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Today in History.


1590
The Sultan of Morocco launches a successful attack to capture Timbuktu.
1644
The Ming Chongzhen emperor commits suicide by hanging himself.
1707
At the Battle of Almansa, Franco-Spanish forces defeat the Anglo-Portugese forces.
1719
Daniel Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe is published in London.
1792
The guillotine is first used to execute highwayman Nicolas J. Pelletier.
1859
Work begins on the Suez Canal in Egypt.
1862
Admiral David Farragut occupies New Orleans, Louisiana.
1864
After facing defeat in the Red River Campaign, Union General Nathaniel Bank returns to Alexandria, Louisiana.
1867
Tokyo is opened for foreign trade.
1882
French commander Henri Riviere seizes the citadel of Hanoi in Indochina.
1898
The United States declares war on Spain.
1915
Australian and New Zealand troops land at Gallipoli in Turkey.
1925
General Paul von Hindenburg takes office as president of Germany.
1926
In Iran, Reza Khan is crowned Shah and chooses the name "Pahlavi."
1926
Puccini's opera Turandot premiers at La Scala in Milan with Arturo Toscanini conducting.

1938
A seeing eye dog is used for the first time.
1945
U.S. and Soviet forces meet at Torgau, Germany on Elbe River.
1951
After a three day fight against Chinese Communist Forces, the Gloucestershire Regiment is annihilated on "Gloucester Hill," in Korea.
1953
The magazine Nature publishes an article by biologists Francis Crick and James Watson, describing the "double helix" of DNA.
1956
Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" goes to number one on the charts.

1959
The St. Lawrence Seaway--linking the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes--opens to shipping.
1960
The first submerged circumnavigation of the Earth is completed by a Triton submarine.
1962
A U.S. Ranger spacecraft crash lands on the Moon.
1971
The country of Bangladesh is established.
1980
President Jimmy Carter tells the American people about the hostage rescue disaster in Iran.

1982
In accordance with the Camp David agreements, Israel completes a withdrawal from the Sinai peninsula.
1990
Violeta Barrios de Chamorro begins a six year term as Nicaragua's president.






Joke of the Day


During the Klondike gold rush, a prospector came down from the mountains into a little one horse town. Finding a saloon, he says to the saloon keeper, "Give me a bottle of whiskey and a woman!"

The saloon keeper explains to the prospector that there are no women in this town, but some should arrive soon.

"Well what can I do for some pleasure around here?" inquired the prospector.

"If you really feel you must, there's Old Joe. He said, pointing to a toothless old man sitting near the end of the bar.

"No way," said the prospector, "I don't go for that kind of sex." He took his bottle of whiskey and left.

One year later the prospector came back to the same saloon, walking up to the bar he shouts, "A bottle of whiskey and a woman!"

To which the saloon keeper says, "No women have arrived yet but Old Joe is still here."

Grabbing the whiskey he storms out of the saloon saying, "I don't go for that kind of sex!"

Well it's one year later and the prospector returns to the saloon, nervous and shaky he pleads to the saloon keeper for a bottle of whiskey and a woman.

The saloon keeper again explains there is plenty of whiskey on hand, but that no women have arrived in town yet. "But Old Joe is still here," he says motioning towards the old man sitting at the end of the bar.

"I don't go for that kind of sex," replied the prospector.

Exasperated, the prospector starts drinking his whiskey. When about half of the bottle is gone he calls the bartender over and asks, "If I should decide to frick Old Joe, who all would know about it?

The bartender says, "I'll know about it, and so will those six big lumber jacks playing poker at the table over there."

"Why do they have to know?" asked the prospector.

"You will need all six of them to hold Old Joe down... You see Old Joe doesn't go for that kind of sex either."