Random Stuff and Thoughts
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May 23rd 1934: Bonnie and Clyde killed
On this day in 1934 the infamous American bank robbing duo Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were ambushed by police and killed in Louisiana. Bonnie and Clyde and their gang were outlaws who robbed banks and killed several police officers and civilians from 1931 to 1934. The couple became legendary for their exploits and their love story, especially after Arthur Penn’s 1967 film ‘Bonnie and Clyde’.
“Some day they’ll go down together;
They’ll bury them side by side;
To few it’ll be grief-
To the law a relief-
But it’s death for Bonnie and Clyde.”
- from Bonnie’s poem about the duo(via pbsthisdayinhistory)
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JIM WALTER, NATURALIST WITH EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK COUNTS LOGGERHEAD TURTLE EGGS AND RE-SETS THE NEST, 08/1972
From the Records of the Environmental Protection Agency (12/02/1970-)
Today is World Sea Turtle Day! Along the seashore, it’s lights out at night during the months of May to September to protect the nesting sea turtles.
Source: http://go.usa.gov/2weJ
(via todaysdocument)
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President Franklin Roosevelt signed the ambitious but controversial Tennessee Valley Authority Act 80 years ago on May 18, 1933, to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected by the Great Depression.
Excerpts from:
- THE TVA AT WORK, 1935 (watch on YouTube)
- TENNESSEE VALLEY, 1936 (watch on YouTube)
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The siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi by Union forces under Major General Ulysses S. Grant began 150 years ago on May 18, 1863. Confederates forces would surrender the fortress city after 40 days, effectively yielding control of the Mississippi River to the Union.
Map of the Siege of Vicksburg, Miss., By the U. S. Forces Under the Command of Maj. Genl. U. S. Grant, U. S. Vls., Maj. F. E. Prime, Chief Engr. Surveyed and constructed under direction of Capt. C. B. Comstock, U.S. Engrs., and Lt. Col. J. H. Wilson, A. I. Genl. 1st Lt., Engrs….Drawn by Chs. Spangenberg, Asst. Engr., 08/20/1863
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(via sophieasweetheart)
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An abandoned Atlanta school’s bathroom is slowly reclaimed by ivy and kudzu.
(via sircle)
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Ernest Hemingway in Havana Harbor after catching a marlin. Included in the picture are Carlos Gutiericz, Ernest Hemingway, and Sidney Franklin. Others are unidentified. July, 1934
From the Ernest Hemingway Collection of the John F. Kennedy Library
Author Ernest Hemingway’s novel The Old Man and the Sea was awarded the Pulitizer Prize for Fiction 60 years ago on May 4, 1953.
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The Monuments Men of World War II
The Monuments Men were a group of men and women from thirteen nations, most of whom volunteered had expertise as museum directors, curators, art scholars and educators, artists, architects, and archivists. The Monuments Men job description was simple: to save as much of the culture of Europe as they could during combat.
(via pbsthisdayinhistory)
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Happy Birthday Willie Nelson!
“When I was in trouble in the White House or when I wanted to have some deep thoughts, I had a very high quality hi-fi player, and the number one thing I played was Willie Nelson songs. All the good things I did as a president, all the mistakes I made — you can blame half of that on Willie.”
-Jimmy Carter in an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine
Photos: Jimmy Carter with Willie Nelson and his guests outside of the Old Executive Building. 4/25/78; President Carter on stage at a performance by country western singer, Willie Nelson at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. 9/13/80.
The two remain friends today.
-from the Carter Library
(via todaysdocument)
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Chernobyl, 27 Years Later
For more photos from Chernobyl, check out the Chernobyl and Pripyat (Припять) location pages, or search for photos tagged with #Pripyat, #Припять, #Chernobyl and #Чернобыль.
On this day 27 years ago, an explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant near the city of Pripyat, Ukraine, killed dozens of people and released a plume of radioactive fallout that would eventually require the relocation of more than 350,000 people.
The event ranks as the worst nuclear disaster in history. The area immediately surrounding Chernobyl is still too radioactive for habitation and will remain so for another 20,000 years. Until recently, an exclusion zone of 19 miles (30 km) extended in all directions from the power plant, which is now entombed in concrete. In 2011, however, Ukraine opened up this area to tourists, giving the world a peek into a town abandoned and untouched for nearly three decades.
(via pbsthisdayinhistory)