It's also known as synchronous diaphragmatic flutter or singultus.
Now you know.
March 16 -
Today is the celebration of St. Urho's Day, Patron saint of Finnish vineyard workers. Attributed to him is the miracle of banishing grasshoppers from Finland which he accomplished with a few choice Finnish phrases, thereby saving the season's grape crop.
But in reality a bunch of very drunk people made this up in 1956.
March 16, 1934 -
An (almost) all singing Popeye cartoon, The Man on the Flying Trapeze, premiered on this date.
The Daring Young Man On The Flying Trapeze is based on a real person: Jules Leotard. He was a former law student who ran away from home and joined a circus as an adolescent. Young Jules was the first performer to wear the skin-tight suit of clothes that would later be named after him; he died of tuberculosis aged only twenty-eight.
March 16, 1954 -
Max Ophüls beautifully acted film, La Ronde, premiered in the US on this date. (Psst kids, the films about the transmission of syphilis - really.)
The film was shot entirely in the studio.
This is a must-see film - find time to watch it today.
March 16, 1954 -
Elia Kazan's powerful family drama, East of Eden, premiered in Los Angeles on this date (this is the only one of the "big three" James Dean films to be released before his death.)
James Dean's wild behavior and late-night carousing worried Elia Kazan. At first he arranged for Dean to share an apartment with Richard Davalos. When that didn't work out, Kazan put him up in a dressing room on the Warners lot and moved into the adjoining room to keep an eye on his star.
March 16, 1963 -
The musical group of Peter Paul and Mary released their hit single Puff the Magic Dragon, on this date. This song was rumored to be about drugs, particularly marijuana.
The controversy did little to inhibit its spread in popular culture — if anything, the condemnation helped it along — and the song remains a timeless classic to this day.
Word of the Day
Today in History:
March 16 1190 -
More than 150 and perhaps as many as 500 Jews, secured in Clifford's Tower at York, died from suicide and massacre after they were sieged by townspeople under Richard Malebys on this date. Malebys was a nobleman who owed money to the Jews; after their siege all records relating to moneylending were destroyed.
This was seen as a warm-up for the Crusaders invasion of the Holy Land. It is the largest massacre of Jews in the history of the United Kingdom.
March 16 1792 -
At a masquerade ball, a disgruntled Captain Jacob Johan Ankarstroem shot Swedish King Gustav III near the heart with a bullet composed of lead and carpet tacks, on this date. It took the King almost two weeks to die.
Shakespeare never wrote about Gustavus, probably because Gustavus was born well after Shakespeare's death, but Giuseppe Verdi (or under his stage name, Joe Green) wrote an opera about the affair called Un Ballo in Maschera ("A Bull in Mascara").
As punishment, the Captain was decapitated, drawn, and quartered.
Ouch!!!
March 16, 1912 -
All lives have triumphs and tragedies, laughter and tears, and mine has been no different. What really matters is whether, after all of that, you remain strong and a comfort to your loved ones. I have tried to meet that test.
Thelma Catherine Pat Nixon (nee Ryan) - the patron saint of long suffering political wives and good Republican cloth coats was born on this date.
March 16, 1916 –
Tsutomu Yamaguchi, born on this date, was one of the only individuals who witnessed and survived both atom bombs in Japan, Hiroshima on August 6th, and Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.
Mr. Yamaguchi slowly recovered and went on to live a relatively normal life. He died from radiation related stomach cancer at 93, on January 4, 2010.
March 16, 1926 -
I have a loyalty that runs in my bloodstream, when I lock into someone or something, you can't get me away from it because I commit that thoroughly. That's in friendship, that's a deal, that's a commitment. Don't give me paper - I can get the same lawyer who drew it up to break it. But if you shake my hand, that's for life.
Joseph Levitch, comedian, actor, producer, writer, director, singer, Légion d'honneur recipient and the dollar sign in Dean Martin eyes, was born on this date.
March 16, 1926 -
Robert H. Goddard, fueled the first hopes of space travel when he successfully launched the world's first liquid-fueled rocket at Auburn, Massachusetts on this date.
The rocket traveled for 2.5 seconds at a speed of about 60 mph, reaching an altitude of 41 feet. The rocket was 10 feet tall, constructed out of thin pipes, and was fueled by liquid oxygen and gasoline.
(this will be on the test.)
March 16 1949 -
It's Erik Estrada's birthday today.
Reason enough to live another day.
March 16, 1966 -
NASA launches the Gemini 8 on this date. It is the twelfth manned American space mission. Shortly after its launch, it will take part in the first physical docking of two spacecraft in orbit when it rendezvous with the Gemini Agena to conduct extravehicular activities six hours and thirty-three minutes after launch.
However, about twenty-seven minutes after docking, a malfunction in the capsule’s control thrusters occurs, and it is forced to abort the mission and return to Earth, only 6.5 orbits after launch. The mission is crewed by command pilot Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong and pilot Astronaut David R. Scott.
March 16 1978 -
Italian Red Brigades kidnapped former Italian Premier Aldo Moro on this date, in order to obtain the release of imprisoned comrades.
Moro was murdered and his body was later found on May 9, 1978.
And so it goes.
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