We’re gonna start off tonite’s music with this classic number from Louis Armstrong…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMMtdVQLTpE

…and we’re gonna continue on with this lil’ tune from the Grateful D:

Local activist and good buddy Ben Masel passed away this morning. He was recently diagonised with lung cancer and had been receiving treatment for it.

He was kind, smart and could always see three or five moves ahead of everyone else…and he will be missed.

I ain’t too good with goodbyes, so that’s all I’m gonna say for now….better writers than me have reports here, here, here, here, here, and here.
 

It was on this day in 1900 that train engineer Casey Jones died while running an overnight express passenger-route from Memphis TN to Canton MS. He was filling in for a sick co-worker, and his train was already an hour and a half behind schedule when it departed at 12:50 am. Casey was one of the best engineers of his time (despite what some songs later said about his alleged vices, he was known to be a teetotaler) and quickly made up most of that time. He was only a few minutes behind schedule as the train was pulling into Vaughan MS, but tragedy was (literally) around the corner – a freight train stalled on the tracks. His fireman noticed the lights of the caboose first, and warned Jones. The engineer replied by telling him to jump while applying the whistle and reversing the throttle, but it was too late to avoid a collision. The passenger train plowed through four of the freight cars before derailing. Because he stayed with the engine (legend has it that his body was still clutching the throttle when it was removed from the wreck) he was able to lower the speed from 75mph to ~35mph, resulting in no other deaths nor serious injuries than his own.

The first thing that Wiki mentions for this day is “313 – Battle of Tzirallum: Emperor Licinius defeats Maximinus II and unifies the Eastern Roman Empire” while the most recent is “2010 – Hailed as the largest World’s Fair in history, Expo 2010 opens in Shangai, China.“

A few other events that occurred on this date include:

1492 – Columbus receives a commission to sail the ocean blue.

1789 – George Washington takes the oath of office and becomes the first President of the United States.

1803 – US purchases the Louisiana Territory from France.

1927 – First women’s federal prison in the US opens.

Slices of birthday cake go out to Johnny Galecki, Bill Plympton, Larry Niven, and Willie Nelson.

It was on this day in 1429 that Joan of Arc entered the besieged city of Orleans, which nine days later resulted in her first military victory over the English. It was also on this day, but in 1862, that Union forces captured the rebel city of New Orleans.  *cue spooky music*

The first event listed by Wiki for this day is “711 – Islamic conquest of Hispania: Moorish troops led by Tariq ibn-Ziyad land at Gibraltar to begin their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus)” and the most recent is “2005 – Syria completes withdrawal from Lebanon, ending 29 years of occupation.“

A few other things that also happened are:

1968 – Hair opens on Broadway.

1991 – Over 138,000 people are killed and more than 10 million left homeless after a cyclone rips through southeast Bangladesh.

1992 – Three days of rioting begin in Los Angeles in response to police officers being acquitted in the beating of Rodney King. Over 50 people are killed and several hundred buildings destroyed.

Happy birthday wishes to Eve Plumb, Michelle Pfeiffer, Mark Kendal, Jerry Seinfeld, Tommy James, Richard Kline, Uma Thurman, Carnie Wilson, Duane Allen and Otis Rush.

It was on this day in 2001 that Dennis Tito rode a Russian Soyuz to the International Space Station, becoming the first person in space who paid for a trip into outer space. He holds degrees in Astronautics, Aeronautics, and Engineering Science & had also worked at the Jet Propulsion Lab for NASA. However, it wasn’t until he changed careers into investment management and consulting that he was able to fulfill his longtime desire to fly to outer space. $20 million was his cost for the 8-day visit into zero gravity.  A recent news article states that there are several companies looking to ferry tourists into space, with trips to the moon possibly being available as soon as 2014.

The earliest event that Wiki mentions for this day is “1192 – Assassination of Conrad of Montferrat (Conrad I), King of Jerusalem, in Tyre, two days after his title to the throne is confirmed by election. The killing is carried out by Hashshashin” and the most recent is “2008 – A train collision in Shandong, China, kills 72 people and injures 416 more.“

Some other things that happened on this day include:

1789 – Crew of the HMS Bounty commits mutiny.

1914 – Air conditioner patented by W.H. Carrier.

1945 – Mussolini executed by his own citizens.

Happy birthday to Jay Leno, Ann-Margret, Elena Kagan, Jorge Garcia, and Harper Lee.

It was on this day in 4977 BC that the universe was created. At least, according  to Johannes Kepler. A mathematician and astronomer in the early 1600’s, he worked for the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and was a pen-pal with Galileo. He wrote the three laws of planetary motion, and is considered one of the founding fathers of modern science. However, he might have been a tad off in his calculations of when the universe was created….according to the “Big Bang” theory, Kepler missed the mark by over 13 billions years.

The earliest event Wiki lists for this day is “1296 – Battle of Dunbar: The Scots are defeated by Edward I of England” and the most recent is “2007 – Estonian authorities remove the Bronze Soldier, a Soviet Red Army war memorial in Tallinn, amid political controversy with Russia.“

A few others things that also happened on this day include:

1773 – The British Parliament passes the Tea Act.

1861 – Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus.

1974 – 10,000 protestors in D.C. call out for Nixon to be impeached.

Happy birthday to Sheena Easton, Ace Frehley, Casey Kasem, & Jack Klugman.

It was on this day in 1986 that an explosion occurred at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the then-Soviet Union (now Ukraine). The accident happened during a systems test of a new safety procedure, and the resulting fires spewed radioactive smoke across Europe and the western part of Russia. Over 350,000 people were evacuated from surrounding areas. Over 30 fatalities have been directly connected to this catastrophe, and it is estimated that anywhere from 2,000 to 800,000 more deaths are related.  2,500 employees still work at the plant (though it is no longer producing power) and the “sealed zone” surrounding the area is expected to be open to tourists later this year.

Wiki‘s earliest listing for this day is “1336 – Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ascends Mont Ventoux” and the most recent one is “2005 – Under international pressure, Syria withdraws the last of its 14,000 troop military garrison in Lebanon, ending its 29-year military domination of that country ( Syrian occupation of Lebanon ).“

Few other things that also happened on this day include:

1865 – John Wilkes Booth caught and killed by Federal troops.

1933 – The Gestapo is formed in Nazi Germany.

1991 – Seventy tornadoes touch down across the MidWestern area of the US, including the year’s only F5 tornado. Nationwide, 23 people died in the storms.

Wishes for a happy birthday go to Jessica Lynch, Gary Wright, and Carol Burnett.

It was on this date in 1792 that Nicolas Jacques Pelletier lost his head. A few years earlier (in 1789) Dr. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin addressed the National Assembly of France on the topic of capital punishment. Soon after, King Louis XVI banned what the country had been using for most of their executions (an interesting mechanism called “the breaking wheel”) and a committee was formed to reform the death penalty. Among other things, the result was a machine that would “painlessly” execute via decapitation.  Monsieur Pelletier was the first criminal to have this new device used on, but many more would soon find themselves under the falling blade of the guillotine…..tho for most of them the biggest “crime” they committed was simply being royalty during a revolution.

The earliest event for this day mentioned by Wiki is “404 BC – Peloponnesian War: Lysander’s Spartan Armies defeated the Athenians and the war ends” and the most recent is “2007 – Boris Yeltsin’s funeral – the first to be sanctioned by the Russian Orthodox Church for a head of state since the funeral of Emperor Alexander III in 1894.“

A few other noteworthy events that happened on this day include:

1859 – Ground broken on the Suez Canal.

1939 – Debut of Batman.

1961 – Patent issued for the integrated circuit.

1990 – Discovery deploys the Hubble Telescope.

Happy Birthday to Eric Aver, Jeffrey DeMunn, Stu Cook, Al Pacino, and Meadowlark Lemon.

-courtesy of Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. Click the pic for a lot more good stuff.

It was on this day in 1907 that Hershey Park first opened with a baseball game between the Louisville Cardinals and the Boston Red Sox. Milton Hersey built the park near his factory town for workers to “leave dull cares behind“, and access was limited to only employees and their families. (It was later opened to the general public.) In addition to the baseball field the original park had a bandstand, a pavilion, and areas for picnicking & canoeing.  The following summer a merry-go-round and 1,500-seat amphitheater was added on, with a tennis court & bowling alley built the year after that. The park continued to grow every season, with there now being over 60 rides (11 of which are roller coasters) as well as 200 animal zoo.

Wiki’s earliest event for this day is “1479 BC – Thutmose III ascends to the throne of Egypt, although power effectively shifts to Hatshepsut (according to the Low Chronology of the 18th Dynasty)” and their most recent is “2007 – Iceland announces that Norway will shoulder the defense of Iceland during peacetime.”

Some other things that happened on this day were:

1704 – The first newspaper in the United States is published in Boston.

1800 – The United States Library of Congress is established.

1898 – The United States declares war on Spain.

1980 – Eight servicemen die while trying to rescue American hostages in Iran.

2005 – World’s first cloned dog is born.

Happy birthday to Damon Lindelof, Michael O’Keefe, Jack Blades, Doug Clifford, Barbra Streisand, and Shirley MacLaine