Month: February 2017

It’s Tantalising Tuesday! Did you know…

* 2010 – Sydney’s Crosby’s overtime goal gives Canada to a 3-2 victory over the United States in the hockey Gold Medal Game at the Vancouver Olympics. 

Continue reading “John’s Believe It Or Not… February 28th”

It’s Motivational Monday! Did you know…

* 1917 – Women in Ontario win the right to vote in provincial elections. See the following qualifiers! (Generally, women who were: a) British subjects; b) otherwise qualified as to age, race and residence; and c) the wife, widow, mother, sister or daughter of any person in the naval forces (inside or outside Canada) or any person in the military forces (outside Canada) who was serving or served with Canada or Great Britain (only until demobilization). They received the right to vote in Municipal elections in Ontario as well.) Continue reading “John’s Believe It Or Not… February 27”

It’s Sublime Sunday! Did you know…

* 1920 – Dominion Elections Act gives the federal vote to all eligible Canadians over 21. (It gives the federal vote to every eligible Canadian over 21, male or female. Treaty Aboriginal people (First Nations) and Inuit are still not eligible because of the trust relationship; also ineligible are those barred from provincial voters lists, including Asians and Hindus. On July 1, Section 107 of the amended Indian Act will receive royal assent: qualified status Indians could be forced to accept enfranchisement and loss of treaty rights.) Continue reading “John’s Believe It Or Not… February 26th”

It’s Sassy Saturday! Did you know…

* 1942 – Beginning of the Japanese Canadian Internment. (Japanese Canadians and recent immigrants from Japan were interned in POW-like camps away from the Pacific Coast out of fear they might assist any future invasion by Japanese forces. None were found guilty of any crime.)

* 1570 Pope Pius V excommunicates Queen Elizabeth I of England from the Catholic Church and absolves her subjects from allegiance to the crown.

* 1862 Paper currency (greenbacks) introduced in the US by President Abraham Lincoln. (On this day in 1862, the U.S. Congress passes the Legal Tender Act, authorising the use of paper notes to pay the government’s bills. This ended the long-standing policy of using only gold or silver in transactions, and it allowed the government to finance the enormously costly Civil War long after its gold and silver reserves were depleted.)

* 1870 African American congressman sworn in. (Hiram Rhoades Revels, a Republican from Natchez, Mississippi, is sworn into the U.S. Senate, becoming the first African American ever to sit in Congress. During the Civil War, Revels, a college-educated minister, helped form African American army regiments for the Union cause, started a school for freed men, and served as a chaplain for the Union army. Posted to Mississippi, Revels remained in the former Confederate state after the war and entered into Reconstruction-era Southern politics.)

* 1964 Cassius Clay defeats Sonny Liston. (On February 25, 1964, underdog Cassius Clay, age 22, defeats champion Sonny Liston in a technical knockout to win the world heavyweight boxing crown. The highly anticipated match took place in Miami Beach, Florida. Clay, who later became known to the world as Muhammad Ali, went on to become the first fighter to capture the heavyweight title three times.)

Look who was born on this date!

* José de San Martín in 1778. (Argentine general and a key leader of South America’s successful struggle for independence from the Spanish Empire that led to independence in Argentina, Chile and Peru.)

 

* Anthony Burgess in 1917. (Novelist: One of the best known English literary figures of the latter half of the twentieth century. Although predominantly a comic writer, his dystopian satire “A Clockwork Orange” remains his best-known novel.)

 

* George Harrison in 1943. (Singer-Songwriter: English musician, singer and songwriter who became famous as the lead guitarist of the Beatles.Most Beatles albums included at least one Harrison song, including “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, “Here Comes the Sun” and “Something”, which became the Beatles’ second-most-covered song.)

 

 

 

It’s Freehearted Friday! Did you know…

* 1663 – Louis XIV makes New France a Royal Colony of France; first law courts established.(The King cancels the charter and takes over the assets of the Company of One Hundred Associates (or Company of New France) which was given exclusive rights over fur trading in the New World in exchange for promises to colonize; also takes over other private trading and colonizing charters; New France made a royal colony of France, with a governor and an intendant; law courts come into existence.)

* 303 A.D. 1st official Roman edict for persecution of Christians issued by Emperor Diocletian. (“The Diocletianic Persecution” (303–11), the empire’s largest and bloodiest official persecution of Christianity.)

* 1582 Pope Gregory XIII announces New Style (Gregorian) calendar. (The Gregorian Calendar is the most widely used calendar in the world today. It is a solar calendar based on a 365-day common year divided into 12 months of irregular lengths.)

* 1982 Reagan announces Caribbean Basin Initiative. (It was a new program of economic and military assistance to nations of the Caribbean designed to “prevent the overthrow of the governments in the region” by the “brutal and totalitarian” forces of communism. The CBI, however, had little impact on improving the economic situation of the nations it was trying to aid. Eventually, the entire concept was allowed to simply fade away, and the Reagan administration chose to employ more forceful anti-communist measures in the region. These included support of the anti-Sandinista Contras, massive military aid to the Salvadoran government, and, in 1983, the invasion of Grenada to remove its leftist government.)

* 1988 U.S. Supreme Court defends the right to satirise public figures. (The U.S. Supreme Court votes 8-0 to overturn the $200,000 settlement awarded to the Reverend Jerry Falwell for his emotional distress at being parodied in Hustler, a pornographic magazine.)

Look who was born on this date!

 

* Charles V in 1500. (Holy Roman Emperor who ruled over a vast territory that extended from the German low countries to the borders of the Ottoman empire, Spain, Italy and to the new expanding territories in central and south America.) 

 

* Honus Wagner in 1874. (MLB Shortshop nicknamed “The Flying Dutchman” due to his superb speed and German heritage, he played 21 seasons in the MLB from 1897 to 1917, almost entirely for the Pittsburgh Pirates, during which time he won eight batting titles. He is widely considered to be the greatest shortstop of all time.)

* Steve Jobs in 1955. (Inventor, entrepreneur and businessman, Jobs co-founded Apple Computer from his parents’ garage in 1976, then went on to found NeXT and Pixar before returning to Apple in 1996. As CEO, he oversaw the introduction of the iMac, iTunes, iPod, iPad and the iPhone, revolutionising personal computing. Under his leadership, Apple became the most valuable company in the world.)

 

 

It’s Therapeutic Thursday! Did you know…

* 1893 – Lord Stanley Donates Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup – later known as the Stanley Cup – to Canadian Amateur Hockey Association Champions. (It has become the annual championship prize of the National Hockey League.) Continue reading “John’s Believe It Or Not… February 23rd”