1718 – Off the coast of North Carolina, British pirate Edward Teach (best known as “Blackbeard”) is killed in battle with a boarding party led by Lieutenant Robert Maynard.
1906 – International Radio Telecommunications Commission adopts “SOS” as new call for help. Dididit Dahdahdah Dididit.
1922 – Egyptology: Howard Carter, assisted by Lord Carnarvon, opens the tomb of Tutankhamun, his face melts off, just like in the movies.
1935 – The China Clipper takes off from Alameda, California for its first commercial flight. It reaches Manila a week later. A week! To FLY across the Pacific. I wonder how that compared with one LOOOONG, bad day in the cavernous cargo bay of a C-141 in 1970…
1963 – In Dallas, Texas, US President John F. Kennedy is killed and Texas Governor John B. Connally is seriously wounded by an assassin, identified as Lee Harvey Oswald, who was later captured and charged with the murder of police officer J. D. Tippit. That same day, US Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in as the 36th President of the United States. A lot of interesting coincidences surround the case. I was in the eighth grade in math class when the announcement came over the PA system.
1974 – The United Nations General Assembly grants the Palestine Liberation Organization observer status. Stick a fork in it! The UN as a sane body of international discourse is OFFICIALLY DEAD! In a sane world this would be equivalent to inviting Adolf Eichmann to a bar mitzvah, but in the context of the UN as it presently sits, it makes perfect sense.
1977 – British Airways inaugurates a regular London to New York City supersonic Concorde service.
1988 – In Palmdale, California, the first prototype B-2 Spirit stealth bomber is revealed.
1995 – Toy Story is released as the first feature-length film created completely using computer-generated imagery.
2003 – Baghdad DHL attempted shootdown incident: Shortly after takeoff, a DHL Express cargo plane is struck on the left wing by a surface-to-air missile and forced to land.
2005 – Angela Merkel becomes the first female Chancellor of Germany. Her policies are still changing the face of Europe for the worse.
1906: Sometime later is invented an epicurean’s delight consisting of white gravy and ground various meat leftovers of the day. First served at “midnight chow” *its* leftovers are served at the subsequent breakfast. SOS indeed.
2005 – Angela Merkel becomes the first female Chancellor of Germany. Her policies are still changing the face of Europe for the worse.
All you need to know about Angela Merkel.
By her own admission, Merkel speaks English badly, but she is fluent in Russian.