GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY THREAD WELCOME.TO JANUARY 1ST THROUGH JANUARY 31ST 2026

[Spy Versus Spy]

I read a book on the Starkweather killings. So what is the consensus- was his girlfriend a victim or an accomplice? Should she have gotten out of prison?

Id have to read a bit about it first, KR. Can you remember the book title?

 

[Spy Versus Spy]

"A boy with an anomaly.

Charles was born with very weak legs and a speech impediment.
His congenital anomaly caused him much humiliation from his peers, who mocked his physical differences.
This led to him feeling inferior.
As a student, he did not excel.
Teachers claimed he did not apply himself to his studies.
This was due to myopia, which was diagnosed only in adolescence.
These differences accumulated over the years,
and his feelings of injustice and envy towards those who were more athletic and handsome than him grew.

The escapade truly began when Charles murdered Caril's parents.
(She was only 13 when they met).
He did so because they stood in the way of his relationship with his beloved.
As if sensing the dangers of this relationship,
the girl's mother and stepfather ordered Charles to stay away from her.
This decision proved to be a death sentence for them.
Although Caril didn't participate in the murder,
she calmly ate breakfast while Charles murdered her two-year-old sister.
For a week,
they shared the house with the corpses.

Then they embarked on a murderous journey,
during which they brutally murdered 11 people."

View attachment 638566

From Polish MSM

Rodzice zabronili im się spotykać. Tym samym podpisali na siebie wyrok

Historia tej brutalnej pary zainspirowała Olivera Stone’a do nakręcenia filmu "Urodzeni mordercy", Bruce’a Springsteen'a do zaśpiewania utworu "Nebraska", a Terrence'a Malick'a do nakręcenia filmu "Dzika jazda". Oto historia Charlesa i Caril — zakochanych nastolatków, z rąk których zginęło 11 osób.

porady.sympatia.onet.pl

Dont think Ive ever seen a picture of them before, thanks

 

[killarney rose]

Id have to read a bit about it first, KR. Can you remember the book title?

I’m sorry I can’t. It was so long ago- back in the 90s when I was reading one true crime book after the other. I’ll browse the net and bring back a link if I find something familiar.

 

[Gemmie]

I’m sorry I can’t. It was so long ago- back in the 90s when I was reading one true crime book after the other. I’ll browse the net and bring back a link if I find something familiar.

This one?

Starkweather: A Story of Mass Murder on the Great Plains by Jeff O'Donnell (1993-05-03): Jeff O'Donnell: Amazon.com: Books

Starkweather: A Story of Mass Murder on the Great Plains by Jeff O'Donnell (1993-05-03) [Jeff O'Donnell] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Starkweather: A Story of Mass Murder on the Great Plains by Jeff O'Donnell (1993-05-03)

www.amazon.com

 

[killarney rose]

That’s possible @Gemmie . I also saw there is one titled Wasteland by John Douglas that sounds familiar as well and he’s a favorite true crime author of mine. I couldn’t find a link for that one.

 

[tricia]

GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY THREAD FRIDAY, JANUARY 23RD​

• 1556 — A massive earthquake hit Shaanxi, China, killing an estimated ~830,000 people, often cited as the deadliest earthquake in recorded history.
• 1870 — The Marias (Baker) Massacre: U.S. Army troops under Major Eugene Baker attacked a Piegan Blackfoot camp in Montana, killing roughly 200 people, many of them women, children, and elderly.
• 1978 — Terry Kath (founding guitarist of the band Chicago) died after an accidental self-inflicted gunshot, reportedly while handling a firearm after a party.

Weird, rare, or “how is that even possible?”​

• 1795 — One of history’s strangest military moments: French cavalry captured a Dutch naval fleet that was stuck in ice near Den Helder—horses vs. warships, and the horses won.
• 1909 — The ocean liner RMS Republic collided with the SS Florida in fog; its wireless operator sent a distress call that helped trigger a major rescue effort—an early example of radio at sea saving large numbers of lives.
• 1997 — Britannica notes a bizarre “Age of Aquarius” moment some astrologers hyped: multiple planets plus the Sun and Moon aligned into a perfect six-pointed star in Aquarius (first time since 1475, per the claim).

Pop culture and “this changed everything” moments​

• 1977 — The TV miniseries Roots premiered, becoming one of the most-watched U.S. television events and reshaping mainstream attention on American slavery and Black history.
• 1986 — The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted its first class (including Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Elvis Presley).
• 1997 — Madeleine Albright was sworn in as U.S. Secretary of State, the first woman to hold that office.

 

[killarney rose]

Roots. I remember reading the book right before my oldest was born. It was so hard to understand how one group of people could be so cruel to another.

 

[Dotta]

Hahahahahahaha

137K views · 2K reactions | Inappropriate? It's hips and they don't lie🔥 But I am ready to hijack a wedding dance anytime🎉🔥🕺🙌🏼 | Kjetil Krogstad

Inappropriate? It's hips and they don't lie🔥 But I am ready to hijack a wedding dance anytime🎉🔥🕺🙌🏼

www.facebook.com

I like the moves
Hilarious

#dancing

 

[tricia]

GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY THREAD SATURDAY, JANUARY 23RD, 2026
Straight from A.I,. here is a list of stuff that happened on this day​

1) The Deadliest Earthquake in Recorded History (1556)​

A catastrophic earthquake struck Shaanxi, China, killing an estimated 830,000 people—widely cited as the deadliest earthquake ever recorded.

---

2) North Korea Captures the USS Pueblo (1968)​

North Korea seized the USS Pueblo, a U.S. Navy intelligence ship, and captured the crew—triggering a major international crisis.


Here’s the part that makes it feel unreal: the USS Pueblo is still held by North Korea today.

---

3) A WWII Soldier Is Found Hiding… 27 Years After the War (1972)​

Japanese soldier Shoichi Yokoi was discovered on Guam, having lived in hiding for decades after World War II ended.


That’s not just survival… that’s a psychological horror movie.

---

4) The California Gold Rush Begins (1848)​

James W. Marshall discovered gold at Sutter’s Mill, igniting the California Gold Rush—and launching a stampede of fortune hunters, scammers, and sudden “mining experts.”

---

5) The First Woman in the U.S. Earns a Medical Degree (1849)​

Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman in the United States to receive a medical degree, graduating from Geneva Medical College in New York.


Huge history moment—and you KNOW people were furious about it.

---

6) A TRUE “Ghost Helped Solve a Murder” Story Begins (1897)​

On January 23, 1897, a young woman named Zona Shue was found dead in West Virginia—part of the infamous “Greenbrier Ghost” story, one of America’s strangest murder legends.


(Yes, this is the case where her mother later claimed Zona’s spirit identified the killer.)

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7) The League of Nations Holds Its First Meeting (1920)​

The League of Nations met for the first time—an early attempt at global peacekeeping after World War I.


History note: it didn’t exactly go great long-term… but it mattered.

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8) The First Winter Olympics Open (1924)​

The first Winter Olympics opened in Chamonix, France.

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9) O.J. Simpson Trial Begins (1995)​

The O.J. Simpson murder trial began—one of the biggest true-crime courtroom spectacles in modern history.

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10) Madeleine Albright Makes History (1997)​

Madeleine Albright was sworn in as U.S. Secretary of State, becoming the first woman to hold that position.

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QUICK “BONUS WEIRD” MINI-LIST (January 23rd edition)​

• Apple launched the Macintosh (1984).
• Baker Massacre (Montana) — U.S. troops attacked a Piegan Blackfoot camp in 1870.
• Georgetown University was founded (1789).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Apple launched the Macintosh on January 23rd 1984
I can't believe it has been 42 years. WOW
Did you have one of these computers?



We got an Apple II Remember these computers?

 

[killarney rose]

It was around 2001 when I got my first computer. The days (for me) of Napster, eBay,and HGTV message boards. I made lifelong friends that became real life friends on those boards. The boards are long gone but us four ladies that remain from our group have been friends and have talked daily since meeting back then including many real life meet ups.

 

[LetsSolvIt]

JANUARY 25
Happy Birthday, Bobby Burns!

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Eddi Reader - Ae Fond Kiss (Robbie Burns)​

 

[tricia]

(Whoops I did it again...Sunday Jan 25th was forgotten. So sorry Websleuths was hoppin' yesterday)

GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY THREAD MONDAY JANUARY 26TH 2026
​

On This Day” — January 26​

2020 – Kobe Bryant and 8 others die in a helicopter crash.
A modern tragedy tied to January 26.
I remember it like it was yesterday. It was soooo sad.

1788 – The First Fleet arrives at Sydney Cove (Australia).
This is the date associated with the beginning of British settlement at Sydney Cove and is now commemorated as Australia Day (and also widely observed as Invasion Day/Survival Day by many Indigenous Australians).


1875 – Pinkertons raid the James family home… and it goes horribly wrong.
A raid connected to the hunt for Frank and Jesse James left their mother permanently injured and killed their young half-brother. Dark, messy, and historically infamous.


1905 – The Cullinan Diamond is discovered (the largest gem-quality diamond ever found).
Over 3,000 carats. It was so huge it didn’t look real at first, and the early reaction was basically “eh… probably junk.”


1924 – Petrograd is renamed Leningrad (five days after Lenin’s death).
The renaming happened on January 26, 1924.


1926 – A real working television system is demonstrated (John Logie Baird).
The early “TV era” begins… with a clunky invention that still changed everything.
100 years ago the television was just in a beta test mode. Can you imagine where we will be in the year 2126?


1950 – India officially becomes a republic.
The Constitution of India took effect on January 26, a date now celebrated as Republic Day.


1972 – Flight attendant Vesna Vulović survives a fall of over 30,000 feet.
Often cited as the highest recorded fall survived without a parachute after an explosion brought down her plane.

 

[tricia]

GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY THREAD TUESDAY, JANUARY 27TH 2026
Can you believe we are almost done with January? ​

• Michael Jackson’s hair catches fire while filming a cola commercial (1984)
During the filming of a Pepsi commercial, sparks from pyrotechnics showered over Michael Jackson and caused his hair to catch fire, burning his scalp and leading to second-degree burns — one of pop culture’s most bizarre celebrity mishaps caught on camera.
This is widely cited in historical listings of quirky events on January 27.


• “World Breast Pumping Day” and “Chocolate Cake Day” (informal observances)
Some historical fun-fact calendars mark January 27 as World Breast Pumping Day and Chocolate Cake Day, unusual and humorous modern cultural “holidays” that reflect how quirky calendar observances evolve.
While not serious historical events, these odd celebrations appear in popular culture summaries of the day.


• Live fish reportedly found alive inside a block of ice (1966)
Contemporary newspaper reports from January 27, 1966 described a fish found still alive inside a solid block of ice — a strange phenomenon that captured attention for seemingly defying normal animal survival expectations.
Such reports are part of odd historical tidbits associated with this date.


• Amateur astronomer reports enormous “black object” crossing the Moon (1912)
An amateur astronomer named Frank B. Harris claimed to see an object crossing the Moon that he described as “as black as marks on paper, 250 miles long and 50 miles wide” — an unexplained anomalous lunar sighting that later became part of UFO-style lore.
This unusual observation is documented in retrospective summaries of historical oddities.


• Bigfoot hoax sparks massive (and fruitless) hunt (1970)
In January 1970, a man claiming to have seen Bigfoot in Washington state triggered a rush of more than 50 bounty hunters searching by helicopter, airplane, and foot — all for a legendary creature that never materialized.
This hilarious episode of cryptid fever is recorded in historical accounts from that period.

---

Additional Interesting but Less Weird Items​

These aren’t necessarily “funny” but are unusual or surprising based on how people experience history:


• Col. William B. Nolde becomes last official American casualty of the Vietnam War
He was killed by artillery fire 11 hours before the cease-fire was to begin — an ironic and tragic historical footnote.


• Apollo 1 crew victims in a pre-launch fire (1967)
While tragic, the disaster aboard Apollo 1 has an element of stark unexpectedness in how quickly it unfolded due to flammable materials and pure oxygen in the capsule.

---

Contextually Serious (but Noted on January 27)​

To provide context for the day, here are important — but not necessarily quirky — events commonly associated with January 27 (included for verification):

• Liberation of Auschwitz and Birkenau in WWII (1945) — historically monumental.
• Dante Alighieri’s exile from Florence (1302) — influenced The Divine Comedy.
• Emperor Trajan becomes Roman emperor (98 AD).

 

[TootsieFootsie]

I have ants. They're very tiny little ants.
In my kitchen. They usually come maybe once a year when the hot weather arrives.

I've put out a little ant bait house left over from last year but they're just ignoring it.
I've also just put some Ant Rid in a little lid and they're ignoring that too.

I might have to buy another box of the ant houses.
Last years ants did end up going in and maybe they're eaten it all or it's lost it's poison strength.


Tomorrow our forecast is 43 degree Celsius which is equivalent to 109.4 Fahrenheit.

 

[LetsSolvIt]

I have ants. They're very tiny little ants.
In my kitchen. They usually come maybe once a year when the hot weather arrives.

I've put out a little ant bait house left over from last year but they're just ignoring it.
I've also just put some Ant Rid in a little lid and they're ignoring that too. …

<snipped for focus>

Purchase some concentrated orange oil (I get mine from Amazon). Dampen a kitchen sponge with water. Then pour a small amount of oil onto the damp sponge — wipe down your kitchen counters, backsplash, inside cabinets, base boards, window sills, etc. with oil — whereever you’ve seen ants.

Be sure to test this first on any painted surface. If you are concerned about leaving a film of oil, a few minutes later lightly wipe everything again with a paper towel

Your ants won’t come back for a long, long time! And your house will smell terrific!

Concentrated orange oil is also a good ecological cleaner for bathrooms (including toilet) and other surface cleaning. So is 20% vinegar. Google both for specifics. OMO.

 

[tricia]

GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY THREAD WEDNESDAY THURSDAY JANUARY 28TH 2026
​

1. Space Shuttle​

On January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after liftoff, killing all seven crew members. What makes this especially unsettling is that the launch was broadcast live, classrooms across the U.S. were watching, and the failure was later traced to an O-ring problem engineers had warned about in advance.
This single event permanently changed how NASA handles safety, launches, and internal dissent.

---

2. The LEGO brick was officially patented (1958) — childhood weaponized​

On January 28, 1958, LEGO patented the interlocking brick design we still use today.
This means every painful midnight foot-stab from a LEGO left on the floor can be traced back to this exact date. One of the most enduring designs in modern history, accidentally becoming a household booby trap.

---

3. The U.S. Coast Guard was created (1915) — by merging two obscure agencies​

January 28, 1915, marks the creation of the United States Coast Guard, formed by merging the Revenue Cutter Service and the Life-Saving Service.
Strange detail: one agency collected tariffs, the other literally rescued shipwreck victims, and somehow they became a single branch that now handles drug interdiction, search and rescue, and maritime law enforcement.

---

4. Construction officially began on the Eiffel Tower (1887) — Parisians hated it​

On January 28, 1887, construction began on what would become the Eiffel Tower.
At the time, many artists and intellectuals signed public petitions calling it a monstrous eyesore that would ruin Paris. It was supposed to be temporary.
Instead, it became one of the most photographed structures on Earth.

---

5. The White House was first lit with electricity (1898) — and people were afraid of it​

On January 28, 1898, the White House switched on electric lights for the first time.
Staff reportedly refused to touch the switches, fearing electrocution. Some preferred candles well into the electric era because electricity was viewed as unstable and dangerous.

---

6. First ice hockey game played in the United States (1896) — total chaos​

On January 28, 1896, the first recorded U.S. ice hockey game was played.
The rules were poorly standardized, substitutions were unclear, and spectators reportedly had little idea what was happening. It looked more like an organized street fight on ice than modern hockey.

---

7. A pope died laughing (814) — possibly the strangest death on record​

Pope Leo III is believed to have died on January 28, 814.
One historical account claims he collapsed after laughing too hard at a joke, though historians debate whether this was literal or symbolic. Either way, it remains one of the most bizarre rumored deaths of a major historical figure.

Tricia here. Did you know the Eiffel Tower has an apartment at the top? Yep. It's really cool looking

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Purchase some concentrated orange oil (I get mine from Amazon). Dampen a kitchen sponge with water. Then pour a small amount of oil onto the damp sponge — wipe down your kitchen counters, backsplash, inside cabinets, base boards, window sills, etc. with oil — whereever you’ve seen ants.

Be sure to test this first on any painted surface. If you are concerned about leaving a film of oil, a few minutes later lightly wipe everything again with a paper towel

Your ants won’t come back for a long, long time! And your house will smell terrific!

Concentrated orange oil is also a good ecological cleaner for bathrooms (including toilet) and other surface cleaning. So is 20% vinegar. Google both for specifics. OMO.

Thanks @LetsSolvIt for the tip! Which I will try if my current usual method doesn't work.

Right now they have lessened. I added some honey to the liquid bait and they've been going crazy for it overnight.
A lot less of them today, but we'll see.

I could also try tea tree oil.

 

[Megnut]

https://www.toureiffel.paris/en/news/130-years/did-gustave-eiffel-live-tower