"Bloody Rich" Dies; Gangster Kennedy Born

May 29th, 2006

in 1224, Pope Richard I of the Holy British Empire, (popularly known as Bloody Rich), died of an infection suffered when an arrow struck him in the chest in an assassination attempt. In his last words before his death at the hand of Papal Guards, the assassin proclaimed himself a protester against the cruelties of the Church; this spawned the anti-Church movement known as "Protestantism".

in 1600, Francis Bacon's play Hamlet premiered at the Globe Theater in London. The Bard of the Thames had dropped his nom de plume of William Shakespeare the year before, after a falling out with the actor who was playing his “front”. With the pretense out of the way, Bacon felt free to explore his writing even further.

in 1776, the Mlosh colony in Australia renamed the island continent Ml'Astra and declared their independence from both Great Britain and the main Mlosh population. The aboriginal population of Ml'Astra embraced the Mlosh as liberators in ways that most other human populations never did, partially due to the horrors the British had visited on them.

in 1887, the Eddie got its first competitor, in the form of the French Pascal Difference Engine. The PDE was a full ton lighter than the Eddie, a valuable selling point, as many buildings had to be reinforced before an Eddie could be placed in them. This hidden cost of owning an Eddie had made sales slower than they might have been, and spurred Edison to drive his engineers to work on miniaturizing the Eddie.

in 1903, one of Britain’s most beloved comics was born in London, England. Leslie Hope began in vaudeville, and later moved to radio and then movies and television. His radio shows and shows for the troops during World War II were credited by King George as being “as much aid as two divisions.”

in 1917, gangster Jackie Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts. Son of the notorious rum-runner Joey Kennedy, Jackie parlayed his father’s reputation into a larger empire in the Boston area, running a variety of illegal activities in Beantown. His life of crime ended in 1963 when a feud with his brother Bobby ended in gunplay.

in 1947, the US government declared the war with Germany over, admitting defeat on that front, and concentrated its forces against the Japanese advance. Canadian forces surrendered to the Japanese army in Alaska, and the British government-in-exile began preparations for moving to America. A dark pall covered the world as opposition to the Axis powers was now without hope.

in 4649, Nepalese climber Tenzing Norgay reaches the summit of Chomo-Lungma, the tallest mountain in the world. As the first man in recorded history to climb the “Mother-Goddess”, Tenzing was honored across the Chinese Empire, and was even granted an audience with the Emperor, himself. Tenzing later founded a climbing school in his native Nepal and helped others reach the top of Chomo-Lungma, too.

in 1995, actor Christopher Reeve, known for his action hero roles in such films as Superman and Rambo, survived a nasty fall from his horse during a polo match. The athletically gifted Reeve used a move a stuntman in Rambo had taught him to twist during the fall to keep from landing on his head, avoiding injury.

in 2004, Marjorie Adams and 3 young friends of hers from the UCLA computer sciences department break into the Smartnet node at the college and begin snooping around. One of them, Cindy Berenson, finds a hidden file labeled Emergency Instructions and burns it to CD just before the group has to flee the room because of a security guard on the way. They promise to meet up at Adams’ place later the next evening to examine what they have found.

Timelines in today's post: the Holy British Empire, the Chinese Empire, Edison Steampunk, the Mlosh and The Smartnet Timeline

Today's "Six Degrees of Star Trek" challenge: Connect Bob Hope to Star Trek. Place your answers in the comments and see the Forum for previous results. For more on 6 degrees games, click here.

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