On this day in history.

[scifan57]

December 6, 1884;

The Washington monument is completed on this date after being under construction since July 4, 1848. Construction was halted in 1854 and not resumed until 1876. The monument is capped with a 9” aluminum pyramid which, at the time, was as valuable as silver.

 

[scifan57]

Well, I remember those two amendments, i.e. 18 & 21 since they equate to drinking ages in certain states - actually the Volstead Act established prohibition in the United States and was passed as the 18th Amendment; the 21st Amendment repealed that act; regardless, this was a ridiculous experiment IMHO - Dave

Here's the Wikipedia article on the Volstead Act. Volstead Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
According to this, the 18th ammendment came first and the Volstead act was passed by Congress to carry out the intention of the 18th ammendment.

 

[giradman]

Here's the Wikipedia article on the Volstead Act. Volstead Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
According to this, the 18th ammendment came first and the Volstead act was passed by Congress to carry out the intention of the 18th ammendment.

Well, I just equate the two as the harbingers of American Prohibition which was put into action in January 1920 - while, the 21st Amendment was a repeal of the 18th Amendment in 1933 - I've read a lot of books on wine & prohibition over the years - the last one, a recent publication is shown below - the 1920s in America were an interesting decade, then late in 1929 the stock market crash leading to the Great Depression of the '30s - my father was born in Chicago in 1926 when Al Capone was active - of course, he never remembered those days, but my grandmother did but rarely would talk about those times - maybe I should have asked more questions? Dave
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[giradman]

Pearl Harbor Bombed on this day in 1941!

Well, a BIG event today from 1941 - the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor which brought the United States into WW II - just a couple of pics below - plenty more could be said, so will be interested in the responses. Dave

At 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time, a Japanese dive bomber bearing the red symbol of the Rising Sun of Japan on its wings appears out of the clouds above the island of Oahu. A swarm of 360 Japanese warplanes followed, descending on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in a ferocious assault. The surprise attack struck a critical blow against the U.S. Pacific fleet and drew the United States irrevocably into World War II (Source).

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[scifan57]

I've been to the Arizona Memorial while on a port visit with the Royal Canadian Navy.

 

[J. A.]

December 7, 43 BC:
Marcus Tullius Cicero, one of Rome's greatest orators, is executed by soldiers.

Cicero - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[giradman]

December 7, 43 BC:
Marcus Tullius Cicero, one of Rome's greatest orators, is executed by soldiers.
View attachment 69333
Cicero - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Now, as portrayed in the 2-season TV series Rome, which I just finished - the execution of Cicero was a gruesome scene (a ritual method used on gladiators - described below - Source) - from that series and before the onset of the industrial revolution, TV/Movies, and the computer age, it seems that sex, eating, fighting & killing were the main activities back then - At least the art, architecture, and writings survive - Dave

The death of Gladiators was even ritualised to provide a stage for his death. A defeated gladiator who was refused missio was expected to kneel and courageously accept death. His opponent would stab him with the gladius (sword) through the neck or shoulder blade into the heart or using the gladius or pugio (dagger) would stab him in the throat.

 

[giradman]

I've been to the Arizona Memorial while on a port visit with the Royal Canadian Navy.
View attachment 69329

Susan & I were on a vacation years ago to the island of Oahu and also visited the Arizona Memorial - a popular site from the Wiki paragraph quoted below. My two favorite films on the Pearl Harbor attack (and quite different approaches & which I own as BDs) are: From Here to Eternity (1953) & Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) - both highly recommended. Dave

The memorial, built in 1962, is visited by more than two million people annually.[1] Accessible only by boat, it straddles the sunken hull of the battleship without touching it. Historical information about the attack, shuttle boats to and from the memorial, and general visitor services are available at the associated USS Arizona Memorial Visitor Center, which opened in 1980 and is operated by the National Park Service. The sunken remains of the battleship were declared a National Historic Landmark on 5 May 1989.[2]

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[J. A.]

December 8, 1980:
John Lennon was shot by Marc David Chapman
Death of John Lennon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Followed by this (not famous or sad, but nice) event:
December 9, 1980:
One of our teachers (I was 17 at that time) was an avid fan of the Beatles, and we knew that. One of us students managed to get a guitar before his lesson started. He spent the whole lesson singing songs from the Beatles, and telling us stories from his youth, instead of teaching us history.

 

[giradman]

December 8, 1980:
John Lennon was shot by Marc David Chapman
Death of John Lennon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lennon was shot at the entrance to The Dakota, where he lived - the building is probably the most exclusive residential address in NYC w/ apartments running between 4 - 30 million dollars! (Source). In the late 1980s, I was the director of medical student education in Radiology at Wake Forest Medical Center, and w/ a colleague we spent a week in New York City and stayed on 72nd Street just a few buildings down the block from The Dakota.

The purpose of our trip was to spend a week w/ Dr. Lucy Spuire, a famous medical student educator - her obit below from 1996 - each day we would walk to The Dakota, where she lived (an heir to the Kodak fortune by marriage) and wait for her at the entrance where Lennon was killed - the three of us would be chauffeured across the Brooklyn Bridge to the Brooklyn Medical School (SUNY) where she taught - we visited in her apartment (believe she had two) several times.

Another interesting connection is where Lucy Squire went to medical school, i.e. Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania (in Philly) - Susan's maternal grandmother also graduated from that medical school but earlier in 1915 - as an intern she seemed to be assigned inordinately to the horse drawn wooden ambulance (wish I could find that pic of her). BTW - click the link above to see some of the people who have (or still do) live(d) at The Dakota building. Dave

P.S. pic below of The Dakota w/ a little info - the arrow is the entrance where we waited and the site of John Lennon's murder.

Dr. Lucy F. Squire, Radiologist And a Longtime Educator, 81
By ERIC PACE
Published: September 23, 1996
Dr. Lucy Frank Squire, a radiologist who became known as a medical educator, died on Sept. 15 at her home on the West Side of Manhattan. She was 81.

The cause was a heart attack, said her son, Gordon Squire of Williamstown, Mass.

Dr. Squire retired in 1993 as Distinguished Service Professor of Radiology at the State University of New York Health Science Center in Brooklyn. The center announced her death on Friday.

Born in Washington, she received a bachelor's degree from George Washington University and a degree in 1940 from the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania, now the Medical College of Pennsylvania.

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[J. A.]

September 9, 1916:
Issur Danielovitch (Kirk Douglas) was born in Amsterdam, New York.
Kirk Douglas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[giradman]

September 9, 1916:
Issur Danielovitch (Kirk Douglas) was born in Amsterdam, New York.
Kirk Douglas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Well, I cannot imagine that original name on a movie poster - I just added the blu-ray film below to my collection - spectacular restoration. Many of those movie star 'name changes' were quite dramatic - for those interested, check This List - Dave
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[giradman]

First Nobel Prizes Awarded on this day in 1901!

For me as a retired radiologist, I guess that the first physics prize to Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (1845-1923), the discoverer of X-rays is the highlight for me (and only 6 years after his announcement) - his 'first' xray was of his wife's hand - below, a list of the first recipients and a pic of Conrad and the famous hand! Dave

The first Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace. The ceremony came on the fifth anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite and other high explosives. In his will, Nobel directed that the bulk of his vast fortune be placed in a fund in which the interest would be “annually distributed in the form of prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind.” Although Nobel offered no public reason for his creation of the prizes, it is widely believed that he did so out of moral regret over the increasingly lethal uses of his inventions in war.

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[giradman]

Frank Sinatra Born on this Day 100 years ago!

Frank Sinatra is my favorite pop/jazz singer from the 20th century (I guess that Bing Crosby & Louis Armstrong follow) - a couple of pics below of him in his younger years; also, an excellent book from the mid-1990s by Will Friedwald of the singing of that era (about the 1920s into the 60s) is highly recommended to those interested in this topic.

Concerning recordings, I own about a dozen CDs, most in 3 boxes from the different periods in his recording career, i.e. Columbia years early, then the Capitol recordings, and finally his releases on the Reprise label - tonight for dinner, we listened to the Capitol set - wonderful as usual. Dave

Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra (December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American jazz and traditional pop singer, songwriter, actor, producer and director, who was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 150 million records worldwide. Born in Hoboken, New Jersey to Italian immigrants, he began his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey. He found success as a solo artist after being signed by Columbia Records in 1943, becoming the idol of the "bobby soxers". He released his first album, The Voice of Frank Sinatra, in 1946. Sinatra's professional career had stalled by the early 1950s, and he turned to Las Vegas, where he became one of its best known performers as part of the Rat Pack. His career was reborn in 1953 with the success of From Here to Eternity and his subsequent Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He signed with Capitol Records and released several critically lauded albums, including In the Wee Small Hours (1955), Songs for Swingin' Lovers! (1956), Come Fly with Me (1958), Only the Lonely (1958) and Nice 'n' Easy(1960) (Source).

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[J. A.]

December 12, 1863: Norwegian painter Edvard Munch was born.
Edvard Munch - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia