Moments in Time – January 4, 2022

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• On Jan. 16, 1547, Ivan IV Vasilyevich (aka “Ivan the Terrible”) crowned himself the first czar of Moscow. But was that nickname really deserved? Yes and no: “Terrible” more accurately meant “strong,” “menacing” and “impressive” in his day, but there’s no denying the ruler had a pretty fierce, and on occasion murderous, temper as well.
• On Jan. 22, 1930, excavation began for the Empire State Building. Completed just a little more than a year after construction started, at 102 stories it held the record for world’s tallest building until 1972, when it was succeeded by the city’s World Trade Center.
• On Jan. 17, 1949, the first Volkswagen Type 1, or Beetle, in the U.S. arrived from Germany. It was designed by Ferdinand Porsche at the request of Adolf Hitler and sold well because it was not just well built, but reasonably priced, soon becoming “America’s budget car.”
• On Jan. 19, 1977, citizens of Miami received a jaw-droppingly unexpected gift from the sky – a dusting of snow for the first time in the city’s history. To date, it was also the last occurrence. Well, maybe next year …
• On Jan. 18, 1996, Lisa Marie Presley filed for divorce from Michael Jackson. Speculation as to the cause of the split ran as rampant as the questioning of the rather bizarre coupling in the first place, but Presley herself laid the blame simply on “irreconcilable differences.”
• On Jan. 20, 2010, the Chinese government banned the movie “Avatar,” claiming its plot mirrored the nation’s forced land evictions. Officials feared the fictional indigenous Na’vi race’s revolt could prompt a similar uprising among real-life citizens.
• On Jan. 21, 2014, activist Kanstantsin Zhukouski nominated his pet parrot in a local council election in Belarus. Unfortunately, he never found out whether the parrot could have actually won, as he soon withdrew its candidacy, probably to avoid a penalty after proving his aimed-for point on the uselessness of his country’s politics.

© 2023 King Features Synd., Inc.