Tue, 26 February 2013
Twenty years ago today, a truck bomb exploded in the underground garage of the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. It destroyed several levels of the garage, killed six people, and injured over a thousand. The bombing attack was planned and carried out by a group of conspirators led by Ramzi Yousef, a Kuwaiti-born terrorist who trained with Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.
Category:text recollections
-- posted at: 9:01 PM
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Wed, 30 November 2011
Wednesday, November 30, 2011. Twenty years ago today, the USA Women's National Team won the inagural FIFA Women's World Cup tournament. They have been a dominant force in the women's game ever since. I talk about the status of women's soccer in the United States since that first big win, why I think the women's game is even better than the men's, and my experience seeing Team USA play right here in Portland a few weeks ago. The picture is of one of the stars of the present team, Abby Wambach. |
Thu, 20 October 2011
20 years ago today, Joe and I were celebrating our first anniversary. It had been a challenging year, but we'd made it through, and we decided to celebrate by visiting one of our favorite restaurants at the time, the Cardinal diner, for an early supper. It wasn't far from home, just down the street at the corner of Meridian and Hillsdale Avenues. (In 1991 it was quite new -- it had a look that nowadays is called "retro" with a lot of brass and red glittery vinyl seating. It apparently closed sometime last year, more's the pity.) Just before we left a news report came on the television about a fire in the Oakland hills. When we returned, no more than two hours later, we turned on the television and the local stations were all broadcasting images that looked like a classical version of Hell -- flames lighting the night sky in blazing ribbons and clouds of luminous smoke; tall trees ablaze from root to crown, and sometimes exploding. We were watching the Oakland Hills firestorm, an incredible disaster that, before it was finally controlled some 72 hours after it began, destroyed over 3700 homes, killed 25 people and injured some 150. Many of the awesome (in the original sense of the word) images of that night are still very accessible in my mind's eye, but for those who never saw (or don't remember) the firestorm, the SFGate has put up a small slideshow which captures it and its aftermath. They also have an article which focuses on one family, their tragedy and recovery. Over the years since we have occasionally joked about what sort of karma we had, that on our first anniversary the Oakland hills burned up. There are a fair share of notorious events that have taken place on October 20 in years past: the Saturday Night Massacre, the opening of the HUAC hearings, the Johnny Bright incident. But a few pretty cool ones too: The Police played their first US show in 1978; Jacqueline Kennedy married Aristotle Onassis in 1968. As I say in the show close, every day has a multitude of stories. October 20, more than maybe any other day in the year, is the day that I go looking for them.
Category:text recollections
-- posted at: 11:37 PM
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Mon, 3 October 2011
Monday, October 3, 2011. Twenty years ago today, Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas announced he was running for President. This was only a few months before the primaries and caucuses began -- impossibly late, by comparison today. I take a look at what's different now and offer my opinion about the near-constant state of Presidential campaigns today. |
Sat, 6 August 2011
Saturday, August 6, 2011. Twenty years ago today, the very first Web site went online. Hard to believe, maybe, but true! Here are a few links to some of the things I talked about in the episode. Tim Berners-Lee's posting to alt.hypertext announcing the existence of the World Wide Web Some Internet usage statistics from the Huffington Post and the UK Office for National Statistics An early version of that very first web page (from the World Wide Web Consortium) The image is an early version of the World Wide Web logo designed by Robert Caillieau. |
Thu, 4 August 2011
I bring a lot of my own memory and experience to the history in “It Was 20 Years Ago Today.” It’s fascinating because I can look back at events which I knew at the time were world-changing. But, even more interesting, I can also look at events which were, on the day, not a big deal at all -- yet over the course of time prove to be the heralds of transformation in our lives. More than perhaps anyone could have imagined.
Category:general
-- posted at: 7:29 AM
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Fri, 10 June 2011
Today is Friday, June 10, 2011.
Category:text recollections
-- posted at: 11:03 PM
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Tue, 23 November 2010
For November 22, 2010. Twenty years ago today, the city of Kissimmee, Florida put a new proposed ordinance to a vote. If passed, theaters could not sell tickets for movies with the new NC-17 rating to minors. I talk about the fate of that proposal, and offer a history of the MPAA's rating system for movies as well as two other ratings systems -- for video games and TV shows -- which have been instituted in the last twenty years. For a look at the politics behind the MPAA's system as well as its unwritten rules, I highly recommend This Film Is Not Yet Rated (which was itself originally rated NC-17 but surrendered that rating in favor of being released unrated). |
Sun, 3 October 2010
Sunday, October 3, 2010. Twenty years ago today, the nations of East Germany and West Germany, separated for 45 years, reunited as one nation. I take a look at this event, which was the biggest step toward the end of the Cold War to that time, and reflect on how Germany -- and the world -- has changed since then.
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Sat, 2 October 2010
It was four years ago tomorrow -- on October 3, 2006 -- that the first episode of "It Was 20 Years Ago Today" hit the podcast feed. Tomorrow -- October 3, 2010 -- the show returns with our first new episode since November 2009. In the coming weeks I'll be looking at an unexpected winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, the origin of one of the Internet's most famous institutions, the end of political eras in the UK and Haiti, the birth of the World Wide Web, and many more. Join me tomorrow for a look at German reunification, 20 years on.
Category:general
-- posted at: 7:50 PM
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