sources: de.wikipedia.org – en.wikipedia.org – daily rotten
Events
* 1492 – Spain and Christopher Columbus sign a contract for him to sail to Asia to get spices
* 1865 – Mary Surratt is arrested as a conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln
* 1906 – San Francisco earthquake
* 1941 – World War II: Yugoslavia surrenders to Germany
* 1961 – Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba begins.
* 1964 – Ford Motor Company unveils the Mustang car.
* 1975 – Cambodia falls to the Khmer Rouge
* 1979 – the first issue of leftist alternative “taz” appears Berlin.
Births
* 1897 – Thornton Wilder, dramatist and narrator (d. 1975)
* 1929 – James Last, band leader
* 1948 – Jan Hammer, composer
* 1957 – Nick Hornby, author
* 1962 – pieceoplastic, fartist, in manhattan nyc
* 1967 – Liz Phair, musician
* 1972 – Jennifer Garner, actress
* 1974 – Victoria Beckham, british posh popstar (Spice Girls)
Deaths
* 1790 – Benjamin Franklin, politician, inventor, diplomat, printer (b. 1706)
* 1960 – Eddie Cochran, musician
hollidays and such
* Syrian national hollyday
rotten history:
Apr 17 1792
The Guillotine is tested at Bicetre Hospital in Paris, decapitating a sheep and a number of human cadavers.
Apr 17 1961
In an effort to overthrow Fidel Castro, 1,500 Cuban exiles make a series of amphibious landings at the Bay of Pigs. After it becomes painfully obvious in just a matter of hours that the forces were trained, equipped, and armed by the United States, President John F. Kennedy withholds necessary air cover. In three days of fighting, Cuba captures 1,197 of the rebels and kills approximately 200.
Apr 17 1965
The FBI Laboratory in Washington reports their inability to make out the vocals on the hit single “Louie Louie.” Thus, the Bureau is unable to determine whether the record constitutes obscene matter.
Apr 17 1974
Vinnie Taylor of Sha Na Na dies of a smack overdose.
plus this:
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Due to a confluence of unusual astrological influences, you’ve been temporarily authorized to act as if you are the love child of comedians Chris Rock and Margaret Cho. Here’s some of the behavior you have a cosmic license to express: 1. Expose hypocrisy with uproarious honesty. 2. Lay yourself bare as a way to educate and inspire others. 3. Shock people awake with irreverent new spins on traditional subjects. 4. Risk being annoying in order to be a servant of the hilarious truth. 5. Be edgy and healing, disruptive and inspiring, half-crazy and profoundly real.
[according to free will astrology]