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Good morning

Today in History: April 2

1453 Turkish forces under Sultan Mehmed II begin the siege of Constantinople (Istanbul), which falls May 29

1792 The United States authorizes the minting of the $10 Eagle, $5 half-Eagle & 2.50 quarter-Eagle gold coins as well as the silver dollar, dollar, quarter, dime & half-dime.

1865 Confederate President Jefferson Davis flees Richmond, Virginia as Grant breaks Lee's line at Petersburg.

1914 The U.S. Federal Reserve Board announces plans to divide the country into 12 districts.

1931 Virne "Jackie" Mitchell becomes the first woman to play for an all-male pro baseball team. In an exhibition game against the New York Yankees, she strikes out both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.

1932 Charles Lindbergh pays over $50,000 ransom for his kidnapped son.

1982 Argentina invades the British-owned Falkland Islands.

2006 Over 60 tornadoes break out, hardest hit is Tennessee with 29 people killed.

2019 Canada is warming at twice the speed of the rest of the world, according to a federal report, increasing 2.3% in northern Canada

2020 Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro downplays the COVID-19 pandemic saying "its not all its being made out to be"

2020 Number of COVID-19 cases worldwide passes 1 million, with 1,002,159 cases and 51,485 deaths reported, according to Johns Hopkins University

2023 Lake Tulare, once the largest body of water west of the Mississippi, re-emerges after a series of storms in California's Central Valley to cover 160 square miles


Born on April 2

0742 Charlemagne, first Holy Roman Emperor.

1725 Giovanni Casanova, Italian adventurer.

1875 Walter P. Chrysler, founder of Chrysler Automobile Company.

1948 Emmylou Harris, American singer.


Joke of the Day
Dad: I heard that you got punished for saying the F-word in class. That wasn’t fun, was it?

Son: No, it was frick.

quote:

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1982 Argentina invades the British-owned Falkland Islands.

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A great moment in badly misjudging a situation. Britain had spent the past 20 some odd years trying to convince the inhabitants of the Falkland Islands to agree to become part of Argentina. The late 60s to early 80s was not a shining moment of glory for the British Empire folks.

Argentina had a far right militaristic government that even Elon Musk would have said they might be going too far. Not surprisingly they were doing an absolutely piss poor job of running Argentina and the folks were starting to get hostile. They needed a triumph.

So, the Argies invaded the Falklands hoping that the British would just roll over and accept it. Which, of course, badly misjudged British sentiment. You can bully and push around a fading power, until recently the US had been doing that for decades to Europe and made them like it. But when you directly challenge a country like that the one thing they have left is pride.

As US Secretary of State George Schulz said to Argentinean government, "They are going to kick the shite out of you." And... the British did.

The Argies switched right wing morons to left wing commies (Argentina is cursed when it comes to their government, they have all the advantages in the world, but their government can be counted on to screw things up) and went on to be... well a disaster to the modern day.

Britain, on the other hand, experienced the very rare resurgence for a fading power, and would move into a secondary power slot with confidence.

Morning all

Good morning, my freeks.

Everyone survive yesterday? It even got wild here in northern Indiana.

quote:

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wild here

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winnie the poo got blown to page 7 here.

Good puppy papa

Today in History: April 4

0527 In Constantinople, Justin, seriously ill, crowns his nephew Justinian as his co-emperor.

1581 Francis Drake completes circumnavigation of the world.

1812 The territory of Orleans becomes the 18th state and will become known as Louisiana.

1818 The United States flag is declared to have 13 red and white stripes and 20 stars.

1841 President William Henry Harrison, aged 68, becomes the first president to die in office, just a month after being sworn in.

1917 The U.S. Senate votes 90-6 to enter World War I on Allied side.

1968 US civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee

1973 World Trade Center, then the world's tallest building, opens in New York (110 stories). Later destroyed in 9/11 terrorist attacks.

1974 Hank Aaron ties Babe Ruth's home-run record.

1975 Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800

1979 Ex-President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed.

1989 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's last NBA game in Seattle

2017 Pink Star diamond sets world record price of $71 million for a gem at an action in Hong Kong

2022 Eon Musk buys 9.2% of Twitter stock, making him the company's largest shareholder

2023 Finland officially joins NATO at a ceremony in Brussels, becoming its 31st member and doubling NATO's border with Russia

2024 President Joe Biden warns Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu that the US could shift its policy if Israel does not immediately address humanitarian concerns in Gaza and work towards a ceasefire

Born on April 4

1780 Edward Hicks, Quaker preacher and painter (The Peaceable Kingdom).

1915 Muddy Waters, American blues musician.

1932 Anthony Perkins, actor (Psycho).

1963 Armymann50, American Soldier


JOTD
A Russian, an American, and a British admiral were having a drink on an American aircraft carrier

They were talking about the bravery of their sailors.
The Russian said, “I will demonstrate the bravery of our sailors.” He calls a sailor over and says, “Jump off the ship. Swim under it and climb back up”. The sailor promptly salutes and jumps off the flight deck, swims under the ship, climbs up the davits and stands in front of the admiral and salutes. The Russian says, “That gentlemen, is courage"
The American says that's nothing. He calls over a PO and says, "I want you to jump off the bows. Swim under the ship to the stern and then return". The PO salutes jumps off the bow, swims to the stern and climbs back up to stand in front of the admiral and salutes. The American says, “That gentlemen, is courage"
The British admiral says, “That's nothing. Sailor, come here!". The matelot comes to attention and salutes. The admiral says, “I want you to climb the highest mast on the carrier, jump off, swim under the boat from bow to stern and then from beam to beam then climb up the mast and do it again" The matelot looks at the admiral and says, “You can frick right off". The admiral turns to the other two and says, “And that gentlemen, is courage"

And gm.

Afternoon All and HBD ARMY !!!!