Thursday, August 26, 1976. Ebola emerges.

The first known outbreak of  Ebola, more correctly Zaire ebolavirus, occurred in the village of Yambuku Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Mabalo Lokela, a 44-year-old teacher, was the first person to report with the disease.  He died on September 8.

The virus is believed to have diverged from its progenitors between 1960 and 1976.  It was genetically consistent, it is believed, before 1900.  Climate change or a change in human activity spurred its evolution.  It's genetic diversity has dropped off, although recombination events in apes have resulted in outbreaks in human populations since then.  It does seem to be responding to its human host as well.

Last edition

Thursday, August 19, 1976. Ford prevails over Reagan.

Labels: 1970s, 1976, 1976 Election, 1980, 1980 Election, 1980s, Gerald Ford, inflation, Kansas, Ronald Reagan, Southern Strategy, Watergate

Thursday, May 20, 1976. Kleptocracy.

The President of Zaire Mobutu Sese Seko endorsed kleptocracy, the practice of public officials stealing tax money for personal use, in a speech at a stadium before 70,000 people and millions of listeners, noting that he himself "personally spent on average more than 35 percent of the national budget on himself" during the 1970s and 1980s.

He warned; "If you want to steal, steal in a nice way, but if you steal too much to become rich overnight you will soon be caught."

He was eventually overthrown and died in exile at age 66.

This sort of open corruption used to be pretty much a third world thing, and I guess it still is in some ways.  Now, of course, we're seeing corruption of a different type, but rivaling, or exceeding it, in the United States, which pretty much informs the world of what we now are.

The acrylic bubble of the Montreal Biosphere, designed by Buckminster Fuller for Expo 67, was destroyed by a fire during remodeling.

It was rebuilt, but without the transparent panels, and reopened in 1990.

Baseball great Ramón Hernández was born in Venezuela.

Last edition:

Friday, May 7, 1976. Jacelyne Khoueiry at Martyrs' Square.

Labels: 1970s, 1976, 1980s, 1986, 2010s, 2012, 2014, Abortion, Catholic, Charitable organizations, Lebanese Civil War, Lebanon, Maronite Catholic, Palestinian Liberation Organization, religion, Women