Today's Trivia and What Happened on January 17

What occurs twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?

What occurs twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years? Close Large View

The letter M.

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Quote: Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split. - Robert E. Howard - Creator of Conan the Barbarian

Quote: Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split. - Robert E. Howard - Creator of Conan the Barbarian Close Large View

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What Happened On

Recording TV Ruled Legal Thanks to Mr. Rogers

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Eisenhower Farewell Address go to Video for Eisenhower Farewell Address

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Eisenhower Farewell Address

January 17, 1961

U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower warns of the Military Industrial Complex buildup: "Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense. We have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security alone more than the net income of all United States corporations.
Now this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence—economic, political, even spiritual—is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet, we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources, and livelihood are all involved. So is the very structure of our society.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together."
He also warned of scientific research becoming a chase for government funding instead of the search for knowledge.

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Frank "Rocky" Fiegel and the Popeye character Frank "Rocky" Fiegel and the Popeye character

Frank "Rocky" Fiegel and the Popeye character Frank "Rocky" Fiegel and the Popeye character
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Popeye

January 17, 1929

The cartoon character Popeye makes his debut. Popeye is hired by Castor Oyl, a character in the strip Thimble Theatre, to navigate his ship. Popeye's first line in the strip upon being asked if he was a sailor was, "Ja think I'm a cowboy?"
The Popeye character was based on a real person named Frank "Rocky" Fiegel, who was unusually strong, had a characteristic pipe, and a propensity for fist-fighting. Fiegel was from Popeye creator E. C. Segar's hometown and according to Popeye historian Michael Brooks, Segar regularly sent him money.
Segar drew inspiration for a number of his Popeye characters from real people he knew in his home town, such as Dora Paskel from whom he based the Olive Oyl character.

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Authorities Destroying Illegal Alcohol Authorities Destroying Illegal Alcohol

Authorities Destroying Illegal Alcohol Authorities Destroying Illegal Alcohol
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Prohibition Begins

January 17, 1920

The 18th Amendment goes into effect. While it did not prohibit the consumption of alcohol, it did ban the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcoholic beverages. The Volstead Act, which defined the terms used in the 18th Amendment, defined an intoxicating liquor as any beverage containing more than 0.5 percent alcohol. This caused beer and wine to also be prohibited.
The 18th Amendment was repealed in 1933 by the 21st Amendment.

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U.S. Purchases Virgin Islands Photo Credit: Anthony Giorgio

U.S. Purchases Virgin Islands Photo Credit: Anthony Giorgio
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U.S. Purchases Virgin Islands

January 17, 1917

The treaty purchasing the Danish Virgin Islands from Denmark, for $25,000,000 in gold, is ratified by the U.S., with the U.S. purchasing them the following week and taking possession two months later.
The U.S. Virgin Islands are the only place in the U.S. where traffic drives on the left.

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Cable Streetcar Patented

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Cable Streetcar Patented

January 17, 1871

Andrew Hallidie receives a patent for his streetcar. The first one went into operation 2½ years later in San Francisco.

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Danny Bonaduce and Donny Osmond Slug it Out

January 17, 1994

"Donny the Stormin' Mormon vs. Danny the Dude Bonaduce" - Danny Bonaduce (who played Danny Partridge on the TV series The Partridge Family) wins a 2-1 decision over singer Donny Osmond in a charity boxing match.

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Jack in the Box Food Poisoning

January 17, 1993

The Washington State Health Department confirms that an outbreak of E. coli infections is linked to the fast-food restaurants. Three children died and more than 500 people were sickened by the outbreak.

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Iran-Contra Affair

January 17, 1986

U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs a secret order authorizing exceptions to the Iranian arms embargo.

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Reagan's Inaugural Celebration

January 17, 1981

U.S. President Ronald Reagan throws the most expensive inaugural celebration in American history, costing $11 million.

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Brink's Robbery

January 17, 1950

They are robbed in Boston by masked bandits of $2.8 million of which $1.2 million was cash.

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Birthdays

Muhammad Ali

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Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay)

Born January 17, 1942 d. 2016

American boxer, three-time world heavyweight champion (1964-67, 74-78, 78-79). He was arrested, found guilty of draft evasion, and stripped of his title for refusing to serve in the Vietnam War.

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Shari Lewis

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Shari Lewis (Phyllis Naomi Hurwitz)

Born January 17, 1933 d. 1998

American ventriloquist, with puppets Lamb Chop and Charlie Horse. In 1952, Lewis and her puppets won first prize on the CBS television series Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts. Lamb Chop's first television appearance was in 1956 with Lewis as a guest on Captain Kangaroo.
She and her husband wrote the 1969 Star Trek episode The Lights of Zetar.
TV: The Shari Lewis Show (1960-63, 68-75) and Lamb Chop's Play-Along (1992-97).

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Kitt as Catwoman in Batman go to Video for Eartha Kitt
Kitt as Catwoman in Batman

Kitt as Catwoman in Batman Kitt as Catwoman in Batman
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Eartha Kitt (Eartha Mae Keith)

Born January 17, 1927 d. 2008

American Emmy-winning actress, singer. TV: Batman (1966, Catwoman). Film: The Emperor's New Groove (2000, voice of Yzma). Music: The Christmas novelty Santa Baby (1953 - Eartha died on Christmas Day 2008).

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Edgar Ray Killen

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Mississippi Burning Killer

Edgar Ray Killen

Born January 17, 1925 d. 2018

American preacher, Ku Klux Klan (KKK) organizer. Killen was convicted of manslaughter in the 1964 "Mississippi Burning" killing. In 2005, he was found guilty of recruiting the mob that killed three civil rights activists (two white, one black) participating in the Freedom Summer of 1964 and sentenced to 60 years in prison, where he died. His conviction was on the 41st anniversary of the crime. His original 1966 trial ended in a hung jury, with the jurors deadlocked 11-1 in favor of conviction. The lone holdout said that she could not convict a preacher.
The film Mississippi Burning (1988) was based on these crimes.

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Betty White as Sue Ann Nivens (left) and as Rose Nylund Betty White as Sue Ann Nivens (left) and as Rose Nylund

Betty White as Sue Ann Nivens (left) and as Rose Nylund Betty White as Sue Ann Nivens (left) and as Rose Nylund
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Betty White (Betty Marion White)

Born January 17, 1922 d. 2021

American Emmy-winning actress. She had the longest television career of any entertainer, spanning 80 years and was the first woman to produce a TV sitcom (1953-55, Life with Elizabeth). Known as "The First Lady of Game Shows", she was a regular on such games shows as Password, Match Game, Hollywood Squares, and The $25,000 Pyramid.
TV: Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (1962-72, co-host with Lorne Greene), The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1973-77, Sue Ann Nivens), The Golden Girls (1985-92, Rose Nylund), and Hot in Cleveland (2010-15, Elka Ostrovsky).

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Mug shot of Capone (1930, Miami, Florida) Mug shot of Capone (1930, Miami, Florida)

Mug shot of Capone (1930, Miami, Florida) Mug shot of Capone (1930, Miami, Florida)
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"Scarface" Al Capone

Born January 17, 1899 d. 1947

Italian-born American gangster. The FBI estimates that his organizaton made $108 million in 1927 alone. He was convicted of tax evasion and served time in Alcatraz (1931-39). Terminally ill with syphilis, he died penniless of a brain hemorrhage at home in Miami, Florida.

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Benjamin Franklin

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Benjamin Franklin

Born January 17, 1706 d. 1790

American founding father. Signer of both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, and for whom the short-lived State of Franklin was named.
Franklin owned two slaves who worked as house servants. In his later years, he came to despise slavery and freed them. In 1787, he became president of a Pennsylvania abolitionist society and in 1790 petitioned Congress to grant liberty "to those unhappy men who alone in this land of freedom are degraded into perpetual bondage."

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Michelle Obama

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Michelle Obama

Born January 17, 1964

American First Lady, wife of U.S. President Barack Obama.

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Andy Kaufman

Born January 17, 1949 d. 1984

American actor, comedian. TV: Taxi (Latka Gravas). He was banned from Saturday Night Live after losing a viewer phone-in vote by 26,358 votes.

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Randy Boone

Born January 17, 1942

American actor. TV: The Virginian (Randy).

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Maury Povich

Born January 17, 1939

American TV host. TV: A Current Affair and The Maury Povich Show.

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1969 State Senate campaign poster 1969 State Senate campaign poster

1969 State Senate campaign poster 1969 State Senate campaign poster
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First Elected African-American U.S. State Governor

Lawrence Douglas Wilder

Born January 17, 1931

American politician. He was the first elected African American U.S. state governor (1990-94, Virginia) and the first African American state governor since P. B. S. Pinchback more than one hundred years earlier. He also served on the Virginia senate (1970-86), being the first African-American elected to the Virginia Senate since Reconstruction.
He earned a Bronze Star Medal for actions during the Battle of Pork Chop Hill during the Korean War when he and two other men bluffed 19 Chinese soldiers into surrendering.

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James Earl Jones

Born January 17, 1931

American actor. Film: Star Wars (1977, voice of Darth Vader). TV: Tarzan (an African chieftain).

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Vidal Sassoon

Born January 17, 1928 d. 2012

English hair stylist, beauty salon founder.

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Mack Sennett (Michael Sinnott)

Born January 17, 1880 d. 1960

Canadian-born American Oscar-winning director, producer, actor. He was the creator of the Keystone Kops and was known as the "King of Comedy." He produced over 1,000 silent films.

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Georg Clemens Perthes

Born January 17, 1869 d. 1927

German surgeon. He discovered that X-rays inhibit the growth of tumors (1903), and proposed the use of X-rays to treat cancer.

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Carl Laemmle

Born January 17, 1867 d. 1939

German-born American motion picture executive. He founded Universal Pictures (1912) and was one of the first to promote actors by their own names.

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Salvation Army logos past and present and founders William and Catherine Booth Salvation Army logos past and present and founders William and Catherine Booth

Salvation Army logos past and present and founders William and Catherine Booth Salvation Army logos past and present and founders William and Catherine Booth
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Mother of the Salvation Army

Catherine Booth

Born January 17, 1829 d. 1890

English preacher. "Mother of the Salvation Army." She and her husband William Booth founded the Salvation Army in London in 1865.

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Charles Brockden Brown

Born January 17, 1771 d. 1810

American novelist, "The father of the American novel." Writings: Wieland (1798) and Ormond (1799).

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Saint Pius V

Born January 17, 1504 d. 1572

Italian religious leader, 225th Pope (1566-72). Canonized in 1712, he excommunicated Elizabeth I of England, expelled the Jews from Church states, and was dedicated to the extermination of the Huguenots.

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Leonhard Fuchs

Born January 17, 1501 d. 1566

German botanist for whom the shrub Fuchsia is named.

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Deaths

George B. Selden

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Patented the Automobile

George B. Selden

Died January 17, 1922 b. 1846

American inventor. In 1895, he received U.S. patent #549160A for the gas-powered automobile. He collected royalties from U.S. automobile makers until Henry Ford contested his patent and won in 1911 after an eight-year legal battle. Ford won the case on the basis that the engine used in automobiles was not based on the Brayton engine, which Selden had improved, but on the Otto engine.

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Rutherford B. Hayes

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Rutherford B. Hayes

Died January 17, 1893 b. 1822

American politician. 19th U.S. President (1877-81), governor of Ohio (1876-77, 1868-72), U.S. House of Representatives (1865-67). He was opposed to fighting a civil war to restore the Union and suggested to the Union "let them go." However, he joined the Union army as an officer and was wounded five times during the war.
Hayes was the first U.S. president to have his voice recorded. However, the recording has since been lost. The oldest surviving recording of a U.S. president is of Benjamin Harrison.
Rutherford received a Siamese cat as a gift from the American Consul in Bangkok. Siam was the first Siamese cat in the U.S.

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Chang and Eng Bunker

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Chang and Eng Bunker

Died January 17, 1874 b. 1811

Siamese-born American twins joined at the chest. They are they source of the term "Siamese Twins." They toured Europe and the U.S., eventually settling in North Carolina where they married two sisters, who bore them 22 children. "Chang" and "Eng" is Thai for "Left" and "Right."

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Bobby Fischer

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Bobby Fischer (Robert James Fischer)

Died January 17, 2008 b. 1943

American chess champion. He was the first American to win the world chess championship (1972) in what was called the "Chess Match of the Century".

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Art Buchwald

Died January 17, 2007 b. 1925

American Pulitzer-winning newspaper columnist. The book Fatal Subtraction: The Inside Story of Buchwald v. Paramount (1992) was about his lawsuit against Paramount for stealing his script treatment used in the Eddie Murphy movie Coming to America (1988).

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Richard Crenna

Died January 17, 2003 b. 1926

American Emmy-winning actor. Film: The Flamingo Kid (1984) and First Blood (1982, Rambo's former commanding officer). TV: Our Miss Brooks (Walter Denton, 1952-56) and The Real McCoys (Luke, 1957-63).

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Tombaugh with his homemade 9-inch telescope Tombaugh with his homemade 9-inch telescope

Tombaugh with his homemade 9-inch telescope Tombaugh with his homemade 9-inch telescope
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Clyde Tombaugh (Clyde William Tombaugh)

Died January 17, 1997 b. 1906

American astronomer. He discovered the dwarf planet Pluto (1930). He also discovered nearly 800 asteroids.

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The Naked Spy

Yevgeny Ivanov

Died January 17, 1994 b. 1926

Russian spy. In 1963, British secretary of state for war, John Profumo, resigned after it was discovered that he was having an affair with the same woman as Ivanov. This became known as the "Profumo Affair." In his memoirs, The Naked Spy (1992), he claimed he had been able to obtain significant military intelligence by accessing British political circles.

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Barbara Britton

Died January 17, 1980 b. 1919

American actress. TV: Mr. and Mrs. North (Pamela North).

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Gary Gilmore

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Gary Gilmore

Died January 17, 1977 b. 1940

American criminal. He was executed by a Utah firing squad, the first execution in the U.S. since 1967. In 1976, Gilmore robbed and murdered gas station employee Max Jensen. The next evening, he robbed and murdered motel manager Bennie Bushnell. Both men had complied with his demands. While disposing of the pistol used in the killings, Gilmore accidentally shot himself in his right hand, leaving a trail of blood to the service garage where he had left his truck. He was witnessed by a mechanic hiding the gun in the bushes. Gilmore's cousin turned him in to the police after he phoned her asking for bandages and painkillers for his injured hand.

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Louis Comfort Tiffany

Died January 17, 1933 b. 1848

American artist, glassmaker.

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Juliette Low

Died January 17, 1927 b. 1860

American woman, founder of the Girl Scouts of America (1912).

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George Bancroft

Died January 17, 1891 b. 1800

American historian, Father of American History.

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Alexander Anderson

Died January 17, 1870 b. 1775

America's first wood engraver. He illustrated more than 100 volumes of English classics, including Bell's Anatomy and Webster's Spelling Book.

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