NEW YEARS EVE — 1941 Kennedy and Khrushchev exchange holiday pleasantries; 2014 Drew Brees breaks passing yardage record; 1926 Prohibition leads to chemical warfare with U.S. Government; 1935 Charles Darrow patents Monopoly game
DECEMBER 31
NEW YEARS EVE. 1941 – Kennedy and Khruschev exchanged holiday greetings.
1961 was a tough year for these two men to get along. Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev had put up the Berlin wall in perhaps the world’s deadliest city at that time to keep communist-ruled East Germans from defecting to the West. The United States and the Soviet Union were stuck in a nuclear arms race. But for this one evening in 1961, tensions were briefly relieved as the two men wished each other a New year with peace and goodwill. President John Kennedy sent his sincere wishes and those of the American People to Khruchev and the Soviet Union.
They would not keep their New Years Resolution however, in just ten months both countries would be locked in the Cuban Missile Crisis that nearly took the world to nuclear annihilation.
31 2014 – Drew Brees reaches 5,000 passing yards in a record 5th season.
Born January 15 1979 in Austin Texas, Drew’s parents divorced when he was seven years old. As a result, he and his little brother Reid became very close. Drew was born of sports. His dad played basketball for the Texas A&M Aggies, and his mom was all-state champ in three different sports in high school. Her dad was a high school football coach who had three championships. In high school, Drew played as quarterback, where he landed at 64 passing percentage.
From there he played in Purdue and then the San Diego Chargers in 2002. By 2004 he was a pro-bowler. That’s when he blew his rotator cuff, and became a liability. Fortunately his replacement in San Diego would be Phillip Rivers.
Brees moved onto New Orleans, leading all NFL quarterbacks in touchdowns, passing yards, and 300-yard games. In 2004 he was named Comeback Player of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year in ’08 and 2011, won the 2010 Super Bowl, and finally on this day in 2014, in a game against the Atlanta Falcons, Breesus slinged his pass to reach 5000 yards for the season for a record high fifth season. Like a Brees!
1941 – Citizen Kane became movie of the year.
What might be as interesting as the story was the background behind the story. Since it was loosely about newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, showing Hearst in a power hungry manner, Hearst refused to let his newspapers mention Citizen Kane in anyway. Though the movie was nominated for nine Academy awards, the film’s boxoffice results left much to be desired. It wouldn’t be until 1956 the movie was revived and became a big hit.
1926 – Prohibition leads to chemical warfare between the US Government and her people.
Frustrated by the failure of the 18th amendment to keep people from drinking, the US Government became fed up and began, hsall we say, poisoning the party bowl. The Volstead Act ecalred that alchohol could be produced foir industrial purposes only, as long as it was unfit for use as an intoxicating beverage. Bootleggers would find chemists woho could simply remove the toxins as sell it in the black market as a spirit. The Government tried poisoning it with all sorts of stuff such as chloroform, formaldehydem, benzene, gasoline, carbolic acid, carosine, idone, zinc, mercury and so much more.
The bootleggers would still find a way to get the toxins out and sell it. By December 31, 1926, the Government was putting methyl into the alchohol. Methyl, folks, just so you know, even in tiny doses can cause blindness, paralysys, hallucinations, and death. So much for toasting to your health! It was first noticed at Bellevue Hostpial in New York City, where a man hallucinating a Santa Clause chasing him with a baseball bat showed up in the emergency room and died on the spot. That new Year’s Eve 1926 would report dozens of crazy stories similar to that.
Duing this little-known chemical warfare, 10,000 people died.
1935 – Charles Darrow patents the Monopooly game.
If you’re some of those people who don’t’ afer to go out on New Years eve and would rather have a quiet night at home, there’s certainly nothing wrong with that. There are so many varioations of Monopoly these days the list alone needs its own wikiipage. Believe yme you have got to see this list!You won’t believe it. So here’s to a great year everyone, and here’s to an even more prosperous year for all of us next year.
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