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Back in the Day Jan 13-19

Adam LaMascus
The Commuter

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Back in the Day Jan 13-19

Jan 13, 1992: Maybe if we ignore it long enough…
Japan finally acknowledges and apologizes for kidnapping an estimated 200,000 women and forcing them into sexual slavery during WWII. Even so, many Japanese scholars claim they were volunteers and there were “only” 10,000 or so. Japan has a history of trying to ignore history, like when they tried to take the Rape on Nanking out of their history books.

Jan 14, 1784: America 1, Britain 0…
The Treaty of Paris is finally ratified, officially ending the American Revolutionary War. The war was a historic precedent for a large number of reasons. Total Revolutionary casualties were about 50,000. Oddly enough, there are no accurate statistics for British casualties during the war.

Jan 15, 1949: The end is nigh…
Communist forces capture the city of Tianjin from the Nationalists during the Chinese Civil War. The war rages for about 23 years, briefly being interrupted by the Japanese invasion during WWII. A year later, Communist forces under Mao Zedong defeat Republicans being led by US-supported Chiang Kai-shek. The Nationalists flee to Taiwan, where they remain. The People’s Republic of China is born. I love how brutal Communist dictatorships always give themselves friendly democratic names.

Jan 16, 1547: Not a friendly guy…
Ivan IV Vasilyevich “the Terrible” is made Tsar/Czar/Tzar of Russia. Ivan is highly controversial, both extremely popular and hated, rumors surrounding his possible homicidal tendencies, insanity, and outbursts of uncontrollable rage. It is believed he was assassinated by two of his advisors after he tried to rape one of their wives.

Jan 17, 1966: Oops, our bad…
A USAF B-52 collides with a KC-135 tanker during a mid-air fueling over Spain, killing all 4 people on the KC-135, and 3 of the 7 B-52 crew members. As if this isn’t bad enough, the four Mk28 hydrogen bombs in the B-52 fell into Spain. One was found in the ocean, the other three exploded (non-nuclear explosions) spewing plutonium, resulting in the contamination of two square kilometers near the town of Palomares. This is known as the “Palomares Incident.”

Jan 18, 1943: True heroism…
Jews of the Warsaw ghetto in Poland stage a massive uprising against the German invaders, killing or wounding over 100 German soldiers. Germany responds with overwhelming force, sending in numerous SS units. The Jews last almost a month before being defeated (the entire country of France was conquered in almost the same amount of time). The final German report states that over 13,000 “Jewish subhumans” were killed. The Warsaw ghetto was burned to the ground, and the Warsaw extermination camp was built in its place.

Jan 19, 1983: Lisa?
Apple Inc. announces the Apple Lisa, the first personal use computer to have a graphical user interface and a mouse. It cost $9,995, has a 5 MHz CPU, and 2 megabytes of RAM. Oh boy?

Thought for the week:
“It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do little.”
-Sydney Smith

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