The bad news of April 20th OR This day in history: 4/20 edition
Apr 20, 2011, 12:24 PM | Updated: 12:50 pm
This day in history seems to be associated with some bad luck, some unfortunate and sometimes violent events, and an often frowned upon counterculture holiday.
Let’s take a look at this day in history:
1889: Adolf Hitler is born in Braunau, Austria.
1902: Pierre and Marie Currie refine radium chloride. Marie died of aplastic anemia contracted from exposure to radiation in 1934. (Radium chloride like many of the chemicals Currie worked with was radioactive.)
1999: The Columbine High School massacre took place in Colorado: Two students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, shot and killed 12 classmates and one teacher before taking their own lives.
2007: Johnson Space Center Shooting: A man with a handgun barricades himself in NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas before killing a male hostage and himself.
2010: An oil rig explodes off the Gulf Coast, sending 206 million gallons of oil into the ocean. See photos after of the gulf during the spill.
But it’s not just the 20th, mid-April seems to attract tragedy:
April 15, 1912: The Titanic sinks on it’s maiden voyage after hitting an iceberg.
April 19, 1993: The FBI’s siege of the Waco compound leaves 76 dead.
April 19, 1995: The bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City kills 168 people.
April 16, 2007: The Virginia Tech massacre kills 33.
Today is also, the “high” holiday for people that smoke marijuana. Dan Skye, executive editor of High Times told ABC news that a large Wikipedia entry on the origins of the 4/20 holiday are the believed beginnings, but adds that it does involve kids from San Rafael High School in California.
Looking for April 20 events? A rally gets underway at 2pm at Westlake Park in Seattle, following a signing party supporting Initiative 1149. Seattle’s Nectar Lounge is hosting a 420 Blowout Wednesday night at 10pm. The Little Red Day Spa in the Eastlake neighborhood has a social for members of Seattle Hempfest 420, 6-11pm.
