Oh Yeah...and Me!

On this day in history - April 30th
(lifted from Wikipedia)

My personal favorite is 1945 - Hitler and Eva Braun committ suicide and Russia raises the victory banner over the Reichstad.

311 – The Diocletianic Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire ends.

313 – Battle of Tzirallum: Emperor Licinius defeats Maximinus II and unifies the Eastern Roman Empire.

1315 – Enguerrand de Marigny is hanged on the public gallows at Montfaucon.

1492 – Spain gives Christopher Columbus his commission of exploration.

1513 – Edmund de la Pole, Yorkist pretender to the English throne, is executed on the orders of Henry VIII.

1557 – Mapuche leader Lautaro is killed by Spanish forces at the Battle of Mataquito in Chile.

1598 – Juan Oñate makes a formal declaration of his Conquest of New Mexico.

1671 – Petar Zrinski, the Croatian Ban from the Zrinski family, is executed.

1789 – On the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York City, George Washington takes the oath of office to become the first elected President of the United States.

1803 – Louisiana Purchase: The United States purchases the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million, more than doubling the size of the young nation.

1812 – The Territory of Orleans becomes the 18th U.S. state under the name Louisiana.

1838 – Nicaragua declares independence from the Central American Federation.

1863 – A 65-man French Foreign Legion infantry patrol fights a force of nearly 2,000 Mexican soldiers to nearly the last man in Hacienda Camarón, Mexico.

1871 – The Camp Grant Massacre takes place in Arizona Territory.

1885 – Governor of New York David B. Hill signs legislation creating the Niagara Reservation, New York's first state park, ensuring that Niagara Falls will not be devoted solely to industrial and commercial use.

1894 – Coxey's Army reaches Washington, D.C. to protest the unemployment caused by the Panic of 1893.

1900 – Hawaii becomes a territory of the United States, with Sanford B. Dole as governor.

1900 – Casey Jones dies in a train wreck in Vaughn, Mississippi, while trying to make up time on the Cannonball Express.

1904 – The Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's Fair opens in St. Louis, Missouri.

1907 – Honolulu, Hawaii becomes an independent city.

1920 – Peru becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.

1925 – Automaker Dodge Brothers, Inc is sold to Dillon, Read & Company for $146 million plus $50 million for charity.

1927 – The Federal Industrial Institute for Women opens in Alderson, West Virginia, as the first women's federal prison in the United States.

1927 – Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford become the first celebrities to leave their footprints in concrete at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood.

1937 – The Philippines holds a plebiscite for Filipino women on whether they should be extended the right to suffrage; over 90% would vote in the affirmative.

1938 – The animated cartoon short Porky's Hare Hunt debuts in movie theaters, introducing Happy Rabbit (a prototype of Bugs Bunny).

1938 – The first televised FA Cup Final takes place between Huddersfield Town and Preston North End.

1939 – The 1939-40 New York World's Fair opens.

1939 – NBC inaugurates its regularly scheduled television service in New York City, broadcasting President Franklin D. Roosevelt's N.Y. World's Fair opening day ceremonial address.

1943 – World War II: Operation Mincemeat: The submarine HMS Seraph surfaces in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Spain to deposit a dead man planted with false invasion plans and dressed as a British military intelligence officer.

1945 – World War II: Führerbunker: Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun commit suicide after being married for one day. Soviet soldiers raise the Victory Banner over the Reichstag building.

1947 – In Nevada, the Boulder Dam is renamed the Hoover Dam a second time.

1948 – In Bogotá, Colombia, the Organization of American States is established.

1953 – In Warner Robins, Georgia, an F4 tornado kills 18 people.

1956 – Former Vice President and Senator Alben Barkley dies during a speech in Virginia. He collapses after proclaiming "I would rather be a servant in the house of the lord than sit in the seats of the mighty."

1961 – K-19, the first Soviet nuclear submarine equipped with nuclear missiles, is commissioned.

1963 – The Bristol Bus Boycott is held in Bristol to protest the Bristol Omnibus Company's refusal to employ Black or Asian bus crews, drawing national attention to racial discrimination in the United Kingdom.
1966 – The Church of Satan is established at the Black House in San Francisco, California.

1967 – The Aldene Connection opened in Roselle Park, NJ, shutting down the CNJ's Jersey City waterfront terminal and transferring commuters to Newark Penn Station.

1973 – Watergate Scandal: U.S. President Richard Nixon announces that top White House aides H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman and others have resigned.

1975 – Fall of Saigon: Communist forces gain control of Saigon. The Vietnam War formally ends with the unconditional surrender of South Vietnamese president Duong Van Minh.

1980 – Accession of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.

1982 – Bijon Setu massacre

1993 – CERN announces World Wide Web protocols will be free.

1993 – Monica Seles is stabbed by Günter Parche, an obsessed fan, during a quarterfinal match of the 1993 Citizen Cup in Hamburg, Germany

1994 – Formula One racing driver Roland Ratzenberger is killed in a crash at the San Marino Grand Prix run at Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari outside Imola, Italy.

1995 – U.S. President Bill Clinton becomes the first President to visit Northern Ireland.

1999 – Cambodia joins the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bringing the number of members to 10.

2004 – U.S. media release graphic photos of American soldiers abusing and sexually humiliating Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.

2008 – Two skeletal remains found near Ekaterinburg, Russia are confirmed by Russian scientists to be the remains of Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia and Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, one of his sisters.

2009 – Chrysler files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

2009 – Seven people are killed and 17 injured at a Queen's Day parade in Apeldoorn, Netherlands in an attempted assassination on Queen Beatrix.

2009 – Azerbaijan State Oil Academy shootings 12 people were killed(students and staff members) by an armed attacker.

2013 – Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands abdicates and Willem Alexander is invested as King of the Netherlands.

Births

1245 – Philip III of France (d. 1285)

1331 – Gaston III, Count of Foix (d. 1391)

1553 – Louise of Lorraine (d. 1601)

1623 – François de Laval, French bishop (d. 1708)

1651 – Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, French educational reformer and Catholic saint (d. 1719)

1662 – Mary II of England (d. 1694)

1664 – François Louis, Prince of Conti, French general (d. 1709)

1710 – Johann Kaspar Basselet von La Rosée, Bavarian general (d. 1795)

1723 – Mathurin Jacques Brisson, French naturalist (d. 1806)

1770 – David Thompson, Canadian explorer (d. 1857)

1777 – Carl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician (d. 1855)

1803 – Albrecht von Roon, Prussian soldier and statesman, 10th Prime Minister of Prussia (d. 1879)

1812 – Kaspar Hauser, German mystery boy (d. 1833)

1829 – Ferdinand von Hochstetter, Austrian geologist (d. 1884)

1850 – George Gibb, British transport administrator (d. 1925)

1857 – Eugen Bleuler, Swiss psychiatrist (d. 1940)

1857 – Walter Simon, German philanthropist (d. 1920)

1864 – Jean, duc Decazes, French aristocrat and sportsman (d. 1912)

1864 – Juhan Liiv, Estonian poet (d. 1913)

1865 – Max Nettlau, German anarchist and historian (d. 1944)

1869 – Hans Poelzig, German architect, painter, and set designer (d. 1936)

1870 – Franz Lehár, Austrian composer (d. 1948)

1870 – Dadasaheb Phalke, Father of Indian Cinema (d.1944)

1874 – Cyriel Verschaeve, Flemish clergyman (d. 1949)

1876 – Orso Mario Corbino, Italian physicist (d. 1937)

1877 – Alice B. Toklas, American businesswoman (d. 1967)

1877 – Léon Flameng, French cyclist (d. 1917)

1880 – Charles Exeter Devereux Crombie, Scottish cartoonist (d. 1967)

1883 – Jaroslav Hašek, Czech novelist (d. 1923)

1884 – Olof Sandborg, Swedish film and theatre actor (d. 1965)

1893 – Joachim von Ribbentrop, German Nazi foreign minister (d. 1946)

1895 – Philippe Panneton, Canadian physician, diplomat, and writer (d. 1960)

1896 – Hans List, Austrian inventor and entrepreneur (d. 1996)

1896 – Reverend Gary Davis, American singer and guitarist (d. 1972)

1897 – Humberto Mauro, Brazilian director and screenwriter (d. 1983)

1900 – David Manners, Canadian-American actor (d. 1998)

1901 – Simon Kuznets, Ukrainian economist, Nobel laureate (d. 1985)

1902 – Theodore Schultz, American economist, Nobel laureate (d. 1998)

1905 – Sergey Nikolsky, Russian mathematician (d. 2012)

1908 – Eve Arden, American actress (d. 1990)

1908 – Bjarni Benediktsson, Icelandic politician, Prime Minister of Iceland (d. 1970)

1908 – Frank Robert Miller, Canadian airman and politician (d. 1997)

1909 – Juliana of the Netherlands (d. 2004)

1909 – F. E. McWilliam, Irish sculptor (d. 1992)

1910 – Srirangam Srinivasarao, Telugu poet and lyricist (d. 1983)

1910 – Levi Celerio, Filipino composer and lyricist (d. 2002)

1914 – Dorival Caymmi, Brazilian singer-songwriter, actor, and painter (d. 2008)

1916 – Claude Shannon, American engineer and mathematician (d. 2001)

1916 – Robert Shaw, American conductor (d. 1999)

1920 – Duncan Hamilton, English racing driver (d. 1994)

1921 – Tove Maës, Danish actress (d. 2010)

1923 – Percy Heath, American jazz musician (Modern Jazz Quartet) (d. 2005)

1923 – Al Lewis, American actor (d. 2006)

1923 – Francis Tucker, South African race car driver (d. 2008)

1923 – Kagamisato Kiyoji, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 42nd Yokozuna (d. 2004)

1925 – Corinne Calvet, French actress (d. 2001)

1925 – Johnny Horton, American singer and musician (d. 1960)

1926 – Shrinivas Khale, Indian composer/music director from Maharashtra, India (d. 2011)

1926 – Cloris Leachman, American actress

1928 – Hugh Hood, Canadian author (d. 2000)

1930 – Félix Guattari, French philosopher and theorist (d. 1992)

1933 – Dickie Davies, English television presenter

1933 – Willie Nelson, American singer-songwriter, musician, actor, and activist

1934 – Jerry Lordan, English singer-songwriter and composer (d. 1995)

1934 – Don McKenney, Canadian ice hockey player

1938 – Juraj Jakubisko, Slovak director

1938 – Gary Collins, American actor (d. 2012)

1938 – Larry Niven, American author

1940 – Burt Young, American actor

1941 – Stavros Dimas, Greek politician

1941 – Johnny Farina, American musician and composer (Santo & Johnny)

1943 – Frederick Chiluba, Zambian politician, 2nd President of Zambia (d. 2011)

1943 – Bobby Vee, American singer

1944 – Jill Clayburgh, American actress (d. 2010)

1945 – Annie Dillard, American writer

1945 – Mimi Fariña, American singer-songwriter, musician, and activist (d. 2001)

1945 – Michael J. Smith, American astronaut (d. 1986)

1946 – Lee Bollinger, American lawyer and educator

1946 – Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden

1946 – Don Schollander, American swimmer

1946 – Bill Plympton, American animator

1947 – Leslie Grantham, English actor

1947 – Finn Kalvik, Norwegian singer and composer

1947 – Tom Køhlert, Danish footballer

1947 – Manousos Manousakis, Greek director and producer

1947 – Mats Odell, Swedish politician

1948 – Perry King, American actor

1948 – Alexander Onassis, American Greek socialite, son of Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis (d. 1973)

1948 – Pierre Pagé, Canadian ice hockey coach and executive

1949 – Phil Garner, American baseball manager

1949 – António Guterres, Portuguese politician, Prime Minister of Portugal

1952 – Jacques Audiard, French director

1953 – Merrill Osmond, American actor and singer (The Osmonds)

1954 – Thom Bray, American actor

1954 – Jane Campion, New Zealand director

1954 – Frank-Michael Marczewski, German footballer

1955 – Nicolas Hulot, French journalist

1955 – Dimitra Liani, Greek air hostess, widow of Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou

1956 – Lars von Trier, Danish director

1957 – Aviva Chomsky, American historian, daughter of Noam Chomsky

1958 – Charles Berling, French actor, director and screenwriter

1959 – Paul Gross, Canadian actor, director, and writer

1959 – Stephen Harper, Canadian politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Canada

1959 – W. Thomas Smith, Jr, American author and columnist

1960 – Kerry Healey, American politician

1960 – David Miscavige, American leader of the Church of Scientology

1961 – Isiah Thomas, American basketball player

1963 – Stefan Kisyov, Bulgarian novelist

1963 – Michael Waltrip, American race car driver

1964 – Tony Fernandes, Malaysian entrepreneur

1964 – Ian Healy, Australian cricketer

1964 – Kent James, American singer-songwriter, actor, and actvist

1964 – Barrington Levy, Jamaican singer and musician

1965 – Adrian Pasdar, American actor

1965 – The T-Dude, American blogger and general whiner

1966 – Jeff Brown, Canadian ice hockey player

1966 – Dave Meggett, American football player

1967 – Steven Mackintosh, English actor

1969 – Paulo Jr., Brazilian musician (Sepultura)

1969 – Warren Defever, American musician and composer (His Name Is Alive)

1971 – John Boyne, Irish novelist

1971 – Darren Emerson, English DJ (Underworld)

1972 – JR Richards, American singer-songwriter, and musician (Dishwalla)

1973 – Kinna McInroe, American actress

1973 – Jeff Timmons, American singer and producer (98 Degrees)

1975 – Michael Chaturantabut, Thai-American actor

1975 – Johnny Galecki, American actor

1975 – Tomi Joutsen, Finnish metal vocalist (Amorphis)

1975 – Elliott Sadler, American race car driver

1976 – Amanda Palmer, American singer-songwriter, and musician (The Dresden Dolls and Evelyn Evelyn)

1977 – Jeannie Haddaway, American politician

1977 – Alexandra Holden, American actress

1977 – Pell James, American actress

1978 – Tom Fulp, American video game programmer

1979 – Gerardo Torrado, Mexican footballer

1980 – Jeroen Verhoeven, Dutch footballer

1980 – Luis Scola, Argentinian basketball player

1981 – Nicole Kaczmarski, American basketball player

1981 – John O'Shea, Irish footballer

1981 – Emma Pierson, English actress

1981 – Kunal Nayyar, Indian-English actor

1982 – Lloyd Banks, American rapper (G-Unit)

1982 – Kirsten Dunst, American actress

1982 – Cleo Higgins, English singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress (Cleopatra)

1982 – Drew Seeley, Canadian singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor

1983 – Tatjana Hüfner, German luger

1983 – Marina Tomić, Slovenian athlete

1983 – Troy Williamson, American football player

1984 – Shawn Daivari, American wrestler and manager

1984 – Lee Roache, English footballer

1985 – Ashley Alexandra Dupré, American call girl, columnist, and singer

1985 – Gal Gadot, Israeli actress and model

1985 – Brandon Bass, American basketball player

1986 – Dianna Agron, American actress, singer, and dancer

1987 – Alipate Carlile, Australian rules footballer

1987 – Rohit Sharma, Indian cricketer

1987 – Nikki Webster, Australian singer

1988 – Andy Allen, Australian chef and winner of Masterchef Australia season 4

1989 – Jang Wooyoung, South Korean singer (2PM)

1992 – Marc-André ter Stegen, German footballer

2002 – Miguel Urdangarín y de Borbón

Florist, Hairdresser, Dancer, Fashion Designer...

Why couldn't it be a big, mean, scary defensive end with a reputation for hurting people? 

Nope, just like so many other entertainment products, the NFL may cast itself with a stereotype.  The first openly gay player could very well be former Middle Tennessee State kicker Alan Gendreau.  That's right, a kicker.

Most of the players in NFL don't even regard kickers as football players.  Hell, there is only one player in the Pro Football Hall of Fame who got in as a place kicker. That's right, of the more than 265 players in the Hall of Fame, Jan Stenerud is the only inductee who played solely as a place kicker. 

Most football players see kickers as an unfortunate necessity, the little guy with the wierd name whose uniform never seems to get dirty and spends most of his time on the sideline with the cheerleaders but never talks to them.

In other words, they are the super neat, better dressed guy who never really seems to sweat and who doesn't seem to notice the hot chicks right next to him.

If that isn't playing to a stereotype, I sure as hell don't know what is.

Openly gay former college kicker Alan Gendreau trying to get in NFL

Boston

What the Fuck? I hope they catch the cowards and put them in a cell with a 12-inch ass monger and throw away the key.

"We are conservative around here. That's just the way of this town."

Just because you are a small town doesn't mean you have the right to discriminate against gays. The only place in the country where you have the right to be a bigot is in your creepy, conservative compound where you clean your guns and wait for the Rapture.  Inside those walls, you can be as big an asshat as you want.  But out here in the real world, the rest of us demand to be treated equally, regardless of race, creed, or sexual orientation.

Plans for prom barring gays rocks Ind. community - Associated Press

Can't Win? Change the Rules, it's the Republican Way!

Regardless of your political affiliation, if you are a supporter of fair elections, if you believe that the person with the most votes should win, if you are believer in democracy, then you have little choice than to condemn the recent actions of the Republican party.

Still reading?

Good.

The Republicans are unhappy with the last Presidential election.  They wanted to win.  Unfortunately for them, more people voted for President Obama.  In fact, President Obama won the national popular vote by nearly five million votes. A pretty firm margin of victory by any accounting.

But that still doesn't satisfy the Republican party. You know those guys, the white dudes who love tax breaks for the rich and are constantly trying to keep traditionally Democratic voters from casting ballots.

But since those tactics didn't work, they want to follow Josef Stalin's advice ( "You know, comrades,... I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this — who will count the votes, and how.") and are now trying to change the way that votes are counted. 

The tool they are using is the U.S. Constitution itself.  In Article 2, Section 1, the U.S. Constitution states:

Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.

That means the way that the electors are allocated to candidates in each of the states is determined by the states themselves, not the Federal Government.  All but two states are "winner take all".  You win the popular vote in that state, you win all their votes in the Electoral College.

The exceptions are Maine and Nebraska. In those states only two of their electoral votes go to the candidate who wins the popular vote.  Each additional electoral vote goes to the candidate with the most votes in each congressional district.

The Republicans crunched the post-election numbers and suddenly fell in love with this idea.  You know why?  Because if this was the method used in the rest of the country for the 2012 election, we would all be talking about the recent inauguration of President Romney. That right, President Romney, even though he was nearly five million votes short in the national popular vote.

In its simplest terms, the Republicans want to take the Presidential election out of the hands of the voters and put it in the hands of those gerrymandering hacks who redraw congressional districts every 10 years to gain political advantage.    In the end I honestly don't care what political party you belong to just as long as you have the sense of fairness, the moral fiber to proclaim that in a democracy, the person with the most votes should win. These guys a shameless and need to be stopped.

GEEK ALERT --

A footnote: Am I the only one who heard/read about the Republican's attempts and thought of the Kobayashi Maru simulation and Captain Kirk's unique approach to solving it?

Saavik: "Sir, may I ask you a question?"

Kirk: "What's on your mind, Lieutenant?"

Saavik: "The Kobayashi Maru, sir."

Kirk: "Are you asking me if we're playing out that scenario now?"

Saavik: "On the test, sir. Will you tell me what you did? I would really like to know."

McCoy: "Lieutenant, you are looking at the only Starfleet cadet who ever beat the no-win scenario."

Saavik: "How?"

Kirk: "I reprogrammed the simulation so it was possible to rescue the ship."

Saavik: "What?"

David: "He cheated."

Kirk: "I changed the conditions of the test. Got a commendation for original thinking. I don't like to lose."

Hey Republican Party!  I know Jim Kirk.  Jim Kirk is a hero of mine.  Let me tell you, you are no Jim Kirk.

To Quote Colonel Potter...

“Here’s to the new year. May she be a damn sight better than the old one..."