Peristiwa Dunia, Mitos & Sejarah

punkerzoe

Oct 9, 1967:
Che Guevara is executed

                On this day in 1967, socialist revolutionary and guerilla leader Che Guevara, age 39, is killed by the Bolivian army. The U.S.-military-backed Bolivian forces captured Guevara on October 8 while battling his band of guerillas in Bolivia and assassinated him the following day. His hands were cut off as proof of death and his body was buried in an unmarked grave. In 1997, Guevara's remains were found and sent back to Cuba, where they were reburied in a ceremony attended by President Fidel Castro and thousands of Cubans.


Ernesto Rafael Guevara de la Serna was born to a well-off family in Argentina in 1928. While studying medicine at the University of Buenos Aires, he took time off to travel around South America on a motorcycle; during this time, he witnessed the poverty and oppression of the lower classes. He received a medical degree in 1953 and continued his travels around Latin America, becoming involved with left-wing organizations. In the mid 1950s, Guevara met up with Fidel Castro and his group of exiled revolutionaries in Mexico.  Guevara played a key role in Castro's seizure of power from Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959 and later served as Castro's right-hand man and minister of industry. Guevara strongly opposed U.S. domination in Latin America and advocated peasant-based revolutions to combat social injustice in Third World countries. Castro later described him as "an artist of revolutionary warfare."


Guevara resigned—some say he was dismissed—from his Cuban government post in April 1965, possibly over differences with Castro about the nation’s economic and foreign policies. Guevara then disappeared from Cuba, traveled to Africa and eventually resurfaced in Bolivia, where he was killed.  Following his death, Guevara achieved hero status among people around the world as a symbol of anti-imperialism and revolution. A 1960 photo taken by Alberto Korda of Guevara in a beret became iconic and has since appeared on countless posters and T-shirts. However, not everyone considers Guevara a hero: He is accused, among other things, of ordering the deaths of hundreds of people in Cuban prisons during the revolution.

source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

            

punkerzoe

Oct 10, 2004:
Superman Christopher Reeve dies at age 52

                On this day in 2004, the actor Christopher Reeve, who became famous for his starring role in four Superman films, dies from heart failure at the age of 52 at a hospital near his home in Westchester County, New York. Reeve, who was paralyzed in a 1995 horse-riding accident, was a leading advocate for spinal cord research.


  Christopher Reeve was born on September 25, 1952, in New York City, and graduated from Cornell University and the Juilliard School. He made his Broadway debut in 1976 in A Matter of Gravity, starring Katharine Hepburn. The 6’4” actor shot to fame in 1978 when he was selected over some 200 other actors for the lead in Superman. Although he would play the action hero in three more films, Reeve was determined to “escape the cape” and avoid being typecast. As a result, he took on a variety of stage and screen roles. His film credits included Somewhere in Time (1980), Deathtrap (1983), The Remains of the Day (1993) and Village of the Damned (1995).


  On May 27, 1995, Reeve, a strong athlete and avid horseman, was left paralyzed from the neck down after being thrown from his horse and breaking his neck during an equestrian competition in Virginia. The actor then became a crusader for people with spinal cord injuries and also lobbied for government funding of embryonic stem-cell research. During a speech at the 1996 Academy Awards, Reeve urged the Hollywood community to make more movies about social issues. In addition to his fundraising and advocacy work, Reeve wrote two books about his life experiences and continued his acting career. In 1997, he made his directorial debut with HBO’s In the Gloaming, which was nominated for five Emmy Awards, and in 1999, he starred in a remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic thriller Rear Window. In 2004, Reeve directed A&E’s The Brooke Ellison Story, a movie based on a true story about the first quadriplegic to graduate from Harvard University.


  In 2000, Reeve, who maintained an intensive physical therapy regime since the time of his accident, was able to move his index finger. He stated publicly that he was determined to walk again. In Reeve’s New York Times obituary, one of the doctors who treated him said: “Before [Reeve] there was really no hope. If you had a spinal cord injury like his there was not much that could be done, but he’s changed all that, he’s demonstrated that there is hope and that there are things that can be done.”

source: http://www.history.com/this-day- ... eeve-dies-at-age-52

              

jarikuku

HARI INI DALAM SEJARAH - Perisytiharan Bandaraya Shah Alam

Pada hari ini dalam tahun 2000, YAB Menteri Besar Selangor Dato' Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo, telah mengisytiharkan Shah Alam sebagai sebuah bandaraya dan Y.Bhg Dato' Haji Abu Sujak Haji Mahmud dilantik sebagai Datuk Bandar yang Pertama. Dengan pengisytiharan ini, Shah Alam menjadi bandaraya ke-7 di Malaysia selepas Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur, Dewan Bandaraya Kuching Utara, Majlis Bandaraya Kuching Selatan, Majlis Bandaraya Johor Bahru, Majlis Bandaraya Ipoh dan Majlis Bandaraya Kota Kinabalu. Dari segi sejarah, Shah Alam mula dibina pada tahun 1963 yang pada asalnya sebuah kawasan ladang kelapa sawit dikenali dengan nama Sungai Renggam yang terletak di antara Petaling Jaya dan Bandar Diraja Klang serta dihubungkan melalui Lebuhraya Persekutuan. Shah Alam dibuka pada tahun 1963 bertujuan untuk dijadikan pusat pentadbiran Selangor setelah Kuala Lumpur dijadikan Wilayah Persekutuan pada 1 Februari 1974. Atas perkenan DYMM Sultan Selangor ke-8, Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Al-Haj pada 7 Disember 1978, Shah Alam diisytiharkan sebagai ibu negeri Selangor dengan keluasan kawasan 41.69 km persegi. Shah Alam pernah mengalami beberapa kali proses perluasan kawasan dan yang terakhir adalah pada 1 Januari 1997. Melalui Pelan Warta 1190, Shah Alam diperluaskan kepada 293 km persegi. Shah Alam yang ditadbirkan oleh Pihak Berkuasa Tempatan Majlis Perbandaran Shah Alam sejak 1978 secara automatiknya mendapat taraf Majlis Bandaraya Shah Alam.

Sumber : Arkib Negara
Photo: HARI INI DALAM SEJARAH - Perisytiharan Bandaraya Shah Alam Pada hari ini dalam tahun 2000, YAB Menteri Besar Selangor Dato' Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo, telah mengisytiharkan Shah Alam sebagai sebuah bandaraya dan Y.Bhg Dato' Haji Abu Sujak Haji Mahmud dilantik sebagai Datuk Bandar yang Pertama. Dengan pengisytiharan ini, Shah Alam menjadi bandaraya ke-7 di Malaysia selepas Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur, Dewan Bandaraya Kuching Utara, Majlis Bandaraya Kuching Selatan, Majlis Bandaraya Johor Bahru, Majlis Bandaraya Ipoh dan Majlis Bandaraya Kota Kinabalu. Dari segi sejarah, Shah Alam mula dibina pada tahun 1963 yang pada asalnya sebuah kawasan ladang kelapa sawit dikenali dengan nama Sungai Renggam yang terletak di antara Petaling Jaya dan Bandar Diraja Klang serta dihubungkan melalui Lebuhraya Persekutuan. Shah Alam dibuka pada tahun 1963 bertujuan untuk dijadikan pusat pentadbiran Selangor setelah Kuala Lumpur dijadikan Wilayah Persekutuan pada 1 Februari 1974. Atas perkenan DYMM Sultan Selangor ke-8, Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Al-Haj pada 7 Disember 1978, Shah Alam diisytiharkan sebagai ibu negeri Selangor dengan keluasan kawasan 41.69 km persegi. Shah Alam pernah mengalami beberapa kali proses perluasan kawasan dan yang terakhir adalah pada 1 Januari 1997. Melalui Pelan Warta 1190, Shah Alam diperluaskan kepada 293 km persegi. Shah Alam yang ditadbirkan oleh Pihak Berkuasa Tempatan Majlis Perbandaran Shah Alam sejak 1978 secara automatiknya mendapat taraf Majlis Bandaraya Shah Alam.

Sumber : Arkib Negara

jarikuku

punkerzoe posted on 10-10-2013 09:44 AM
Oct 10, 2004:
Superman Christopher Reeve dies at age 52

lagend betul christoper Reeve ni...

jarikuku

TODAY IN HISTORY - Truman Signs Mutual Security Act

On this day in 1951, President Harry S. Truman signs the Mutual Security Act, announcing to the world, and its communist powers in particular, that the U.S. was prepared to provide military aid to "free peoples." The signing of the act came after the Soviet Union exploded their second nuclear weapon in a test on October 3.

The Mutual Security Act was modeled on the Marshall Plan, a post-World War II economic aid plan that had helped European nations rebuild after the war. However, instead of providing mostly economic aid as the Marshall Plan had, the Mutual Security Act emphasized an increase in military assistance to democratic nations. Congress earmarked the monies for raw materials, guns, tanks, planes, technicians and books, fertilizer and seeds, irrigation pumps and medical supplies. Both Truman and Congress believed that the U.S. bore a responsibility to, and needed help from, other nations to prevent the spread of communism and participate in a "great collective effort of the free nations to build a better world." He singled out developing areas in Asia as being in particular need of stronger defenses against communist infiltration. It was hoped that funds and technical assistance provided by the Mutual Security Act would help those countries develop their economic potential along capitalist models and thereby discourage them from succumbing to communist influence.

In his announcement after the signing, Truman addressed the fear that the Mutual Security Act would only aggravate the arms race with the Soviets. "We are building armaments, of course--we would be fools if we did not," he said, "but we are [also] helping to restore the productive power of war-shattered countries." This indicated that the act would continue to fund economic aid, albeit to a much lesser degree, to the nations of Europe—including the democratic section of divided Germany and its capital, Berlin--that were still recovering economically from World War II and faced a constant threat of Soviet aggression.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower abolished the Mutual Security Act in 1953.

Source : History Channel

jarikuku

TODAY IN HISTORY - Blind Driver Breaks Land-speed Record

On this day in 2008, a man from Belgium named Luc Costermans sets a new world speed record for blind drivers: 192 mph. Costermans set the record in a borrowed Lamborghini Gallardo on a long, straight stretch of airstrip near Marseilles, France. He was accompanied by a carload of sophisticated navigational equipment as well as a human co-pilot, who gave directions from the Lamborghini's passenger seat.

The record Costermans broke had been set exactly three years before by the British driver Mike Newman. On that day, Newman had coaxed his 507-horsepower BMW M5 to a top speed of 178.5 mph. (Over a measured mile, Newman's speed averaged 167.32 mph.) For his part, Newman had smashed a 2-year-old record—144.7 mph—that he had set himself in a borrowed Jaguar, just three days after he learned to drive. Unlike Costermans, Newman did not race with a co-pilot or a navigator. Instead, he got his father-in-law to zoom around the track behind him, shouting directions over the radio.

Both of these blind record-setters were all-around daredevils who raced all sorts of vehicles. In 2001, for example, Newman became the fastest blind motorcycle driver in the world (his record speed was 89 mph) just four days after learning to ride; five years later, Costermans flew a small airplane all around France. (He was joined by an instructor and a navigator.) Another record-setter, an Englishman named Steve Cunningham, had set the land-speed record himself in 1999 (147 mph, while driving a ￡70,000 Chrysler Viper) at the same time that he held the sea-speed record for a blind sailor. In 2004, guided by sophisticated talking navigational software, Cunningham became the first blind pilot to circumnavigate the United Kingdom by air.

Source : History Channel

jarikuku

HARI INI DALAM SEJARAH - Malayan Union - Ketibaan Utusan Khas Inggeris Ke Tanah Melayu

Pada hari ini dalam tahun 1945, Utusan Khas Inggeris, Sir Harold Mac Michael tiba di Tanah Melayu dalam rangka menepati usaha-usaha terakhir dan penting untuk menjayakan penubuhan Malayan Union. Beliau diutus khas oleh Kerajaan Inggeris untuk mendapatkan perkenan dan tandatangan DYMM Raja-raja Melayu sebagai tanda mempersetujui penubuhan gagasan Inggeris itu. Pengumuman rasmi mengenai penubuhan Malayan Union telah dibuat di Parlimen Inggeris sehari sebelum ketibaan Mac Michael, iaitu pada 10 Oktober 1945. Jarak waktu yang singkat antara pengumuman dan ketibaan Mac Michael, tidak memberi kesempatan langsung kepada DYMM Raja-raja Melayu untuk berfikir dan berunding dengan Orang-Orang Besar dan rakyat jelata.Cara bersulit-sulit dan bersembunyi yang dilakukan oleh Mac Michael, beserta dengan tipu helah ugutan, telah menghasilkan kejayaan kepada beliau. Menjelang bulan Januari 1946, Mac Michael pulang ke London berbekalkan sembilan tandatangan Baginda Raja-raja Melayu. Tandatangan itu dengan sendirinya mengesahkan penubuhan Malayan Union.

Tipu helah Mac Michael itu telah menimbulkan kemarahan di kalangan rakyat khususnya orang-orang Melayu. Manakala DYMM Raja-raja pula turut menyesali tindakan tersebut dan mengutus surat dan telegram kepada Pejabat Tanah Jajahan di London, menyuarakan rasa kesal dan murka kepada Mac Michael. .
Inggeris meneruskan hasratnya menubuhkan Malayan Union pada 1 April 1946. Sir Edward Gent dilantik sebagai Gabenor pertama. Dalam perlembagaan Malayan Union Raja Inggeris mempunyai kuasa penuh dan langsung ke atas Tanah Melayu. Tanah Melayu tidak menjadi negeri naungan Inggeris tetapi merupakan tanah jajahan Inggeris yang mutlak. Pentadbiran Malayan Union mengandungi seorang Gabenor, sebuah Majlis Mesyuarat Kerja dan sebuah Majlis Mesyuarat Undangan.Setiap negeri mempunyai Majlis Mesyuarat Negeri yang mempunyai kuasa mentadbir dan membuat Undang-undang Tambahan. Manakala kedudukan DYMM Raja-raja Melayu hanyalah sebagai Ketua Agama Islam dan Adat Istiadat Melayu, mengetuai sebuah Majlis Penasihat Melayu di mana ahli-ahlinya dilantik dengan persetujuan Gabenor Inggeris. Mengenai kerakyatan pula, ia adalah bebas kepada semua penduduk Tanah Melayu tanpa mengira latar belakang keturunan.Bagaimanapun, Malayan Union ciptaan Inggeris itu tidak dapat bernafas lama. Rakyat, khususnya orang Melayu telah menentang hebat pembentukannya kerana gagasan itu mengenepikan segala hak mereka di tanahair sendiri. Mereka telah mengambil tindakan memulaukan semua majlis rasmi kerajaan, mengadakan tunjuk perasaan dan berkabung. Tentangan dan kecaman yang padu dari orang-orang Melayu akhirnya berjaya meruntuhkan Malayan Union. la adalah satu kemenangan bagi orang-orang Melayu dalam perjuangan mengembalikan hak kedaulatan dan maruah bangsa.

Sumber : Arkib Negara

anniez08

PERJANJIAN PERTAHANAN LUAR DAN BANTU MEMBANTU ANTARA PERSEKUTUAN TANAH MELAYU DAN UNITED KINGDOM

Pada hari ini 12.10.1957, satu perjanjian mengenai Pertahanan Luar dan Bantu Membantu telah ditandatangani di antara Kerajaan Persekutuan Tanah Melayu dengan Kerajaan British di Bilik Persidangan, Jabatan Perdana Menteri, Kuala Lumpur. Dalam perjanjian ini Persekutuan Tanah Melayu telah diwakili oleh Perdana Menteri Y.T.M. Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra, manakala Kerajaan British pula diwakili oleh Pesuruhjaya Tinggi British ke Persekutuan Tanah Melayu, Encik G.W. Tory. Tujuan utama perjanjian ini ialah untuk memelihara keamanan dan mengukuhkan pertahanan negara serta merapatkan kerjasama antara kedua-dua buah kerajaan.

Perjanjian yang ditandatangani ini mengandungi 12 perkara, antara lain menyatakan:

• Persetujuan Kerajaan British membantu Kerajaan Persekutuan Tanah Melayu dalam bidang pertahanan luar.
• Kerajaan British akan menolong dan membantu Kerajaan Persekutuan Tanah Melayu dalam bidang perluasan ketenteraan, kemudahan latihan, bantuan pentadbiran dan kemudahan peralatan ketenteraan serta bantuan teknik.
• Kerajaan British juga akan membantu Kerajaan Persekutuan Tanah Melayu untuk memperbaiki kelengkapan ketenteraan laut, darat dan udara.
• Kerajaan Persekutuan Tanah Melayu bersetuju untuk membenarkan Kerajaan U. Kingdom menggunakan kemudahan pengkalan tentera di Persekutuan.
• Kedua-kedua pihak juga bersetuju menggunakan kemudahan peralatan ketenteraan seperti tapak tanah, pelabuhan dan alat-alat perhubungan secara bersama untuk tujuan latihan ketenteraan.
  

Perjanjian Pertahanan Luar dan Bantu Membantu antara Kerajaan Persekutuan Tanah Melayu dan Kerajaan British pada hari ini dalam tahun 1957, merupakan satu perjanjian yang amat penting bagi negara sesudah mencapai kemerdekaan. Termeterainya perjanjian ini, telah merapatkan lagi hubungan baik antara kedua-kedua buah kerajaan, juga mendatangkan faedah yang amat besar bagi keselamatan negara.

credit to: arkib negara

anniez08

                Oct 13, 1792: White House cornerstone laid



                The cornerstone is laid for a presidential residence in the newly designated capital city of Washington. In 1800, President John Adams became the first president to reside in the executive mansion, which soon became known as the "White House" because its white-gray Virginia freestone contrasted strikingly with the red brick of nearby buildings.
The city of Washington was created to replace Philadelphia as the nation's capital because of its geographical position in the center of the existing new republic. The states of Maryland and Virginia ceded land around the Potomac River to form the District of Columbia, and work began on Washington in 1791. French architect Charles L'Enfant designed the area's radical layout, full of dozens of circles, crisscross avenues, and plentiful parks. In 1792, work began on the neoclassical White House building at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue under the guidance of Irish American architect James Hoban, whose design was influenced by Leinster House in Dublin and by a building sketch in James Gibbs' Book of Architecture. President George Washington chose the site.
On November 1, President John Adams was welcomed into the executive mansion. His wife, Abigail, wrote about their new home: "I pray heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house, and on all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but wise men ever rule under this roof!"
In 1814, during the War of 1812, the White House was set on fire along with the U.S. Capitol by British soldiers in retaliation for the burning of government buildings in Canada by U.S. troops. The burned-out building was subsequently rebuilt and enlarged under the direction of James Hoban, who added east and west terraces to the main building, along with a semicircular south portico and a colonnaded north portico. The smoke-stained stone walls were painted white. Work was completed on the White House in the 1820s.
Major restoration occurred during the administration of President Harry Truman, and Truman lived across the street for several years in Blair House. Since 1995, Pennsylvania Avenue between the White House and Lafayette Square has been closed to vehicular traffic for security reasons. Today, more than a million tourists visit the White House annually. It is the oldest federal building in the nation's capital.

credit to: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

            

                                                

anniez08

PERASMIAN MENAMAKAN EMPAT BUAH KAPAL TERBANG ANGKATAN TENTERA UDARA DIRAJA MALAYSIA  

Selepas mencapai kemerdekaan, 31 Ogos 1957, Kerajaan Malaya menumpukan perhatian dalam dua aspek yang penting iaitu pembangunan dan keselamatan negara. Bagi keselamatan negara pasukan angkatan tentera telah ditubuhkan. Di antara ketiga-tiga cabang angkatan tentera, tentera udara merupakan yang paling lewat ditubuhkan, setelah ditubuhkan pasukan ini telah membeli pelbagai peralatan terutamanya kapal terbang bagi memenuhi keperluan pasukan ini. Pada hari ini 13.10.1967, Perdana Menteri Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra telah merasmikan nama empat buah kapal terbang iaitu:

  

• Sebuah kapal      terbang jenis Cessna bernama Tirok
• Tiga buah kapal      terbang jenis De Harilland yang diberi nama Merbok, Punai dan Terkukur.
  

  

Upacara ini telah diadakan di pangkalan Angkatan Tentera Udara di Sungai Besi, Kuala Lumpur. Turut hadir pada majlis ini ialah Menteri Pertahanan Tun Abdul Razak Hussien, Panglima Angkatan Tentera Udara Diraja Malaya Group, Kapten J.N. Stancey. Pasukan Tentera Udara ini yang diwujudkan, menjadi sangat penting dalam keadaan negara baru mencapai merdeka serta ancaman komunis yang masih lagi ada, kapal terbang yang ada akan dapat membantu pihak tentera mempercepatkan operasi menghapus kegiatan komunis di negara ini.
credit to: http: www.arkib.gov.my

punkerzoe

Oct 14, 1994:
Pulp Fiction debuts

                On this day in 1994, the writer-director Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, a crime drama featuring multiple storylines and a large ensemble cast including John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis and Harvey Keitel, opens in theaters. Made for less than $10 million, Pulp Fiction earned more than $100 million at the box office and was also a huge critical hit, winning the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and earning seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. Tarantino and Roger Avary shared the Oscar for Best Screenplay. Some critics have called Pulp Fiction, which spawned a slew of imitators, the most influential movie of its time. It contained such Tarantino trademarks as clever dialogue, graphic violence and numerous pop-culture references. The film is also credited with reviving the movie career of John Travolta, who as the pony-tailed hit man Vincent Vega shares a memorable dance with his boss’ wife (Thurman) and famously discusses with his partner (Jackson) how in France a McDonald’s Quarter Pounder with cheese is called a “Royale with cheese.”
  Quentin Tarantino was born on March 27, 1963, in Knoxville, Tennessee. He dropped out of high school, studied acting and worked at a video-rental store in Manhattan Beach, California, where he reportedly spent all day talking about movies. In the late 1980s, he appeared as an Elvis impersonator on an episode of the TV sitcom The Golden Girls. Tarantino made his directorial debut with the 1992 indie film Reservoir Dogs, about the events surrounding a bungled jewel heist. Written by Tarantino, the violent film featured characters with names such as Mr. Pink and Mr. Blonde and co-starred Keitel, Tim Roth, Steve Buscemi, Chris Penn, Michael Madsen and Lawrence Tierney. Initially released in a small number of theaters, Reservoir Dogs garnered more attention and became a cult hit after Pulp Fiction turned Tarantino into a Hollywood darling. His third feature film, 1997’s Jackie Brown, starred Pam Grier, Robert Forster, Robert De Niro, Bridget Fonda, Samuel L. Jackson and Michael Keaton. Inspired by the Elmore Leonard novel Rum Punch, Jackie Brown was also an homage to the so-called “blaxploitation” films of the 1970s, a number of which featured Grier.
  In addition to directing his own movies, Tarantino also penned the screenplay for 1993’s True Romance, which was helmed by Tony Scott and co-starred Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette. He was also credited with developing the story for director Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers (1994), with Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis. Tarantino has also continued acting, appearing in several of his own films and co-starring opposite Keitel and George Clooney in 1996’s From Dusk Till Dawn.
  Tarantino’s fourth feature project as a director was Kill Bill, which was released as two films, Kill Bill: Vol. 1 in 2003 and Kill Bill: Vol. 2 in 2004. Both movies starred Uma Thurman as a violent, revenge-seeking character called The Bride. Among Tarantino’s more recent projects was 2007’s Death Proof, a movie he wrote and directed about a deranged stunt man, played by Kurt Russell.

source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/pulp-fiction-debuts

              

punkerzoe

Oct 16, 1976:
"Disco Ducks" hits the #1 spot on the U.S. pop chart

                The job description of a drive-time DJ on local radio back in 1976 was fairly straightforward: take some phone calls, be funny between records, give the call sign several times an hour and greet the public every so often at a local sporting event or auto-dealership opening. But as satisfying as that routine might have been to the average radio jock back in 1976, it left one ambitious young man named Rick Dees wanting something more. And so it was that Rick Dees created a novelty record called "Disco Duck," a song that hit the pop universe with such impeccable timing that it rocketed up the Billboard Hot 100 in the nation's Bicentennial year, hitting the #1 spoton October 16, 1976.
  Rick Dees was working at station WMPS in Memphis, Tennessee, when he decided that the budding disco movement was ripe for a parody record. "One of the guys who worked out in [my] gym did a great duck voice," Dees later recalled, "so I said, how about a 'Disco Duck'?" From that rather modest moment of inspiration, Dees went home one afternoon and wrote the song that would end up transforming his career. Recorded on a local Memphis-area label, "Disco Duck" caught on first in Alabama, then across the South and eventually across the country after Dees convinced the label RSO to lease the song and release it nationally. On this day in 1976, Dees' little side project took over the #1 spot on the U.S. pop charts from "A Fifth of Beethoven"—a disco version of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.
  One place where "Disco Duck" did not receive major airplay, however, was in Memphis itself. Competing stations hesitated to play the record, believing that it would indirectly promote their rival. And as for WMPS itself, Rick Dees was actually barred from playing his record as it was considered to be a conflict of interest. In fact, so different was the radio industry of 1976 from today's that Dees was ultimately fired from his post simply for discussing his record on the air. Though he never had another pop hit, Rick Dees nevertheless landed very much on his feet. Quickly hired by a local competitor whose parent company later promoted him to their Los Angeles flagship station, KIIS-FM, Dees went on to become the host of the internationally syndicated Rick Dees' Top 40 Countdown and an inductee into the Radio Hall of Fame.

source: http://www.history.com/this-day- ... on-the-us-pop-chart

            

punkerzoe

Oct 17, 1931:
Capone goes to prison

                On this day in 1931, gangster Al Capone is sentenced to 11 years in prison for tax evasion and fined $80,000, signaling the downfall of one of the most notorious criminals of the 1920s and 1930s.


Alphonse Gabriel Capone was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1899 to Italian immigrants. He was expelled from school at 14, joined a gang and earned his nickname "Scarface" after being sliced across the cheek during a fight. By 1920, Capone had moved to Chicago, where he was soon helping to run crime boss Johnny Torrio's illegal enterprises, which included alcohol-smuggling, gambling and prostitution. Torrio retired in 1925 after an attempt on his life and Capone, known for his cunning and brutality, was put in charge of the organization.


Prohibition, which outlawed the brewing and distribution of alcohol and lasted from 1920 to 1933, proved extremely lucrative for bootleggers and gangsters like Capone, who raked in millions from his underworld activities. Capone was at the top of the F.B.I.'s "Most Wanted" list by 1930, but he avoided long stints in jail until 1931 by bribing city officials, intimidating witnesses and maintaining various hideouts. He became Chicago's crime kingpin by wiping out his competitors through a series of gangland battles and slayings, including the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre in 1929, when Capone's men gunned down seven rivals. This event helped raise Capone's notoriety to a national level.


Among Capone's enemies was federal agent Elliot Ness, who led a team of officers known as "The Untouchables" because they couldn't be corrupted. Ness and his men routinely broke up Capone's bootlegging businesses, but it was tax-evasion charges that finally stuck and landed Capone in prison in 1931. Capone began serving his time at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta, but amid accusations that he was manipulating the system and receiving cushy treatment, he was transferred to the maximum-security lockup at Alcatraz Island, in California's San Francisco Bay. He got out early in 1939 for good behavior, after spending his final year in prison in a hospital, suffering from syphilis.


Plagued by health problems for the rest of his life, Capone died in 1947 at age 48 at his home in Palm Island, Florida.

source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/capone-goes-to-prison

            

punkerzoe

Oct 18, 1968:
John Lennon and Yoko Ono arrested for drug possession

                John Lennon and Yoko Ono are arrested for drug possession at their home near Montagu Square in London, England. The arrests came at a tempestuous time for the couple. Only days earlier, an announcement was made that Ono was pregnant, creating a scandal because both Lennon and Ono were still married to other people. Her pregnancy ended in a miscarriage a few days after the arrest.


  Detective Sergeant Norman Pilcher, the instigator behind the raid on Lennon and Ono, was an anti-drug zealot who would later arrest George Harrison and his wife on similar charges. While Lennon was frantically trying to get rid of the evidence, the police read a warrant through a bedroom window and then broke down the front door. Drug-sniffing dogs found 200 grams of hashish, a cigarette rolling machine with traces of marijuana, and half a gram of morphine. However, the couple denied that the drugs belonged to them.


  When the matter finally approached trial, Lennon pleaded guilty because he was worried that Ono would be deported. He was fined £150 and warned that another offense would bring a year in jail.

source: http://www.history.com/this-day- ... for-drug-possession

            

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TODAY IN HISTORY - 1967: Soviets glimpse beneath clouds of Venus

The Soviet Union has successfully sent a space probe into the atmosphere of the planet Venus for the first time.

After its four-month journey from Earth, Venera 4 plunged through the planet's dense cloud cover and down towards the surface.

Almost immediately it began sending back coded bleeps carrying details of the gases that make up the air around Venus, as well as readings for temperatures and pressure.

It is the first time any measurements have been taken from inside the planet's atmosphere.

The Soviet Union had hoped to attempt a "soft" landing on the surface of Venus, and Venera 4 carried equipment designed to allow communications even while submerged beneath any oceans which it was suspected there might be on the surface.

But contact was lost 94 minutes after the probe entered the atmosphere, when it would still have been about 15 miles (25 km) above the planet itself.

Space cooperation

The signals sent back from Venera 4 were picked up by the radio telescope at Jodrell Bank in Cheshire.

The observatory was invited to take part in the mission to Venus by the Soviet Academy of Scientists.

The director of Jodrell Bank, Professor Sir Bernard Lovell, said the radio signals sent back from Venera 4 confirmed that it was unlikely and almost impossible that there was life on the planet.

At a news conference, Professor Lovell said Jodrell Bank was delighted to help the Soviet Union in tracking the spacecraft.

"This appears ... as a rational common-sense attitude, the sort of thing one always hopes will emerge in these colossal, expensive space enterprises," he said.

American mission

Venera 4 is the first successful attempt to reach Venus after three failed Soviet missions.

Venera 3 came closest, and successfully reached the planet, but communications had already failed, making the mission a failure.

Within the next few days, the American spacecraft Mariner 5 is also expected to arrive at Venus.

It is not, however, planning to attempt a landing, but will fly past at about 2,500 miles (4,000 km) from the planet while instruments on board measure the atmosphere and magnetic fields.

A previous American mission, Mariner 2, was the first to fly by Venus and scan its features in December 1962.

Data sent back from that mission suggested that Venus has hot surface temperatures and an atmosphere dominated by carbon dioxide.

Source : BBC News

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HARI INI DALAM SEJARAH - Pembukaan Maktab Perguruan Kent

Pada hari ini dalam tahun 1952, Maktab Perguruan Kent, Borneo Utara (Sabah) telah dirasmikan pembukaannya oleh Puteri Duchess of Kent. Maktab ini dinamakan sempena dengan nama perasminya Puteri Duchess of Kent. Hadir sama dalam majlis ini adalah Pemangku Pengetua Maktab, J. Winders dan Gabenor Borneo Utara, Sir Raplh Hone. Idea untuk menubuhkan Maktab Perguruan ini telah dicetuskan oleh Encik R. Parry yang merupakan Pengarah Jabatan Pendidikan Borneo Utara yang pertama. Matlamat penubuhan maktab ini ialah untuk melatih bakal guru yang akan mengajar di sekolah rendah khususnya sekolah Melayu Kerajaan. Pembinaannya telah dimulakan pada tahun 1951 dan siap pada bulan Oktober 1952. Pada awal penubuhan maktab ini, kurikulumnya adalah untuk memenuhi matlamat Dasar Tanah Jajahan. Selain daripada untuk menguasai konsep kemahiran asas menulis, membaca dan mengira, para pelatih diajar bercucuk tanam, pertukangan tangan, ilmu kesihatan, sejarah, kegiatan masyarakat serta kemahiran mengajar. Tenaga pengajar pada peringkat permulaan ini terdiri daripada Encik Gidney sebagai Pengetua, Encik Osman bin Haji Sidek dan Encik Mursidi bin Nambi sebagai Pensyarah serta Cik M.C Lewis dan Encik Din bin Mat sebagai Pembantu Pensyarah.

Sumber : Arkib Negara

punkerzoe

Oct 21, 1805:
Battle of Trafalgar

               

In one of the most decisive naval battles in history, a British fleet under Admiral Lord Nelson defeats a combined French and Spanish fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar, fought off the coast of Spain.

At sea, Lord Nelson and the Royal Navy consistently thwarted Napoleon Bonaparte, who led France to preeminence on the European mainland. Nelson's last and greatest victory against the French was the Battle of Trafalgar, which began after Nelson caught sight of a Franco-Spanish force of 33 ships. Preparing to engage the enemy force on October 21, Nelson divided his 27 ships into two divisions and signaled a famous message from the flagship Victory: "England expects that every man will do his duty."

In five hours of fighting, the British devastated the enemy fleet, destroying 19 enemy ships. No British ships were lost, but 1,500 British seamen were killed or wounded in the heavy fighting. The battle raged at its fiercest around the Victory, and a French sniper shot Nelson in the shoulder and chest. The admiral was taken below and died about 30 minutes before the end of the battle. Nelson's last words, after being informed that victory was imminent, were "Now I am satisfied. Thank God I have done my duty."

Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar ensured that Napoleon would never invade Britain. Nelson, hailed as the savior of his nation, was given a magnificent funeral in St. Paul's Cathedral in London. A column was erected to his memory in the newly named Trafalgar Square, and numerous streets were renamed in his honor.

source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/battle-of-trafalgar

            

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HARI INI DALAM SEJARAH - Jabatan Kastam dan Eksais Diwartakan

Pada hari ini dalam tahun 1934, Akta Kastam dan Eksais telah diwartakan dan dengan itu terbentuklah Jabatan Kastam dan Eksais Negeri-Negeri Melayu Bersekutu. Pada awal penubuhannya pada 1 Januari 1907, Jabatan ini dikenali sebagai Jabatan Perdagangan dan Kastam (Trade and Custom Department). Sebelum tahun 1907, cukai-cukai yang dipungut di Negeri-negeri Melayu Bersekutu tertakluk di bawah Enakmen Cukai Kastam. Namun begitu, tidak ada satu jabatan atau agensi khas untuk memungut cukai tersebut. Menjelang tahun 1931, Jabatan Kastam termasuk bahagian Candu, Kastam Eksais dan pencegahan telah disusun semula. Penolong Pesuruhjaya Kastam telah dilantik di setiap Negeri-negeri Melayu Bersekutu untuk mengawal semua cawangan kastam. Selain daripada itu, seorang Penolong Pesuruhjaya dilantik bagi seluruh Negeri-Negeri Melayu Bersekutu. Setelah Persekutuan Tanah Melayu mencapai kemerdekaan, susunan dan organisasi Jabatan Kastam telah diubahsuai selaras dengan cita-cita negara. Pada 16 September 1963, dengan kemasukan Sabah, Sarawak dan Singapura dalam Persekutuan Tanah Malaysia, keseragaman diwujudkan antara Jabatan Kastam Sabah, Sarawak dan Singapura. Pada 29 Oktober 1963, DYMM Yang di-Pertuan Agong telah menganugerahkan gelaran Diraja kepada Jabatan Kastam dan dengan rasminya dikenali sebagai Jabatan Kastam dan Eksais Diraja.

Sumber : Arkib Negara

punkerzoe

Oct 22, 1797:
The first parachutist

                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.

source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-first-parachutist

            

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HARI INI DALAM SEJARAH - Penubuhan Bursa Komoditi Kuala Lumpur

Pada hari ini dalam tahun 1980, Bursa Komoditi Kuala Lumpur telah dilancarkan dengan rasmi oleh Perdana Menteri Datuk Hussein Onn. Usaha dan kajian bagi penubuhan Bursa Komoditi ini telah bermula sejak tahun 1970an lagi. Ini berikutan daripada kedudukan Malaysia sebagai pengeluar utama bahan-bahan utama seperti kelapa sawit, getah, lada hitam, dan bijih timah. Ketika berucap pada upacara perasmian tersebut, Datuk Hussein Onn, menyatakan penubuhan Bursa ini merupakan satu perkembangan yang penting dalam usaha-usaha pembangunan negara. Ia juga dapat membuktikan bahawa Kuala Lumpur telah meningkat ke taraf pusat kewangan antarabangsa yang moden dengan pelbagai kemudahan di rantau ini. Berikutan itu juga sebagai permulaan Bursa Komoditi Kuala Lumpur akan mengutamakan kelapa sawit sebagai pasaran yang pertama dan selepas itu akan berkembang menjadi pasaran berbagai-bagai bahan utama lain. Satu Lembaga Pengurusan yang dipengerusikan oleh Raja Muhammad Alias telah dibentuk untuk melaksanakan perjalanan Bursa ini. Lembaga ini juga dianggotai oleh Encik Mustapha Haji Mohamed selaku Timbalan Pengerusi, Encik D.H.N. Allott, Encik Dennis Tan, Encik Edmund Chan, Syed Abdul Jabbar Shahabuddin Encik Raghbir Singh Bhart dan Encik Amin Zahari Nordin sebagai ahli lembaga.

Sumber : Arkib Negara