Moments in Time – April 24, 2024

#MiddleburyCT

• On May 6, 1979, more than 65,000 anti-nuclear power demonstrators marched on the U.S. Capitol in protest against more nuclear power plants. Consumer advocate Ralph Nader had described nuclear power as “our country’s technological Vietnam.” The group was formed after the accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant.
• On May 7, 1934, the Pearl of Lao Tzu, almost 10 inches around and weighing about 14 pounds, was found by a diver in a giant clam in the Palawan Sea. Gemologists did not consider it to be a true pearl, however, as it did not have the iridescence of true pearls.
• On May 8, 1988, Stella Nickell, who put cyanide in Excedrin capsules, including her husband’s, as well as five additional bottles she placed on store shelves in the Seattle area, was convicted of her husband’s murder and that of Susan Snow, who had ingested one of the capsules and died instantly.
• On May 9, 2005, the Thorp processing plant in Sellafield, U.K., experienced a leakage of about 20 tons of nuclear material via a cracked pipe. While the leak was contained and didn’t impose a risk to the public, the estimated cost to repair the damage was expected to fall heavily on taxpayers.
• On May 10, 1899, singer/actor/dancer Fred Astaire was born in Omaha, NE. Widely considered the most influential dancer in the history of film, his stage and subsequent movie and television careers spanned a total of 76 years.
• On May 11, 2006, a Chinese website called Baidupedia was launched in China. The American website Wikipedia had been growing in popularity in China until the government banned it in 2005. Baidupedia was set to feature a similar format of a user-created encyclopedia, though it would be subjected to far heavier self-censorship in order to remain in good standing with the country’s government.
• On May 12, 1981, following the death of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands on May 5, a second striker, 25-year-old Francis Hughes, died of starvation in Northern Ireland’s Maze Prison.

© 2024 King Features Synd., Inc.