On this day in
1833, the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 receives Royal Assent, abolishing slavery through most the British Empire.
***
On this day in
1845, the first issue of
Scientific American magazine is published. Blind to the problems inherent in the oftentimes grim worldview of "scientism", it has been a faithful defender of cybernetics and technocracy pretty much since its inception.
***
On this day in
1859, a geomagnetic storm causes the
Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights to shine so brightly that it is seen clearly over parts of USA, Europe, and even as far away as Japan.
***
On this day in
1879,
Cetshwayo, last king of the Zulus, is captured by the British.
***
On this day in
1898,
Caleb Bradham invents the carbonated soft drink that will later be called
Pepsi-Cola.
***
On this day in
1955, black teenager
Emmett Till is brutally murdered in Mississippi, galvanizing the nascent American Civil Rights Movement.
***
On this day in
1957, U.S. Senator
Strom Thurmond begins a filibuster to prevent the Senate from voting on Civil Rights Act of 1957; he stopped speaking 24 hours and 18 minutes later, the longest filibuster ever conducted by a single Senator.
***
Fifty years ago today - on this day in
1963 -
Martin Luther King Jr stood on the steps of the Lincoln memorial in Washington D.C. and delivered one of the greatest speeches in the rich history of American oratory. Most of you have heard parts of it, but when you listen to
the whole thing, you start to understand why The Powers That Be needed him gone.
***
On this day in 1968, riots take place in Chicago, Illinois, during the Democratic National Convention, mostly thanks to the thuggish behavior of the city's notoriously brutal police.
***
On this day in
1988, the Ramstein airshow disaster: three aircraft of the Frecce Tricolori demonstration team collide and the wreckage falls into the crowd. 75 are killed and 346 seriously injured.
***
On this day in
1990, Iraq declares Kuwait to be its newest province. That doesn't work out so well for them, in hindsight.
***
On this day in
1996, the divorce between England's
Prince Charles and
Diana Spencer becomes final, freeing the future King to pursue his longstanding equine interests - both sporting and romantic - and the then-future corpse to soak up Third World adulation and consort with Egyptian billionaire playboys. One year and two days later, Diana would perish in a plane crash or something. I don't really remember the details, seeing as the incident received such paltry media coverage.
No comments:
Post a Comment