GMT

Today in History: November 16

1902 A cartoon appears in the Washington Star, prompting the Teddy Bear Craze, after President Teddy Roosevelt refused to kill a captive bear tied up for him to shoot during a hunting trip to Mississippi.

1907 The Indian and Oklahoma territories are unified to make Oklahoma, which becomes the 46th state.

1920 Metered mail is born in Stamford, Connecticut with the first Pitney Bowes postage meter.

1948 President Harry S Truman rejects four-power talks on Berlin until the blockade is removed.

1960 After the integration of two all-white schools, 2,000 whites riot in the streets of New Orleans.

1965 In the last day of the fighting at Landing Zone X-Ray, regiments of the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division repulse NVA forces in the Ia Drang Valley.

1992 Eric Lawes, while using a metal detector to search for a friend's lost hammer near Hoxne, Suffolk, England, discovers the Hoxne Hoard, the largest hoard of Roman silver and gold ever found in Britain, and the largest collection of 4th and 5th century coins found anywhere within the bounds of the former Roman Empire

Born on November 16

0042 Tiberius Claudius Nero, Roman Emperor.


JOTD
The elderly Italian man went to his parish priest and asked if the priest would hear his confession.

The elderly Italian man went to his parish priest and asked if the priest would hear his confession. "Of course, my son," said the priest. "Well, Father, at the beginning of World War Two, a beautiful woman knocked on my door and asked me to hide her from the Germans; I hid her in my attic, and they never found her." "That's a wonderful thing, my son, and nothing that you need to confess," said the priest. "It's worse, Father; I was weak, and told her that she had to pay for rent of the attic with her sexual favors," continued the old man. "Well, it was a very difficult time, and you took a large risk -you would have suffered terribly at their hands if the Germans had found you hiding her; I know that God, in his wisdom and mercy, will balance the good and the evil, and judge you kindly," said the priest. "Thanks, Father," said the old man. "That's a load off of my mind. Can I ask another question?" "Of course, my son," said the priest. The old man asked, "Do I need to tell her that the war is over?".