On this day:

[BarnBuster]

​

On January 5, 1933, construction begins on the Golden Gate Bridge, as workers began excavating 3.25 million cubic feet of dirt for the structure’s huge anchorages.

Following the Gold Rush boom that began in 1849, speculators realized the land north of San Francisco Bay would increase in value in direct proportion to its accessibility to the city. Soon, a plan was hatched to build a bridge that would span the Golden Gate, a narrow, 400-foot deep strait that serves as the mouth of the San Francisco Bay, connecting the San Francisco Peninsula with the southern end of Marin County.

Although the idea went back as far as 1869, the proposal took root in 1916. A former engineering student, James Wilkins, working as a journalist with the San Francisco Bulletin, called for a suspension bridge with a center span of 3,000 feet, nearly twice the length of any in existence. Wilkins’ idea was estimated to cost an astounding $100 million. So, San Francisco’s city engineer, Michael M. O’Shaughnessy (he’s also credited with coming up with the name Golden Gate Bridge), began asking bridge engineers whether they could do it for less.

Engineer and poet Joseph Strauss, a 5-foot tall Cincinnati-born Chicagoan, said he could.

Eventually, O’Shaughnessy and Strauss concluded they could build a pure suspension bridge within a practical range of $25-30 million with a main span at least 4,000 feet. The construction plan still faced opposition, including litigation, from many sources. By the time most of the obstacles were cleared, the Great Depression of 1929 had begun, limiting financing options, so officials convinced voters to support $35 million in bonded indebtedness, citing the jobs that would be created for the project. However, the bonds couldn’t be sold until 1932, when San-Francisco based Bank of America agreed to buy the entire project in order to help the local economy.

The Golden Gate Bridge officially opened on May 27, 1937, the longest bridge span in the world at the time. The first public crossing had taken place the day before, when 200,000 people walked, ran and even roller skated over the new bridge.

With its tall towers and famous red paint job, the bridge quickly became a famous American landmark, and a symbol of San Francisco.
(The bridge's "Halfway to Hell Club" was made up of workers who fell from the bridge during construction but were saved by safety nets.bb)

Archive photos of construction
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/International-Orange-icon-turns-80-archival-12944918.php
http://goldengatebridge.org/research/facts.php#WorkersTotal

 

[DarkWeb]

RIP Tommy

Tommy Lasorda - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[BarnBuster]

​

The Battle of New Orleans, fought on January 8, 1815, was the culmination of a month-long series of skirmishes between U.S. and British forces in southern Louisiana; it was the final major engagement of the War of 1812. Despite its name, the battle was actually fought in Chalmette, five miles south of the city. British forces, led by Major General Edward Pakenham, sought to block the mouth of the Mississippi River, thereby controlling America’s inland waterways. General Andrew Jackson led the Americans in their attempts to defend the port. Ironically, the battle took place after British and American officials had signed a peace treaty, ending the war. Though the Treaty of Ghent had been signed on December 24, 1814, the news did not reach New Orleans until March.

The War of 1812 began, at least in part, because Americans resented Britain’s domination of the seas, especially its interference with US shipping and the impressment of sailors from American vessels. Some Americans also hoped the war would enable them to grab land in Canada and Florida then held by Britain or its ally, Spain. At the war’s outbreak, Great Britain was preoccupied with its war against Napoleon’s France. Victory in Europe in 1814 meant Britain could concentrate on its war with America. The British crown sent twenty thousand troops to invade the United States by way of the Niagara Peninsula, Lake Champlain, the Chesapeake Bay, and New Orleans.

At first, American commanders discounted the threat to New Orleans, then a city of about eighteen thousand people. Jackson, who commanded the Seventh Military District (which included Louisiana, the Mississippi Territory, and Tennessee), expected the attack to be made at Mobile, Alabama. Jackson’s prediction proved somewhat accurate. In mid-September, British forces—under naval captain William Percy and Major Edward Nicholls of the Royal Marines—did attack Mobile. US troops, however, forced them to withdraw to Pensacola, Florida, then belonging to Spain.

Granted a temporary reprieve, Jackson and his staff relocated to New Orleans to plan their defense strategy. They knew that the British were likely to use one of two water routes in their attack on New Orleans. They could reach the city by sailing up the Mississippi River or by entering Lake Pontchartrain via Lake Borgne. Turns and shallow spots in the Mississippi made the former a less likely route of attack, as did the presence of Forts St. Philip and Bourbon on opposite sides of the river.

As Jackson prepared for the attack, his primary concern was the lack of manpower. He had one thousand regulars and fewer than two thousand militia to face twice as many British soldiers. The available American naval force, under Master Commandant Daniel Patterson, consisted of six small, unnamed gunboats; the Louisiana, a more formidable craft without a crew to man it; and the Carolina, a schooner that happened to be in New Orleans. Ultimately Jackson put together a polyglot fighting force that included two divisions of the Louisiana militia, Native Americans, African Americans, and Baratarians (or pirates) who worked for Jean Laffite. Many Americans questioned the loyalty of French-speaking Louisianans and the wisdom of arming African Americans and pirates with guns.

By December 12, a British fleet carrying more than ten thousand soldiers was anchored in the Gulf of Mexico, not far from Lake Borgne. Unable to take their big ships into the shallow lake, British troops had to load into smaller vessels and then battle the US troops guarding the lake’s entrance. When the two forces met on December 14, the winds, tides, and numbers all worked against the Americans. Within two hours, thousands of British soldiers took command of the lake, came ashore, and began building a garrison on Pea Island, thirty miles east of New Orleans. News of the battle brought panic to New Orleans and rapidly spread through the state. Jackson declared martial law in the city and sent out a call for more men and materials.

Spanish fishermen guided two British officers to an unguarded path leading to the plantation of Jacque Villeré, major general in the Louisiana militia. Located on the east bank of the Mississippi River, Villeré’s estate put the British within nine miles of New Orleans. Following the same route, British general John Keane and eighteen hundred soldiers surprised the Louisiana militia, commanded by Major Gabriel Villeré, the planter’s son, and seized the plantation house on December 22.

Though Keane did not know it, he could have continued up the river road, which was undefended, to within cannon shot of New Orleans. Instead, he waited for reinforcements. That gave Jackson enough time to plan a surprise night attack, using the guns of the Carolina and the hastily manned Louisiana for support from the river. He also had his men build defensive earthworks along the Rodriguez Canal, about four miles south of New Orleans. According to historian Wilburt Brown, among others, this decision was “the most decisive single factor in the campaign.” The British suffered an unexpected setback and numerous injuries, while the Americans boosted their morale.

Realizing the Americans would not surrender easily, Pakenham, the high British commander, arrived at the Villeré plantation on Christmas Day. The next day he ordered an artillery attack on the American ships, both stationed opposite the British camp in order to lob artillery fire into it. The Carolina, becalmed and unable to move, was set afire and sunk by the British. The Americans were able to tow the Louisiana upriver and out of range of British guns.

At dawn on December 28, Pakenham continued the assault, sending two strong columns toward the American line on the Rodriguez Canal. The Americans drove the British back, however, with unexpectedly heavy artillery fire. The British spent the next three days and nights landing heavy naval cannons and bringing up ammunition in preparation for a large-scale attack. British troops came within five hundred yards of the Americans, ready to pounce if the big guns battered a hole in the US fortifications. British guns opened fire at 10:00 a.m. on New Year’s Day 1815, but the American artillery response drove the British gunners from their weapons after three hours of fighting.

The Battle of New Orleans​

On January 8, Pakenham launched an all-out assault on US troops. A small British diversionary force attacked on the west bank of the Mississippi, routing an American force that had been hastily assembled there. But that was of little consequence. The main British attack was on the earthworks protecting New Orleans on the east bank of the river. Knowing that Jackson’s greatest artillery strength was on the American right, toward the river, the British concentrated on the center and to the left of Jackson’s line.

The attack began in darkness and heavy fog, but the fog lifted as the British neared the American line, exposing the soldiers to withering fire from US artillery. The British forces, massed in the confined space in front of the earthworks, stood no chance against the musket fire and grapeshot from Jackson’s cannons. When the smoke cleared, the Americans surveyed what appeared to be a field of blood; it was, in fact, covered with red-coated British bodies. Most of the senior British officers were killed or wounded. Pakenham had been fatally wounded by grapeshot, leaving General John Lambert to oversee a withdrawal from the battlefield.

Leaving New Orleans presented a challenge to the British army. There were not enough boats to carry more than half the men at once. Leaving half an army behind was, the British thought, too much of an invitation to attack. Instead, the British spent nine days building a rough road to Lake Borgne. On the night of January 18, the British army silently moved out, leaving campfires burning to mislead the Americans.

The fighting caused more than 2,000 British casualties, including 278 dead, 1,186 wounded, and 484 captured or missing. The Americans reported 13 men killed, 39 wounded, and 19 missing. After the battle was over, Jackson said, “The unerring hand of providence shielded my men.” The battle enhanced Jackson’s national reputation almost immediately and eventually helped propel him to the White House. In the bigger picture, historians generally agree that the victory was a catalyst for American nationalism. Louisianans, who had become US citizens only a few years earlier, proved their loyalty to the nation.

In Louisiana, however, it was a different story; Jackson’s popularity fell when he did not revoke martial law until March 13, when official word of the peace treaty finally arrived. He was particularly hard on the French Creoles, whom he still distrusted. Feelings became so embittered that the Louisiana legislature refused to include Jackson’s name on a resolution thanking the American troops for their defense of the city. Federal judge Dominick Hall even fined Jackson $1,000 for refusing to end his strict control of the city.

New Orleans eventually forgave Jackson and, in 1851, renamed the Place d’Armes as Jackson Square. A dramatic sculpture of Jackson, created by Clark Mills, was installed in the center of the square in 1856. A federal park, now part of the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve, was established in 1907 to preserve the Chalmette battlefield

 

[lokie]

View attachment 4790600​

The Battle of New Orleans, fought on January 8, 1815, was the culmination of a month-long series of skirmishes between U.S. and British forces in southern Louisiana; it was the final major engagement of the War of 1812. Despite its name, the battle was actually fought in Chalmette, five miles south of the city. British forces, led by Major General Edward Pakenham, sought to block the mouth of the Mississippi River, thereby controlling America’s inland waterways. General Andrew Jackson led the Americans in their attempts to defend the port. Ironically, the battle took place after British and American officials had signed a peace treaty, ending the war. Though the Treaty of Ghent had been signed on December 24, 1814, the news did not reach New Orleans until March.

The War of 1812 began, at least in part, because Americans resented Britain’s domination of the seas, especially its interference with US shipping and the impressment of sailors from American vessels. Some Americans also hoped the war would enable them to grab land in Canada and Florida then held by Britain or its ally, Spain. At the war’s outbreak, Great Britain was preoccupied with its war against Napoleon’s France. Victory in Europe in 1814 meant Britain could concentrate on its war with America. The British crown sent twenty thousand troops to invade the United States by way of the Niagara Peninsula, Lake Champlain, the Chesapeake Bay, and New Orleans.

At first, American commanders discounted the threat to New Orleans, then a city of about eighteen thousand people. Jackson, who commanded the Seventh Military District (which included Louisiana, the Mississippi Territory, and Tennessee), expected the attack to be made at Mobile, Alabama. Jackson’s prediction proved somewhat accurate. In mid-September, British forces—under naval captain William Percy and Major Edward Nicholls of the Royal Marines—did attack Mobile. US troops, however, forced them to withdraw to Pensacola, Florida, then belonging to Spain.

Granted a temporary reprieve, Jackson and his staff relocated to New Orleans to plan their defense strategy. They knew that the British were likely to use one of two water routes in their attack on New Orleans. They could reach the city by sailing up the Mississippi River or by entering Lake Pontchartrain via Lake Borgne. Turns and shallow spots in the Mississippi made the former a less likely route of attack, as did the presence of Forts St. Philip and Bourbon on opposite sides of the river.

As Jackson prepared for the attack, his primary concern was the lack of manpower. He had one thousand regulars and fewer than two thousand militia to face twice as many British soldiers. The available American naval force, under Master Commandant Daniel Patterson, consisted of six small, unnamed gunboats; the Louisiana, a more formidable craft without a crew to man it; and the Carolina, a schooner that happened to be in New Orleans. Ultimately Jackson put together a polyglot fighting force that included two divisions of the Louisiana militia, Native Americans, African Americans, and Baratarians (or pirates) who worked for Jean Laffite. Many Americans questioned the loyalty of French-speaking Louisianans and the wisdom of arming African Americans and pirates with guns.

By December 12, a British fleet carrying more than ten thousand soldiers was anchored in the Gulf of Mexico, not far from Lake Borgne. Unable to take their big ships into the shallow lake, British troops had to load into smaller vessels and then battle the US troops guarding the lake’s entrance. When the two forces met on December 14, the winds, tides, and numbers all worked against the Americans. Within two hours, thousands of British soldiers took command of the lake, came ashore, and began building a garrison on Pea Island, thirty miles east of New Orleans. News of the battle brought panic to New Orleans and rapidly spread through the state. Jackson declared martial law in the city and sent out a call for more men and materials.

Spanish fishermen guided two British officers to an unguarded path leading to the plantation of Jacque Villeré, major general in the Louisiana militia. Located on the east bank of the Mississippi River, Villeré’s estate put the British within nine miles of New Orleans. Following the same route, British general John Keane and eighteen hundred soldiers surprised the Louisiana militia, commanded by Major Gabriel Villeré, the planter’s son, and seized the plantation house on December 22.

Though Keane did not know it, he could have continued up the river road, which was undefended, to within cannon shot of New Orleans. Instead, he waited for reinforcements. That gave Jackson enough time to plan a surprise night attack, using the guns of the Carolina and the hastily manned Louisiana for support from the river. He also had his men build defensive earthworks along the Rodriguez Canal, about four miles south of New Orleans. According to historian Wilburt Brown, among others, this decision was “the most decisive single factor in the campaign.” The British suffered an unexpected setback and numerous injuries, while the Americans boosted their morale.

Realizing the Americans would not surrender easily, Pakenham, the high British commander, arrived at the Villeré plantation on Christmas Day. The next day he ordered an artillery attack on the American ships, both stationed opposite the British camp in order to lob artillery fire into it. The Carolina, becalmed and unable to move, was set afire and sunk by the British. The Americans were able to tow the Louisiana upriver and out of range of British guns.

At dawn on December 28, Pakenham continued the assault, sending two strong columns toward the American line on the Rodriguez Canal. The Americans drove the British back, however, with unexpectedly heavy artillery fire. The British spent the next three days and nights landing heavy naval cannons and bringing up ammunition in preparation for a large-scale attack. British troops came within five hundred yards of the Americans, ready to pounce if the big guns battered a hole in the US fortifications. British guns opened fire at 10:00 a.m. on New Year’s Day 1815, but the American artillery response drove the British gunners from their weapons after three hours of fighting.

The Battle of New Orleans​

On January 8, Pakenham launched an all-out assault on US troops. A small British diversionary force attacked on the west bank of the Mississippi, routing an American force that had been hastily assembled there. But that was of little consequence. The main British attack was on the earthworks protecting New Orleans on the east bank of the river. Knowing that Jackson’s greatest artillery strength was on the American right, toward the river, the British concentrated on the center and to the left of Jackson’s line.

The attack began in darkness and heavy fog, but the fog lifted as the British neared the American line, exposing the soldiers to withering fire from US artillery. The British forces, massed in the confined space in front of the earthworks, stood no chance against the musket fire and grapeshot from Jackson’s cannons. When the smoke cleared, the Americans surveyed what appeared to be a field of blood; it was, in fact, covered with red-coated British bodies. Most of the senior British officers were killed or wounded. Pakenham had been fatally wounded by grapeshot, leaving General John Lambert to oversee a withdrawal from the battlefield.

Leaving New Orleans presented a challenge to the British army. There were not enough boats to carry more than half the men at once. Leaving half an army behind was, the British thought, too much of an invitation to attack. Instead, the British spent nine days building a rough road to Lake Borgne. On the night of January 18, the British army silently moved out, leaving campfires burning to mislead the Americans.

The fighting caused more than 2,000 British casualties, including 278 dead, 1,186 wounded, and 484 captured or missing. The Americans reported 13 men killed, 39 wounded, and 19 missing. After the battle was over, Jackson said, “The unerring hand of providence shielded my men.” The battle enhanced Jackson’s national reputation almost immediately and eventually helped propel him to the White House. In the bigger picture, historians generally agree that the victory was a catalyst for American nationalism. Louisianans, who had become US citizens only a few years earlier, proved their loyalty to the nation.

In Louisiana, however, it was a different story; Jackson’s popularity fell when he did not revoke martial law until March 13, when official word of the peace treaty finally arrived. He was particularly hard on the French Creoles, whom he still distrusted. Feelings became so embittered that the Louisiana legislature refused to include Jackson’s name on a resolution thanking the American troops for their defense of the city. Federal judge Dominick Hall even fined Jackson $1,000 for refusing to end his strict control of the city.

New Orleans eventually forgave Jackson and, in 1851, renamed the Place d’Armes as Jackson Square. A dramatic sculpture of Jackson, created by Clark Mills, was installed in the center of the square in 1856. A federal park, now part of the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve, was established in 1907 to preserve the Chalmette battlefield

 

[BarnBuster]

​

January 12, 1879, the British-Zulu War begins as British troops under Lieutenant General Frederic Augustus invade Zululand from the southern African republic of Natal.

In 1843, Britain succeeded the Boers as the rulers of Natal, which controlled Zululand, the neighboring kingdom of the Zulu people. Boers, also known as Afrikaners, were the descendants of the original Dutch settlers who came to South Africa in the 17th century. Zulus, a migrant people from the north, also came to southern Africa during the 17th century, settling around the Tugela River region.

In 1838, the Boers, migrating north to elude the new British dominions in the south, first came into armed conflict with the Zulus, who were under the rule of King Dingane at the time. The European migrants succeeded in overthrowing Dingane in 1840, replacing him with his son Mpande, who became a vassal of the new Boer republic of Natal. In 1843, the British took over Natal and Zululand.

In 1872, King Mpande died and was succeeded by his son Cetshwayo, who was determined to resist European domination in his territory. In December 1878, Cetshwayo rejected the British demand that he disband his troops, and in January British forces invaded Zululand to suppress Cetshwayo. The British suffered grave defeats at Isandlwana, where 1,300 British soldiers were killed or wounded, and at Hlobane Mountain, but on March 29 the tide turned in favor of the British at the Battle of Khambula.

At Ulundi in July, Cetshwayo’s forces were utterly routed, and the Zulus were forced to surrender to the British. In 1887, faced with continuing Zulu rebellions, the British formally annexed Zululand, and in 1897 it became a part of Natal, which joined the Union of South Africa in 1910.

(The heroic defence of Rorke's Drift by British and Colonial troops occured 22–23 January 1879. 150 troops defended the station attack against 4000 Zulu warriors. Eleven Victoria Crosses were awarded to the defenders, the most ever received for a single action by one regiment. bb)

Zulu War | National Army Museum

In 1879, the British fought a war against the Zulu kingdom. The Zulus resisted bravely and were only defeated after a series of particularly bloody battles that have gone down in the annals of colonial warfare.

www.nam.ac.uk

http://spaces.imperial.edu/omar.ramos/history/Swearingen/swearingen_01_notes_zulu_war_of_1879.pdf

https://www.sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/DC/rejan79.4/rejan79.4.pdf

Defence of Rorke’s Drift | National Army Museum

The defence of Rorke's Drift took place on 22 and 23 January 1879 during the Zulu War (1879). A huge force of Zulus attacked a small British garrison who eventually repelled their assault after more than 12 hours of bitter fighting.

www.nam.ac.uk

 

[BarnBuster]

​

On January 15, 2009, a potential disaster turned into a heroic display of skill and composure when Captain Chesley Burnett Sullenberger III safely landed the plane he was piloting on New York City’s Hudson River after a bird strike caused its engines to fail. David Paterson, governor of New York at the time, dubbed the incident the “miracle on the Hudson.” Sullenberger, a former fighter pilot with decades of flying experience, received a slew of honors for his actions, including an invitation to Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration and resolutions of praise from the U.S. Congress.

About a minute after taking off from New York’s La Guardia Airport on January 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 collided with one of the aviation industry’s most threatening foes: a flock of geese. Crippled by the bird strike, both engines lost power and went quiet, forcing Captain Sullenberger to make an emergency landing. When air traffic controllers instructed the seasoned pilot to head for nearby Teterboro Airport, he calmly informed them that he was “unable” to reach a runway. “We’re gonna be in the Hudson,” he said simply, and then told the 150 terrified passengers and five crew members on board to brace for impact.

Ninety seconds later, Sullenberger glided the Airbus 320 over the George Washington Bridge and onto the chilly surface of the Hudson River, where it splashed down midway between Manhattan and New Jersey. As flight attendants ushered passengers into life jackets, through emergency exits and onto the waterlogged wings of the bobbing jet, a flotilla of commuter ferries, sightseeing boats and rescue vessels hastened to the scene. One survivor suffered two broken legs and others were treated for minor injuries or hypothermia, but no fatalities occurred. After walking up and down the aisle twice to ensure a complete evacuation, Sullenberger was the last to leave the sinking plane.

In October 2009, the now-famous pilot, known to his friends as “Sully,” published a book about his childhood, military background and career entitled “Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters.” He retired from US Airways after 30 years in the airline industry on March 3, 2010, and has since devoted his time to consulting, public speaking and advocating for aviation safety.

 

[ChingOwn]

1/2/1982

With a police helmet covering her assets, Erika Roe is escorted from the pitch. Photo: Press Association


Erika Roe (born 1957), also known as the Twickenham Streaker, is remembered for a topless run across the pitch of Twickenham Stadium during an England vs. Australia rugby union match on 2 January 1982. It has been described by the BBC as "perhaps the most famous of all streaks."[1] Roe, who later attributed the inspiration to alcohol, ran onto the field during half time, exposing her 40-inch (100 cm) bosom.[2] Roe and Sarah Bennett, the friend who joined her streak,[3] were corralled by officials. Her breasts were covered by "a ridiculous man, with his [Union Jack] flag".[4]

View attachment 4784793

She was an inspiration

 

[insomnia65]

She was an inspiration
View attachment 4797147

That's a lovely tattoo

 

[injinji]

She was an inspiration
View attachment 4797147

I would love to have the baby powder concession for those in summertime.

 

[GreatwhiteNorth]

I would love to have the baby oil concession for those in summertime.

FIFY ; )

 

[injinji]

FIFY ; )

All the big breasted ladies in Florida that I've had the good fortune of being involved with have their own ecosystem going on under there. I guess if you are into science experiments, there are worse petri dishes to work with.

 

[lokie]

Augustus, born Gaius Octavius, was the first Roman emperor, reigning from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. His status as the founder of the Roman Empire has consolidated an enduring legacy as one of the most effective and controversial leaders in human history. Wikipedia
Born: September 23, 63 BC, Palatine Hill, Rome, Italy
Died: August 19, 14 AD, Nola, Italy
Full name: Gaius Octavius Thurinus
Reign: 16 January 27 BC – 19 August AD 14
Spouse: Claudia (m. 42 BC–40 BC), Scribonia (m. 40 BC–38 BC), Livia (m. 38 BC–14 AD)
Children: Tiberius, Julia the Elder, Nero Claudius Drusus


Caesar Augustus (23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) was the first Roman emperor, reigning from 27 BC until his death in AD 14.[nb 1] His status as the founder of the Roman Principate (the first phase of the Roman Empire) has consolidated an enduring legacy as one of the most effective and controversial leaders in human history.[1][2] The reign of Augustus initiated an era of relative peace known as the Pax Romana. The Roman world was largely free from large-scale conflict for more than two centuries, despite continuous wars of imperial expansion on the Empire's frontiers and the year-long civil war known as the "Year of the Four Emperors" over the imperial succession.

Augustus was born Gaius Octavius into an old and wealthy equestrian branch of the plebeian gens Octavia. His maternal great-uncle Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, and Octavius was named in Caesar's will as his adopted son and heir, after which he took the name Gaius Julius Caesar, though later historians would take to calling him Octavian for avoiding confusion with his great-uncle. He, Mark Antony, and Marcus Lepidus formed the Second Triumvirate to defeat the assassins of Caesar. Following their victory at the Battle of Philippi (42 BC), the Triumvirate divided the Roman Republic among themselves and ruled as de facto dictators. The Triumvirate was eventually torn apart by the competing ambitions of its members; Lepidus was exiled in 36 BC, and Antony was defeated by Octavian at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC.

After the demise of the Second Triumvirate, Augustus restored the outward façade of the free Republic, with governmental power vested in the Roman Senate, the executive magistrates, and the legislative assemblies. In reality, however, he retained his autocratic power—with the Senate granting him lifetime powers of supreme military command, tribune, and censor. Augustus rejected monarchical titles, and instead called himself Princeps Civitatis ("First Citizen").

Augustus dramatically enlarged the Empire, annexing Egypt, Dalmatia, Pannonia, Noricum, and Raetia, expanding possessions in Africa, and completing the conquest of Hispania, but suffered a major setback in Germania. Beyond the frontiers, he secured the Empire with a buffer region of client states and made peace with the Parthian Empire through diplomacy. He reformed the Roman system of taxation, developed networks of roads with an official courier system, established a standing army, established the Praetorian Guard, created official police and fire-fighting services for Rome, and rebuilt much of the city during his reign. Augustus died in AD 14 at the age of 75, probably from natural causes. Persistent rumors, substantiated somewhat by numerous deaths in the imperial family, have claimed his wife Livia poisoned him. He was succeeded as emperor by Livia's son - also his by adoption and former husband of his only biological daughter Julia - Tiberius, who consolidated the Principate into a de facto autocratic monarchy, the Roman Empire.

 

[BarnBuster]

​

On January 17, 1994, an earthquake rocks Los Angeles, California, killing 54 people and causing billions of dollars in damages. The Northridge quake (named after the San Fernando Valley community near the epicenter) was one of the most damaging in U.S. history.

It was 4:31 a.m. when the 6.7-magnitude quake struck the San Fernando Valley, a densely populated area of Los Angeles located 20 miles northeast of the city’s downtown. With an epicenter 12 miles beneath the earth’s surface, the earthquake caused the collapse of several apartment buildings. At the Northridge Meadows complex, 16 people died, all of whom lived on the first floor, when the weak stucco structure fell down on them as they slept.

Given the strength and location of the earthquake, it was fortunate that the death toll was not far higher. Two key factors were critical in reducing the casualties. First, the quake struck in the middle of the night while nearly everyone was at home in their beds. A mall parking lot in the Valley collapsed, but no one was killed because it was entirely empty. Several highways also suffered critical failures, but only one police officer died, when his vehicle plunged off an overpass. The other key factor was that the city’s building and safety codes were strengthened following the 1971 Sylmar quake that collapsed the San Fernando Veterans Hospital. Every building constructed after the new regulations were implemented stayed intact.

Still, the quake caused a huge amount of property damage over a wide area, especially in the beach community of Santa Monica, even though it was relatively far from the epicenter. As much of Santa Monica stands on soil that is less solid than bedrock, it suffered severe ground movement during the earthquake. The partial collapse of the Santa Monica freeway snarled traffic in Los Angeles for months. All told, it is estimated that the earthquake was responsible for $20 billion in damages.

 

[BarnBuster]

​

Minutes after Ronald Reagan’s inauguration as the 40th president of the United States, the 52 U.S. captives held at the U.S. embassy in Teheran, Iran, are released, ending the 444-day Iran Hostage Crisis.

On November 4, 1979, the crisis began when militant Iranian students, outraged that the U.S. government had allowed the ousted shah of Iran to travel to New York City for medical treatment, seized the U.S. embassy in Teheran. The Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran’s political and religious leader, took over the hostage situation, refusing all appeals to release the hostages, even after the U.N. Security Council demanded an end to the crisis in an unanimous vote. However, two weeks after the storming of the embassy, the Ayatollah began to release all non-U.S. captives, and all female and minority Americans, citing these groups as among the people oppressed by the government of the United States. The remaining 52 captives remained at the mercy of the Ayatollah for the next 14 months.

President Jimmy Carter was unable to diplomatically resolve the crisis, and on April 24, 1980, he ordered a disastrous rescue mission in which eight U.S. military personnel were killed and no hostages rescued. Three months later, the former shah died of cancer in Egypt, but the crisis continued. In November 1980, Carter lost the presidential election to Republican Ronald Reagan. Soon after, with the assistance of Algerian intermediaries, successful negotiations began between the United States and Iran. On the day of Reagan’s inauguration, the United States freed almost $8 billion in frozen Iranian assets, and the hostages were released after 444 days. The next day, Jimmy Carter flew to West Germany to greet the Americans on their way home.

 

[BarnBuster]

​

January 21, 2020, following a rapid spread from its origin in Wuhan, China, the first U.S. case of the 2019 novel coronavirus, which causes a disease known as COVID-19, is confirmed in a man from Washington state.

The virus, which would spark a pandemic, was first reported in China on December 31, 2019. Halfway across the world, on January 19, a man who had returned home to Snohomish County, Washington near Seattle on January 15, after traveling to Wuhan, checked into an urgent care clinic after seeing reports about the outbreak.

Experiencing a cough, fever, nausea and vomiting, the Centers for Disease Control announced on January 21 that the 35-year-old had tested positive for COVID-19. He was hospitalized, where his condition grew worse and he developed pneumonia. His symptoms abated 10 days later.

In the following months, the Seattle area became the epicenter of an early U.S. outbreak. 39 residents of Life Care Center, a nursing home in Kirkland, died from complications from the virus in one four-week span.

According to the CDC, 14 U.S. coronavirus cases were noted by public health agencies between January 21 and February 23, 2020; all patients had traveled to China. The first non-travel case was confirmed in California on February 26, and the first U.S. death was reported on February 29.

As the virus quickly marched across the country, businesses, schools and social gatherings were largely shut down, while, by May, unemployment rates reached their highest levels since the Great Depression.

Spreading to almost every country, more than 83 million have contracted the virus worldwide, and 1.8 million have died from it. The first U.S. vaccinations for COVID-19 were administered on December 14, 2020, with the rollout falling well short of expectations. As of mid-January 2021, 24.1 million cases and 400,000 deaths had been reported in the United States alone.

 

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In a Sacramento, California, courtroom on January 22, 1998, Theodore J. Kaczynski pleads guilty to all federal charges against him, acknowledging his responsibility for a 17-year campaign of package bombings attributed to the “Unabomber.”

Born in 1942, Kaczynski attended Harvard University and received a PhD in mathematics from the University of Michigan. He worked as an assistant mathematics professor at the University of California at Berkeley, but abruptly quit in 1969. In the early 1970s, Kaczynski began living as a recluse in western Montana, in a 10-by-12 foot cabin without heat, electricity or running water. From this isolated location, he began the bombing campaign that would kill three people and injure more than 20 others.

The primary targets were universities, but he also placed a bomb on an American Airlines flight in 1979 and sent one to the home of the president of United Airlines in 1980. After federal investigators set up the UNABOM Task Force (the name came from the words “university and airline bombing”), the media dubbed the culprit the “Unabomber.” The bombs left little physical evidence, and the only eyewitness found in the case could describe the suspect only as a man in hooded sweatshirt and sunglasses (depicted in an infamous 1987 police sketch).

In 1995, the Washington Post (in collaboration with the New York Times) published a 35,000-word anti-technology manifesto written by a person claiming to be the Unabomber. Recognizing elements of his brother’s writings, David Kaczynski went to authorities with his suspicions, and Ted Kaczynski was arrested in April 1996. In his cabin, federal investigators found ample evidence linking him to the bombings, including bomb parts, journal entries and drafts of the manifesto.

Kaczynski was arraigned in Sacramento and charged with bombings in 1985, 1993 and 1995 that killed two people and maimed two others. (A bombing in New Jersey in 1994 also resulted in the victim’s death.) Despite his lawyers’ efforts, Kaczynski rejected an insanity plea. After attempting suicide in his jail cell in early 1998, Kaczynski appealed to U.S. District Judge Garland Burrell Jr. to allow him to represent himself, and agreed to undergo psychiatric evaluation. A court-appointed psychiatrist diagnosed paranoid schizophrenia, and Judge Burrell ruled that Kaczynski could not defend himself. The psychiatrist’s verdict helped prosecutors and defense reach a plea bargain, which allowed prosecutors to avoid arguing for the death penalty for a mentally ill defendant.

On January 22, 1998, Kaczynski accepted a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole in return for a plea of guilty to all federal charges; he also gave up the right to appeal any rulings in the case. Though Kaczynski later attempted to withdraw his guilty plea, arguing that it had been involuntary, Judge Burrell denied the request, and a federal appeals court upheld the ruling. Kaczynski was remanded to a maximum-security prison in Colorado, where he is serving his life sentence.

 

[BarnBuster]

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"On January 23, 1968, the USS Pueblo, a Navy intelligence vessel, is engaged in a routine surveillance of the North Korean coast when it is intercepted by North Korean patrol boats. According to U.S. reports, the Pueblo was in international waters almost 16 miles from shore, but the North Koreans turned their guns on the lightly armed vessel and demanded its surrender. The Americans attempted to escape, and the North Koreans opened fire, wounding the commander and two others. With capture inevitable, the Americans stalled for time, destroying the classified information aboard while taking further fire. Several more crew members were wounded.

Finally, the Pueblo was boarded and taken to Wonson. There, the 83-man crew was bound and blindfolded and transported to Pyongyang, where they were charged with spying within North Korea’s 12-mile territorial limit and imprisoned. It was the biggest crisis in two years of increased tension and minor skirmishes between the United States and North Korea.

The United States maintained that the Pueblo had been in international waters and demanded the release of the captive sailors. With the Tet Offensive raging 2,000 miles to the south in Vietnam, President Lyndon Johnson ordered no direct retaliation, but the United States began a military buildup in the area.

At first the captured crew of the Pueblo resisted demands they sign false confessions, famously raising their middle fingers at the camera and telling the North Koreans it was the “Hawaiian good-luck sign.” Once the North Koreans learned the truth, they punished the prisoners with beatings, cold temperatures and sleep deprivation, according to a lawsuit some of the Pueblo’s crew would later file against the North Korean government.

Eventually North Korean authorities coerced a confession and apology out of Pueblo commander Bucher, in which he stated, “I will never again be a party to any disgraceful act of aggression of this type.” The rest of the crew also signed a confession under threat of torture.

The prisoners were then taken to a second compound in the countryside near Pyongyang, where they were forced to study propaganda materials and beaten for straying from the compound’s strict rules. In August, the North Koreans staged a phony news conference in which the prisoners were to praise their humane treatment, but the Americans thwarted the Koreans by inserting innuendoes and sarcastic language into their statements. Some prisoners also rebelled in photo shoots by casually sticking out their middle finger; a gesture that their captors didn’t understand. Later, the North Koreans caught on and beat the Americans for a week.

On December 23, 1968, exactly 11 months after the Pueblo‘s capture, U.S. and North Korean negotiators reached a settlement to resolve the crisis. Under the settlement’s terms, the United States admitted the ship’s intrusion into North Korean territory, apologized for the action, and pledged to cease any future such action. That day, the surviving 82 crewmen walked one by one across the “Bridge of No Return” at Panmunjon to freedom in South Korea. They were hailed as heroes and returned home to the United States in time for Christmas.

Incidents between North Korea and the United States continued in 1969, and in April 1969 a North Korean MiG fighter shot down a U.S. Navy intelligence aircraft, killing all 31 men aboard. In 1970, quiet returned to the demilitarized zone."

 

[BarnBuster]

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A millwright named James Marshall discovers gold along the banks of Sutter’s Creek in California, forever changing the course of history in the American West.

A tributary to the South Fork of the American River in the Sacramento Valley east of San Francisco, Sutter’s Creek was named for a Swiss immigrant who came to Mexican California in 1839. John Augustus Sutter became a citizen of Mexico and won a grant of nearly 50,000 acres in the lush Sacramento Valley, where he hoped to create a thriving colony. He built a sturdy fort that became the center of his first town, New Helvetia, and purchased farming implements, livestock, and a cannon to defend his tiny empire. Copying the methods of the Spanish missions, Sutter induced the local Indians to do all the work on his farms and ranches, often treating them as little more than slaves. Workers who dared leave his empire without permission were often brought back by armed posses to face brutal whippings or even execution.

In the 1840s, Sutter’s Fort became the first stopping-off point for overland Anglo-American emigrants coming to California to build farms and ranches. Though sworn to protect the Mexican province from falling under the control of the growing number of Americans, Sutter recognized that his future wealth and influence lay with these Anglo settlers. With the outbreak of the Mexican War in 1846, he threw his support to the Americans, who emerged victorious in the fall of 1847.

With the war over and California securely in the hands of the United States, Sutter hired the millwright James Marshall to build a sawmill along the South Fork of the American River in January 1848. In order to redirect the flow of water to the mill’s waterwheel, Marshall supervised the excavation of a shallow millrace. On the morning of January 24, 1848, Marshall was looking over the freshly cut millrace when a sparkle of light in the dark earth caught his eye. Looking more closely, Marshall found that much of the millrace was speckled with what appeared to be small flakes of gold, and he rushed to tell Sutter. After an assayer confirmed that the flakes were indeed gold, Sutter quietly set about gathering up as much of the gold as he could, hoping to keep the discovery a secret. However, word soon leaked out and, within months, the largest gold rush in the world had begun.

Ironically, the California gold rush was a disaster for Sutter. Though it brought thousands of men to California, the prospectors had no interest in joining Sutter’s despotic agricultural community. Instead, they overran Sutter’s property, slaughtered his herds for food, and trampled his fields. By 1852, New Helvetia was ruined, and Sutter was nearly wiped out. Until his death in 1880, he spent his time unsuccessfully petitioning the government to compensate him for the losses he suffered as a result of the gold rush he unintentionally ignited.

 

[BarnBuster]

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On January 25, 1905, at the Premier Mine in Pretoria, South Africa, a 3,106-carat diamond is discovered during a routine inspection by the mine’s superintendent. Weighing 1.33 pounds, and christened the “Cullinan,” it was the largest diamond ever found.

Frederick Wells was 18 feet below the earth’s surface when he spotted a flash of starlight embedded in the wall just above him. His discovery was presented that same afternoon to Sir Thomas Cullinan, who owned the mine. Cullinan then sold the diamond to the Transvaal provincial government, which presented the stone to Britain’s King Edward VII as a birthday gift. Worried that the diamond might be stolen in transit from Africa to London, Edward arranged to send a phony diamond aboard a steamer ship loaded with detectives as a diversionary tactic. While the decoy slowly made its way from Africa on the ship, the Cullinan was sent to England in a plain box.

Edward entrusted the cutting of the Cullinan to Joseph Asscher, head of the Asscher Diamond Company of Amsterdam. Asscher, who had cut the famous Excelsior Diamond, a 971-carat diamond found in 1893, studied the stone for six months before attempting the cut. On his first attempt, the steel blade broke, with no effect on the diamond. On the second attempt, the diamond shattered exactly as planned; Asscher then fainted from nervous exhaustion.

The Cullinan was later cut into nine large stones and about 100 smaller ones, valued at millions of dollars all told. The largest stone is called the “Star of Africa I,” or “Cullinan I,” and at 530 carats, it is the largest-cut fine-quality colorless diamond in the world. The second largest stone, the “Star of Africa II” or “Cullinan II,” is 317 carats. Both of these stones, as well as the “Cullinan III,” are on display in the Tower of London with Britain’s other crown jewels; the Cullinan I is mounted in the British Sovereign’s Royal Scepter, while the Cullinan II sits in the Imperial State Crown.

 

[BarnBuster]

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