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Reading Room:  Today in history  |
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janamarieje
True Blue Farmgirl
1022 Posts
Jana
Southern California
USA
1022 Posts |
 Posted - Sep 01 2016 : 12:37:22 PM
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September 1, 1486 - The first known copyright was granted in Venice.
On September 1, 1486 the Venetian Senate granted a privilege to the humanist Marco Antonio Sabellico (Marcus Antonius Sabellicus) for the printing of his Decades rerum Venetarum, a history of Venice.
http://www.historyofinformation.com/expanded.php?id=2637
Jana
#7110
http://www.emhardt.com
Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes. ~Author Unknown
All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt! ~Charles Schulz
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Edited by - janamarieje on Sep 06 2016 06:19:25 AM |
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janamarieje
True Blue Farmgirl
1022 Posts
Jana
Southern California
USA
1022 Posts |
Posted - Sep 02 2016 : 06:32:06 AM
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September 2, 1969 - America’s first automatic teller machine (ATM) makes its public debut, dispensing cash to customers at Chemical Bank in Rockville Center, New York. ATMs went on to revolutionize the banking industry, eliminating the need to visit a bank to conduct basic financial transactions. By the 1980s, these money machines had become widely popular and handled many of the functions previously performed by human tellers, such as check deposits and money transfers between accounts. Today, ATMs are as indispensable to most people as cell phones and e-mail.
Several inventors worked on early versions of a cash-dispensing machine, but Don Wetzel, an executive at Docutel, a Dallas company that developed automated baggage-handling equipment, is generally credited as coming up with the idea for the modern ATM. Wetzel reportedly conceived of the concept while waiting on line at a bank. The ATM that debuted in New York in 1969 was only able to give out cash, but in 1971, an ATM that could handle multiple functions, including providing customers’ account balances, was introduced.
ATMs eventually expanded beyond the confines of banks and today can be found everywhere from gas stations to convenience stores to cruise ships. There is even an ATM at McMurdo Station in Antarctica. Non-banks lease the machines (so-called “off premise” ATMs) or own them outright.
Today there are well over 1 million ATMs around the world, with a new one added approximately every five minutes. It’s estimated that more than 170 Americans over the age of 18 had an ATM card in 2005 and used it six to eight times a month. Not surprisingly, ATMs get their busiest workouts on Fridays.
Jana
#7110
http://www.emhardt.com
Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes. ~Author Unknown
All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt! ~Charles Schulz
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janamarieje
True Blue Farmgirl
1022 Posts
Jana
Southern California
USA
1022 Posts |
Posted - Sep 03 2016 : 07:57:46 AM
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September 3, 1940 - A patent for the production of diuretics was obtained by Bockmuhl, Middendorf and Fritzsche.
Diuretics, sometimes called water pills, treat a variety of conditions, such as high blood pressure, glaucoma and edema. A diuretic is any substance that promotes the production of urine. This includes forced diuresis. There are several categories of diuretics. All diuretics increase the excretion of water from bodies, although each class does so in a distinct way. Alternatively, an antidiuretic such as vasopressin, or antidiuretic hormone, is an agent or drug which reduces the excretion of water in urine.
Jana
#7110
http://www.emhardt.com
Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes. ~Author Unknown
All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt! ~Charles Schulz
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forgetmenot
True Blue Farmgirl
3602 Posts
Judith
Nora Springs
IA
USA
3602 Posts |
Posted - Sep 03 2016 : 09:20:05 AM
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These are fun to read, Jana! Thank you!
Farmgirl sister #3926
"Courage is not the absence of fear, but the belief that something is more important than fear." Ambrose Red Moon |
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churunga
True Blue Farmgirl
3957 Posts
Marie
Minneapolis
MN
USA
3957 Posts |
Posted - Sep 03 2016 : 3:09:54 PM
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I just had to subscribe to this thread. Thank you for all the research.
Marie, Sister #5142
Farmgirl of the Month May 2014
Try everything once and the fun things twice. |
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janamarieje
True Blue Farmgirl
1022 Posts
Jana
Southern California
USA
1022 Posts |
Posted - Sep 04 2016 : 06:18:12 AM
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September 4, 1888 - George Eastman patented the roll film camera for Kodak.
In 1888, George Eastman invented dry, transparent, and flexible, photographic film (or rolled photography film) and the Kodak cameras that could use the new film. You press the button, we do the rest" promised George Eastman in 1888 with this advertising slogan for his Kodak camera. George Eastman wanted to simplify photography and make it available to everyone, not just trained photographers. Pre-loaded with enough film for 100 exposures, the Kodak camera could easily be carried and handheld during its operation. After the film was exposed (all the shots taken), the whole camera was returned to the Kodak company in Rochester, New York, where the film was developed, prints were made, new photographic film was inserted, and then the camera and prints were returned to the customer.
Jana
#7110
http://www.emhardt.com
Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes. ~Author Unknown
All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt! ~Charles Schulz
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Edited by - janamarieje on Sep 04 2016 06:19:02 AM |
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janamarieje
True Blue Farmgirl
1022 Posts
Jana
Southern California
USA
1022 Posts |
Posted - Sep 05 2016 : 06:27:10 AM
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September 5, 1774 - the first Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia.
The First Continental Congress was a meeting of delegates from twelve of the Thirteen Colonies that met at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, early in the American Revolution. It was called in response to "The passage of the Coercive Acts" (also known as Intolerable Acts by the Colonial Americans) by the British Parliament. The Intolerable Acts had punished Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party. The Congress was attended by 56 delegates. The Pennsylvania delegation was appointed by the colonial assembly. Georgia declined to send delegates because they were hoping for British assistance with Native American problems on their frontier and did not want to upset the British. The Congress met briefly to consider options, including an economic boycott of British trade; rights and grievances; and petitioned King George III for redress of those grievances.
In the end, the voices of reconciliation and compromise carried the day. Rather than precipitate rebellion by calling for independence, the First Continental Congress, in its Declaration and Resolves, passed and signed the Continental Association, which called for a boycott of British goods to take effect in December 1774. It requested that local Committees of Safety enforce the boycott and regulate local prices for goods. These resolutions adopted by the Congress did not acknowledge the legal power of Parliament even to regulate trade, but consented, nonetheless, to the operation of acts for that purpose. Furthermore, they did not repudiate control by the royal prerogative, which was explicitly acknowledged in the Petition to the King a few days later.
Jana
#7110
http://www.emhardt.com
Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes. ~Author Unknown
All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt! ~Charles Schulz
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janamarieje
True Blue Farmgirl
1022 Posts
Jana
Southern California
USA
1022 Posts |
Posted - Sep 06 2016 : 06:14:07 AM
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September 6, 1915 - a prototype tank nicknamed Little Willie rolls off the assembly line in England. Little Willie was far from an overnight success. It weighed 14 tons, got stuck in trenches and crawled over rough terrain at only two miles per hour. However, improvements were made to the original prototype and tanks eventually transformed military battlefields.
The British developed the tank in response to the trench warfare of World War I. In 1914, a British army colonel named Ernest Swinton and William Hankey, secretary of the Committee for Imperial Defence, championed the idea of an armored vehicle with conveyor-belt-like tracks over its wheels that could break through enemy lines and traverse difficult territory. The men appealed to British navy minister Winston Churchill, who believed in the concept of a “land boat” and organized a Landships Committee to begin developing a prototype. To keep the project secret from enemies, production workers were reportedly told the vehicles they were building would be used to carry water on the battlefield (alternate theories suggest the shells of the new vehicles resembled water tanks). Either way, the new vehicles were shipped in crates labeled “tank” and the name stuck.
The first tank prototype, Little Willie, was unveiled in September 1915. Following its underwhelming performance–it was slow, became overheated and couldn’t cross trenches–a second prototype, known as “Big Willie,” was produced. By 1916, this armored vehicle was deemed ready for battle and made its debut at the First Battle of the Somme near Courcelette, France, on September 15 of that year. Known as the Mark I, this first batch of tanks was hot, noisy and unwieldy and suffered mechanical malfunctions on the battlefield; nevertheless, people realized the tank’s potential. Further design improvements were made and at the Battle of Cambrai in November 1917, 400 Mark IV’s proved much more successful than the Mark I, capturing 8,000 enemy troops and 100 guns.
Tanks rapidly became an important military weapon. During World War II, they played a prominent role across numerous battlefields. More recently, tanks have been essential for desert combat during the conflicts in the Persian Gulf.
Jana
#7110
http://www.emhardt.com
Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes. ~Author Unknown
All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt! ~Charles Schulz
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janamarieje
True Blue Farmgirl
1022 Posts
Jana
Southern California
USA
1022 Posts |
Posted - Sep 07 2016 : 06:04:05 AM
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September 7, 1813 - the United States gets its nickname, Uncle Sam. The name is linked to Samuel Wilson, a meat packer from Troy, New York, who supplied barrels of beef to the United States Army during the War of 1812. Wilson (1766-1854) stamped the barrels with “U.S.” for United States, but soldiers began referring to the grub as “Uncle Sam’s.” The local newspaper picked up on the story and Uncle Sam eventually gained widespread acceptance as the nickname for the U.S. federal government.
Jana
#7110
http://www.emhardt.com
Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes. ~Author Unknown
All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt! ~Charles Schulz
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janamarieje
True Blue Farmgirl
1022 Posts
Jana
Southern California
USA
1022 Posts |
Posted - Sep 08 2016 : 05:57:10 AM
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September 8, 1504 - Michelangelo's statue of David is unveiled in Florence
It is a 5.17-metre (17.0 ft) marble statue of a standing male nude. The statue represents the Biblical hero David, a favoured subject in the art of Florence. Originally commissioned as one of a series of statues of prophets to be positioned along the roofline of the east end of Florence Cathedral, the statue was placed instead in a public square, outside the Palazzo della Signoria, the seat of civic government in Florence, where it was unveiled on 8 September 1504.
Because of the nature of the hero it represented, the statue soon came to symbolize the defense of civil liberties embodied in the Republic of Florence, an independent city-state threatened on all sides by more powerful rival states and by the hegemony of the Medici family. The eyes of David, with a warning glare, were turned towards Rome. The statue was moved to the Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence, in 1873, and later replaced at the original location by a replica.
Jana
#7110
http://www.emhardt.com
Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes. ~Author Unknown
All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt! ~Charles Schulz
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janamarieje
True Blue Farmgirl
1022 Posts
Jana
Southern California
USA
1022 Posts |
Posted - Sep 09 2016 : 05:33:08 AM
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September 9, 1776 - the Continental Congress formally declares the name of the new nation to be the “United States” of America. This replaced the term “United Colonies,” which had been in general use.
In the Congressional declaration, the delegates wrote, “That in all continental commissions, and other instruments, where, heretofore, the words ‘United Colonies’ have been used, the stile be altered for the future to the “United States.”
Jana
#7110
http://www.emhardt.com
Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes. ~Author Unknown
All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt! ~Charles Schulz
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janamarieje
True Blue Farmgirl
1022 Posts
Jana
Southern California
USA
1022 Posts |
Posted - Sep 10 2016 : 06:43:14 AM
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September 10, 1833 - President Andrew Jackson announces that the government will no longer use the Second Bank of the United States, the country’s national bank. He then used his executive power to remove all federal funds from the bank, in the final salvo of what is referred to as the “Bank War.”
A national bank had first been created by George Washington and Alexander Hamilton in 1791 to serve as a central repository for federal funds. The Second Bank of the United States was founded in 1816; five years after this first bank’s charter had expired. Traditionally, the bank had been run by a board of directors with ties to industry and manufacturing, and therefore was biased toward the urban and industrial northern states. Jackson, the epitome of the frontiersman, resented the bank’s lack of funding for expansion into the unsettled Western territories. Jackson also objected to the bank’s unusual political and economic power and to the lack of congressional oversight over its business dealings.
Jackson, known as obstinate and brutish but a man of the common people, called for an investigation into the bank’s policies and political agenda as soon as he settled in to the White House in March 1829. To Jackson, the bank symbolized how a privileged class of businessmen oppressed the will of the common people of America. He made clear that he planned to challenge the constitutionality of the bank, much to the horror of its supporters. In response, the director of the bank, Nicholas Biddle, flexed his own political power, turning to members of Congress, including the powerful Kentucky Senator Henry Clay and leading businessmen sympathetic to the bank, to fight Jackson.
Later that year, Jackson presented his case against the bank in a speech to Congress; to his chagrin, its members generally agreed that the bank was indeed constitutional. Still, controversy over the bank lingered for the next three years. In 1932, the divisiveness led to a split in Jackson’s cabinet and, that same year, the obstinate president vetoed an attempt by Congress to draw up a new charter for the bank. All of this took place during Jackson’s bid for re-election; the bank’s future was the focal point of a bitter political campaign between the Democratic incumbent Jackson and his opponent Henry Clay. Jackson’s promises to empower the “common man” of America appealed to the voters and paved the way for his victory. He felt he had received a mandate from the public to close the bank once and for all, despite Congress’ objections. Biddle vowed to continue to fight the president, saying that “just because he has scalped Indians and imprisoned Judges [does not mean] he is to have his way with the bank.”
On September 10, 1833, Jackson removed all federal funds from the Second Bank of the U.S., redistributing them to various state banks, which were popularly known as “pet banks.” In addition, he announced that deposits to the bank would not be accepted after October 1. Finally, Jackson had succeeded in destroying the bank; its charter officially expired in 1836.
Jackson did not emerge unscathed from the scandal. In 1834, Congress censured Jackson for what they viewed as his abuse of presidential power during the Bank War.
Jana
#7110
http://www.emhardt.com
Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes. ~Author Unknown
All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt! ~Charles Schulz
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janamarieje
True Blue Farmgirl
1022 Posts
Jana
Southern California
USA
1022 Posts |
Posted - Sep 11 2016 : 05:42:16 AM
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In a letter written by Benjamin Franklin on September 11, 1773 - the words hold true today as much as it did in 1773.
"I JOIN with you most cordially in rejoicing at the return of peace. I hope it will be lasting, and that mankind will at length, as they call themselves reasonable creatures, have reason enough to settle their differences without cutting throats; for, in my opinion, there never was a good war or a bad peace. What vast additions to the conveniences and comforts of life might mankind have acquired, if the money spent in wars had been employed in works of utility! What an extension of agriculture, even to the tops of the mountains; what rivers rendered navigable, or joined by canals; what bridges, aqueducts, new roads, and other public works, edifices and improvements, rendering England a complete paradise, might not have been obtained by spending those millions in doing good, which in the last war have been spent in doing mischief—in bringing misery into thousands of families, and destroying the lives of so many working people, who might have performed the useful labors."
Jana
#7110
http://www.emhardt.com
Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes. ~Author Unknown
All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt! ~Charles Schulz
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Edited by - janamarieje on Sep 11 2016 09:32:41 AM |
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janamarieje
True Blue Farmgirl
1022 Posts
Jana
Southern California
USA
1022 Posts |
Posted - Sep 12 2016 : 05:41:42 AM
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September 12, 1940 - Lascaux cave painting discovered
Near Montignac, France, a collection of prehistoric cave paintings are discovered by four teenagers who stumbled upon the ancient artwork after following their dog down a narrow entrance into a cavern. The 15,000- to 17,000-year-old paintings, consisting mostly of animal representations, are among the finest examples of art from the Upper Paleolithic period.
First studied by the French archaeologist Henri-Édouard-Prosper Breuil, the Lascaux grotto consists of a main cavern 66 feet wide and 16 feet high. The walls of the cavern are decorated with some 600 painted and drawn animals and symbols and nearly 1,500 engravings. The pictures depict in excellent detail numerous types of animals, including horses, red deer, stags, bovines, felines, and what appear to be mythical creatures. There is only one human figure depicted in the cave: a bird-headed man with an erect phallus. Archaeologists believe that the cave was used over a long period of time as a center for hunting and religious rites.
The Lascaux grotto was opened to the public in 1948 but was closed in 1963 because artificial lights had faded the vivid colors of the paintings and caused algae to grow over some of them. A replica of the Lascaux cave was opened nearby in 1983 and receives tens of thousands of visitors annually.
Jana
#7110
http://www.emhardt.com
Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes. ~Author Unknown
All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt! ~Charles Schulz
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janamarieje
True Blue Farmgirl
1022 Posts
Jana
Southern California
USA
1022 Posts |
Posted - Sep 13 2016 : 05:22:34 AM
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September 13, 1814, Francis Scott Key pens a poem which is later set to music and in 1931 becomes America’s national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The poem, originally titled “The Defense of Fort McHenry,” was written after Key witnessed the Maryland fort being bombarded by the British during the War of 1812. Key was inspired by the sight of a lone U.S. flag still flying over Fort McHenry at daybreak, as reflected in the now-famous words of the “Star-Spangled Banner”: “And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.”
On June 18, 1812, America declared war on Great Britain after a series of trade disagreements. In August 1814, British troops invaded Washington, D.C., and burned the White House, Capitol Building and Library of Congress. Their next target was Baltimore.
After one of Key’s friends, Dr. William Beanes, was taken prisoner by the British, Key went to Baltimore, located the ship where Beanes was being held and negotiated his release. However, Key and Beanes weren’t allowed to leave until after the British bombardment of Fort McHenry. Key watched the bombing campaign unfold from aboard a ship located about eight miles away. After a day, the British were unable to destroy the fort and gave up. Key was relieved to see the American flag still flying over Fort McHenry and quickly penned a few lines in tribute to what he had witnessed.
The poem was printed in newspapers and eventually set to the music of a popular English drinking tune called “To Anacreon in Heaven” by composer John Stafford Smith. People began referring to the song as “The Star-Spangled Banner” and in 1916 President Woodrow Wilson announced that it should be played at all official events. It was adopted as the national anthem on March 3, 1931.
Today, the flag that flew over Fort McHenry in 1914 is housed at the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.
Jana
#7110
http://www.emhardt.com
Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes. ~Author Unknown
All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt! ~Charles Schulz
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janamarieje
True Blue Farmgirl
1022 Posts
Jana
Southern California
USA
1022 Posts |
Posted - Sep 14 2016 : 05:27:48 AM
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September 14, 1716 - First lighthouse in U.S. lit at sunset, 300 years ago.
Boston Light is a lighthouse located on Little Brewster Island in outer Boston Harbor, Massachusetts. The first lighthouse to be built on the site dates back to 1716, and was the first lighthouse to be built in what is now the United States. The current lighthouse dates from 1783, is the second oldest working lighthouse in the United States (after Sandy Hook Lighthouse in New Jersey), and is the only lighthouse to still be actively staffed by the United States Coast Guard, being automated in 1998 though there is still a keeper acting as tour guide. The structure was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964.
The first keeper, George Worthylake, with a salary of £50 a year, also acted as pilot for vessels entering the harbor. In 1718 he and his wife and daughter, with two men, were drowned when the lighthouse boat capsized as they were returning to the island from Boston. Young Benjamin Franklin, then a printer in Boston, wrote a ballad about the incident entitled "Lighthouse Tragedy" and sold it on the streets of Boston.
The pay of Keeper John Hayes was raised to £70 in 1718 so that he would not be obliged to entertain mariners on the island for extra money which he found "prejudicial to himself as well as to the town of Boston." In 1719 he asked "That a great Gun may be placed on Said Island to answer Ships in a Fogg" and one was supplied that year on which the date 1700 was engraved. The gun is shown on a mezzo-tint engraving of Boston Light made by Burgess in 1729.During the American Revolution, the original lighthouse was held by British forces and was attacked and burnt on two occasions by American forces. As the British forces withdrew in 1776, they blew up the tower and completely destroyed it. The lighthouse was eventually reconstructed in 1783, to the same 75-foot (23 m) height as the original tower. In 1856 it was raised to its present height of 98 feet (30 m) and a new lantern room was added along with a 12-sided second order Fresnel lens.
Jana
#7110
http://www.emhardt.com
Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes. ~Author Unknown
All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt! ~Charles Schulz
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Edited by - janamarieje on Sep 14 2016 05:40:52 AM |
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janamarieje
True Blue Farmgirl
1022 Posts
Jana
Southern California
USA
1022 Posts |
Posted - Sep 15 2016 : 05:44:53 AM
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September 15, 1858 - The first transcontinental mail service begins
On this day in 1858, the new Overland Mail Company sends out its first two stages, inaugurating government mail service between the eastern and western regions of the nation.
With California booming, thanks to the 1849 Gold Rush, Americans east and west had been clamoring for faster and surer transcontinental mail service for years. Finally, in March 1857, the U.S. Congress passed an act authorizing an overland mail delivery service and a $600,000 yearly subsidy for whatever company could succeed in reliably transporting the mail twice a week from St. Louis to San Francisco in less than 25 days. The postmaster general awarded the first government contract and subsidy to the Overland Mail Company. Under the guidance of a board of directors that included John Butterfield and William Fargo, the Overland Mail Company spent $1 million improving its winding 2,800-mile route and building way stations at 10-15 mile intervals. Teams of thundering horses soon raced across the wide open spaces of the West, pulling custom-built Concord coaches with seats for nine passengers and a rear boot for the mail.
For passengers, the overland route was anything but a pleasure trip. Packed into the narrow confines of the coaches, they alternately baked or froze as they bumped across the countryside, and dust was an inescapable companion. Since the coaches traveled night and day, travelers were reluctant to stop and sleep at one of the “home stations” along the route because they risked being stranded if later stages were full. Many opted to try and make it through the three-week trip by sleeping on the stage, but the constant bumping and noise made real sleep almost impossible. Travelers also found that toilets and baths were few and far between, the food was poor and pricey, and the stage drivers were often drunk, rude, profane, or all three. Robberies and Indian attacks were a genuine threat, though they occurred far less commonly than popularly believed. The company posted guards at stations in dangerous areas, and armed men occasionally rode with the coach driver to protect passengers.
Though other faster mail delivery services soon came to compete with the Overland Mail Company-most famously the Pony Express-the nation’s first regular trans-western mail service continued to operate as a part of the larger Wells, Fargo and Company operation until May 10, 1869, the day the first transcontinental railroad was completed. On that day the U.S. government cancelled its last overland mail contract.
Jana
#7110
http://www.emhardt.com
Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes. ~Author Unknown
All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt! ~Charles Schulz
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janamarieje
True Blue Farmgirl
1022 Posts
Jana
Southern California
USA
1022 Posts |
Posted - Sep 16 2016 : 05:19:01 AM
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September 16, 1893 - the largest land run in history begins with more than 100,000 people pouring into the Cherokee Strip of Oklahoma to claim valuable land that had once belonged to Native Americans. With a single shot from a pistol the mad dash began, and land-hungry pioneers on horseback and in carriages raced forward to stake their claims to the best acres.
Jana
#7110
http://www.emhardt.com
Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes. ~Author Unknown
All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt! ~Charles Schulz
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janamarieje
True Blue Farmgirl
1022 Posts
Jana
Southern California
USA
1022 Posts |
Posted - Sep 17 2016 : 08:17:31 AM
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September 17, 1976 - NASA publicly unveils its first space shuttle, the Enterprise, during a ceremony in Palmdale, California. Development of the aircraft-like spacecraft cost almost $10 billion and took nearly a decade. In 1977, the Enterprise became the first space shuttle to fly freely when it was lifted to a height of 25,000 feet by a Boeing 747 airplane and then released, gliding back to Edwards Air Force Base on its own accord.
Regular flights of the space shuttle began on April 12, 1981, with the launching of Columbia from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Launched by two solid-rocket boosters and an external tank, only the aircraft-like shuttle entered into orbit around Earth. When the two-day mission was completed, the shuttle fired engines to reduce speed and, after descending through the atmosphere, landed like a glider at California’s Edwards Air Force Base.
Early shuttles took satellite equipment into space and carried out various scientific experiments. On January 28, 1986, NASA and the space shuttle program suffered a major setback when the Challenger exploded 74 seconds after takeoff and all seven people aboard were killed.
In September 1988, space shuttle flights resumed with the successful launching of the Discovery. Since then, the space shuttle has carried out numerous important missions, such as the repair and maintenance of the Hubble Space Telescope and the construction and manning of the International Space Station.A tragedy in space again rocked the nation on February 1, 2003, when Columbia, on its 28th mission, disintegrated during re-entry of the earth’s atmosphere. All seven astronauts aboard were killed. In the aftermath, the space-shuttle program was grounded until Discovery returned to space in July 2005, amid concerns that the problems that had downed Columbia had not yet been fully solved.
Jana
#7110
http://www.emhardt.com
Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes. ~Author Unknown
All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt! ~Charles Schulz
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janamarieje
True Blue Farmgirl
1022 Posts
Jana
Southern California
USA
1022 Posts |
Posted - Sep 17 2016 : 9:14:12 PM
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September 18, 1793 - George Washington lays the cornerstone to the United States Capitol building, the home of the legislative branch of American government. The building would take nearly a century to complete, as architects came and went, the British set fire to it and it was called into use during the Civil War. Today, the Capitol building, with its famous cast-iron dome and important collection of American art, is part of the Capitol Complex, which includes six Congressional office buildings and three Library of Congress buildings, all developed in the 19th and 20th centuries.
As a young nation, the United States had no permanent capital, and Congress met in eight different cities, including Baltimore, New York and Philadelphia, before 1791. In 1790, Congress passed the Residence Act, which gave President Washington the power to select a permanent home for the federal government. The following year, he chose what would become the District of Columbia from land provided by Maryland. Washington picked three commissioners to oversee the capital city’s development and they in turn chose French engineer Pierre Charles L’Enfant to come up with the design. However, L’Enfant clashed with the commissioners and was fired in 1792. A design competition was then held, with a Scotsman named William Thornton submitting the winning entry for the Capitol building. In September 1793, Washington laid the Capitol’s cornerstone and the lengthy construction process, which would involve a line of project managers and architects, got under way.
In 1800, Congress moved into the Capitol’s north wing. In 1807, the House of Representatives moved into the building’s south wing, which was finished in 1811. During the War of 1812, the British invaded Washington, D.C., and set fire to the Capitol on August 24, 1814. A rainstorm saved the building from total destruction. Congress met in nearby temporary quarters from 1815 to 1819. In the early 1850s, work began to expand the Capitol to accommodate the growing number of Congressmen. In 1861, construction was temporarily halted while the Capitol was used by Union troops as a hospital and barracks. Following the war, expansions and modern upgrades to the building continued into the next century.
Jana
#7110
http://www.emhardt.com
Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes. ~Author Unknown
All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt! ~Charles Schulz
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janamarieje
True Blue Farmgirl
1022 Posts
Jana
Southern California
USA
1022 Posts |
Posted - Sep 18 2016 : 10:14:18 PM
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September 19, 1893 - Women's suffrage in New Zealand was an important political issue in the late nineteenth century. In early colonial New Zealand, as in other European societies, women were excluded from any involvement in politics. Public opinion began to change in the latter half of the nineteenth century, however, and after years of effort by suffrage campaigners, led by Kate Sheppard, New Zealand became the first self-governing colony in the world in which all women had the right to vote in parliamentary elections.
The Electoral Bill granting women the franchise was given Royal Assent by Governor Lord Glasgow on 19 September 1893. Women voted for the first time in the election held on 28 November 1893 (elections for the M#257;ori electorates were held on 20 December). In 1893, Elizabeth Yates also became Mayor of Onehunga, the first time such a post had been held by a woman anywhere in the British Empire.
In the United States:
1893 Colorado is the first state to adopt an amendment granting women the right to vote.
1896 Utah and Idaho follow suit
1910 Washington State
1911 California
1912 Oregon, Kansas, and Arizona
1913 Alaska and Illinois
1914 Montana and Nevada
1917 New York
1918 Michigan, South Dakota, and Oklahoma
Jana
#7110
http://www.emhardt.com
Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes. ~Author Unknown
All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt! ~Charles Schulz
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janamarieje
True Blue Farmgirl
1022 Posts
Jana
Southern California
USA
1022 Posts |
Posted - Sep 20 2016 : 3:03:51 PM
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The American Association for the Advancement of Science was created on September 20, 1848 at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was a reformation of the Association of American Geologists and Naturalists. The society chose William Charles Redfield as their first president because he had proposed the most comprehensive plans for the organization. According to the first constitution which was agreed to at the September 20 meeting, the goal of the society was to promote scientific dialogue in order to allow for greater scientific collaboration. By doing so the association aimed to use resources to conduct science with increased efficiency and allow for scientific progress at a greater rate. The association also sought to increase the resources available to the scientific community through active advocacy of science. There were only 78 members when the AAAS was formed. As a member of the new scientific body, Matthew Fontaine Maury, USN was one of those who attended the first 1848 meeting.
At a meeting held on Friday afternoon, September 22, 1848, Redfield presided, and Matthew Fontaine Maury gave a full scientific report on his Wind and Current Charts. Maury stated that hundreds of ship navigators were now sending abstract logs of their voyages to the United States Naval Observatory. He added, "Never before was such a corps of observers known." But, he pointed out to his fellow scientists, his critical need was for more "simultaneous observations." "The work," Maury stated, "is not exclusively for the benefit of any nation or age." The minutes of the AAAS meeting reveal that because of the universality of this "view on the subject, it was suggested whether the states of Christendom might not be induced to cooperate with their Navies in the undertaking; at least so far as to cause abstracts of their log-books and sea journals to be furnished to Matthew F. Maury, USN, at the Naval Observatory at Washington."
William Barton Rogers, professor at the University of Virginia and later founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, offered a resolution: "Resolved that a Committee of five be appointed to address a memorial to the Secretary of the Navy, requesting his further aid in procuring for Matthew Maury the use of the observations of European and other foreign navigators, for the extension and perfecting of his charts of winds and currents." The resolution was adopted and, in addition to Rogers, the following members of the association were appointed to the committee: Professor Joseph Henry of Washington; Professor Benjamin Peirce of Cambridge, Massachusetts; Professor James H. Coffin of Easton, Pennsylvania, and Professor Stephen Alexander of Princeton, New Jersey. This was scientific cooperation, and Maury went back to Washington with great hopes for the future.
Jana
#7110
http://www.emhardt.com
Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes. ~Author Unknown
All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt! ~Charles Schulz
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janamarieje
True Blue Farmgirl
1022 Posts
Jana
Southern California
USA
1022 Posts |
Posted - Sep 21 2016 : 05:49:06 AM
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September 21, 1784 - First daily newspaper in America (Penns Packet and General Advertiser)
The Pennsylvania Packet, or the General Advertiser was an American newspaper founded in 1771 that, in 1784, became the first successful daily newspaper published in the United States. The paper was founded by John Dunlap as a weekly paper in late 1771. It was based in Philadelphia except during the British occupation of the city in 1777–1778, when Dunlap published the paper at Lancaster. David C. Claypoole eventually became a partner with Dunlap. As of September 21, 1784, the paper was issued as the Pennsylvania Packet, and Daily Advertiser, reflecting the paper's move to daily publication.
The paper subsequently underwent additional name changes, dropping the Pennsylvania Packet prefix in 1791, and becoming Dunlap's American Daily Advertiser (1791–93), Dunlap and Claypoole's American Daily Advertiser (1793–95), and Claypoole's American Daily Advertiser (1796-1800).
On September 21, 1796, it was the first to publish George Washington's Farewell Address.
Jana
#7110
http://www.emhardt.com
Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes. ~Author Unknown
All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt! ~Charles Schulz
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janamarieje
True Blue Farmgirl
1022 Posts
Jana
Southern California
USA
1022 Posts |
Posted - Sep 21 2016 : 05:58:49 AM
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In 1850, Joel Houghton patented a wooden machine with a hand-turned wheel that splashed water on dishes, it was hardly a workable machine, but it was the first patent. In the 1860s, L. A. Alexander improved the device with a geared mechanism that allowed the user to spin racked dishes through a tub of water. Neither of these devices was particularly effective.
Then, in 1886, Josephine Cochran proclaimed in disgust, "If nobody else is going to invent a dishwashing machine, I'll do it myself." And she did. Cochran invented the first practical (did the job) dishwasher. She designed the first model in the shed behind her house in Shelbyville, Illinois. Her dishwasher was the first to use water pressure instead of scrubbers to clean the dishes. She received a patent on December 28, 1886.
Cochran had expected the public to welcome the new invention, which she unveiled at the 1893 World's Fair, but only the hotels and large restaurants were buying her ideas.
It was not until the 1950s, that dishwashers caught on with the general public.
Cochran's machine was a hand-operated mechanical dishwasher. She founded a company to manufacture these dish washers, which eventually became KitchenAid.
Jana
#7110
http://www.emhardt.com
Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes. ~Author Unknown
All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt! ~Charles Schulz
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janamarieje
True Blue Farmgirl
1022 Posts
Jana
Southern California
USA
1022 Posts |
Posted - Sep 22 2016 : 05:47:26 AM
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On September 22, 1888, the National Geographic Society published the first issue of National Geographic magazine. Today, National Geographic magazine is known for insightful articles, photography, and maps about the world’s cultures and terrain.
Although National Geographic is famous for its outstanding photography, the first issue did not have any photographs at all! National Geographic was a text-based scientific journal about geography until 1905, when the magazine published a photo essay on Tibet. The magazine’s first map supplement was published in 1918.
Today, National Geographic is published in more than 30 languages around the world, including Japanese (the first local-language edition) and Ukrainian (the most recent local-language edition, first published in 2013).
Jana
#7110
http://www.emhardt.com
Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes. ~Author Unknown
All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt! ~Charles Schulz
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janamarieje
True Blue Farmgirl
1022 Posts
Jana
Southern California
USA
1022 Posts |
Posted - Sep 23 2016 : 04:52:39 AM
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September 23, 1806 - Lewis and Clark Return
Amid much public excitement, American explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark return to St. Louis, Missouri, from the first recorded overland journey from the Mississippi River to the Pacific coast and back. The Lewis and Clark Expedition had set off more than two years before to explore the territory of the Louisiana Purchase.
Even before the U.S. government concluded purchase negotiations with France, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned his private secretary Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, an army captain, to lead an expedition into what is now the U.S. Northwest. On May 14, the “Corps of Discovery,” featuring 28 men and one woman—a Native American named Sacagawea—left St. Louis for the American interior.
The expedition traveled up the Missouri River in six canoes and two longboats and wintered in Dakota before crossing into Montana, where they first saw the Rocky Mountains. On the other side of the Continental Divide, they were met by Sacagawea’s tribe, the Shoshone Indians, who sold them horses for their journey down through the Bitterroot Mountains. After passing through the dangerous rapids of the Clearwater and Snake rivers in canoes, the explorers reached the calm of the Columbia River, which led them to the sea. On November 8, 1805, the expedition arrived at the Pacific Ocean, the first European explorers to do so by an overland route from the east. After pausing there for winter, the explorers began their long journey back to St. Louis.
On September 23, 1806, after two and a half years, the expedition returned to the city, bringing back a wealth of information about the largely unexplored region, as well as valuable U.S. claims to Oregon Territory.
Jana
#7110
http://www.emhardt.com
Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes. ~Author Unknown
All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt! ~Charles Schulz
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Reading Room: Today in history |
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Today in history
