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I never thought I'd live to see it happen, but it did happen--20 years ago today. The Berlin Wall, the most egregious symbol of the Cold War and communist oppression in eastern Europe, ceased to be a barrier on November 9, 1989. Over the next three days, joyful Germans on both sides of the wall attacked it with picks, shovels, bulldozers, and their bare hands until it was reduced to rubble. Ronald Reagan said it best: 'When people have the freedom to choose, they choose freedom.'
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Berlin
Wall
topples
Added: 9th November 2009
Views: 568
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
 
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Tonya Harding is a former American figure skating champion. In 1991 she won the U.S. Figure Skating Championships and placed second in the World Championships.
She became famous after her ex-husband Jeff Gillooly conspired with Shawn Eckhardt and Shane Stant to attack competitor Nancy Kerrigan at a practice session during the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
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Tonya
Harding
Nancy
Kerrigan
U.S.
Figure
Skating
Championships
figure
skating
champion
Jeff
Gillooly
Shawn
Eckhardt
1994
Added: 18th November 2009
Views: 1044
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Posted By: Cliffy |
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On July 13, 1966, one of the most horrific crimes in American history occurred: Eight women aged between 21 and 23 were tortured and killed in a Chicago dormitory by Richard Speck. They were all student nurses who were a month away from graduation. The 24-year-old Speck (pictured here at his trial) was a lifelong felon whose lengthy criminal record included violent sexual assaults. On the night of the murders, Speck systematically killed his victims by strangulation or stabbing over a period of several hours. He also raped the eighth victim. Speck may have lost track of how many women were in the dorm room. A potential ninth victim, Cora Amurao, wriggled out of her bindings and hid under a bed while Speck's killing spree went on in another room. Amurao later identified Speck in court. Speck was found guilty and sentenced to die in the Illinois electric chair. The death sentence was later commuted on constitutional grounds. Instead Speck was given a 1,200-year sentence at Statesville Prison. For years Speck denied having any memories of the killings. However, in a 1978 interview he confessed to remembering everything. In a 1988 prison videotape, Speck was seen partying with fellow prisoners who were high on illegal drugs. The video recorded Speck mocking his victims. Portions of the video were broadcast nationally in 1996, increasing the support for capital punishment. By that time Speck was dead; he had died of a heart attack in prison on December 5, 1991, a day before his 50th birthday. No family member came forward to claim his body.
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Richard
Speck
murderer
Added: 23rd November 2009
Views: 2183
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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George (Spanky) McFarland had the most prolific career of any member of the Our Gang troupe. He appeared in 95 Our Gang shorts from 1932 through 1942. Even by Our Gang standards, McFarland began at a young age. His cuteness as a baby got Spanky's picture widely circulated on bread billboards in his hometown of Dallas. When Hal Roach began a new talent search, Spanky's aunt submitted his photos. This got him a screen test that was hugely positive--thus Spanky became an Our Gang regular at the age of three. The origin of Spanky's nickname is unclear; McFarland believed a Los Angeles showbiz columnist came up with it. Spanky's early Our Gang roles were as a tagalong little kid. His abilities to steal scenes and deliver funny lines got him more prominent roles. By 1936, at the age of eight, he was clearly the star of the series and the Gang's leader. He was always the 'idea man' of the Gang, devising schemes and plots. After Hal Roach sold the rights to Our Gang to MGM in 1938, MGM intended to begin anew with an entirely fresh cast of child actors. However, MGM rehired Spanky when a suitable replacement could not be found. Along with Spanky's 95 appearances in Our Gang films, he was also the lead in General Spanky (1936)--the only feature-length Our Gang film ever made. He later served in the Air Force. Spanky was working menial jobs in the 1950s when the Little Rascals reruns began to air on television. He began hosting a local program of them. Spanky's renaissance fame got him a job at Philco-Ford where he eventually became the head of national sales. In his later years Spanky hosted charity golf events. He made a cameo appearance on the sitcom Cheers in 1993. Spanky died of a heart attack not long afterwards. He was 64 years old.
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Our
Gang
Spanky
McFarland
Added: 26th November 2009
Views: 2179
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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One of the most recognizable characters in the Our Gang comedies was William (Buckwheat) Thomas who was a troupe member from 1934 until the series concluded in 1944. Thomas recalled his mother taking him to a tryout at age three--where he was quickly added as a minor character. He was being groomed to replace Stymie as the Gang's black character. Like Farina before him, Buckwheat's gender was a bit of a mystery at first, but he eventually grew into a male role. His trademark 'Otay!' was part of his garbled-English shtick. His wardrobe usually consisted of a striped shirt, a floppy hat, and pants held up by just one suspender. Thomas made an easy transition out of showbiz. He worked as a film laboratory technician for years and also served in the Korean War. (His gravestone wrongly lists him as a WWII veteran.) In August 1980 he was moved to tears after he was given a standing ovation by fans at an Our Gang reunion. Two months later Thomas died suddenly of a heart attack at age 49. Remarkably, Buckwheat got plenty of posthumous fame. Comedian Eddie Murphy had an ongoing Buckwheat-impersonation routine on Saturday Night Live. In 1990, the ABC news program 20/20 aired a segment about a man working in a Tempe, Arizona grocery store who claimed to be Buckwheat. The network was flooded with calls from knowledgeable Our Gang fans who pointed out that the real Buckwheat had died a decade earlier. An angry Spanky McFarland appeared on television to denounce the fraudster, a man named Billie English who had been masquerading as Buckwheat for 30 years. The producer of the 20/20 segment was summarily fired for his shoddy research. Buckwheat's son sued ABC for negligence.
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Our
Gang
Buckwheat
Thomas
Added: 2nd December 2009
Views: 2105
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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Mary Ann Jackson was the main female character in the Our Gang series during its transition period from silent movies to talkies. Jackson joined the troupe in 1928 at age six. She came from a family with plenty of acting experience. Jackson's mother was a stage actress while her older sister had roles in some D.W. Griffith films. Jackson herself had movie experience dating back to 1925. Our Gang Director Robert McGowan preferred casting children with no acting experience in order to project natural child-like behavior, but he made an exception in Jackson's case. Jackson was a tomboyish 'plain Jane' character who was vastly different from all the female Our Gang leads that came before and after her. She had the ability to both deliver a wisecrack and elicit pathos. Jackson's last Our Gang appearance came in 1931. She then abruptly quit the business at age eight, seldom acting again. Jackson died of a heart attack at age 80 in 2003.
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Our
Gang
Mary
Ann
Jackson
Added: 4th December 2009
Views: 983
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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TULSA, Okla. – Oral Roberts, the evangelist who rose from humble tent revivals to found a multimillion-dollar ministry and a university bearing his name, died Tuesday. He was 91.
Roberts died of complications from pneumonia in Newport Beach, Calif., according to his spokesman, A. Larry Ross. The evangelist was hospitalized after a fall on Saturday. He had survived two heart attacks in the 1990s and a broken hip in 2006.
Roberts was a pioneer on two fronts — he helped bring spirit-filled charismatic Christianity into the mainstream and took his trademark revivals to television, a new frontier for religion.
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Evangelist
Oral
Roberts
dies
at
age
91Christianity
television
TV
revival
spirit-filled
charismatic
pioneer
Added: 15th December 2009
Views: 493
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Posted By: Old Fart |
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Shortly after the terrorist attacks On September 11, 2001, photographer Richard Drew snapped this horrifying shot of a man jumping to his death from the North Tower. It is estimated that about 200 people hopelessly trapped in the upper floors of the World Trade Centre towers chose to jump to their deaths rather than succumb to fire and smoke inhalation. The identity of this particular individual has never been positively confirmed, but many people believe it is Jonathan Briley of Mount Vernon, NY. He was employed at the North Tower Restaurant.
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9-11
photo
falling
man
Added: 23rd January 2010
Views: 3579
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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