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The Rizal Day bombings were a series of bombings that occurred around Metro Manila in the Philippines. The explosions occurred in close succession within a span of a few hours. There were 22 fatalities reported and approximately 100 injured.

Five locations were bombed almost simultaneously within the span of an hour. The bomb that exploded at Plaza Ferguson, less than a hundred meters from the United States Embassy. Another bomb detonated at a gasoline station in the Makati central business district. The cargo handling area of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport was also targeted. Another explosive device was detonated inside a bus. The explosion that claimed the most casualties occurred in a train cab.

The Philippine National Police identified the bombs as one kilogram black powder bombs set to detonate using timing devices. In the following years, several members of the Jemaah Islamiyah were arrested for their suspected involvement in the bombings. In December 2006, almost six years after the bombings, Metro Manila police went on heightened alert from bomb scares and the prospect of follow-up attacks on the anniversary of the bombings.

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Richard “Rick” Danko was a Canadian musician and singer, best known as a member of The Band. He was born in Green’s Corner, a farming community outside of the town of Simcoe, Ontario, to a musical family. Growing up in front of the family radio, he was exposed to country and R&B music at an early age.

At the age of 14, Danko left school to pursue music and at 17, he booked himself as the opening act for Ronnie Hawkins, an American rockabilly singer. Danko impressed Hawkins and he asked him to join his group as the rhythm guitarist. After the band’s bassist was fired, Danko learned to play that musical instrument. Also in Hawkins’ band were future bandmates, drummer Levon Helm, lead guitarist Robbie Robertson, pianist Richard Manuel, and organist Garth Hudson.

Along with Danko, they left Hawkins’ band in 1963 and played a circuit that stretched from Ontario to Arkansas. In 1965, they became Bob Dylan’s backing band at his request. In 1967, they split from Dylan and began recording their own music as The Band, releasing their debut, Music from Big Pink, in 1968. Danko became known for his iconic tenor, his on-top-of-the-melody harmonies, and his percussive, melodic bass-playing style. After The Band’s farewell concert in November 1976, Danko became a solo artist and died on December 10, 1999 in his sleep after his heart gave out.

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The disappearance of the Airborne Transport DC-3 airliner, NC16002 occurred near the end of a scheduled flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico to Miami, Florida. The aircraft carried 29 passengers and three crew members. No probable cause for the loss was determined by the official investigation and it remains unsolved.

The plane was captained by pilot Robert Linquist who informed local repair crewmen that a landing gear warning light was not functioning and that the aircraft batteries were discharged but was unwilling to delay the scheduled takeoff. The weather was fine with high visibility as it took off but it did not respond to subsequent calls from San Juan.

The Overseas Foreign Air Route Traffic Control Center at Miami heard routine transmissions from NC16002 sporadically throughout the night. Linquist reported he was 50 miles south of Miami but this transmission was reported at New Orleans and not Miami. The aircraft may have drifted off course 40-50 miles. Nothing further was heard from Linquist and the aircraft has never been found. In subsequent years, researchers into unexplained disappearances have included the flight among others said to have disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle.

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The Greater Poland Uprising of 1918-1919 was a military insurrection of Poles in the Greater Poland against Germany. After 1795, Poland ceased to exist as an independent state. From 1795 through the beginning of World War I, several unsuccessful uprisings to regain an independent state took place.

At the end of World War I, United States President Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points proposed an independent Poland but failed to definitively set borders for Poland that could be universally accepted. Most of Poland was still part of Germany with the rest being part of Russia and Austria-Hungary. Poznan, which was part of the Germany portion, was a major industrial city who were uncertain whether they would be repatriated with the proposed new Polish nation.

The defeat of the German Army on the Western Front in the autumn of 1918 ignited Polish hopes for a sovereign Poland. Poles began serious preparations for an uprising after the abdication on November 9, 1918, which saw the end of the German monarchy. The uprising broke out on December 27, 1918 in Poznan after a patriotic speech by Ignacy Paderewski, a famous Polish pianist. The forces consisted of members of the Polish Military Organization of the Prussian Partition and many volunteers – mainly veterans of World War I.

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The Battle of Trenton took place during the American Revolutionary War after General George Washington’s crossing of the Delaware River north of Trenton, New Jersey. The dangerous crossing in bad weather allowed him to lead the main body of the Continental Army against Hessian soldiers garrisoned at Trenton.

After a brief struggle, nearly the entire Hessian force was captured with very little losses to the Americans. The battle boosted the Continental Army’s flagging morale and inspired re-enlistments. The Continental Army had previously suffered several defeats in New York and had been forced to retreat across New Jersey. Morale in the army was low and in an attempt to save the army and end the year on a positive note, Washington devised a plan to cross the Delaware River on Christmas night and surround the Hessian garrison.

Because the river was icy, the crossing was hazardous. Only Washington and 2,400 of his men made it  across the river as a result. The Americans pushed the Hessians back to the city and used artillery to break their lines – their resistance collapsed. Despite the small numbers, the battle’s effect was enormous throughout the colonies. With this victory, soldiers agreed to stay and new recruits came and joined the ranks.

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The Thin Red Line is a 1998 war film which tells a fictional story of United States forces during the Battle of Guadalcanal in World War II with the focus on the men of C Company, most notably Private Witt (Jim Caviezel) and his conflicted feelings about fighting in the war; Colonel Tall (Nick Nolte) and his desire to win the battle at any cost in order to get a promotion; and Private Bell (Ben Chaplin) and the dissolution of his marriage back home while he fights in the war.

The Thin Red Line marked director Terrence Malick’s return to filmmaking after a 20 year absence. He adapted the screenplay from the novel of the same name by James Jones. The film features a large ensemble cast with many big name movie stars expressing interest in appearing in the film, including Robert De Niro, Kevin Costner, Tom Cruise, and Brad Pitt.

The Thin Red Line was not successful at the North American box office; however, critical response was generally strong. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won the top prize at the 1999 Berlin International Film Festival. Jonathan Rosenbaum, film critic for the Chicago Reader, ranked Malick’s film as his second favorite of 1999 while filmmaker Martin Scorsese ranked it as his second favorite film of the 1990s.

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Howard Hughes was an American aviator, industrialist, film producer/director, philanthropist, and one of the wealthiest people in the world. He gained fame in the late 1920s as a maverick film producer, making big budget and often controversial films like Hell’s Angels and The Outlaw.

As an aviator, Hughes set multiple world air-speed records, built the Hughes H-1 Racer and H-4 “Hercules” aircraft, and acquired and expanded Trans World Airlines. He was a lifelong aircraft enthusiast, pilot and self-taught aircraft engineer. The H-1 Racer features a number of design innovations: it had a retractable landing gear and all the rivets and joints were set flush into the body of the aircraft to reduce drag. On July 10, 1938, Hughes set another record by completing a flight around the world in just 91 hours, beating the previous record by more than four days.

Despite his contributions to aeronautics and his other professional accomplishments, Hughes is perhaps most widely remembered for his eccentric behavior and reclusive lifestyle in later life, evidently caused in part by a worsening case of obsessive-compulsive disorder. He insisted on using tissues to pick up objects, so he could insulate himself from germs. Hughes died on April 5, 1976 while on an aircraft en route to a hospital in Houston.

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The 1972 Nicaragua earthquake refers to the incident that occurred in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua. With a magnitude of 6.2, it occurred at a depth of approximately five kilometers beneath the center of the city. Within an hour after the main shock, two aftershocks occurred. The earthquake caused widespread damage and approximately 5,000 of the 400,000 population of Managua were killed, leaving 20,000 injured and over 250,000 homeless.

Managua has a long history of volcanic and seismic activity which arises from the relative movements of two crustal plates. Rather than a simple crustal movement between the two plates, the earthquake was believed to have been caused by a shallow adjustment to geological pressure. The earthquake severely damaged an area of 27 square kilometers and destroyed 13 square kilometers in the city center. Much of the damage arose from seismic ground movement.

The water and electrical power network was affected to the extent that a week after the earthquake only 10% of the city had any working water service. Two-thirds of Managua’s 325,000 residents were displaced and faced famine and disease. The earthquake destroyed all the fire-fighting equipment available and fires were prevalent in some areas for several days. Due to the extent of the damage, the Managua city center was never rebuilt.

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Bernhard Goetz was dubbed the “Subway Vigilante’ by the New York press and became a symbol of New Yorkers’ frustrations with a high crime rate when he shot four men intent on robbing him on the Seventh Avenue 2 express subway train in Manhattan. At the time of the shooting incident, he was self-employed, running an electronics repair business out of his apartment.

Four African American men boarded a downtown express train on a stated mission to steal money from video arcade machines in Manhattan. Goetz entered the same subway car at the 14^th Street station and sat down near the four men. They engaged in a brief conversation and proceed to block Goetz from the other passengers in the car. One of the men asked him for money in a threatening way.

Goetz pretended not to hear the man who then repeated his demand. Goetz rose from his seat, drew a .38 Special revolver and fired five shots, hitting all four men. All four men survived, though one was permanently paralyzed and suffered brain damage as a result of being shot. Goetz fled the scene, rented a car and drove to Vermont where he buried the gun. He turned himself in to Concord, New Hampshire police on December 31, 1984.

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Frank Zappa was an American composer, electric guitarist, record producer, and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, he wrote rock, jazz, electronic, orchestral, and musique concrete works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed album covers. Zappa produced almost all of the more than 60 albums he released with the band Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist.

Zappa began writing classical music in high school, while at the same time playing drums in rhythm and blues bands – he later switched to electric guitar. He was an autodidact composer and performer, and his diverse musical influences led him to create music that was often impossible to categorize. His 1966 debut album with the Mothers of Invention, Freak Out!, combined songs in convention rock and roll format with collective improvisations and studio-generated sound collages.

Zappa’s later albums shared this eclectic and experimental approach. He was a highly productive and prolific artist and he gained widespread critical acclaim. Many of his albums are considered essential in rock history and he remains a major influence on musicians and composers. He died of prostate cancer in 1993 and had four children with Adelaide Gail Sloatman.

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