FEBRUARY 4 — 1974 Pattie Hearst kidnapped by SLA; 2011 Chicago Art Professor Wafaa Balil is forced to remove camera from inside his head; 2007 Super Bowl 41
FEBRUARY 4
1789 – Washington is unanimously elected first US president.
…He would have rather had a sharp stick in the eye. George Washington was a skilled military leader, not a political leader. Or so he thought. America was so new and fragile. Partisan lines were already being drawn and the last thing Washington wanted to do was get in the middle of it. Now that the Revolution was over and the British said Fine, America, keep your stupid little country, Washington wanted to retire with Martha at Mt. Vernon.
But 69 out of 69 members of Congress chose Washington to become the first president. No I’m not, yes you are. No I’m not, yes you are. Washington deserved much more credit than that; his humility set just the right tone for a new republic that had liberated herself against tyranny. The senate wanted to call Washington His Highness the President of the United States of America and the Protector of Their Liberties, Washington humbly decided he would rather be called Mr. President.
1998 – Gates gets pied.
…According to Time magazine, Although he’s not the only bigwig to be the targeted with pastry — other notables include pundit Ann Coulter and New York Times columnist Tom Friedman — the pie-ing of then-Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates was especially stunning, if only because his assailant scored a bullseye.
In Brussels in February 1998 to meet with business leaders, Gates was hit in the face with a cream pie as he was about to enter a building. Stunned, but unhurt, Gates declined to press charges against the pranksters who said afterward they were motivated simply by mischief and not any particular grievance with Gates. Gates would eventually get revenge on the world by releasing Windows 8.
1974 – Patty Hearst is kidnapped by the SLA.
…Members of the Symbianese Liberation Army broke into her apartment February 4 1974 and kidnapped the daughter of newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst. The SLA was a ruthless band of domestic terrorists who had already shot and killed Oakland’s superintendent of schools with cyanide laced bullets. They really didn’t have a purpose other than standing up to capitalism and wanted everybody to be fed. So why Patty? Because she was rich, that’s why. She made an excellent bargaining chip and made the group famous. Sure enough, the SLA soon would release a video of Patty saying that her new name was Tania and she was a willing member of the SLA.
Then surveillance cameras showed her robbing a bank in San Francisco. The FBI worked more intensely than ever before to find the SLA, but finally found them holed up in a safe house. A massive gun fight ensued and 5 members of the SALA, including its founding member perished. But Patty wasn’t there at the time; she was travelling to avoid capture. But the FBI caught up with her as well and she was arrested for bank robbery and other crimes. If she would have just posed for Playboy her sentence may have been forgiven. At least, I would’ve forgiven her.
2011 Chicago school professor Wafaa Bilal is forced to remove a camera from his head.
The first question I suppose would be what the heck it was doing there in the first place. The answer is because he literally wanted to have eyes in the back of his head. I can see why a third grade teacher would want one from time to time, though the best ones don’t use their instincts to know if little Johnny tried to put gum in Sally’s hair, but not sure why a college art professor would need one.
Nonetheless, Wafaa Bilal, from Nijaf, Iraq, literally had a titanium plate surgically placed inside the back of his head with a camera that took minute by minute pictures and uploaded them to the internet. I’m not making this up. Trust me I’m not that creative.
How he actually convinced doctors to do this in the first place is also something I cannot explain. Wikipedia says he best known for his other art projects Domestic Tension, which is where he sat in an art gallery for a month while getting shot by virtual paintballs by users logging in from around the world. Sounds fun, right?
He’s also well known for his book Shoot an Iraqi: Art, Life and Resistance under the Gun, which detailed the horrors of living under the regime of Saddam Hussein. Yet I question Wiki on whether or not that’s what he’s really famous for. He had this camera inside the back of his head for a year until this day in 2011 when he had to have it removed since his body was rejecting parts of the device, causing headaches despite antibiotics and steroids. His website is ThirdI, and these days he still has a camera, now outside on the back of his head that’s tied down, providing 24 hour surveillance. That is so bizarre.
Yeah, because I really want to see what your pillow looks like every night.
2007 – Super Bowl 41. The first time the Colts played in a Super Bowl since they moved from Baltimore to Indiana and the first time the Chicago Bears were there since 1985. It was the first Super Bowl to be headed by two African American head coaches, Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith. Billy Joel did the national anthem and Prince did the halftime highlights. The Colts would win the game 29-17, and Peyton Manning would get the MVP.