Capitol Hill Blue Forums Hot Topics & Breaking News The RoundTable Round Table for Wednesday, February 24th, 2009

On this Day in History...

1835 - Siwinowe Kesibwi (The Shawnee Sun) was issued as the first Indian language monthly publication in the United States.

1839 - Mr. William S. Otis of Philadelphia, PA picked up a patent for the steam shovel.

1857 - The first shipment of perforated postage stamps was received by the U.S. Government.

1925 - A thermite reaction was used for the first time to break up an ice jam. The 250,000-ton jam had clogged the St. Lawrence River near Waddington, NY.



1938 - The first nylon bristle toothbrush was made in Arlington, NJ.

1945 - American forces liberated the Philippine capital, Manila, from the control of the Japanese empire in World War II.

1969 - Johnny Cash recorded his second live prison performance. It followed a concert the previous year at Folsom Prison.



1973 - Roberta Flack’s Killing Me Softly with His Song hit #1 in the U.S. on the Billboard Hot 100.

1976 - The Eagles’ Their Greatest Hits became the first LP in the US to be certified platinum - two-million copies sold.

1983 - The Dow Jones industrial average closed above the 1100 mark for the first time. The stock market moved 24.87 points on this day to close at 1121.81. T

1985 - Yul Brynner reprised his role in The King and I -- setting a box office record for weekly receipts. The show took in $520,920.

1988 - Hustler Magazine, Inc. et al. v. Jerry Falwell; aka The First Amendment on Trial: The U.S. Supreme Court overturned a $200,000 award that Rev. Jerry Falwell, leader of the ‘Moral Majority’, had won against "Hustler" magazine and publisher Larry Flynt, the self-proclaimed ‘Duke of Raunch’. "Hustler" had run an ad parody of Falwell’s first sexual experience. (Nope...no video of that one...)

1989 - Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was so irritated by Salman Rushdie’s novel, "The Satanic Verses", that he sentenced the author to death and slapped a one to three-million-dollar bounty (depending upon who got him) on his head.

1989 - United Airlines Flight 811, out of Honolulu on its way to Sidney, was 100 miles southwest of Hawaii when its cargo door blew out. The explosion in the Boeing 747 created a 10x40-ft. hole in the fuselage, knocked out the two engines on the right side and caused damage to the flaps and hydraulics. Nine passengers were sucked out of the jetliner to their deaths 20,000 ft over the Pacific.

1990 - Crooner Johnnie Ray died in Los Angeles of liver failure at age 63.

1991 - Country music star Webb Pierce died in Nashville at age 65. Pierce racked up 13 #1 singles on the "Billboard" country chart, with 97 singles on the chart between 1952 and 1982.

1993 - British rock legend Eric Clapton won six Grammys, including record, album ("Unplugged") and song of the year ("Tears in Heaven"). Clapton wrote "Tears in Heaven" as a tribute to his infant son, Conor, who died in 1991 when he fell out of a window in Clapton’s 53rd floor New York apartment.

Oy, I came to Reader Rant and it was so blue; then signed on and the familiar color came back.

Great intro, AN~Love the Sonny and Cher clip!

Yikes!
I gotta git out early this morning.
I don't have time for gasp.....Johnny Cash!, Sonny and Cher! or the ice skating!
Wow, AN, what a wealth I have to look forward to at lunchtime.


See y'all in a bit.
My work load is all top ended, getting ready for a long weekend trip.
See you later!
Olyve

Workout for the day:

I love that video, Phil!

Wow, RR is so blue!

I love Winslow Homer. He spent some time in Florida on the west coast.

The Dalai Lama is now tweeting as of yesterday.

That's my news for today.

EmmaG

WOW!

Death: the great leveler