Today in History: 1 July
70 – Roman General Titus and his forces set up battering rams to assault the walls of Jerusalem
1200 – In China, sunglasses are invented
1517 – 1st burning of Protestants at the stake in the Netherlands
1535 – Thomas More goes on trial in England on charges of treason for refusing to accept Henry VIII’s supremacy over the Pope
1776 – 1st vote on Declaration of Independence for Britain’s North American colonies
1836 – US President Andrew Jackson announces to Congress bequest by James Smithson of 100,000 gold sovereigns to found Smithsonian Institution in Washington
1861 – 1st public schoolhouse opens at Washington and Mason St, San Francisco
1862 – Alexander II of Russia grants Jews right to publish books
1863 – Battle of Gettysburg begins in Pennsylvania, Union forces halt Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia
1873 – Henry Ossian Flipper of Georgia enters West Point Military Academy – later the first African American to graduate
1874 – 1st zoo in the United States opens in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1889 – Frederick Douglass named US Minister to Haiti
1898 – Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders charge up San Juan Hill during US’s successful assault on the city of Santiago
1904 – III Summer (Modern) Olympic Games open in St Louis, the first held in the United States
1908 – “SOS” (. . . - - - . . .) distress signal becomes the worldwide standard for help
1916 – First day of the Battle of the Somme in World War I: The British Army suffers its worst day, losing 19,240 men
1941 – Bulova Watch Company pays $9 for 1st ever television commercial, which airs during a broadcast of Brooklyn Dodgers-Philadelphia Phillies baseball game
1944 – General Eisenhower visits front in Normandy
1956 – Elvis Presley, wearing a tuxedo, sings to a basset hound on The Steve Allen Show
1963 – ZIP (Zone Improvement Plan) Codes are introduced for United States mail
1967 – The Beatles’ album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” goes to #1 in the United States and stays there for 15 weeks
1973 – Tom Bradley becomes the 38th Mayor of Los Angeles, the first (and only) African-American to hold that position
Download Complete! –
1750 – Heshen, Chinese politician considered most corrupt official in Chinese history
1906 – Estee Lauder, American entrepreneur
1934 – Sydney Pollack, American Academy and Emmy Award-winning director and producer
1945 – Debbie Harry, American signer and actress
1961 – Diana Spencer, English Princess of Wales
1971 – Missy Elliott, American rapper
Unrecoverable Error –
1860 – Charles Goodyear, American chemist and manufacturing engineer
1896 – Harriet Beecher Stowe, American author
1991 – Michael Landon, American actor
2004 – Marlon Brando, American actor
2005 – Luther Vandross, American singer
The Funnies:
Quote of the Day
YouTube Clip of the Day
Comic of the Day
Mouseover: It’s important for devices to have internet connectivity so the manufacturer can patch remote exploits.
Explain XKCD 3109: Dehumidifier - explain xkcd
Image Credit: XKCD
Inspirobot Sometimes Controversial Inspirational Quote of the Day:
In case you missed it, you can go take a look at yesterday’s emergency response Spark! by @steve6343 over here
