Friday, September 30, 2005

Today in History

*Broadening for the mind.

Today is Friday, Sept. 30, the 273rd day of 2005. There are 92 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

Fifty years ago, on Sept. 30, 1955, actor James Dean, 24, was killed in a two-car collision near Cholame, Calif.

On this date:

In 1777, the Congress of the United States — forced to flee in the face of advancing British forces — moved to York, Pa.

In 1791, Mozart's opera "The Magic Flute" premiered in Vienna, Austria.

In 1846, dentist William Morton used ether as an anesthetic for the first time on a patient in his Boston office.

In 1938, British, French, German and Italian leaders decided to appease Adolf Hitler by allowing Nazi annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland.

In 1946, an international military tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany, found 22 top Nazi leaders guilty of war crimes.

In 1949, the Berlin Airlift came to an end.

In 1954, the first atomic-powered vessel, the submarine Nautilus, was commissioned by the Navy.

In 1962, black student James Meredith succeeded on his fourth try in registering for classes at the University of Mississippi.

In 1993, an estimated 10,000 people were killed when an earthquake measuring a magnitude of 6.4 struck southern India.

Ten years ago: U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke, trying to negotiate a Bosnian cease-fire, ended inconclusive talks with the Sarajevo government and headed for Belgrade to try his luck with the Serbs.

Five years ago: A Catholic priest crashed his car into a building housing an abortion clinic in Rockford, Ill., and attacked it with an ax. (The Rev. John Earl later pleaded guilty to damaging property, and was sentenced to 30 months' probation and two days in county jail.) In Sydney, Australia, Marion Jones won Olympic gold in the U.S. women's 1,600-meter relay and bronze with the 400-meter squad — making her the only woman to win five track medals at one Olympics.

One year ago: President Bush and Sen. John Kerry met in their first debate, with Kerry charging Americans had been left with "this incredible mess in Iraq" and Bush saying U.S. troops look at the Democratic challenger and wonder, "How can I follow this guy?" The House followed the Senate in decisively rejecting a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Bombs killed some three dozen children in Baghdad as U.S. troops handed out candy at a government-sponsored celebration. Vioxx, the heavily promoted arthritis drug, was pulled from the market by its maker after a study found it doubled the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Thought for Today: "Where apathy is master, all men are slaves." — Anonymous.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home