Marked This Day

On this day in 1943, Joseph Stalin issued Order No. 227. What was Order No. 227, you ask? It was a proclamation that outlawed cowardice. How do you outlaw cowardice? You declare that if any Russian soldiers attempt to retreat in the wake of a German advance they will be “liquidated on the spot.” "Liquidated" didn't mean dissolving assets either. Stalin meant that if you took one step backward, you would be shot. Dead. By your own officers. It was a motivational tactic--one that was ultimately unnecessary as the Russians got to the German food supply. Fear, love--you cut off the enemy's food supply in a barren frozen winterland, and that stuff kind of goes out the window. You have to figure fear was just Stalin’s style though. He didn’t so much motivate through using the warm and fuzzies. He was about fear. You don’t become responsible for 20 million deaths by handing out hugs and handshakes. It is an interesting debate about what is the better motivator. Love or fear....

On this day in 1908, the organization that would become the FBI was constructed when the U.S. Attorney General ordered a group of federal investigators to report to the Chief Examiner. Incidentally, the FBI, or the Office of the Chief Examiner as it was known that first year, was founded on the same day the United States Postal Service was back in 1775, with ole Ben Franklin serving as postmaster general. And while organizations are not the same as people, their births, while perhaps being subject to a little more control, are still also subject to chance. So this coincidence, or perhaps not, has me wondering what has been the more important organization to American history. Being that the Postal Service was created before America was officially a country, I doubt I’m going out on a limb in saying that it was a more a vital organization. I mean sending/receiving mail has certainly affected more people than has the FBI. It has taken a bit of hit recently with the advent of e-mail and th...

On this day in 1991, Kirk Cameron married his Growing Pains co-star Chelsea Noble. I always thought that Mike Seaver was one of the coolest characters on TV. He was like the precursor to Zack Morris. He was a ladies’ man, would come up with a bunch of hairbrained schemes, despite (or possibly because of) having a psychiatrist father played by an actor now best known as the dad of the guy who made the music video with all the naked girls running around. He had a best friend named Boner (may he rest in peace) and got into trouble, but he would ultimately do the right thing. Plus that show gave Leo his start. Kirk’s sister, Candace Cameron also played DJ in Full House , so that’s a whole lot of awesome going around in the same family. Not sure if it beats the Alan and Robin Thicke combo, but The Cameron Siblings were much closer together in their time in the spotlight. Of course Kirk turned out a lot different from his on-screen persona after he found God and became a Christian. Like he ...

On this day in 1961, TWA became the first airline to show an in-flight movie. On a flight from New York to Los Angeles, TWA’s first-class passengers were shown By Love Possessed starring Lana Turner. As far as I can tell from the synopsis, the movie was a human drama focusing on love affairs, simplified from a critically acclaimed, best-selling book by James Gould Cozzens. Sounds like some Fifty Shades stuff, except that the author could, you know, write. Apparently, the book caused a bit of ruckus nationwide. I’m not saying people just started cheating on their spouses. But it did come out in 61, and free love and swingers and all that came not too long after that. Could be a correlation. My point being, was this really the best movie to show to a bunch of rich people on a cross-country flight? Was this the first instance of the mile-high club? I mean you get all your passengers all revved up watching a sexy movie, what do you expect? Only thing worse would be showing a movie invol...

On this day in 1939, Frank Sinatra made his recording debut as the singer for the Harry James band. Sinatra sang for James’ outfit for seven months before moving on to sing for Tommy Dorsey and then ultimately breaking out on his own. Which worked out fairly well for him. James was also a fairly accomplished chap though. He played with Benny Goodman before starting his own band. Buddy Rich and Corky Corcoran also played in his band. That’s a lot of talent passing within the realm of each other. I guess that’s common though. Birds of a feather, right? Like hot girls who all hang out together. Or jocks. Nerds. Or any other high school clique you could think of. But it’s a little more impressive when the talent involved is so immense. Like in Midnight in Paris when Owen Wilson runs into Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Picasso, Dali, and Stein in Paris. Talk about some heavy hitters. That’s a lot of brain power moving around there. I’m sure it elevated everybody’s game. Sinatra most certainly bene...

On this day in 1928, the largest hailstone in the United States was found in Potter, Nebraska. It weighed 1.5 lbs and was around 7 inches in diameter. In 2003 a stone found in Aurora, Nebraska was slightly bigger and officially took the record for largest (but not heaviest) hailstone in US history. For one thing, I had no idea Nebraska had such an issue with large hailstones, but honestly I can’t help imagine the serious damage a pound and half ball of ice would do to a car windshield. Hail. The angry snow. Unless you have no access to ice, it is really the worst of all the precipitation, is it not? I mean who gets excited when it’s hailing? I guess wearing a metal bucket over your head could be somewhat entertaining, but you’d have to be pretty unattached to the whole having your ears work thing. And if 7 inch, 1.5 lb stones of ice are falling you’d have to be pretty unattached to the whole walking around living thing. It is common to hear of people playing in the snow. They build sn...