A number of earthquakes that happened near the town of New Madrid, in late 1811, and early 1812 are known as the 1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes today. The first of these happened December 16, 1811. It probably had a magnitude of 7.5-7.9 on the Richter scale. There also was an aftershock of magnitude 7.4 on the same day. Until 2018, they are the most powerful earthquakes to hit the contiguous United States east of the Rocky Mountains in recorded history. The earthquakes and the seismic zone of occurrence are named for the Mississippi River town of New Madrid. The town was part of the Louisiana Territory at the time. Today, it is in the US state of Missouri.
There are estimates that these stable continental region earthquakes were felt strongly over roughly , and moderately across nearly 3 million square kilometers (1 million square miles). The 1906 San Francisco earthquake, by comparison, was felt moderately over roughly .
Different American Indian tribes interpreted these earthquakes, and came to a consensus: the powerful earthquake had to have meant something. For many tribes in Tecumseh's pan-Indian alliance, it meant that Tecumseh and his brother the Prophet must be supported.
Even today, earthquakes happen in this area, known as New Madrid Seismic Zone (or NMSZ). Scientists estimate, that until 2050, there is a chace of over 90%, that quake with a magnitude of over 7.0 on the Richter scale occurs there. Arthur C. Clarke has written a story, called Richter 10, where he describes this scenario.
José María Íñigo
José María Íñigo Gómez (4 June 1942 – 5 May 2018) was a Spanish journalist and television presenter. He was born in Bilbao.
Shortly after he moved to London, from where he collaborated with different music programmes on Cadena SER. Back to Spain, he settled in Madrid, where he worked in radio music shows "El Musiquero", "El Gran Musical" and "Los 40 Principales".
Over the years Íñigo has been associated with the Eurovision Song Contest. Between the 1975 Contest and 1976 Contest he announced the Spanish jury result. Between the 2011 Contest and the 2017 Contest, he provided the TVE commentary.
Íñigo died in Madrid, aged 75, on 5 May 2018 of lung cancer.
Richard John Garcia
Richard John Garcia (April 24, 1947 – July 11, 2018) was an American Roman Catholic bishop. Garcia was born in San Francisco, California. He was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as the fourth ordinary bishop of the Diocese of Monterey, California on December 19, 2006, and was installed at a Mass celebrated by Cardinal Roger Mahony on January 30, 2007.
In April 2018, Garcia was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. He died three months later on July 11, 2018 from complications of the disease in Monterey, aged 71.
Monterey, California
Monterey is a city in Monterey County in the U.S. state of California. It is on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on California's Central Coast.
It stands at an elevation of above sea level, on a land area of . The 2010 census recorded a population of 27,810. Monterey had a big herring industry, which went bust because of overfishing. Cannery Row in Monterey was where the fish were packaged.
Cannery Row was the setting of John Steinbeck's novels "Cannery Row" (1945) and "Sweet Thursday" (1954). Both were the basis for the 1982 movie "Cannery Row", starring Nick Nolte and Debra Winger. It is also mentioned in Bob Dylan's song "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands". Sea otters still dive for abalone shellfish
Pacific Biological Laboratories, a biological supply house, was located at 800 Ocean View Avenue (now 800 Cannery Row) from 1928 to 1948. It was operated by Edward F. Ricketts. He was the inspiration for several characters in Steinbeck novels. The laboratory is still preserved.
There is a variety of natural habitats in Monterey: the closed-cone pine forest has pines whose cones only open after a fire (this is called "seroteny"). The idea is that the seeds drop onto ground with few occupants, so have the best chance of developing into trees. Coast live oaks often grow nearby.
George V. Murry
George Vance Murry S.J. (December 28, 1948 – June 5, 2020) was an African-American prelate of the Catholic Church and member of the Jesuit Order. He was born in Camden, New Jersey. He was the Bishop of the Diocese of Youngstown, Ohio.
Murry served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago from 1995 to 1999 and as the bishop of the Saint Thomas in the Virgin Islands from 1999 to 2007.
In April 2018, Murry was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. He died from the disease on June 5, 2020 in New York City, aged 71.
Blaxploitation
Blaxploitation is a type of exploitation movie which focuses on black people. Blaxploitation movies emerged in and were most popular during the early 1970s.
These movies were often criticized for their use of stereotyped characters. They were also praised for showing black people as the heroes and subjects, rather than being sidekicks or as victims of violence.
Following the example set by "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song", many blaxploitation films feature funk and soul jazz soundtracks with heavy bass, funky beats, and wah-wah guitars.
Jordan Nikolić
Jordan Nikolić (; 11 May 1933 – 26 April 2018) was a Serbian folk singer. He sang traditional songs from Kosovo. He was born in Prizren, Yugoslavia. About a hundred of his voice recordings are saved in Radio Belgrade archives. Nikolić participated in Jugovizija (Yugoslavian Eurosong qualification contest) in 1976.
Nikolić died in Belgrade on 26 April 2018 from complications of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, aged 84.
Earl Balfour
Earl Frederick "Spider" Balfour (January 4, 1933 – April 27 2018) was a Canadian NHL hockey player. He was born in Toronto, Ontario.
Balfour served as a forward from 1952 to 1961. He was a defensive forward and penalty-killing expert. Balfour won the Stanley Cup with the 1960–61 Chicago Black Hawks. He also played for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He retired after 288 games, posting 30 goals, 22 assists, 52 points and just 78 penalty minutes.
Balfour died on April 27, 2018 of prostate cancer in Guelph, Ontario, aged 85.
Esther Ofarim
Esther Zaied, better known by her married name Esther Ofarim (; born June 13, 1941), is an Israeli singer. She came second in the 1963 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "T'en vas pas", representing Switzerland. A
After marrying Abi Ofarim in 1961, she was half of the singing husband and wife duo, Esther & Abi Ofarim. The couple divorced in Germany in 1970. After they divorced, the duo broke up and she undertook a successful solo career.
Mel Lastman
Melvin Douglas "Mel" Lastman (born March 9, 1933), nicknamed "Mayor Mel" or "Mega City Mel", is a Canadian businessman and politician. He is the founder of the Bad Boy Furniture chain. He served as the mayor of the former city of North York, Ontario, Canada from 1973 until 1997.
Mayor of Toronto
The Mayor of Toronto is the leader of the municipal government of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The mayor is directly-elected in municipal elections every four years alongside Toronto City Council.
The mayor is responsible for the administration of government services overseeing Toronto government departments and serves as the chairperson for meeting of Toronto City Council. The current mayor of Toronto is John Tory.
Art Eggleton is the longest-serving mayor of Toronto, serving from 1980 until 1991. No Toronto mayor has been removed from office. Toronto's 64th mayor, Rob Ford, lost a conflict of interest trial in 2012, and was ordered to vacate his position; but the ruling was stayed pending an appeal, which Ford won to remain in office.
As of December 21, 2017 there are six living former mayors of Toronto:
Rob Ford and June Rowlands are the most recent mayors that have died. Ford is the first mayor of Toronto after the amalgamation of Toronto to die.
David Crombie