Big doings here, as always. A mere 2100 years ago, (plus a few for good luck) Judas Maccabeus restored the Temple in Jerusalem. It's now remembered as Hanukkah. So happy Hanukkah to any Jewish readers!
In 1386, Timur of Samarkand captures Tbilisi. The aftermath is ugly if you're a Georgian. Your riches are pretty much gonna be stolen. But it's an impressive feat. I predict great things for this Timur. He's vaguely descended from Genghis Khan, but he's a Moslem, and not a Mongol either. But the poor guy has something of a limp, so people laugh behind his back, and tell each other how lame he is. And I stress that they only say that behind his back, as he apparently was a bit sensitive about it. But they all get the last laugh, as today, in case you haven't figured it out, he's known as "Timur the Lame", or Tamerlane.
If you're reading this while spinning a few LPs by your favorite artist, then spare a thought for Thomas Edison today. He announces on this date in 1877 that he's invented the "phonograph". Cool, huh?
In 1905, a young fella named Einstein gets a paper published in "Annalen der Physik". The paper is entitled "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?" Not long after, he comes out with an equation to answer the question, E=mc2 (sorry, don't know how to do the formula properly on my computer).
It's a black day for the music biz in 1959. Alan Freed, one of the most influential early disc jockey, and the guy who started calling a certain type of music "rock and roll" was fired from his job. He couldn't deny that he had been involved in the Payola Scandal, which was a bad thing. In honor of Freed, pretty much every DJ since then has also been fired from at least one job.
Uh oh. Remember when I told you about the story that claimed the US was selling weapons to Iran, and how unlikely it seemed because it was a stupid idea? At the time, I warned you that Oliver North might be appearing soon. Guess what? It's "soon" already. So far it's a minor cameo, as he and his secretary have started to shred documents that could be embarrassing. But it's not gonna help, if you want my opinion.
And that's all he wrote, for this entry at least.
Oh, except for the most important event in history, at least for this date. Happy 58th anniversary to my parental units!
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