Although we are well into the 21st century, it is reassuring to know that many gangsters have not lost their taste for traditional mob nicknames.

1. Anthony “Tony Bagels” Cavezza

2. Jack “Jack the Whack” Rizzocascio

3. Benjamin “The Fang” Castellazzo

4. Anthony “BFL [Baby Fat Larry]” Durso

9. Joseph “Junior Lollipops” Carna

14. John “Lumpy” Hartmann

 

Others are convinced that the Mayan calendar says that the end of the world will take place on December 21, 2012. If you’re worried…don’t be. There is a long history of people predicting the end of the world. In 1974 astronomers John R. Gribbin and Stephen Plagemann predicted worldwide catastrophe caused by a planetary alignment they called “the Jupiter Effect.” Southern California was to be the focal point. No earthquake destroyed Los Angeles in March 1982, although there was a reported increase in “end of the world” parties throughout California.

1. Kurt Cobain—The lead singer of Nirvana, heroin addict Cobain shot himself to death in 1994.

2. Jimi Hendrix—Psychedelic singer-guitarist Hendrix choked on his own vomit in 1970, presumably after taking too many sleeping pills.

3. Janis Joplin—Blues-rock icon Joplin died of a heroin overdose 16 days after Hendrix.

4. Jim Morrison—The leader of the Doors, Morrison was found dead in a bathtub in Paris in 1971.

5. Robert Johnson—Influential Delta blues guitarist Johnson was poisoned, allegedly by a jealous husband, in 1938.

Fish falls are common enough that an “official” explanation has been developed to cover most of them. It is theorized that whirlwinds create a waterspout effect, sucking up water and fish, carrying them for great distances, and then dropping them somewhere else. Of course there can be other causes. In one recent case, on June 21, 2010, a striped bass fell into a flowerbed in the yard of Paul and Eileen Walsh of Milton, Massachusetts. Two seagulls had been observed fighting in the sky above the house.

 

4. Greek Patriots Retake Athens (October 13, 1944)

On this day the three-and-a-half-year Nazi occupation of Athens ended.

5. President Lyndon Johnson Cracks Down on Sex Discrimination (October 13, 1967)

President Lyndon Johnson signed an executive order designed to rid the United States government of sex bias.

6. Poland Privatizes Companies (July 13, 1990)