This is how this day panned out.
Image: sora
It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. | Jiddu Krishnamurti
You cannot hum while holding your nose closed.
1282 Throughout history various groups of people have been oppressed. On this day, one such group decided that they had had enough and, in a brutal uprising known as the War of the Vespers, turned on their oppressors. The result was a conflict lasting 20 years. It all started when citizens of Sicily’s capital, Palermo, were flocking to vespers in the church of Santo Spirito (Church of the Holy Spirit), when, the story goes, a Sicilian woman was dragged from the crowd by a French soldier to be searched for weapons, and her breasts were fondled, causing a bloody riot.
1855 Origins of the American Civil War: ‘Border Ruffians’ from Missouri invade Kansas and force the election of a pro-slavery legislature.
1867 Alaska is bought for $7.2 million, about 2-cent/acre ($4.19/km²), from Russia by US Secretary of State William Seward.
1944 Of 795 bombers sent to attack Nuremberg, 95 do not return. It is the worst Royal Air Force loss of World War II. More than 700 airmen go missing, 545 of them are killed in the raid, more than in the Battle of Britain.
1959 The Dalai Lama flees China and is granted political asylum in India.
1981 US President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington hotel by John Hinckley; three others are wounded. Hinckley believed the attack would impress actress Jodie Foster, with whom he was obsessed.
1984 New York police detective Robert Cunningham suggests to waitress Phyllis Penzo that the two split a lottery ticket instead of him giving her a tip. Though Cunningham was initially joking, Penzo was hasty to agree. After all, the possibility of winning millions is much more tempting than a measly tip. The two chose the numbers together. He wins $6 million the next day and gives her half.
1995 Pope John Paul II issues the 11th encyclical of his papacy in which he condemns abortion and euthanasia as crimes that no human laws could legitimise.
2002 Britain’s much-loved Queen Mother, the mother of Queen Elizabeth II, dies aged 101.
2023 Key figures in Artificial Intelligence sign an open letter warning the race to develop AI systems is out of control and asking for a suspension of at least six months.
DAILY NEWS