Portal:Society

Disco Demolition Night was a Major League Baseball (MLB) promotion on Thursday, July 12, 1979, at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois, that ended in a riot. At the climax of the event, a crate filled with disco records was blown up on the field between games of the twi-night doubleheader between the Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers. Many had come to see the explosion rather than the games and rushed onto the field after the detonation. The playing field was so damaged by the explosion and by the rioters that the White Sox were required to forfeit the second game to the Tigers.

White Sox officials had hoped for a crowd of 20,000, about 5,000 more than usual. Instead, at least 50,000—including tens of thousands of Dahl's listeners—packed the stadium, and thousands more continued to sneak in after capacity was reached and gates were closed. Many of the records were not collected by staff and were thrown like flying discs from the stands. After Dahl blew up the collected records, thousands of fans stormed the field and remained there until dispersed by riot police.

More selected articles

More...

A drawing of travelers on the California Trail, one of the major emigrant trails across the Western United States used by over 250,000 people heading west during the California Gold Rush. This, combined with those coming from the east across the Isthmus of Panama or around Cape Horn, greatly increased the population of California, and spurred the movement to make it the 31st U.S. state.

More selected pictures

Read more

• ... that after the American Civil War ended, Ladies' Memorial Associations sprang up all over the South to bury Johnny Reb, build monuments (example pictured) in honor of Confederate soldiers, and propagate the Lost Cause?
• ... that Body of Proof episode "Society Hill" marked the first appearance of Megan Hunt's mother Joan, played by Six Feet Under star Joanna Cassidy?
• ... that Bernhard Kummer regarded the conversion of the Germanic peoples as a cultural catastrophe and thus titled his doctoral thesis Midgards Untergang?

More did you know facts

• 1 May 1776 - Foundation of the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society
• 1 May 1869 - New York Genealogical and Biographical Society elects its first woman member
• 7 May 1964 - U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson (pictured) first makes reference to the Great Society
• 10 May 1793 - Society of Revolutionary Republican Women officially registered at the Paris Commune

“ Every man is like the company he is wont to keep. ” — Euripides, Phœmissæ. Frag. 809.

More selected quotes

More at Wikiquote

E. Urner Goodman was an influential leader in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) movement for much of the twentieth century. Goodman was the national program director from 1931 until 1951, during the organization's formative years of significant growth when the Cub Scouting and Exploring programs were established. He developed the BSA's national training center in the early 1930s and was responsible for publication of the widely read Boy Scout Handbook and other Scouting books, writing the Leaders Handbook used by Scout leaders in the United States during the 1930s and 1940s. In the 1950s, Goodman was Executive Director of Men's Work for the National Council of Churches in New York City and active in church work. Goodman is best remembered today for having created the Order of the Arrow, a popular and highly successful program of the BSA which continues to honor Scouts for their cheerful service. Since its founding in 1915, the Order of the Arrow has grown to become a nationwide program having thousands of members, which recognizes those Scouts who best exemplify the virtues of cheerful service, camping, and leadership by membership in BSA's honor society. As of 2007, the Order of the Arrow has more than 183,000 members. (Full article...)

More selected audio

Read more