| On February 2, 1536, the conqueror Don Pedro de Mendoza arrived by land at the coast of Buenos Aires. His mission was to populate the lands of the Rio de la Plata, which were of great interest to the Spanish crown. Mendoza christened the city Espíritu Santo and named its port Nuestra Señora del Buen Ayre. He was faced with food scarcities and hostilities from the indigenous people that stifled his progress. For these reasons, he decided to leave and return to Spain. |
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| The population of New Netherland increased slowly till 1653, when there were two thousand residents, eight hundred of whom belonged to New Amsterdam, which had been incorporated that year. About this time a stream of emigration poured into the Hudson Valley, and by 1664 the population reached ten thousand, having increased fivefold in eleven years. |
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| Selkirk was to spend four years and four months on Robinson Crusoe Island (Fernandez Island). During that time, two ships landed, but both were Spanish vessels and Selkirk had to hide from their crews. On February 2, 1709 the privateer vessel Duke, captained by Woodes Rogers and piloted by William Dampier took Selkirk off the island. His story is the inspiration for Daniel Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe" |  |
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| The war between the U.S. and Mexico ended with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. In exchange for $15 million, the U.S. acquired the areas encompassing parts or all of present day California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Texas. The treaty was ratified on March 10, 1848. |
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| It was just at this time that news came of the death of Capt. Isaiah Sellers, the old pilot who had signed himself “Mark Twain.” Mark Twain! That was the name he wanted. It was not trivial. It had all the desired qualities. Captain Sellers would never need it again. It would do no harm to keep it alive- -to give it a new meaning in a new land. The name Mark Twain was first signed to a Carson letter, February 2, 1863, and after that to all of Samuel Clemens’s work. The letters that had amused so many readers had taken on a new interestthe interest that goes with a name. |
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| In 1868 Oliver received a patent for "Improvements in Mold-Boards for Ploughs." After eleven years of experimenting, he had perfected a much larger chilled mold, which allowed Oliver to cast the entire moldboard of the plow. |  |
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| The Cardiff Giant, a gigantic ten-foot tall stone man, emerged out of the ground and into American life on October 16, 1869, when he was discovered by some workers digging a well behind the barn of William C. "Stub" Newell in Cardiff, New York. Word of his presence quickly spread, and soon thousands of people were making the journey out to Stub Newell's farm to see the colossus. Even when Newell began charging fifty cents a head to have a look at it, people still kept coming. Speculation ran rampant over what the giant might be. The central debate was between those who thought it was a petrified man and those who believed it to be an ancient statue. |
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| The National League was formed in 1876 when six of the strongest teams of the National Association withdrew from that organization to form a new league with stronger executive authority. The teams were: the Athletic of Philadelphia, the Boston Red Caps (now the Atlanta Braves), the Chicago White Stockings (now the Cubs), the Hartford Dark Blues, the Mutual of New York, and the St. Louis Brown Stockings. They were joined by two others, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, and the Louisville Grays. |
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| In 1880, the steamship SS Strathleven arrived in London with first successful shipment of frozen mutton from Australia. It had been chartered, fitted with Bell and Coleman (of Glasgow) air compression/expansion refrigeration equipment, and sent to Australia for a trial shipment of frozen carcases. The meat, and some experimental kegs of butter, were loaded from chill rooms in Sydney and Melbourne and, freezing the consignment on board, Strathleven left Melbourne on December 6, 1879. The meat was in excellent condition on arrival and sold well. |
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| Ground Hog Day is when a bunch of folks in Punxsutawney, PA get up before the crack of dawn, put on tuxedos and fancy gowns, march to the city park, and pull old Punxsutawney Phil out of his little house in a tree trunk. Then they observe him as he goes about doing his groundhog shadow thing. If the woodchuck (aka ground hog) doesn’t see his shadow, it means spring is on its way. If the critter sees his shadow, it means six more weeks of winter, which upsets the folks gathered ’round. |
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| Harry Sharpe knocked out Frank Crosby, Feb. 2, 1892, Nameoki, Ill. (Longest fight under Marquis of Queensberry Rules to end in a knockout.) 76 rounds (5 hours 3 minutes 45 seconds) |
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| In 1892, the bottle cap with cork seal was patented by William Painter, Baltimore. This replaced the time-consuming cork and wire bale way of sealing bottles, and represented a major saving for the bottlers. The cap was used until the 1970s, when cork in soft drink and beer bottle caps was considered unhealthy, so, manufacturers switched to cans and plastic, instead. Currently, caps used on bottles use plastic cap "liners", instead of cork. |
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| Thorpe had run into problems at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden. He was stripped of his gold medals for his pentathlon and decathlon victories when, somehow, Olympic officials learned that he had received what could be considered a pittance for playing pro baseball (really semipro baseball) in North Carolina. They determined that Thorpe was not an amateur and was not eligible to compete in the Olympic Games. In 1982, the decision was reversed and Jim Thorpe was honored as the record holder for the 1912 events, and co- winner with those who had received the original gold. |
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| The cost to construct Grand Central Terminal was a staggering $43 million. The price was offset by the sale of "air rights" over the enclosed facility. Many majestic buildings were constructed including the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. For many years, the elevators in these buildings would be powered by third rail current provided by the New York Central. The railroad needed to invest in electrifying its rails, and carve deep into Manhattan’s bedrock (workers would ultimately excavate 2.8 million cubic yards of earth and rock). The solution to the projected $80 million project budget (roughly $2 billion in today’s terms). |
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| The book was first published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach at Shakespeare and Company in Paris in 1922, but was banned in both the United States and United Kingdom until the 1930s. The work was blacklisted by Irish customs. The publication history of Ulysses is disputed and obscure. There have been at least eighteen editions. |  |
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| First sold in Dayton, Ohio, this new formulation of ethyl gasoline was the the result of seven years of testing at least 33,000 compounds as additives to influence the combustion rate of the fuel. Previously, on hard acceleration, an engine sometimes made knocking, popping or crackling sounds. Knocking sapped power and could damage the engine. The suitability of tetra-ethyl lead, made from alcohol and lead, was the discovery of Thomas Midgely, Jr. Decades later, the toxicity of the lead present in automobile emissions was recognized, and leaded gasoline is no longer sold. |
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| The International Ski Federation/Fédération Internationale de Ski (FIS) is the main international organisation of ski sports. Founded by 14 member nations in 1924 in Chamonix, France, today it has a membership of 101 national ski associations and is based in Oberhofen am Thunersee, Switzerland. |
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| During the 1925 serum run to Nome, also known as the "Great Race of Mercy", 20 mushers and about 150 sled dogs relayed diphtheria antitoxin 674 miles (1,085 km) by dog sled across the U.S. territory of Alaska in a record-breaking five and a half days, saving the small city of Nome and the surrounding communities from an incipient epidemic. |  |
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| The theatre was named for Florenz Ziegfeld, who built the theatre with financial backing from William Randolph Hearst. It was designed by Joseph Urban and Thomas A. Lamb. It opened on February 2, 1927 with the musical Rio Rita, which moved to another theatre when Show Boat opened at the Ziegfeld on December 27, 1927. The theatre became a movie theater in 1933. |
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| The first "Rocket Mail" generally accepted by collectors was flown on Feb. 2, 1931 when 102 covers and cards were launched by Friedrich Schmiedl near Radegund, Austria. He first tested his designs at Schoeckl bei Graz in 1924, concentrating on tests of 'photographic rockets', which could map large areas from high altitude. In June 1928 he attempted flight tests of instrumented rockets that were to be launched from stratospheric balloons. These V1 and V2 rockets failed to ignite but Schmiedl found that philatelists were interested in the 'stratospheric' postcards that had been taken aloft. In 1930 Schmiedl perfected a parachute recovery system. His first successful post office rocket on February 2, 1931 transported 100 letters from Schoeckel to Sankt Radegund. He began with what he called 'regular mail service' in September 1931 with launch of his G1 rocket from Hochtroetsch to Semriach. |
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| In 1935, the detective Leonard Keeler conducted the first use of his invention, the Keeler polygraph, or lie detector machine, on this day, in Portage, WI. Those examined were two criminals Cecil Loniello and Tony Grignano, who were convicted of assault at their trial where the results were introduced as evidence. |
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| In 1940, Tommy Dorsey's lead singer, Jack Leonard, quit and Sinatra began a two-year stay with the Dorsey band, developing his phrasing by studying Dorsey's technique on the trombone. After leaving Dorsey, he appeared as a regular on the "Hit Parade" radio program. |  |
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| The Cubs began the 1940 season with perhaps the most dramatic innovation of the century in baseball uniform design — the sleeveless vest. It was a continuation of the novel ideas of 1937 and was adapted to complement the new vest. The vest, designed by club president Philip K. Wrigley, allowed for greater freedom of motion for players’ arms and shoulders. Though the Cubs abandoned the innovation just three seasons later, the style has enjoyed a number of revivals over the years. Today, multiple clubs wear sleeveless jerseys, either as part of their primary or alternate home uniform. |
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| The Atomic Pistol was a 10” long metal gun manufactured by the Daisy Mfg. Co. The Atomic pistol U-238 had a gold finish; the U-235 came in silver or black finish. Incised lightly on left body is name and small Buck Rogers image. A pair of red plastic windows to see spark when trigger is pulled. The suggested retail price for this clever little toy of destruction was 89 cents. |  |
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| Bill Slater was the master of ceremonies. The game was turned into a popular radio game show in 1946 on the Mutual Radio Network. It was first broadcast at 8 p.m., EST, Saturday, February 2, 1946, on the Mutual Broadcasting System. It originated from the Longacre Theatre on West 48th Street in New York. The show moved to television in 1949. |
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| In 1947, Edwin H. Land gave the first demonstration his invention of instant photography at a meeting of the Optical Society of America. On Nov 28, 1948, his Polaroid Land Camera first went on sale, at a Boston department store. The 40 series, model 95 roll film camera went on sale for $ 89.75. This first model was sold through 1953, and was the first commercially successful self- developing camera system. A sepia-coloured photograph took about one minute to produce. |
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| President Truman announces in a special message to Congress on civil rights issues that he has "instructed the Secretary of Defense to take steps to have the remaining instances of discrimination in the armed services eliminated as rapidly as possible." |  |
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| Hogan and his wife Valerie were returning to Ft. Worth from a tournament when a bus hit their car head-on. He suffered a double fracture of the pelvis, a broken collarbone, a broken left ankle, and was almost killed by blood clots during an operation. He had to learn how to walk and how to swing a golf club again. But, just eleven months after the accident, he tied Sam Snead for first in the Los Angeles Open, though he lost the playoff. |  |
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| What's My Line? was a weekly panel game show originally produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman for CBS television. The series debuted on Thursday, February 2, 1950 at 8:00 p.m. EST and aired on alternating weeks. The original show was hosted by veteran radio and television newsman John Daly. Four panelists appeared on each program. The panelists included columnist Dorothy Kilgallen, actress Arlene Francis, humorist and entertainer Steve Allenand Random House publisher and humorist Bennett Cerf. |
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| Inspired by Bill Monroe's hit "Kentucky Waltz," King and Redd Stewart penned lyrics to an instrumental tune they'd been playing; recorded in December 1947, "Tennessee Waltz" became a number three hit for King the following year. King followed it in 1951 with "Slow Poke," a novelty tune that topped both the country and pop charts, spending over three months at number one. |  |
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| In 1950 Mitchell joined Columbia records and accompanied by Mitch Miller and his orchestra had some great hits that included gold records for "My Heart Cries for You" in 1950, "My Truly Truly Fair" in 1951, "The Roving Kind" in 1951, "Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania" in 1952 and "Singing the Blues" in 1957. Mitchell appeared in films those redheads from Seattle in 1953 and Red Garters in 1954. |  |
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| “Winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.” Famous words from Vince Lombardi, head coach of the Green Bay Packers, who, on this day, signed a five-year contract with the club that made the ‘green-and-yellow’ a team of destiny in the 1960s. |  |
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| Buddy's last performance was at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa February 2, 1959. Tired of riding the bus and needing to get his laundry done Holly charter a Beechcraft Bonanza to fly him, J.R Richardson (The Big Bopper) and Ritchie Valens to the next stop Moorhead, Minnesota. On February 3, 1959 the plane took off and crashed minutes later killing all on board. |  |
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| The tune went to #2 and stayed there for three weeks, but didn’t make it to the top spot of the charts. A catchy song (“Fee fee fi fi fo fo fum. I smell smoke in the auditorium...”), it was on the charts for a total of 12 weeks. The number one song? "Venus", by Frankie Avalon. |  |
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| This was written by Gus Cannon, who recorded it with The Jug Stompers in 1929. Erik Darling, formerly of the Tarriers ("Cindy Oh Cindy," "Banana Boat Song") and the Weavers (he replaced Pete Seeger), put together a trio specifically to record this. This was recorded using two 12-string guitars. |  |
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| Marketed to appeal to boys who wouldn't be caught dead with a Barbie doll, it was comparable in size (11 1/2") and was similarly "accessorized" with changes of uniform and equipment. It was immediately successful, but anti-war sentiments in the ensuing years led to GI Joe pursuing more non-military activities as an astronaut, Indiana Jones-type archaeologist, and big-game hunter. |  |
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| The last of the high altitude balloon flights was actually a private venture by an American named Nicholas Piantanida. Nick wanted to recapture the parachute free fall record set by the Soviets. During Strato Jump II, February 1966, Piantanida reached an altitude of 123,500. Because he was unable to disconnect from his onboard oxygen supply ground control cut the gondola from the balloon. The altitude record would not be recognized. Nick survived the descent and parachute landing inside the gondola. |
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| The ABA existed from 1967 to 1976 -- for nine full seasons. During that time, the ABA fought a bitter war with the established National Basketball Association (the NBA) for players, fans, and media attention. In June 1976, the two rival pro leagues finally made peace. Four of the strongest ABA teams (the New York Nets, Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, and San Antonio Spurs) joined the NBA and survived. |
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| Maravich became the first collegiate player to score over 3,000 career points. Maravich went on to become a star for the, then, New Orleans Jazz (now, Utah Jazz). Sadly, Maravich died of a heart attack (Jan. 5, 1988), after collapsing during a pickup three-on-three game, in a California gym. |  |
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| In the 1970s, Streisand successfully married her musical and film acting interests, first in "The Way We Were," a hit film with a theme song that became her first number one single; and then with "A Star Is Born," which featured her second number one single, "Evergreen," a song she co-wrote. From that point on, every album she released sold at least a million copies. |  |
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| The TRS-80 (also affectionately or derisively known as the "Trash-80") was Tandy Corporation's desktop microcomputer model line, and sold through Tandy's RadioShack stores, in the late-1970s and 1980s. Hobbyists, home users, and small-businesses were the intended consumers. The Tandy TRS-80 Model I was meant to compete head on against the Commodore PET 2001 and the Apple II. At $599 for a complete package including cassette storage, the computer was the most expensive single product Tandy's Radio Shack chain of electronics stores had ever offered. |
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| This was written by Rod Temperton, formerly a member of Disco group Heatwave. Jackson's producer, Quincy Jones, convinced Temperton to write some songs for Jackson. The original title was "I Want To Eat You Up," but it was quickly changed to fit Jackson's image. |  |
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| "I Want to Know What Love Is" was Foreigner's biggest hit. It was a change of direction for the band. Their previous hits had been rockers like "Double Vision" and "Urgent." This is a mushy ballad that got them a lot of airplay on Top 40 and Adult Contemporary radio, and a lot of new fans. |  |
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1536 Buenos Aires was founded by
Pedro de Mendoza of Spain.
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1653 New Amsterdam becomes a city (later New York
NY)
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1709 British sailor Alexander Selkirk
is rescued after being marooned on a desert island
More ...
1802 The first leopard to be exhibited in the
United States was shown by Othello Pollard in Boston, MA. It cost 25 cents to see the ‘import
from Bengal’.
1848 The war between the U.S. and Mexico ended
with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
More ...
1863 Samuel Clemens becomes Mark Twain for first
time
More ...
1869 James Oliver invents the removable tempered
steel plow blade
More ...
1870 Mark Twain, 34, marries Olivia Langdon in
Elmira NY
1870 The Cardiff Giant (supposed petrified human)
proved to be gypsum
More ...
1876 Baseball's National League forms
More ...
1880 SS Strathleven arrives in London with first
Australian frozen mutton
More ...
1887 The first Ground Hog Day
More ...
1892 Longest boxing match under modern rules;
77 rounds
More ...
1892 Bottle cap with cork seal patented by William
Painter
More ...
1913 Jim Thorpe signed a pro baseball contract
with the New York Giants
More ...
1913 NYC's Grand Central Terminal opens
More ...
1922 James Joyce's "Ulysses" published
in Paris (1,000 copies)
More ...
1923 Ethyl gasoline first marketed, Dayton OH
More ...
1924 International Ski Federation (FIS) founded
More ...
1925 Dogsleds reach Nome with emergency diphtheria
serum after 1000-km (621 miles)
More ...
1927 Ziegfeld Theater (Loew's Ziegfeld) opens
at 6th Ave & 54th St New York NY
More ...
1931 First use of a rocket to deliver mail (Austria)
More ...
1935 Leonard Keeler conducted a test of the polygraph
(lie detector)
More ...
1940 Frank Sinatra's singing debut in Indianapolis
(Tommy Dorsey Orchestra)
More ...
1942 US auto factories switch from commercial
to war production
1943 Cubs return to original uniform after experimenting
with a vest
More ...
1946 The first Buck Rogers atomic pistol was introduced
More ...
1946 The Mutual Broadcasting System premiered
"Twenty Questions"
More ...
1947 Polaroid Land camera demonstrated
More ...
1948 President Truman urges congress to adopt
a civil rights program
More ...
1949 Golfing champion Ben Hogan seriously injured
in an auto accident
More ...
1950 First broadcast of "What's My Line"
on CBS-TV
More ...
1952 "Slow Poke" by Pee Wee King topped
the charts
More ...
1957 "Singing the Blues" by Guy Mitchell
topped the charts
More ...
1959 Vince Lombardi signed a five-year contract with the
Packers
More ...
1959 Buddy Holly's last performance
More ...
1959 The Coasters tune, "Charlie Brown",
was released
More ...
1962 First pole vault over 16' (4.88 meter) (John
Uelses-16', Milrose Games)
1963 "Walk Right In" by the Rooftop
Singers topped the charts
More ...
1964 GI Joe, debuts as a popular American boy's
toy
More ...
1965 Alfonso Alvarez received a
patent for "dual-vent windows".
1966 Nicholas Piantanida sets unofficial world
altitude record for manned balloon flight
More ...
1967 Formation of the American Basketball Association
is announced
More ...
1970 ‘Pistol’ Pete Maravich scored 49
points for LSU against Mississippi St
More ...
1974 Smallest crowd at Cleveland Arena (Cavaliers
vs Golden State-1,641)
1974 "The Way We Were" by Barbra Streisand's
topped the charts
More ...
1977 Radio Shack officially begins creating the
TRS-80 computer
More ...
1980 "Rock with You" by Michael Jackson
topped the charts
More ...
1985 "I Want to Know What Love Is" by
Foreigner topped the charts
More ...
1996 State record low temperature of -60°
in Tower, MN
2001 Former President Bill Clinton and Senator
Hillary Rodham Clinton said they would pay for $86,000 worth of White House
gifts they'd chosen to keep.
2004 President Bush unveiled a $2.4 trillion budget
featuring a record deficit, as well as big increases for defense and homeland
security