96 years ago today, the RMS Titanic collided with an iceberg and sank to the bottom of the northern Atlantic, taking 1,500 souls with her. Now, they're blaming the rivets.
posted on Apr 14, 2008 - View this thread

Ever wondered what the number one song was on your birthday? Anniversary? the day John Lennon was shot?, the attack on Pearl Harbor? (last two links can open iTunes directly).

Well, wonder no more. (via reddit)
posted on Apr 12, 2008 - View this thread

Throwing bones in the air as 2001 turns 40. Stanley Kubrick's film, 2001: A Space Odyssey turned 40 yesterday and Movie City Indie collated a good selection of links about the film and its maker to commemorate the occasion.
posted on Apr 3, 2008 - View this thread

Through half a decade of war, a team of 100 Reuters correspondents, photographers, cameramen and support staff have strived to bring the world news from the most dangerous country for the press. This is their testimony - bearing witness to ensure the story of Iraq is not lost.
posted on Mar 28, 2008 - View this thread

Back in 1987, the Canadian band Cowboy Junkies recorded The Trinity Session (which featured their one big hit, Sweet Jane), ). To celebrate the album's 20th anniversary they brought a few fellow musicians to the church where the album was originally recorded to see what 20 years experience would do to the same set of songs. Here's a video from the session, with Natalie Merchant on backing vocals.
posted on Mar 14, 2008 - View this thread

Happy Smurfday! The Smurfs celebrated their 50th birthday today in Belgium, kicking off a tour in which they will team up with UNICEF to promote children's issues worldwide. Grab a piece of smurfberry cake and a glass of sarsaparilla juice and come inside for more Smurfiness.
posted on Jan 14, 2008 - View this thread

Happy birthday dear CD! Today marks 25 years since the first CD rolled off the production line. Love it, lump it or just use this occasion as an excuse to eat cake.
posted on Aug 17, 2007 - View this thread

This weekend marks the 10th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong to the mainland Chinese after 155 years of colonial British rule. Memories of the day are still online, showing the fear that the promised "One Country, Two Systems" policy was a trojan horse. Ten years later, the promise seems intact. Though universal suffrage seems a distant dream, religious and political freedoms are almost on par with Western standards and the economy has survived shipping its industry north. People are marking the day in different ways, while some just want to offer advice.
posted on Jun 29, 2007 - View this thread

"I have had two accidents in my life - the streetcar crash and Diego Rivera." To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Frida Kahlo's birth, the largest ever exhibition of her work is taking place. Frida has been the subject of or inspiration for movies (most recently, this lovely one, although not without some controversy), books (this biography is quite good), a postage stamp, and a brand of tequila (more controversy). People have been interested in her socialist politics and possible victim status. There is an online fan club. She was also featured in Smithsonian Magazine. If anything, Frida was always outspoken.

posted on Jun 18, 2007 - View this thread

Today is the centenary of W.H. Auden, one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century. Why not commemorate it by attending one of the many events honoring the man and marking the day? Auden wrote about anything and everything; his poems addressed such topics as the advent of World War II ("September 1, 1939", which gained new resonance after 9/11), grief ("Funeral Blues", used to great effect in Four Weddings and a Funeral), physics ("After Reading a Child's Guide to Modern Physics"), commencement addresses ("Under Which Lyre: A Reactionary Tract for the Times") unrequited love ("The More Loving One"), and the way life goes on ("Musée des Beaux Arts"). [more inside]
posted on Feb 20, 2007 - View this thread

Happy anniversary, modern art. Les Demoiselles d'Avignon are 100 years old and look as fresh and exciting as ever.
posted on Jan 11, 2007 - View this thread

Carl Sagan has a posse. Today marks the ten year anniversary of the passing of Carl Sagan, scientist and popularizer of science, and bloggers are planning to mark the day with posts about the man and how he's affected their lives. The initiative has the blessing of at least one member of the Sagan clan, and has already spawned a site where those without blogs of their own can post their thoughts online. Yes, Sagan could be prickly at times, and there might have been things he could have been more open about in his lifetime. But few scientists have done more to bring science to the public. These days, we could use another of him. Maybe two.
posted on Dec 20, 2006 - View this thread

On July 20, 1976 something really cool was accomplished.
posted on Jul 20, 2006 - View this thread

Cat-Scan.com is one of the strangest sites I've seen in some time. I have no idea how these people got their cats wedged into their scanners, or why.
posted on Jul 14, 2006 - View this thread

We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God."
posted on Jan 28, 2006 - View this thread

Jonbenet Ramsey has been gone for nine years, but her death has still not been solved. Though theories still exist that her brother Burke was involved*, her parents were ruled out as suspects earlier this year, thanks to DNA evidence. Of course, that goes against the astrological evidence. None of the Ramseys have ever been charged with Jonbenet's murder, and they have taken CourtTV to court in order to maintain their innocence.
Jonbenet's murder has been lampooned repeatedly, it can be viewed as the start of a new era of crime journalism.
*graphic description on a Geocities page, N remotely SFW
posted on Dec 25, 2005 - View this thread

It was twenty-five years ago today. John Lennon was murdered in front of the Dakota building in Manhattan. While there have been many conspiracy theories surrrounding it, most reasonable people agree that his assassin was simply deranged.

Rest in peace, John. We'll keep imagining in your absence.
posted on Dec 8, 2005 - View this thread

50 Years of Eurovision --pics, video, info on 14 of the best(?) songs ever performed in the contest. Tonight they're picking the Number One of all time.
posted on Oct 21, 2005 - View this thread

Today, Canadians are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the life and death our greatest hero - Terry Fox. I was only 10 years old when Terry dipped his artificial leg in the Atlantic ocean and began his run across Canada with the aim of raising just $1 for each Canadian. Sadly, he had to end his run after only the halfway point when the Cancer spread to his lungs. Terry passed away less than a year later. Terry Fox runs worldwide have raised exponential amounts more than Terry could have ever imagined. He makes me proud to be Canadian, and I still get choked up thinking about him.
posted on Sep 17, 2005 - View this thread

Troy's Mixtape of Love. "This is the original tape Troy made to his girlfriend Melissa on their 6 month anniversary. She left him 3 days after." Includes an a capella rendition of "All My Life" by K-Ci and Jojo at 6:20. Scary remix. More remixes. (Via confabulators)
posted on Sep 16, 2005 - View this thread

9-11 I've never posted a link before and don't mean to create any debate or make any statement. I just thought that before the day was out we do the obvious and remember.
posted on Sep 11, 2005 - View this thread

Ten years ago today, Microsoft released a massive overhaul of their flagship product — Windows 95. It added support for 256-character mixed-case long filenames, pre-emptive multitasking, and protected-mode 32-bit applications. Detractors noted that its updated interface owed a number of debts to Apple's MacOS and IBM's OS/2. Most importantly, however, Windows 95 included built-in support for dial-up networking and a TCP/IP stack. Once this technology was widely-available, it was only a matter of time until the Internet became a household word.
posted on Aug 24, 2005 - View this thread

Our Victory, Day by Day. Russian news agency RIA Novosti counts down to the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, with songs, posters, photos, and stories. Be sure not to miss the first-person accounts in English (under "Frontline Album").
posted on Apr 9, 2005 - View this thread

String Theory Turns 20 - first posited in 1984 as an explanation for the strong force, String Theory turns 20 this year. While some physicists celebrate, others are concerned that string theory isn't coming close to being a theory of everything as many had hoped. While it does reconcile quantum mechanics with Special Relativity, there is currently no mathematical proof for String Theory. Even more troubling, rather than providing one solid explanation for the universe, the many dimensions of string theory offer 10^100 different possible results.
posted on Dec 7, 2004 - View this thread

Ever wonder how the world is going to hell in a handbasket if gay marriage runs amok? Our own digaman recounts his ceremony from a couple years ago, after being together with someone for ten years. Sounds like every other wedding I've ever been to (except for the lack of bridesmaids). I'm always telling family members that don't have gay friends like I do: don't fear them, I assure you they're just as boring as you and I.
posted on Nov 5, 2004 - View this thread

Dungeons & Dragons Turns 30
posted on Oct 16, 2004 - View this thread

"So, during the run of The Judas Contract, Dick Grayson's new crimefighting identity was established. Nightwing was born. Though neither Marv nor I were originally crazy about his new name, in the long run, it seems to have won the fans' hearts. Those who considered themselves Robin-Rooters have proudly followed Dick's new career as avid Wingnuts.
--George Perez

Has it really been 20 years since Dick Grayson stopped being a sidekick? Happy belated birthday Nightwing!
posted on Sep 22, 2004 - View this thread

Happy Birthday David! Today is the 500th anniversary of the statue's unveiling.
posted on Sep 8, 2004 - View this thread

June 28th is the 90th Anniversary of the terrorist assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand which touched off the First World War. The world today is not much different then 90 years ago. Nuclear 1914: The Next Big Worry, by Henry Sokolski.
posted on Jun 28, 2004 - View this thread

One hundred years ago today, 1,358 members of the Kleindeutschland, the German neighborhood on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, boarded a chartered ferry named the General Slocum for a picnic excursion to Long Island. A fire broke out in the ship's hold while it cruised up the East River, the captain ran the vessel aground on the rocky shores of North Brother Island amid the swift currents of Hell Gate, and when it was all over 1,021 people (mainly women and children) had perished by drowning or from the fire, and it remained the worst single-day New York City disaster until 9/11.
posted on Jun 15, 2004 - View this thread

Black, White & Brown. A great 9-part video feature on the NYT site (registration required) featuring a discussing between Cornel West and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. commemorating the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education.
posted on May 16, 2004 - View this thread

The Creatures are two years old today. Andy Bell's surreal and fun website has pumped out little monster pictures once a day for two years straight. Let's take a break from serious stuff and just say thanks to a guy who gives his hard work away for free. (Including some crazy screensavers)
posted on Jan 21, 2004 - View this thread

"Brandon Teena lived and loved as a man. For that, she paid with her life." Exactly ten years ago today , John Lotter and Tom Nissen hunted down Teena Brandon on a quiet farm near Humboldt, Nebraska (just west of Falls City) and brutally murdered her along with two of her friends (Lisa Lambert and Phillip DeVine), leaving only an eight-month old baby at the bloody crime scene. They had raped her that Christmas and when she reported it to Richardson County Sheriff, Charles Laux (currently working at the Tecumseh prison, where Lotter is ironically housed), she was subjected to a humiliating line of questioning that the Nebraska State Supreme Court would later call "beyond all possible bounds of decency". No action was taken to apprehend the cowardly pair until it was too late. [more inside]
posted on Dec 31, 2003 - View this thread

"We came down here for wind and sand, and we have got them."

Today is aviation's 100th birthday. At 10:35am Eastern, the Experimental Aircraft Association will attempt to re-enact the first flight of the Wright Brothers' "marginal" aircraft. (It's apparently very difficult to fly -- for one thing, the pilot must keep the airspeed between 27 and 32 mph, using an engine without a throttle.) Wish I could be there in NC at the Wright Brothers National Memorial. It's utterly astounding that only 66 years -- less than a lifetime -- elapsed between Orville Wright's twelve-second, 120-foot flight and the Apollo 11 moon landing.
posted on Dec 16, 2003 - View this thread

Science Times: 25th Anniversary The first issue of Science Times[weekly section of N.Y. Times] appeared 25 years ago, on Nov. 14, 1978. Its guiding principle ever since has been that science is not a collection of answers, but a way of asking questions, an enterprise driven by curiosity. To celebrate the anniversary, we pose 25 of the most provocative questions facing science. As always, answers are provisional. [free reg req'd]
posted on Nov 11, 2003 - View this thread

Happy Birthday, Speccie! Your 175th, actually. There's a special issue out - only five free articles on the web, of which the Graham Greene competition is probably the funniest - but The Spectator itself (my favourite comic in the whole wide world, I have to say) is still in fine fettle. Among the more interesting articles in today's issue, Paul Robinson's delirious defense of West Point and its highly questionable Code of Honour (whereby you're compelled to rat on your fellow cadets if they lie, cheat or steal, or be expelled if you're found out covering up for them) and Melanie Phillip's firm opinion that the evidence of the Hutton Inquiry shows that Blair - Shock! Horror! - spoke the truth about Iraq are probably the most provocative. Damien McCrystal's tirade against fat nannies is the most predictably outrageous and typical. But the whole issue (I am particularly fond of Jeremy Clarke's column) is a cracker. No other weekly (or even monthly) conservative magazine is anywhere near as good. Congratulations, old fruit!
posted on Sep 25, 2003 - View this thread

Hog Heaven - the Library of Congress celebrates 100 years of the Harley-Davidson in an excellent online exhibit of photos, articles, ads and links. Also, visit HD's anniversary site to learn about upcoming events and celebrations. (via Portage)
posted on Apr 19, 2003 - View this thread

15 years ago today Saddam Hussein launched an unprecedented chemical weapons attack on 20 Kurdish villages. (warning: disturbing images). I think this speaks for itself.
posted on Mar 16, 2003 - View this thread

Happy Darwin Day! Darwin Day is February 12th, the date of birth of Charles Darwin in the year 1809, at Shrewsbury, England. On this date, and throughout the month, people from all over the world are honoring the life, work and influence of Charles Darwin with events and activities which celebrate humanity and the science in our lives. While you're celebrating you may want to see who has won awards in his name or perhaps buy a sticker or see if there's a darwinday event near you
posted on Feb 12, 2003 - View this thread

Delta 2003 Yesterday the 1953 floods were commemorated in the Netherlands and a day earlier in the UK. What happened in 1953?
posted on Feb 2, 2003 - View this thread

17 years ago today, the space shuttle Challenger exploded, killing all seven aboard. I share this primarily as I recall this being the first where-were-you-when of my childhood. So where were you?
posted on Jan 28, 2003 - View this thread

50 years ago last month, a dark cloud settled in over London. And stayed for four days. This fog, which was brought on by a lethal combination of high pressure, near freezing temperatures and London's pervasive coal burning, starting killing things. At first, the animals at a cattle show, then the elderly, or those prone to resperatory disease. By the end, over 4,000 people had died. Strangely, to this day the disaster retains a low profile, unlike more glamorous disasters such as the Titanic, or Bhopal. Stranger still, is that unlike those others, while the fog was at its most deadly, few realized there was even an epidemic occurring, with most viewing it as, at worst, a mild nuisance.
posted on Jan 22, 2003 - View this thread

Happy 20th Anniversary, Internet!

We ought not to let pass unnoticed the... 20th anniversary of the Internet. The most logical date of origin of the Internet is January 1, 1983, when the ARPANET officially switched from the NCP protocol to TCP/IP.

Where were you two decades ago on this date? And does anyone actually have a "I Survived the TCP/IP Transition" t-shirt?

Also being discussed on /.
posted on Jan 1, 2003 - View this thread

The world's largest store turns 100 today.
posted on Nov 8, 2002 - View this thread

A speculative bubble is created when objectivity, reasoning, and valuation give way to greed and an insatiable desire for profits. On this date in history... October 29, 1929: The date of the stock market crash that marked the start of the Great Depression in the United States. Could it have been averted by the reading of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay?
posted on Oct 29, 2002 - View this thread

September eleventh certainly is an anniversary, but of more than you might remember. Historical Hindsight is a short piece on why some events are remembered and others forgotten. "The things that get remembered serve a purpose. They have to do something relevant in the present."
posted on Sep 11, 2002 - View this thread

George Bush's Article in NYTIMES. I was surprised to see an article by the prez on nytimes.com. We are used to presidents communicating through TV- but there the speech is picked up by all major channels in that case. It seems odd to see a sitting president use one newspaper to put forward a viewpoint. Perhaps, Al Gore's articles in the same space spurred dubya. Oh, by the way, what did you think of the story? Is this the work of a speechwriter or do you think it is genuine? Did everyone notice the absence of the word Iraq in this article? (The customary apology for the nytimes post applies. I believe you can still register as metafilter, metafilter.)
posted on Sep 11, 2002 - View this thread

Yes.. we all know what today is (it's pretty much Wednesday here).. read up on the MeFi reactions, or the reactions from Fark. Hundreds of these have to be around. I'm just linking some ones off the top of my head here. Here's one timeline of last 9/11 also which seems more skeptical about all of this. Here are some events for today.

Do something good for somebody today.
posted on Sep 10, 2002 - View this thread

The Shot Chord Heard Round the World! On the morning of Nine Eleven 2002 at 8:46am, over 160 choirs across the world will sing Mozart's "Requiem" to metaphorically stand in for the thousands of voices silenced a year ago. Among all the ideas I've heard to commemorate this occasion, this one seems the most dignified, and least cringeworthy. They mentioned it on NPR's Morning Edition (caution: Real Audio file).
posted on Sep 10, 2002 - View this thread

US Neo-Nazi Groups to CELEBRATE 911 Is it cool to be angry? Do I care? I'm VERY angry about this. [...] And so on, and so forth.
posted on Sep 8, 2002 - View this thread