On This Day in Paracultural History for Dec 31

[Mark Thibodeau]

On this day in *1695*, a *window tax* is imposed in England, causing many
householders to brick up windows to avoid the tax.


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On this day in *1907*, the first New Year's Eve celebration is held in
Times Square (then known as Longacre Square) in New York, New York.


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On this day in *1955*, *General Motors* becomes the first U.S. corporation
to make over US$1 billion in a year.


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On this day in *1991*, all official Soviet Union institutions have ceased
operations by this date and the Soviet Union is officially dissolved.


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On this day in *1993*, *Brandon Teena* and two others are shot to death
inside a farmhouse in Humboldt, Nebraska by *John Lotter* and *Tom
Nissen* after
the two men discovered Teena was transgender. The events were dramatized in
the award-winning film *Boys Don't Cry*.


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On this day in *1997*, while simultaneously skiing down a mountain and
playing touch football with his cousins, bucktoothed babysitter-fucker *Michael
Kennedy* is momentarily distracted by the sound of *Charles Darwin*'s ghost
having a hearty gut-laugh at his shenanigans. This, of course, disorients
Kennedy, who ends up smashing head-first into a tree, offing himself.


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On this day in *1999*, the first President of Russia, *Boris Yeltsin*,
resigns from office, leaving Prime Minister *Vladimir Putin* as the acting
President and successor. Meanwhile, over in the United States, control of
the Panama Canal is handed over to Panama. And finally on this day - once
again, in *1999* - *Cisco*'s *Thong Song* comes out, being both the last
song of 1999, the last song of The 1990's, the first song of 2000, and the
first song of the 3rd Millennium. Aren't you proud?


***


On this day in *2009*, both a blue moon and a lunar eclipse occur.
Woo-EE-oo...
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