All Things in Moderation

2003 – At 4:10pm, power across 8 US states and parts of Canada goes out, resulting in the second most widespread blackout in history. The blackout extends from Massachusetts all the way to Michigan and into Ontario, Canada, effecting more than 55 million people across the two countries. Although power is restored to some areas by 11pm, it takes 2 days for power to be fully restored to all areas. An investigation later reveals that it was triggered simply by lines in Ohio coming into contact with trees, and a faulty alarm system that failed to promptly alert technicians to transfer power from the overloaded lines, resulting in a cascading overload that eventually brought down the whole system. I was in London at the time, but my colleagues often reminisce about the night they slept in the office because it was the only place that had power (backup generator) and hence AC in the 90 degree heat.

1994 – Illich Ramirez Sanchez, a Venezuelan terrorist more commonly known as Carlos the Jackal, is finally captured after more than 20 years of terrorist activity across Europe and the Middle East. Implicated in a number of assassination attempts, hostage takings, and bombings, Sanchez is eventually tried and imprisoned in France for the 1975 murder of two Paris policemen and Michel Moukharbal, a Mossad agent who had identified Sanchez to the policemen. With the assistance of local authorities, Sanchez was captured in Sudan, where he had been given asylum after being expelled from Syria in 1991. After a minor operation, Sanchez was tranquilized by his bodyguards while he slept, and handed over to the French. He remains in a French prison, his most recent appeal having been denied on June 26, 2013.

1935 – President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs into law the Federal Ponzi Scheme Social Security Act. The act provides benefits to both retirees and the unemployed, to be funded by a special payroll tax imposed on both employees and employers. It is a bold assertion of heretofore unknown federal power, but legal challenges are eventually defeated in a SCOTUS 5-4 decision, one of several decisions to uphold New Deal legislative efforts that reversed an earlier trend of New Deal courtroom defeats, a reversal that coincidentally came after Roosevelt proposed legislation that would allow him to essentially pack the Supreme Court with his own justices, diluting the power of the sitting justices.

1945 – Word of Japan’s impending surrender to the Allies sparks a coup in Japan, with over 1,000 Japanese troops storming the Imperial Palace in an attempt to prevent the surrender proclamation from being announced. Troops loyal to the Emperor repulse the attacks, and the Emperor delivers the proclamation the following day. (More on which tomorrow!)

1765 – Colonists gather on the corner of Essex Street and Orange Street (later Washington Street) under an Elm tree in Boston to protest the passage of the Stamp Act, an act of the British Parliament that required colonists to purchase a British stamp for every official document obtained. The protestors hung an effigy of the local stamp-duty collector in the tree, the first public act of defiance for those who would later call themselves “Sons of Liberty” (sexists that they were), and the beginnings of the movement that would grow into the American independence movement and eventually the American Revolution. The tree, from then on to be named the Liberty Tree, became a symbol of American protest against the British, but would eventually be cut down by loyalists in 1775 when the Continental Army laid siege to the British occupied city.

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August 13 is an incredibly boring day in history. Only a couple of things worthy of note.

1982 – Cameron Crowe’s Fast Times at Ridgemont High opens in theaters across the nation. Based on Crowe’s book of the same name chronicling his undercover experiences in a San Diego high school, the film features a slew of soon-to-be household names, including Nicholas Cage, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Forest Whitaker, Phoebe Cates, Anthony Edwards, Judge Rheinhold, and most famously Sean Penn as the stoner Jeff Spicoli.

1925 – Cuban strongman Fidel Castro is born in the eastern Cuban province of Oriente. Castro will successfully lead the overthrow of the Batista government in 1959, and will survive as the dictator of Cuba until he steps down, passing power to his brother, in 2008.

1899 – Legendary film director Alfred Hitchcock is born in London. Hitchcock is best known for his suspense-thrillers as well as for his unique use of camera angles and editing techniques in order to build tension. Hitchcock also makes quick cameo appearances in all of his films, making for an interesting game of trying to find where he appears in each film. See if you can find Alfred in the opening credits of North by Northwest.

1521 – After a 3 month siege, Hernan Cortes and his Spanish conquistadors finally capture the capitol of the Aztec empire, Tenochtitlan. The fall of the city effectively marks the end of the Aztec Empire, which lasted just under 100 years.

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1988 – Martin Scorcese’s film The Last Temptation of Christ is released. Based on a 1953 book of the same name, the film is hugely controversial for its departure from the Biblical account of Jesus’ life as told by the four gospels, and in particular a scene in which Jesus consummates his imagined marriage to Mary Magdelene. Sparking many protests, including some violence (most notably in France) several theater chains refuse to screen the film, and even after it is released on video, many video stores, including Blockbuster Video, will not carry it. Despite the controversy (or perhaps because of it) Scorsese receives an Academy Award nomination for Best Director.

1981 – IBM issues a press release announcing the introduction of its first ever personal computer. The IBM 5150 comes with 4.7 MHz CPU, 64k RAM, 0 MB fixed disk, and a floppy disk drive (remember floppy disks?!?!), and sells for about $3,000. By 2009, for the equivalent inflation adjusted price (roughly $7,000), you can get a 15,400 MHz CPU, 12,000,000 KB RAM, 5.5 million MP fixed disk, and a blue-ray DVD burner as a removable drive.

1978 – In a meaningless pre-season game between the New England Patriots and the Oakland Raiders, wide receiver Daryl Stingley is paralyzed from the neck down after getting hit by Jack Tatum when stretching for a pass on a cross pattern. The hit, which leaves Stingley unconscious on the field, broke his neck between the 4th and 5th cervical vertebrae, leaving him a quadriplegic for the rest of his life. Stingley died in 2007.

1961 – On the night of August 12 and continuing into the morning hours of the next day, in an attempt to stop the flow of citizens to the west, East Germany begins stringing barbed wire and posting sentries at all points of entry into West Berlin from East Germany, completely isolating West Berlin. This marks the beginning of the building of what will come to be a classic symbol of the Cold War, the Berlin Wall. The Wall becomes the site of many iconic Cold War moments, including JFK’s “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech, Ronald Reagan’s “Tear down this wall” speech, and this classic photo of an East German border guard effecting his own escape:

1944 – Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., a Naval Aviator and son of former US ambassador to the United Kingdom Joseph Kennedy Sr., is killed over England when the bomb his plane is carrying detonates prematurely. Kennedy was being groomed by his father for a political career, with the White House being the ultimate goal. His death sets the stage for his younger brother, John, to become the standard bearer of Kennedy Sr.’s political ambitions.

1908 – The first production model of Henry Ford’s Model T automobile is produced. The Model T is the first automobile mass produced on an assembly line with interchangeable parts and marketed to the middle class. The first Model T sold for $850, the equivalent of approximately $20,000 today, and revolutionized transportation, making car travel accessible to the ordinary person for the first time.

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1999 – A very rare tornado rips through downtown Salt Lake City killing one, injuring 100, and causing over $170 million in damages. According to the National Weather service this is the first major tornado ever to hit a major urban downtown district, with buildings over 500 feet tall being effected. Vice President Al Gore blames global warming.

1994 – Major League baseball players go on strike, resulting in the longest work stoppage in the history of MLB, the cancellation of the 1994 season, and the first time since 1904 that a World Series champion is not crowned. The stoppage extends until the eve of the 1995 season, but with owners preparing to field teams of replacement players, future Supreme Court justice Judge Sonia Sotomayor issues an injunction against the owners, and players subsequently agree to end the strike. I wonder if this was the kind of situation in which a wise Latina woman was positioned to make a “better” decision than those dreaded white males.

1988 – Osama Bin Laden and other mujahideen fighters from the Afghanistan war against the Soviet Union meet in Peshawar, Pakistan to discuss expanding their efforts to Islamist movements in other parts of the world. The result of the meeting is the formation of an organization called Al Qaeda.

1984 – While performing a microphone test prior to a radio address, President Ronald Reagan jokes that he “signed legislation that would outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in 5 minutes.” The joke is recorded and later revealed to the public. Portrayed as at best an embarrassing political gaffe and at worst an indication of Reagan’s warmongering inclinations, the American electorate doesn’t seem to care as Reagan goes on 3 months later to get re-elected, trouncing Walter Mondale and winning 49 of 50 states.

1973 – George Lucas’ American Graffiti, opens in theaters across the country. Transforming child actor Ron Howard into a legitimate adult star, it also launches the careers of Richard Dreyfus and Harrison Ford. Also notable for a cameo appearance by Suzanne Somers as the mysterious blonde in the T-Bird.

1965 – In Los Angeles a scuffle breaks out between a black motorist and a white police officer following a traffic stop for suspected DUI, sparking a reaction from the predominantly black neighborhood of Watts that grows into a six-day race riot, leaving 34 dead, over 1,000 injured and more than $40 million in property damage. The rioting eventually encompasses a 50 square mile area of South Central LA with over 30,000 people participating in looting, arson, and sniper shooting at police and firefighters. Peace is finally restored 6 days later after the National Guard is called in.

1919 – A new constitution is adopted by the national assembly in Weimar, Germany, beginning the 14 year existence of the Weimar Republic. Weimar is marked by great political turmoil including the rise of Adolf Hitler, but is perhaps most notable historically for its experience of hyper-inflation during its early years. Unable to pay its debts and war reparations, the government simply prints more and more money, resulting eventually in daily and even hourly hikes in prices of goods and services throughout Germany. Paper money becomes so worthless that it is cheaper to burn it in fireplaces and stoves than to use it to buy wood to burn.

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1988 – 43 years after the end of World War II, President Reagan signs a bill providing payments of $20,000 to Japanese-Americans interned during the war. The payment is the equivalent of roughly $25 per day interned.

1984 – During the women’s 3,000 meter race at the Los Angeles Olympics, American and favorite Mary Decker trips on the heel of Britain Zola Budd, ending her quest for gold and producing an iconic photo of the agony of Olympic defeat.

1984 – The movie Red Dawn is released, notable not only for its cast filled with young, future stars such as Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, Lea Thompson and Jennifer Grey, but also for being the first movie ever released with a PG-13 rating. A Cold War classic, it was re-made last year.

1977 – Postal employee and serial killer David Berkowitz, aka Son of Sam, is finally arrested in Yonkers, New York after killing six and wounding seven in a series of shootings that took place over the course of a year. Berkowitz says his neighbor’s dog, possessed by a demon, told him to do it.

1948 – Allen Funt’s “Candid Camera” debut’s on ABC television. Originally a radio show called Candid Microphone, Funt’s television show would continue to be produced, either as a regular feature or as a periodic special, until 2004. When I lived in England the BBC broadcast an edgier Candid Camera-like show called Trigger Happy TV, which I thought was hilarious.

1846 – President James K. Polk signs the law establishing the Smithsonian Institution.

1792 – Mobs in Paris attack Tuileries Palace, home of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, forcing the King to take shelter in the Legislative Assembly. The attack marks the effective end to the Bourbon monarchy, as Louis was a arrested 3 days later, tried, and eventually executed.

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1988 – After 4 consecutive Stanley Cups, 8 consecutive MVP awards, and a list of scoring records that would make Michael Jordan envious, the reigning champion Edmonton Oilers shock the hockey world by trading Wayne Gretzky, the greatest player ever to play the game, to the Los Angeles Kings for $15 million. As part of the trade Gretsky demands that teammates Marty McSorley and Mike Krushelnyski be traded along with him. Marty McSorely – what a great name, and not just because of his namesake.

1976 – The USSR launches Luna 24, the last space craft to land on the moon to date, making the USSR responsible for both the first and last man-made crafts to land on the moon, both of which were unmanned. In the interim, however, the US managed a few successes of its own. And had more fun doing it.

1969 – Actress Sharon Tate (wife of Roman Polanksi), and 3 friends including Abigail Folger, heiress to the Folger Coffee fortune, are brutally murdered in Tate’s Benedict Canyon mansion. The murders are perpetrated by members of Charles Manson’s cultish “family” at his behest, in a bizarre attempt to spark a race war which, according to Manson, was prophesied in the songs of The Beatles. I first read about the murders as a young teenager in the book Helter Skelter by Manson prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi. I became totally fascinated with the story, and eventually with true crime stories in general.

1945 – U.S. drops the 2nd atomic bomb “Fat Man” on the city of Nagasaki, killing a reported 60,000 – 80,000 people. Following on the heels of the first use of an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima 3 days earlier, the bombing effectively puts an end to Japanese resistance, and within the week Japan surrenders unconditionally, finally ending WWII. Almost 70 years later debates continue to rage over whether the use of the bomb was justified.

1936 – Jesse Owens wins the last of his 4 gold medals at the Berlin Olympics, a well deserved poke in the eye of Adolf Hitler and his Aryan master race fantasies. Although apparently Owens did make good friends with one of his toughest German competitors.

1790 – The trading ship Columbia returns to Boston after a 3 year journey, the first ship to carry the U.S. flag around the world.

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