The Kuwaiti oil fires were caused by the Iraqi military setting fire to a reported 605 to 732 oil wells along with an unspecified number of oil filled low-lying areas, such as oil lakes and fire trenches, as part of a scorched earth policy while retreating from Kuwait in 1991 due to the advances of US-led coalition forces in the Gulf War. The fires were started in January and February 1991, and the first oil well fires were extinguished in early April 1991, with the last well capped on November 6, 1991.
1780 (MDCCLXXX) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar, the 1780th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 780th year of the 2nd millennium, the 80th year of the 18th century, and the 1st year of the 1780s decade. As of the start of 1780, the Gregorian calendar was 11 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.
1816 is known as the Year Without a Summer because of severe climate abnormalities that caused average global temperatures to decrease by 0.4–0.7 °C (0.7–1 °F). Summer temperatures in Europe were the coldest of any on record between 1766 and 2000, resulting in crop failures and major food shortages across the Northern Hemisphere.
Ann Lee, commonly known as Mother Ann Lee, was the founding leader of the Shakers, later changed to United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing following her death. She was born during a time of the Evangelical revival in England, and became a figure that greatly influenced religion at this time, especially in the Americas.
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark is a 1995 book by the astrophysicist Carl Sagan.. In it, Sagan aims to explain the scientific method to laypeople and to encourage people to learn critical and skeptical thinking. He explains methods to help distinguish between ideas that are considered valid science and those that can be considered pseudoscience. Sagan states that when new ideas are offered for consideration, they should be tested by means of skeptical thinking and should stand up to rigorous questioning.
The Battle of Connecticut Farms, fought June 7, 1780, was one of the last major battles between British and American forces in the northern colonies during the American Revolutionary War. Hessian General Wilhelm von Knyphausen, in command of the British garrison at New York City, made an attempt to reach the principal Continental Army encampment at Morristown, New Jersey. Knyphausen's advance was strongly met by companies of the New Jersey militia at Connecticut Farms. After stiff resistance, the militia were forced to withdraw, but the battle and skirmishing that preceded it sufficiently delayed Knyphausen's advance that he remained there for the night. After realizing that further advance on Morristown would probably be met by even more resistance, Knyphausen withdrew back toward New York.
The Haunted Castle was a haunted attraction at Six Flags Great Adventure amusement park in Jackson Township, New Jersey. The original Haunted House was built prior to the fall "shoulder season" of 1978 to boost attendance and as a test for building a larger facility the following year. While it was intended that it be open only at night, the popularity of the attraction caused management to open it at the beginning of the day and keep it open until the park closed. At the end of the 1978 season, the attraction was disassembled and sent to Six Flags Over Mid-America, where it would continue to run from 1979 through 1982. The old façade was torn down and Botanical Gardens took its place. A medieval-styled façade was built for the Haunted Castle on the site of the Alpen Blitz across from the Muzik Express.
Otto Piene was a German-American artist specializing in kinetic and technology-based art, often working collaboratively. He lived and worked in Düsseldorf, Germany; Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Groton, Massachusetts.
Earth Hour is a worldwide movement organized by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The event is held annually, encouraging the individuals, communities, and businesses to give an hour for Earth, and additionally marked by landmarks and businesses switching off non-essential electric lights, for one hour from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m., usually on the last Saturday of March, as a symbol of commitment to the planet. It was started as a lights-off event in Sydney, Australia, in 2007.
Abraham Davenport (1715–1789) was a Connecticut councillor and judge from Stamford. He was celebrated in a poem by John Greenleaf Whittier for his stoical reaction to New England's Dark Day (1780).
Hancock Shaker Village is a former Shaker commune in Hancock and Pittsfield, Massachusetts. It emerged in the towns of Hancock, Pittsfield, and Richmond in the 1780s, organized in 1790, and was active until 1960. It was the third of nineteen major Shaker villages established between 1774 and 1836 in New York, New England, Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana. From 1790 until 1893, Hancock was the seat of the Hancock Bishopric, which oversaw two additional Shaker communes in Tyringham, Massachusetts, and Enfield, Connecticut.
Kettle Bottom is a collection of historical poems published in 2004 by Perugia Press in Florence, Massachusetts and written by Diane Gilliam Fisher. The collection's deep focus is on the West Virginia labor battles of 1920 and 1921, such as the Battle of Matewan and Battle of Blair Mountain. Kettle Bottom was named Top Ten Poetry Book for 2005 by American Booksellers Association Book Sense, was winner of the Ohioana Library Association Poetry Book of the Year, was a finalist for the Weatherford Award of the Appalachian Studies Association, and selected for inclusion in The Pushcart Prize XXX: Best of the Small Presses.
Events from the year 1780 in the United States.
The May 2010 Quebec wildfires were a series of wildfires that affected over 90,000 hectares from late May to June 2010. Over 120 fires broke out in one week, with most near La Tuque, 300 kilometers (190 mi) northeast of Montreal. Smoke from the wildfires caused smog warnings and resulted in heightened air quality indices throughout southern Quebec, including Montreal, Laval, and the Estrie, Montérégie, Lanaudière, Mauricie, and Centre-du-Québec regions; areas such as Ottawa and New England as far southeast as Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island also reported poor air quality. The First Nations reserve of Wemotaci, where firefighters were forced to retreat due to the intensity of the fires and density of the resulting smoke, was evacuated, with more than 1,300 residents being temporarily relocated to the neighbouring city of La Tuque. Marcel Trudel, spokesman of Sopfeu—the organization responsible for containing the wildfires—reported that flames as high as 30 metres (98 ft) had been observed near the reserve. Three other communities—two of them also First Nations reserves—were evacuated as well. More than 1,200 firefighters worked to control the fires, including 200 from other provinces as well as from the U.S. states of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.
The Chinchaga fire, also known as the Wisp fire, Chinchaga River fire and Fire 19, was a forest fire that burned in northern British Columbia and Alberta in the summer and early fall of 1950. With a final size of between 1,400,000 and 1,700,000 hectares, it is the single largest recorded fire in North American history. The authorities allowed the fire to burn freely, following local forest management policy considering the lack of settlements in the region. The Chinchaga fire produced large amounts of smoke, creating the "1950 Great Smoke Pall", observed across eastern North America and Europe. As the existence of the massive fire was not well-publicized, and the smoke was mostly in the upper atmosphere and could not be smelled, there was much speculation about the atmospheric haze and its provenance. The Chinchaga firestorm's "historic smoke pall" caused "observations of blue suns and moons in the United States and Europe". It was the biggest firestorm documented in North America, and created the world's largest smoke layer in the atmosphere.
The chronology of Shakers is a list of important events pertaining to the history of the Shakers, a denomination of Christianity. Millenarians who believe that their founder, Ann Lee, experienced the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, the Shakers practice celibacy, confession of sin, communalism, ecstatic worship, pacifism, and egalitarianism. This spans the emergence of denomination in the mid-18th century, the emigration of the Shakers to New York on the eve of the American Revolution, subsequent missionary work and the establishment of nineteen major planned communities, and the continued persistence of the faith through decline into the 21st century.
The Shakers are a sect of Christianity which practices celibacy, communal living, confession of sin, egalitarianism, and pacifism. After starting in England, it is thought that these communities spread into the cotton towns of North West England, with the football team of Bury taking on the Shaker name to acknowledge the Shaker community of Bury. The Shakers left England for the English colonies in North America in 1774. As they gained converts, the Shakers established numerous communities in the late-18th century through the entire 19th century. The first villages organized in Upstate New York and the New England states, and, through Shaker missionary efforts, Shaker communities appeared in the Midwestern states. Communities of Shakers were governed by area bishoprics and within the communities individuals were grouped into "family" units and worked together to manage daily activities. By 1836 eighteen major, long-term societies were founded, comprising some sixty families, along with a failed commune in Indiana. Many smaller, short-lived communities were established over the course of the 19th century, including two failed ventures into the Southeastern United States and an urban community in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Shakers peaked in population by the 1840s and early 1850s, with a membership between 4,000 and 9,000. Growth in membership began to stagnate by the mid 1850s. In the turmoil of the American Civil War and subsequent Industrial Revolution, Shakerism went into severe decline. As the number of living Shakers diminished, Shaker communes were disbanded or otherwise ceased to exist. Some of their buildings and sites have become museums, and many are historic districts under the National Register of Historic Places. The only active community is Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in Maine, which is composed of at least three active members.
Starting on 24 June 2018 and continuing throughout the summer, a record-breaking series of wildfires burned across the United Kingdom. The two largest fires, which were declared major incidents, burned over 7 square miles each and broke out on Saddleworth Moor in Greater Manchester and Winter Hill in Lancashire. Other large fires broke out in Glenshane Pass in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, Epping Forest, in London and in the Vale of Rheidol in Ceredigion, Wales. The Saddleworth Moor fire has been described as the largest English wildfire in living memory. Most of the wildfires occurred during the first official heatwave in the United Kingdom since June 2017, with temperatures reaching above 30 °C (86 °F) for several days, making the hottest June in the country since 1995, and the driest June for over ten years in large parts of the United Kingdom, exacerbating the crisis. A wildfire started on the Staffordshire Moorlands on 9 August and, despite rain, had spread to cover 219 acres by 11 August. Some hot spots were still burning as at 22 August. In total, there were 79 fires over the course of the year, a new record. However, the record was beaten in 2019 with 96 fires as of April 23.
The Monument Fire was a wildfire west of Big Bar in Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Trinity County, California in the United States. The fire, which was started by a lightning strike, was first reported on July 30, 2021. The communities of Big Flat, Big Bar, Del Loma, and Cedar Flat were evacuated, and Highway 299 was closed in the area. The fire destroyed four structures, including three homes. By the evening of October 27, the fire had burned 223,124 acres (90,295 ha) and was fully contained, and is the fifteenth-largest fire in modern California history.
Orange Skies Day was a climatological event that occurred in the San Francisco Bay Area on September 9, 2020.
