History Thread...

[CMRivdogs]

https://bsky.app/profile/revwar250.bsky.social/post/3lh5euc3dj62z

The Association had already banned importation since December 1, but until now, shipments in violation of the ban were still allowed to land. Such shipments were confiscated and sold at auction, with profits being donated to the people of Boston.

[CMRivdogs]

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On February 2, 1887, Groundhog Day, featuring a rodent meteorologist, is celebrated for the first time at Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. According to tradition, if a groundhog comes out of its hole on this day and sees its shadow, it gets scared and runs back into its burrow, predicting six more weeks of winter weather; no shadow means an early spring.

Groundhog Day has its roots in the ancient Christian tradition of Candlemas, when clergy would bless and distribute candles needed for winter. The candles represented how long and cold the winter would be. Germans expanded on this concept by selecting an animal—the hedgehog—as a means of predicting weather. Once they came to America, German settlers in Pennsylvania continued the tradition, although they switched from hedgehogs to groundhogs, which were plentiful in the Keystone State.

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On February 2, 1876, the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, which comes to be more commonly known as the National League (NL), is formed. The American League (AL) was established in 1901 and in 1903, the first World Series was held.

The first official game of baseball in the United States took place in June 1846 in Hoboken, New Jersey. In 1869, the Cincinnati Red Stockings became America’s first professional baseball club. In 1871, the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players was established as the sport’s first “major league.” Five years later, in 1876, Chicago businessman William Hulbert formed the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs to replace the National Association, which he believed was mismanaged and corrupt. The National League had eight original members: the Boston Red Stockings (now the Atlanta Braves), Chicago White Stockings (now the Chicago Cubs), Cincinnati Red Stockings, Hartford Dark Blues, Louisville Grays, Mutual of New York, Philadelphia Athletics and the St. Louis Brown Stockings.

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/day/february-2

[CMRivdogs]

1959: Buffy Holly, Richie Valens and JP "The Big Bopper" Richardson die when their chartered plane crashed during a flight from Mason City, Iowa to Moorhead, Minnesota. Richardson convinced Crickets band member Waylon Jennings to give up his seat, Valens won a coin toss for the third passenger. 
Don McLean memorialized the three in his 1972 hit American Pie, calling February 3, 1959 "the day the music died"

In one of the most famous crimes of post-Revolution America, Barnett Davenport commits a mass murder in rural Connecticut. Caleb Mallory, his wife, daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren were killed in their home by their boarder, Davenport. It would contribute to a change in the way the young nation views crime and criminals. 

Davenport, born in 1760, enlisted in the Continental army as a teenager and had served at Valley Forge and Fort Ticonderoga. In the waning days of the war with the British, he came to live in the Mallory household. Today, Davenport’s crime might be ascribed to some type of post-war stress syndrome, but at the time it was the source of a different sociological significance.

On February 3, apparently unprovoked, Davenport beat Caleb Mallory to death. He then beat Mallory’s seven-year-old grandchild with a rifle and killed his daughter-in-law. Davenport looted the home before setting it on fire, killing two others.

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/day/february-3

 

 

 

[oblong]

I watched La Bamba a few years ago again for the first in about 25 years and damn what a great movie.  Also about 10 years ago I saw Los Lobos open for another band and became a big fan of theirs.  Have seen them 3 times.  I wish the movie was streaming but I know with song rights it's complicated.  I just purchased Eddie and the Cruisers last week as I've been jonesing to watch that.  I think the song Runaround Sue is preventing that from being available.

 

[CMRivdogs]

2/4/1789

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George Washington, the commander of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, is unanimously elected the first president of the United States by all 69 presidential electors who cast their votes. John Adams of Massachusetts, who received 34 votes, was elected vice president. The electors, who represented 10 of the 11 states that had ratified the U.S. Constitution, were chosen by popular vote, legislative appointment, or a combination of both four weeks before the election.

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On February 4, 1974, Patty Hearst, the 19-year-old granddaughter of newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst, is kidnapped from her apartment in Berkeley, California, by three armed strangers.

2/4/1861 

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In Montgomery, Alabama, delegates from South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana convene in Montgomery, Alabama to establish the Confederate States of America.

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On February 4, 1922, the Ford Motor Company acquires the failing luxury automaker Lincoln Motor Company for $8 million. Henry Leland, a founder of the Cadillac auto brand, established the Lincoln Motor Company in 1917; he reportedly named the new venture after his hero, President Abraham Lincoln.

Henry Ford’s son, Edsel (1893-1943), was instrumental in convincing his father to buy Lincoln and played a significant role in its development as Ford’s first luxury division. Edsel Ford had succeeded his father as company president in January 1919, after the elder Ford resigned following a disagreement with a group of stockholders. However, father and son soon managed to purchase the stock of these minority investors and regain control of the company. One of Edsel Ford’s major contributions as president of Ford was the styling of cars, which he believed could be good-looking as well as functional.