On this day:

BarnBuster

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member

"September 5, 1972 Palestinian terrorist group Black September took hostage and later killed 11 Israelis Olympic athletes and a German police officer during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany.

As the Israeli team member slept, eight members of the terrorist group scaled a fence to to enter the Olympic Village at 4:30 a.m. Clad in tracksuit and carrying duffel bags of weapons, the Black September members entered the two Israeli apartments with stolen keys.

Wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg and weightlifter Yossef Romano were killed during an initial struggle.

The intruders captured nine hostages: Yossef Gutfreund, a wrestling referee, sharpshooting coach Kehat Shorr, track and field coach Amitzur Shapira, fencing master Andre Spitzer, weightlifting judge Yakov Springer, wrestlers Eliezer Halfin and Mark Slavin, and weightlifters David Berger and Ze'ev Friedman.

Soon after the massacre began, a Black September spokesman called for the release 234 Palestinian prisoners and West German-held founders of the Red Army Faction, Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof.

For the next 24 hours, there was a tense stand-off between the German police and the eight highly-trained hostage takers. An attempt to storm the building was aborted when the terrorists, who were watching the police's preparations live on television, threatened to kill hostages if the police followed through.

Two more failed attempts followed, as the terrorists demanded a plane to fly out of Germany. In the end, the Black September members were given two helicopters to fly to the Munich airport. German snipers opened fire when the terrorists landed. The shootout killed the nine hostages and five of the terrorists. Three of the terrorists were captured."

*************************************************************************​
"Operation Wrath of God, covert assassination campaign carried out by Israel to avenge the kidnapping and murder of 11 Israeli athletes by Palestinian militants in September 1972 at the Munich Olympics.

Although Israel had historically targeted the leaders of organizations such as Fatah, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the frequency of such assassinations by Israel escalated dramatically in the wake of the massacre in Munich. A secret Israeli committee chaired by Prime Minister Golda Meir and Defense Minister Moshe Dayan is said to have authorized the assassination of everyone directly or indirectly involved with Black September, the Fatah-affiliated group that had orchestrated the Munich killings. The Wrath of God hit squad—code-named Bayonet—was made up of members of Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, and supported by special operations teams from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The group spent years tracking down and killing those suspected of planning or participating in the Munich massacre. Three of the eight militants who had killed the athletes survived the massacre and were released weeks later from custody by the West German government in exchange for the crew of a hijacked Lufthansa jet; the other five died in a gun battle with police during a failed attempt to rescue the hostages.

The hit squad first killed Wael Zwaiter, a PLO organizer and cousin of Yāsir ʿArafāt, shooting him in the lobby of his Rome apartment building in October 1972. Mahmoud Hamshari, the PLO representative in Paris, was targeted next. After a Wrath of God member, posing as an Italian journalist, scheduled a telephone interview with Hamshari in December 1972, Wrath of God explosives experts broke into his home and planted a bomb in his telephone. Hamshari was called at the time arranged for the interview, and, when he identified himself, the bomb was activated remotely. He died in the explosion.

Four other suspects—Basil al-Kubaisi, Hussein Abad al-Chir, Zaid Muchassi, and Mohammed Boudia—were all killed during the next few months. The most spectacular mission in the Wrath of God campaign took place in April 1973. Ehud Barak, the leader of the IDF’s elite Sayeret Matcal unit, developed an audacious plan to strike at PLO leadership. Dubbed Operation Spring of Youth, the mission involved the amphibious insertion of commando teams into Beirut. Once ashore, they coordinated their efforts with Mossad agents already in the city and deflected attention by donning civilian clothing. While other commando teams staged diversionary raids throughout the city and a squad of Israeli paratroopers assaulted the PFLP headquarters, the main force targeted Muhammad Youssef Al-Najjar, Kamal Adwan, and Kamal Nasser, killing all three.

In 1973 the squad misidentified one of its targets and mistakenly killed an innocent man in Lillehammer, Norway. The investigation of the crime by Norwegian authorities led to the arrest and conviction of five Mossad operatives as well as to the unraveling of Mossad’s extensive network of agents and safehouses throughout Europe. Meir, responding to intense international pressure, suspended the targeted assassination program. Wrath of God’s intended target in Lillehammer had been Ali Hassan Salameh, a Fatah and Black September operations chief known to Mossad as the “Red Prince.” The Wrath of God program was reactivated for a final mission in 1979, when the squad assassinated Salameh in Beirut with a car bomb placed along a route that he frequented."

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/massacre-in-munich-1.1004843
 
Last edited:
BarnBuster

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
​
​
"On this day in 1813, the United States gets its nickname, Uncle Sam. The name is linked to Samuel Wilson, a meat packer from Troy, New York, who supplied barrels of beef to the United States Army during the War of 1812.Wilson (1766-1854) stamped the barrels with “U.S.” for United States, but soldiers began referring to the grub as “Uncle Sam’s.” The local newspaper picked up on the story and Uncle Sam eventually gained widespread acceptance as the nickname for the U.S. federal government.

In the late 1860s and 1870s, political cartoonist Thomas Nast (1840-1902) began popularizing the image of Uncle Sam. Nast continued to evolve the image, eventually giving Sam the white beard and stars-and-stripes suit that are associated with the character today. The German-born Nast was also credited with creating the modern image of Santa Claus as well as coming up with the donkey as a symbol for the Democratic Party and the elephant as a symbol for the Republicans. Nast also famously lampooned the corruption of New York City’s Tammany Hall in his editorial cartoons and was, in part, responsible for the downfall of Tammany leader William Tweed.

Perhaps the most famous image of Uncle Sam was created by artist James Montgomery Flagg (1877-1960). In Flagg’s version, Uncle Sam wears a tall top hat and blue jacket and is pointing straight ahead at the viewer. During World War I, this portrait of Sam with the words “I Want You For The U.S. Army” was used as a recruiting poster. The image, which became immensely popular, was first used on the cover of Leslie’s Weekly in July 1916 with the title “What Are You Doing for Preparedness?” The poster was widely distributed and has subsequently been re-used numerous times with different captions.

In September 1961, the U.S. Congress recognized Samuel Wilson as “the progenitor of America’s national symbol of Uncle Sam.” Wilson died at age 88 in 1854, and was buried next to his wife Betsey Mann in the Oakwood Cemetery in Troy, New York, the town that calls itself “The Home of Uncle Sam.”
 
too larry

too larry

Well-Known Member
The College of Rock and Roll Knowledge
12 hrs ·
John Lennon released his LP titled "Imagine" on Sept. 9, 1971. The album was more heavily produced in contrast to the basic, raw arrangements of his previous album, the critically acclaimed John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. The album is considered the most popular of his works and the title track is considered one of Lennon's finest songs.

In 2012, Imagine was voted 80th on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".

Remember the 1st time you heard the song "Imagine"?

Happy 48th Birthday to the LP "Imagine"!!



 
too larry

too larry

Well-Known Member
The College of Rock and Roll Knowledge
12 hrs ·
Here is a question for you: "which was more important to the history of Rock and Roll, Elvis' 1st time on Ed Sullivan or The Beatles' 1st time on Ed Sullivan? They both had a major impact on current / pop music. The reason we ask this is because it was on this day 63 years ago, Sept. 9, 1956, that Elvis made his very first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.

Sullivan had previously announced he would never have such an act on, but ratings prevailed and Sullivan offered Elvis a record $50,000 for the three shows. Sullivan wasn't there that night and the show was hosted by Charles Laughton. Sullivan was supposedly sick.

Elvis performed "Don't Be Cruel," "Love Me Tender," "Ready Teddy," and "Hound Dog," but is shot from the waist up only, due to a scandalous swivel-hipped performance on NBC-TV's Milton Berle Show a few months earlier. A record 54 million viewers -- nearly 83 percent of the nation's TV sets! -- are tuned in to the show.

The next day, pre-orders for "Love Me Tender" begin rolling in, forcing the release of the single to be bumped up by weeks.

Percentage wise, according to the number of TV sets at the given times, more people watched Elvis than watched The Beatles. (The Beatles had 73 million viewers which by that time was 60% of the nation's TV sets) It was a ground breaking performance for prime time TV and it opened the doors for so many other acts.

So, in your opinion, which was more important on Sullivan, Elvis or The Beatles? (hint, we don't think there is a wrong answer)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwWJXzobSp8

 
BarnBuster

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member

"We have met the enemy, and they are ours."
In the first unqualified defeat of a British naval squadron in history, U.S. Captain Oliver Hazard Perry leads a fleet of nine American ships to victory over a squadron of six British warships at the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812.
​

"On September 10, 1813, at 7 a.m., British Commodore Robert Heriot Barclay, in his flagship HMS Detroit, met Captain Perry near Put-in-Bay, Ohio (Erie). Barclay's six ships were magnificently massive, outweighing and out-gunning Perry's nine vessels, including his flagship, the Lawrence.

At 10 a.m., Mother Nature began to fill Perry's flagship sails with a favorable wind. He and his crew proceeded towards the British flagship.

At 11:45 a.m. the Detroit fired a 24-pound ball from an extreme distance at the Lawrence, causing nothing more than a big splash. A few minutes later, a second 24-pounder was launched, but this time plummeted through the bulwarks of the Lawrence. The impact of the second cannon ball caused boat debris and flying splinters to puncture lungs and inflict numerous fatal wounds upon the Americans.

The Lawrence's cannons were still out of range, so Perry issued orders to the Scorpion, with one long 24-pounder, and the Ariel, with four long 12-pounders, to open fire. Thirty minutes of unrelenting British bombardment slowly ticked away, with Perry still struggling to get within range. The whole British Fleet had made successful cannon strikes against it. The Lawrence was now dead in the water.

Luckily for the Americans, the Niagara, still out of range and relatively undamaged, was their last chance at victory. Collecting four of the last remaining able-bodied men, Commodore Perry manned the flagship's rowboat and rowed a mile through a barrage of explosions to the seaworthy Niagara. Perry then furiously prepared the Niagara for immediate action, and sailed toward the Royal line. Although the British had wreaked havoc on the Lawrence, Barclay sustained a horrible wound; the captain and first lieutenant of every British vessel also were severely wounded.

With only junior officers directing the English fleet, the Americans found easy targets. When the greenhorn sailors observed the Niagara closing water against them, they attempted to turn to expose unused cannons. The result was devastating for the English; the already battered Detroit and Queen Charlotte collided and became hung up, dead in the water.

Perry took little time to take complete advantage of the rookie mistakes. He unleashed two broadsides, tearing up the seemingly indestructible Royal fleet.

A few minutes after 3 p.m., the British threw down all their arms; the four largest vessels surrendered one by one. The last two British gunboats attempted to escape, but were quickly chased down and captured. The British fleet in Lake Erie was now a thing of the past. By nightfall, the British had lowered their flag and surrendered to Perry, who was only twenty-seven years old.

Although Perry won the battle on the Niagara, he received the official British surrender on the deck of the Lawrence to allow the British to witness the terrible price his men had suffered. Perry sent a dispatch to General William Henry Harrison, recounting the details of the battle. In the dispatch, he wrote:

'Dear General: We have met the enemy and they are ours. Two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop. Yours with great respect and esteem - O.H. Perry.'

Aftermath​

The Battle of Lake Erie proved to be one of the most telling encounters of the War of 1812. The American victory secured control of the lake, forcing the British to abandon Fort Malden and retreat up the Thames River for Canada.

General Harrison's army clinched the naval victory by decisively defeating the small British army and its allied Indian force on October 5, 1813, at the Battle of the Thames. Later, after the Battle of Plattsburgh, British and American peace talks were initiated, which ensured that the states of Ohio and Michigan were to be forever United States property."

Decision at Sea: Five Naval Battles That Shaped American History, Craig L. Symonds
War on the Great Lakes: Essays Commemorating the 175th Anniversary of the Battle of Lake Erie. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1991.
 
too larry

too larry

Well-Known Member
The College of Rock and Roll Knowledge
13 hrs ·
The Who played at concert in Passaic, NJ on Sept. 10th of 1979. The show, which took place at the Capitol Theater, was the first U.S. show they played with Kenney Jones as their drummer.

The Who's former drummer, Keith Moon had died the previous year. Kenney has said he never tried to 'be' Keith. He had known the members of The Who for years and had played shows with them while he was in The Small Faces and The Faces. Eventually, there was a falling out between Kenney and the band, mainly Roger Daltrey. Kenney has since said he really feels it was simply because Roger really missed Keith. Understandable.

How many of you ever saw Kenney play with The Who?

 
lokie

lokie

Well-Known Member
History records that on September 10, 1897, George Smith, a London cabdriver, was arrested for drunk driving—the first such collar in the world!

page_3.jpg

drunkne.jpg



They didn’t have fancy Breathalyzers in those days. Smith acted drunk (the same way people “look guilty”) and he had, of course, slammed his cab into a wall on New Bond Street, breaking a water pipe and the beading on a window. Plus, after a spirited defense about driving too fast, he admitted his crime and was fined 25 shillings ($10 million in today’s money).

Amazingly enough, the vehicle Smith destroyed was an electric car. Such taxis were popular in the U.S. at that time, too, and fleets of them plied the streets of New York before the 20th century started. The London fleet, eventually numbering 75, constituted the first self-propelled cars for hire in Britain (see the video below). The original news item, from the Morning Post, is instructive. It even has dialogue:

Prisoner: How fast was I going?

Constable: I should think about eight miles an hour.

Prisoner: At the time I was going up an incline and could not have been going [even] six miles an hour. The fastest the car will travel is eight miles an hour. [Ed: They were actually capable of between 9 and 12 mph.]

Constable: You are not charged with driving furiously, but with being drunk. What about that?

Prisoner: I have nothing to say to that. I admit having two or three glasses of beer. I am very sorry. It is the first time I have been charged with being drunk in charge of a car.

The prosecutor, a Mr. De Rutzen, said in setting the stiff fine, “You motor car drivers ought to be very careful.” He pointed out that the coppers knew how to stop a runaway horse, but an out-of-control motor car was quite a different proposition.
 
BarnBuster

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member

IBM 305 RAMAC 5 MB hard disk, circa 1956​

"September 13, 1956 IBM introduced the 305 RAMAC system, generally acknowledged as the first (commercially successful) computer to feature what we would now call a “disk drive” or “hard drive” (i.e., data stored on a magnetic disk and accessed via a moving head). It started with a product announcement in May of 1955. IBM Corp. was introducing a product that offered unprecedented random-access storage — 5 million characters (not bytes, they were 7-bit, not 8-bit characters). This first disk drive heralded startling leaps in mass-storage technology and the end of sequential storage on punched cards and paper or Mylar tape, though magnetic tape would continue for archival or backup storage.

The disk drive was big, not quite ready for today’s laptop. With its vacuum-tube control electronics, the RAMAC (for “random-access method of accounting and control”) occupied the space of two refrigerator. It stored those 5 million characters on 50 hefty aluminum disks coated on both sides with a magnetic iron oxide, a variation of the paint primer used for the Golden Gate Bridge.

The IBM 350 weighed 1730lbs. (785kg) slightly less than one ton (2,000lbs., 907kg). The 'more than one ton' belief may include the 441lb. (200kg) weight of the separate air compressor unit. Multiple sources have the IBM 350 with an equivalent capacity of 4.4MB or 5.0MB; the most appropriate value is 3.75 MB.

Over a thousand of the 305 systems (one of IBM’s last vacuum tube units) were manufactured before production ended in 1961, and the 305 was withdrawn in 1969.

In 2006 a speaker at the 50th anniversary celebration of the RAMAC (IBM 350) stated its purchase price as $50,000 which has become a repeated myth. Research reveals that actual purchase price was $34,500 in 1957, about $300,000 today.

One reason for the price confusion is that at the time of announcement IBM did not necessarily offer products either separately or for purchase. The IBM 350 (later IBM 350 Model 1) was announced as a bundled component of the IBM 305 RAMAC system - the system offered at a monthly rental of $3,200. Noted historian Emerson Pugh, reported that the IBM 350 represented $650/month of this total .

IBM's archives were unable to locate any pricing information on this first disk drive; however, they provided a copy of the May 1958 announcement of a "second disk storage for the 305 RAMAC" system, the IBM 350 Model 2, with a rental price of $700/month and a purchase price of $36,400"

 
BarnBuster

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member


"that our flag was still there"​

On September 14, 1814, Francis Scott Key pens a poem which is later set to music and in 1931 becomes America’s national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The poem, originally titled “The Defence of Fort McHenry,” was written after Key witnessed the Maryland fort being bombarded by the British during the War of 1812. Key was inspired by the sight of a lone U.S. flag still flying over Fort McHenry at daybreak, as reflected in the now-famous words of the “Star-Spangled Banner”: “And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.”

Francis Scott Key was born on August 1, 1779, at Terra Rubra, his family’s estate in Frederick County (now Carroll County), Maryland. He became a successful lawyer in Maryland and Washington, D.C., and was later appointed U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.

On June 18, 1812, America declared war on Great Britain after a series of trade disagreements. In August 1814, British troops invaded Washington, D.C., and burned the White House, Capitol Building and Library of Congress. Their next target was Baltimore.

After one of Key’s friends, Dr. William Beanes, was taken prisoner by the British, Key went to Baltimore, located the ship where Beanes was being held and negotiated his release. However, Key and Beanes weren’t allowed to leave until after the British bombardment of Fort McHenry. Key watched the bombing campaign unfold from aboard a ship located about eight miles away. After a day, the British were unable to destroy the fort and gave up. Key was relieved to see the American flag still flying over Fort McHenry and quickly penned a few lines in tribute to what he had witnessed.

The poem was printed in newspapers and eventually set to the music of a popular English drinking tune called “To Anacreon in Heaven” by composer John Stafford Smith. People began referring to the song as “The Star-Spangled Banner” and in 1916 President Woodrow Wilson announced that it should be played at all official events. It was adopted as the national anthem on March 3, 1931. Francis Scott Key died of pleurisy on January 11, 1843

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

​

During the War of 1812, the people of Baltimore were certain that the British would attack the city. Not knowing for sure when an attack would occur, they spent months preparing for it. Everything was made ready at Fort McHenry to defend Baltimore. But, there was no suitable flag to fly over the earthen/brick ramparts of the Star Fort.

Major George Armistead, the commanding officer, desired "to have a flag so large that the British will have no difficulty in seeing it from a distance." Major Armistead got his wish when General John S. Stricker and Commodore Joshua Barney ordered two flags, especially made for the garrison, from Mary Pickersgill, a well-known flagmaker in Baltimore. She worked relentlessly on the heavy, woolen flags, one of which was to be the largest garrison flag ever flown. It measured 30 feet high by 42 feet long. The other flag, called a "storm flag," measured 17 feet by 25 feet.

The larger of the two flags had stripes two feet wide, and stars 24 inches from point to point. At that time, it was the practice to add one star and stripe for each new state joining the Union. In 1814, the United States flag had 15 stars and 15 stripes.

The 30' x 42' flag was the one that Francis Scott Key saw on the morning of September 14, 1814. Today this flag is displayed in the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C. and is one of it's most treasured artifacts.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++​

O say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner, O long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country, should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation.
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust.'
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
​

​
 
too larry

too larry

Well-Known Member
Imagine it was yesterday. . . . . . . .

The College of Rock and Roll Knowledge
Yesterday at 5:30 AM ·
On Sept. 13, 1965, The Beatles released the single "Yesterday" in the US. Even though it was technically a Paul McCartney solo record, The Beatles manager Brian Epstein refused to make it just a Paul records saying "We are not breaking up The Beatles".

The song is one of the most recorded songs in the history of recorded music and also one of the most played (radio and TV) ever.

When Paul was first working on the song, he called it "Scrambled Eggs".

Happy 53rd US Birthday to "Yesterday". Would you put this in your top 5 fav Beatles songs?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WQAl5nJWHs

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top