On This Day In History
Birthdates which occurred on November 18
1786 Karl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber, German composer (Der Freischutz)
1787 Sojourner Truth, abolitionist/feminist
1789 Louis Daguerre (theater scene painter, physicist, inventor: daguerreotype photographic process)
1824 Franz Sigel, Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1902
1836 Cesare Lombroso (professor of psychiatry: founder: criminology: identifying criminals by personality types)
1836 Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (comic opera libretto writer: team: Gilbert & Sullivan: HMS Pinafore, The Mikado, Pirates of Penzance)
1860 Ignacy Jan Paderewski, composer/1st premier of Poland (1919-20)
1874 Clarence Shepard Day, NYC, author (Life with Father)
1882 Jacques Maritain, France, Catholic philosopher (exponent of St Thomas)
1899 Eugene Ormandy, [Blau], Budapest Hungary, conductor (Phila Orch)
1901 Craig Wood (golf champion: PGA Hall of Famer: Masters [1941], U.S. Open [1941])
1901 George Gallup (pollster whose opinion polls became famous by predicting FDR's win in 1935)
1908 Imogene Coca (Emmy Award-winning comedienne, actress: Your Show of Shows [1951]
1909 Johnny Mercer (Academy Award-winning composer, lyricist
1916 Amelita Galli-Curci (singer: opera soprano)
1923 Alan B Shepard Jr, East Derry NH, Rear Adm USN/astro (Merc 3, Ap 14) first American in space)
1925 Gene Mauch (baseball manager: Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Angels, Mn. Twins,Montreal Expos)
1926 Roy Sievers (baseball: St. Louis Cardinals outfielder: Rookie of the Year [1949])
1936 Hank Ballard (singer, songwriter: group: The Midniters: The Twist, Finger Poppin' Time, Let's Go, Let's Go
1939 Brenda Vaccaro (Emmy Award-winning actress
1941 Gary Bettenhausen (auto racer: fastest Indy 500 qualifying time ever: 224.468 mph [1991])
1942 Jeffrey Siegel, Chicago Ill, pianist (Chicago Symph)
1942 Linda Evans (Evanstad) (actress: Dynasty, The Big Valley, Standing Tall, Hunter, North and South, Book II)
1948 Jack Tatum (football: Oakland Raiders safety: longest fumble return in history: 104 yards [1972 against the Green Bay Packers]; Super Bowl XI)
1950 Jameson Parker (actor: Simon & Simon, Prince of Darkness, A Small Circle of Friends, American Justice, Anatomy of a Seduction)
1953 Kevin Nealon (actor: Saturday Night Live, All I Want for Christmas, Roxanne)
1956 Warren Moon (football: Minnesota Vikings, Houston Oilers quarterback)
1968 Gary Sheffield (baseball)
Deaths which occurred on November 17:
1678 Giovanni Maria Bononcini, composer, dies at 36
1883 Wilhelm Siemens, German/British physicist (steam engine), dies
1886 Chester A Arthur, 21st pres (1881-85), dies in NY at 56
1911 Alfred Binet, French child psychologist, dies
1922 Marcel Proust, French author (Recherche du Temps Perdu), dies at 51
1962 Niels Bohr, Danish physicist (atom, Nobel 1922), dies at 77
http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/95oct/nbohr.html 1965 Henry A Wallace, VP (1941-45)/founder (Progressive Party), dies at 77
1966 Jean Peugeot, French auto manufacturer, dies
1969 Joseph P Kennedy, JFK/RFK/TMK father, dies in Hyannis Port Mass, at 81
1978 Rev. Jim Jones, US pastor, leader of Jonestown Cult, commits suicide
1978 Leo J Ryan, (Rep-Cal) & 4 killed in Jonestown, Guyana by members of People's Temple, followed by ritual mass suicide of 914 members
http://www.geocities.com/oldsayville/jones.htm 1992 Dorothy Kirsten, US soprano, dies from stroke at 82
1994 Cab[ell] Calloway, US band leader/singer/actor (Minnie the Moocher, Blues Brothers), dies at 86
Take A Moment To Remember
GWOT Casualties
Iraq
18-Nov-2003 1 | US: 0 | UK: 0 | Other: 1
UKR Captain Aleksiey Bondarenko Al Kut - Wasit Non-hostile - weapon discharge (suicide)
18-Nov-2004 2 | US: 2 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Sergeant Joseph M. Nolan Fallujah - Anbar Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US Lance Corporal Luis A. Figueroa Fallujah - Anbar Hostile - hostile fire
Afghanistan
11/18/01 Parker, Vincent Engineman 1st Class 38 Navy Persian Gulf
11/18/01 Johnson, Benjamin Electronics Technician 3rd Class 21 Navy Persian Gulf
http://icasualties.org/oif/ Data research by Pat Kneisler
Designed and maintained by Michael White
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Go here and I'll stop nagging.
http://soldiersangels.org/heroes/index.php
On this day...
1307 William Tell shoots apple off his son's head
1421 Southern sea floods 72 villages, killing 10,000 in Netherlands
1477 "The Sayings of the Philosophers" ("Dictes & Sayengis of the Phylosophers") was published. It is the earliest known book printed in England to carry a date.
1497 Vasco da Gama reaches the Cape of Good Hope
1626 St Peter's Basilica opens in Rome
1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie's troops occupy Carlisle
1776 Hessians capture Ft Lee, NJ
1787 1st Unitarian minister in US ordained, Boston
1804 Palver Purim 1st celebrated to commemorate miraculous escape
1805 Lewis & Clark reach Pacific Ocean, 1st Americans to cross continent
1820 Antarctica discovered by US Navy Capt Nathaniel B Palmer
http://www.stoningtonhistory.org/palmer2.htm 1852 State funeral of Duke of Wellington (London)
1860 Georgia legislature votes $1,000,000 to arm the state
1861 Fifth session of the Provisional Confederate Congress meets in Richmond, Virginia
1865 Mark Twain publishes "Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"
1883 Antonin Dvorak's "Husite Overture," premieres
1883 Standard time zones form by railroads in US & Canada set up four zones -- Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific. [H]
1894 1st newspaper Sunday color comic section published (NY World)
1902 Bkln toymaker Morris Michton names teddy bear after Teddy Roosevelt
1905 George Bernard Shaw's "Major Barbara," premieres in London
1906 Anarchists bomb St. Peter's Basilica in Rome
1909 US invades Nicaragua again, later overthrows Pres Zelaya
1916 Gen Douglas Haig finally calls off 1st Battle of the Somme in Europe
1928 Mickey Mouse made his screen debut in the landmark "Steamboat Willie" at the Colony Theater in New York City. The Walt Disney cartoon was the first with synchronized sound.
1929 Dr Vladimir K Zworykin demonstrates "kinescope"
1929 Large quake in Atlantic breaks Transatlantic cable in 28 places
1929 Stalin routes troops to Manchuria
1930 Musical "Smiles" with Bob Hope/Fred Astaire premieres in NYC
1936 Germany & Italy recognize Spanish government of Generalissimo Francisco Franco (Note: Francisco Franco still dead)
1936 Main span of Golden Gate Bridge joined
1939 The Irish Republican Army explodes three bombs in Picadilly Circus
1941 British troops open attack on Tobruk, North-Africa
1941 Mussolini's forces leave Abyssinia/Ethiopia
1943 444 British bombers attack Berlin
1943 U-211 sinks in Atlantic Ocean
1950 South Korea Pres Syngman Rhee forced to end mass executions
1951 "See it Now" premieres on TV
1951 British troops occupies Ismailiya Egypt
1955 Bell X-2 rocket plane taken up for 1st powered flight
1958 1st true reservoir in Jerusalem opens
1961 JFK sends 18,000 military "advisors" to South Vietnam
1963 Push-button telephones made their debut. Touch-tone service was available as an option for an extra charge.
1964 J Edgar Hoover describes Martin Luther King as "most notorious liar"
1966 US RC bishops ends rules against eating meat on Fridays
Burgers on Ma)
1970 Linus Pauling declares large doses of Vitamin C could ward off colds
1973 Greek regime calls emergency crisis due to mass protests
1975 Black-Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver returns to US
1976 Spain's parliament establishes democracy after 37 yrs of dictatorship
1978 914 people died in a mass suicide-murder led by the Rev. Jim Jones at the People's Temple commune in
Guyana, following the murder of Rep. Leo Ryan, R-Calif. It was the largest mass suicide in modern history.
1979 Ayatollah Khomeini charges US ambassador/embassy espionage
1980 "Heaven's Gate" premieres (and closes)
1987 31 die in a fire at King's Cross, London's busiest subway station
1989 Penn is 1st to restrict abortions after Supreme Court gave states the right to do so
1990 Saddam offers to free an estimated 2,000 men held in Kuwait
1991 Moslem Shiites release hostages Terry Waite & Thomas Sutherland
1992 "Malcolm X" with Denzel Washington premieres in US
1992 It was Doomsday for Superman as the comic book detailing the superhero's death -- rumored to be temporary only hit newsstands.
1993 NAFTA passes House
1993 South Africa's ruling National Party and leaders of 20 other parties representing blacks and whites approved a new national constitution that provides fundamental rights to blacks.
1994 Palestinian police opened fire on Islamic militants outside a mosque in the Gaza Strip, sparking riots that killed at least 14 people and injured 200.
1997 FBI says no evidence of foul play in 1996 TWA 800 crash
1997 Rare black pearl necklace auctioned for record $902,000
1997 Willem de Kooning painting, "Two Standing Women," sold for $4,182,500
2002 International schools in Jakarta were closed following warnings from the United States and Australia they could be the target of terrorist attacks.
2002 Zimbabwe banned citizens from swearing or making offensive gestures during the passage of Pres. Mugabe's motorcades.
2003 Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that a ban on same sex marriage is illegal. Lawmakers given 180 days to allow gay marriages
2004 Clinton Presidential Center (and massage parlor) opens in Little Rock.
(Is it just me, or does this building really look like a trailer house?)
Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
US : Split Pea Soup Week (Day 6)
US : Community Education Day
US : Culinary Week (Day 6)
US : Holidays Are Pickle Days (thru 12-31)
Albania Independence Day [1912]
Haiti Army Day (1803)
Latavia Independence Day.
Morocco Independence Day (thru 11-19)
National Accordion Month!
Religious Observances
RC : Mem of Dedication of Basilicas of Peter & Paul, Rome (opt)
Ang : Feast of Hilda, Abbess of Whitby
Religious History
1095 Pope Urban II opened the Council of Clermont. Summoned to plan the First Crusade, it was attended by over 200 bishops. Among its official policies, the Council decreed that a pilgrimage to Jerusalem made every other penance superfluous.
1302 Pope Boniface VIII published the bull "Unam Sanctam." It was the first papal writing to decree that spiritual power took precedent over temporal power, and that subjection to the pope was necessary to salvation.
1626 In Rome, the newly completed St Peter's Basilica was consecrated by Urban VIII. St. Peter's is presently the largest church in Christendom, with a length of 619 feet.
1866 English devotional writer Katherine Hankey, 32, penned the verses that we sing today as the hymn, "I Love to Tell the Story."
1966 This was the last required meatless Friday for American Roman Catholics, in accordance with a decree made by Pope Paul VI earlier this year.
Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Police? My onion rings are cold!'
A US woman was arrested for calling 911 after a restaurant served her cold onion rings.
Sharita Williams, 30, of Houma, Louisiana, told police the food was cold when she received it and the waiter refused to replace it.
So she dialled 911 from the Malt-N-Burger restaurant in Thibodaux, reports the Daily Comet.
Police turned up - but only to arrest Williams for wasting police time. She is due in court in December.
Thought for the day :
"When everyone is somebody, then no one's anybody."
W. S. Gilbert
Every now and then the earth lets out a moan. Sometimes it's more of a scream, like a mother giving birth. 
