Yes it really happened

[Doodoo]

Acoustic Kitty was a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) project launched by their Directorate of Science & Technology in the 1960s, which intended to use cats to spy on the Kremlin and Soviet embassies.

In an hour-long procedure, a veterinary surgeon implanted a microphone in the cat's ear canal, a small radio transmitter at the base of its skull, and a thin wire into its fur. This would allow the cat to innocuously record and transmit sound from its surroundings. Due to problems with distraction, the cat's sense of hunger had to be addressed in another operation. Victor Marchetti, a former CIA officer, said Project Acoustic Kitty cost about $20 million.

The first Acoustic Kitty mission was to eavesdrop on two men in a park outside the Soviet embassy in Washington, D.C. The cat was released nearby, but was hit and allegedly killed by a taxi almost immediately. However, this was disputed in 2013 by Robert Wallace, a former director of the Office of Technical Service, who said that the project was abandoned due to the difficulty of training the cat to behave as required, and "the equipment was taken out of the cat; the cat was re-sewn for a second time, and lived a long and happy life afterwards". Subsequent tests also failed. Shortly thereafter the project was considered a failure and declared to be a total loss. However, other accounts report more success for the project.

The project was cancelled in 1967.[A closing memorandum said that the CIA researchers believed that they could train cats to move short distances, but that "the environmental and security factors in using this technique in a real foreign situation force us to conclude that for our (intelligence) purposes, it would not be practical."The project was disclosed in 2001, when some CIA documents were declassified

[FrazeeDK]

with huge technological advances ya gotta wonder if they've done similar stuff successfully over the last 10 years or so.

[Laan Yaa Mo]

There were some changes in 1921. First of all, the Edmonton Eskimos from Western Canada made the Grey Cup an East-West final when they appeared in the game at Varsity Stadium on 3 December 1921 to face the Toronto Argonauts. Second, The number of players on the field was reduced to 12 from the previous 14 since the two players previously required to help a third player in heeling the ball back to the quarterback were replaced. The centre scrim was gone.

The Argos handled the Esks quite easily, 23-0, thanks to the outstanding play of Canada's greatest athlete, Lionel Conacher. He was particularly brilliant on extension plays and punting. Conacher only played three-quarters as he had a hockey game that night. That was the only Grey Cup that Lionel won in his career, but h won two Stanley Cups for thee Montreal Maroons and the Chicago Black Hawks. In 1926 He won a Little World Series playing for the International League baseball Toronto Maple Leafs. Jack Dempsey knocked him out in he boxing ring. He was voted Canada's male athlete of the first half-century in 1950. Four years later, Lionel Conacher died at third base after hitting a triple for the Parliamentarians (he was a Liberal MP) against a press corps team.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Conacher

[Laan Yaa Mo]

On 2 December 1922, the Edmonton Elks played the Queen's University Golden Gaels in Kingston, Ontario for the Dominion Championship and the Grey Cup. The field was frozen and the Elks led 1-0 at half-time. However, Queen's got untracked in the second half to beat Edmonton, 13-1. The star of the game was Harry Batstone. The Daily British Whig wrote

Saturday's was probably the best game Harry Batstone has turned in for the Queen's team this year. He was here, there, and everywhere, and in the limelight more than in any other game his season./quote]

Batstone had left the Grey Cup champion, Toronto Argonauts to attend Queen's. He graduated from medical school and became a doctor in Kingston. The Golden Gaels won because of a play invented by Batstone and Pep Leadlay. The Elks could not stop them as they passed the football like a basketball over their opponent's heads. This was the beginning of the hot-potato end run. Subsequently, in the 1930s, some coaches tried it, and claimed to have invented the play.

The last paragraph is not part of the quote.

[Laan Yaa Mo]

The Queen's University Golden Gaels won their second straight Grey Cup with a 54-0 shellacking of the Regina Roughriders on 1 December 1923 at Varsity Stadium in Toronto. At the time, touchdowns were only worth five points. This is the largest margin of victory in a Grey Cup Game. The Montreal Amateur Athletic Association beat Peterborough, 72-10, in 1907 but that was for the National Senior Football Title, not the Grey Cup. Batstone and Leadlay were once again stars for the Tri-colour (red, blue and yellow). Pep Leadlay kicked a record seven converts (kicked from the Riders 25-yard line) and two singles. Harry Batstone scored two touchdowns, kicked two converts and ran for 182 yards in his three quarters of play.

[Laan Yaa Mo]

For the third consecutive year, the Queen's University Golden Gaels won the Grey Cup with an 11-3 victory over Balmy Beach (east Toronto) at Varsity Stadium on 29 November 1924. This game contained some unusual plays. After two singles by Queen's, Balmy Beach made a big mistake with third down on their own one-yard line. They called for a quarterback run at a time when the quarterback was not on the field, but serving a penalty. The centre snapped the ball to a non-existent quarterback, and Queen's got a safety touch on the play. In the third quarter with Queen's up 5-1, Morris Hughes of Balmy Beach lofted a punt into the high wind-and then caught the ball as it floated back to the line of scrimmage. A few minutes later the Golden Gaels blocked a Beach punt and scored a touchdown. Balmy Beach pressed Queen's for the rest of the game; however, they could only muster another single. This was the last time that Queen's played in the Grey Cup.

[Laan Yaa Mo]

The Ottawa Senators defeated the Winnipeg Tammany Tigers, 24-1, to win the 1925 Grey Cup. The game was played on 5 December 1925 in Ottawa.

This was Ottawa's first Dominion Championship since 1902 when the Ottawa Rough Riders defeated Ottawa College, 5-0.

Also

This was the last national championship game to be played with 15 players for each team on the field as rule changes took place after this season, reducing that number to 14 in some unions and to 12 in others.[5][6] It was also the last game to be played in just two halves and not four quarters

- Wiki

[Laan Yaa Mo]

The 1926 Grey Cup pitted the Varsity Blues against the Ottawa Senators at Varsity Stadium on 4 December 1926. The weather was not kind with a bitterly cold wind, freezing temperatures and a field that resembled a slippery sheet of ice. Joe Miller was the star for Ottawa as they prevailed 10-7 over Varsity. He stopped two University of Toronto touchdowns while playing defence and was the offensive leader for the Senators. One oddity in the game was that in the third quarter Ottawa had to play three men short as they had tackled the Varsity players too roughly.

Joe Miller, Ottawa's star of the game, joined the New York Americans of the NHL that night. Two years later, Miller was in goal playing for the New York Rangers as they won a series against the Montreal Maroons.

For the Varsity Blues, it was their last appearance in the Grey Cup, and the final appearance for any Canadian University team.

[Laan Yaa Mo]

A big upset took place at Varsity Stadium on 26 November 1927 when Balmy Beach upset the heavily favoured Hamilton Tigers, 9-6, to win the Grey Cup before 13,676 fans. As usual, when Balmy Beach, played the weather was terrible. Heavy rains that lasted from noon until half-time left the field a muddy mess. The Tigers outplayed Balmy Beach and had 17 first downs to just three by Balmy Beach. However, the Toronto club made key plays. Ted Reeve, a sportswriter for the Toronto Telegram, led a charge for Balmy Beach that resulted in a blocked a punt. A young inside wing picked up the loose pigskin and carried it all the way across Hamilton's goal line. A last minute 35-yard field goal attempt by the Tigers to tie the game fell short. Balmy Beach had their first Grey Cup victory.

Balmy Beach was like an old-time team. They played for fun and were happy if there were enough fans in the stands to pay for the post-game party.

[Laan Yaa Mo]

On 1 December 1928 the Hamilton Tigers beat the Regina Roughriders, 30-0, to win the Grey Cup in Hamilton. Pep Leadlay of the Tigers drop-kicked three converts. and Brian Timmis still refused to wear a helmet. Timmis, the Old Man of the Mountain (Hamilton), scored two touchdowns.

[Laan Yaa Mo]

on this day

In 1793 Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France, was executed by guillotine at the Place de la Révolution (Place de la Concorde) in Paris. When the executioner raised the severed head the crowd shouted: “Vive la République!”; in 1834 the Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament) was largely destroyed by fire after control was lost of furnaces under the House of Lords; in 1847 Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre: An Autobiography was published, using the pseudonym Currer Bell; in 1908 Samuel Cody, the Wild West showman, flew the first successful aircraft flight in Britain. British Army Aircraft No I achieved flight at Laffan’s Plain (Farnborough) for 27 seconds before crash landing.

[Laan Yaa Mo]

Something new took place in the 1929 Grey Cup. The Hamilton Tigers beat the Regina Roughriders, 14-3, on 30 November. A heavy snowstorm and bone-chilling temperatures turned the field in Hamilton into a block of ice. Many spectators left before half-time owing to the freezing cold.

For the first time, passes were permitted in the Dominion Championship. Passing was legal in the West, but no-one had attempted a pass in the East. However, it was ruled that a pass could not be completed within 25 yards of an opponent's end zone. Regina tried eleven passes and gained about 100 yards. Hamilton attempted a pass near the end of the game and completed it for a touchdown. The Tiger's touchdown was not permitted since it had been caught within 25 yads of the Regina end zone.

[Laan Yaa Mo]

Balmy Beach won the 1930 Grey Cup with an 11-6 victory over the Regina Roughriders. The forwaard pass was banned because Balmy Beach had not thrown one during the season.The game waas played on 6 December in front of a mere 3,914 fad a lot to hans on a typical muddy and rainy Balmy Beach field. Regina scored the first touchdown by a western team in the final, but they still lost. Ted Reeve of Balmy Beach to do with that. Reeve entered the game when Regina was putting the pressure on Balmy Beach. The Moaner came off the bench with a dislocated shoulder to make some key plays. In the fourth and final quarter, Regina was headed for a touchdown on a punt return; however, Reeve threw his body at the runner and stopped the play. a few minutes later He blockedd an onside kick by the 'Riders.

Reeve wrote about it in his sports column in the Toronto Telegram:

When I was young and in my prime
I used to block kicks all the time
Now that I am old and grey
I only block them once a day

Reeve was also a hall of fame lacrosse player.

Here is the Moaner in his Balmy Beach uniform.

https://cfhof.ca/members/ted-reeve/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Reeve

[Laan Yaa Mo]

The 1931 Grey Cup saw the Montreal Winged Wheelers down the hapless Regina Roughriders, 22-0, on a frozen field covered with patches of ice. The December 5th contest was notable for the first touchdown pass in the history of the Cup. Both teams had problems getting proper traction on the ice; however, Montreal changed to lacrosse shoes in the second half which gave them an edge. These shoes should have gone to the Roughriders at the break, but the delivery man sent them to the Montreal dressing room by mistake.

[Laan Yaa Mo]

The Regina Roughriders made it five losses in a row as they lost to the Hamilton Tigers, 25-6, in the 1932 Grey Cup. Hamilton got to the final by defeating the Sarnia Imperials, 15-11, and the Varsity Blues, 9-3. In the western semi-final the Calgary Altomahs defeated the Vancouver Merolomas, 10-9. In the final out west Regina steamrolled past the Altomas, 30-2.

[Laan Yaa Mo]

on this day

In 1714 the coronation of George I took place in Westminster Abbey. He had arrived in England from Germany the previous month, barely able to speak English; in 1818 the western border between Canada and the US was defined as “a line from the farthest northwest part of Lake of the Woods to the 49th parallel and thence west to the Rocky Mountains”; in 1962 the novelty song Monster Mash by Bobby “Boris” Pickett became No 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song was banned by the BBC for being “too morbid”, but reached No 3 on re-release in the UK in 1973; in 1973 the Dalai Lama made his first UK visit, as part of a European tour in which he visited 12 countries in 75 days. The Tibetan spiritual leader has been in exile since 1959; in 1983 Maurice Bishop, the prime minister of Grenada, was assassinated during a power struggle. Five days later, the US and neighbouring countries invaded the country to restore order.

[Whistler]

Can we changed the title of this thread to yes it really happened but mostly in Canada.

What is the Graze Cup an award for ruminants?

[Laan Yaa Mo]

Move along little boy to a thread that piques your interest, or where you can make some silly prediction as you are prone to do.

[tamada]

Move along little boy to a thread that piques your interest, or where you can make some silly prediction as you are prone to do.

Triggered.

[Whistler]

Move along little boy to a thread that piques your interest, or where you can make some silly prediction as you are prone to do.

Haha, has a single prediction I made been wrong? Not so silly were they?

Move along little boy, what a lame insult. You claim to be an academic, can't you come up with something a bit more witty?