On this day in history.

[giradman]

Tsunami devastates Indian Ocean coast this day in 2004 - 230,000 Dead!

BOY - what a natural disaster - I was at work when this event occurred in 2004 - nearly a quarter of a million people died! The second strongest earthquake recorded off the coast of Sumatra w/ a tsunami w/ waves reaching 100 ft in places - pics below show the epicenter and just a view of a gigantic wave approaching a coastal city - there is a 2012 film called The Impossible based on the true experience of a family in the midst of this disaster - worth a watch, if interested. Dave

A powerful earthquake off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, on this day in 2004 sets off a tsunami that wreaks death and devastation across the Indian Ocean coastline. The quake was the second strongest ever recorded and the estimated 230,000 dead made this disaster one of the 10 worst of all time. (Source)

It was 7:58 a.m. when the tremendous quake struck beneath the Indian Ocean 160 miles west of Sumatra. Not only did it register at approximately a 9.3 magnitude (only the 1960 Chile earthquake measured higher at 9.5, though there may have been stronger tremors prior to the invention of seismographic equipment) and last nearly 10 minutes, the quake moved a full 750 miles of underwater fault line earth up to 40 feet. The movement of the earth–there is evidence that huge boulders weighing thousands of tons were pushed several miles along the ocean floor–caused a massive displacement of water. It is estimated that the resulting tsunami had two times the energy of all the bombs used during World War II. (Source)

Within 15 minutes, tsunami waves were crashing the coast of Sumatra. At the north end of the island was a heavily populated region known as Aceh. There, waves reached 80 feet high over large stretches of the coast and up to 100 feet in some places. Entire communities were simply swept away by the water in a matter of minutes. The death toll in Indonesia is estimated at between 130,000 and 160,000 people, with an additional 500,000 people left homeless. About a third of the victims were children. (Source)

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[J. A.]

December 27, 1571:

German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer Johannes Kepler was born in Weil der Stadt.

Johannes Kepler - Wikipedia

 

[scifan57]

December 27, 1932;

Radio City Music Hall opens in New York City.
To this day it remains the largest indoor theatre in the world.
Radio City Music Hall - Wikipedia

 

[giradman]

Boy, I've passed Radio City Music Hall many times since the late 1960s - been inside and may have taken a tour (if available and cannot remember), BUT I have never seen a show there. Dave

 

[scifan57]

Boy, I've passed Radio City Music Hall many times since the late 1960s - been inside and may have taken a tour (if available and cannot remember), BUT I have never seen a show there. Dave

You'll have to make sure to see the most famous aspect of Radio City Music Hall At least once.
The Rockettes - Wikipedia

 

[giradman]

You'll have to make sure to see the most famous aspect of Radio City Music Hall At least once.
The Rockettes - Wikipedia
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Oh yes, we've considered seeing the Rockettes, especially in our earlier visits to NYC but never seemed that interested - preferred to go to Broadway musicals, I guess. Dave

 

[giradman]

Hard to believe - she was just 60 y/o - own the original trilogy in blu-ray and still enjoy - remember our 4 y/o son going to his first viewing of Star Wars (would have been in 1977) - believe I had to take him back 3-4 times, and on future visits, he would have his favorite characters (those little models) in his pockets - wonderful memory. Dave

 

[giradman]

Carrie Fisher - just for those who may be interested - watched the Oprah Winfrey show on YouTube w/ both Carrie and her mother Debbie Reynolds - plenty of history/videos/anecdotes - recommended, but is about 40 minutes in length. For those watching - enjoy! Dave

 

[giradman]

Debbie Reynolds Dies at 84 years just a day after the passing of her daughter Carrie Fisher

Reynolds was devastated by the death of her daughter, Carrie Fisher, and dies the next day - her son feels the grief was just too much for his mother - some more discusion HERE.

Debbie Reynolds breakthrough movie was Singin' in the Rain made in 1952 when she was just 19 years old - considered one of the best (if not #1) Hollywood Musicals - I now own the blu-ray version and the AV restoration is not to be missed, if you'll a fan of the film. She made many more movies, had several TV shows, appeared on TV many times in other series, and did much more as an actress and entertainer - check HERE. Dave
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[scifan57]

Debbie Reynolds Dies at 84 years just a day after the passing of her daughter Carrie Fisher

Reynolds was devastated by the death of her daughter, Carrie Fisher, and dies the next day - her son feels the grief was just too much for his mother - some more discusion HERE.

Debbie Reynolds breakthrough movie was Singin' in the Rain made in 1952 when she was just 19 years old - considered one of the best (if not #1) Hollywood Musicals - I now own the blu-ray version and the AV restoration is not to be missed, if you'll a fan of the film. She made many more movies, had several TV shows, appeared on TV many times in other series, and did much more as an actress and entertainer - check HERE. Dave
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View attachment 75423 View attachment 75424

The world has lost so many this year.
I've just finished rewatching Singin' in the Rain. I enjoy it as much now as I did when I first saw it.

 

[giradman]

The world has lost so many this year.
I've just finished rewatching Singin' in the Rain. I enjoy it as much now as I did when I first saw it.

One of my favorite scenes (there are so many) from the film above is the Donald O'Connor skit shown below - had to watched it on this YouTube video; well, I could not resist and watched a couple more videos, which are added - maybe these will help to stimulate some to watch the movie? Dave

 

[scifan57]

One of my favorite scenes (there are so many) from the film above is the Donald O'Connor skit shown below - had to watched it on this YouTube video; well, I could not resist and watched a couple more videos, which are added - maybe these will help to stimulate some to watch the movie? Dave

One of the funniest parts of the Singin' in the Rain number is when the policeman shows up to see what's going on.

 

[giradman]

Singin' in the Rain - just for all's general information who may be reading these posts about Debbie Reynolds and her breakthrough movie - if not already owned (or in another version), then I would strongly recommend the blu-ray version shown below (the review from HERE) w/ a detailed discussion of the visual and audio restoration - for this film, the latter is now CD quality on this video format - if you do not have a BD player, then a purchase is suggested, the technology is mature and the devices cheap. As shown, the BD film is just $14 on Amazon. Dave
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[giradman]

January 1 in a New Year - 2017 - an eclectic list of events that happened this day:

1863 - Lincoln signs Emancipation Proclamation which takes effect
1942 - United Nations created
1958 - Inmate Merle Haggard hears Johnny Cash at San Quentin Prison
1959 - Batista forced out by Castro-led revolution

January 1, 2017 - my first 'this day in history' post of the New Year - a bunch of events occurred and I selected the four above - quotes below of each happening along w/ just one pic - Dave

On this day in 1863, Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation. Attempting to stitch together a nation mired in a bloody civil war, Abraham Lincoln made a last-ditch, but carefully calculated, decision regarding the institution of slavery in America. Lincoln waited to unveil the proclamation until he could do so on the heels of a Union military success. On September 22, 1862, after the battle at Antietam, he issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation declaring all slaves free in the rebellious states as of January 1, 1863. Lincoln and his advisors limited the proclamation’s language to slavery in states outside of federal control as of 1862, failing to address the contentious issue of slavery within the nation’s border states. (url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/lincoln-signs-emancipation-proclamation]Source[/URL])

On this day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill issue a declaration, signed by representatives of 26 countries, called the “United Nations.” The signatories of the declaration vowed to create an international postwar peacekeeping organization. On December 22, 1941, Churchill arrived in Washington, D.C., for the Arcadia Conference, a discussion with President Roosevelt about a unified Anglo-American war strategy and a future peace. The attack on Pearl Harbor meant that the U.S. was involved in the war, and it was important for Great Britain and America to create and project a unified front against Axis powers. Toward that end, Churchill and Roosevelt created a combined general staff to coordinate military strategy against both Germany and Japan and to draft a plan for a future joint invasion of the Continent. (Source)

“Folsom Prison Blues” gave Johnny Cash his first top-10 country hit in 1956, and his live concert performance at Folsom—dramatized memorably in the film Walk The Line—gave his flagging career a critical jump-start in 1968. But the prison with which Johnny Cash was most closely associated wasn’t Folsom, it was San Quentin, a maximum-security penitentiary just outside of San Francisco. San Quentin is where Cash played his first-ever prison concert on January 1, 1958—a concert that helped set Merle Haggard, then a 20-year-old San Quentin inmate, on the path toward becoming a country music legend. (Source)

On this day in 1959, facing a popular revolution spearheaded by Fidel Castro’s 26th of July Movement, Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista flees the island nation. Amid celebration and chaos in the Cuban capitol of Havana, the U.S. debated how best to deal with the radical Castro and the ominous rumblings of anti-Americanism in Cuba. The U.S. government had supported Batista, a former soldier and Cuban dictator from 1933 to 1944, who seized power for a second time in a 1952 coup. After Castro and a group of followers, including the South American revolutionary Che Guevara (1928-1967), landed in Cuba to unseat the dictator in December 1956, the U.S. continued to back Batista. Suspicious of what they believed to be Castro’s leftist ideology and worried that his ultimate goals might include attacks on the U.S.’s significant investments and property in Cuba, American officials were nearly unanimous in opposing his revolutionary movement. (Source)

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[giradman]

Golden Gate Bridge - Construction Began Today in 1933!

Construction on the Golden Gate Bridge started today in 1933 - the bridge was opened officially in May 1937 - introduction below in first quote; many more facts in the second quote; final quote about suicides from the structure, over 1600 recovered bodies into 2013. Pics below mainly from the construction days and a final one of the bridge today - Dave

On January 5, 1933, construction begins on the Golden Gate Bridge, as workers began excavating 3.25 million cubic feet of dirt for the structure’s huge anchorages. The Golden Gate Bridge officially opened on May 27, 1937, the longest bridge span in the world at the time. The first public crossing had taken place the day before, when 200,000 people walked, ran and even roller skated over the new bridge. (Source)

Until 1964, the Golden Gate Bridge had the longest suspension bridge main span in the world, at 4,200 feet (1,300 m). Since 1964 its main span length has been surpassed by ten bridges; it now has the second-longest main span in the United States, after the Verrazano–Narrows Bridge in New York City. The total length of the Golden Gate Bridge from abutment to abutment is 8,981 feet (2,737 m).

The Golden Gate Bridge's clearance above high water averages 220 feet (67 m) while its towers, at 746 feet (227 m) above the water, were the world's tallest on a suspension bridge until 1998 when bridges in Denmark and Japan were completed.

The weight of the roadway is hung from two cables that pass through the two main towers and are fixed in concrete at each end. Each cable is made of 27,572 strands of wire. There are 80,000 miles (130,000 km) of wire in the main cables. The bridge has approximately 1,200,000 total rivets. (Source)

Between 1937 and 2012, an estimated 1,600 bodies were recovered of people who had jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge, located in the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States. The impact from the fall kills 98 percent of people who jump or fall from the bridge, as they enter the water. As of 2005, it is estimated that 26 people have survived after jumping. In 2013, 118 potential jumpers were talked down from their attempt and did not jump.(Source)

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