User:Antony-22/Humor

Occasionally, the juxtaposition of the first item with the picture of In the news or On this day... creates a humorous effect. I will be collecting such occurences here.

Eurovision winner cures ebola

Scientists at Boston University announce a potential cure for the disease Ebola. Dario Franchitti wins the Indianapolis 500. "Satellite" by Lena (pictured) wins the Eurovision Song Contest for Germany. The Social Democratic Party wins a plurality in a legislative election in the Czech Republic, but its leader Jiří Paroubek resigns citing a poorer-than-expected result. Nearly 100 people are killed and 120 more injured in two attacks in Lahore, Pakistan. A train derails in West Bengal, India, killing more than 100 people. The Alaotra Grebe, a bird endemic to Madagascar, is declared extinct, 25 years after the last confirmed sighting. view · history · related changes · edit · suggestions

23:49, 30 May 2010 (UTC)

Shakespeare's orbital theatre burns down

June 29: Seventeenth of Tammuz (Judaism, 2010); Feast of Saints Peter and Paul (Roman Catholicism) 1613 – The original Globe Theatre in London burned to the ground after a cannon employed for special effects misfired during a performance of William Shakespeare's Henry VIII and ignited the theatre's roof. 1880 – Pomare V, King of Tahiti, was forced to cede the sovereignty of Tahiti and its dependencies to France. 1889 – Hyde Park and several other Illinois townships voted to be annexed by Chicago, forming the largest United States city in area and second largest in population. 1967 – Actress Jayne Mansfield, her boyfriend Sam Brody, and their driver were killed in a car accident outside of New Orleans, while her children Miklós, Zoltán, and Mariska Hargitay escaped with only minor injuries. 1995 – Shuttle–Mir Program: During the STS-71 mission, Space Shuttle Atlantis became the first space shuttle to dock with the Russian space station Mir (pictured).

22:40, 2 July 2010 (UTC)

Wallis Simpson presents Isaac Newton's paper to the Royal Society

Selected anniversaries on this day

December 10: Human Rights Day; Constitution Day in Thailand (1932) 1684 – Edmond Halley presented the paper De motu corporum in gyrum, containing Isaac Newton's derivation of Kepler's laws from his theory of gravity, to the Royal Society. 1861 – Forces led by Nguyen Trung Truc, an anti-colonial guerrilla leader in southern Vietnam, sank the French lorcha L'Esperance. 1907 – During the Brown Dog affair, about 1,000 protesters marched through London and then clashed with 400 police officers in Trafalgar Square over the existence of a memorial for animals which have been vivisected. 1936 – Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, out of a desire to marry American socialite Wallis Simpson (pictured) against widespread opposition, abdicated the throne, the only British monarch to have voluntarily done so since the Anglo-Saxon period. 1979 – The Kuomintang (KMT) dictatorship of Taiwan arrested a large number of opposition leaders who had organized pro-democracy demonstrations, an incident credited with ending the KMT's rule in 2000. More anniversaries: December 9 December 10 December 11

22:11, 10 December 2010 (UTC)

Apple Macintosh kills Emperor Caligula

Selected anniversaries on this day

January 24 41 – Roman Emperor Caligula was murdered by Cassius Chaerea and the disgruntled Praetorian Guards. Caligula's uncle Claudius was proclaimed emperor in his place. 1776 – American Revolutionary War: Henry Knox arrived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with cannons recently captured from Fort Ticonderoga, the use of which would later help break the Siege of Boston. 1968 – Vietnam War: The 1st Australian Task Force launched Operation Coburg against the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong during wider fighting around Long Binh and Bien Hoa. 1984 – The first Apple Macintosh, today known as the Macintosh 128K (pictured), went on sale, becoming the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a graphical user interface rather than a command line interface. 2009 – Klaus, the most damaging storm since Lothar and Martin in December 1999, made landfall near Bordeaux, France. More anniversaries: January 23 January 24 January 25

23:36, 24 January 2011 (UTC)

Allies attack Libya with polar bears

In the news

French, British and American forces launch attacks on pro-Gaddafi troops in Libya in support of the UN-mandated no-fly zone. Knut (pictured), a polar bear raised by zookeepers at the Berlin Zoo, dies at the age of four. The Moon reaches its most extreme perigee-syzygy (a "supermoon") since 1993. Former U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher dies at the age of 85. NASA's MESSENGER space probe becomes the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury. Yemen declares a state of emergency after unidentified gunmen open fire on anti-government protesters, killing at least 45.

05:23, 20 March 2011 (UTC)

Hosni Mubarak strikes back at U.S. with tornadoes

In the news

States of emergency are declared in several areas across the Southern United States after at least 26 people are killed in a large tornado outbreak. BRICS states meet in Sanya, China, for an annual summit that features South Africa for the first time. Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (pictured) and his sons are detained, two months after having resigned amid widespread protests. The Japan Atomic Energy Agency raises the severity of the Fukushima I nuclear accidents to level 7, the highest on the International Nuclear Event Scale. Former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo is arrested after a five-month standoff with Alassane Ouattara. At least 12 people are killed and over 200 injured in a bomb attack on the Metro in Minsk, Belarus.

04:24, 17 April 2011 (UTC)

European Union crusaders destroyed in Antioch

On this day...

June 29: Feast of Saints Peter and Paul (Roman Catholicism); Independence Day in Seychelles (1976) 1149 – Second Crusade: An army led by Nur ad-Din Zangi destroyed the forces of Antioch led by Prince Raymond in the Battle of Inab. 1444 – Albanians led by Skanderbeg scored a resounding victory in their rebellion against the Ottoman Empire in the Battle of Torvioll. 1613 – The original Globe Theatre in London burned to the ground after a cannon employed for special effects misfired during a performance of William Shakespeare's Henry VIII and ignited the theatre's roof. 1950 – In one of the greatest upsets in sports history, the United States defeated England during the 1950 FIFA World Cup. 1974 – Isabel Perón was sworn in as the first female President of Argentina, replacing her ill husband Juan Perón, who died two days later. 1985 – The European Economic Community adopted the Flag of Europe (pictured), a flag previously adopted by the Council of Europe in 1955. More anniversaries: June 28 June 29 June 30

05:07, 29 June 2011 (UTC)

Corporate IP lawsuits get really ugly

On this day...

Apple wins a temporary injunction in a patent lawsuit, blocking the sale of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet computer in most of the European Union. Rioting, initially sparked by a fatal police shooting in London, spreads across parts of England (riot police pictured). Manuel Pinto da Costa is elected President of São Tomé and Príncipe. The Cambridgeshire Guided Busway, the longest guided busway in the world, opens in England. Juno, the first solar-powered spacecraft on a mission to Jupiter, is launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

00:22, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

French counterrevolutionary army defeated by coelacanth

On this day...

December 23: The Emperor's Birthday in Japan; Festivus 1793 – French Revolution: The Royalist counterrevolutionary army was decisively defeated in the Battle of Savenay, although fighting continued in the War in the Vendée for years to come. 1916 – First World War: Allied forces gained a strategic victory in the Battle of Magdhaba, located in the Sinai Peninsula. 1938 – A South African fisher discovered the first living specimen of a coelacanth (pictured), long believed to be extinct. 1986 – Piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, the Rutan Voyager became the first aircraft to fly around the world without stopping or refueling, landing in California's Edwards Air Force Base after a nine-day trip. 2008 – The Guinean military engineered a coup d'état, and announced that it planned to rule the country for two years prior to a new presidential election. More anniversaries: December 22 December 23 December 24

06:13, 23 December 2011 (UTC)

Salman Rushdie imposes oil embargo on Iran

In the news

The European Union imposes an embargo on future oil contracts with Iran. British novelist Salman Rushdie (pictured) cancels an appearance at the Jaipur Literature Festival in India, and four other writers leave the city after reading excerpts from The Satanic Verses, which is banned in the country. In a binding referendum, Croatian voters approve the country's proposed accession to the European Union. Boko Haram claims responsibility for a series of attacks in northern Nigeria that killed 185 people, two weeks after a similar set of assaults. American singer Etta James dies at the age of 73.

01:08, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

Josef Stalin crowned King of England

On this day

April 3 1043 – Edward the Confessor was crowned King of England, the last king of the House of Wessex. 1895 – The libel trial instigated by Irish author Oscar Wilde began, eventually resulting in Wilde's arrest, trial and imprisonment on charges of gross indecency. 1922 – Joseph Stalin (pictured) became the first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. 1971 – The Japanese tokusatsu television series Kamen Rider premiered, marking the beginning of the long-running Kamen Rider franchise. 2008 – Texas law enforcement authorities raided the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' YFZ Ranch, eventually removing 533 women and children from the premises. More anniversaries: April 2 April 3 April 4

19:46, 3 April 2012 (UTC)

George Washington selects Jupiter as site for new capital

On this day

July 16 1790 – U.S. President George Washington signed the Residence Act, selecting a new permanent site along the Potomac River for the capital of the United States, which later became Washington, D.C. 1945 – Manhattan Project: "Trinity", the first nuclear test explosion, was carried out near Alamogordo, New Mexico. 1951 – The Catcher in the Rye, an American coming-of-age novel by J. D. Salinger, was first published. 1994 – Fragments of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 began hitting the planet Jupiter (impact site pictured), with the first one causing a fireball which reached a peak temperature of about 24,000 K. 2007 – A magnitude 6.6 MW earthquake struck Niigata Prefecture, Japan, causing a leak of radioactive gases from the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant. More anniversaries: July 15 July 16 July 17

01:01, 16 July 2012 (UTC)

GNU Project establishes Prussian–Lithuanian border

On this day

September 27: World Tourism Day 1422 – The Treaty of Melno was signed, establishing the Prussian–Lithuanian border, which afterwards remained unchanged for about 500 years. 1941 – SS Patrick Henry, the first of 2,751 Liberty ships built during World War II by the United States, was launched. 1983 – Software developer Richard Stallman announced plans for the Unix-like GNU operating system (logo pictured), the first free software developed by the GNU Project. 1993 – War in Abkhazia: After capturing the city of Sukhumi, Abkhaz separatists and their allies massacred large numbers of Georgian civilians. 2001 – The Jagadguru Rambhadracharya Handicapped University, the only university in the world exclusively for the disabled, was founded in Chitrakoot, Uttar Pradesh, India. More anniversaries: September 26 September 27 September 28

05:32, 27 September 2012 (UTC)

Russian cosmonaut elected Pope

On this day

August 11: Independence Day in Chad (1960) 1492 – The first papal conclave held in the Sistine Chapel elected Roderic Borja as Pope Alexander VI to succeed Pope Innocent VIII. 1828 – William Corder was hanged at Bury St Edmunds, England, for the murder of Maria Marten at the Red Barn. 1945 – Amid rumors of kidnappings of children by Jews in Kraków, a crowd of Poles engaged in a pogrom, which resulted in one dead and five wounded victims. 1962 – Vostok 3 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and cosmonaut Andriyan Nikolayev (pictured) became the first person to float in microgravity. 1973 – At a party in the recreation room of a New York City apartment building, DJ Kool Herc began rapping during an extended break, laying the foundation for hip-hop music. More anniversaries: August 10 August 11 August 12

01:19, 11 August 2013 (UTC)

Maria Sharapova conquers Mosul and Tikrit

On this day

Militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant capture the Iraqi cities of Mosul and Tikrit. All the Way wins Best Play and A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder wins Best Musical at the Tony Awards. In tennis, the French Open concludes with Rafael Nadal winning the men's singles and Maria Sharapova (pictured) winning the women's singles. At least 36 people are killed in an attack on Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, Pakistan. In horse racing, Australia wins the Epsom Derby and Tonalist wins the Belmont Stakes. An estimated 35 people are killed in an attack on a village in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Ongoing: FIFA World Cup – Ukrainian conflict Recent deaths: Johnny Leach – Rik Mayall

Hedy Lamarr slays king of the giants

On this day

August 11: Tu B'Av (Judaism, 2014); Independence Day in Chad (1960) 2492 BC – According to legend, Armenian culture hero Hayk slew the giant king Bel with a shot from a longbow near Lake Van (in modern Turkey). 1492 – The first papal conclave held in the Sistine Chapel elected Roderic Borja as Pope Alexander VI to succeed Pope Innocent VIII. 1786 – Captain Francis Light founded the British colony of Penang, beginning more than a century of British involvement in Malaya. 1942 – Actress Hedy Lamarr (pictured) and composer George Antheil received a patent for their "Secret Communications System", an early technique of frequency-hopping spread spectrum that later became the basis for many forms of today's wireless communication systems. 2012 – At least 306 people were killed and 3,000 others injured in a pair of earthquakes near Tabriz, Iran. More anniversaries: August 10 August 11 August 12

18:44, 13 June 2014 (UTC)