Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Today is March 23. The world's first recipient of a permanent artificial heart, Barney Clark, died in a Salt Lake City hospital on this date in 1983. Clark, a Seattle dentist, lived almost 112 days with the polyurethane plastic and aluminum device that had been implanted in his chest at the University of Utah Medical Center on Dec. 2, 1982. He was 62 when he died. Advertisement American colonists were none too pleased on this date in 1765, when the British Parliament passed the Stamp Act for taxing them. The action became a major sticking point for the rebellious colonials and is one of the key reasons for the Revolutionary War 10 years later. On this date in 1942, in the early days of World War II, Japanese-Americans were forcibly moved from their homes along the Pacific Coast to inland internment camps. The U.S. government feared an attack from Japan and was worried Japanese-Americans would aid the enemy. It was a low point in U.S. history. Russia's space station Mir "retired" to the South Pacific on this date in 2001. Most of the station, which had been in orbit for more than 15 years, burned up upon re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, but enough remained to put on quite a spectacular show for tourists and other star-gazers in Fiji. Nearly 100 people -- seven of them Americans -- stayed on Mir during its time in space. Advertisement After 33 years, Dick Clark retired from hosting "American Bandstand" on this date in 1989. The same day, NASA said a mountain-sized asteroid passed within half-a-million miles of Earth -- a close call, astronomically speaking. We don't know if these two events are related or not... And "Titanic" won 11 Academy Awards on this date in 1998, tying the record total won by "Ben-Hur" back in 1959. Director James Cameron celebrated on stage by hoisting his Oscar statuette high and declaring, "I'm king of the world!" We now return you to the present, already in progress.
