First Confidential

THIS DAY IN HISTORY - MAY 8th

Thomas Pynchon, Quote

“If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers.”

~ Thomas Pynchon

Wikiquote (Thomas Pynchon (May 8, 1937) is an American novelist.)

This Day in History

May 8th, 413

Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on Rome's Capitoline Hill is dedicated on the ides of September Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that began growing on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to become one of the largest empires in the ancient world

Roman Empire:
413 - Emperor Honorius signs an edict providing tax relief for the Italian provinces Tuscia, Campania, Picenum, Samnium, Apulia, Lucania and Calabria, who are plundered by the Visigoths.

Wikipedia  Image: Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus; Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus (Latin: Aedes Iovis Optimi Maximi Capitolini, Italian: Tempio di Giove Ottimo Massimo, English: "Temple of Jupiter Best and Greatest on the Capitoline") was the most important temple in Ancient Rome, located on the Capitoline Hill.
● Ancient roman statue ● Detail of Head from Roman Statue of Antinous, credit Corbis ● Statue of Neptune, Trevi Fountain, Rome ● International Sand Sculpture Festival, FIESA 7 ancient Rome.

May 8th, 1541

Conquistadors from Spain: The De Soto expedition; Romantic painting, created in 1847, envisions de Soto's 1541 encounter with the Mississippi River and the Indians who lived nearby. (Discovery of the Mississippi, by William H. Powell, Capitol Rotunda, Washington, D.C.)

Conquistador:
1541 - Hernando de Soto reaches the Mississippi River, and names it Río de Espíritu Santo.

Wikipedia  Image: The De Soto expedition; Romantic painting, created in 1847, envisions Hernando de Soto's 1541 encounter with the Mississippi River and the Indians who lived nearby. (Discovery of the Mississippi, by William H. Powell, Capitol Rotunda, Washington, D.C. - Ellen K. Coughlin. © The Chronicle of Higher Education)

May 8th, 1821

Greece satellite image, credit NASA; Acrocorinth, looking north towards the Gulf of Corinth; Temple of Apollo Ancient Corinth; Early morning lightning illuminates the sky over the 2,500-year-old Ancient Parthenon temple, at the Acropolis hill during a heavy rainfall in Athens

Greek War of Independence:
1821 - Battle of Gravia Inn; The Greeks defeat the Turks.

Wikipedia  Image: Greece satellite image, credit NASA; Acrocorinth, looking north towards the Gulf of Corinth; The Acrocorinth in the background, behind the Temple of Apollo; Temple of Apollo Ancient Corinth; Early morning lightning illuminates the sky over the 2,500-year-old Ancient Parthenon temple, at the Acropolis hill during a heavy rainfall in Athens.

May 8th, 1861

Lincoln Memorial: an American national monument built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln - located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. across from the Washington Monument American Civil War: Battle of Antietam; Stone Bridge at Antietam Battlefield - Sharpsburg, Maryland American Civil War: American Civil War: First Battle Between Ironclads; CSS Virginia/Merrimac (left) vs. USS Monitor, in 1862 at the Battle of Hampton Roads

American Civil War:
1861 - Richmond, Virginia; is named the capital of the Confederate States of America.

Wikipedia  Image: ● Lincoln Memorial; an American national monument built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln - located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. across from the Washington Monument.
● The northern army led by George McClellan and the southern army led by Robert E. Lee met at Antietam Creek, Maryland in September, 1862. It was a bloody battle where 13,000 Confederates and 12,000 Union troops died in just one day. McClellan had hesitated to attack before the battle thus letting the southern troops regroup. Also, he had saved reserves and refused to use them at the end of the battle thinking that Lee was holding reserves for a counterattack, even though those reserves didn't exist. The Union victory stopped Lee's northward advance and was a turning point in the war. ● Battle of Antietam / Stone Bridge at Antietam Battlefield - Sharpsburg, Maryland
● First Battle Between Ironclads: CSS Virginia/Merrimac (left) vs. USS Monitor, in 1862 at the Battle of Hampton Roads.
● Although photography was still in its infancy, war correspondents produced thousands of images, bringing the harsh realities of the frontlines to those on the home front in a new and visceral way. The Atlantic.

May 8th, 1877

The Kennel Club is founded, the oldest and first official registry of purebred dogs in the world

At Gilmore's Gardens in New York City, the first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show opens.

Wikipedia  Competitors in the ring during the 136th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at Madison Square Garden. Timothy A. Clary, AFP / Getty Images ● Malachy, a Pekingese, wins best in show at the 136th annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show held at Madison Square Garden on February 14, 2012 in New York City. UPI, Monika Graff ● Bear, a 7 year old Puli from Kalamazoo, Mich. waits backstage after competing in the 135th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show Monday, Feb. 14, 2011 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Mary Altaffer, AP ● Jack, a bulldog, has dog makeup applied by Cheryl Schaefer, while waiting for judging during the 136th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. ● Cats get dressed up for U.S. breeders show

May 8th, 1902

Global Earthquake epicenters

Earthquake:
1902 - In Martinique, Mount Pelée erupts, destroying the town of Saint-Pierre and killing over 30,000 people. Only a handful of residents survive the blast.

Wikipedia  Image: Preliminary Determination of Epicenters / Aleppo Syria; Anchorage, Alaska - March 28, 1964 Prince William Sound USA earthquake and tsunami; 8.9 Mega Earthquake Strikes Japan; Tsunami Swirls Japan's Ibaraki Prefecture March 12 2011. credit NOAA / NGDC, NOAA National Geophysical Data Center, USGS, National Geographics.

May 8th, 1933

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (October 2, 1869 – January 30, 1948): commonly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was the preeminent leader of Indian nationalism in British-ruled India (Employing non-violent civil disobedience, Gandhi led India to independence and inspired movements for non-violence, civil rights and freedom across the world)

Indian leader Mohanda Gandhi begins a 21-day fast in protest against the British rule in India.

Wikipedia  Photo: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (October 2, 1869 – January 30, 1948): commonly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was the preeminent leader of Indian nationalism in British-ruled India. (Employing non-violent civil disobedience, Gandhi led India to independence and inspired movements for non-violence, civil rights and freedom across the world.)

May 8th, 1941

World War II: Second firestorm raid on Germany, the Royal Air Force conducts an air raid on the town of Kassel, killing 10,000 and rendering 150,000 homeless World War II: Battle of Leyte Gulf; Battle of Leyte Gulf; The first kamikaze attack: A Japanese plane carrying a 200-kilogram (440 lb) bomb attacks HMAS Australia off Leyte Island World War II: German V1 flying-bomb and V2 Rockets - Preparations for a Salvo Launch of V-2 Rockets in the Heidelager near Blizna (Poland) (1944) World War II: Eastern Front (World War II); was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945

World War II:
1941 - Nottingham Blitz; The German Luftwaffe launch a bombing raid on Nottingham and Derby.
1942 - Battle of the Coral Sea; comes to an end with Japanese Imperial Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attacking and sinking the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Lexington. (The battle marks the first time in the naval history that two enemy fleets fight without visual contact between warring ships.)
1942 - Cocos Islands Mutiny; Gunners of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands rebel. (Their mutiny is crushed and three of them are executed, the only British Commonwealth soldiers to be executed for mutiny during the Second World War.)
1945 - Sétif massacre; Hundreds of Algerian civilians are killed by French Army soldiers.
1945 - V-E Day; combat ends in Europe. (German forces agree in Rheims, France, to an unconditional surrender.)
Post World War II:
1946 - Estonian school girls Aili Jõgi and Ageeda Paavel blow up the Soviet memorial which stood in front of the Bronze Soldier in Tallinn.

Wikipedia  Photo: Bombing of Dresden in World War II; August Schreitmüller's sculpture 'Goodness' surveys Dresden after a firestorm started by Allied bombers in 1945.
USS Bunker Hill was hit by kamikazes piloted by Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa and another airman on 11 May 1945. 389 personnel were killed or missing from a crew of 2,600; Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa, who flew his aircraft into the USS Bunker Hill during a Kamikaze mission on 11 May 1945; Kamikaze Missions - Lt Yoshinori Yamaguchi's Yokosuka D4Y3 (Type 33 Suisei) "Judy" in a suicide dive against USS Essex. The dive brakes are extended and the non-self-sealing port wing tank is trailing fuel vapor and/or smoke 25 November 1944.
German V1 flying-bomb and V2 Rockets - Preparations for a Salvo Launch of V-2 Rockets in the Heidelager near Blizna (Poland) (1944), credit German History in Documents and Images GHDI.

Eastern Front (World War II); Germans race towards Stalingrad. August 1942; Soviet children during a German air raid in the first days of the war, June 1941, by RIA Novosti archive; Soviet sniper Roza Shanina in 1944. About 400,000 Soviet women served in front-line duty units Caucasus Mountains, winter 1942/43; Finnish ski patrol: the invisible enemy of the Soviet Army with an unlimited supply of skis; Men of the German Engineers Corps cross a river which is swollen after the first autumn rains, to strengthen bridges linking the German positions on the central front in Russia. by Keystone / Getty Images. October 1942; Russian snipers fighting on the Leningrad front during a blizzard. Photo by Hulton Archive / Getty Images, 1943; German soldiers surrendering to the Russians in Stalingrad, the soldier holding the white flag of surrender is dressed in white so that there could be no doubt of his intentions, a Russian soldier is on the right of the photograph. by Keystone / Getty Images, January 1943.

May 8th, 1963

Vietnam War: Operation Swift; U.S. Marines engage the North Vietnamese in battle in the Que Son Valley Vietnam War: Boeing B-52 Stratofortress

Vietnam War:
1963 - Huế Phật Đản shootings; South Vietnamese soldiers of Catholic President Ngo Dinh Diem open fire on Buddhists defying a ban on the flying of the Buddhist flag on Vesak.
1972 - United States President Richard Nixon announces his order to place mines in major North Vietnamese ports in order to stem the flow of weapons and other goods to that nation.

Wikipedia  Photo: Vietnam_War; Side view of an HH-53 helicopter of the 40th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron as seen from the gunner's position on an A-1 of the 21st Specialist Operations Squadron. (USAF Photo by Ken Hackman), Boston Globe;
Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, credit Free Republic;
Vietnam War: The Big Picture / Boston Globe.

May 8th, 1972

Aircraft hijacking (also known as skyjacking) is the unlawful seizure of an aircraft by an individual or a group (In most cases, the pilot is forced to fly according to the orders of the hijackers, Occasionally, however, the hijackers have flown the aircraft themselves)

Aircraft hijacking:
1972 - Four Black September terrorists hijack Sabena Flight 571; Israeli Sayeret Matkal commandos recapture the plane the following day.

Wikipedia  Photo: Hijacked Sudan passenger jet lands in Libya, August 27, 2008; Amsterdam false alarm revives airplane hijacking memories, Passengers leave a Vueling plane at a field near Amsterdam Airport after a hijack scare last week that led the Netherlands to scramble F-16 fighter jets, September 2, 2012 Reuters; Egypt Air flight 648 was hijacked in November 1985 by the terrorist Abu Nidal organisation, credit AP; Cockpit section of Pan Am 103 wreckage following a mid-air explosion, December 21, 1988; 747 Pan Am airliner that exploded and crashed over Lockerbie, Scotland, with 259 passengers on board in 1988; Debris lies in a deep gash through the town of Lockerbie, Scotland, caused by the crash of Pan Am flight 103, credit AP; Flight 175 hits the WTC South Tower. The picture was taken from a traffic helicopter. credit: WABC 7/ Salient Stills; Hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 from Boston crashes into the South Tower of the World Trade Center and explodes at 9:03 a.m. on September 11, 2001 in New York City, credit Spencer Platt / Getty Images.

May 8th, 1973

American Indians collage American Indians collage

Native Americans in the United States:
1973 - American Indian Movement; A 71-day standoff between federal authorities and the American Indian Movement members occupying the Pine Ridge Reservation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota ends with the surrender of the militants.

Wikipedia  Photos: American Indians - Chief Crazy Horse, Tashunca-uitco (1849 - 1877); Geronimo Apache Chief (1829 - 1909); Indian Chief 'Two Eagles'; Crow Indian Chief; Snake Cheif; Band of Chiricahua Apache Indians, followers of legendary renegade Geronimo, attending a peace negotiation after a long struggle against U.S. government attempts to force them onto reservations - Tombstone, Arizona (1886).

May 8th, 1976

LaMarcus Adna Thompson patented the first roller coasters on January 20, 1885, which were made out of wood (In essence a specialized railroad system, a roller coaster consists of a track that rises in designed patterns, sometimes with one or more inversions (such as vertical loops) that turn the rider briefly upside down)

The roller coaster Revolution, the first steel coaster with a vertical loop, opens at Six Flags Magic Mountain.

Wikipedia  Photo: LaMarcus Adna Thompson patented the first roller coaster on January 20, 1885, which were made out of wood. (In essence a specialized railroad system, a roller coaster consists of a track that rises in designed patterns, sometimes with one or more inversions (such as vertical loops) that turn the rider briefly upside down).

May 8th, 1978

Mount Everest: the Earth's highest mountain, with a peak at 8,848 metres (29,029 ft) above sea level. (Located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas)

First ascent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen, by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler.

Wikipedia  Image: Mount Everest: the Earth's highest mountain, with a peak at 8,848 metres (29,029 ft) above sea level. (Located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas)

May 8th, 1984

List of modern conflicts in the Middle East

Modern conflicts in the Middle East and terrorist attacks:
1984 - Corporal Denis Lortie enters the Quebec National Assembly and opens fire, killing three and wounding 13. (René Jalbert, sergeant-at-arms of the assembly, succeeds in calming him, for which he will later receive the Cross of Valour.)
1987 - Loughgall Ambush; The SAS kills eight Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers and a civilian during an ambush in Loughgall, Northern Ireland.

Wikipedia  Photo: Middle East satellite image, NASA. ● Camels are seen early morning on a beach in the Marina area of Dubai October 16, 2008. (Steve Crisp, Reuters) ● A portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad burns during clashes between rebels and Syrian troops in Selehattin, near Aleppo, on July 23, 2012. (Bulent Kilic, AFP / GettyImages) ● Egyptians gather in their thousands in Tahrir Square to mark the one year anniversary of the revolution on Jan. 25, 2012 in Cairo Egypt. Tens of thousands have gathered in the square on the first anniversary of the Arab uprising which toppled President Hosni Mubarak. (Jeff J Mitchell, Getty Images) ● Black smoke rises above the Tehran skyline as supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi burn tires and other material in the streets as they fight running battles with police to protest the declared results of the Iranian presidential election in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 13, 2009. (Ben Curtis, AP) ● The Iron Dome defense system fires to interecpt incoming missiles from Gaza in the port town of Ashdod, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. (Tsafrir Abayov, AP)

March 8th, 1988

Internet: global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite (often called TCP/IP, although not all applications use TCP) to serve billions of users worldwide.

A fire at Illinois Bell's Hinsdale Central Office triggers an extended 1AESS network outage once considered the "worst telecommunications disaster in US telephone industry history" and still the worst to occur on Mother's Day

Wikipedia  Image: Internet; global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite (often called TCP/IP, although not all applications use TCP) to serve billions of users worldwide.

May 8th, 1997

Airliners Crash: ● Pan AM 747 ● U.S. Airways flight 1549 also known as the 'Miracle on the Hudson' navigates an exit ramp near Burlington, New Jersey, June 5, 2011 ● Passengers stand on the wings of a U.S. Airways plane as a ferry pulls up to it after it landed in the Hudson River in New York, Reuters ● US Airways plane crashes into New York Hudson River, Photo: AP

Aviation accidents and incidents:
1997 - A China Southern Airlines Boeing 737 crashes on approach into Bao'an International Airport, killing 35 people.

Wikipedia  Photo: ● Pan AM 747 ● U.S. Airways flight 1549 also known as the "Miracle on the Hudson" navigates an exit ramp near Burlington, New Jersey, June 5, 2011 ● Passengers stand on the wings of a U.S. Airways plane as a ferry pulls up to it after it landed in the Hudson River in New York, Reuters ● US Airways plane crashes into New York Hudson River, Photo: AP