ON THIS DAY

On this date in 1773, the famous "Boston Tea Party" took place. A lot of people missed it because no invitations were sent. A group of men calling themselves the "Sons of Liberty" and dressed as Mohawk Indians went to the Boston Harbor. They boarded three British ships, the Beaver, the Eleanor and the Dartmouth, and dumped 45 tons of tea into the Boston Harbor.

• There were no finger sandwiches at the party.
• You know, it almost didn't happen. The patriots showed up and saw how much tea was on that ship, at first, they wanted to bag it. Then, they decided best to keep it loose-leaf.
• It was an attempt to set the record for the world's largest Chai tea.
• The British weren't so upset about the tea as they were the insensitivity and racist attitudes of the colonists.
• At first, the British thought the Village People were behind it, but it turned out the movement was led by the great Ezekiel Palin.
• May I just say, they weren't very good about sending out invitations.

In 1809, Napoleon Bonaparte was divorced from the Empress Josephine by an act of the French Senate. She had high hopes he would be a great husband, but he fell short. It was a short marriage. That's what she said.

On this date in 1811, Missouri suffered an earthquake that was equivalent to 12.0 on the Richter scale.

• Needless to say, no one had to stir paint for a week.
• That was the day they went from the "Show me" state to the "OK, enough already" state.
• Apparently, a local seismologist said, "Well, I'll show you!"

In 1916, Gregory Rasputin, the monk who had powerful influence over the Russian court, was murdered by a group of noblemen. Maybe this is obvious, but they don't sound very noble to me.

On this date in 1945, the Cleveland Rams won the National Football League championship at home by defeating the Washington Redskins, 15-14. I don't know which is the more surprising part of this story: the fact the Rams were once in Cleveland or that the NFL wrapped up a season before Christmas. One team moved to Los Angeles, the other stayed put but their named moved.