May 8th, (1999) = Dana Plato Dies of Overdose Thirty-four-year-old former American child actress Dana Plato, feeling unwell, takes a several doses of the painkiller Lortab, along with the muscle-relaxant Soma, dying shortly after from the lethal combination. Her death was ruled a suicide based on Plato's long history of drug abuse. Although she had a history of drug abuse, the previous day, Plato did an interview on The Howard Stern Show in which she claimed to be sober and drug free for the past 10 years, with the exception of pain killers prescribed for the recent extraction of her wisdom teeth. Plato starred as Kimberly Drummond in the TV show Diff'rent Strokes (1978-86). In 1991 she robbed a video store with a pellet gun.
May 8th, (1902) = The Man Who Lived Through Doomsday A volcano outside the city of Saint-Pierre on Martinique island erupts killing almost all of the 30,000 inhabitants within a matter of minutes. Ludger Sylbaris, survived because he was locked in a prison solitary confinement cell. The night before the volcanic eruption, Sylbaris got into a fight and was thrown into jail overnight for assault. The single-person jail cell was a bomb-proof magazine with stone walls, partially underground, with no windows, and the only opening was a small slit in door facing away from the volcano. Early on the morning of May 8th, the Mount Pelée volcano on Martinique island erupted, sending a cloud of ash and rock at speeds of up to 100 mph (161 km/h) into the city of Saint-Pierre. The cloud reached temperatures of over 1,830 °F (1,000 °C), flattening the city and burning or suffocating almost the entire population in less than a minute. Sylbaris urinated on his clothing and used them to block the vent in his door. Although Sylbaris managed to avoid breathing the deadly searing hot fumes, he still received deep burns on his hands, arms, legs, and back. He wasn't found until four days later when rescue teams heard his cries for help. The only other survivor of the 30,000 people in the direct path of the lava flow was a girl who when the volcano began to erupt jumped in a boat and rowed to a cave where she and friends used to play pirates. She was badly burned and was found unconscious after having washed out to sea on the boat. Sylbaris later joined Barnum & Bailey's Circus billed as "The Man Who Lived Through Doomsday". He was the first black man ever to star in Barnum and Bailey's "Greatest Show on Earth".
May 8th, (1978) - "Son of Sam Killer" Berkowitz and part of letter he left near victims David Berkowitz pleads guilty to killing six people in New York. He claimed he was acting under orders of his neighbor Sam's demon-possessed dog Harvey, but later stated that was a hoax. He was called "Son of Sam Killer" after he left a note near the bodies of two of his victims in which he referred to himself as "Son of Sam." In the mid-1990s, he changed his confession to claim that he had been a member of a Satanic cult that orchestrated the incidents as ritual murder. Berkowitz was also suspected in a number of unsolved arsons.
May 8th, (1904) - Eadweard James Muybridge (Edward James Muggeridge) - Died May 8, 1904 b. 1830 English-born pioneer in motion photography. His photographic studies of animal motion laid the foundation for modern motion pictures. He was hired by Leland Stanford to determine if a horse ever lifts all four hooves from the ground while galloping. Muybridge's work proved they did, though this occurs only when the feet are beneath the body, not when the fore and hindlimbs are extended, as sometimes depicted in older paintings. The famous French sculptor Auguste Rodin responded to the contradiction of how horses are portrayed in artwork as opposed to how they actually gallop, "It is the artist who is truthful and it is photography which lies, for in reality time does not stop."
1864 General Lee’s army beats Grant’s Union troops to Spotsylvania On May 8, 1864, Yankee troops arrive at Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia, to find the Rebels already there. After the Battle of the Wilderness (May 5-6), Ulysses S. Grant’s Army of the Potomac marched south in the drive to take Richmond. Grant hoped to control the strategic crossroads at Spotsylvania Court House, so he could draw Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia into open ground. Spotsylvania was important for a number of reasons. The crossroads were situated between the Wilderness and Hanover Junction, where the two railroads that supplied Lee’s army met. The area also lay past Lee’s left flank, so if Grant beat him there he would not only have a head start toward Richmond, but also the clearest path. Lee would then be forced to attack Grant or race him to Richmond along poor roads. Unbeknownst to Grant, Lee had received reports of Union cavalry movements to the south of the Wilderness battle lines. On the evening of May 7, Lee ordered James Longstreet’s corps, which was under the direction of Richard Anderson after Longstreet had been shot the previous day, to march at night to Spotsylvania. Anderson’s men marched the 11 miles entirely in the dark, and won the race to the crossroads, where they took refuge behind hastily constructed breastworks and waited. Now it would be up to Grant to force the Confederates from their position. The stage was set for one of the bloodiest engagements of the war.
Smallpox Eradicated May 8, 1980 Existing only as laboratory specimens, smallpox is certified by the World Health Assembly as obsolete. This was the first time a disease was eradicated by man. The last known case was in Birmingham, England (1978), when the virus escaped from a research lab. The researcher who let it escape committed suicide. It is estimated that smallpox killed 300-500 million people in the 20th century. It was eradicated by a massive vaccination and containment program. The eradication was aided by the facts that humans are the only reservoir for smallpox infection, and that asymptomatic carriers did not exist.
James Bond May 8, 1963 Dr. No, first in the James Bond series, premieres in the U.S. It starred Sean Connery as 007. However, it was not the first James Bond movie. The first James Bond movie was a live TV-broadcast of Casino Royale. I watched Goldfinger last night. It was awesome!
Coca-Cola Invented May 8, 1886 The soft drink Coca-Cola is invented by John S. Pemberton. He called it "Esteemed Brain Tonic and Intellectual Beverage." He had previously created an opium-free pain relief medicine to alleviate his addiction to morphine, which started as a result of wounds received in 1865 fighting in the Civil War. The result was the very popular "French Wine Coca", which was made from Peruvian Coca, wine, and kola nut. In 1886, Atlanta and Fulton County passed prohibition legislation, forcing him to make a non-alcoholic version in which he substituted the wine with syrup and called it "Coca-Cola". While experimenting with the formula, he accidentally mixed the base with carbonated water. He liked the result so much that he decided to make a fountain drink instead of a medicine. Nearly bankrupt and suffering health issues, Pemberton sold the rights to his business partners shortly before his death. He had wanted to retain a share of the ownership to leave to his son, but his son wanted the money instead. The original formula, which was created as an alternative to morphine, contained about nine milligrams of cocaine per glass (a typical line of cocaine is 50-75 mg), but this was reduced to trace amounts by the early 1900s and eliminated altogether in 1929.
The First Mother's Day May 8, 1914 Mother's Day is established by the U.S. Congress as the second Sunday in May, which was May 8 that year.
Real-Life Olive Oyl Dora Paskel Died May 8, 1953 b. 1872 American general store owner. She is said to be the real-life inspiration for the Popeye character Olive Oyl, created by E. C. Segar in 1919. She owned a general store in Segar's hometown of Chester, Illinois and was tall, thin, wore her hair in a bun on the nape of her neck, and dressed similar to Olive Oyl. Chester drew inspiration for a number of his Popeye characters from real people he knew in his home town, such as Frank "Rocky" Fiegel from whom he based the Popeye character.
Robert Anson Heinlein Died May 8, 1988 b. 1907 American science fiction author. He won an unprecedented four Hugo awards. Writings: Starship Troopers (1959) and Stranger in a Strange Land (1961).
May 8th, (1970) Let It Be is the twelfth and final studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released on 8 May 1970, almost a month after the group's break-up, in tandem with the motion picture of the same name.
May 8th, (1982) . . . . . On this day, Paul McCartney scored his fifth UK No.1 album with 'Tug Of War' The album featured the duet with Stevie Wonder 'Ebony & Ivory', which was inspired by McCartney hearing comedian Spike Milligan say "black notes, white notes, and you need to play the two to make harmony, folks!", (the ebony (black) and ivory (white) keys on a piano). The Album spent two weeks at that position
May 9th, (2020) = Little Richard - RIP Little Richard-Rip it up - YouTube Little Richard died of bone cancer at the age of 87. He had his biggest hits in the 1950s and was known for his exuberant performances and flamboyant outfits. With the likes of Chuck Berry and Elvis, he was one of the handful of US acts who mixed blues, R&B and gospel that led to the evolution of rock 'n' roll. He sold more than 30 million records worldwide with hits including 'Good Golly Miss Molly', 'Lucille', 'Tutti Frutti' and 'Long Tall Sally'.
Mother's Day - Wikipedia Mother's Day is a celebration honoring the mother of the family, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, most commonly in the months of March or May. It complements similar celebrations honoring family members, such as Father's Day, Siblings Day, and Grandparents Day. The modern holiday began in the United States, at the initiative of Anna Jarvis in the early 20th century, who organized the first Mother's Day service of worship and celebration at Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, which serves as the International Mother's Day Shrine today.[1] It is not directly related to the many traditional celebrations of mothers and motherhood that have existed throughout the world over thousands of years, such as the Greek cult to Cybele, the mother deity Rhea, the Roman festival of Hilaria, or the other Christian ecclesiastical Mothering Sundaycelebration (associated with the image of Mother Church).[2][3][4][5] However, in some countries, Mother's Day is still synonymous with these older traditions.[6]
1945 High-ranking Nazi Hermann Göring is captured by the U.S. Seventh Army On May 9, 1945, Herman Goering, commander in chief of the Luftwaffe, president of the Reichstag, head of the Gestapo, prime minister of Prussia and Hitler’s designated successor is taken prisoner by the U.S. Seventh Army in Bavaria. Goering was an early member of the Nazi Party and was wounded in the failed Munich Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. That wound would have long-term effects; Goering became increasingly addicted to painkillers. Not long after Hitler’s accession to power, Goering was instrumental in creating concentration camps for political enemies. Ostentatious and self-indulgent, he changed his uniform five times a day and was notorious for flaunting his decorations, jewelry, and stolen artwork. It was Goering who ordered the purging of German Jews from the economy following the Kristallnacht pogrom in 1938, initiating an “Aryanization” policy that confiscated Jewish property and businesses. Goering’s failure to win the Battle of Britain and prevent the Allied bombing of Germany led to his loss of stature within the Party, aggravated by the low esteem with which he was always held by fellow officers because of his egocentrism and position as Hitler’s right-hand man. As the war progressed, he dropped into depressions and battled drug addiction. When Goering fell into U.S. hands after Germany’s surrender, he had in his possession a rich stash of pills. He was tried at Nuremberg and charged with various crimes against humanity. Despite a vigorous attempt at self acquittal, he was found guilty and sentenced to be hanged, but before he could be executed, he died by suicide by swallowing a cyanide tablet he had hidden from his guards.
May 9th 1958 Strange Prophesy Involving a man named Trump 1950's TV Episode - Con Artist Trump Wants to Build a Wall May 9, 1958 In this episode of the TV western Trackdown, a con artist named Trump comes to town claiming he's the only one who can save the town from a meteor storm by building a wall. Trump: "I am the only one. Trust me. I can build a wall around your homes that nothing will penetrate. You ask how do you build that wall. You ask, and I'm here to tell you." TRUMP - The high priest of fraud!
