November 5 in History

Geez, I was so busy with other stuff today, I almost forgot this!  But now I have some Weird Al on, and I'm ready (The Saga Begins, if you must know.  Then onto other stuff.  Love me some shuffle mode!)

So where were we?  Oh yeah.  Today in history.  Ly Anh Tong became emperor of Vietnam, at the advanced age of 2.  He'll make it another 37 years.  Wonder if he had any luck with the girls in high school...

And for everyone who likes wearing a mask, it's Guy Fawkes Day, of course.  Just for the record, you do know he wasn't the leader of the Gunpowder Plot, right? 

In 1757, Frederick the Great wins the Battle of Rossbach.  Don't get that impressed- it was against the Holy Roman Empire and the French.  And seriously- if your nickname is "The Great", you'd better be able to beat the Surrender Monkeys, right?

In Virginia in 1831, Nat Turner goes on trial for leading a slave rebellion.  Not surprisingly, the results come quickly and predictably.  He's sentenced to death, as slave owners are not fond of slaves who rebel.

In 1862, General George McClellan is removed from command of the Union Army of The Potomac.  Again.  This time it'll stick.  He's most famous for, you know, not actually fighting battles.  Even when he knew exactly what the enemy was gonna do, and when.  And on top of that, he always thought he was outnumbered, even when the odds were 2 or 3 to 1 in his favor.  He did contribute some useful stuff though- Lincoln gave him a lot of verbal (more accurately, written) smackdowns over the year or so that he was on the scene.  Here's an example:  Shortly before he was relieved (so figure a few weeks ago), he said that he couldn't advance because the horses of his cavalry troops were worn out.  Lincoln wrote back asking him what exactly the cavalry had done to wear out their horses.  BURN!

In 1872, Susan B. Anthony votes in the presidential election.  Hey wait- she's a girl!  She can't do that!  Well, we'll get her- and she was fined $100.  If they really wanted to teach her a lesson, they should have paid her in those asinine Susan B. Anthony silver dollars.  Remember them?  They weren't silver, looked sorta like quarters, and nobody liked them.  Other than that, it was a great idea... Like allowing women to vote in a presidential election!  (Relax.  It's called a joke.)

Remember the Hither Green rail crash?  Robin Gibb does!  But then, unlike you, he was on the train.  And he survived it, obviously.  And it was on this date.  By the way, 49 people didn't survive it. 

Ooh, another person was sentenced to death today.  Only this one was a real a**hole.  Yup. Saddam Hussein was given the bad news.  I wonder how surprised he really was.  And now, it's likely that his country will be dominated by Iran.  Not what we wanted, exactly.  Not what he wanted either.  Ah well.

And speaking of people who deserve to die, Major A**hole, er Nidal Malik shoots up a building at Fort Hood Texas on this date, just two years ago.  Despite his actions before and during the attack, most of the media claims they have no idea what his motives were.   Ooh, ooh, let me see if I can come up with something!  Personally, I'm still amazed that they can't try him for treason, but that might offend somebody, I guess.  Idjits.

Rant (and post) over.