1. 2004: The last Oldsmobile rolls off the assembly line.
Photo: cartype
Photo: curbsideclassic
On this day in 2004, a maroon Oldsmobile Alero rolls off the assembly at the Lansing, Michigan factory just like it had for many years, but this particular Alero was the last Oldsmobile ever made. It has the handwritten signature of every factory employee that worked on the car from beginning to end. When it was finished, signatures covered the entire underside of tho hood. Oldsmobile was one of the oldest car companies in the world starting back in 1897 by Ransom E Olds and was the second company, behind Buick, to join up with the biggest car company of the world at that time, general Motors. Through the great majority of its 107 year history, Oldsmobile were known for making good solid reliable cars, but the late 80’s and 90’s brought a steady drop in sales across the board and forced GM to close the doors.
2: 1992: Verdict of the Rodney King trial comes back, riots ensue.
Photo: blackhistorycollection
Photo: nydailynews
The verdict of “not guilty” that shook the world took place on this day back in 1992. The jury had been deliberating for quite sometime when they finally reached a verdict in the case of Rodney King and the four police officers that used “excessive force” in the arrest of King earlier that year. Now, even though there was video evidence of these officers beating him with their batons as well as multiple kicks they still somehow got away with a not guilty verdict. The public was outraged and, immediately following the announcement, protesters hit the streets and started looting, fighting, lighting things on fire and all kinds of bad things. This madness took place for at least three days before authorities were able to regain control of the area
3. 1991: Cyclone in Bangladesh kills more than 135,000 people.
Photo: wiki
More than 135,000 people lost their lives on this day back in 1991 due to a massive Tropical Cyclone that ran rampaged through Bangladesh. The area has been known to get these hurricane-like storms, considering one back in 1971 killed almost a half a million people. When I first heard cyclone, I assumed tornado, although they both technically are vortex type storms, but they are actually different things. There is a scientific explanation, but how I understood it was, a tornado is measured in yards or even feet, where a cyclone is measured in miles. A tornado will usually happen on land, and the cyclone will usually happen on the oceans and coastal areas like Bangladesh. Also the major difference would be there is usually weeks notice of an oncoming cyclone versus the minutes you might get with a tornado.The people of Bangladesh had a full weeks notice to get to higher ground but chose to try and ride it out. More than a million homes were destroyed in the massive floods that plagued the area. There was said to be 150 mph winds and a wall of water that was over 20 feet tall that would eventuality kill over a million head of cattle.