"Anything that can go wrong, will" -- attributed to Edward A. Murphy, c. 1949
01-30-1973
Senator John C. Stennis of Mississippi is shot and killed during a robbery outside his Washington, D.C. residence. His colleague, Senator James O. Eastland, proposes a Handgun Control Act which (though he does not advertise it in such terms) would make it prohibitively expensive for minorities to own handguns.
04-13-1973
Record spring floods along the Mississippi River wash away and destroy a flood control structure near Simmesport, LA.
Within a few hours, two million cubic feet per second are thundering across the low-lying swampland and into the nearby Atchafalaya River. Within two days, the main flow of the Lower Mississippi River has permanently shifted course to follow the new channel.
For the next several months, the Atchafalaya will be an uncrossable torrent. Morgan City is completely flooded; tens of thousands of people are forced to flee the rising waters and nearly a thousand are drowned. US-90 and a brand new section of I-10 are washed out, as is every other road bridge, rail bridge, and pipeline over the Atchafalaya channel. All traffic is forced to detour hundreds of miles northward through Natchez or Vicksburg. The Intracoastal Waterway is closed to shipping until further notice.
Although there is an sharp spike in gasoline prices due to panic buying, the refineries and port facilities along the old channel are not immediately affected by the change. Nearly a third of the river's flow still passes New Orleans, and this was a record flood year to begin with; the effects on shipping and the chemical industry won't be noticed until later in the year.
On the other hand, natural gas will be in very short supply until new pipelines can be built to bypass the disaster area. Throughout the summer there will be rolling electrical brownouts as far away as the East coast; and a serious shortage of ammonia-based fertilizer during the summer and fall growing seasons.
05-14-1973
Skylab is destroyed when a solar panel rips loose two minutes into launch, causing it to tumble out of control.
06-21-1973
In "Miller v. California", the Supreme Court rules 5-4 that state and federal governments cannot ban obscene speech.
Congress is deluged with angry letters and phone calls; when a proposed Constitutional Amendment dies in the Senate, serious talk begins at the state level for a Constitutional Convention to overturn Miller, Roe v Wade, and various other unpopular court rulings.
06-30-1973
President al-Bakr of Iraq is killed during a failed coup attempt. Vice President Saddam Hussein manages to retain power, and has the plotters executed.
End Pt. 1
01-30-1973
Senator John C. Stennis of Mississippi is shot and killed during a robbery outside his Washington, D.C. residence. His colleague, Senator James O. Eastland, proposes a Handgun Control Act which (though he does not advertise it in such terms) would make it prohibitively expensive for minorities to own handguns.
04-13-1973
Record spring floods along the Mississippi River wash away and destroy a flood control structure near Simmesport, LA.
Within a few hours, two million cubic feet per second are thundering across the low-lying swampland and into the nearby Atchafalaya River. Within two days, the main flow of the Lower Mississippi River has permanently shifted course to follow the new channel.
For the next several months, the Atchafalaya will be an uncrossable torrent. Morgan City is completely flooded; tens of thousands of people are forced to flee the rising waters and nearly a thousand are drowned. US-90 and a brand new section of I-10 are washed out, as is every other road bridge, rail bridge, and pipeline over the Atchafalaya channel. All traffic is forced to detour hundreds of miles northward through Natchez or Vicksburg. The Intracoastal Waterway is closed to shipping until further notice.
Although there is an sharp spike in gasoline prices due to panic buying, the refineries and port facilities along the old channel are not immediately affected by the change. Nearly a third of the river's flow still passes New Orleans, and this was a record flood year to begin with; the effects on shipping and the chemical industry won't be noticed until later in the year.
On the other hand, natural gas will be in very short supply until new pipelines can be built to bypass the disaster area. Throughout the summer there will be rolling electrical brownouts as far away as the East coast; and a serious shortage of ammonia-based fertilizer during the summer and fall growing seasons.
05-14-1973
Skylab is destroyed when a solar panel rips loose two minutes into launch, causing it to tumble out of control.
06-21-1973
In "Miller v. California", the Supreme Court rules 5-4 that state and federal governments cannot ban obscene speech.
Congress is deluged with angry letters and phone calls; when a proposed Constitutional Amendment dies in the Senate, serious talk begins at the state level for a Constitutional Convention to overturn Miller, Roe v Wade, and various other unpopular court rulings.
06-30-1973
President al-Bakr of Iraq is killed during a failed coup attempt. Vice President Saddam Hussein manages to retain power, and has the plotters executed.
End Pt. 1
