Wednesday, November 16, 2016

This Date in History - November 16

Happy birthday, Dwight Gooden.  You broke my mother's heart.

534:  A SECOND AND FINAL REVISION OF THE CODEX JUSTINIANUS IS PUBLISHED.

I have no idea what this is.  Perhaps the earliest version of a phone book?

1491:  AN AUTO-DA-FE, HELD IN THE BRASERO DE LA DEHESA OUTSIDE OF AVILA, CONCLUDES THE CASE OF THE HOLY CHILD OF LA GUARDIA.

I've frequently flown into his holy airport.

1532:  FRANCISCO PIZARRO AND HIS MEN CAPTURE INCA EMPEROR ATAHUALPA.

I doubt he's any relation to Juan Pizarro who used to pitch for the Chicago White Sox.

1776:  DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, HESSIAN MERCENARIES CAPTURE FORT WASHINGTON FROM THE PATRIOTS.

I should have taken the Patriots with the points.

1805:  DURING THE NAPOLEONIC WARS, RUSSIAN FORCES UNDER PYOTR BAGRATION DELAY THE PURSUIT BY FRENCH TROOPS UNDER MURAT.

Pyotr Bagration???  Now there's a historical name you don't hear every day.

1821:  MISSOURI TRADER WILLIAM BECKNELL ARRIVES IN SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO OVER A ROUTE THAT BECAME KNOWN AS THE SANTA FE TRAIL.

Master of the obvious.

1849:  A RUSSIAN COURT SENTENCES FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY TO DEATH FOR ANTI-GOVERNMENT ACTIVITIES LINKED TO A RADICAL INTELLECTUAL GROUP.

Sorry, Fyodor, Pyotr Bagration is still the name of the day for me.

1852:  THE ENGLISH ASTRONOMER JOHN RUSSELL HIND DISCOVERS THE ASTEROID 22 KALLIOPE.

He did this while standing on his Hind legs.

1907:  ACTOR BURGESS MEREDITH IS BORN.

The Penguin!!!

1907:  OKLAHOMA IS ADMITTED AS THE 46TH U.S. STATE.

Which means Oklahoma outlived Burgess Meredith who died in 1997.

1914:  THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF THE UNITED STATES OPENS.

And I'm thinking Oklahoma will outlive that, too.

1916:  VOICE OVER ARTIST DAWS BUTLER IS BORN.

The voice of Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, and Elroy Jetson.

1938:  LSD IS FIRST SYNTHESIZED BY SWISS CHEMIST DR. ALBERT HOFMANN.

Unofficially, this is the day that Woodstock was born.

1940:  DURING WORLD WAR II, IN RESPONSE TO THE LEVELING OF COVENTRY, ENGLAND BY THE LUFTWAFFE TWO DAYS BEFORE, THE ROYAL AIR FORCE BOMBS HAMBURG.

Take that, you Nazis!!!

1944:  DUEREN, GERMANY IS DESTROYED BY ALLIED BOMBERS.

And take that, you damn Krauts!!!

1945:  UNESCO IS FOUNDED.

I read this too fast.  I thought it was the day the cookie company got started.

1960:  ACTOR CLARK GABLE DIES.

Just weeks after complaining that Marilyn Monroe was always late to the Misfits set, Clark is now late himself.

1961:  POLITICIAN SAM RAYBURN DIES.

No relation to Gene.  Not a match.

1964:  BASEBALL PITCHER DWIGHT GOODEN IS BORN.

I had a choice of photos to use.  One where he is wearing blue and orange.  The other where he is wearing just orange.

1973:  NASA LAUNCHES SKYLAB 4 WITH A CREW OF THREE ASTRONAUTS.

Were there more Police Academy movies than there were Skylabs?

1973:  US PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON AUTHORIZES THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE ALASKAN PIPELINE.

Perhaps the only legal thing he did do in 1973.

1981:  ACTOR WILLIAM HOLDEN DIES.

Died when, in a drunken stupor, he fell, hit his head on the coffee table, and bled to death.  Conspiracy theorists argue that he was attacked by the furniture.

1989:  A DEATH SQUAD OF EL SALVADORAN TROOPS KILLS SIX JESUIT PRIESTS AT JOSE SIMEON CANAS UNIVERSITY.

Is it too late to send them over to Fordham?

2000:  BILL CLINTON BECOMES THE FIRST US PRESIDENT TO VISIT VIETNAM SINCE THE END OF THE VIETNAM WAR.

He needed to see where all that Southeast Asian porn gets produced for his laptop.

2005:  TV HOST RALPH EDWARDS DIES.

This is Your Death.

2006:  ECONOMIST MILTON FRIEDMAN DIES.

Moving over to the debit side of the ledger.

2009:  ACTOR EDWARD WOODWARD DIES.

Death is the true Equalizer.

2010:  FILM PUBLICIST RONNI CHASEN IS KILLED.

About a mile from my Los Angeles apartment.  I'm still locking the doors at night.

2015:  ACTOR DAVID CANARY DIES.

Remember Candy from "Bonanza?"

Dinner last night:   Leftover chicken sausage and red cabbage.

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