Friday, December 2, 2011

Friday! History, Music, Cinema, Space, Sports, Quotes, More!

On This Date In 1763 Members of the Jewish community of Newport, Rhode Island witnessed the dedication of the Touro Synagogue, the first synagogue in what became the United States. Designed in the Georgian style by English architect Peter Harrison, the synagogue was named for Isaac Touro, its first officiating rabbi. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/dec02.html
On This Date In 1804 In Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned Napoleon I, the first Frenchman to hold the title of emperor in a thousand years. Pope Pius VII handed Napoleon the crown that the 35-year-old conqueror of Europe placed on his own head.
On This Date In 1816 The first savings bank in the United States, the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society, opened for business.
On This Date In 1823 During his annual address to Congress, President James Monroe proclaimed a new U.S. foreign policy initiative that becomes known as the “Monroe Doctrine.” Primarily the work of Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, the Monroe Doctrine forbade European interference in the American hemisphere but also asserted U.S. neutrality in regard to future European conflicts.
On This Date In 1845 Making his first annual address to Congress, President James K. Polk belligerently reasserted the 1823 Monroe Doctrine and called for aggressive American expansion into the West. Polk's aggressive expansionist program created the outline of the modern American nation.
On This Date In 1859 In Charles Town, Virginia, militant abolitionist John Brown was executed by hanging on charges of treason, murder, and insurrection after unsuccessfully targeting the U.S. military arsenal at Harpers Ferry with an armed band of abolitionists led by Brown.
On This Date In 1864 Confederate General Archibald Gracie, Jr. was killed in the trenches at the siege of Petersburg, Virginia, when an artillery shell exploded near him.
On This Date In 1917 A day after Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, seized control of Russian military headquarters at Mogilev, a formal ceasefire was proclaimed throughout the battle zone between Russia and the Central Powers.
On This Date In 1939 New York's La Guardia Airport began operations as an airliner from Chicago landed at 12:01 a.m.
On This Date In 1942 The Atomic Age began inside an enormous tent on a squash court under the stands of the University of Chicago's Stagg Field. There, headed by Italian scientist Enrico Fermi, the first controlled nuclear fission chain reaction was engineered. The result - sustainable nuclear energy - led to creation of the atomic bomb and nuclear power plants - two of the twentieth century's most powerful and controversial achievements. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/dec02.html
On This Date In 1943 The Air Raid on Bari, an air attack on Allied forces and shipping in Bari, Italy by Nazi German bombers, took place. In the attack, 105 German Junkers Ju 88 bombers of Luftflotte 2, achieving complete surprise, bombed Allied shipping and personnel operating in support of the Allied Italian campaign, sinking 17 cargo and transport ships in Bari harbor.
On This Date In 1947 The 1947 Jerusalem Riots occurred following the vote in the UN General Assembly in favour of the 1947 UN Partition Plan on November 29, 1947. The Arab Higher Committee declared a three-day strike and public protest to begin on December 2, in protest at the vote. Arabs marching to Zion Square on December 2 were stopped by the British, and the Arabs instead turned towards the commercial center of the City at Mamilla and Jaffa Road, burning many buildings and shops. Violence continued for two more days, with a number of Jewish neighborhoods being attacked. A consequence of the violence was the decision by the Haganah Jewish paramilitary organization to use force to “stop future attacks on Jews”. The Irgun responded with armed attacks on nearby Arab villages and a bombing campaign against Arab civilians.
On This Date In 1949 "The Hasty Heart", a melodramatic film starring Ronald Reagan, Patricia Neal, Richard Todd, Anthony Nicholls, Howard Marion-Crawford, John Sherman, and Orlando Martins, was released. The film was adapted by Ranald MacDougall from the play by John Patrick. It was directed by Vincent Sherman.
On This Date In 1952 Playing under the legendary Bud Wilkinson, Billy Vessels (1931 - 2001) became the first of five Sooners to win the Heisman Trophy. During the 1952 season he rushed for 1072 yards including seven 100 yard performances, and 17 touchdowns. These achievements led to his induction into the College Football Hall of Fame.
On This Date In 1954 The U.S. Senate voted 65 to 22 to condemn Senator Joseph R. McCarthy for conduct unbecoming of a senator. The condemnation, which was equivalent to a censure, related to McCarthy's controversial investigation of suspected communists in the U.S. government, military, and civilian society.
On This Date In 1956 Fidel Castro lead a group of 81 in a rebellion to overthrow Cuba's Fulgencio Batista. Heavily defeated, since in short order most of Castro's men were killed, dispersed, or taken prisoner by Batista's forces, Castro did escape into the Sierra Maestra mountains, aided by locals, along with Che Guevara, Raúl Castro, and Camilo Cienfuegos. The regroup would begin a guerrila campaign against the Batista government over the next two years, eventually succeeding in taking control of the country. http://www.biography.com/people/fidel-castro-9241487
On This Date In 1959 The Malpasset Dam on the Reyran River, on the Côte d'Azur in southern France, collapsed, killing an estimated 421 people in the resulting flood. The damage amounted to a total of $68 million.
On This Date In 1961 Following a year of severely strained relations between the United States and Cuba, Cuban leader Fidel Castro openly declared that he is a Marxist-Leninist. The announcement sealed the bitter Cold War animosity between the two nations.
On This Date In 1962 Following a trip to Vietnam at President John F. Kennedy's request, Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield (D-Montana) became the first U.S. official to refuse to make an optimistic public comment on the progress of the Vietnam War, declaring the $2 billion the United States had poured into Vietnam during the previous seven years had accomplished nothing.
On This Date In 1963 The military junta, which took control of the South Vietnamese government following the previous November's coup that resulted in the death of President Ngo Dinh Diem, ordered a temporary halt to the unpopular strategic hamlet program, initiated in March 1962 by Diem to gather the peasants residing in areas threatened by guerrilla attack into centralized locations.
On This Date In 1965 Michael Lockett Garrett, American collegiate and Professional Football player, won the 1965 Heisman Trophy as a tailback for the University of Southern California Trojans, becoming the first USC player to do so.
On This Date In 1968 "Cruising With Ruben & The Jets", an album by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, was released. The album is fashioned as a simultaneous parody of and tribute to the doo-wop music Frank and many of the Mothers grew up with and worked on.
On This Date In 1970 President Nixon transmitted Reorganization Plan No. 3 to the United States Congress by executive order, creating the EPA as a single, independent agency from a number of smaller arms of different federal agencies. The EPA was assigned the task of repairing the damage already done to the natural environment and to establish new criteria to guide Americans in making a cleaner, safer America.
On This Date In 1972 The Temptations earned the last of their four chart-topping hits when “Papa Was A Rollin' Stone” reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
On This Date In 1975 Ohio State University running back Archie Griffin became the first player in history to win the Heisman Trophy two years in a row.
On This Date In 1982 Dr. William DeVries implanted the first permanent pneumatic total
artificial heart into retired dentist Dr. Barney Bailey Clark (born January 21, 1921), who survived 112 days with the device, dying on March 23, 1983.
On This Date In 1984 Into December 3, a Union Carbide Corporation plant in Bhopal, India leaked 32 tons of toxic methyl isocyanate gas, leading to the Bhopal disaster. The official death toll of this disaster was about 5,000 initially. A more probable figure is that 18,000 died within two weeks, and it is estimated that an additional 8,000 have since died from gas-poisoning-related diseases. The Bhopal disaster is often cited as the world's worst industrial disaster. December 3 is observed as an annual day of mourning for this disaster, and each year, all of the government offices in Bhopal are closed on this day.
On This Date In 1988 "The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!", a comedy film, the first in a series of films starring Leslie Nielsen, Priscilla Presley, George Kennedy, and O. J. Simpson, was released.
On This Date In 1991 American hostage Joseph Cicippio was released by his kidnappers. He had been held captive in Lebanon for over five years.
On This Date In 1991 Opening testimony took place in the highly publicized rape trial of William Kennedy Smith, a nephew of President John F. Kennedy and son of Jean Kennedy Smith, the president's sister and a former ambassador to Ireland. He would go on to be acquitted of all charges on December 11, after a 77 minute deliberation.
On This Date In 2000 The Smashing Pumpkins played a farewell concert at The Metro, the same Chicago club where their career had effectively started twelve years earlier. The four-hour-long show featured 35 songs spanning the group's career, and attendees were given a recording of the band's first concert at The Metro, Live at Cabaret Metro 10-5-88. The single "Untitled" was released commercially to coincide with the farewell show.
On This Date In 2001 The Enron Corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a New York court, sparking one of the largest corporate scandals in U.S. history.
On This Date In 2002 Toyota delivered its first two “market-ready” hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles to researchers at the University of California at Irvine and the University of California at Davis.
On This Date In 2010 The Mount Carmel forest fire was a deadly forest fire that started on Mount Carmel in northern Israel, just south of Haifa. The fire spread quickly, consuming much of the Mediterranean forest covering the region. The fire claimed at least 44 lives, making it the deadliest in Israeli history. The dead were mostly Israel Prison Service officer cadets, as well as three senior police officers, among them the chief of Haifa's police.



Happy Birthday Cathy Lee Crosby (1946), Ron Raines (1949), Stone Phillips (1954), Rick Savage (1960), Ann Patchett (1963), Rena Sofer (1968), Lucy Liu (1968), Monica Seles (1973), Rachel Marsden (1974), Jennifer Robinson (1976), Nelly Furtado (1978), Fonsi Nieto (1978), Britney Spears (1981), and Aaron Rodgers (1983).

RIP Georges Seurat (1856 – 1891), Otto Dix (1891 – 1969), Leo Gordon (1922 – 2000), Maria Callas (1923 – 1977), Alexander Haig (1924 – 2010), and Gianni Versace (1946 – 1997).


Quotes

Through humor, you can soften some of the worst blows that life delivers. And once you find laughter, no matter how painful your situation might be, you can survive it. Bill Cosby

We shall draw from the heart of suffering itself the means of inspiration and survival. Winston Churchill

He who cannot change the very fabric of his thought will never be able to change reality, and will never, therefore, make any progress. Anwar Sadat

We are driven by five genetic needs: survival, love and belonging, power, freedom, and fun. William Glasser

Money is your means of survival. The verdict you pronounce upon the source of your livelihood is the verdict you pronounce upon your life. If the source is corrupt, you have damned your own existence. Did you get your money by fraud? By pandering to men's vices or men's stupidity? By catering to fools, in the hope of getting more than your ability deserves? By lowering your standards? By doing work you despise for purchasers you scorn? If so, then your money will not give you a moment's or a penny's worth of joy. Then all the things you buy will become, not a tribute to you, but a reproach; not an achievement, but a reminder of shame. Then you'll scream that money is evil. Evil, because it would not pinch-hit for your self-respect? Evil, because it would not let you enjoy your depravity? Is this the root of your hatred of money? Ayn Rand

Christianity has sufficient inner strength to survive and flourish on its own. It does not need state subsidies, nor state privileges, nor state prestige. The more it obtains state support the greater it curtails human freedom. William Orville Douglas


Courtesy YouTube et al

Curiosity is on its way. All systems are working well.
Audiovisual material, exempt the Elfmotion logo, by NASA
In Cinemas December 2nd 2011.
http://www.facebook.com/HappyFeetTwoUK
The sequel to "Happy Feet," the Academy Award®-winning animated smash hit, "Happy Feet Two" returns audiences to the magnificent landscape of Antarctica in superb 3D.Mumble, The Master of Tap, has a problem because his tiny son, Erik, is choreo-phobic. Reluctant to dance, Erik runs away and encounters The Mighty Sven—a penguin who can fly! Mumble has no hope of competing with this charismatic new role model. But things get worse when the world is shaken by powerful forces.

Being Released as a single for purchase/download on December 19th 2011. Chris Evans has got behind it and been promoting it on his radio 2 breakfast show. Lets make it a Special Christmas and get it to No1.


The companies that survive longest are the one's that work out what they uniquely can give to the world not just growth or money but their excellence, their respect for others, or their ability to make people happy. Some call those things a soul. Charles Handy

How's Your Soul?!



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