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As the year 2000 approached, dire predictions of 'Y2K' major computer malfunctions were predicted for Monday, January 1, 2000. Why? It was feared that the majority of the world's computers--which operated with only a two-digit date to account for the year--would crash because of the double zero. The doomsday crowd predicted the infrastructures of cities would cease to function, transportation systems would come to a screeching halt, financial institutions would be rendered helpless, and chaos would generally be widespread. Businesses small and large were frantically urged to upgrade their computers by the end of 1999 to four-digit years. Companies that sold survival gear reported increased sales as some overly concerned people prepared for civilization around them to crumble. It didn't happen. Only a few minor incidents were reported on January 1, 2000 and the days that followed--which were all quickly rectified. Among the problems: The clock at the U.S. Naval Observatory claimed the date was 'January 1, 19100.' The same peculiar date was reported on computers at some Japanese government offices. About 150 slot machines would not work at a Delaware casino. A Buffalo, NY man who returned a video rental a day late was given a bill that said he owed more than $36,500. (Presumably the video store's computer calculated a 100-year late fee.) Italy and South Korea, two countries regarded as not being especially well prepared for Y2K, had as few problems as zealously prepared countries, leading many people to conclude the Y2K hand-wringing and hysteria was largely unwarranted.
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Y2K
hysteria
computers
Added: 17th December 2009
Views: 9319
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
 
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This is a photo of a group of Canadian prisoners of war shortly after they were liberated in 1945. They had been captured by the Japanese after the defense of Hong Kong collapsed on Christmas Day 1941. Badly mistreated, they were used as slave labor in Japanese mines. Their emaciated condition speaks volumes.
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Second
World
War
prisoners
Canadians
Added: 3rd March 2010
Views: 2055
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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This odd photograph was published in the May 22, 1944 issue of Life magazine. It shows the girlfriend of an American soldier writing her beau a thank-you note for sending her part of the skull from a dead Japanese soldier. The photo inspired overwhelmingly negative reposnses from Life readers. Furthermore, it was a propaganda bonanza for the Japanese who used it to portray Allied servicemen as barbaric. Indeed, the mistreatment of enemy corpses was outlawed by the Geneva Convention in 1929. The soldier who mailed the partial skull stateside was reprimanded.
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skull
Second
World
War
Japanese
Added: 1st April 2010
Views: 4821
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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Many people find it hard to believe, but after the deadly surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the vote by the U.S. Congress the next day to declare war on Japan was not unanimous. Jeannette Rankin, a Republican from Montana, cast the lone dissenting vote. Declaring the war to be unnecessary and adhering to her beliefs as a lifelong pacifist, Rankin cast the solitary negative vote. Rankin had been a congresswoman during the First World War and had voted against America's entry into that conflict--along with 49 others--in 1917. Returning to politics more than two decades later, Rankin had, in fact, campaigned in 1940 on an anti-war platform and had won. Not surprisingly, very few people in her home state supported her decision after the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. So unpopular was her stance that Rankin decided not to run for re-election when her term expired in 1943. Interestingly, Rankin did not vote against declaring war on Germany and Italy following their declarations of war on the U.S. a few days later. Instead, she voted merely 'present.' During the remainder of her life, (Rankin lived to be nearly 93) she travelled to India seven times and was a devotee of Gandhian principles of non-violence.
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Jeannette
Rankin
pacifist
politician
antiwar
Pearl
Harbor
Added: 11th July 2010
Views: 3249
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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The game was developed primarily by a young Namco employee named Toru Iwatani. Although Iwatani has repeatedly stated that the character's shape was inspired by a pizza missing a slice,he admitted in a 1986 interview that this was a half-truth and the character design also came from simplifying and rounding out the Japanese character for mouth, kuchi. I say he was influenced unknowingly by The Green Hornet.
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Pacman
shape
really
from
Green
Hornet
TV
Show
Toru
Iwatani
Japanese
kuchi
Added: 15th January 2011
Views: 2133
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Posted By: pfc |
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A chapter in American history concluded on February 27, 2011 when Frank Woodruff Buckles passed away in Virginia. The 110-year-old Buckles was the last accepted American First World War veteran. He enlisted at the age of 16 in 1917 and served until 1920. During the Great War, Buckles was stationed in England and France where he drove ambulances. In 1941, when the United States entered the Second World War, Buckles was a civilian employee of a shipping company in the Philippines. When the Japanese seized control of the islands, he was held prisoner for three years.
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First
World
War
veteran
dies
Added: 7th March 2011
Views: 1231
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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Few American realize the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor twice during the Second World War. The second attack, on March 4, 1942, was hushed up by the military. The residents who lived in the area where the bombs fell were not even sure what had happened. Many believed it was a local defense battery practice. The intended target, Pearl Harbor, was miles away from where the Japanese bombs actually fell. Neverthless, less than 90 days after the famous December 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor attack, the Japanese attempted a second attack.
On Wednesday, March 4, 1942 during the early morning hours, four 550-pound bombs were dropped on Mount Tantalus, a quiet residential section in Honolulu. The U.S. Military officials confirmed two enemy planes were responsible for the raid. The planes were Kawanishi H8K flying boats that launched from a spy base housed near the Hawaiian archipelago. There were no injuries reported or loss of life and only limited property damage. The bombs fell in a wooded section of the area, creating a large crater and shattering a few windows.
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Pearl
Harbor
Second
Attack
war
Added: 7th April 2011
Views: 6302
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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Mr. T and Tina was a forgettable ABC sitcom that aired for just five episodes on ABC in the fall of 1976. (Four other episodes were made but never aired.) It starred Pat Morita who had played restaurateur Arnold on Happy Days. Morita had also appeared on an episode of Welcome Back, Kotter as eccentric inventor Taro Takahashi. ABC bigwigs thought the character had the strength to successfully carry a series. Nope. Viewers still associated Morita with Happy Days and never took a liking to the wacky inventor. Nevertheless, the show was the first American sitcom centered on a person of Asian descent.
In the series Morita played a widowed Japanese inventor who hires free-spirited Tina Kelly (Susan Blanchard) to be a governess for his children. Also in the cast was Ted Lange who, thanks to this show's quick cancellation, was able to sign onto a more successful ABC series--The Love Boat. Morita went on to co-star in the equally short-lived series Blansky's Beauties a few months later, making him one of the few actors to star in two unsuccessful, unrelated TV series during the same season.
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Mr
T
and
Tina
sitcom
ABC
flop
Added: 18th August 2011
Views: 2280
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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Jeanne Louise Calment (21 February 1875 – 4 August 1997) was a French woman who had the longest confirmed human lifespan in history: 122 years and 164 days. She resided in Arles, France for her entire life. Calment outlived both her daughter and grandson. She entered the Guinness Book of Records in 1988 as the world's oldest living person. On October 17, 1995 she became the oldest person ever, having surpassed the highly disputed case of Shigechiyo Izumi of Japan. Calment became the last living documented person to have been born in the 1870s when the Japanese super-centenarian Tane Ikai (born 1879) died on July 12, 1995, and was thence more than five years older than any other living human being until her death more than two years later. She outlived no fewer than 329 undisputedly verified super-centenarians. (A super-centenarian is a person who has attained 110 years.)
Calment's lifespan has been thoroughly documented by scientific study, with more records having been produced to verify her age than for any other case. She is the only person confirmed to have reached 120 years of age.
Calment came to prominence at age 113 in 1988 during a local observance of the hundredth anniversary of artist Vincent van Gogh's 1888 visit to Arles. The 13-year-old Calment had briefly met Van Gogh at her uncle's store where the Dutch painter had gone to buy art supplies. Calment unflatteringly remembered the famed artist as being ugly, unfriendly and rude! The photo below shows Calment celebrating her 121st birthday in 1996.
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Jeanne
Calment
122
oldest
person
Added: 14th December 2011
Views: 1983
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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