On this day:

lokie

Well-Known Member
10/20/1803 US Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase
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Louisiana Purchase Facts
Date
July 4, 1803
Purchased From
France
Area Covered
From The Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains, and Louisiana to Montana
Purchase Price
15 million dollars
Result
Effectively Doubled The Size of The United States
Louisiana Purchase summary: The United States bought 828,000 square miles of land from France in 1803. The French controlled this region from 1699 until 1762 when it became Spanish property because France gave it to Spain as a present, since they were allies. But under Napoleon Bonaparte, France revived the aspirations to build an empire in North America so the territory was taken back in 1800. However, those big plans were not meant to be because Napoleon needed to concentrate on preparations for war with the British Empire and so the land was sold to the United States. The price was 15 million dollars.

The purchased territory included the whole of today’s Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska, parts of Minnesota and Louisiana west of Mississippi River, including New Orleans, big parts of North and northeastern New Mexico, South Dakota, northern Texas, some parts of Wyoming, Montana, and Colorado as well as portions of Canadian provinces Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Thomas Jefferson was the American president at the time of the Louisiana Purchase. The United States initially wanted to buy only New Orleans and the land around it. The purchase met with the strong opposition in the States on account of being unconstitutional. Those accusations were accurate, at least to some extent. President Jefferson couldn’t deny that the Constitution of the United States did not provide for acquiring new territories but still he decided to proceed with the purchase since the removal of French presence in the region was such an important issue.
Louisiana Purchase Map
Map of the Louisiana Territory included in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803
Map Showing Extent of Louisiana Purchase - History of Iowa

Map Showing Extent of Louisiana Purchase - History of Iowa
Painting of Louisiana Purchase by Thure de Thulstrup
Louisiana Purchase New Orleans Thure de Thulstrup

Louisiana Purchase New Orleans Thure de Thulstrup
 

too larry

Well-Known Member
The College of Rock and Roll Knowledge
5 hrs ·
42 years ago today, on October 20, 1977, a Convair CV-240 chartered by Lynyrd Skynyrd ran out of fuel and crashed in Gillsburg, Mississippi, near the end of its flight from Greenville, South Carolina, to Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist/vocalist Steve Gaines, backing vocalist Cassie Gaines (Steve's older sister), assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary and co-pilot William Gray all died as a result of the crash. Twenty others survived.
The pilots attempted an emergency landing on a small airstrip, but the plane crashed in a forest near Gillsburg, Mississippi.
Cassie Gaines was a member of Lynyrd Skynyrd's backup vocal group "The Honkettes". One of the other members of the group, JoJo Billingsley, was not on the plane and was home sick as she had been planning to join the tour in Little Rock, Arkansas, on October 23. Billingsley has said that she had dreamed of the plane crash and begged Allen Collins by telephone not to continue using it.
Do you remember your first thoughts when you heard of the crash?
RIP Cassie, Steve, Ronnie, Dean, Walter and William. They are as free as a bird now...
Image may contain: tree, outdoor and nature
 

too larry

Well-Known Member
The College of Rock and Roll Knowledge
5 hrs ·
42 years ago today, on October 20, 1977, a Convair CV-240 chartered by Lynyrd Skynyrd ran out of fuel and crashed in Gillsburg, Mississippi, near the end of its flight from Greenville, South Carolina, to Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist/vocalist Steve Gaines, backing vocalist Cassie Gaines (Steve's older sister), assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary and co-pilot William Gray all died as a result of the crash. Twenty others survived.
The pilots attempted an emergency landing on a small airstrip, but the plane crashed in a forest near Gillsburg, Mississippi.
Cassie Gaines was a member of Lynyrd Skynyrd's backup vocal group "The Honkettes". One of the other members of the group, JoJo Billingsley, was not on the plane and was home sick as she had been planning to join the tour in Little Rock, Arkansas, on October 23. Billingsley has said that she had dreamed of the plane crash and begged Allen Collins by telephone not to continue using it.
Do you remember your first thoughts when you heard of the crash?
RIP Cassie, Steve, Ronnie, Dean, Walter and William. They are as free as a bird now...
Image may contain: tree, outdoor and nature
It's hard to explain how big this was in southern rock fans lives. I was 16 at the time. Years later in my first attempt at writing a novel, Lisa, the protagonist was conceived on the afternoon of 10-20-1977.
 

too larry

Well-Known Member
The College of Rock and Roll Knowledge
6 hrs ·
“The most expensive home movie ever made” is how Led Zeppelin manager Peter Grant described ‘The Song Remains The Same’. The concert film premiered 43 years ago tonight in New York. Filmed in 1973, it took another three years of editing, re-shooting of some scenes (which required John Paul Jones to wear a bad wig), the creation of the ‘fantasy’ sequences, and other post-production dramas.
The final product was 18 months behind schedule and way over budget. The soundtrack album didn’t exactly match the performances in the film, which just added to the confusion.
Critics weren’t impressed and lampooned it, but until the film’s official release on DVD almost 30 years later it was really the only decent live visual document of Led Zep available. Consequently it became something of a cult favourite and a regular for midnight screenings at cinemas and drive ins (often paired with Pink Floyd’s ‘Live At Pompeii’).
Have you ever seen this film? and if so, what are your thoughts of it?
Image may contain: 1 person, text
 

too larry

Well-Known Member
The College of Rock and Roll Knowledge


Today we are remembering the late Sandy West, a founding member of and the drummer for The Runaways. We lost Sandy 13 years ago today on Oct. 21, 2006.
It was Sandy who approached producer Kim Fowley with the idea of an all girl real Rock and Roll band. Fowley gave her Joan Jett's phone number and, well you know the rest.
Sandy lost her battle with lung cancer which had spread to her brain.
You are missing by so many Sandy. Rock In Paradise.
Image may contain: 1 person, playing a musical instrument


{sorry, the drummer doesn't get much TV time on this one}
 

too larry

Well-Known Member
The College of Rock and Roll Knowledge
The Who played their final show on their 1976 tour on Oct. 21, of that year at the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. It would end up being the last time Keith Moon would play with them for a paying audience. Keith did perform with the band again in a couple of special shows that were done in a studio for the documentary "The Kids Are Alright."
Did you ever get to see The Who live, with Keith?
Here is some audio from the Toronto show, 43 years ago today.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBPwnJfxznE&fbclid=IwAR1u_vCVNicvMZfOifGklXhZTQgwQe79hh-4YXphPlazoAx5otaGS37xfNY
 

too larry

Well-Known Member
This can't be right. 42 years. Nope.

The College of Rock and Roll Knowledge
Meat Loaf released his second (and first major label) LP "Bat Out of Hell" on Oct. 21, 1977. It is one of the best-selling albums in the history of recorded music, having sold over 43 million copies worldwide. The album has become one of the most influential and iconic albums of all time and its songs have remained classic rock staples.
On the song "Paradise by the Dashboard Light", the sports announcer was Phil Rizzuto (former member of the New York Yankees and later their play-by-play announcer.) As an Italian Catholic, Rizzuto publicly maintained he was unaware that his contribution would be equated with sex in the finished song. However, Meat Loaf asserts that Rizzuto only claimed ignorance to stifle some criticism from a priest and was fully aware of the context of what he was recording.
Do you remember the first time you heard this classic LP? And did any of you ever make the type of commitment made in "Paradise"?
Happy 42nd Birthday to "Bat Out of Hell"!!
No photo description available.


 

Laughing Grass

Well-Known Member
This can't be right. 42 years. Nope.

The College of Rock and Roll Knowledge
Meat Loaf released his second (and first major label) LP "Bat Out of Hell" on Oct. 21, 1977. It is one of the best-selling albums in the history of recorded music, having sold over 43 million copies worldwide. The album has become one of the most influential and iconic albums of all time and its songs have remained classic rock staples.
On the song "Paradise by the Dashboard Light", the sports announcer was Phil Rizzuto (former member of the New York Yankees and later their play-by-play announcer.) As an Italian Catholic, Rizzuto publicly maintained he was unaware that his contribution would be equated with sex in the finished song. However, Meat Loaf asserts that Rizzuto only claimed ignorance to stifle some criticism from a priest and was fully aware of the context of what he was recording.
Do you remember the first time you heard this classic LP? And did any of you ever make the type of commitment made in "Paradise"?
Happy 42nd Birthday to "Bat Out of Hell"!!
No photo description available.


loved his meltdown on celebrity apprentice. Dude takes his craft supplies way too seriously.

 

lokie

Well-Known Member
First parachute jump is made over Paris
Image result for André-Jacques Garnerin



André-Jacques Garnerin, (born Jan. 31, 1769, Paris, France—died Aug. 18, 1823, Paris), French aeronaut, the first person to use a parachute regularly and successfully. He perfected the parachute and made jumps from greater altitudes than had been possible before.

1797 October 22

The first parachute jump of note is made by André-Jacques Garnerin from a hydrogen balloon 3,200 feet above Paris.
Leonardo da Vinci conceived the idea of the parachute in his writings, and the Frenchman Louis-Sebastien Lenormand fashioned a kind of parachute out of two umbrellas and jumped from a tree in 1783, but André-Jacques Garnerin was the first to design and test parachutes capable of slowing a man’s fall from a high altitude.

Garnerin first conceived of the possibility of using air resistance to slow an individual’s fall from a high altitude while a prisoner during the French Revolution. Although he never employed a parachute to escape from the high ramparts of the Hungarian prison where he spent three years, Garnerin never lost interest in the concept of the parachute. In 1797, he completed his first parachute, a canopy 23 feet in diameter and attached to a basket with suspension lines.

On October 22, 1797, Garnerin attached the parachute to a hydrogen balloon and ascended to an altitude of 3,200 feet. He then clambered into the basket and severed the parachute from the balloon. As he failed to include an air vent at the top of the prototype, Garnerin oscillated wildly in his descent, but he landed shaken but unhurt half a mile from the balloon’s takeoff site. In 1799, Garnerin’s wife, Jeanne-Genevieve, became the first female parachutist. In 1802, Garnerin made a spectacular jump from 8,000 feet during an exhibition in England. He died in a balloon accident in 1823 while preparing to test a new parachute.

Not as flashy as the Flying Elvi but still exciting I'm sure.:blsmoke:

 

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
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1983 October 23: A suicide bomber drives a truck packed with explosives into the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241 U.S. military personnel. That same morning, 58 French soldiers were killed in their barracks two miles away in a separate suicide terrorist attack. The U.S. Marines were part of a multinational force sent to Lebanon in August 1982 to oversee the Palestinian withdrawal from Lebanon. From its inception, the mission was plagued with problems–and a mounting body count.

In 1975, a bloody civil war erupted in Lebanon, with Palestinian and leftist Muslim guerrillas battling militias of the Christian Phalange Party, the Maronite Christian community, and other groups. During the next few years, Syrian, Israeli, and United Nations interventions failed to resolve the factional fighting, and on August 20, 1982, a multinational force including 800 U.S. Marines was ordered to Beirut to help coordinate the Palestinian withdrawal.

The Marines left Lebanese territory on September 10 but returned in strengthened numbers on September 29, following the massacre of Palestinian refugees by a Christian militia. The next day, the first U.S. Marine to die during the mission was killed while defusing a bomb. Other Marines fell prey to snipers. On April 18, 1983, a suicide bomber driving a van devastated the U.S. embassy in Beirut, killing 63 people, including 17 Americans. Then, on October 23, a Lebanese terrorist plowed his bomb-laden truck through three guard posts, a barbed-wire fence, and into the lobby of the Marines Corps headquarters in Beirut, where he detonated a massive bomb, killing 241 marine, navy, and army personnel. The bomb, which was made of a sophisticated explosive enhanced by gas, had an explosive power equivalent to 18,000 pounds of dynamite. The identities of the embassy and barracks bombers were not determined, but they were suspected to be Shiite terrorists associated with Iran.

After the barracks bombing, many questioned whether President Ronald Reagan had a solid policy aim in Lebanon. Serious questions also arose over the quality of security in the American sector of war-torn Beirut. The U.S. peacekeeping force occupied an exposed area near the airport, but for political reasons the marine commander had not been allowed to maintain a completely secure perimeter before the attack. In a national address on October 23, President Reagan vowed to keep the marines in Lebanon, but just four months later he announced the end of the American role in the peacekeeping force. On February 26, 1984, the main force of marines left Lebanon, leaving just a small contingent to guard the U.S. embassy in Beirut.
 

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
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USS Enterprise under Kamikaze attack

The Battle of Leyte Gulf is considered to have been the largest naval battle of World War II and is, by some criteria, a contender for the title "largest naval battle in history", with over 200,000 naval personnel involved. It was fought in waters near the Philippine islands of Leyte, Samar, and Luzon, from 23–26 October 1944, between combined American and Australian forces and the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), as part of the invasion of Leyte, which aimed to isolate Japan from the countries it had occupied in Southeast Asia which were a vital source of industrial and oil supplies.

By the time of the battle, Japan had fewer capital ships (aircraft carriers and battleships) left than the Allied forces had total aircraft carriers, underscoring the disparity in force strength at this point in the war. Regardless, the IJN mobilized nearly all of its remaining major naval vessels in an attempt to defeat the Allied invasion, but it was repulsed by the U.S. Navy's Third and Seventh fleets.

The battle consisted of four main separate engagements: the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, the Battle of Surigao Strait, the Battle of Cape Engaño and the Battle off Samar, as well as lesser actions.

This was the first battle in which Japanese aircraft carried out organized kamikaze attacks, and the last naval battle between battleships in history. The IJN suffered heavy losses and never sailed in comparable force thereafter, stranded for lack of fuel in their bases for the rest of the war and were unable to affect the successful Allied invasion of Leyte

In one morning sortie, “Ace of Aces” David McCampbell had shot down nine enemy planes, an unparalleled achievement in American fighter aviation.

 

too larry

Well-Known Member

1983 October 23: A suicide bomber drives a truck packed with explosives into the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241 U.S. military personnel. That same morning, 58 French soldiers were killed in their barracks two miles away in a separate suicide terrorist attack. The U.S. Marines were part of a multinational force sent to Lebanon in August 1982 to oversee the Palestinian withdrawal from Lebanon. From its inception, the mission was plagued with problems–and a mounting body count.

In 1975, a bloody civil war erupted in Lebanon, with Palestinian and leftist Muslim guerrillas battling militias of the Christian Phalange Party, the Maronite Christian community, and other groups. During the next few years, Syrian, Israeli, and United Nations interventions failed to resolve the factional fighting, and on August 20, 1982, a multinational force including 800 U.S. Marines was ordered to Beirut to help coordinate the Palestinian withdrawal.

The Marines left Lebanese territory on September 10 but returned in strengthened numbers on September 29, following the massacre of Palestinian refugees by a Christian militia. The next day, the first U.S. Marine to die during the mission was killed while defusing a bomb. Other Marines fell prey to snipers. On April 18, 1983, a suicide bomber driving a van devastated the U.S. embassy in Beirut, killing 63 people, including 17 Americans. Then, on October 23, a Lebanese terrorist plowed his bomb-laden truck through three guard posts, a barbed-wire fence, and into the lobby of the Marines Corps headquarters in Beirut, where he detonated a massive bomb, killing 241 marine, navy, and army personnel. The bomb, which was made of a sophisticated explosive enhanced by gas, had an explosive power equivalent to 18,000 pounds of dynamite. The identities of the embassy and barracks bombers were not determined, but they were suspected to be Shiite terrorists associated with Iran.

After the barracks bombing, many questioned whether President Ronald Reagan had a solid policy aim in Lebanon. Serious questions also arose over the quality of security in the American sector of war-torn Beirut. The U.S. peacekeeping force occupied an exposed area near the airport, but for political reasons the marine commander had not been allowed to maintain a completely secure perimeter before the attack. In a national address on October 23, President Reagan vowed to keep the marines in Lebanon, but just four months later he announced the end of the American role in the peacekeeping force. On February 26, 1984, the main force of marines left Lebanon, leaving just a small contingent to guard the U.S. embassy in Beirut.
I had flown from Cuba to Hampton Roads and was getting processed out of the Navy when that happened. Had to call Mamma and let her know I was alright.
 

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
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Battle of Agincourt, (October 25, 1415


During the Hundred Years’ War between England and France, Henry V, the young king of England, leads his forces to victory at the Battle of Agincourt in northern France.

Two months before, Henry had crossed the English Channel with 11,000 men and laid siege to Harfleur in Normandy. After five weeks the town surrendered, but Henry lost half his men to disease and battle casualties. He decided to march his army northeast to Calais, where he would meet the English fleet and return to England. At Agincourt, however, a vast French army of 20,000 men stood in his path, greatly outnumbering the exhausted English archers, knights, and men-at-arms.

The battlefield lay on 1,000 yards of open recently plowed ground between two woods, which prevented large-scale maneuvers and thus worked to Henry’s advantage. At 11 a.m. on October 25, the battle commenced. The English stood their ground as French knights, weighed down by their heavy armor, began a slow advance across the muddy battlefield. The French were met by a furious bombardment of artillery from the English archers, who wielded innovative longbows with a range of 250 yards. French cavalrymen tried and failed to overwhelm the English positions, but the archers were protected by a line of pointed stakes. As more and more French knights made their way onto the crowded battlefield, their mobility decreased further, and some lacked even the room to raise their arms and strike a blow. At this point, Henry ordered his lightly equipped archers to rush forward with swords and axes, and the unencumbered Englishmen massacred the French.

Almost 6,000 Frenchmen lost their lives
(the figures vary according to source, bb) during the Battle of Agincourt, while English deaths amounted to just over 400. Regardless, with odds greater than three to one, Henry had won one of the great victories of military history.

Most importantly, the battle was a significant military blow to France and paved the way for further English conquests and successes. The French nobility, weakened by the defeat and divided among themselves, were unable to meet new attacks with effective resistance. Henry managed to subjugate Normandy in 1419, a victory that was followed by the Treaty of Troyes in 1420, which betrothed Henry to King Charles VI’s daughter Catherine and named him heir to the French crown.

The Battle of Agincourt was immortalized by William Shakespeare in his play Henry V.


 

too larry

Well-Known Member
I have office relief today, so driving into town a whole lot earlier than normal. The guys on the Morning Mix on my local NPR station was talking about this. The intern said he was 100% sure this was probably where the term "Nasty" came from, as it was Nast's political cartoons that brought this about.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teapot_Dome_scandal

From wiki wiki. . . .

The Teapot Dome scandal was a bribery scandal involving the administration of United States President Warren G. Harding from 1921 to 1923. Secretary of the Interior Albert Bacon Fall had leased Navy petroleum reserves at Teapot Dome in Wyoming, and two locations in California, to private oil companies at low rates without competitive bidding. The leases were the subject of a seminal investigation by Senator Thomas J. Walsh. Convicted of accepting bribes from the oil companies, Fall became the first presidential cabinet member to go to prison; no one was convicted of paying the bribes.
Before the Watergate scandal, Teapot Dome was regarded as the "greatest and most sensational scandal in the history of American politics".[1] It damaged the reputation of the Harding administration, which was already severely diminished by its controversial handling of the Great Railroad Strike of 1922 and Harding's veto of the Bonus Bill in 1922.[2] Congress subsequently passed legislation, enduring to this day, giving subpoena power to House and Senate for review of tax records of any US citizen without regard to elected or appointed position, nor subject to White House interference.[3]
 
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