1827 – The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) is incorporated, becoming the first railroad in America offering commercial transportation of both people and freight, makes it until 1987. Now it’s just a square on a Monopoly board.
1844 – A gun on USS Princeton explodes while the boat is on a Potomac River cruise, killing eight people, including two United States Cabinet members.
1849 – Regular steamboat service from the west to the east coast of the United States begins with the arrival of the SS California in San Francisco Bay, 4 months 21 days after leaving New York Harbor. Due to the Panama Canal being some distance in the future, this trip goes all the way around the Horn.
1933 – Gleichschaltung: The Reichstag Fire Decree is passed in Germany a day after the Reichstag fire. Generate a crisis, then use it to pass laws that shut down your opponents. Worked then.
1935 – DuPont scientist Wallace Carothers invents nylon. Billions of silkworms breathe a sigh of relief.
1942 – In the dark opening days of American participation in World War II, the heavy cruiser USS Houston is sunk in the Battle of Sunda Strait with 693 crew members killed, along with HMAS Perth which lost 375 men.
1954 – The first color television sets using the NTSC (Never Twice the Same Color) standard are offered for sale to the general public, for a mere $1,295, or $11,200 in today’s dollars.
1956 – Forrester issued a patent for computer core memory. And why did they call it ‘core’ memory? Because the data was stored as the magnetic state of tiny little ferrite donut ‘cores’, written and accessed by tiny little copper wires. Interesting stuff, that.
1993 – Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents raid the Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas with a warrant to arrest the group’s leader David Koresh. Four BATF agents and five Davidians die in the initial raid, starting a 51-day standoff. Is your church approved by the BATFE?
2005 – A suicide bombing at a police recruiting centre in Al Hillah, Iraq kills 127. Energetic politics, that.
2013 – Pope Benedict XVI resigns as the pope of the Catholic Church, becoming the first pope to do so since Pope Gregory XII, in 1415. His replacement is a left-wing whackadoodle.
When I was in the Navy as a Data Systems Technician, all the computers I worked on had “core” memory.
It is on this day every year that my hate for the ATF and Fibbies burns just a little hotter.
I read a lament from some LIBTURD media outlet about how government extremist views can be traced to the anger over the 1993 raid at Waco. While they’re not totally wrong, Waco is only ONE OF MANY reasons for my distrust and hate of government as it is currently exists, especially the multitude of alphabet agencies.
1993 – Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents raid the Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas with a warrant to arrest the group’s leader David Koresh. Four BATF agents and five Davidians die in the initial raid, starting a 51-day standoff. Is your church approved by the BATFE?
Working from memory here.
When the goons from the BATF arrived, the Branch Davidian compound was encircled by officers from the Texas Department of Public Safety, including four Texas Rangers. The Sturmführer of the BATF asked a Ranger why he did not attack the compound. The Ranger shrugged and said, “No need. They’re gonna run out of food sometime.”
But the bullies of the BATF had to do it their way.