Milestones

[Loxuru]

Today sixty years ago, on September 18th 1961, UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld (1905-1961) died in a plane crash near Ndola, Zambia. Hammarskjöld was on his way to negotiate a cease-fire between the Katangese secessionists in (former Belgian) Congo, and the UN troops that fought against the secession. All sixteen crew and passengers perished in the crash.

According to the official inquiry, the plane had crashed because of pilot error, flying too low in the dark of the night.

Alternative theories claim that the crash was an assassination, either by a bomb, or by having it shot down. Concerning the latter, a Belgian pilot, mercenary in the service of the Katangese, is often mentioned. He was a former RAF pilot with experience with night fighters. However, he has always denied he was in Katanga at the time of the crash. Furthermore, the alleged plane, a Fouga Magister, was not suitable for nightly operations, unless it would be stowed with extra navigation equipment, that would have made it too heavy to fly the distance from its point of departure to the crash site and back. The mystery remains unsolved as yet.

Hammarskjöld was awarded posthumously with the Nobel Peace Prize 1961.

 

[montycrusto]

I always liked the exchange between a bishop and Owen, "Darwin's Bulldog".
"What have your researches told you about the Creator?"
"An inordinate fondness for beetles."

Hate to be pedantic (but this is CF, so…. )
“An inordinate fondness for beetles” was said by J.B.S. Haldane, not Richard Owen, and “Darwin’s Bulldog” was not Owen, but Thomas Henry Huxley!

I also like Haldane’s answer to the question “what kind of evidence would disprove Evolution?”, he reportedly said “Fossilized rabbits in the Precambrian!”

 

[Gibbs505]

September 19th 1991, two German tourists discover the Iceman, a mummy who died c. 3300 BC in the Otztal Alps between Austria and Italy.

 

[malins]

September 19th 1991, two German tourists discover the Iceman, a mummy who died c. 3300 BC in the Otztal Alps between Austria and Italy.

A murder mystery that is still not completely solved today...

 

[montycrusto]

A murder mystery that is still not completely solved today...

I doubt we will ever see an arrest though!

 

[Migoz2]

I doubt we will ever see an arrest though!

They are still arguing about whether it falls under the jurisdiction of the Austrian or the Italian police......

 

[montycrusto]

They are still arguing about whether it falls under the jurisdiction of the Austrian or the Italian police......

Let’s hope they sort it out before the next ice age comes along

 

[wulf]

Let’s hope they sort it out before the next ice age comes along

They will have a lot more than that to sort out after the next one. That's assuming anyone is left around to do the sorting.

 

[malins]

Let’s hope they sort it out before the next ice age comes along

I have heard rumors that the next ice age has been postponed indefinitely...

 

[windar]

A murder mystery that is still not completely solved today...

I doubt we will ever see an arrest though!

Sounds like a job for Goldman and Moore! If they can't find the culprit, Barb will be happy to take the blame herself. It was probably an ancestor of hers, anyway.

 

[montycrusto]

Sounds like a job for Goldman and Moore! If they can't find the culprit, Barb will be happy to take the blame herself. It was probably an ancestor of hers, anyway.

Stan Goldman and the Case of the Minnesota Mummy?

 

[Hugin&Munin]

Sounds like a job for Goldman and Moore! If they can't find the culprit, Barb will be happy to take the blame herself. It was probably an ancestor of hers, anyway.

Yes, I've heard about it. At that time a Neanderthal Amazon girl lived in this area
Her name, if I remember correctly, was Barbarina Moorinia.

 

[Silent_Water]

They are still arguing about whether it falls under the jurisdiction of the Austrian or the Italian police......

I do not know if you have ever heard about the Austrian (or Bavarian ?!) joke from the 1980's in which two Austrian border guards during their border patrol in the Alps find a hanged man in the "Ötztaler Alpen" - funny but really not so far from the place where the real mummy was found - and it is said that there was a real background to this black-humour-joke.

(Austrian policemen are said to be not so hardworking as the German (-Bavarian) policemen because everything in Austria is spoken a bit slower than in Germany and although this joke seems to be a bit "racist", I do not know who is really the most terrible wrong-doing side in it: )

Well, as I said the two Austrian border guards found a hanged man in a tree high in the mountains there and one of them said:
"Oh no! What a terrible sight and even more difficult, we would have to make an official report, trying to find out which nationality this man had because we are here right at the border with Italy. We would have to take this man down, bring him down to the valley on our snowmobile, and I could bet, he is not even an Austrian but making so much trouble for us. You know what? There is the border only 150 metres from here and only 10 trees up here on this mountain. He could easily have hanged himself over there on the Italian side. We should re-hang him over there on the first tree on the Italian side!"
Said and done! 3 hours later, they were happily back again in their bureau deep in their valley on the Austrian side, happy and convinced to have done the right thing.

The next day on their next patrol, they come to the same place and one of them says after a look on the few trees: "Damn, he is hanging again in the same tree as yesterday!"

 

[Darkprincess69]

Shiver me timbers - today is the 26th International Talk Like A Pirate Day


Arrrrr Mateys, can I interest you in some under-the-counter DVDs ?

 

[montycrusto]

Arrrrr Mateys, can I interest you in some under-the-counter DVDs ?

Avast! Splice the capstan or it’s a lick o’ the cat!

 

[wulf]

Shiver me timbers - today is the 26th International Talk Like A Pirate Day

View attachment 1063466
Arrrrr Mateys, can I interest you in some under-the-counter DVDs ?

I would love to swash her buckle... maybe a couple of times.

 

[elephas]

On September 21, Gregor Schlierenzauer, one of the most outstanding ski jumpers, winner of 53 World Cup victories and many other achievements, announced his retirement.
Danke und alles Gute, Gregor!

 

[Gibbs505]

September 21th 1937, the Hobbit was published!

 

[Marcius]

Twenty-five years ago today, on 27 September 1996, having just stormed Kabul, the Taliban had ex-President Najibullah and his brother tortured to death and hanged from a traffic light pole.

Discretion is the better part of valour. Right, Mr Ghani?

 

[Gibbs505]

September 27th 1540, the Jesuit order is founded.