Almanac for February 8th

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for February 8th: https://ko-fi.com/post/February-8-James-Dean-W7W41AOIWJ

Happy Super Bowl Sunday to all who celebrate USA American football!
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Author Julie S. Howlin post of the day: James Dean

Bummer February 8th

February 8, 1968: In what becomes known as the Orangeburg Massacre, the South Carolina state highway patrol opens fire on African-American college students protesting the segregation of a local bowling alley. Three young men are killed and more than 20 people are injured, including a pregnant woman who is beaten and suffers a miscarriage. The nine troopers who participated in the beatings and shooting were acquitted of all charges; one protestor serves seven months in prison for “rioting.”

February 8, 2007: 39-year-old model and reality TV star Anna Nicole Smith dies of multiple prescription drug intoxication complicated by multiple infections. The Hollywood, Florida, hotel in which Smith is found unresponsive contains multiple prescription bottles, all prescribed by the same doctor, but none of which are prescribed to Smith. She appears to have been taking over-the-counter cold medicine to counter the effects of skin and intestinal infections, which she may have gotten from giving herself improperly sterilized injections of a diet drug. The cold medicine may have amplified the sedative effects of the prescription drugs she used to help her sleep.

Sadly, Smith’s daughter Dannielynn is only five months old at the time of her mother’s death.

Anna Nicole Smith featured in advertising for H&M stores. Public domain.

Anna Nicole Smith at Dorothy Surrenders: https://dorothysurrenders.blogspot.com/2007/02/my-weekend-crush_09.html

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Almanac for February 7th

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for February 7th: https://ko-fi.com/post/February-7-The-Key-West-Diaries-E1E319Z9UC

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Artist Birthday: Charles Dickens

Bummer February 7th

February 7, 1497: On Shrove Tuesday in Florence, followers of the monk Girolamo Savonarola burn art, books, their cosmetics, fancy clothes, playing cards, and other cultural objects they associate with sin in the so-called Bonfire of the Vanities. Sadly, irreplaceable ancient art and manuscripts were lost to this religiously-fueled war on anything that represented luxury. 

Ironically, Savonarola will later be excommunicated and convicted of heresy by the Roman Catholic Church. As punishment, he is hanged and his body burned in the same plaza where the Bonfire of the Vanities occurred. It will be forbidden for any Christian to possess copies of Savonarola’s writings. 

February 7, 1904: A fire in Baltimore destroys more than 1,500 buildings, costing $150 million in damage in 1904 dollars and leaving 35,000 unemployed. Fortunately, no one is reported to have died from the fire.

February 7, 2008: A dust explosion at the Imperial Sugar refinery in Port Wentworth, Georgia, injures 36 people and kills 14.

Almanac for February 6th

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for February 6th: https://ko-fi.com/post/February-6-Zsa-Zsa-F1F319Z8VW

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Bummer February 6th

February 6, 1993: 49-year-old tennis player Arthur Ashe dies of AIDS-related pneumonia.

February 6, 1998: Austrian “Rock Me Amadeus” rocker Falco (Johann Hölzel) dies in a traffic accident while on vacation in the Dominican Republic. He is 40 years old.

Almanac for February 5th

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for Feb. 5th: https://ko-fi.com/Post/February-5-Burroughs-T6T119Z8GN

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Bummer February 5th

February 5, 1885: King Leopold II of Belgium declares Congo to be his personal possession, establishing the Congo Free State. This will prove disastrous for the Congolese people as Leopold tries to extract wealth from their nation by turning them, essentially, into serfs on the land. With the invention of vulcanized rubber and increasing demand for rubber for automobile tires, the Congolese people are subjected to horrific work conditions and abuses on rubber plantations.

February 5, 2004: At least 21 people, undocumented immigrants from China, drown in Lancashire, England, when the tide comes into Moracambe Bay while they're harvesting cockles in the sand flats. The immigrants all work for a Chinese gang boss who pays them a minuscule amount for their labor. This gang boss and two of his associates are tried and convicted of manslaughter, violating immigration law, and related crimes.

February 5, 2008: A series of tornados in Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri, and Tennessee kills 57 people.

Almanac for February 4th

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for February 4th: https://ko-fi.com/post/February-4-The-Last-of-the-Mohicans-K3K319Z7J0

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Bummer February 4th

February 4, 1912: Parachute pioneer Franz Reichelt jumps from the Eiffel Tower to test a parachute suit he’s designed. The suit fails and Reichelt falls to his death in front of a crowd of people who thought they were going to watch the suit being tested on a dummy.

February 4, 1983: Singer-songwriter-drummer Karen Carpenter, half of the brother and sister duo Carpenters, dies of a heart attack while suffering from an eating disorder. She is 32 years old.

Carpenter in 1972. Public domain.

February 4, 1984: Patrick Nagel, a renowned illustrator whose style combined Art Deco inspiration with pop art, dies at age 38. He participates in a 15-minute aerobics sprint as part of a fundraiser for the American Heart Association, then succumbs to a heart attack due to a congenital heart condition that had gone undetected until his sudden death.

February 4, 1987: 67-year-old piano virtuoso Władziu Valentino “Lee” Liberace dies of AIDS-related cytomegalovirus pneumonia at his home in Palm Springs, California, after receiving the sacrament of last rites from a Catholic priest.

February 4, 2018: Indianapolis Colts football player Edwin Jackson is the passenger in a ride-sharing car driven by Jeffrey Monroe. Jackson asks Monroe to pull over by the side of Interstate 70 in Indianapolis. As the two stand by the shoulder of the road, they are struck and killed by a pickup truck driven by Manuel Orrego-Savala, a citizen of Guatemala who is in the United States illegally. Orrego-Savala pleads guilty to “operating a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol content of 0.15 or more, causing death.”

Almanac for February 3rd

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for February 3rd: https://ko-fi.com/post/February-3-The-Day-the-Music-Died-V7V419Z732

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Author Julie S. Howlin post of the day: The Day the Music Died

Bummer February 3rd

February 3, 1959: “The Day the Music Died,” when early rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson were all killed in a plane crash outside Clear Lake, Iowa. The musicians had performed at Clear Lake’s Surf Ballroom and were on their way to their next show in Minnesota. This accident is remembered in poetic form through the Don McLean song “American Pie,” recorded on May 26, 1971. 

***

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Almanac for February 2nd

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for February 2nd: https://ko-fi.com/post/February-2-The-Groundhogs-Candlemas-Day-U7U619KBFX

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Today's Observance: Groundhog Day, Candlemas
Author Julie S. Howlin post of the day: Groundhog Day, the movie

Bummer February 2nd

February 2, 2014: Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman dies of an apparently accidental overdose of prescription medicine and heroin.

February 2, 2005: California State University, Chico, student Matthew Carrington dies of water intoxication after taking part in a Chi Tau local fraternity hazing ritual in which he’s encouraged to drink excessive water while exercising.

February 2, 2022: A pastor in Nashville, Tennessee, holds a burning of books he deems “demonic.” According to his loosely-organized, conspiratorial beliefs, a book counted as “demonic” if it was “anything tied to the Masonic Lodge.” It’s unclear whether these actions were influenced more by religious fanaticism or by mental illness.

Albino groundhog. Exhibit in the Southern Vermont Natural History Museum, Marlboro, Vermont, USA. Photography was permitted in the museum without restriction.