1498 – Vasco da Gama reaches the port of Calicut, India, the first European recorded to have done so.

1804 – Napoleon Bonaparte is proclaimed Emperor of the French by the French Senate. This is a mere decade after the French Revolution which supposedly rid them of the previous monarchy.

1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Vicksburg begins.

1896 – The United States Supreme Court rules in Plessy v. Ferguson that separate but equal is constitutional. This is not the only time the Supreme Court had to later change a ruling. They are NOT infallible.

1958 – An F-104 Starfighter sets a world speed record of 1,404.19 mph (2,259.82 km/h). The “G” model gained a reputation as a high-speed lawn dart in fighter-bomber service in the Luftwaffe.

1974 – Nuclear test: Under Project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon becoming the sixth nation to do so. Multiple pants are shat in Pakistan.

1980 – 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption: Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington, killing 57 people and causing $3 billion in damage.

1995 – Shawn Nelson, 35, goes on a tank rampage in San Diego. He’s a copycat. A drunk trainee did it in Fort Knox, Kentucky while I was there, 1973 or 74. I could be induced to tell the story.