On This Day in Paracultural History for January 1!

[Mark Thibodeau]

*New Year's Day* is celebrated for the first time in history as the Julian
calendar takes effect on this day in *45 BC*. Yer old pal Jerky is still
trying to figure out how they knew to start counting backwards until Jesus
was born.

***

On this day in *404*, an infuriated Roman mob tears *Telemachus*, a
Christian monk, to pieces for trying to stop a gladiators' fight in the
public arena held in Rome.

***

On this day in *1801*, the dwarf planet *Ceres* is discovered by *Giuseppe
Piazzi*.

***

On this day in *1804*, after the first and to date only successful slave
revolution, French rule ends in Haiti, which becomes the first black
republic and second independent country in North America after the United
States.

***

On this day in *1808*, the importation of slaves into the United States is
made illegal, thus forcing slave-holding families to start "growing their
own" by breeding new slaves from existing stock. A*peculiar institution
<http://www.ushistory.org/us/27.asp>*, indeed.

***

On this day in *1934*, Nazi Germany passes the "Law for the Prevention of
Genetically Diseased Offspring", thus paving the way for the establishment
of death camps.

***

On this day in *1945*, in one of the worst American war crimes of World War
II, enraged U.S. troops massacre 30 Nazi SS prisoners at Chenogne in
retaliation for the Malmedy massacre.

***

On this day in *1947*, the Canadian Citizenship Act 1946 comes into effect,
converting British subjects into Canadian citizens. Prime Minister *William
Lyon Mackenzie King* becomes the first Canadian citizen.

***

On this day in *1959*, *Fulgencio Batista*, dictator of Cuba, is overthrown
by *Fidel Castro*'s forces during the Cuban Revolution.

***

On this day in *1971*, cigarette advertisements are banned on American
television.

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On this day in *1983*, ARPANET officially changes to using the Internet
Protocol, creating the Internet. Two years later, on this day in *1985*,
the Internet's Domain Name System (DNS) is created.

***

On this day in *1989*, the *Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete
the Ozone Layer* comes into force. The effect these protocols have on ozone
depletion is, you might be pleasantly surprised to find out, *immensely
beneficial
<http://www.thegef.org/gef/greenline/july-2012/montreal-protocol-marking-25th-anniversary-most-successful-global-environment-ag>*
.

***

On this day in *1994*, NAFTA - the North American Free Trade Agreement -
goes into effect.

***

On this day in *1995*, the *Draupner Wave* in the North Sea in Norway is
detected, confirming the existence of freak waves.

***

On this day in the year *2000*, an awful lot of people feel pretty fuckin'
silly while contemplating all those bags or rice, cans of sliced peaches
and ten gallon bottles of water they bought to prepare for the global
meltdown that was supposed to befall us at the stroke of midnight on *Y2K*.
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