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Nobody here is old enough to remember these coins being circulated--half cents! American half cents were minted from 1797 through 1857. They were discontinued when it became obvious that not much could be bought with half a cent. Today the penny has little purchasing power and will likely meet the same fate.
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half
cents
American
coins
Added: 23rd April 2008
Views: 1197
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
 
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One of the oddest sports stories ever is the disappearance of Bill Barilko of the Toronto Maple Leafs. In the spring of 1951, Barilko became a Leafs hero when he scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal against the Montreal Canadiens. That summer, Barilko and a dentist friend, Dr. Henry Hudson, flew to northern Quebec in the dentist's private plane to do some fishing on the Seal River. For their return home, they loaded the plane's pontoons with 120 pounds of fish they had caught, took off for southern Ontario--and were not seen alive again. The RCMP began a huge search for the missing men. (Some thought the police's interest in the case was far beyond what might be expected.) Nearly eleven years passed before the plane's wreckage was discovered in a densely wooded area of northern Ontario. The skeletal remains of Barilko and Hudson were found in the plane. Oddly enough, the plane was facing the opposite direction one would expect--and the 120 pounds of fish were not found in the pontoons. One persistent and fascinating rumor insists that Barilko, who hailed from a gold-mining community, was using his dentist friend as a mule to move a significant quantity of gold nuggets and dust he had illegally obtained from the mine. (Since dentists need gold for fillings, they have connections with gold suppliers.) The plane's pontoons had mysteriously been sliced open.
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Bill
Barilko
mystery
hockey
Added: 30th May 2008
Views: 2090
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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The worst railroad disaster in history occurred on May 22, 1915 near Gretna Green, Dumfriesshire, Scotland. It is commonly known as the Quintinshill Disaster, having been named for the location of a nearby intermediate signal box with passing loops on each side on the Caledonian Railway Main Line linking Glasgow and Carlisle.
The crash, which involved five trains, killed a probable 226 people and injured 246 others. Those killed were mainly territorial soldiers from the Royal Scots heading for the Gallipoli front in the First World War. The precise number of dead was never established with certainty as the roll list of the regiment was destroyed by the fire.
The crash occurred when a troop train travelling from Larbert, Stirlingshire to Liverpool, Lancashire collided with a local passenger train that had been shunted on to the main line, to then be hit by an express train to Glasgow which crashed into the wreckage a minute later. Gas from the lighting system of the old wooden carriages of the troop train ignited, starting a fire which soon engulfed the three passenger trains and also two goods trains standing on nearby passing loops. A number of bodies were never recovered, having been wholly consumed by the fire. The bodies that were recovered were buried together in a mass grave in Edinburgh's Rosebank Cemetery. Such was the scope of the disaster that many of the rescuers wrongly assumed the trains had been targets of German saboteurs. Four bodies, believed to be of children, were never identified or claimed and are buried in the Western Necropolis, Glasgow.
The cause of the accident was poor working practices on the part of the two signalmen involved. It was discovered that the two men often colluded to falsify their records of when they relieved each other, routinely did not follow regulations properly, and engaged in other unsafe practices. The results of the official inquiry into the disaster led to their imprisonment for culpable homicide after legal proceedings in both Scotland and England.
A memorial to the dead soldiers was erected soon after the accident. There are a number of more recent memorials at various locations. An annual remembrance service is held at Rosebank Cemetery.
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Scotland
1915
train
disaster
Added: 13th December 2014
Views: 1419
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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On June 4, 1974 the Cleveland Indians held the most short-sighted promotion in pro sports history: Ten-Cent Beer Night. There was no limit to the amount of 10-ounce Stroh's beers one could buy for a dime each. Hey, what could possibly go wrong? The promotion drew a crowd of 25,000 people--about three times what the Indians were usually drawing in 1974. The souses chugged down more than 65,000 cups of beer. The effects of the discount brews caused rowdyism to break out in the stands from the get-go. It eventually spread to the field. Among the lowlights: Fans tossed firecrackers at the Rangers players. A naked man ran onto the field and slid into second base. A father and son duo ran onto the field and mooned the crowd. The climax occurred in the bottom of the ninth inning. A fan entered the field and tried to swipe Jeff Burroughs' glove. When he resisted, punches were exchanged and more fans entered the field to join the frey. Both the Rangers and the Indians came out of their dugouts wielding bats to defend Burroughs. Mayhem ensued. Fans ripped chairs from the stadium and tossed them in all directions. The game was abandoned by the umpires with the score tied 5-5. The visiting Texas Rangers were awarded a forfeit win. The Indians had several more discount beer promotions scheduled--and still intended to hold them--but the American League outlawed them.
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Ten
Cent
Beer
Night
Cleveland
baseball
Added: 4th June 2008
Views: 3173
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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Canada once had 25-cent paper money. This is an example. Known commonly as 'shinplasters,' they were discontinued in the early 1930s. Shinplasters can still be bought relatively cheaply from coin and banknote dealers.
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Canadian
shinplasters
Added: 7th June 2008
Views: 1906
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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The late great Van McCoy The Disco 70's
Tags:
Yup!
Added: 12th June 2008
Views: 1395
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Posted By: Marty6697 |
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Len Bias should have been one of basketball's greatest players. Instead, he became a poster boy for everything that was wrong with big-time sports. The athletic Bias was a star player at the University of Maryland. On June 17, 1986, the 22-year-old Bias was drafted second overall by the NBA champion Boston Celtics. Forty hours later he was dead from a cocaine overdose. Bias' death had a ripple effect. The Celtics were planning to rebuild their aging team around Bias, but instead Boston did not win another NBA championship until 2008. The basketball program at University of Maryland was thrown into turmoil after it was discovered that Bias' drug use was well known and he was 21 credits short of graduating despite using up all his academic eligibilty. Maryland's coach and athletic director were terminated that October for engaging in coverups that allowed Bias' habitual drug use and weak academic performance to go unchecked.
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Len
Bias
drugs
basketball
Added: 17th June 2008
Views: 1583
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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