May your belly always be full,
your naps forever be restful,
and you always have plenty to be thankful for…

It was on this day in 1971 that a hijacker who called himself Dan Cooper parachuted out of an airplane. The man, whose actual name was never found out, had purchased a ticket for a flight from Portland OR to Seattle WA. Once aboard the plane he passed a note to a flight attendant, which stated that he had a bomb in his briefcase. He demanded $200,000 and four parachutes. After receiving the ransom and having the airplane refueled at Seattle, he instructed the crew to fly the plane towards Mexico City while maintaining the slowest speed and the lowest altitude possible. Sometime during the flight he opened a hatch in the back and hasn’t been seen since. It is the only unsolved hijacking in US history.

The earliest event that Wiki says happened on this day is “380 – Theodosius I makes his adventus, or formal entry, into Constantinople” and the most recent is “1992 – A China Southern Airlines domestic flight in the People’s Republic of China, crashes, killing all 141 people on-board.”

A few other things that also took place on this day are:

1835 – The Texas Rangers are created by the Texas Provincial Government.

1859 – On the Origin of Species is first published by Charles Darwin.

1932 – The FBI Crime Lab officially opens.

Happy birthday to Amanda Wyss, Denise Crosby, Clem Burke, Dwight Schultz, Bev Bevan, Donald Dunn, and Pete Best.

It was on this day in 1889 that Louis Glass and William Arnold placed a modified Edison cylinder phonograph into a saloon in San Francisco. With an oak cabinet built around it, the machine would play only after a nickle was inserted. The songs were changed daily and included such titles as “Down Went McGinty“, “Pretty as a Butterfly“, and “The Men of Wall Street.” Despite only allowing up to four people to listen to the music (via stethoscope-type listening tubes) at one time, the machine was a huge success and earned over $1000 in the next couple months. The men took out a patent for their new machine the following Spring, and jukeboxes soon began springing up all over the country.

The earliest event that Wiki says happened on this day is “534 BC – Thespis of Icaria becomes the first recorded actor to portray a character onstage” and the most recent is “2010 – The Bombardment of Yeonpyeong occurs on Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea. The North Korean artillery attack kills 2 civilians and 2 South Korean marines.”

Wishes for a very happy birthday go out to Bruce Hornsby.

It was on this day in 1968 that the Captain and the Communications Officer on Star Trek shared the first interracial kiss that took place on a scripted show. Due to concerns about how television stations in the Southern states would react to such a thing, the story called for Capt Kirk and Lt Uhura to be under the influence of a mind-controlling alien and thus not able to control themselves.

The earliest event that Wiki says happened on this day is “498 – After the death of Anastasius II, Symmachus is elected Pope in the Lateran Palace, while Laurentius is elected Pope in Santa Maria Maggiore” and the most recent is “2005 – Angela Merkel becomes the first female Chancellor of Germany.”

A few other things that also took place on this day are:

1718 – The pirate Edward “Blackbeard” Teach is killed during a battle off the coast of what is now North Carolina.

1914 – The song “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town” is played for the first time on TV.

1963 – President Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas.

1968 – The so-called White Album by The Beatles is released.

1995 –  Toy Story is released in theaters. It is the first feature film made enterily with computer-generated imagery.

Happy birthday to Mark Ruffalo, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tina Weymouth, Steven Van Zandt, and Terry Gilliam.

It was on this day in 1927 that over 500 men, women and children marched towards a small mining town in Colorado only to be met by state policemen, dressed in plainclothes and armed with machine guns. The group was organized by striking miners and they had been holding a rally every morning in Serene CO for the past two weeks to protest dangerous working conditions at the Columbine Mine. This morning, however, the gates to the company town were locked and the men inside told the protesters to stay out. There was some yelling back and forth…the miners claiming they had business at the post office to conduct and a police officer responding that if they walked in then they will be carried out. One of the miners came forward to discuss the issue, and was struck in the head with a baton. Tear gas was fired by the state police as the workers climbed over the fence…where they were then met with a hail of bullets. Six of the strikers were killed and at least 60 more wounded. An American flag, carried by a 16 year-old protester, was later found with seventeen bullet holes in it. The strike would continue on for several more weeks, until the president of the mining company said she would recognize any union that was not associated with the International Workers of the World. This resulted in the United Mine Workers receiving their first contract in the state of Colorado, as well as state legislation granting more labor rights to organized labor.

The earliest event that Wiki says happened on this day is “164 BC – Judas Maccabaeus, son of Mattathias of the Hasmonean family, restores the Temple in Jerusalem. This event is commemorated each year by the festival of Hanukkah” and the most recent is “2009 – A mine explosion in Heilongjiang province, northeastern China, kills 108.”

A couple other things that also took place on this day are:

1953 – It is announced by the British Natural History Museum that the “Piltdown Man” skull is a hoax.

1980 – An accident by the Texaco while drilling for oil causes a freshwater lake in Louisiana to drain into a salt mine below.

Happy birthday to Brian Ritchie, Goldie Hawn, and Dr. John.

“I might repeat to myself slowly and soothingly a list of quotations beautiful from minds profound – if I can remember any of the damn things.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mahxhAo9SVs

It was on this day in 1973 that Scot Halpin went to a rock concert and ended up sitting in with the band. The Who were playing the opening night of their Quadrophenia tour and drummer Keith Moon kept passing out. With Moon being carried off the stage for the second time (after the first time the roadies ran a cold shower on him for 20 minutes before returning him to his drum set), the rest of the band played See Me Feel Me without him. With that song being well-received by the crowd, guitar player Pete Townsend asked the audience (half-jokingly) if anyone could play drums. A few fans near the front of the stage told the security guards that their buddy could, and 19 year-old Scot quickly found himself on the stage. After a shot of brandy and a few words from Townsend, the band played three songs with the guy that Rolling Stone magazine later called “Pick up Artist of the Year”. After the show Halpin was brought backstage with the band, where he was given a tour jacket and a promise for a $1000 check. Unfortunately, the jacket was stolen that same night, and he says he never got the check…

The earliest thing that Wiki says happened on this day is “284 – Diocletian is chosen as Roman Emperor” and the most recent is “2008 – After critical failures in the US financial system began to build up after mid-September, the Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level since 1997.”

A few other things that also took place on this day are:

1955 – Bo Diddley’s first and only appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. He upset the host by playing the song “Bo Diddley” instead of a cover of  “Sixteen Tons“, and thus received a lifetime ban from the show.

1982 – Drew Barrymore, age 7, becomes the youngest host on Saturday Night Live.

1985 – Windows 1.0 is released by Microsoft.

1998 – The International Space Station’s first module is launched by the USSR.

Happy birthday to Joel McHale, Sabrina Lloyd, Sen Dog, Michael Diamond, Sean Young, Bo Derek, Steve Dahl, Joe Walsh, Joe Biden, Bob Einstein, Dick Smothers, and Richard Dawson.

These fellas are in my area tonite, so here are a couple tasty treats from ’em….

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure...

It was seven score and four years ago this day that Pres Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address. He was dedicating a new national cemetery, where over 3,500 soliders from a battle over four months ago had been buried. There is some dispute over what his exact words were that day, with at least six different versions of the 2-minute speech in existence, but there is no doubting the influence it had during the Civil War and the years to follow.

The earliest event that Wiki says happened on this day is “1095 – The Council of Clermont, called by Pope Urban II to discuss sending the First Crusade to the Holy Land, begins” and the most recent is “2002 – The Greek oil tanker Prestige splits in half and sinks off the coast of Galicia, releasing over 20 million US gallons (76,000 m³) of oil in the largest environmental disaster in Spanish and Portuguese history.”

A few other things that also took place on this day are:

1955 – First issue of National Review is published.

1969 – Pete Conrad and Alan Bean become the third and fourth astronauts to land on the Moon, while Richard Gordon became the second one to get so close…yet so far away.

1998 – Impeachment hearings against Pres Clinton are started by the House Judiciary Committee.

Happy birthday to Jodie Foster, Meg Ryan, Tommy Thompson, Ted Turner, Dick Cavett, and Larry King.

It was on this day in 1978 that 918 people in Jonestown Guyana died during a mass suicide/murder. Led by Jim Jones, members of the Peoples Temple (a church he had formed years earlier) had left California in 1974 in order to create their own community. Congressman Leo Ryan (with about a dozen staffers) paid a visit to the compound on 11/17/78 in order to check on the welfare of the people, and several members told him that they wished to return to America. However, the group was ambushed when they attempted to board their plane the next day and five people were killed. That night Jim Jones instructed his assistants to prepare Kool-Aid with cyanide in it, and the cult (including over 290 children) used it to kill themselves. At least eight people at Jonestown survived; three had been sent away on an errand and five others (including a five-year old boy) hid while the rest of the group were lining up to drink the poison.

The earliest event that Wiki says took place on this day is “326 – The old St. Peter’s Basilica is consecrated” and the most recent is “2003 – In the United Kingdom, the Local Government Act 2003, repealing controversial anti-gay amendment Section 28, becomes effective.”

A few other things that also took place on this day are:

1307 – Using a crossbow, William Tell shoots an apple that is sitting on his son’s head.

1883 – Standard time zones are adopted by railroads in the US and Canada.
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1928 – Steamboat Willie is released. It was one of the first cartoons to have a synchronized soundtrack, as well as the first offical appearance of Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

1963 – Bell Telephones starts to offer push-button telephones to the public.

1988 – Pres Reagan signs a bill into law that creates the Office of National Drug Control Policy as well as authorizing the Federal Government to use the death penalty against drug dealers and smugglers.

Happy birthday to Kirk Hammett, Kim Wilde, Elizabeth Perkins, Kevin Nealon, Rudy Sarzo, Eric Pierpoint, and Alan Dean Foster.