On This Day in Paracultural History

[Mark Thibodeau]

On this day in *1799*, 4000 people attend *George Washington*'s funeral
where *Henry Lee III*declares him as "first in war, first in peace and
first in the hearts of his countrymen."

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On this day in *1846*, trapped in snow in the Sierra Nevadas and without
food, members of the*Donner Party* resort to cannibalism.

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On this day in *1862*, the largest mass-hanging in U.S. history took place
in Mankato, Minnesota, 38 Native Americans die.

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On this day in *1898*, *Marie and Pierre Curie* announce the isolation of
radium. They would soon both die of radiation poisoning.

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On this day in *1900*, a relief crew arrives at the lighthouse on the
Flannan Isles of Scotland, UK, only to find the previous crew has
disappeared without a trace. *Oo-We-oooo!
<http://sjhstrangetales.wordpress.com/2012/01/10/the-flannan-isles-lighthouse-mystery/>*

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On this day in *1982*, Time's *Man of the Year* is for the first time a
non-human: the *Personal Computer*.

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On this day in *1991*, the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union meets and
formally dissolves the Soviet Union.

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On this day in *1996*, one of the most infuriating cases in the history of
American jurisprudence gets rolling when 6-year-old beauty queen *JonBenét
Ramsey* is found beaten and strangled to death in the basement of her
family's home in Boulder, Colorado. To list all the reasons why it's
obvious that the Ramseys either killed their daughter themselves, or else
damn well know who did, would take more time and patience than I am
currently willing to bestow upon the subject. Suffice it to say that the
multi-millionaire couple were just too white and too rich to go to jail
over something as trifling as a the brutal rape/murder of their own fucking
daughter.

***

On this day in *2003*, a magnitude 6.6 earthquake devastates southeast
Iranian city of Bam, killing tens of thousands and destroying the citadel
of Arg-é Bam. One year later, on this day in *2004*, a 9.3 magnitude
earthquake creates a tsunami causing devastation in Sri Lanka, India,
Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives and many other areas around the
rim of the Indian Ocean, killing close to *a quarter of a million human
beings*, for fuck's sake. Un-fucking-believable.
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