Today In History

Birthdates of the Influential and Famous:

1746 Giuseppe Piazzi discovered 1st asteroid (Ceres)
1872 Roald Amundsen Norway, explorer, discovered South Pole
1907 Barbara Stanwyck Bkln, actress (Dynasty II, Big Valley, Thorn Birds)
1911 Ginger Rogers [Virginia McMath], Independence Mo, dancer/actress
1915 Laverne Andrews Minneapolis, Andrew Sister (or 0706)
1939 Corin Redgrave London, actor (Excalibur, Man For All Seasons
1942 Desmond Dekker reggae pioneer (The Aces-Israelites)
1942 Margaret Smith Court Australia, tennis pro (1970 Grand Slam)
1952 Stewart Copeland drummer (The Police-Roxanne)
1963 Phoebe Cates Manhattan NY, actress (Fast Times at Ridgemount High)
1969 Rain Pryor actress (Head of the Class)

Deaths on This Day:

1918 Nicholas II Russian tsar, his tsarina & their 5 kids executed
1981 Harry Chapin dies at 39, of a heart attack when his car is rear-ended
1982 Patrick Dewaere actor, dies at 35 of self-inflicted gunshot wound
1984 Billy Williams singer (Your Show of Shows), dies at 73

Historic Events On this day...

463 Start of Lunar Cycle of Hilarius
622 Origin of the Islamic Era (Muharram 1, 1 AH)
1439 Kissing is banned in England
1845 NY Yacht Club holds its 1st regatta
1904 Islands of the Manu'a group (Samoa) ceded to US by their chiefs
1912 Naval torpedo launched from an airplane patented by B.A. Fiske
1920 Gen Amos Fries appointed 1st US army chemical warfare chief
1926 National Geographic takes 1st natural-color undersea photos
1935 1st automatic parking meter in US installed, Oklahoma City, Ok
1936 1st x-ray photo of arterial circulation, Rochester, NY
1941 Joe Dimaggio goes 3 for 4, hitting in his 56th straight game
1945 1st atomic bomb detonated, Trinity Site, Alamogordo, New Mexico
1951 Novel "Catcher in the Rye" by JD Salinger published
1957 Marine Maj John Glenn sets transcontinental speed record (03:28:08)
1969 Apollo 11, carrying 1st men to land on the Moon, launched
1973 During Watergate hearings, Butterfield reveals existence of tapes
1980 Ronald Reagan nominated for Pres by Republicans in Detroit
1985 F-86 Sabre sets world aircraft speed record of 1152 kph (716 mph)
1988 Carl Lewis runs a wind-assisted 100 m in 9.78 sec
1988 Florence Joyner runs 100 m in women's world record 10.49 seconds
1988 Jackie Joyner-Kersee sets women's hepathlete record of 7,215 pts
1988 Michael J Fox marries Tracy Pollan
1990 400 die in a (7.7) earthquake in the Philippines
1990 NYC's Empire State Building catches fire-No fatalities

Holidays Today:
Bolivia : La Paz Day (1548)
Wash DC : District of Columbia Day (1790)

Religious Observances
RC : Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mt Carmel (opt)

Thought for the day : " Two wrongs do not make a right, it usually takes three or more. "

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>