Archive for April, 2009

On this day in 1975, Saigon fell into the hands of the North Vietnamese.

Chaos, unrest, and panic broke out as hysterical South Vietnamese officials and civilians scrambled to leave Saigon. Martial law was declared. American helicopters began evacuating South Vietnamese, U.S., and foreign nationals from various parts of the city and from the U.S. embassy compound. Operation Frequent Wind had been delayed until the last possible moment, because of U.S. Ambassador Graham Martin’s belief that Saigon could be held and that a political settlement could be reached.

Schlesinger announced early in the morning of April 29, 1975 the evacuation from Saigon by helicopter of the last U.S. diplomatic, military, and civilian personnel. Frequent Wind was arguably the largest helicopter evacuation in history. It began on April 29, in an atmosphere of desperation, as hysterical crowds of Vietnamese vied for limited seats. Martin pleaded with Washington to dispatch $700 million in emergency aid to bolster the regime and help it mobilize fresh military reserves. But American public opinion had soured on this conflict halfway around the world.

American opinion soured as quick as a Colonix kit. One day your golden, the next day, when people find out what’s really going on, you’re toast.

On this day in 1945, American Forces liberated the Dachau concentration camp.

Dachau was a Nazi German concentration camp, and the first one opened in Germany, located on the grounds of an abandoned munitions factory near the medieval town of Dachau, about 16 km (10 miles) northwest of Munich in the state of Bavaria which is located in southern Germany.

Opened in March 1933[1], it was the first regular concentration camp established by the coalition government of National Socialist (Nazi) NSDAP party and the German Nationalist People’s party (dissolved on 6 July 1933). Heinrich Himmler, Chief of Police of Munich, officially described the camp as “the first concentration camp for political prisoners.”[2]

Dachau served as a prototype and model for the other Nazi concentration camps that followed. Almost every community in Germany had members taken away to these camps…

In the 1940’s people had no idea where Dachau was, until they saw it on the news. At least they knew where Germany was. These days most kids don’t even know where the Outer Banks are located, let alone a war that happened more than 60 years ago.

You can find out more about this day in history at Those Were The Days, and InfoPlease.

On this day in 1940, Glenn Miller’s signature song, Pennsylvania 6-5000, was recorded.

On this day in 1976, Maxine Nightingale received a gold record for “Right Back Where We Started From”

Ah yes, the 1970’s. Back when shows were sponsored by K-Tel and you didn’t get confused trying to figure out the top 10 diet pills. Not that Maxine Nightingale needed diet pills, or the services of K-Tel records. Would that have been a bad thing?

On this day in 1986, the worst nuclear disaster in the history of the world took place at Chernobyl.

The city was evacuated in 1986 due to the Chernobyl disaster at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, which is located 14.5 kilometers (9 miles) north-northwest. The power plant was named after the city, and located within Chornobyl Raion (district), but the city was not the residence of the power plant workers. Together with the power plant construction, Pripyat, a city, which was larger and closer to the power plant, was built to be home for the power plant workers.

Though the city today is mostly uninhabited, a small number of inhabitants reside in houses marked with signs stating that the “Owner of this house lives here”. Workers on watch and administrative personnel of the Zone of Alienation are stationed in the city on a long term basis. Prior to its evacuation, the city was inhabited by about 14,000 residents.

I bet there aren’t any programmer jobs available in their area, huh? Oh well, I will just keep looking.

I’m taking the night off to complete a big project I am working on. I’ll be back tomorrow, unless Swine Flu gets me.

On this day in 1800, the Library Of Congress was established.

The Library of Congress is the de facto national library of the United States and the research arm of the United States Congress. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and holds the largest number of books.[2][3] The head of the Library is the Librarian of Congress, currently James H. Billington.

The Library of Congress was established by Congress in 1800 and was housed in the United States Capitol for most of the 19th century. After much of the original collection had been destroyed during the War of 1812, Thomas Jefferson sold the library 6487 books, his entire personal library, in 1815 [4][5]. After a period of decline during the mid-19th century the Library of Congress began to grow rapidly in both size and importance after the American Civil War, culminating in the construction of a separate library building and the transference of all copyright deposit holdings to the Library. During the rapid expansion of the 20th century the Library of Congress assumed a preeminent public role, becoming a “library of last resort” and expanding its mission for the benefit of scholars and the American people.

On this day in 1923, Shirley Temple was born.

On this day in 1864, the words In God We Trust was first stamped on a coin.

In God We Trust is the official motto of the United States and the U.S. state of Florida. The motto first appeared on a United States coin in 1864 during strong Christian sentiment emerging during the Civil War, but In God We Trust did not become the official U.S. national motto until after the passage of an Act of Congress in 1956.[1] It is codified as federal law in the United States Code at 36 U.S. 302, which provides: “‘In God we trust’ is the national motto.”

People still debate whether or not this should be stamped on our coins and printed on our money, but no one complains that zero radius sinks are not standard in all new homes? What’s up with that?

I won’t have a post tonight. Our power keeps browning out or completely going out, so I am not even going to attempt to remind you what happened on this day in history…

More tomorrow…

While you wait, why not check out the latest saleat Buy.com? It sure beats reading about dead people. Well, unless you’re a real history buff, but then again, if you are, you’re going to need something to store all my archives on anyway.

Or better yet… Watch this: