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phdhorn

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331BCE- Battle of Gaugamela.  Though outnumbered, Alexander the Great decisively defeates Persian King Darius III, charging the Persian line and by historical accounts frightening the king and and making him the first the flee with his army following. He was later found dead by the side of a road, killed by his generals. 

1832- delegates convened at San Felipe de Austin to partition for changes in Mexican governance

1868- Austria introduces the worlds first post cards

1908- Henery Ford introduces the Model T

1910- the Los Angeles Times Bombing. 21 killed when someone blows up papers headquarters.

1949- the Peoples Republic of China is founded

1982- Sony released the first compact disk player

1992- Cartoon Network starts airing

 

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October 3rd is an important date for Leiden, Netherlands. Known as 3 Oktober Feest or simply 3 Oktober, this Leiden festival celebrates the anniversary of the 1573-1574 Siege of Leiden during the Eighty Years War, when the Spanish attempted to capture the city; conditions were so bad at the height of the siege that thousands of citizens starved; when William of Orange entered the city on October 3rd, 1574, he fed the people of the town haring en wittebrood (herring and white bread sandwiches). 

Today, these sandwiches are handed out for free at De Waag (the weigh house); lots of beer is obviously also available, along with pretty much every festival attraction you can think of. Think "Oktoberfest" except with an actual excuse. Plus herring.

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Sunday, October 3rd 1990 (my daughter's 3rd birthday)...

Task Force Ranger during Operation Gothic Serpent, engages in the longest firefight (18 hrs.) since Vietnam. The firefight is intensified after first one , and then another UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter is shot down in Mogadishu, Somalia. 18 Special Operation soldiers (Delta, Rangers, 160th SOAR) would lose their lives that day.

RIP Brothers.

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3 minutes ago, BillyGoatHill said:

Sunday, October 3rd 1990 (my daughter's 3rd birthday)...

Task Force Ranger during Operation Gothic Serpent, engages in the longest firefight (18 hrs.) since Vietnam. The firefight is intensified after first one , and then another UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter is shot down in Mogadishu, Somalia. 18 Special Operation soldiers (Delta, Rangers, 160th SOAR) would lose their lives that day.

RIP Brothers.

Indeed.  A horrible day.  RIP men!   

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3 hours ago, DoobieWah said:

 

Uhm, a "moon" is a lunar cycle, not a "night". (Or about 27 days.)

This reads, "I was born 508 years ago".

Maybe that's true and if so, can we be friends? 😉

Yeah, that’s very true.   But I had hit a few whiskeys before lunch in celebration of my 13879 axial  revolutions.  So I clearly misspoke. 

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October 6 is the Memorial Day for the Martyrs of Arad, an important Hungarian day of remembrance. On October 6, 1849, thirteen generals in the army of independence in the Hungarian Revolution were executed in Pest by an Austrian military garrison. The Hungarian Revolution was one of many European revolutions in 1848/1849, with much of central Europe (ruled by the Habsburg monarchy) striving for the kind of independent liberal democracy that they have only eventually achieved in the post Cold War era. 

While technically a constitutional monarchy at the time of the revolution, Hungary had not effectively been allowed even local democratic control -- the Diet of Hungary (their national legislature) had not even convened in almost forty years. Though the revolution was not successful, October 6 is remembered in Hungary as a day of mourning for martyrs to the cause of democracy.

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October 7, 1780, militia troops from the Carolinas and Georgia routed Tory militia under the command of British Major Patrick Ferguson of the 71st Foot. Ferguson arrived in North Carolina in early September 1780 to recruit for the Loyalist militia with the mission of protecting the southern flank of Lord Cornwallis' main army of British regulars in North Carolina. Ferguson issued a bold proclamation that the rebels "lay down your arms or suffer the consequences."

Nine miles south of the present day town of Kings Mountain, North Carolina (just across the border in South Carolina, in fact) the American militia showed Ferguson the folly of his boastful warning. Patriot losses were 29 killed, 58 wounded out of a total force of around 900 men who were so informally thrown together, they could hardly be called an army.

Loyalist losses were 290 killed, 163 wounded, 668 captured. The Loyalists started with 1,300 men, most of whom had either served in the British regulars before, or had been drilled as volunteers in Loyalist militia units for years beforehand -- they lost 86% of these “seasoned” volunteers.

Revolutionary War buffs are quite familiar with the name "Kings Mountain" but it never quite gets the publicity of other battles from that war; it was fought at the furthest expanses of the colonies, after all, where population density was lowest, and printing presses were fewest and furthest between.

We do hear it in hushed tones, however, as it was the birthplace of “Tarleton’s Quarter” – the habit of some Southern Rebel militia units not allowing British loyalists to surrender, killing them under their white flags in much the same way British Dragoon Colonel Banastre Tarleton (inspiration for the villain in Mel Gibson’s “The Patriot”) had done on numerous southern battlefields. Probably true, but we tend not to want to hear about it.

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2 hours ago, Walden Ponderer said:

October 7, 1780, militia troops from the Carolinas and Georgia routed Tory militia under the command of British Major Patrick Ferguson of the 71st Foot. Ferguson arrived in North Carolina in early September 1780 to recruit for the Loyalist militia with the mission of protecting the southern flank of Lord Cornwallis' main army of British regulars in North Carolina. Ferguson issued a bold proclamation that the rebels "lay down your arms or suffer the consequences."

Nine miles south of the present day town of Kings Mountain, North Carolina (just across the border in South Carolina, in fact) the American militia showed Ferguson the folly of his boastful warning. Patriot losses were 29 killed, 58 wounded out of a total force of around 900 men who were so informally thrown together, they could hardly be called an army.

Loyalist losses were 290 killed, 163 wounded, 668 captured. The Loyalists started with 1,300 men, most of whom had either served in the British regulars before, or had been drilled as volunteers in Loyalist militia units for years beforehand -- they lost 86% of these “seasoned” volunteers.

Revolutionary War buffs are quite familiar with the name "Kings Mountain" but it never quite gets the publicity of other battles from that war; it was fought at the furthest expanses of the colonies, after all, where population density was lowest, and printing presses were fewest and furthest between.

We do hear it in hushed tones, however, as it was the birthplace of “Tarleton’s Quarter” – the habit of some Southern Rebel militia units not allowing British loyalists to surrender, killing them under their white flags in much the same way British Dragoon Colonel Banastre Tarleton (inspiration for the villain in Mel Gibson’s “The Patriot”) had done on numerous southern battlefields. Probably true, but we tend not to want to hear about it.

My fifth great grand-uncle, Aaron Biggerstaff, was mortally wounded at the Battle of King's Mountain.  He died a few days later at Union Court House in Union Co, SC.  He was an officer in the Loyalist militia.  The Moores and Biggerstaffs of Rutherford Co, NC were mostly loyalists.

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41 minutes ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

I think that belongs in the things you are embarrassed to admit thread

No more embarrassed by them than my ancestors who fought for the Confederacy or owned slaves.  I also had many Revolutionary Patriot ancestors. We cannot change history but only learn about it to guide how we live.

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6 hours ago, Walden Ponderer said:

October 7, 1780, militia troops from the Carolinas and Georgia routed Tory militia under the command of British Major Patrick Ferguson of the 71st Foot. Ferguson arrived in North Carolina in early September 1780 to recruit for the Loyalist militia with the mission of protecting the southern flank of Lord Cornwallis' main army of British regulars in North Carolina. Ferguson issued a bold proclamation that the rebels "lay down your arms or suffer the consequences."

Nine miles south of the present day town of Kings Mountain, North Carolina (just across the border in South Carolina, in fact) the American militia showed Ferguson the folly of his boastful warning. Patriot losses were 29 killed, 58 wounded out of a total force of around 900 men who were so informally thrown together, they could hardly be called an army.

Loyalist losses were 290 killed, 163 wounded, 668 captured. The Loyalists started with 1,300 men, most of whom had either served in the British regulars before, or had been drilled as volunteers in Loyalist militia units for years beforehand -- they lost 86% of these “seasoned” volunteers.

Revolutionary War buffs are quite familiar with the name "Kings Mountain" but it never quite gets the publicity of other battles from that war; it was fought at the furthest expanses of the colonies, after all, where population density was lowest, and printing presses were fewest and furthest between.

We do hear it in hushed tones, however, as it was the birthplace of “Tarleton’s Quarter” – the habit of some Southern Rebel militia units not allowing British loyalists to surrender, killing them under their white flags in much the same way British Dragoon Colonel Banastre Tarleton (inspiration for the villain in Mel Gibson’s “The Patriot”) had done on numerous southern battlefields. Probably true, but we tend not to want to hear about it.

My GGGgrandfather fought there (N. Carolina militia). Maybe he shot Abuelo Gringo’s G-grand uncle.

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In 1871:

Peshtigo, Wisconsin. Deadliest fire in American history. Between 1,700 and 2,500 people perished; estimates inaccurate as many town halls with birth, marriage and tax records were lost and superheated flames cremated victims. 1.2 million acres burned.  

Door County, Wisconsin. It was assumed fire vortices from the Peshtigo firestorm jumped across Green Bay but has been disproven. It had been a hot and dry summer and extremely strong winds created dangerous conditions. Aprx 200 killed. Aprx 1.000.000 acres burned. 

There was a wiidfire along the Lake Michigan near Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. 

Four fires in Michigan, the Peshtigo fire jumped the Menominee River and burned in Menominee County, Michigan on the Upper Peninsula, one on the Lake Michigan near Manistee and another near Holland, the other on Lake Huron. Estimated loss of life 500(?). 2,500,000 acres burned.

The Great Chicago Fire. Nothing to do with Catherine O'Leary's cow kicking over a lantern. Estimated 200 people died. 3.5 square miles burned leaving estimated 100,000 homeless.   

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October 8, 1645, the Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal opened in Montreal, Canada. "Hôtel-dieu," literally "hostel of God," is an archaic French term for hospital, referring to the origins of hospitals as religious institutions. 

The oldest hospital in the Americas, Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal has, since 1996, been one of three hospitals in the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM); in operation for almost four hundred years, the hospital was founded by Jeanne Mance, the first nurse in "New France"; letters of patent from Louis XIV of France in April, 1669 confirmed the founding; the hospital burned and was rebuilt on three separate occasions; for two centuries, after the conquest of Canada by the English, it was the only French-language hospital in Montreal.

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20 hours ago, Stoogey said:

In 1871:

Peshtigo, Wisconsin. Deadliest fire in American history. Between 1,700 and 2,500 people perished; estimates inaccurate as many town halls with birth, marriage and tax records were lost and superheated flames cremated victims. 1.2 million acres burned.  

Door County, Wisconsin. It was assumed fire vortices from the Peshtigo firestorm jumped across Green Bay but has been disproven. It had been a hot and dry summer and extremely strong winds created dangerous conditions. Aprx 200 killed. Aprx 1.000.000 acres burned. 

There was a wiidfire along the Lake Michigan near Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. 

Four fires in Michigan, the Peshtigo fire jumped the Menominee River and burned in Menominee County, Michigan on the Upper Peninsula, one on the Lake Michigan near Manistee and another near Holland, the other on Lake Huron. Estimated loss of life 500(?). 2,500,000 acres burned.

The Great Chicago Fire. Nothing to do with Catherine O'Leary's cow kicking over a lantern. Estimated 200 people died. 3.5 square miles burned leaving estimated 100,000 homeless.   

 

6 hours ago, Doc Reeves said:

1871- The Great Chicago Fire started today as well as the Peshtigo Fire in Wisconsin, the worst forest fire in US history.

BANHAMMER!

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October 9 is Leif Erikson Day, in commemoration of Norwegian explorer Leiv Eiriksson (Icelandic "Leifur Eiríksson" which is closer to the Old Norse "Leifr Eiríksson") who is credited by many with having "discovered America." In 1925, President Calvin Coolidge made it official... not that proclamations by politicians are any measure of historical accuracy, of course. 

By 1956, Leif Erikson Day had become an official observance in Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Illinois, Colorado, Washington and California, in addition to one Canadian province (Saskatchewan). In 2012, Las Vegas, Nevada made it a municipal holiday, as well. 

October 9th was picked as a date for an odd reason... nothing in Leif Erikson's life had anything to do with the date -- it was picked because the the Norwegian sloop named Restauration, built in 1801, arrived in the U.S. on October 9, 1825, marking the start of an organized wave of Norwegian immigrants to the U.S., many of whose descendants form the basis for Garrison Keillor's fictional Lake Woebegone, but that's a story for another time, perhaps.

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16 hours ago, Doc Reeves said:

1871- The Great Chicago Fire started today as well as the Peshtigo Fire in Wisconsin, the worst forest fire in US history.

Always thought the meteor shower causing the fires theory, was a fascinating thing, but have never read anything that examined it in any scientifically vetted source.

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1919- The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago White Sox in what became the “black Sox scandal” where 8 members including Joe “shoeless” Jackson were accused of accepting bribes to throw the World Series. Although acquitted in court they were banned from baseball forever 

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2 hours ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

Always thought the meteor shower causing the fires theory, was a fascinating thing, but have never read anything that examined it in any scientifically vetted source.

According to three articles I read, meteor fragments are cold to the touch. It had been a hot and dry summer. People did not practice good fire safety by putting out campfires and using fire to clear land. Wisconsin and Michigan were being clear cut by the lumber industry. Lots of fuel in the form of branches lay on the ground. When the winds came that night ... perfect conditions for a disaster.

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4 hours ago, Walden Ponderer said:

By 1956, Leif Erikson Day had become an official observance in Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Illinois, Colorado, Washington and California, in addition to one Canadian province (Saskatchewan).

I was born in 1956 and this is the first I'm hearing of an official observance. 

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October 11, 1776, on Lake Champlain, the Battle of Valcour Island effectively delayed the entrance of over 10,000 British troops into the broader campaign to capture George Washington's beleagured Continental Army, and cemented Benedict Arnold's reputation among military historians as one of the greatest generals ever to take the field.

In the previous winter, the Americans had launched an abortive attempt to capture Quebec; Arnold and his small surviving force retreated to Lake Champlain, taking as many boats as they could and destroying those they were unable to man, forcing the massively reinforced British troops in Canada to stop and build their own fleet on Champlain before they would be able to head South towards the Hudson Valley.

Stopping the overwhelming numbers put afield by British General Guy Carleton was simply not an option; however, when the confrontation finally began on October 11, General Arnold maneuvered his fleet of gun boats skillfully, using the cover of night to run a flotilla past the British, forcing them to give chase in a much more reckless manner than Carleton had intended.

In some respects, Arnold was the only American foresighted enough to realize he was playing with house money; his fleet was doomed anyway -- the "safe" play of staying in a protected harbor would have meant letting the British float right by quickly, to capture Crown Point as a prelude to retaking Fort Ticonderoga at the southern end of the lake.

Instead, he sacrificed most of his fleet to reckless capture or risked running it aground, in order to set fire to multiple British vessels, and, more importantly, delaying them long enough so that his own forces were able to reach Crown Point and destroy most of the usable stores there.

By the time the British eventually managed the inevitable capture of Ticonderoga, the idea of joining the British forces chasing George Washington out of New York, through New Jersey and over the Delaware River was simply preposterous.  By sacrificing his fleet, Benedict Arnold saved the Continental Army.

Ironically, the loss of the papers aboard Arnold's flag vessel were to pave the way for the Continental Congress to foolishly admonish him for retreat during the Battle of Valcour Island, rather than praise him for his part in one of the more significant delaying actions in military history.  His resentment over this slight (only the first of many he was to suffer), coupled with the ambition of his young bride Peggy Shippen, eventually motivated him to betray his country, and thus, one of the most brilliant American generals ever lost his reputation forever.

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On 10/9/2018 at 8:25 AM, Walden Ponderer said:

October 9 is Leif Erikson Day, in commemoration of Norwegian explorer Leiv Eiriksson (Icelandic "Leifur Eiríksson" which is closer to the Old Norse "Leifr Eiríksson") who is credited by many with having "discovered America." In 1925, President Calvin Coolidge made it official... not that proclamations by politicians are any measure of historical accuracy, of course. 

By 1956, Leif Erikson Day had become an official observance in Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Illinois, Colorado, Washington and California, in addition to one Canadian province (Saskatchewan). In 2012, Las Vegas, Nevada made it a municipal holiday, as well. 

October 9th was picked as a date for an odd reason... nothing in Leif Erikson's life had anything to do with the date -- it was picked because the the Norwegian sloop named Restauration, built in 1801, arrived in the U.S. on October 9, 1825, marking the start of an organized wave of Norwegian immigrants to the U.S., many of whose descendants form the basis for Garrison Keillor's fictional Lake Woebegone, but that's a story for another time, perhaps.

His cover of Surfin’ USA sucked. 

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El 12 de octubre es reconocido por las Naciones Unidas como Día de la Hispanidad (Inglés "Spanish Language Day").

Many countries refer to it as "Día de la Raza" as well.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in 2010, established the day "to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity as well as to promote equal usage of all six UNESCO official working languages."

"Castilian Spanish" is the root language generally recognized as "Spanish" -- it is a Romance language (descended from Indo-European, heavily influenced by Latin -- hence the "Rome" in "Romance"), and with some (rather amusing at times) variations, is the second-most spoken native language in the world, after Mandarin Chinese. Hundreds of millions of people in Latin America, Spain, and a few scattered places around the globe, speak Spanish as their native tongue.

Modern Spanish would confuse the original Castilian speakers in any number of ways, of course -- the presence of a great many Arabic and Hebrew cognates would baffle them, as would the degree to which various metaphors have evolved scatalogical meanings in different countries, such that a "native" speaker of "Spanish" may have a hard time being understood, depending on what country they happen to be visiting.

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36 minutes ago, Walden Ponderer said:

Modern Spanish would confuse the original Castilian speakers in any number of ways, of course -- the presence of a great many Arabic and Hebrew cognates would baffle them, as would the degree to which various metaphors have evolved scatalogical meanings in different countries, such that a "native" speaker of "Spanish" may have a hard time being understood, depending on what country they happen to be visiting.

Wait....Shaggytexas is a spanish-language site?

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1974. Ed Sullivan died. 

The Ed Sullivan Show, a television variety program which he created and hosted, was my favorite. Every week I'd wait for Sunday. Watch the afternoon football broadcast, eat supper, put on my pajamas and be ready for Ed Sullivan to start. I especially liked the circus-type acts and The Rolling Stones.

The Beatles wore wearing matching outfits but the not the Stones. On their first appearance, Mick Jagger did not even wear a tie or jacket!
 


In one the the great moments of censorship, the Stones had to change the lyrics of "Let's Spend the Night Together" to "let's spend some time together" as Mick rolled his eyes.

Good times.
 

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October 13, 1845—173 years ago today--Texas voters ratified a state constitution that some constitutional scholars still consider to have been one of the best state constitutions ever written. But good things don’t last. In the tumult that followed the defeat of the confederacy, a Constitutional Convention was held in 1866 that produced a document declaring the Ordinance of Secession void, agreed to the abolition of slavery, providing some civil rights for freed slaves and repudiating war debt. Two years later, another convention was called that produced a revised document with some radical provisions that a number of Texans didn’t accept. In 1875 still another convention was called that produced a new constitution that slashed state government power. It was ratified in 1876 and is the constitution under which the state operates today. It has since been successfully amended more than 470 times and nine more amendments are on the November ballot. It’s considered one of the most confusing state constitutions ever written.

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5 hours ago, Stoogey said:

1974. Ed Sullivan died. 

The Ed Sullivan Show, a television variety program which he created and hosted, was my favorite. Every week I'd wait for Sunday. Watch the afternoon football broadcast, eat supper, put on my pajamas and be ready for Ed Sullivan to start. I especially liked the circus-type acts and The Rolling Stones.

The Beatles wore wearing matching outfits but the not the Stones. On their first appearance, Mick Jagger did not even wear a tie or jacket!
 


In one the the great moments of censorship, the Stones had to change the lyrics of "Let's Spend the Night Together" to "let's spend some time together" as Mick rolled his eyes.

Good times.
 

And Jim said fuck that noise, "Girl we couldn't get much HIGHER........"

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October 14 is World Standards Day, a day near and dear to the hearts of Sheldon Cooper clones everywhere.

In 1946, delegates from 25 countries gathered in London to discuss the creation of the International Organization for Standardization, dedicated to the development of internationally recognizable standards within engineering, electronics, and other industries and areas of scientific endeavor where globalization increases the pressure on those who seek to make sure when we measure something in one country, those results are recognizable, understandable, and duplicatable in another country.

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