On
This Date In 1765
The Stamp Act of 1765 was passed by the British Parliament and
imposed on the colonies of British America. The act required that
many printed materials in the colonies carry a tax stamp. The purpose
of the tax was to help pay for troops stationed in North America
following the British victory in the Seven Years' War. The British
government felt that the colonies were the primary beneficiaries of
this military presence, and should pay at least a portion of the
expense. The Stamp Act met with great resistance in the colonies. It
was seen as a violation of the right of Englishmen to be taxed only
with their consent—consent which could only be granted through
their colonial legislatures.
On
This Date In 1782
The Battle of Sadras was fought, the first of five largely indecisive
naval battles between a British fleet under Admiral Sir Edward Hughes
and French fleet under the Bailli de Suffren off the east coast of
India during the American War of Independence. The battle, near
present-day Kalpakkam, was indecisive, but the British fleet suffered
the most damage, and the troop transports that Suffren was protecting
were able to land their troops at Porto Novo.
On
This Date In 1801
After one tie
vote in the Electoral College and 35 indecisive ballot votes in the
United States House of Representatives, Vice President Thomas
Jefferson was elected the third president of the United States over
his running mate, Aaron Burr. Jefferson's triumph brought an end to
one of the most acrimonious presidential campaigns in U.S. history
and resolved a serious Constitutional crisis. The confusing election,
which ended just 15 days before a new president was to be
inaugurated, exposed major problems in the presidential electoral
process set forth by the framers of the U.S. Constitution.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/feb17.html
On
This Date In 1819
The Missouri Compromise was an agreement passed in 1820 between the
pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in the United States Congress,
involving primarily the regulation of slavery in the western
territories. It prohibited slavery in the former Louisiana Territory
north of the parallel 36°30′ north except within the boundaries of
the proposed state of Missouri. Prior to the agreement, the House of
Representatives had refused to accept this compromise, and a
conference committee was appointed. The bill passed on February 17,
1819 by the House of Representatives, but was defeated by the Senate.
Both houses of Congress would come together in agreement after
amendments and a year later, and the measures were passed on March 5,
1820, and ratified by President James Monroe on March 6.
On
This Date In 1865
Columbia, South Carolina, surrendered to Union General William
Tecumseh Sherman, and Wade Hampton's Confederate cavalry retreated
from the city. Union forces were overwhelmed by throngs of liberated
Federal prisoners and emancipated African Americans. Many soldiers
took advantage of ample supplies of liquor in the city and began to
drink. Fires began in the city, and high winds spread the flames
across a wide area. Most of the central city was destroyed, and
municipal fire companies found it difficult to operate in conjunction
with the invading army, many of whom were also fighting the fire. The
burning of Columbia has engendered controversy ever since, with some
claiming the fires were accidental, a deliberate act of vengeance, or
perhaps set by retreating Confederate soldiers who lit cotton bales
while leaving town. On that same day, the Confederates evacuated
Charleston.
On
This Date In 1904
The original version of the opera “Madame Butterfly,” in two
acts, by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica
and Giuseppe Giacosa, had its premiere at La
Scala
in Milan, Italy.
On
This Date In 1915
During World War I, Count Platen-Hallermund, captain of the German
zeppelin L-4, and a crew of 14 men had completed a routine scouting
mission off the Norwegian coast in search of Allied merchant vessels
and were returning to their base in Hamburg, Germany. After
encountering a severe snowstorm that evening, the L-4
crash-landed in the North Sea near the Danish coastal town of Varde.
The Danish coast guard rescued 11 members of the crew who had
abandoned ship and jumped into the sea prior to the crash; they were
brought to Odense as prisoners to be interrogated. Four members of
the crew were believed drowned and their bodies were never recovered.
On
This Date In 1939
“Gunga Din,” an RKO adventure film directed by George Stevens,
loosely based on the poem of the same name by Rudyard Kipling,
combined with elements of his novel Soldiers
Three,
was released. The film is about three British sergeants and Gunga
Din, their native water bearer, who fight the Thuggee, a cult of
murderous Indians in colonial British India. The film stars Cary
Grant, Victor McLaglen, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Joan Fontaine,
Eduardo Ciannelli, and, in the title role, Sam Jaffe. The epic film
was written by Joel Sayre and Fred Guiol from a storyline by Ben
Hecht and Charles MacArthur.
On
This Date In 1944
The Battle of Eniwetok was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World
War II, fought between February 17 - 23, 1944, on Eniwetok Atoll in
the Marshall Islands, under Operation
Catchpole,
part of the U.S. Central Pacific Campaign. The invasion of Eniwetok
followed the American success in the battle of Kwajalein to the
southeast. Capture of Eniwetok would provide an airfield and harbor
to support attacks on the Mariana Islands to the northwest.
On
This Date In 1947
With the words, “Hello! This is New York calling,” the U.S. Voice
of America (VOA) began its first radio broadcasts to the Soviet
Union. The VOA effort was an important part of America's propaganda
campaign against the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
On
This Date In 1963
Michael Jeffrey Jordan, now retired American professional basketball
player and active businessman, was born. His biography on the
National Basketball Association (NBA) website states, “By
acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all
time.” Jordan was one of the most effectively marketed athletes of
his generation and was instrumental in popularizing the NBA around
the world in the 1980s and 1990s.
On
This Date In 1966
In testimony on President Lyndon B. Johnson's Operation
Rolling Thunder
campaign during the Vietnam War before the U.S. Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, General Maxwell Taylor stated that a major U.S.
objective in Vietnam was to demonstrate that “wars of liberation”
are “costly, dangerous and doomed to failure.” Discussing the
American air campaign against North Vietnam, Taylor declared that its
primary purpose was “to change the will of the enemy leadership.”
Operation Rolling Thunder was closely controlled by the White House
and at times targets were personally selected by President Johnson.
From 1965 to 1968, an estimated 643,000 tons of bombs were dropped on
North Vietnam. A total of nearly 900 U.S. aircraft would be lost
during Operation Rolling Thunder.
On
This Date In 1966
While the rest of the Beach Boys band toured during their mid-60s
heyday, member Brian Wilson lost himself in the recording studio,
creating the music for an album, Pet
Sounds,
that is widely regarded as one of the all-time best, and a single,
“Good Vibrations,” on which he lavished more time, attention and
money than had ever been spent previously on a single recording.
Brian Wilson rolled tape on take one of Good
Vibrations
on February 17, 1966. Six months, four studios and $50,000 later, he
finally completed his three-minute-and-thirty-nine-second symphony,
pieced together from more than 90 hours of tape recorded during
literally hundreds of sessions.
On
This Date In 1968
During the Vietnam War, American officials in Saigon reported an
all-time high weekly rate of U.S. Casualties: 543 killed in action
and 2,547 wounded in the previous seven days. These losses were a
result of the heavy fighting during the communist Tet Offensive.
On
This Date In 1972
The 15,007,034th Volkswagen Beetle came off the assembly line,
breaking a world car production record held for more than four
decades by the Ford Motor Company's iconic Model T, which was in
production from 1908 and 1927.
On
This Date In 1975
“High Voltage,” the debut studio album by Australian hard rock
band AC/DC, was released. Six of the album's eight songs were written
by Angus Young, Malcolm Young, and Bon Scott. “Soul Stripper” was
written by Young & Young, and “Baby, Please Don't Go” is a
cover version of a Big Joe Williams song. The album was produced by
Vanda & Young at the Albert Studios in Sydney. George, the older
brother of Angus and Malcolm, also played bass guitar for AC/DC.
On
This Date In 1976
“Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975),” a compilation album by the
American rock band the Eagles, was released. As of November 2009, 29
million copies have been shipped in the domestic market, making it
tied with Michael Jackson's Thriller
as the best-selling album in the United States. With an additional 13
million internationally, for a total of 42 million, it is one of the
top-selling albums in music history.
On
This Date In 1979
The Sino–Vietnamese War, also referred to as the Third Indochina
War, was a brief but bloody border war fought between the People's
Republic of China and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, from
February 17, 1979, to March 16, 1979. The Chinese launched the
offensive in response to Vietnam's 1978 invasion and occupation of
Cambodia, which ended the reign of the PRC-backed Khmer Rouge.
On
This Date In 1982
Lee Strasberg (November 17, 1901 – February 17, 1982), American
actor, director and acting teacher, died from a heart attack in New
York City, aged 80. He co-founded, with directors Harold Clurman and
Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931, which was hailed as
“America's first true theatrical collective.” With him at his
death at the hospital were his wife, Anna, and their two sons. He was
interred at Westchester Hills Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson, New
York. A day before his unexpected death, he was officially notified
that he had been elected to the American Theatre Hall of Fame. His
last public appearance was on February 14, 1982 at Night
of 100 Stars
in the Radio City Music Hall, a benefit for the Actors Fund. Along
with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, he danced in the chorus line with
the Rockettes.
On
This Date In 1983
“Local Hero,” a Scottish comedy-drama film written and directed
by Bill Forsyth and starring Peter Riegert and Burt Lancaster, was
released. Produced by David Puttnam, the film is about an American
oil company representative who is sent to the fictional village of
Ferness on the west coast of Scotland to purchase the town and
surrounding property for his company. For his work on the film, Bill
Forsyth won the 1984 BAFTA Award for Best Direction.
http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9D05E6D9153BF934A25751C0A965948260
On
This Date In 1989
“Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure,” a classic American
comedy/science fiction movie written by Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon
and directed by Stephen Herek, was released. It stars Alex Winter as
Bill S. Preston, Esquire, Keanu Reeves as Ted “Theodore” Logan,
and George Carlin as Rufus. Bill
& Ted
was a financial success, grossing $40.4 million domestically on a
budget of about $10 million.
On
This Date In 1993
Approximately 900 people drowned when a passenger ferry, the Neptune,
overturned near Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The ferry was dangerously
overloaded, and carried no lifeboats or emergency gear.
On
This Date In 1994
“Cheshire Cat,” the debut studio album by the American pop punk
band Blink-182, was released. Recorded at Westbeach Recorders in Los
Angeles and produced by O (Otis Barthoulameu) and the band
themselves, the album was released through local independent record
label Cargo Music. “M+M's” and “Wasting Time” were released
as singles to promote the album, and received popularity locally
through radio play.
On
This Date In 1996
In the final game of a six-game match, world chess champion Garry
Kasparov triumphed over Deep Blue, IBM’s chess-playing computer,
and won the match, 4-2. However, Deep Blue went on to defeat Kasparov
in a heavily publicized rematch the following year.
On
This Date In 1998
“Destiny's Child,” the self-titled debut album of R&B group
Destiny's Child, was released by Columbia Records. It features the
singles “No, No, No” and “With Me” and won Best R&B/Soul
Album of the Year at the Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards, but due to
both singles having a remix (“Part 2”) as well as having an
original version (“Part 1”), all singles preceded the album.
On
This Date In 2003
The E2 nightclub stampede occurred at the E2 nightclub located above
the Epitome Chicago restaurant in Chicago, Illinois, in which 21
people died and more than 50 were injured when panic ensued from the
use of pepper spray by security guards to break up a fight. The
club's owners, Dwain Kyles and Calvin Hollins, were later convicted
of criminal contempt for their persistent failure to keep the
facility up to code, and sentenced to two years in prison.
On
This Date In 2004
“G3: Rockin' in the Free World,” a double live album by the G3
project that was recorded at The Uptown Theater in Kansas City,
Missouri on October 21, 2003, was released. The album features the
touring lineup of project leader Joe Satriani, frequent member Steve
Vai, and guest guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen. A DVD of the same tour but
with a different track list was released as G3: Live in Denver.
On
This Date In 2006
A massive rock slide-debris avalanche occurred in the Philippine
province of Southern Leyte that caused widespread damage and loss of
life. The deadly landslide followed a ten-day period of heavy rains
and a minor earthquake of magnitude 2.6 on the Richter scale. The
official death toll stands at 1,126.
On
This Date In 2008
The 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence was declared. An act of
the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government Assembly of Kosovo,
and adopted by unanimous quorum (109 members present), it declared
Kosovo to be independent from Serbia. It was the second declaration
of independence by Kosovo's Albanian-majority political institutions,
the first having been proclaimed on September 7, 1990. The legality
of the declaration, and indeed whether it was an act of the Assembly,
was disputed. Serbia sought international validation and support for
its stance that the declaration was illegal, and in October 2008
Serbia requested an advisory opinion on the matter from the
International Court of Justice. The Court determined that the
declaration of independence was not in violation of international
law.
On
This Date In 2009
The U.S. Senate Ethics Committee opened a preliminary inquiry into
Sen. Roland Burris’s (D-Ill.) conflicting testimony on the
circumstances surrounding his appointment by ex-Governor of Illinois
Rod Blagojevich, three weeks after the governor was arrested on
federal corruption charges that included allegedly trying to sell the
U.S. Senate seat held previously by President Barack Obama.
http://archive.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/02/burris-im-open-to-senate-ethics-investigation.html
,
http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_st/2009/02/senate-majority-leader-cautious-on-burris.html
On
This Date In 2011
A group of Wisconsin Democrat lawmakers blocked passage of a sweeping
anti-union bill, by refusing to show up for a vote on the Budget
Repair Bill, and then abruptly leaving the state, thereby preventing
a quorum for adopting the legislation.
http://www.npr.org/2011/02/17/133847336/wis-democratic-lawmakers-flee-to-prevent-vote
Hat
tip to any included contributing sources, along with:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
, http://www.-history.com/this-day-in-history
, http://timelines.com/
, http://www.on-this-day.com/
Happy
Birthday
Patricia Routledge (1929), Barry Humphries (1934), Buddy Ryan (1934),
Mary Ann Mobley (1939), Vicente Fernandez (1940), Prunella Gee
(1950), Randy Forbes (1952), Rene Russo (1954), Lou Diamond Phillips
(1962), Michael Jordan (1963), Michael Bay (1965), Chante Moore
(1967), Dominic Purcell (1970), Denise Richards (1971), Kelly Carlson
(1976), Jason Ritter (1980), Paris Hilton (1981), Joseph
Gordon-Levitt (1981), and Bonnie Wright (1991).
RIP
Frederick
Douglass (1818 – 1895), Thomas J. Watson (1874 – 1956), Isabelle
Eberhardt (1877 – 1904), Ruth Clifford (1900 – 1998), Sir Alan
Bates (1934 – 2003), and Gene Pitney (1941 – 2006).
Quotes
God gave us the gift of life; it is up
to us to give ourselves the gift of living well. Voltaire
Life is thickly sown with thorns, and I
know no other remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we
dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us.
Voltaire
It is dangerous to be right when the
government is wrong. Voltaire
All the citizens of a state cannot be
equally powerful, but they may be equally free. Voltaire
I will not serve that in which I no
longer believe whether it call itself my home, my fatherland or my
church: and I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art
as freely as I can and as wholly as I can, using for my defence the
only arms I allow myself to use, silence, exile, and cunning.
James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
Courtesy
YouTube et al
The crew from the International Space
Station captured eastern seaboard of the United States at night on
January 29th, 2012.
Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder to sing
at Houston's funeral; Don Cornelius honored by hundreds at memorial
service; 'Spider-Man' producers and Julie Taymor's union reach deal.
(Feb. 17)
The 2nd Assault Battalion, 2nd Aviation
Regiment, 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade, also known as the "Wildcards,"
stationed at Seoul Air Base train and qualify in the use of the air
volcano mine system. The system serves a critical role in deterrence
against North Korean advances by enabling United States Forces Korea
the capability to lay down a large amount of land mines efficiently.
Nobody makes
me do anything I don't want to do. It's my decision. So the biggest
devil is me. I'm either my best friend or my worst enemy. And that's
how I have to deal with it.
Whitney Houston
Load up your
mind with pictures capturing your preferred tomorrow. Put the
remembrances of the past in a place where they won't block your view.
Gary Carter
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