Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

November 12

1992
AIDS plot: Film director Spike Lee's advertisement, claiming that AIDS is a government plot against gays, blacks, and Hispanics, that went out of control, appears in Rolling Stone magazine.

1983
The Cabbage Patch doll: The marketing phenomenon is created in California.

1981
First reusable spacecraft: The space shuttle Columbia is launched for the second time.

1980
Voyager I: The spacecraft makes its closest approach to Saturn (78,125 miles). It discovered three previously unknown moons and numerous new rings.

1970
Exploding Whale: The Oregon Highway Divisions uses half a ton of dynamite to blow up the carcass of a beached whale, with unexpectedly messy results.  See video

1956
Largest known iceberg: The USS Glacier sights a glacier 208 miles long and 60 miles wide.

1954
Ellis Island: The upper New York island, which had processed 20 million immigrants since its opening in 1892, closes.

1946
First U.S. drive-in bank: Exchange National Bank of Chicago opens.

1942
World War II: Pres. Roosevelt lowers the draft age from 20 to 18.

1936
San Francisco-Oakland bridge: It opens, becoming the longest U.S. bridge.

1933
Loch Ness Monster: The first known photo of famous creature is taken by Hugh Gray.

1896
First U.S. ice hockey league: The Amateur Hockey League is formed.

1892
First professional football player: William "Pudge" Heffelfinger is paid a $500 bonus after scoring the winning touchdown for the Allegheny Athletic Association against the Pittsburgh Athletic Club (4-0).

1968
Sammy Sosa, American Baseball player, member of the "500 home run club."

1961
Nadia Comaneci, Romanian gymnast. She won three gold medals in the 1976 Olympics, receiving seven perfect scores.

1945
Neil Young, Canadian singer. Music: Southern Man (1974), Heart of Gold (1972, #1), and Old Man (1972).

1943
Brian Hyland, American pop singer. Music: Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini (1960, #1), which he wrote while he was still in high school.

1942
Stephanie Powers (Stefania Federkiewicz), American actress. TV: Girl From UNCLE (April Dancer) and Hart to Hart (Jennifer Hart).

1937     d. 1990
Ina Balin (Ina Rosenberg), American actress. Her life was portrayed in the film The Children of An Lac.

1934
Charles Manson, American murderer, leader of "The Family." His crimes were the subject of the book Helter Skelter (1974).

1929     d. 1982
Grace Patricia Kelly, American Oscar-winning actress. She became the Princess of Monaco after marrying Prince Rainier III, making her the only princess to have received an Oscar.

1922
Kim Hunter (Janet Cole), American Oscar-Emmy-winning actress. Film: A Streetcar Named Desire (1951, Oscar, Stella). TV: The Edge of Night (Nola Madison).

1889     d. 1981
DeWitt Wallace, American publisher. He and his wife Lila founded Reader's Digest (1921). It obtained the largest magazine circulation in the world.

1840     d. 1917
Auguste Rodin, French sculptor, noted for his famous statue The Thinker (1888). When motion photography proved that horses didn't gallop in the manner often depicted by artists he responded, "It is the artist who is truthful and it is photography which lies, for in reality time does not stop."

1831     d. 1912
Eli Hamilton Janney, American inventor. He patented the first American automatic railroad coupler (1873).

1817     d. 1892
Baha Ullah (Mirza Husayn Ali), Persian prophet, founder of the Baha'i faith (1863).

1815     d. 1902
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, American women's rights leader.

1992     b. 1911
Charles "Honi" Coles, American Tony-winning tap dancer. Broadway: Hello Dolly. Film: Dirty Dancing and Cotton Club.  He was inducted into the Tap Dance Hall of Fame (2003).

1990     b. 1912
Eve Arden (Eunice Quedens), Emmy-winning actress. TV: Our Miss Brooks (Connie Brooks).

1969     b. 1887
Harry Scherman, Canadian-born American author, founder of the Book-of-the-Month Club (1926).

1958     b. 1874
James Michael Curley, American politician, "last of the big city political bosses," four-time mayor of Boston, governor of Massachusetts (1935-37). He served two prison terms (1904, 1947) while mayor. The movie The Last Hurrah (1958) was modeled after his career.

1932     b. 1854
Sir Dugald Clerk (aka Clark), Scottish engineer. He built the first two-stroke engine (1878).

1865     b. 1810
Elizabeth Gaskell, English novelist, one of the most popular of the Victorian novelists, Mary Barton (1848) and Cranford (1853).

1816     b. 1855
Pervical Lowell, American astronomer. He predicted the existence of the planet Pluto, although it wasn't discovered until 1930.

1595     b. 1532
John Hawkins, English naval commander. He traveled with Columbus and introduced tobacco to England (1565).

607     b. ????
Boniface III, Italian religious leader, 66th Pope (Feb. - Nov. 607).

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