| Moon |
[Jul. 20th, 2009|10:44 am] |
Today is the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing-- the first time human beings landed and walked on another planet. Without dating myself too much, I remember this. We had two TVs in my house, and both were on watching the astronauts. I even got to stay up late watching the event. Pretty much every TV in the world was watching the live pictures from the Moon. At one point, we went out to the front yard and looked up at the Moon. It was completely thrilling.
This December will mark the 37th anniversary of Apollo 17, the last time human beings walked on another planet. After all the rush and sacrifices and technological advances it took to get to the Moon, it's been 37 years since we've been back. To date, out of all human history, only twelve human beings have ever walked on another astronomical object. |
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| A Sad Day for Britain |
[Jul. 1st, 2009|08:06 am] |
Today is the 93rd anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of the Somme, one of the largest battles of World War I. The plan was for Allied forces (which included soldiers from Britain, Newfoundland, South Africa, Canada and Australia) to attack German positions along a 12-mile front north and south of the River Somme in northern France. On this day in 1916, the British suffered 57,470 casualties, including 19,240 dead, making it the bloodiest day in the history of the British Army.
Wikipedia: The Battle of the Somme. |
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| Gallipoli |
[Apr. 25th, 2005|02:46 pm] |
Today is the 90th anniversary of the Gallipoli Campaign. On April 15, 1915, Allied forces attempted an amphibious landing on the Gallipoli pennesula, along the Dardanelles straits linking the Mediterranean Sea with the Black Sea. The object was to capture the pennesula, then move on the capture Constantinople, the capitol of Turkey. With Constantinople captured, Turkey would have been unable to help Germany fight against the Allies.
The Gallipoli campaign was a disaster from the get-go. The mission was badly planned, ineptly commanded, and poorly equipped. The commander of the operation didn't even bother to go ashore, but gave orders from his ship. Over 100,000 Allied and Turkish soldiers were killed in the invasion attempt, with another quarter million soldiers wounded. After nine months of deadlock, the Allies eventually gave up and retreated.
Gallipoli overview:
http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-battles/ww1/anzac/gallipoli.htm
Pictures from the anniversary:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4480565.stm
It was during the Gallipoli Campaign that the government of Turkey persecuted Armenian civilians, under the claim they were giving support to the Allies. Entire villages were systematically wiped out. There were two million Armenians living in Turkey in 1914, but by 1916 an estimated 750,000 had been killed by the government.
http://www.theforgotten.org/intro.html |
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| I Remember |
[Apr. 19th, 2005|09:09 am] |
Today is the tenth anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing.
I was working at Urban Development when it happened. I was in a somebody's office, fixing a PC that morning. He had the radio on, and all of a sudden news reports started coming on about an explosion in downtown Oklahoma City. Emergency crews were heading there from all over. At first, they thought it was some sort of gas explosion. It wasn't until later that authorities realized it was the worst terrorist attack on American soil (until September 11th). The people in our office worked closely with people who worked in the Murrah Federal Building. The guy in the next office from me was actually on the phone with someone in the Murrah Building 15 minutes before the explosion. One hundred and sixty-eight people were killed. It hit everyone in Oklahoma very hard.
I was actually in Oklahoma City three days after the bombing for a big Starfleet conference. The area was sealed off for blocks all around. Rescue teams were still going through the rubble, looking for survivors. There were none. I remember it rained that day. The skies opened up, and it just came down in buckets. It was like Nature itself was weeping over the horror. A friend of mine that used to be a cop in OkC had to go inside the bombed building to help the rescue teams. He doesn't talk about it.
( Read more... ) |
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