Month: October 2016
Today in History 10/31/16

(1517) The Protestant Reformation starts with a posting | |
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According to tradition, German theologian Martin Luther nails a document to the door of the All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg, questioning Catholic Church traditions that he sees as questionable and possibly corrupt. Luther’s ’95 Theses’ will lead to the founding of a new religion.. | |
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(1950) Sports pioneer Earl Lloyd integrates the NBA | |
Just three years after Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color line, Earl Lloyd does the same for the sport of basketball as he takes the court with the Washington Capitols. The first African American NBA player scores 6 points in his opening game against the Rochester Royals. . | |
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(1974) Manhattan streets transform with Halloween revels | |
Puppeteer and mask maker Ralph Lee promenades with his creations through the streets of his New York City neighborhood. This whimsical start will launch the annual Village Halloween Parade, mixing huge puppets and costumed revelers in one of the largest nighttime parades on the planet.. | |
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(1984) India’s first female prime minister is shot and killed | |
On a morning walk through her garden, India’s Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is shot multiple times by two of her own Sikh bodyguards. The daughter of India’s previous prime minister, Nehru, and the country’s first female leader, her assassination will spark deadly riots.. | |
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DIH v2.9.o16 |
Today in History 10/30/16

(1864) Last Chance Gulch is renamed to something fit for a capital | |
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Four prospectors from Georgia have dubbed a gold-producing site near Prickly Pear Creek in Montana Territory, ‘Last Chance Gulch.’ But three months later, the population has swelled to more than 200 and a more refined name is called for. ‘Pumpkinville’ is dismissed in favor of ‘Helena.’ . | |
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(1938) Martian spaceships land in Grover’s Mill, New Jersey | |
An Intercontinental Radio News bulletin interrupts regularly scheduled music programming, alerting listeners to a meteor strike in rural New Jersey. What follows is nothing less than a Martian invasion cooked up by the fiendishly clever Orson Welles and his Mercury Theatre players. . | |
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(1974) Ali and Forman ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ | |
Former heavyweight boxing champ Muhammad Ali challenges reigning champ George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaïre, for a $5 million purse. In the heavily promoted fight, Ali introduces his ‘rope-a-dope’ style, taking punches against the ropes to wear Foreman down before Ali knocks him out in the eighth round.. | |
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(1991) A monster storm churns in the North Atlantic | |
A meeting of two weather systems turns malevolent as Hurricane Grace rotates north off the US Eastern Seaboard and is pulled into a nor’easter moving down from Canada. The resulting monster cyclone packs waves exceeding 100 feet, low pressure of 972 millibars, and 70-mph gales.. | |
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DIH v2.9.o16 |