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The year is 1877 and today the first “Human Cannonball” Rosa Matilda Richter, known by the stage name “Zazel”, blasted onto the entertainment scene. While disputed by some Australians who claim that Ella Zuila and George Loyal were first, Guinness recognizes Rosa as the first. While technically not shot out of the canon as the explosions were just for show and springs actually provided the energy, modern cannons use compressed air which provides a more consistent flight than springs. There was some risk to performing this feat and several flights ended in a missed net or a failed net. This time period also saw the rise of organized groups attempting to get a “performers” bill of rights passed to protect performers being coerced into dangerous acts. Zazel eventually left England and travelled to the US to perform with PT Barnum for a year.

Read more here: Rossa Matilda Richter - Wikipedia

Today in Science and Technology:

1827 - US inventor Joseph Dixon of Salem, Massachusetts, begins manufacturing lead pencils.

1912 - Titanic undergoes sea trials under its own power.

1921 - Albert Einstein lectures in New York City on his new “Theory of Relativity”

1935 - Scottish physicist Robert Watson-Watt receives a British patent for RADAR

1978 - Velcro was 1st put on the market.

1987 - IBM introduces PS/2 & OS/2

Today in Space:

1963 - Explorer 17 attains Earth orbit (254/914 km)

1963 - USSR launches Luna 4; missed Moon by 8,500 km

1964 USSR launches Zond 1 to Venus; no data returned. Gotta be heart breaking to work that whole project and then it fails.

1966 - Soviet Union’s Luna 10 becomes 1st spacecraft to orbit Moon

Today in Entertainment:

1968 - “2001 A Space Odyssey” directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood, premieres at the Uptown Theater in Washington, D.C.

1977 - Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” album goes #1 & stays #1 for 31 weeks.

Miscellaneous:

Cultural Appreciation:

In honour of Zazel, here is a track from Webb Wilder “Last of the Full Grown Men”.

First Acts:

1805 - Hans Christian Andersen, author

1875 - Walter Chrysler, American automotive pioneer, sadly the name Chrysler has faded dramatically after several mergers and buyouts.

1908 - Christian “Buddy” Ebsen Jr., American dancer and actor, Beverly Hillbillies and Barnaby Jones.

1914 – Sir Alec Guinness, British actor, probably best known as Obi Wan Kenobi, but his whole portfolio is impressive.

Curtain Calls:

1865 - Richard Cobden, founder Anti-Corn-Law League, dies at 60, British business owner and politician who successfully overturned Corn Laws, which were import taxes that artificially inflated the price of bread.

1872 - Samuel Morse, American painter and inventor of the electric telegraph and Morse Code, dies at 80

1987 - Buddy Rich, drummer/orchestra leader (Away We Go), dies at 69

Recipe of the Day:

I think everyone likes an omelet once in a while, but if you are cooking for a Vegan what to do. I was doubtful of this recipe until I actually tried it and honestly it is pretty good. No it is not an omelet but is a great breakfast alternative.

Quote of the Day:

“If the presence of electricity can be made visible in any part of the circuit, I see no reason why intelligence may not be transmitted instantaneously by electricity.” Samuel Morse

Comic of the Day:

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Inspirobot: Gibberish on demand.

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Don’t be fooled, check out @jimender2 ​s April 1 Spark here

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One of.my fondest memories as a little kid was going to see the (old school 1970’s version of) Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus.

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Just to add to the COTD - Discount tents :smiley:

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Quote of the Day:

“If the presence of electricity can be made visible in any part of the circuit, I see no reason why intelligence may not be transmitted instantaneously by electricity.” Samuel Morse

I can confirm that this is true. I’ve seen shocks used to wise people up very quickly.

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@repairatrooper

There is no such thing as Velcro. Velcro is the manufacturer, not the product.

The product demonstrated in 1978 was “Hook and Loop”.

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  • Rosa Matilda Richter liked preforming for P.T. Barnum because she enjoyed the “sucker(s) born every minute” that came to the show.
  • 1935: RADAR spelt backwards is RADAR. That means we are going to get you coming or going.
  • Space: The Russians were doing it
  • QotD: Interesting concept.
  • CotD: Funny. It was also hated because it was Two Tents and there was no relief from the tentsion.
  • Inspirobot: Yes, yourself.
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“If the presence of electricity can be made visible in any part of the circuit, I see no reason why intelligence may not be transmitted instantaneously by electricity.” Samuel Morse"

Thus justifying cattle prods as user training tools?

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Nah. I’ve been shocked plenty of times and I’m still fairly unwise. Though I did finally learn to not strip live wire with my teeth.

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Morse Code has fallen so far out of use, it could almost be a secret code.

OS/2 was a pretty neat OS. I wanted to run it, but never had a powerful enough computer for the 6 months it was available.

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Inspirobot - Yes! Yes I will! I will change what no one ever has changed!

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Not so - on either.

Morse code is still used extensively in the Amateur Radio community. As well as the merchant marine.

OS/2 sucked as a desktop OS. It’s biggest issue was that it was designed for the 80286. The poor memory architecture of that chip crippled the OS. If they had skipped that and gone to the 80386, it would have killed Windows. Although, until very recently, its true that OS/2 had a larger installed base than the Apple Macintosh - nearly all of it in embedded systems.

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@rhummel ​ Yes then can, witness Day traders get humbled real quick.

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I remember using OS/2 as the desktop software at one of my first jobs - always thought it was pretty cool for what it did. Of course, this was 1996, so what did I know?

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1977 - Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” album goes #1 & stays #1 for 31 weeks

Love this album!

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That album and everything after it up to Tango In the Night are prime Fleetwood Mac for me. IMO, it ain’t Fleetwood Mac if it doesn’t have the following members:

John McVie, Christine McVie, Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks, and Lindsay Buckingham.

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If the #2 pencil is so popular, why is it still #2? @repairatrooper - vegan omelets? The company I work for mills the mung bean that Just (https://www.ju.st) uses for their vegan eggs. They just sold their 100 millionth vegan egg.

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1968 - “2001 A Space Odyssey” directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood, premieres at the Uptown Theater in Washington, D.C.

My Mom took me to see this when I was still pretty young (Father was deployed, so I was filling in). I didn’t have a clue what the hell was going on. And it was long! It was years later when I re-watched it that I appreciated what a great movie it is.

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Like xerography, facial tissue and many other products, the name of the company becomes the product. Just remember in tense situations the sound of hook and loop can give you away. Follow this advice:

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