49 BC – Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon, signaling the start of civil war. Sometimes you just have to take a step from which you can’t turn back.

1645 – Archbishop William Laud is beheaded for treason at the Tower of London, thereby separating church and state.

1776 – Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense. The government’s supply has since ran out. The last bit was used up in the 1980’s. Today “common sense” is an uncommon commodity. Speaking or writing it is generally considered hate speech.

1810 – The marriage of Napoleon and Josephine is annulled. The Vatican remembered the lesson of Henry VIII and didn’t kick much this time. Also factoring into the decision – Napoleon was beating the crap out of most of Europe.

1812 – The first steamboat on the Ohio River or the Mississippi River arrives in New Orleans, 82 days after departing from Pittsburgh.

1901 – The first great Texas oil gusher is discovered at Spindletop in Beaumont, Texas. Made “Texas” synonymous with “oil bidness”. The well wasn’t even 1200 feet deep and the area had been known for sulfur springs and natural gas seeping out of the ground. I’ve driven by the place many times.

1920 – The League of Nations holds its first meeting, and ratifies the Treaty of Versailles, therefore ending World War I and guaranteeing WW II in nineteen years.

1941 – The Soviets and Germany agree on the East European borders and the exchange of industrial equipment and between the two of them they absolutely RAPE Poland. Both sides decide to kill off Polish officers, intelligentsia, and Jews.

1946 – The United States Army Signal Corps successfully conducts Project Diana, bouncing radio waves off the moon and receiving the reflected signals. This is the first recorded human interaction with an extra-terrestrial body and arguably the beginning of the space program. Today “Moonbounce” is a niche in the hobby of amateur radio. They have contests.

1946 – The first General Assembly of the United Nations opens in London. Fifty-one nations are represented. Today they’re in New York and what you see there makes the cantina scene in the original Star Wars look positively tame – Monkeys in three-piece suits…

1949 – RCA introduces the 45 RPM record, the mainstay of bobby-soxers and juke boxes for the next four decades. My older sister had a stack almost a foot high.

1954 – BOAC Flight 781, a de Havilland DH.106 Comet 1, explodes and falls into the Tyrrhenian Sea, killing 35 people. By the time they figured out how to fix it, Boeing’s 707 was coming out and it was a superior product.

1962 – Apollo Project: NASA announces plans to build the C-5 rocket booster. It became better known as the Saturn V moon rocket, which launched every Apollo moon mission. That’s pretty heady stuff when you realize that it’s been less than four years since we put our first satellite in orbit.

1985 – Sandinista Daniel Ortega becomes president of Nicaragua and vows to continue the transformation to socialism and alliance with the Soviet Union and Cuba; American policy continues to support the Contras in their revolt against the Nicaraguan government. He wears neat quasi-military uniforms and expensive sunglasses and he’s idolized by the American Left.

1996 – Israel frees hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. The Palestinians recognize Israel’s sincere efforts for peace and drop their arms, ushering in a new era of cooperation, freedom and prosperity. Right??!? What? No???

1997 – Dow Corning provides $295 billion to settle breast implant suits. Through the efforts of trial lawyers misleading stupid juries, junk science wins and businesses lose big.