November 21st, 2008

Today in History

2004:
2004 - The second round of the Ukrainian presidential election is held, unleashing massive protests and controversy with regards to the election's integrity.

1985:
United States Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Jay Pollard is arrested for spying (he was caught giving Israel classified information on Arab nations and was eventually sentenced to life in prison).

1980:
1980 -Lake Peigneur drained into an underlying salt deposit. A misplaced Texaco oil probe drilled into the Diamond crystal salt mine; water flowing down into the mine eroded the edges of the hole. The whirlpool created sucked the drilling platform, several barges, houses and trees thousands of feet, to the bottom of the dissolving salt deposit.

1877:
Thomas Edison announces his invention of the phonograph, a machine that can record sound (this is considered to be Edison's first great invention).

1789:
North Carolina ratifies the United States Constitution and is admitted as the 12th U.S. state.