Paracultural Calendar for July 2

[Mark Thibodeau]

On this day in 1777, Vermont becomes the first American territory to
abolish slavery.

***

On this day in 1839, twenty miles off the coast of Cuba, 53 rebelling
African slaves led by Joseph Cinqué take over the slave ship Amistad.
Spielberg eventually makes a movie about it.

***

On this day in 1881, Charles J. Guiteau shoots and fatally wounds U.S.
President James Garfield, who eventually dies from an infection on
September 19.

***

On this day in 1897, Italian scientist Guglielmo Marconi obtains a
patent for radio in London.

***

On this day in 1934, the Night of the Long Knives ends with the death
of Brownshirts leader Ernst Röhm.

***

On this day in 1937, an over-ambitious Amelia Earhart disappears over
the Pacific ocean while attempting to be the first woman to
circumnavigate the globe, inadvertently proving once and for all that
chicks have no sense of direction.

***

On this day in 1950, the Ed Wood science fiction classic Plan 9 From
Outer Space debuts in a single Hollywood theater. One of the worst
films ever made, it still beats the hell out of Battlefield Earth.

***

On this day in 1962, the first ever Wal-Mart store opens for business
in Rogers, Arkansas.

***

On this day in 1964, US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil
Rights Act of 1964 meant to prohibit segregation in public places. At
the time, LBJ said "The Democrats have just lost the South for a
generation." Turns out he was under-estimating the damage by a couple
generations.

***

On this day in 1966, the French military explodes a nuclear test bomb
code-named Aldébaran in Mururoa, their first nuclear test in the
Pacific.

***

On this day in 1976, after the fall of "free" South Vietnam, Communist
North Vietnam declares their union to form the Socialist Republic of
Vietnam.

***

On this day in 1986, Rodrigo Rojas and Carmen Gloria Quintana are
burnt alive during a street demonstration against the dictatorship of
General Augusto Pinochet in Chile.

***

On this day in 2000, Vicente Fox Quesada is elected the first
President of México from an opposition party, the Partido Acción
Nacional, after more than 70 years of continuous rule by the Partido
Revolucionario Institucional.

***

On this day in 2001, the AbioCor self-contained artificial heart is
first implanted.

***

On this day in 2002, millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett becomes the
first person to fly solo around the world nonstop in a balloon.
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