February 18, 2008

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Paul Jelley and Ezra Levant!

190 years ago
1818

Born on this date
Perucho Figueredo y Cisneros. Cuban poet and revolutionist. Mr. Figueredo wrote the Cuban national anthem, El Himno de Bayamo, in 1867, and was one of the planners of the Ten Years' War against Spanish rule. He was executed at the age of 52 on August 17, 1870, five days after being captured by Spanish authorities.

170 years ago
1838

Born on this date
Ernst Mach. Austrian physicist. Dr. Mach was known for his study of shock waves and the creation of the Mach number (a quantity representing the ratio of speed of an object moving through a fluid and the local speed of sound). He died on February 19, 1916, the day after his 78th birthday.

120 years ago
1888

Born on this date
Matilda Allison. U.S. teacher and civil servant. Miss Allison was permanently blinded by an injury at the age of 7. She became a teacher of newly-blind war veterans in California, and in 1919 became the first blind person in California, and possibly the United States, to pass a civil service examination. Miss Allison taught braille transcription and office skills. She died on November 21, 1973 at the age of 85.

100 years ago
1908

Diplomacy
The United States and Japan reached a "Gentleman's Agreement" restricting Japanese emigration to America.

80 years ago
1928

Died on this date
Nebraska Man (Hesperopithecus). The "million-dollar tooth," which was found in an ancient river bed in Nebraska in 1922 and put forward by scientists from the American Museum of Natural History (e.g., Henry Fairfield Osborn) as proof that a forerunner of modern man lived in America millions of years ago, was revealed to be the tooth of an extinct pig. At the Scopes trial in 1925, Nebraska Man was cited as proof of evolution, and William Jennings Bryan was ridiculed when he protested the scanty evidence. Unfortunately, Bryan didn't live to see his views vindicated. Nebraska Man is just one of a number of man's alleged ancestors that hasn't stood the test of time, or close examination of the evidence. Other examples include Java Man, Peking Man, and Piltdown Man. "Science" marches on.

Oddities
At Eastland, Texas, a horned toad, sealed alive in the cornerstone of the court house 31 years earlier, was found alive when the stone was removed, according to County Judge Edward S. Pritchard. Could this have inspired the classic Warner Brothers cartoon One Froggy Evening?

Olympics
Sonja Henie of Norway won her first gold medal in women's figure skating at St. Moritz.

40 years ago
1968

Golf
George Knudson won the Phoenix Open with a score of 272; first prize money was $20,000.

30 years ago
1978

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (Hit Parade Italia): Solo Tu--Matia Bazar (11th week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Mull of Kintyre--Wings (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland: Figaro--The Brotherhood of Man

#1 single in the U.K. (BMRB): Take a Chance on Me--ABBA

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Stayin' Alive--Bee Gees (3rd week at #1)

Netherlands Top 10 (De Nederlandse Top 40)
1 If I Had Words--Scott Fitzgerald and Yvonne Keeley with the St. Thomas More School Choir (4th week at #1)
2 Take a Chance on Me--ABBA
3 It's a Heartache--Bonnie Tyler
4 Mull of Kintyre--Wings
5 She's Not There--Santana
6 Black Betty--Ram Jam
7 Lailola - No Ablas Mas--José e Los Reyes
8 Singin' in the Rain--Sheila B. Devotion
9 Smurfenbier--Vader Abraham
10 I Can't Stand the Rain--Eruption featuring Precious Wilson

Singles entering the chart were Hot Legs by Rod Stewart (#28); Baby Come Back by Player (#29); Mr. Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra (#30); Love's Unkind by Donna Summer (#33); and Up Town Top Ranking by Althia & Donna (#38).

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Stayin' Alive--Bee Gees (3rd week at #1)
2 Just the Way You Are--Billy Joel
3 Emotion--Samantha Sang
4 Sometimes When We Touch--Dan Hill
5 (Love Is) Thicker than Water--Andy Gibb
6 Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)--Chic
7 Short People--Randy Newman
8 We are the Champions--Queen
9 Baby Come Back--Player
10 You're in My Heart (The Final Acclaim)--Rod Stewart

Singles entering the chart were Sweet Talkin' Woman by Electric Light Orchestra (#81); I'm Gonna Take Care of Everything by Rubicon (#92); More than a Woman by Tavares (#93); Little One by Chicago (#94); Playing Your Game, Baby by Barry White (#95); Let's Have Some Fun by the Bar-Kays (#98); and Ready for the Times to Get Better by Crystal Gayle (#99).

Canada's top 10 (RPM)
1 Stayin' Alive--Bee Gees
2 Short People--Randy Newman
3 We are the Champions--Queen
4 Sometimes When We Touch--Dan Hill
5 Baby Come Back--Player
6 You're in My Heart (The Final Acclaim)--Rod Stewart
7 Just the Way You Are--Billy Joel
8 Desiree--Neil Diamond
9 (Love Is) Thicker than Water--Andy Gibb
10 Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)--Chic

Singles entering the chart were Night Fever by the Bee Gees (#84); Boogie Shoes by K.C. and the Sunshine Band (#86); Dust in the Wind by Kansas (#87); Sweet Sweet Smile by the Carpenters (#88); Hollywood by Boz Scaggs (#93); Can't Smile Without You by Barry Manilow (#94); Walk Right Back by Anne Murray (#95); If I Can't Have You by Yvonne Elliman (#96); Silver Dreams by the Babys (#98); I Can't Hold On by Karla Bonoff (#99); and Feels So Good by Chuck Mangione (#100).

Died on this date
Maggie McNamara, 49. U.S. actress. Miss McNamara replaced Barbara Bel Geddes as Patty O'Neill in The Moon is Blue on Broadway in 1951, and reprised the role in the film version in 1953. Her performance earned her an Academy Award nomination. After starring in Three Coins in the Fountain (1954), she made just one picture, The Cardinal, in 1963. Miss McNamara appeared in several television shows, including the Twilight Zone episode Ring-a-Ding Girl (1963). Her last appearance was in a 1964 episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour titled Body in the Barn. Miss McNamara reportedly worked as a typist in her later years. She died of a drug overdose in her apartment in New York; police said that she had suffered from mental illness, and that she'd left a suicide note.

Crime
In Media, Pennsylvania, former United Mine Workers president Tony Boyle's retrial on the charge of murdering his rival Jock Yablonski ended with Boyle being convicted of first-degree murder. Mr. Yablonski had challenged Mr. Boyle for the union presidency in 1969. The bodies of Mr. Yablonski and his wife and daughter were found shot to death at their home in Clarksville, Pa. on January 5, 1970. Mr. Boyle was convicted of murder, but a retrial was ordered on appeal when it was ruled that evidence that may have proved helpful to the defense had been wrongly excluded.

Hockey
Minnesota 4 @ Toronto 5
Colorado 4 @ Montreal 9

On the national Hockey Night in Canada telecast, the Maple Leafs came from behind to beat the North Stars 5-4 at Maple Leaf Gardens. If you were watching in Quebec or on Radio Canada, you saw the Canadiens whip the Rockies 9-4 at the Montreal Forum.