Just Plain Fun
This Day in History – August 28, 2011
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1349 6,000 Jews are killed in Mainz, accused of being the cause of the plague. 1609 Delaware Bay explored by Henry Hudson for the Netherlands 1789 Sir William Herschel discovers Saturn’s moon Enceladus 1859 A geomagnetic storm causes the Aurora Borealis to shine so brightly that it is seen clearly over parts of USA, Europe, and even as far away as Japan. 1862 Belle Boyd released from Old Capital Prison in Washington, DC 1884 1st known photograph of a tornado is made near Howard SD 1898 Caleb Bradham renames his carbonated soft drink “Pepsi-Cola”. 1907 United Parcel Service begins service, in Seattle 1917 10 suffragists arrested as they picket the White House 1922 WEAF in NYC airs 1st radio commercial (Queensboro Realty-$100 for 10 mins) 1937 Toyota Motors becomes an independent company. 1938 Northwestern U awards honorary degree to dummy Charlie McCarthy (Operated by Edgar Bergen) 1955 Black teenager Emmett Till is murdered in Mississippi, galvanizing the nascent American Civil Rights Movement. 1955 1st NFL preseason sudden death football, Rams beats Giants 23-17 1957 U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond begins a filibuster to prevent the Senate from voting on Civil Rights Act of 1957; he stopped speaking 24 hours and 18 minutes later, the longest filibuster ever conducted by a single Senator. 1961 Motown releases what would be its first #1 hit, “Please Mr. Postman” by The Marvelettes. 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom: Martin Luther King, Jr. gives his I Have a Dream speech 1963 Emily Hoffert and Janice Wylie are murdered in their Manhattan flat, prompting the events that would lead to the passing of the Miranda Rights. 1964 Race riot in Philadelphia 1968 Police & anti-war demonstrators clash at Chicago’s Democratic National Convention 1978 Donald Vesco rode 21′-long Kawasaki motorcycle at 318.598 mph 1981 John Hinckley Jr pleads innocent in attempt to kill Pres Reagan 1981 The National Centers for Disease Control announce a high incidence of pneumocystis and Kaposi’s sarcoma in gay men. These will soon be recognized as symptoms of an immune disorder, which will be called AIDS. 1983 Joseph Kreckman sets record of 2,215 clay pigeons shot in an hour 1986 United States Navy officer Jerry A. Whitworth is sentenced to 365 years imprisonment for espionage for the Soviet Union. 1988 Ramstein airshow disaster: three aircraft of the Frecce Tricolori demonstration team collide and the wreckage falls into the crowd. 75 are killed and 346 seriously injured. 1990 Iraq declares Kuwait to be its newest province. 1990 The Plainfield Tornado: an F5 tornado hits in Plainfield, Illinois, and Joliet, Illinois, killing 28 people. 1991 Ukraine declares its independence from the Soviet Union. 1991 Collapse of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party. 1996 Charles, Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales divorce. 2003 An electricity blackout cuts off power to around 500,000 people living in south east England and brings 60% of London’s underground rail network to a halt. 2005 Hurricane Katrina begins to make landfall in Louisiana and Mississippi in the afternoon, and brings the most severe damage to Slidell and New Orleans.]]]]> ]]>
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