1747 – The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital. “I caught it from a toilet seat…”
1865 – American Civil War: Confederate General Robert E. Lee becomes general-in-chief.
1915 – World War I: Germany is the first to make large-scale use of poison gas in warfare in the Battle of Bolimów against Russia.
1929 – The Soviet Union exiles Leon Trotsky. Today he’d get a department chair at any of several universities.
1930 – 3M begins marketing Scotch Tape.
1943 – World War II: German Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus surrenders to the Soviets at Stalingrad, followed 2 days later by the remainder of his Sixth Army, ending one of the war’s fiercest battles. 91,000 Germans are taken prisoner. Only 5000 make it back to Germany after the war, some being held until 1955.
1953 – A North Sea flood causes over 1,800 deaths in the Netherlands. FEMA slow to respond. Bush widely blamed.
1958 – Explorer program: Explorer 1 – The first successful launch of an American satellite into orbit. Also first documented use of transistors in space. Verifies the existence of the Van Allen Belt
1961 – Project Mercury: Mercury-Redstone 2 – Ham the Chimp travels into outer space.
1995 – President Bill Clinton authorizes a $20 billion loan to Mexico to stabilize its economy. Yeah, they’re plenty stable. Now, so are we…
2010 – Dances with Smurfs Avatar became the first film to gross over $2 billion worldwide.
2011 – As global warming tightens its grip, a winter storm hit North America for the second time in the same month, causing $1.8 billion in damages across the United States and Canada and killing 24 people.
1929 – Well actually, he would be denounced at every Western university for being far-right.
1943 – Everyone is ready to castigate Germany and Japan for their treatment of prisoners. But nobody does the same for the Commies. I wonder why…
1915 – World War I: Germany is the first to make large-scale use of poison gas in warfare in the Battle of Bolimów against Russia.
The French used tear gas in August 1914. They were so bad at it that the Germans did not know the French had gassed them.
The curious thing about the use of gas at Bolimów is that it was so cold that the gas froze in the air and fell like snow to the ground. Totally ineffective.