After Hurricane Ike in 2008, Comcast customers were billed for unreturned equipment that had been destroyed by the hurricane. Customers were charged as much as $1000 for failing to return modems, DVRs, and other equipment that had been lost or destroyed.
In an experiment where a kitten was raised in the same cage as a rat, the cat not only refrained from attacking the rat, but the two became close companions, and the cat refused to chase or kill any other rats as well.
In 1315, a small change in climate caused a great famine in Northern Europe which was so grim that one day even the king of England was left without bread
A man was brought to the emergency room with a BAC of 0.37% though he claimed to have not consumed any alcohol all day. Yeast in his stomach was brewing alcohol out of the food he was eating.
In 1946, the UK created a secret torture program targeting communists, many of whom survived Nazi concentration camps.
A judge sentenced convicted murderer William Hammons to life in prison without the possibility of parole, with one additional term: he must spend every anniversary of his victim’s death in solitary confinement.
1741 - Elisabeth Petrovna becomes tsarina of Russia
1875 - Natives Sons of the West organized
1911 - Natl Hockey Association forms with New Westminster, Vancouver and Victoria
1962 - Great Britain performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1980 - 69th Davis Cup: Czechoslovakia beats Italy in Prague (4-1)
1989 - C Coleman and D Zippel's musical "City of Angels" premieres in NYC
1872 - Johan Huizinga, Dutch culture historian (Homo Ludens)
1873 - Willa Cather, US, author (My Antonia)
1879 - Rudolf Friml, Czech/US composer (Bohemian suite)
1888 - Hamilton Fish, US congress leader/isolationist
1894 - Stuart Davis, US painter
1967 - Tino Martinez, Tampa FL, 1st baseman (Seattle Mariner, NY Yankees)
1254 - Innocent IV, [Sinibaldo dei Fieschi], Pope (1243-54), dies
1841 - Johann Daniel Ferstenberg, composer, dies at 83
1962 - Kirsten Flagstad, Norwegian soprano (Wagner), dies at 67
1979 - Nicolas Born, writer, dies at 41
1994 - J.C. Tremblay, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1939)
1995 - Tom Burns, editor, dies at 89
