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